Ashly is breathing heavily, she is trying to stay concentrated. The horse is running at top speed and the wind is hitting her face. Ashly is thinking back to when she snuck out of the hospital. She opened the window and climbed down, her hands were shaking and her body felt heavy. She remembers Lucas looking shocked as she walked passed him when he tried to come to the hospital early.
"I hate this, I need to sleep" Ashly murmurs to herself. She is holding onto the horse with all her strength "It's cold outside, and my face will be frozen before I get back home" she continues on her trail, her face is red and shaking. The horse seems tired and Ashly stops the horse for a moment. She holds her stomach, and feels how much it hurts even after the amount of rest and help she got
Eventually Ashly manages to return back to Greenside, "What happened here?" Ashly says as she sees Dale's shop's windows broken. Ashly gets off the horse and sees the sign that reads [Closes for a while due to an inconvenience] Ashly smirks a bit "Deserved" she says as she kicks the door. She grabs the leash and walks back into Greenside, she notices some members are around. As she looks around she spots Marie who is crying
Marie approaches Ashly "So you're back" she says as she points at her "Some man is after you and he killed William. I don't know what you did to have such a man after you, but" Marie stops and continues to cry, Ashly looks amused. "He's dead because of you, if only I told him about you then this-" Marie then shuts her mouth with her hands
Ashly raises and eyebrow "You didn't tell this man about me? Yet you're mad at me because of that" Ashly is trying not to laugh "Wow, I never expected you of all people to have my back." Ashly smirks as Marie turns around and covers her entire face
"I don't know why exactly I didn't tell him, I don't care about you. I want to know why I didn't say anything" Marie says as she continues to cry, Ashly turns around to leave "Wait Ashly there is also one more thing, Jake he is dead. He died on that one place, the one furthest from here"
"Well he deserves it, should of been smarter. He wouldn't have lived much longer anyways" Ashly says as she begins to leave with the horse, she starts to think of who would want her dead, who could know where she lives, and what her name is. She passes an older man who she remembers, another one of the men who sorta raised her. "Do you know who might have done this?" Ashly asked the man which he says no. She continues and walks to a man with grey hair and is skinny. He is laying in the snow, this is the owner of the horse that Ashly borrowed "Here's your horse back, brought her back safely" the man smiled and she leaves
Ashly walks past the brothel where she can see it's closed. She sees two men carrying Williams body out of the place "Couldn't they taken him away much earlier?" Ashly says as she sees his body, she can see the hole on his face. Exactly on his forehead, his left eye is fully red and the other is closed. His face is a bit blue from the cold weather, he is limp and she can't help but look "That must of been quick if his face looks calm" Ashly says as she continues to walk past
Ashly's stomach growls and she has no money on her. Why is she feeling hungry after seeing a dead body, "ASHLY!" A man yells and she turns around to see Gael, he is furious at her "You messed up your last scouting. I can't believe it took this long to hear about it"
He approaches her, Ashly is looking at him with a bored face "What did I do wrong? I looked around and got rid of the enemies, nothing wrong with that" Ashly says
"You were suppose to report if they were nearby not engaging with any of them! I can't belive you're this stupid" Gael smacks Ashly in the face and she falls to the ground, she rubs her face "I-I" Gael tries to calm down "We can't afford to be noticed or make mistakes Ashly, You are fully aware of the consequences" Ashly stands back up slowly and Gael notices "Injured huh? Well then, I still need you to return to that place"
"Return? I don't want to, that place stinks and what do I need to do?" Ashly says as she rubs the snow off her hair and clothes. Gael stares at her and takes his hat off he drops it on the ground and Ashly knows well what he is going to ask "Shit! I'm injured and you're going to do this to me!"
