Part Two
Fires of the Soul
There were bodies
everywhere. He was gagging on a breath that was thick with the scent of old
blood. It curdled the air and left a lingering stench of death against the
overpowering backdrop of the carnage around him. He had woken up into hell, or
so he thought when he opened his eyes after an eternity of black and thought
for a moment that he had died. Around him were broken bodies, writhing in shock
and pain. He saw amputees kicking non existent legs
and screaming to doctor and nurses who were trying hard to keep them from
trying to stand, defiant in the belief they were still whole. He saw grey
skinned doctors, working tirelessly, their aprons stained with so much blood
that they looked like butchers in a slaughterhouse not physicians.
He was certain they felt
the same.
When Lieutenant Larabee work up, he saw all that and wished that he was
dead because he could not feel his legs. The panic gripped him was the fiercest
he had ever known in his life and he started to descend into a fit of terror as
he started screaming for someone to tell him that what he was feeling below the
waist was not what his mind could not accept.
"Easy there,
Lieutenant!" He heard a voice along side his
bed, holding him down as the amputee he had seen needed to be held down.
"Chris!" He
gasped. "My name is Chris!"
"I know that
Sir," Wilmington repeated himself, putting his considerable strength into
pinning Chris’ shoulder’s to the bed and forcing the terrified lieutenant who
had never been afraid of anything for as long as the private had known him, to
calm down and look into his face. "It ain’t what you think. You’re okay.
Really!"
"I can’t feel my
legs!" Chris screamed. His life was over! He was a cripple! He couldn’t walk!
Couldn’t have children! Couldn’t even be a man!
"It’s
temporary!"
"Chris." Chris
looked at his face and knew his words were in earnest. The genuine compassion
and sincerity in the private’s face bled away his fear and slowly, he descended
from the altitude of terror into a calmer state of mind.
"Chris,"
Chris eased back into his pillow, the fight dissipating and there was something
comforting about having
"Ain’t no reason to
talk about that now Sir,"
"Don’t make me pull
rank on you Private." Chris gave him a look, tinged with a faint hint of a
smile which created a broader one on Wilmington’s face.
"Okay Sir," he
answered sobering up as if he found the subject distasteful. "It was
Captain Julius. He shot you in the back. The men grabbed him and Bellison after he done it. Guess he underestimated how
grateful the men were to you after saving their necks the way you did."
"How did I get
here?" Chris croaked. His throat felt dry and he needed water. He was
glancing at the side of his cot, hoping there was a pitcher of the stuff nearby
when he saw Wilmington already reaching for it to pour him a glass. The private
held the cup to his lips and Chris took greedy gulps. It felt as if he had been
out for days and his mouth was full of cotton.
"After we took care
of Bellison, me and a couple of volunteers walked off
the line to get you here." Wilmington explained before putting the cup
back on top of the small table next to his cot.
Suddenly Chris had a
premonition that he owed his life to this young man who had most likely been
the main instigation for his being brought here to this field hospital.
"Thanks, Wilmington." Chris found himself saying.
"My friends call me
Buck," Wilmington replied.
Chris met his gaze and
let a hollow smile steal across his face. "Buck it is."
"Chris." Buck’s
voice snapped him back to the present and Chris turned back to his old friend
who was waiting for an answer to a question that he had not heard.
"What?" Chris
asked, trying to remember what Buck and Vin had been saying when his mind had
drifted off to memories best left in the past.
"I said we can’t bring
this stuff back to town," Buck frowned, wondering where Chris had been the
last two minutes. He certainly was not on the plains where they had intercepted
the convoy of wagons and was now attempting to discern its fate. "This
much nitro is going to bring someone’s attention. We ought to hide it until we
know what to do with it."
"Concerns me what so
much of it is doing out here." Nathan declared while cleaning the wound on
Vin’s shoulder in order to keep it from aggravation before they could return to
Four Corners where it could be tended to properly. "This much nitro is
enough to start a small war." The healer glanced briefly at the four
remaining wagons that remained intact after two of its number had been
destroyed.
