Cole was sure he was wasting his bullets as he shot wildly toward the smaller Hellion hiding behind a bullet-beaten table. But now, he didn't care anymore. He just wanted to get this dodgasted Hellion out of this damned world, once and for all.

The Rioter stomped toward the table, his bullets following the man closely. He saw a flash of blond hair and a pair of piercing, furious icy blue eyes as the Hellion leapt to the side. All sorts of curses spewed from him as he tried to avoid Cole's bullets.

Grinning, Cole started to shoot with even more enthusiasm. His shots were wedged in the table and his bullets had long ripped through the tent fabric. He knew the tent would not last long before the canvas ripped completely and collapsed, bringing down the rest of the tent with it.

I better get this done quick, he thought to himself. Just then, one of his bullets grazed the Hellion's arm.

"Heh!" he smirked to himself as the Hellion risked a quick glance at it. Just as he was about to release another rapid round of bullets, the man suddenly jumped out at Cole, springing forward like a jackrabbit, his expression full of determination and effort.

Cole was only able to catch a quick glance of the Hellion's rather youthful appearance, pale skin, and nose scar before he was knocked to the ground.

Thank God for his quick thinking, for Cole was quickly able to realize what the man was trying to do and tighten his grip on his gun.

"You're dead cowpoke," the other man snarled in his ear, just as Cole hit the ground, hard. He had just so happened to fall back against one of the tent posts holding up the tent's structure and heard a sickening crack as the structure started to collapse. The experienced Rioter knew he only had a few seconds.

His head pounding and his body sore from the crash, Cole tried to grab the Hellion who was now laying on top of him. He snatched the man's collar, hoping to hold him there so he could take the impact of the tent's collapse. For extra measure, Cole crossed his legs over the Hellion's legs to prevent him from getting up or moving around.

Holding onto his gun as best as possible with his other hand, Cole yelled out for the Rioters, hoping they would understand that he was still in there, and alive. "Horse meat!" He shouted, which was code for saying he was in trouble, and prayed for the best as the tent started to collapse.

(Don't worry about it, now that we have interactions it'll be shorter so it's fine)

The feeling of the Rioter's body giving way as Elliot crashed into him filled him with a sense of victory. Once the man was on the ground, there was no doubt that Elliot would have the upper hand.

The blond’s victory was short lived though as a loud crack filled the air when the Rioter connected with the ground and it didn't take more than a split second for Eli to realize his mistake. The attacker had crashed into one of the tent posts and the tent was going down over them.

Before he had a chance to react, Elliot felt a hand gripping his collar and strong legs wrapping around him, trapping him in place. The Rioter’s intentions were clear, he would have Elliot take the impact for them.

The blond quickly put a hand around the other's wrist, making sure that the man couldn't turn his gun on him as Elliot's other hand clawed at the one holding onto his collar.

“Let go you son of a bitch,” the young man snarled as he strained against the Rioter’s grip, desperately trying to get free and escape the tent before it had a chance to crash down on the both of them.

Panic was quickly growing within him, filling his eyes as his attempts for freedom became more and more desperate. Foul words and harsh insults spewed out of his mouth as his struggle continued but to no avail, the Rioter had him in a tight grip with no intentions of letting go.

In the last second, Eli’s struggle came to a stop and heh crossed his arms over his head in an attempt to shield it while trying to make himself as small as possible against the Rioter, hoping that the fucker would get one of the tent posts in the head.

Unfortunately for him, the blond was not given an opportunity to see if that was the case as when the tent collapsed on top of them both, a tent post collapsed right over him, an agonized scream leaving his mouth as he made a last attempt to pull away before his body went limp, trapped between the tent post and the Rioter.

The heavy tent post had knocked the air out of the young man and left his vision going dark, his body falling limp. The Rioter's plan to let him take the impact had definitely worked, that was for sure.

The only thing indicating that the man still lived was his strained breathing, the post weighing down on his rib cage from behind making each breath in a struggle for the man's now unconscious and weakened body.

Pain pulsated through the young blond’s body. Slowly he had begun to regain consciousness but his mind felt blank. His head pounded and any memory of what could have caused this pain seemed nowhere to be found.

