[Once the last gunshots ring out, it takes Vasquez a long moment to figure out what comes next. Staunching the blood that's coming from the Gatling's graze on his arm, he knows he ought to get it tended to. He could help with the bodies, see if Goodnight survived the fall or if Billy is still fine. He could even put out the fires and tend to some of the children.
He doesn't do any of that, though.
Instead, Vasquez can feel himself drifting out to the smoke of the open field, where he can still smell the bitter taste in the air, sticking to his tongue. It's like his feet are outside of his control, that he's going in the direction of a place where he knows he's not going to find anything, but he has to see it with his own two eyes. After the week that they've had, he shouldn't give a shit about Faraday, but maybe (not maybe, he already knows it's not maybe), he's come to appreciate the other man. It's hard to find like minds in the West and so what if he's a bit stupid, a bit crass? He's also probably dead, so Vasquez should go see the body and make his peace so he can leave and go back to hiding.
Not that he wants to, that life had been a misery he's been trying to avoid, but he can't, not really.
Nudging at some of Bogue's men with his boot, he makes his way through the pocked, apocalyptic landscape. He knows he's not going to like seeing Faraday torn to pieces, but at least it will give him a sense of closure, sticking a pin in the thoughts of could have been and the might be that his head and his heart had started to cook up, in desperately lonely moments.
It's these thoughts he's so caught up in that he almost misses the sound. Out here, with only corpses, sounds should be a terrifying thing, but Vasquez snaps to alert, heading in that direction instantly. What he finds is probably the only miracle that he's ever seen in his life and he goes from despondently planning his escape from town to something far more frantic and hopeful as he kicks at the earth, pivoting to get some speed while ripping off his bandanna.]
Faraday? Are you alive?
[It looks like he's still moving, still breathing, despite the fact that he looks like he's seen better days, but he's still with the living. Pressing the bandanna to the first bleed he sees, he shouts back to town as loud as he can, trying to get anyone's attention to bring them a flat surface so they can get him back to someone who can do something about this.]
stars, light your fires
He doesn't do any of that, though.
Instead, Vasquez can feel himself drifting out to the smoke of the open field, where he can still smell the bitter taste in the air, sticking to his tongue. It's like his feet are outside of his control, that he's going in the direction of a place where he knows he's not going to find anything, but he has to see it with his own two eyes. After the week that they've had, he shouldn't give a shit about Faraday, but maybe (not maybe, he already knows it's not maybe), he's come to appreciate the other man. It's hard to find like minds in the West and so what if he's a bit stupid, a bit crass? He's also probably dead, so Vasquez should go see the body and make his peace so he can leave and go back to hiding.
Not that he wants to, that life had been a misery he's been trying to avoid, but he can't, not really.
Nudging at some of Bogue's men with his boot, he makes his way through the pocked, apocalyptic landscape. He knows he's not going to like seeing Faraday torn to pieces, but at least it will give him a sense of closure, sticking a pin in the thoughts of could have been and the might be that his head and his heart had started to cook up, in desperately lonely moments.
It's these thoughts he's so caught up in that he almost misses the sound. Out here, with only corpses, sounds should be a terrifying thing, but Vasquez snaps to alert, heading in that direction instantly. What he finds is probably the only miracle that he's ever seen in his life and he goes from despondently planning his escape from town to something far more frantic and hopeful as he kicks at the earth, pivoting to get some speed while ripping off his bandanna.]
Faraday? Are you alive?
[It looks like he's still moving, still breathing, despite the fact that he looks like he's seen better days, but he's still with the living. Pressing the bandanna to the first bleed he sees, he shouts back to town as loud as he can, trying to get anyone's attention to bring them a flat surface so they can get him back to someone who can do something about this.]