"Obviously they were
going somewhere with it." Ezra answered and Chris had to focus for a
moment to shake the fog over his brain. This entire situation with Bellison had awoke some very unpleasant memories for Chris
and he had trouble concentrating on the present, when so much of the past kept
surfacing to remind him of the players that had suddenly walked onto the
present stage.
"What happened to Bellison." Chris asked suddenly, slicing neatly
through their speculations.
"Josiah and I rode
around looking for him," JD spoke up gingerly, a little fearful of the
hard edge he heard in Chris’ voice. If a word could be put to the gunslinger’s
mood at this moment, JD was certain ‘filthy’ would have done quite nicely.
Chris was a volcano about to erupt and he was making all his friends nervous.
"We couldn’t find a sign of him."
"Man’s good."
Josiah rumbled with an unhappy scowl on his face before Chris could respond to JD’s
findings. "We didn’t even see any tracks."
"He used to be an
Indian scout before the war," Chris responded, unaware from where that
piece of information had come for a moment before he realised
that as a Sargent under his command, Chris was
required to know Bellison’s history. "Pretty
good one from what I heard." He volunteered further a second later and
reached into his duster for his cheroot. Suddenly, he needed a smoke real bad.
A drink would have to wait until after he got into town.
"So what are we going
to do about the nitro?" Vin asked, flinching a little when Nathan
tightened a bandage around his injured biceps.
"Hide it." Buck
repeated his thoughts on the matter. "Ain’t no way that Bellison could have anything to do with the army if he was
running things. If that ain’t army, then it can’t be legal. Railroad
construction use dynamite, not nitro. You’re looking to do some serious damage
with that kind of firepower."
No one could argue with
Buck’s statement. After seeing how the wagon had been literally incinerated by
one stray shotgun pellet, there was no denying the perilous nature of the cargo
that had been in the process of transportation when the seven had come across
it.
"Okay so we hide
it," Josiah replied. "Where?" He looked at his companions in
question. "We ought to keep it out of sight.
Chris tended to agree with
the preacher on that assertion and thought quickly as to what they should do
about with the wagons and their cargo. "We’ll take it to the ranch for
now." He said after a moment. "Josiah, you and JD will keep guard on
it once we get there. We’ll keep this men in jail for now, at least until we
can work out what this nitro meant for."
"We must attempt to
find out to whom it was destined to reach." Ezra pointed out.
"Explosive in this quantity had a purpose, not to mention someone must
have paid a tidy sum to purchase it. I think our concerns ought to be focussed on who might come searching in an attempt to
reclaim their property."
"Ezra’s right,"
Chris agreed with the gambler, having considered that himself. "The sooner
we get it off our hands the better. We’d be inviting a lot of trouble by
hanging on to it and we can’t just hand it to anyone either. Its gonna have to
be the army."
"Well one thing is for
sure," Vin started to say and then hissed at Nathan when the healer
secured the bandage and kept it from unravelling by
use of a safety pin. He scowled at Nathan who returned a look to stifle his
complaint or be prepared to get iodine later. The tracker decided against it
and turned back to the topic of conversation. "Whatever that stuff was
meant for, it ain’t legal. You don’t move nitro this way, not unless you want
it kept real quiet."
"I’ll get back to town
and wire the army." Chris replied, deciding that the army was the only ones
who had any business with this type of munition and
would know how to dispose of it or at least take the problem off their hands.
However, Chris wanted to know what part of Bellison
had to play in this. Whatever it was, Chris was certain it was no good. The
appearance of Bellison now sparked other concerns, in
particular the fate of Hannibal Julius. Chris had assumed the man had been
languishing in a prison since the last days of the war but if Bellison was out and he had incurred the same sentence as
Julius, then what of the Captain himself?
Chris did not add that the
reason he wanted to wire the army was not simply to tell them about the nitro
and ridding themselves of a powder keg of trouble but also to make some
inquiries into Julius’ ultimate fate.
"We ought to clear out
one of the wagons." Buck suggested. "That lot don’t look too happy to
ride shotgun to the stuff after what happened to the other wagons."
