Traumatised and horrified at seeing his friends shot Zhou runs into the back room. The other gang member picks up a shotgun and shouts at Buck in Chinese. Zhou frantically looks around for an escape to tell the others. The back room of Sam Wah store was littered with high piles of dirty laundry. Zhou quickly improvised and hurried himself into a giant pile of laundry to hide from Buck. Zhou was motivated to live and wanted to avenge his friends death.

The gang member with a shotgun put two shells in each barrel and shot at buck blindly from behind a table. The man also looked around at the resources in the room and remembers there was a small box of dynamite somewhere. He looks for it as fast as he can, he wasn't going to go out without a fight.

As Buck finished shouting, a reply from either Zhou himself or one of his men rang back in the form of a shotgun blast that tore a nice sized hole in the shelf above him. "Shit." He though looking down again at his wound then at the door. "Gotta make a choice now." With that Buck reloaded his Winchester. He quickly stood up and charged into the room, gun blazing. He hit the man that had fired on him and sent him falling to the floor. Buck glanced around. Zhou was no where in sight. There were piles of laundry bags everywhere. Buck smiled as he approached them. He was about to shout out to Zhou when he heard a match strike behind him. He spun, gun at the ready, to see what had caused that sound.

He turned just in time to see the man he had shot and not killed lighting the fuse on a stick of dynamite. The man smiled at Buck and threw the dynamite at him. Buck ran faster than he'd ever run before. Out of the back room and out of the store. There was one thing that Buck never messed with, and that was explosives. He stood outside the store waiting for the explosion, when a few of Zhou's men, attracted by the shoot out, were running towards him. Buck cursed slightly under his breath as they began to open fire on him. He turned and tore through the town until he reached where he had his horse stabled at. One of Zhou's men persuaded him, while the others went to check on their leader.

Buck barley managed to get out of the stables before the man opened fire again, winging him in the arm. Buck quickly drew his Colt and shot the man dead as he rode out of town. He spurred his horse forward knowing he needed to see a doctor. If he stayed there surely one of Zhou's men would have put a bullet in his head eventually. Buck turned around and saw he wasn't being chased and slowed his horse to a gallop as he cradled his shot arm. It, again, had only grazed him, but it was bleeding profusely. The whole time Buck waited to hear an explosion that never came. Which he took to mean that Zhou was still alive.

"Agave Viejo, he's at... Agave Viejo..."

"Excellent," said Evarado, clapping the mangled form of the prisoner on the back. "You have made my day."

"Please, just kill me," the prisoner begged weakly.

Evarado nodded, "of course, Evarado Anselmo never breaks a promise."

He placed the barrel of his Mauser against the man's badly bruised face, and pulled the trigger.

---

"Agave Viejo is just a ranch, we've checked it a dozen times," said Manuel, loading shells into his rifle. "We'd of found something, if the rebels were there."

Evarado stroked his mousache thoughtfully. "Perhaps," he conceded, "but then maybe you weren't as er... thorough as me?"

Manuel was puzzled. "We tore the place apart, the only things we found were weeping villagers and starving cattle."

"Oh Sergeant, my wonderful Sergeant," chirped Evarado sarcastically. "The rebels' weakness is their passion. Surely you thought of shooting down some of the womenfolk?"

Manuel shook his head. "I only kill when I see an enemy."

Evarado laughed loudly. "My friend, the enemy are all around us. A few dead innocents is a low price to play when compared to the chaos that would unfold if the rebels won. Come, let us leave."

The Mexican 21st Infantry Company mounted on their horses, all sixty of them, and left the safety of El Presido. Normally Capitan Evarado would not risk so much, when the stakes were so high, but if he could end this rebellion to day, then he was prepared to sacrifice everything to achieve his goal.

Maurice Sullivan heaved a heavy sigh as he packed his bags. His brother, Robert, had moved to Mexico about five years ago and now he was getting married to a Mexican woman. Of course, Maurice was invited and he figured he could take a week or so off from taming the west and bringing outlaws to justice, to visit his brother and attend his wedding. He knew little of his brother's fiance, besides from the fact that she was fighting with the rebels and had somehow dragged Robert into it as well.

After Maurice had finished packing and mounted his steed, he took for Mexico. His brother and future wife would be meeting him in a small settlement called El Matadero.

Zhou peered out of the pile to see the stick of dynamite. Cursing in panic he leaped out and snuffed the fused by grabbing the flame. Zhou walked out of Sam Wah's catching his breath and greeting the gang mates who ran to his aid. He commanded them to clean the store and help anyone who is wounded.

He walked over to a path of grass by the sea in Blackwater. Looking out onto the water he thought about the friends he had lost. Zhou looked up at the moon and vowed vengeance on whoever had attacked them tonight.

Maurice finally arrived in Nueveo Pariaso, sweat dripping down his back as he rode under the hot Mexican sun, determined to make it to his brother's house in El Matadero before sun down. He wasn't sure how he was going to handle living in Mexico for a week, or staying with his brother and soon to be wife. All he knew was that he was grateful to have a vacation and to see his brother again.

Looking at his map, it appeared that he was in El Matadero - but he really wished he wasn't. The settlement looked like an old, run down living space for peasants and beggars. Could his brother really live here? As he trotted through the settlement on his horse, he peered around until he saw a familiar site - his brother. He looked so much older and now had long hair and thick side burns. Slightly taken aback, Maurice was hesitant to dismount from his horse.

"Brother! I can't believe you're here!" Robert exclaimed and rushed to help Maurice off of his horse. The two made their way into Robert and his fiance, Maria's, house which looked more like a shed. Trying his best not to show his disgust, Maurice took a seat at the dinner table as Robert introduced Maurice to Maria while she served dinner. Over dinner, they caught up with each other, exchanged word of what had been going on in their lives for the past 5 years. But what caught Maurice's attention the most was when Robert and Maria talked about their involvement in the revolution and when they spoke about a man named Captain Evarado.The things they said about him made Maurice shutter, and despite the fact that he was supposed to be on vacation, Maurice knew he had to track him down before he left Mexico and see the violence for himself.