Kitty smiled at the NPC and stood, drawing her Remington and fishing another bandage out of the satchel. She hurriedly inspected her own gunshot wound, finding it to be a simple graze. Wrapping the bandage around her arm stabilized the blinking bleed debuff on her HUD, and a quick swig from Earls flask made the arm stop its throbbing.

  Once she had her lantern dug out and lit, she set it down carefully in the mouth of the tunnel and drew another button of peyote from her satchel, taking a deep breath and squeezing it before rubbing vigorously against her eyes. The lightning bolt hit, and she slumped heavily against the cave wall until it was done playing with her spine. When she looked up again with a lopsided grin, the cave swirled with sparks of color and she focused down, through the stone and sand beneath her feet.

  He was down there, not far. The hulking man was still dragging Nels, and as Kitty watched, he deposited her friend next to Mitchel’s outline. They were in the same room as Jacob and the remaining hired thug. From what she could see of their auras, Jacob was crouched over the other man, doing something. Kitty assumed he was patching the man up, similar to how she had treated Earl moments before. That reminded her of the perk quest she had gotten, and she started rummaging in her satchel to inspect it.

  The item she had received was mildly confusing. It was a small but lengthy set of what appeared to be forceps, but at the end were small oval hollows, giving them the appearance of oddly shaped spoons. The pamphlet that came with it unfolded to reveal the quest but didn’t properly identify her new item.

  Sawbones

  Perk Quest

  Patching up your own hurts is one thing but applying those arcane medical skills to another is something else entirely. An acting medic is sure to make plenty of friends in the West.

  Successfully heal one hundred wounds on people (players or NPCs) other than yourself to unlock a permanent perk.

  04/100

  Kitty had sewn up three lacerations in Earl’s leg, and then set the bone, so that added up. It seemed as though each individual wound counted towards the quest, and the young woman shrugged as she bundled the items away and focused on saving her friends again.

  She took a step into the tunnel and stopped as her bootheel crunched on fresh glass formations in the sand. The detail made her smile, and she lifted her lantern as she moved forward into the tunnel. Following Abraham’s trail was simple, and the large drag mark that Nels had left also helped her avoid any further traps. She sprang three additional buried bear traps by kicking at their edges.

  The tunnel was a bit cramped but comfortable enough to walk through, and sloped gently down, with patches of even ground and plenty of offshoots breaking away. The smooth stone walls around her became closer as she delved deeper, and the sand underfoot gave way to more hard stone. Kitty’s path was simple to follow though, and she became suspicious as she moved, trying to keep a close eye on the auras ahead. She had gone well below the surface when she noticed a change.

  The larger black and red aura suddenly rose from its crouched position and began stalking toward her. The other auras stayed put.

  When the aura began to get uncomfortably close, she saw an opportunity and stopped. “Abraham?” Kitty shouted. The aura ahead went stiff, but the man didn’t respond. “I know that’s you up ahead Abraham, please just hear me out.”

  Kitty had come even with the auras and could see that the tunnel up ahead doubled back on itself. Abraham was hiding around the corner ahead, so she positioned herself behind the last curve in the path she had followed, peeking her face around the corner to speak to the large man.

  “Do you have any friends, Abraham?” Kitty asked. When he didn’t answer, she stared at his aura and continued. “Well the men you have in that room up ahead are my friends. The one you took from me is a dear friend, his name is Nels. I’ve known him for years, and I’d just like him back.”

  A stone thumped through the air and shattered against the rock face in front of her, causing Kitty to flinch back.

  “I’m not here to hurt you Abraham!” Kitty yelled. She settled back in place, making sure to keep her lantern out of the hallway this time. “I’m sorry for what happened before, but you mistook my nature.” She allowed her voice to change, deepening it as she spoke her next words with deliberation and purpose. “I am not prey, Abraham.” His aura shifted, and she braced for another stone. When none came, she continued. “You know Jacob isn’t your friend, right? I heard him. He calls you fat.”

  A tiny grunt emanated from the corner ahead of her, barely more than an exhalation from his nostrils.

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  “I know, Abraham . . . I know.” Kitty whispered.

  The aura moved out into the hallway, and Kitty hesitantly raised her lantern. The man was truly huge, his shoulders nearly touched the rock walls around him. He moved easily enough, graceful even, for a man of his sheer size.

  “I don’t think you’re fat, Abraham,” Kitty said. She holstered her Remington and set the lantern down at her side, extending her arms to indicate that she was no threat. “I just came for my friends, and to take Jacob away. He hurt a lot of people in town, and I need to bring him to justice.”

  Wiping his hands on his rough vest, Abraham moved towards her hesitantly. “You won’t burn me?” he asked, his voice barely more than a growl.

  “Not on purpose, no.” Kitty smiled gently at him. “I can’t promise that you won’t get hurt if you get in the way though.”

