Adelita shades her eyes from the brilliant sun, trying to eek out what exactly it was she was looking at. She stands flanked by Doroteo and Xoc, both equally nonplussed. They stand in a small plaza just off of a busy city street, their assorted mounts hitched at the lattice arch entrance. As they blink blearly into the brilliance of the early morning sun several women throw rude hand gestures in their direction.

“‘Zat him?” Teo asked, his voice still slightly slurred and eyes thoroughly bloodshot. He blinks rapidly, his head pounding from the light.

Xoc adjusts the collar of his starched white shirt awkwardly, the only piece of his uniform that he still wears - that and the crossed bandoliers with matching pistols. “Sure looks like him. It’s his mustache, at least”

Teo spits on the ground, then growls to Adelita, “Think you can hit it?”

She shades her eyes, then pulls her bandana tighter about her face. “Of course.”

She draws her gun and fires thrice in quick succession before finally hitting the thin, fraying rope. Her pistol is already back in her holster by the time the body hits the earth and she stretches her hand to shake out the pervasive numbness.

“I see why you couldn’t hit me.” Xoc mutters under his breath, though he flinches as she fakes a lunge at him. Teo and Adelita share a soft laugh as they walk up to the corpse.

He’d been dead for a while now, his eyes pecked away by birds and his pecker shot off as target practice from the townsfolk. Xoc gives the body a vicious kick. An arm crackles as it falls away and the fingers get tangled in the loose laces of his boots. He lets out a high-pitched whimper and dances away, frantically kicking the hand off of him.

Adelita approaches, drawing a revolver from her hip, and takes a wide stance. She leans forward on her front leg, flicking her arm out to train the gun on his temple, and fires. Xoc retches into a nearby bush. Teo unzips his pants and the previous night’s tequila begins to wash away the desiccated viscera into the street.

Xoc returns, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, and gestures towards the crotch of the former sleaze. “Five pesos says that has something to do with why he’s dead.”

“Sure is,” Teo grunts, zipping back up, “Alvarado likely had him hung, neh? No general wants a rapist under their command. Though… I thought you’d know what happened to him.”

The large man casts an intense stare towards the smaller, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“I’ve heard of it happening, yeah.” Xoc replies begrudgingly, though he keeps a steady gaze back, “I just didn’t think he’d face justice this fast.”

Teo steps toward Xoc, a thick finger driving into his shoulder accusingly, “Yeah, because your info isn’t shit, little boy! I knew we shouldn’t trust you, you’re just taking us on a ride, neh? Going to bring us right into a trap, neh?!”

Xoc rises to his full, inconsiderable, height, “I still found him, didn’t I? I never said if he’d be alive! You got what you wanted, right? He’s dead, is he not? That’s the end result we want, is it not?”

“Oh, sure, good excuses.” Teo scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest, “if you know so much, where’s the next guy, eh? Where’s the… the… what was it?” He snaps his fingers towards Adelita, but finds the answer on his own, “The old man!”

“Sure!” Xoc replied confidently, “He’s in a cabin by Progresso, he-”

“WRONG!” Doroteo proclaims victoriously, “A good source told me he’s been stationed on the border to Peto, Alvarado’s to march on Quintana Roo in a few months, neh? Who are you trying to fool?”

“Wrong!” Xoc retorts, “He retired! I brought him that order myself and he quit on the spot! He was whining about it since before we were sent to this godforsaken corner of the country!”

Teo opens his mouth, a sneer loaded, but is interrupted by Adelita clearing her throat, lifting her bandana, and spitting on the corpse. The men look at her expectantly and she wanders over, a cloud of disappointment hanging heavy over her head.

“We can take a day or two detour.” She states. She walks past the two, heading for the horses. “And if he’s not there, no big loss. Besides, I grew up in Progresso. I can see my folks.”

“We don’t have the time for tea and cookies, mija!” Teo crows and starts to follow her, “And I don’t want to ride with a guy so quick to be a traitor, yeah?”

“This is why I stayed in the army in the first place!” Xoc calls after them, but remains where he stands, “I only wish I put a bullet in the old coot myself!”

Teo turns on his heel, a hand raised to the heavens with righteous rage -

“ENOUGH!” Adelita shouts, stomping her foot and drawing a clatter from the loose tiles. “We go to this cabin and if he’s not there, I’ll kill these fucking horses to make up the time!”

She wheels on Teo, then brings her rage to bear on Xoc, “I don’t need you two bickering behind me when I’ve already got enough shit in my head, okay!? I got enough enemies and making more every day, I don’t need you two at each other’s throats. I trust him, I trust you, that should be enough.”

A stunned silence hangs over the small plaza, interrupted only by the caw of crows descending on the body. Adelita stalks away, stomping the rest of the way over to the horses to tighten the saddles and check their supplies. Teo follows her, stepping over to his own horse… but he begins to pull supplies out and stuff them into a satchel bag.

Adelita pauses, her near-black eyes searching Doroteo’s clear blues. After a moment he sighs heavily, throws the bag over his shoulder, and glances with apprehension between the two younger travelers.

“Seems to me, mija,” he starts, “That you’ve got this figured out, neh?”

“What, so you’re just giving up?” Adelita demands, a hand holding the corner of his bag with a white-knuckled grip.

“Giving up?” He shouts in a bark of laughter, “No, but I… ah… I get why it looks that way, neh? No, the opposite mija.”

Teo steps away from the horse, gesturing for Xoc to take it. As the young man approaches, he continues, “No, I think you know what you’re doing, little Fusilada. I’m barely keeping up, no lie. Besides, I’m out of useful info anyway and... I got what I needed from you.”

Adelita glares at him with the intensity of Quetzalcoatl’s light, still not letting go of his bag, though a tone of fear creeps into her voice. “What does that mean?”

“Well,” He sighs, “this has all been a fun distraction, but this little trip’s lit a fire under my ass. I’m going north starting today, right now. Going to see if the Villa and Zapata can’t use me again. HEY!”

Teo gestures towards Xoc, who finally creeps closer. Teo adds to Adelita, “I’ve seen you enough, heard your story, and I think others need to too, yeah? Whether you like it or not, I’m going to tell folks what you’ve done here. A little girl out here, killing big bad carranzitas, practically alone? That’s song worthy, mjia.”

Teo leans down to pull her bandana off of her nose, over the scars, and free from her face. “You keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll change the whole world, you hear? You’re going to be the fire this country needs.”

“I don’t want that.” Adelita growls, the bandana quickly pulled back over her twisted face.

“Doesn’t matter what you want, La Fusilada, it matters what this country needs.” He points a thick finger in Xoc’s face, though he continues to address Adelita, “He’s useful, but you sleep with an eye open, okay? You never know when you get a knife in your back, when you get turned in and you get yourself right back in front of a firing line, neh?”

With that, Teo picks up Xoc’s bike and plops his broad frame on the narrow seat. The bike creaks as he begins to ride away with a jaunty ring of its bell. The two watch him wobble, still half-drunk, up the street, and out of sight.

“Sorry, I uh…” Xoc says sheepishly, pulling his elbow into himself with his other hand, “I didn’t mean to drive him off…”

La Fusilada steps up into her saddle and, after a moment’s thought, reaches down to ruffle his feathery black hair. She turns her horse east, towards the coast, with Xoc quick to mount up and follow.