Chris could hardly blame
them for that. Before he and Vin had returned, Buck and the others had tied up
the men guarding the shipment and rounded them into one place in order to move
them back to Four Corners. The gunslinger glanced at the unhappy faces tied up
and disarmed waiting judgement, near enough for any
of the seven to notice if one of them decided to go back on their word of
surrender.
"Okay," Chris
agreed with that plan. "There should be room to clear out one since the
others don’t need space for a guard and supplies any more. Untie a few of them
and get them to do the unloading Buck." Chris ordered before adding.
"We’ll have to tether our horses behind the wagons and take them to the
ranch ourselves. I don’t trust these men any further than I can throw ‘em. Vin you ride shotgun with someone, you ain’t in to
shape to handle a wagon gently."
"Thanks pard." Vin frowned, hating it whenever he was injured.
"I do feel that we
ought to be asking for hazard pay," Ezra retorted as he eyed the four
wagons that needed transportation back to Four Corners. Driving a wagon full of
nitro glycerin was not exactly the way he wished to exit this life if indeed it
was time for him to meet his maker.
"Well you can bring
that up with the Judge, the next time he’s in town." Chris retorted, more
or less expecting some form of complaint from Ezra as if it were some ritual
that the gambler felt obligated to perform each time they ran into something
unexpected. It brought some sense into Chris’ universe to know that at least
some things would never change and was almost grateful for the banter in light
of Bellison’s appearance today.
"Alright," Chris
said with a loud sigh. "Let’s get to it. I want to be out of here before
it gets dark."
With a purpose set before
them, the lawmen started to break up, each unconsciously knowing what Chris
required of them following their brief discussion regarding their surprise
discovery. Buck lingered a moment, wanting to speak to Chris because the
gunslinger seemed preoccupied even though he had snapped out of his reverie
long enough to give them directions.
"You okay Chris?"
Buck asked once the others were a few steps ahead.
"I’m fine." Chris
said shortly, knowing why he was asking.
"So you really saw Bellison." Buck remarked. "I thought he was
rotting in a federal jail somewhere."
"It was him."
Chris said firmly, wishing no mistake on that. "He even called me
Lieutenant."
That would make sense Buck
decided since Bellison had been absent when Chris had
been promoted to Captain. "I wondered what happened to him."
"I didn’t," the
gunslinger replied staring into the horizon, trying to see something that was
not there. "I just wanted him gone."
"You’re thinking about
the Captain ain’t ya?" Buck guessed accurately, since he was thinking
about Hannibal Julius himself.
"He’s out here
somewhere Buck." Chris declared, not knowing how he knew but certain he
was right. The moment he had seen Bellison, Chris had
no doubt that the former Sargeant was still in the
employ of his former master. How strongly he had reacted to Chris was proof of
that. "This time he ain’t gonna get the chance to shoot me in the
back."
********
It was well into dark by
the time the seven finally returned to town with their prisoners. The nitro
presently resided at the Lucky Seven ranch, guarded by JD and Josiah for the
time being. After Vin had come into town and had his arm properly treated, the
tracker would return home and complete the triumvirate of protection that the
explosives required. Chris wanted it gone as soon as possible and went straight
to the telegraph office to wire the local fort regarding their problem, hoping
that someone would soon arrive from the army to collect the liquid explosive.
After leaving Franklin with explicit instructions that the telegraph was to be
sent immediately, Chris headed for the saloon in need of a drink.
He felt slightly guilty
knowing that he ought to be going home for supper but the whole business with Bellison had brought back memories he neither wanted nor
could tolerate. A bullet to the back had changed him forever, not simply
because he had faced the fear of being half a man until he regained use of his
legs but it had educated him most profoundly on how deep human ugliness could
reach. He came out of the hospital and convalescence a harder man, with
idealism burned away in place of cold cynicism. A situation which had not
improved when he had lost Sarah and Adam. He had reached full circle of
becoming the man he was now when his wife and child had died.
