' I never thought I'd see someone like you 'round here ' ( mwah <3 )
The bloody sun hangs low in the sky, red and violent and all judgingas the eye of a wrathful god. In such arid heat, with the earth parcheddry, withering life into dust, he thinks any sane man would escapethe gaze of such fury by seeking shelter in the shadows. The onlyclouds he sees are the ones kicked up with every step he takes untilhe comes to a stop in the open, forcing his will against a land thatwould suck him dry and leave his corpse to the vultures.
Some such vulturescircle him now, the silver chrome of their vehicles still blindingunder the caked layers of mud and dust. He’s outnumbered andoutgunned. Even if he doesn’t see their weapons he can certainlyfeel at least several trained on his person, eyes that are far morediscrete and hidden than the one that stares unblinking down on them all.
The woman is theobvious leader, small and lithe but against the sun her shadowstretches far and away, turning her into a towering monolith ofstrength and power. She smiles at him, lips brighter and redder thanthe fiery skies, those molten eyes of hers burning like embers underthe wide brim of her hat. Giovanni might not care for the oppressivestare of an imagined deity, but there is real fire in the gaze ofthis one woman.
He finds himselfsmiling in return, dust-stained and sweat soaked as he is, his usualpristine and sharp suit having turned grey and worn by a journeythrough hell on earth. This is her territory, she and her people havecarved themselves a means of life within perdition, they know how tosurvive with the attention of an unforgiving god on their backs. Sheand her kind are precisely the people he wants.
“And what if Itold you that I came all the way out here looking for you? I’d like to make a deal.”
