[color=lightblue][b]Eliza Weaver Salem, Massachusetts[/b][/color] A thick morning fog was rolling off the Atlantic and was beginning to blanket the wicked coast of the Commonwealth as Eliza came to. Her vision was blurry at first and the more conscious she became the more she hurt. Once she could see more than fog and throbbing shadows it wasn’t long before she realized where she was at. She was standing on a rickety wooden chair, her clammy hands bound behind her back while a thick noose dug itself into her neck . Eliza couldn’t remember just how she got where she was but she knew why she was here. A man dressed in a long weathered trench coat, and cowboy boots was standing a few feet away from Eliza. He’d gathered up most of Eliza’s valuables and was preparing to pack them onto her horse. “So you’re going to hang me? 3,000 miles, and this is all I get. Why don’t you just shoot me?” Eliza’s voice was strained as the noose constricted her throat but even in her current state her tone conveyed that she was far from backing down. Her angel of death turned to face her, a sinister smile cracked across his grimy face. He spoke to her like a friend, almost like at one point in their lives they were friends. Although that time was long behind both of them. “It’s nothing personal Eliza. This is how we do things back home remember? Don’t tell me that after all this time you forgot how we do things back west?” Eliza’s feet were starting to slip off the chair as it lost it’s balance on the rough terrain beneath it. She kept a calm head and used what time she had left to get some answers off of the man that hunted her down, and finally caught her. “I’d call this pretty personal Bragg. You gunned everyone else down like they were stray dogs. It feels to me like you’re just playing with your catch.” He walked closer to Eliza a drew his revolver, pressing the frigid barrel against her chest. “Oh honey don’t be so cold!” He cocked the hammer back and pressed his revolved even harder into Eliza’s chest causing her to nearly lose her balance and kick the chair out from under her. “All those others I killed chasing you down, they were just obstacles. I got paid to kill you and only you. I didn’t want to, but I sure as hell couldn’t turn down that bounty.” There was a fire in Eliza’s eyes as she stared down the man holding a loaded gun to her chest. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead and dripped onto her already stained shirt as she tried to maintain her balance on the rickety chair. All the while both it and the decrepit branch above her groaned under the stress. “Is that all they were to you!? Obstacles? You fought with those people! Bled with those people!” Eliza’s voice cracked from the strain and the metallic taste of blood filled the back of her throat while she tried to yell. “I thought you were better than this!” “We were both better than this Eliza. A long time ago.” Bragg uncocked his pistol and placed it back into his holster. His cold, heartless smile was replaced with a grim painful expression. Almost as if he was fully realizing what he was about to do. “I’m sorry. I really am.” “Sorry for what?” Eliza’s heart was racing at his sudden shift in demeanor. She knew what was coming next even if she refused to believe it. Her last words quivered from her lips, as if his answer would make her satisfied with her death. He didn’t give her the satisfaction of an answer. Bragg kicked the chair out from under Eliza, and while she plummeted towards the ground the tree branch snapped before the rope pulled taught enough to snap her neck. Startled Eliza immediately clambered to her feet and darted away towards the wilderness. Bragg was just as caught startled but he managed to draw his revolver and fire a round into Eliza’s back. With a sharp scream of agony Eliza collapsed to the ground mid sprint, her face smashed against the cold morning ground. She tried to regain her footing but another shot whizzed over her, and forced her back to the ground. It took everything she had to crawl using only her legs in an attempt to make it to cover, but Bragg caught her again. He came down on her with his full body weight, pinning her to the ground on her stomach. Eliza couldn’t move away from him, this was it. She could feel the gun barrel pressed against the back of her head, and she winced in anticipation for the shot. She knew she wouldn’t hear it, but she knew it was coming. Bragg grabbed Eliza’s dog tags from the back of her neck and ripped them loose, clutching them in his free hand. “I’ll add these to the rest of my collection that you were so kind as to give to me.” He stuffed them into his pocket with the rest of the dog tags of all the Rough Riders he killed. All of Eliza’s comrades and friends he slaughtered. She saved their dog tags so they would never be forgotten, now they were nothing but trophies. Now that’s all she was, another head to hang on his wall. “I tried to make this easy for you Eliza, but I still respect you. You’ve got a stubborn head, and an iron heart. It’s a shame you’re the one she sent me to kill.” Spitting grime from her mouth Eliza strained to respond through the pain and the pressure Bragg was placing onto her lungs. “She? I thought you worked for Coe?” Even after everything he’s done up until this point it was obvious that Bragg was still struggling to answer her. “Charlotte hired me Eliza.... my days with Coe are over with.” He didn’t need to elaborate. Eliza knew just the Charlotte he was talking about, and it cut Eliza to the bone. “Then do it you son of a bitch! Blow my fucking brains out!” “I’m sorry Eliza I wanted this to be quick. For your sake. Lord knows you’ve suffered enough.” Bragg shifted his weight to take the shot and Eliza slipped out from under him. This time she made it close enough to the rocks she was aiming for that when Bragg shot her again she was able to roll behind them for cover. “Will you just fucking die!” Bragg followed Eliza’s trail of blood into the rocks. At this point she broke the rope restraining her hands, and slipped into the slick saturated soil of the coast. Bragg’s second round ripped through Eliza’s calf and she was bleeding heavily. [i]“Fuck!”[/i] Eliza clasped a hand on her wound and tried to stop the bleeding but the blood gushed from underneath her hand and mixed with the mud beneath her. [i]“Looks like I’m dead anyway.”[/i] Bragg found her curled up in the mud, her back against a rock. She had the look of a trapped animal on her face, and he was ready to end her suffering. He took his foot and kicked her onto her back, placing his boot between her breasts crushing her ribs. Eliza was struggling to breathe, but her adrenaline was still racing. She locked eyes with Bragg refusing to let him see her defeated. With her good leg Eliza kneed Bragg in the groin and shifted her weight up snag his revolver as he went down. As he hit the ground she already had his gun, and fired a shot into his chest as he tried to stand back up. He let out a scream as he crashed back down to the ground. Eliza crawled her way over to him and watched as he clutched his chest struggling not to choke on his own blood. She dug her bloodied hand into his pocket and retrieved the bundle of dog tags. Struggling to stand up Eliza started to walk away, gritting her teeth with every step. Bragg tried to talk to her but it was just gargling blood. When she looked back at him he was crying, his hands outstretched as if begging for mercy. A few words managed to escape his blood filled throat, but they were interrupted by the sound of him choking and struggling to breathe. “Ple..ase, not…..li..ke. Eliza….please!” While he struggled to speak his tone was clear. He was begging for her to put him out of his misery. She even thought about it, she felt bad for him. Even after everything she still felt bad for him. After all the two of them weren’t that different in the end. It was that familiarity that Eliza used to rationalize why it hurt so much to leave him there alone in the cold slurry of blood and grime. She turned her back on him and walked away making it back to her horse. Everything from that point on was a blur. She secured her stuff onto her horse and managed to crawl on top of it. Fortunately the horse was smart enough to know where to go when she smacked it’s hind end because she was slipping in and out of consciousness, blood still pouring out of her leg and her gut. She managed to make it back to her hideout, falling off of her horse and crawling inside one of the windows. Probably the same one Bragg drug her out of. Eliza only managed to prop herself up against the nearest wall, and attempt to light a cigarette before she completely blacked out in an ever growing puddle of blood.