The clouds of dust were closer now, finally revealing six horses bearing whooping and yelling riders. They drew up alongside the steadily slowing train, leaping onto the giant metal machine with ease.

"What do we do?" Kurt asked Santana, panicking slightly. He quickly looked around, trying to find Sam, but he couldn't see the tall blond anywhere.

"We've got to stay calm and hide," Santana responded quickly, grabbing Kurt's arm and pulling him away from the window. She hopped up and slid over the top of the bar with ease, most likely having done it many times before. Kurt mimicked her actions, though he was not as smooth and graceful as she was at it. They sat down on the floor, much to Kurt's dismay as that would dirty his outfit, with their backs pressed up against the bar. Within a couple of minutes, loud voices came crashing into the room.

"That's right, people, keep moving!" a thick voice whooped. A woman's small cry, along with the whimpering of a small child and the gruff, arguing voice of a man also filled the room. Kurt wished that he could see what was happening, and soon found his wish granted as Santana slowly raised a mirror up to peek over the top of the bar.

In the reflection, Kurt saw two rough-looking men, covered in dirt and dust, pushing forward a small group of people. A third man was going through the cabinets in the room, looking for anything valuable.

"Unhand me!" a familiar voice growled, and suddenly Kurt saw Sam getting shoved into the room. The gun at his hip was gone, but he did not seem to be hurt.

"Keep an eye on this one," the man who had brought Sam in told the other two men who were watching their prisoners as he shoved the tall blond towards them. "He's a feisty one." The two men nodded, inclining their heads slightly as if they had just been given an order by their superior. And maybe he was.

Kurt regarded the man with interest. He was tall, with light, chestnut brown hair that stuck up like spikes at the front. He wore a cocky, self-assured grin as he looked around the room victoriously.

"This room's clear, Bas," the brown haired man who had been searching the room announced. The man, whom had been addressed as Bas, smiled, glancing one more around the room.

"What about the bar, Trent?" Bas said, eyeing their hiding place suspiciously. Kurt gulped subconsciously, the sound louder than he had expected it to be. Bas' eyes flashed as he drew out the pistol from his waist and moved closer to the bar. Santana dropped her hand, cutting off their view of the room, taking Brit's hands in her own instead. Having no one to hold, Kurt hugged his arms around himself, hoping that they would be overlooked.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here!" Bas' voice cooed above them, making Kurt look up. "Hello, gorgeous, what's your name?" Kurt's eyes widened as he realized that the man was talking to him. When Kurt didn't answer, Bas' eyes narrowed unhappily.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" Bas scoffed. "Well, I can fix that. On your feet. All of you." With a pistol pointed at your face, how can you say no?

Kurt quickly scrambled to his feet with the two girls, raising his hands helplessly, praying that he would not die today.

One by one, they each slid over the bar top, each being forced towards the ever growing group of prisoners. Kurt was the last one to cross over, and his arm was instantly grabbed by Bas as soon as his feet touched the floor.

"My, you're even prettier up close," he grinned, leaning in closer to inhale Kurt's scent. Kurt found himself involuntarily shuddering at the man's closeness.

Kurt looked up at Sam, who looked like he was about to go wild and rampage over to him, but Kurt quickly mouthed the word, "No," to him. It didn't seem like these guys had recognized him, but if Sam came raging over, they might start to question Kurt's importance.

"Come on, Bas," the guard with the long, black hair sighed. "Wes wanted us up front immediately. A clean, quick sweep. Nothing else. You don't have time for playing." Kurt shuddered at the man's words.

"Aww, Nick, you're such a buzz kill!" Bas sighed, finally pushing Kurt forwards with the rest of the group. "I was just having a little fun!"

"Play time's over, Bas," Nick's blond companion stated, starting to move the prisoners forward. "We've got to go."

"Fine," Bas sighed, shoving a man behind Kurt forward. "Get moving, people!"

They quickly passed through the three carts that Kurt had traveled through not that long ago, stopping in their cart where more bandits waited. There apparently weren't that many people on the train today, because everyone seemed to fit in the one cart, even if it was a little uncomfortable. Kurt was shoved down onto a seat by a bandit he hadn't seen before, Sam following right behind him.

"Sam, what do we do?" Kurt whispered when the bandit turned away.

"Just stay calm and stay quiet," Sam replied cautiously. "They don't recognize you, so that's good. They'll probably just take what they want then leave. We've just got to sit tight until then."

Kurt nodded to show that he understood, not trusting his voice at the moment. Kurt hoped that Sam was right and that soon this would be all over.

"Quiet down!" an authoritative voice yelled over the noise in the room. Kurt eyes immediately snapped up to the dark haired Asian standing up on one of the tables. Once everyone's attention was on him, he continued.

"Now we know that you have something valuable on board here," the man started. "We've seen how many guards are waiting at the station. So our question is, what is it that's so valuable on here? Give it to us, and then we will leave you be. If you cooperate, then no one will have to get hurt." The entire room was silent. No one spoke as the man glared around the room.

"What? No one is willing to fess up?" the man exclaimed. "You don't want to give us your precious treasure? Well, then maybe you need a little persuasion." He motioned to two of the men standing by the door, who quickly opened it to reveal two more men dragging another man between them. Kurt nearly gasped out loud as he realized who it was. Puck. Kurt felt Sam stiffen beside him as he recognized Puck as well.

Puck was brought before the man on the table and shoved to his knees. He tried to fight against his captors, but it was no use as his hands were bound uselessly behind his back. He glared up at the man and yelled what Kurt imagined was many curse words and profanities through the gag in his mouth. The man just smiled down at him before looking back at the crowd in front of him.

"We know what trained guards look like," the man said, staring at each person intently as he looked around the room. "And this man is a guard. Now, what we want to know is, what was he guarding? Tell us now, and his life will be spared. If not..." The man pulled his gun from its holder and held it to Puck's head. "I would really hate to get blood on such a nice carpet, so how about somebody tells us what he's guarding?"

Kurt wanted to stand up and tell them that it was him that they were looking for, but he felt Sam's hand press against his leg in warning. As much as he hated seeing his friend caught in such a predicament, he had sworn an oath to protect Kurt with his life, so as much as he wanted to, he could not help Puck.

"Really?" the man exclaimed, slightly surprised. "No one is going to step forward? Well then, I guess if no one wants to save you, I'll be doing you a favour then." The man cocked the gun, pressing it against the flesh between Puck's eyes.

"One last chance," the man warned. "On the count of three, I'm going to blow his brains out."

Still nothing.

"Alright then," he sighed. "One. Two. Thr-"

"Stop!" Kurt didn't realize that the word had come from him until everyone's eyes turned to fall on him. Kurt stared back at all of them in fear and shock. Puck looked livid, Sam looked panicked, and the man on the table looked surprised. But that surprise quickly turned to pleasure.

"Bring him to me," he ordered and suddenly three of the men were advancing on him. Sam stood up, suddenly drawing out a gun that he must have had hidden on him that the bandits hadn't found.

"Stay back!" he yelled, holding the gun out in front of him with one hand as his other arm was held out protectively in front of Kurt. The man in charge seemed annoyed with this new development, but all he did was simply wave his hand at a couple more of the bandits.

It did not take them too long to disarm Sam and grab Kurt.

"Now," the man in charge said, hopping down from the table to look at Kurt who was now kneeling before him, a bandit holding onto each of his arms tightly. "What's on board here that's so special? I'm assuming you have the key to some sort of hidden chest or something? Well? What is it? What's so special that you needed to have two guards with you?"

Ignoring the fervent glances from Puck, Kurt solemnly looked up at the man and sighed.

"Me."