Even marriage to Mary had
not taken the sharp edge of him and he nothing ever would.
He sat at their usual table
in the Standish Tavern, still being bartended by Rain for the moment because
Inez’s role as manager did not require her present on a full time basis. The
new mother would come in during the afternoons and early evenings to serve meals
for the clientele before taking herself home and retrieving her daughter from
Rain who doubled as baby sister during Inez’s tenure in the saloon. It was
quite an amicable arrangement that had the lady bartender playing the multiple
roles she had set for herself. Chris was amazed at her stamina and knew that
when their child was born, Mary would be just as tireless. Women seemed to be
able to relegate their time into neat little parcels while men were less
inclined to be so organised.
Buck had headed off for
home shortly after they had delivered the nitro the ranch, undoubtedly eager to
see his wife and his new baby even though the big man would be hard pressed to
admit it. Chris could hardly blame him for that. Buck had always enjoyed having
a family around him even though he confessed to being a ladies
man. Ever since his marriage, he had astonished all his friends by his ability
to remain faithful to Inez and his utter devotion to his daughter Elena. It was
not unusual for the rest of the seven catching the proud father doting
unashamedly on his new child.
Chris found himself alone
in the Standish Tavern since Ezra had taken the task of keeping an eye on the
prisoners in the jailhouse, since JD and Josiah were required to keep an eye on
the nitro at the ranch. Nathan would eventually join the gambler once the
healer was done looking after he was done treating Vin’s arm. No doubt, Vin
would head back to the ranch after Nathan was done and complete the triumvirate
of protection for the nitro since voluntary rest was not in the tracker’s
vocabulary. Chris found an involuntary smile stealing across his face at how
Vin would fare with that sort of thinking when he found himself married to a
doctor.
When he finally decided to
go home, he found Mary on her chair, having fallen asleep there while mending
some clothes, the bulk of which still sat in a basket at her feet. Her sewing
kit rested gently on her lap along with a shirt of his she had been working on
at the time she had dozed off and Chris found himself by the doorway to the parlour watching her sleep. By the looks of her, it
appeared she had just an equally exhausting day as he did. She was wearing her
work clothes and her hair tied up in a bun, had worked free with stray strands
brushing her skin after her exertions.
They said pregnant women
were supposed to glow and at this moment, whether or not Mary knew it, Chris
found his breath taken away by how radiant she looked. The pregnancy was
starting to show a little, with a slight curve at her belly he sometimes felt
almost afraid to touch for the sheer happiness he felt, when he woke up and realised that she was his and hope had come with her. The
initial stages of her pregnancy had been difficult, with morning sickness being
particularly brutal. Chris remembered the nights when she had spent most of it
retching and wondered how the women of the world did not kill their men from
the sheer frustration of being the only one to suffer when it came time for a
child to be born. Now Mary spent most of her time, trying not to devour
everything in the house and Chris was grateful for that or else he would have
to go hunting.
After watching her, Bellison and Julius seemed far away and he came forward
quietly, removing the objects in her lap and placing it aside so she could find
it easily in the morning before slipping his arms around her and lifting her
off the chair. The fact that she barely stirred as he carried her up the stairs
towards their bedroom was a testament to how tired she was and now Chris felt
doubly guilty for hiding out in the saloon when he should have been home with
her. She did not stir until after he had begun ascending the stairs and the
irregular movement woke her.
"Chris." She whispered as she fluttered her eyelids and looked up at
him. "What are you doing?" She asked even though she was not quite
awake yet and reluctant to be free of those wonderful arms around her.
"Taking you to
bed." He answered as they reached the top of the stairs.
"Why Mr Larabee," she teased softly. "What are you suggesting?"
Chris found himself
grinning. "Mrs Larabee,
you got way to much energy for me." He joked and once again, felt himself
renewed when he stared into those blue grey eyes.
"Well put me
down," she said yawning. "I must be heavy."
"Not a chance,"
he replied. "I ain’t never letting you go now that I got you."
