The name is Dillon Girven, but don't let the name fool you. I am very much a girl though my history is a little sketchy and you may tend to believe otherwise. I first lived in Ohio, but soon everyone was living in Ohio, so my parents decided that they wanted to move. We headed even further west and stopped right on the plains. When I was ten some bandits swooped down on the house and killed my mom, dad, and two brothers. I had been out back fetching firewood so I managed the farm for a couple of years until a wagon train moved close enough to pick me up to move me even further west.

When we passed into the first real town they dropped me off, I just wasn't their type. Liza Jane, the owner of a respectable hotel saw that was a scrappy underfed kid, but a hard worker and hired me. She only had one other employee and he was a nice black kid about my age when the Civil War broke out. Our town was pretty neutral out in the Colorado Territory. Two years later troops rolled through town and the Union boys were pretty nice. I told Liza Jane I was joining and there was nothing she could do to stop me. I got in a shit load of bar fights and was probably the best shooter in town with a rifle. I cut my hair and enlisted in the Union. They told me I was to be a sniper, and I proved to be very good at it.

We were on the Arkansas border when we came across a troop of rebels. They were either Rangers or calvary because they were all on horseback and had a lot of guns. "Down!" I barked when I saw my commanding officer fall to the ground. From the cover of our horses we dove over the nearest stone wall. I ordered my men to fire and tried to pick off the top commanding officers, as well as the men at the cannon. We held our ground for over half of the day, but I knew my men were fatigued, and we were short on ammo. When the sun began to set I ordered my men to fire their last rounds, but it was too late, we were already surrounded by rebels.

We surrendered and were tied up, in one very long line. A guy gave me a sideways glance, he probably wasn't any older than I was, and started to frisk me. The entire squad looked on, they all knew I was a girl, and they had no problem with it, I had saved their asses countless times. There were only three guys with guns guarding us, so when the kid worked his way up to my hips, I checked both sides to see who I would pull down if I beat this kid up. Lee and Jeri were on either side of me, the only other two girls in the squad, known to everyone as Sniper, and the Rock. I curled one foot around the kid's leg and pulled. He fell and caused me to almost fall on top of him. "Down!" I shouted to my men and they bent over to even out the tumult I was causing. I kicked the kid flat out, and I'm sure he went unconscious. He slammed into the body of an armed guard who lost his footing. A shot was fired so I got up to see who had been hit. I was so full of adrenaline, I didn't think it was me.

I woke up on a bloodied oak table with six men in bloody confederate uniforms surrounding me, including the kid who'd frisked me.

"Who are you?" Asked a tall blonde who looked to be in his young twenties.

"Bull," I spat at them and tried to get up, sending a jet of pain through my left shoulder.

All of them grinned at a secret thing, but then the dark-haired kid who had frisked me, and was standing at the end of the table laughed outright, so I kicked him, sending him reeling backwards. A kid who looked remotely like him whipped out a rifle and held it at me head, "Maybe we shouldn't've fixed this one up, I don't like his temper."

I laughed not really paying attention, "What's that?" I readjusted my head to look up the barrel of the gun, "A Remington 230, not a bad gun. I prefer the 30-30."

"Hey Frank," The guy who was holding the gun to my head looked up when he was addressed.

"What Jesse?" He asked the dark-haired kid I had abused.

"There's two Yanks out here that want to see their commanding officer."

Frank looked around, "Who?"

"That Bull character."

"Sure," agreed Frank.

Jesse left and returned with two mildly scrubby kids I knew to be Lee and Jeri. "Hey there Rock," I said tapping Jeri's stomach with my uninjured arm.

"Bull," Lee acknowledged.

"Sniper," I replied.

Lee patted my stomach in return.

"Can we have a minute?" I asked the guys around us.

They nodded and backed off to some degree.

"So what have I missed?" I asked.

"We marched 10 miles east and are at a rebel camp." Lee replied, she was good at directions and everything that had to do with running away and getting back again.

"What's wrong with me? Why am I on this damned table?"

Sniper grinned, "That kid who tried to feel you up clipped your shoulder."

"I'll kick his ass when I get out of here. How are the guys?"

"Good," Rock admitted, "Mostly worried about you. But now that we're here, that's fix that shoulder." Inspecting my blood soaked shirt and makeshift bandages Rock asked, "You wearin' somethin underneath this?"

"Yeah," I replied.

With some difficulty they pulled off my shirt and Rock cleaned the wound. She was the best doctor we had, having the most experience, she was twenty and lived with her brothers back home in Colorado, and she was forever fixing them up. She did have five brothers both ways. "You got lucky again," she laughed, "that kid shot you at such close range the bullet went right through."

"Good," I sighed.

None of the guys tried to stop Rock, so she continued to bandage my shoulder. With help from her and Sniper we put my blue shirt back on. Sniper then asked Frank if I could join my men, and he didn't have a problem with it so Jesse and a blonde guy escorted the three of us to where my men were being held. They were tied in a long line that was anchored to a very large tree by ropes, and guarded with five armed men. Jesse and Cole, I think the blonde's name was tied us back up, hands behind our backs. Sniper brushed against Cole and I could see his rain slicker move accordingly, and grinned, brushing up against Jesse who grinned in return. He knew I was a girl, but like I cared, I could beat the shit out of him if I felt like it.

We watched the sun go down and when it was kind of fuzzy, hazy-like and hard to see I ordered all my men to sit. I then situated my leg behind Rock, who was on the end, and in the increasing darkness gave me a quizzical look. "My boot," I whispered. She nodded and felt behind her for the knife in my boot.

She found the knife almost instantly and attempted to saw her way out of the ropes that bound her. I heard a pleased sigh not too long after. It was practically dark out and I could hardly see a thing in front of me. A blink of light made its way toward us and the kid standing in front of us turned. Rock dove behind me and expertly cut my ropes before moving on to Sniper. Sniper wrung her hands and gave a small sigh, "It's been ages since I've had my hands in that position."

I grinned, my eyes were adjusting to the dark, "It's a new feeling for me."

Sniper gave a small laugh, she had been in trouble with the law quite a few times before, she had joined the army to get away from it all.

It seemed like ages before Rock got back to us again. "When do we break?" she asked.

"When I know where to go," I replied. To the kid in front of me I said, "Kid, I need to talk to Jesse."

"Jesse?" The kid asked not really sure why.

A figure approached from the darkness behind the kid, and I deducted he had been there the whole time. "What?" He asked, kind of staying back.

"Come here."

He gave me a devilish grin and he kneeled right in front of me, "Yes ma'am?"

I ignored his comment, "I do hope my horses are being treated well."

Jesse's smile broadened, "Oh yes ma'am we folks know how to take care of good horses like them. They're all being fed on the other side of the tents."