The Outlaws Daughter

Chapter 1

The crack of gunfire ceased and an eerie silence drifted down through the cellar latch to her.

Surprised at the sudden quiet, Sabrina unfurled from the ball she had tucked into and quietly crept up the small ladder towards the hatch. Listening for any sounds that would let her know who had won the gunfight.

Surely one of her father's men had survived the sudden ambush, hopefully one of the nicer ones, and not the blood thirsty villainous ones that adored her outlaw father.

Heavy footsteps sounded, followed by the thud and crash of furniture being overturned. Sabrina shifted towards the latch, easing her weight off the ladder so that the wood wouldn't creak under the shift of her weight. Peeking through the slight crack in the floorboards, she tried to see who was overturning the house. From the information she could gather as the house had been fired upon, there was a rival group of outlaws who had come to seek vengeance against her father. That didn't surprise her, her father had made many enemies across the country, it was the reason she had moved around for most of her life, being dragged along through the chaos.

The sounds of boots had faded and she heard a door slam. Leaning her arms on the rung of the ladder, she sat there in silence, waiting to hear if any of the men survived or if they ran off like cowards. Maybe her father had been captured or shot dead or ran off like a coward too.Either way, she sure wasn't going to stick around to find out.

Almost an hour passed with barely a whisper of sound, Sabrina shifted to unlock the latch and push the false floor up.

Crawling out, Sabrina paused to look around the sitting room, frowning slightly at all the bullet holes that had gone through the walls as easy as cutting through butter. Exhaling loudly for a moment, she was extremely thankful she had sought refuge in the hidden cellar.Gathering her skirts, she straightened and let the cellar door slam shut, the thud and clatter of the latch sounded ten times louder than normal in the morbid silence. Looking towards the entryway, Sabrina waited a moment to see if anyone else had heard the noise, when no one came, she hurried out into the hall and up the stairs.

Pulling the leather bag out from under her bed, she double checked the amount of money she had hidden in the false bottom she had made...it was more than enough for a new start somewhere far away from here.

It was already packed with her belongings in a time such as this where she didn't have time to linger around home.

Shouldering the bag, Sabrina looked around the small room that had acted as her refuge for the last four years. Even her father didn't dare breech the doors of her room, least he end up getting shot again.

But now was the time for her freedom and maybe this was only chance she was ever going to have to escape without her father's goons dragging her back.

Filling her canteen from the kitchen sink, she ignored the two bodies that laid motionless in the doorway.

They were her father's paid men, and those type of men had little regard for anyone...all that mattered was money and alcohol.

Bodies didn't horrify her like they would any other young lady, she'd grown up around violence her whole life. Fixing the cap on the metal canteen, Sabrina moved to the door and carefully lifted her skirts as she stepped over the bodies. Walking into the yard, there were several bodies that had been shot out in the open, before they had a chance to head to cover.

Hurrying into the stables, she ran down the stalls towards her own steed,hoping that the pretty mare was still in the far stall.

The beautiful black and white painted horse glanced up from her snack of hay for a moment before continuing to eat.