"Flatterer." She
smiled and nuzzled her face in her chest, not about to argue with him as he
carried her into their bedroom. "Any trouble on the way back?" She
asked since trouble and the seven went like bacon and eggs and any other cliche’ pairing.
"A little," Chris
admitted but not about to go into detail. He was not ready to talk about how he
felt about Julius and Bellison. It delved too deeply
in the parts of his life he did not want to talk about. If started telling her
about them, then he might have to tell her about the rest of it and even now,
nearly twenty years after the event, he still found it hard to talk about.
However, he would not keep it from her because she was his wife but he was not
going to volunteer it either. At least not yet anyway. Right now, he wanted
nothing more than to hold his wife in his arms and fall asleep with her scent
in his lungs. "But nothing we couldn’t handle. Vin got a little
hurt."
"Vin always gets
hurt," Mary mumbled, letting her sleepiness overtake her again. "I
swear I do believe the only reason he’s marrying Alex, is so he can have a
doctor on call."
"Oh I’d say there at
least one other reason." He chuckled softly as he lay her down on the bed,
wondering how it was possible that she could take away all the turmoil inside
of him with just her smile.
"Probably," she
laughed and started to undress as he did the same to join her in her bed. She
noted the expression on his face as she undid the buttons on her dress and
found herself asking. "Chris, are you all right?"
Chris looked over his
shoulder at her, wondering how she was able to manage to discern that something
was wrong and then opted against trying to understand how she knew and deal
with the fact that she did. "I’m just thinking about things."
"Like what?" She
asked, tossing her dress into the near by chair.
"Nothing
important." He shrugged and climbed into the sheets with her, once he was
freed of clothing. Naked, he slid next to her body and delighted at the feel of
her bare skin against hers. Fabric always seemed to be a hindrance when they
went to bed and after months of marriage, they had decided that it was
pointless wearing anything at all with Chris’ craving for his wife almost
matched by her surprisingly ravenous appetite for him.
Mary continued to stare a
little longer before she was willing to nestle into the warmth of his embrace,
aware that there was something wrong even if he did not wish to discuss it.
However, it was never wise to push him into revealing his inner soul unless he
was ready to do so and by the manner of him at this time, Mary assumed that he
was far from it. "I was going to clear out the spare room for the nursery,
what do you think?" She asked as she snuggled next to him.
"Fine." He said
stiffly. "Whatever you like."
"Chris there is
something wrong." She pushed herself up on her elbow to look at him.
"I said drop it."
He spoke with more harshness than he intended, wishing that she would just
leave it alone and then realised that she had and it
was he who had bitten.
"Chris, I am not one
of your men." She responded just as sharply, completely awake now.
"I know you
ain’t," he said guiltily. "But I don’t want to talk about it or
anything to do with the baby right now, is that too hard for you to
understand?"
"Of course not," she started to stammer, realising
for the first time that he might have trouble coping with the fact that he was
soon to be a new father, no matter how much he might have attempted to hide
that fact from her. "I just asking your opinion." She was not sure
how to deal with this now that the possibility had presented itself to her so
starkly.
"You can take care of
it yourself Mary," Chris frowned, rolling on his side, suddenly having no
wish to face her when he felt unable to stem the hostility that was frothing
from inside him without pause.
"Chris...." Mary
found herself starting to get upset.
"Look!" He jumped
out of bed and grabbed a pillow. "I’m too tired for this." Without
saying another word, he pulled on his pants and padded out of the room, leaving
Mary to stare after him in stunned silence.
**********
Although Vin had wanted to
wait in town until Alex returned from one of her house calls, he knew that
Josiah and JD were at the ranch guarding the nitro and should probably go home
to give them a hand. Even though Nathan had specifically ordered him to get
some rest, both he and the tracker knew that was about as likely to happen as
Ezra suddenly giving up cards and taking up knitting as a past time. By the
time Vin got to the ranch, it was after dark and he found Alex already present.
The doctor had stopped by on her way back to Four Corners to see if he was back
from his trip and found Josiah and JD.