Gael turns around and begins to walk away "My hat, I want you to give it to me now" Gael demands as she kneels down and picks it up, she hands it to him and he smacks her before throwing it on the other side "Hand me my hat, it's very valuable to me" Ashly begins to walk to the hat and she grabs it and as she turns around Gael is already walking away
Ashly is pissed at him and she walks up to him "Your hat, here" she hands him back the hat and he inspects the hat, "It's fine, nothing is wrong with it" Ashly says grinding her teeth
"It's wet and dirty, this isn't my hat. Ashly when I ask you for something you must do it perfectly. I want you to clean it and hand it back to me in five minutes. I want it to look exactly like how it was when I wore it" with that Gael drops the hat again and walks away
"What an asshole" Ashly picks the hat back up "Where am I suppose to clean this? I don't have anything that can clean this at all" she stands up and walks back to the abandoned building and knocks on the door "Open up, it's me, Ashly" she waits a few seconds before knocking again "Come on, I know you don't leave this place. Let me in" the door finally opens and the mysterious man asks what does she want and as soon as he sees Gael's hat he lets her in.
"So, you did something wrong again. Lucky to not be dismembered or dead, honestly. If it was anyone else they would of been dead a long time ago, must be nice being able to screw up as much as you can" Ashly pushes the man and he doesn't react to it "This will cost you if you want her to clean it" Ashly places it on the table next to a woman who picks it up
"Make sure it's cleaned before sunset" Ashly reaches for her pouch and notices it's missing. The mysterious man and woman notices as well and before the mysterious man could kick Ashly out, the woman says she will do it. "Alright, and I promise I'll pay next time I get paid anything" Ashly sits down on a chair "You two wouldn't mind if I stay here for a while? I'm cold and injured" the woman stands up and walks away with the hat.
———
It's near sunset and Ashly is sleeping in the chair, the woman returns with the hat. She is about to places it on Ashly's lap but Ashly wakes up "Oh it's cleaned already?" She turns and sees the sun setting "Great, right on time. I need to go now" Ashly stands up and with the hat leaves the place.
"Where is he" Ashly says she starts walking around aimlessly and the other men see her holding the hat.
"The hat again, isn't this her third screw up." One of the men says "What a privileged one if the boss is soft on her everytime" said another, Ashly ignores them as she views them as idiots without value. She spots Gael drinking and walks right up to his face
"Oh you brought my hat already, now that's what I expected from you the first time." Gael then puts the hat on "Nah, this hat is awful. I should burn it later, should of left it behind honestly"
"Don't play with me Gael" Ashly says and the other men turn to look at her "Must suck that I'm allowed to call you by your name, right?" Ashly smirks at him "What? Want to defy the old boss's wishes Gael. I thought you respected that man greatly"
"You're right, I do respect him, and due to that I can't do anything about it. But that's not important now, I have what is needed to succeed in this mission" Gael points behind Ashly and she turns to see another man, his hair is curly and short. He looks normal, to normal and causal "This man, his name is Daniel and he is going to help you. Daniel, it would be nice to introduce you, but you must go now. I want you to burn this hat and return back later" Daniel nods and grabs the hat and begins to leave
"Listen Ashly, Greenside isn't ours" Gael says as he continues to drink, "I mean it as this isn't someplace we control, just some random town that is full of poor people that won't say shit. They can't as we buy their stuff and we act as their protectors. This place is too close to the district, and we can't rest as the SDA is near this place"
"Wait so this place isn't our? I thought it was. Then why are these people here if this isn't our stuff?" Ashly says and Gael points at an empty seat. Ashly sits down and Gael puts his drink down
"Listen Ashly, this is a very risky place for us to stay in. The reason why some of my men are here is because somebody has killed William. They must know who we are and we can't risk them exposing us or causing trouble. Some of my men will stay in case they return and we will kill him. That's how it works Ashly, we can't risk it" Gael then points at the sign "That name Greenside, it was made up by an unnamed man. Most likely made it up on the spot, no meaning behind it except for home"
"So you want me to go out knowing dam well that someone is after me? You want them to stay here, while there's a chance that the man would not return at all?" Ashly says and Gael nods "That's a load of rubbish and I-" Ashly then closes her mouth and stays seated, what kind of imbecile would do this she thinks to herself