Each time the man inhaled, he was met with a sharp pain in his chest and his breaths quickly became shorter as he found the limit for how much air he could fill his lungs with, without having to deal with the pain all too much.

Slowly, Eli opened his eyes only to be met with darkness. The injured man sat in silence for a bit until the realization hit him. Had he been blindfolded? No. Surely not?

Quickly, forgetting his pain for a brief moment, Elliot pulled his arm up to try and remove what was covering his line of sight, however, that action only brought more pain as he realized something else, his hands were tied together and the rapid attempt to move his arm sent pain radiating all the way from his wrist up to his neck, causing the man to groan in pain.

Despite all the pain and confusion the blond was experiencing, anger was rapidly growing inside of him. He had no idea where he was, how he ended up here, or who had done it, but best believe that he would find it out and kill the son of a bitch.

Now knowing that his wrists had been tied together, Eli tried pulling his arms apart once more, but far slower and gently this time to avoid discomfort, trying to test his restraints and figure out what they were and just how strong they were. He needed a plan to get out of here, that would have to be step one.

He pulled a little harder, hoping that his restraints would just simply break, although he knew the chances were slim, if you took someone hostage, or whatever the hell was going on here, you’d make sure that what you were using to keep them trapped would be sturdy enough to do so. Since the restraints showed no signs of giving in, he clearly wasn't dealing with a complete idiot.

If only the young man could remember how the actual hell he had ended up here. No matter how much he tried to dig through his own mind, he came up with no explanation for the situation he currently found himself in. He knew he'd fallen off Soleil, he remembered that, but he also remembered coming back to camp. Because that had happened, right? Or had he hit his head falling off Soleil and dreamed of going back? That would still not explain how he ended up here, wherever “here” was.

In frustration at the situation and his own failing memory, Eli pulled harshly at the restraint only to have the same pain as earlier radiate through him once more. This time he clenched his teeth tightly, sucking in air to try and swallow the pain only to cause another with that action. Pain shot through his chest and threw him into a coughing fit, which certainly didn't help. His chest felt as if it was being pierced with daggers while his arms felt like it would rip in two when he leaned forward in hopes to fight off the coughs.

Step one was immediately proving itself to be much harder than Eli would have originally thought. He had no clue of where he was, who was behind this and even the slightest movement caused pain and discomfort. Plus, there was no way his captor hadn't heard those coughs unless he was far, far away. Which, despite the silence he had so far heard, he doubted it. There had to be someone around, and with any luck, something he did unfortunately seem to lack lately, that person would soon reveal themselves. So currently, a plan of escape, seemed extremely far away.

"Clear out!" Cole yelled to his gang. He turned back to his second, "Bill, stay here with Tuck and Dean. Watch over 'em. Gang'll come back for the bodies when we got enough horses and men."

---

The old, dried wood creaked under Cole's steps as he stomped up to the Rioters' command center- an ordinary tiny gray building among a clump of rickety houses and structures in their temporary base. The base was hidden behind tall mountains in the desert, and was built from the remains of a nearby abandoned mine. The mountains served as a good lookout, while the mines were used as underground tunnels.

The small command building didn't stick out at all, but inside was where the Rioters' leader and his advisors worked. New Rioters would often be intimidated by the building and those in it, but Cole had earned their respect and trust. As the offensive operations leader, he went in and out of the command building to report on the operations and interrogate prisoners, who were held in a basement underneath.

"Boss."

The infamous Rioter leader looked up from his desk as the Cole pushed the door open.

"Cole," he grunted. "Went alright, I suppose?"

"Got the hostages, stole their stuff, lost some horses and men," Cole recounted, feeling the Boss's gaze on his twisted wrist and slight limp. "James is dead," he added, looking away and clenching his fists.

The Boss exhaled deeply and sat in silent, deep thought. With a veteran Rioter gone, especially in wartime like this, the gang would need to fight harder and train new members more than ever. "I assume you dealt with the attacker?" the Boss asked.

"Yes sir," Cole muttered, looking at his wrist, which was starting to hurt after the initial shock. "Brought him in earlier..."

His eyes filled with despise and anger as he looked towards the basement entrance.

The Boss lighted a cigarette and waved him towards the basement. "Go ahead. I'll have a doc ready when you're back."

Cole nodded at him and limped down the basement stairs, his steps echoing loudly.