Vin walked into the shack
and was greeted by the pleasant aroma of food cooking. Josiah and JD were
seated at the hewn kitchen table while Alex was at the stove cooking. Despite
the jokes he often made at her expense, Alex could cook and quite well. She
just did not do it that often. It felt good seeing her there and Vin could not
deny looking forward to the day when she lived here permanently. Vin let
himself in quietly and gestured for Josiah and JD to be quiet as he went to
announce himself to Alex. Both men nodded in understanding and returned to their
conversation at the table, leaving the couple to their sentimental exchanges,
trying not to notice.
"Hey there Doc."
Vin said sliding his hand around her waist and kissing her neck while she was
stirring the stew inside the pot before her.
"Vin!" Alex
stopped what she was doing immediately and turned around wrapped her arms
around him, before their mouths melted in a warm kiss. "Are you
okay?" She said breathlessly as she recovered from the effect of his lips
against hers and moved to baser instincts. "JD said you were hurt."
Her eyes shifted to his arm and noticed the slight bulge of a bandage under his
buckskins.
"I’m okay," he
assured her, his hands resting comfortably on her waist. "It was just a
scratch." He replied before kissing her again, since that was more of a
tonic for what ailed him than any treatment Nathan could prescribed.
"It is huh?" She
looked at him with apparent disbelief. "I’ll check it out later. In the
meantime, are you hungry?" Alex asked, gesturing towards the pot and its
boiling contents with a sidelong glance.
Vin could not deny that he
was a little hungry. He had not stopped to get some dinner in his eagerness to
flee Nathan’s ministrations and found the aroma of whatever was cooking to be
almost as enticing as Alex herself. "I could eat." He winked at her
suggestively.
"Food I mean."
She laughed and pulled his hat over his face before turning back to the stove.
"Get out there and sit down, I’ll bring this out in a minute."
"Okay," Vin
nodded obediently and took the opportunity to deliver a playful slap on her
rear as he departed, garnering a dark look of mock offence as he walked to the
kitchen table to join Josiah and JD.
"You really think
someone will come after this stuff?" JD asked when Vin sat down and poured
himself a cup of the piping hot coffee.
"I’d say so." Vin
answered meeting Josiah’s gaze who believed the same thing. "Nitro ain’t
meant to be moved like that and not that much of it."
"Whomever wanted it in
those quantities had some kind of purpose for it." Josiah replied.
"Anyone needing to cause that much damage is not about to let their means
slip out of their reach just because of us. We should expect trouble."
The appearance of Alex
suddenly reminded Vin of something important. If danger was coming then it was
best that she were not here. She was of course oblivious to what was running
through his mind as she started serving the meal, with JD eagerly waiting for
the food as only a young man of his age could.
"Alex," Vin spoke
up as he pulled her on to his lap as she walked past to take a seat beside him.
"I’ll take you back to town when we’re done with dinner. It might be a
little dangerous for you around here with the nitro being kept here."
Her disappointment showed
but she understood that he was only being so cautious because he was worried
about her. "What about you three?" Alex said unable to forget that he
was in danger too. "Are you guys going to be all right?"
"I doubt they’ll come
after us tonight," Josiah responded allaying her fears. "And
tomorrow, Chris and the others will be here, so we should be all right."
"Well take care,"
she frowned looking at the three of them in concern. Although her love for Vin
was without question, Josiah and JD were her friends, she did not want them
harmed any more than she wished to see Vin in danger. "I guess we’ll have
to talk about the wedding another night," she shrugged as she turned back
to Vin.
"The wedding?"
Vin swallowed visibly. "What’s there to talk about?" He asked,
suddenly revisited by all the sage advice that he had been given by his friends
earlier that day. Vin cast a terrified glance at both Josiah and JD who could
only look on in sympathy.
"Well there are
arrangements to make," Alex answered, confused by the tension that was
suddenly in his voice. "We haven’t decided on anything yet."
"What
arrangements?" He asked, suddenly taking on the appearance of a deer in
someone’s sights. "We go get a preacher and get it done."
"Vin," Alex
looked at him as if he was a child who needed education in the simplest terms.