  As he moved into the lantern light, Kitty had to restrain her reaction. He was filthy, smeared with loose sand and blood. His clothing, already basic, was now torn and charred, and hung from him awkwardly where it no longer connected right. She couldn’t be certain in the strange half-light of the lantern, but it looked like his chest had shrunken, and ribs were visible under the damage on his vest. He was covered in scars, burns, and lacerations. They spiraled out from his chest to both arms, crept up his neck and into his rough beard, and defined one side of his face. In that moment, her eyes narrowed, and she grit her teeth thinking about Jacob.

  “Does he hurt you?” Kitty whispered.

  Abraham shuffled, hand moving toward his belt. “Yes.”

  Kitty moved her hands, trying to regain his attention. His own hands were drifting towards a long-bladed machete that hung from his belt. “Abraham don’t attack me. I’d like it if we became friends, but you can’t attack me anymore, okay?”

  His face changed, eyes narrowing. “You’re sharp,” Abraham growled. “How’d you know I was waiting for you?” The man’s words were still simple, but something in his voice had changed. Hardened.

  “I promise I’ll tell you, but you have to let me take my friends and Jacob,” Kitty replied. She slowly lowered her hands, trying to get nearer to her revolver without spooking him.

  Suddenly, the aura to her left moved, approaching through the tunnel. Jacob’s voice rang out in the tunnels. “You get her yet fatty?!”

  Abraham’s eyes narrowed, seeming to glint red in the lantern light. He took a deep breath through his nose before exploding into action. Whipping around, the big man grabbed Jacob by the collar and hauled him off his feet into Abraham's face. “I am not fat!” After roaring into his face, Abraham’s arms clenched and shot out like pistons, sending Jacob through the air into Kitty. He slammed into her and they tumbled to a stop as Abraham rushed past them.

  Kitty reacted, her skinning knife coming out of its sheath as Jacob rolled off from her with a muttered curse and started spitting sand out of his mouth. “Okay.” He coughed as he stood, squaring off with Kitty. “Guess he takes that pretty seriously.” With a quick glance past Kitty, he shouted. “I’m sorry Abraham!”

  She lunged in low, swiping at him with her knife. The slash was never intended to strike, simply move him back so she could get to her lantern. When Jacob hopped back, he grinned wide and slashed back and forth with his bad hand, bringing the knife in close to Kitty’s face. She ducked, snatching the lantern off the ground and glaring up at him while she raised it to her face and creaked open the tiny door.

  A quick puff of breath and they were in absolute darkness.

  Kitty tried to move to his side, but her lantern creaked as it swung from her hand. He lashed out immediately, slashing twice at her in quick succession. Each blow was easier for her to dodge than him to land, with her ability to see his aura keeping her one step ahead of him. He growled in the darkness in frustration, taking a step back and reaching for his shotgun triggers. Kitty ducked low and tossed the lantern down the tunnel ahead of them. When it clanked against the stone, Jacob swung around and fired, lighting up the tunnel for an instant.

  Kitty leapt on his back, her left arm wrapping around his neck as she dropped her knife and tried to control his bad arm. In the instant the tunnel had lit up, he had seen her distraction clearly and tried to spin back to face her but was too slow. Instead, he started stabbing wildly back at her, connecting twice and causing a severe dip in her health bar. Just the orb remained, and it was starting to drain rapidly, a double bleed debuff present on her HUD.

  With a growl, she leaned him back and gripped his head, slamming it into the stone wall beside them twice. Jacob crumpled with the second blow, dropping to the ground and groaning low. Kitty immediately fired up her lantern again and went to work, sewing up the stab wounds in her side and thigh. Once she had them both stitched and bandaged, she started to move towards Jacob’s prostrate form again, rope from her satchel in her hands. The leg wound was causing her to limp, and a solid outlined red debuff on her HUD indicated that would be her situation for a while.

  Grabbing his bad arm, Kitty started rolling Jacob over to hogtie the man, but he started to thrash. He wasn’t fully cognizant, but he could still writhe and flail, with a jagged knife strapped into his hand.

  Kitty fell back, shuffling over loose stones to get away from the blade. As Jacob started to sit up, she saw the shotgun raise toward her and reacted. She kicked his arm away and pinned it to the ground with her foot, before grabbing a large stone and raising it. Before he could react again, she fell on him, slamming the stone into his arm over and over. The knife blade snapped against the stone floor, the shotgun barrels split apart and then fell off entirely, and Jacob began to scream in agony.

  “What are you doing?! My arm!!” he shriekd.

  She slammed the stone down on his clearly broken arm one more time, eliciting a pained grunt from the man as he succumbed to whatever effect the debuff was having on him.

  Then she rose and stood above him, her Remington back in her hand and pointed at his still bleeding head. “Do not move again,” Kitty said. It was an order, growled hard from the back of her throat.