"Its not that simple. There’s the ceremony,
where we’re going to do it, who you want for a best man, that sort of
thing."
Vin lifted her off his lap
and said very firmly. "You see this is how it starts, first you say
arrangements, then you say you want ten people and then twenty, next thing we
know, we got more fuss than we know what to do with. I ain’t putting up with
it, Alex." He stood up and met her eye to eye.
"Vin, have you lost
your mind?" Alex declared, staring at him as if he had come from another
planet. "When I mean arrangements, I mean are we going to get Josiah to do
it? Do you have any religious preference? You talked about doing an Indian
thing once and what exactly do you mean you’re not putting up with it?"
Her hands rested on her hips which told every man in the room especially Vin
that she was angry. "It was your idea to get married, Vin Tanner."
She jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "If you’re having some
problems with it, I suggest we get it out in the open now."
"Vin," Josiah
started to speak out. "Maybe we ought to go outside."
"Shut up Josiah, its
fine." He said sharply. "Alex I ain’t got no problem marrying you, I
just don’t want things to get out of hand. Now a man’s got the right to say how
things goes in his house with his woman."
Josiah shook his head as he
heard those words escape Vin and did not even have to see the black cloud on
Alex’s face to know what Vin just unleashed upon himself and he picked up his
plate and moved to the far end of the table. JD who was just as mesmerised by what was going on, understood the need for
distance and did the same.
"His woman?" Alex
could only stutter for a few seconds. "Did you say his woman?"
"That’s right,"
Vin replied, still too wrapped up in paranoia to see that he was hurtling
towards the abyss. "I mean I don’t want no wedding where I’m gonna get
fitted for a suit like some kind of undertaker going to a funeral and I don’t
want place cards or cake!"
"Well," she said
nodding in understanding, taking it a lot calmer than Vin had thought she
would. "I’m assuming that this topic came up in conversation today,
JD?" She looked at the young man because of the two bystanders present, JD
was the one most likely to tell her what she needed to know.
"Sort of." JD
flinched, offering a silent apology to Vin for his betrayal.
"I see," Alex
nodded almost reflectively before turning to Vin and said in a very calm voice
that frightened the men in the room more than four wagons of nitro going up in
flames. "For starters, contrary to what you’ve probably been told by Buck
I’m guessing, I really do want a small ceremony with our friends and no fuss! I
don’t know what garbage has been fed into your head," she shot a murderous
glare at Josiah and JD before turning back to Vin. "But if you keep up this
‘woman’ crap, you’ll be walking down the aisle with Peso!" With that she
stormed out of the room, pausing long enough to grab her riding coat and her sun hat before she walked out the door and slammed it shut
behind her.
Vin looked at Josiah and JD
trying to discern what had come over him when he let out a groan at the realisation of his utter foolishness wrought of a paranoia
and too much advice. "Aw hell! Alex!" He hurried after her.
Vin had pulled open the
door and saw Alex striding purposefully towards her horse, wondering whether or
not there was any way to grovel and still maintain one’s dignity. "Alex,
honey, I’m sorry!" He called after her. "I don’t know what came over
me!"
"How about
stupidity!" She shouted as she swung her coat around herself and shoved
her arm roughly through the sleeve.
"Look," he ran up
to her and took her arm gently, "I let Buck talk me into believing that
you wanted this big wedding with all the trimmings and I guess I got a little
crazy."
"Gee, you think?" She glared at him sarcastically.
"I’m sorry darlin," he implored giving her that look he knew she
could never stay mad at for very long.
Anything she was going to
say was cut short by the sudden eruption of gunfire. The bullet struck the
hitching post next to her and Alex let out a startled cry of fear as Vin forced
her to the ground and went for his gun. Phoebe started rearing up on her hind
legs, the sound of bullets far too close for the animal’s liking and sending it
into panic as it tried to pull itself free of its tether. Vin tried to get a
look at where the bullets were coming from but they were right in the open and
he was more concerned with getting Alex to safety. He unsheathed his Winchester
and fired into the direction of the gunfire but could not see for certain where
it was coming from.
"Vin!" Alex cried
out terrified. "What’s happening!"
"Keep your head
down!" He barked and ordered her to stay low as they took refuge behind
the scant protection of the hitching post. The water trough was only a few feet
in front of them and if they ran for it, they could reach its safety. It was
not much in the way of cover but Vin was dealing with one crisis at a time. He
did not know how many guns were out there waiting for them but he could tell
that it was enough to overcome all three of the lawmen from Four Corners. He
fired a few more times and then realised to his
dismay he would have to reload.
"Alex," he
shouted and grabbed her hand. "When I say go, we make for the trough, you
hear?" He ordered.
She looked at him apprehensively
and nodded, a far cry from the woman who had just given him hell a few seconds
ago. "All right," she swallowed breathlessly, lips quivering and face
etched in fear. "Just tell me when to run."
He took her hand in his as
the bullet impacted at the ground near them with Phoebe kicking and neighing in
fright, providing enough cover for their attackers to have trouble closing in
on them. The animal’s bulk was the only thing that had kept them from cut down
so far. The horse’s hooves kicking and stamping on the ground had created a
small cloud of dust and since it made no difference whether or not they waited
to make their run to safety, Vin decided sooner was the better of the two
options.
"Come on!" He
answered and the two of them scrambled to their feet and emerged from behind
Phoebe taking the gunfire with them as they ran forward. It was only until
after they had started running did Vin realise the
enormity of their situation. Bullets were coming at them from all directions
not just one. The projectiles struck the ground, they embedded themselves into
the wood of the hitching post and even flew past the bodies running to escape
the reach of lead. Vin and Alex practically skidded on their bellies behind the
water trough before scrambling behind the obstruction of wood.
"They’ve set up a kill
zone." Vin replied as he started reloading his weapon.
"A what?" Alex
asked terrified as she slid next to him.
"They’ve got us
surrounded." He explained as his fingers moved at lighting
speed to insert cartridges into the chamber of his Winchester.
"Oh my god!" Alex
cried out and tried to peer over the edge when a bullet splintered the edge of
the trough near her and forced a cry of fright as she recoiled back into cover.
"Keep your head down
woman!" He replied pulling her the rest of the way down.
"Don’t yell at
me!" She shouted in anger borne party of the fear she was feeling. She
hated that she could not see them and that made it all the worse, knowing that
the enemy whomever, was closing in on them.
"I’m not yelling at
you!" He swore back and decided that that they had to get to the shack or
else they were not going to last very long where they were. Suddenly, he saw
Josiah and JD taking point, laying down a barrage of fire though the windows
they had broken in order to offer cover to Alex and Vin so that they could make
a run for the shack.
"Vin!" Josiah
shouted, the man’s deep voice like a beacon of light to a ship lost at sea.
"We’re covering you!" The preacher repeated himself.
"Alex," Vin
turned to her, seeing just how afraid she was as she crouched low, shuddering
at every eruption of gunfire, trying not to react in fright each time she heard
a bullet too closer to her. She was breathing hard and had pulled her legs
close to her body and watching everything like a skittish animal. "We got
to make a run for it." He said in low voice, trying to keep calm himself
because she needed him to look like he at least knew what he was doing.
"Okay," she
nodded. "What do we have to do?" She asked, lips quivering a little.
"When I tell you, you
keep your head down and make for the shack as fast as you can." Vin
instructed, flinching when another projectile struck the wooden through and
send tiny splinters in all directions. "Josiah is giving us cover to make
it there."
"What about you?"
She asked, unwilling to leave him until she knew he was going to be safe too.
She did not want him to put himself at unnecessary risk by trying to protect
her and she was not going without him.
"I’ll be right behind
you." Vin answered automatically, knowing that to say otherwise was to
ensure that she would not do as he asked. Alex was just as fiercely protective
of him as he was of her. "I promise." He added, just to make sure
that she understood that he was not saying whatever he could to make her obey.
"Okay," she
nodded quickly and moved into position, mindful of what he had told her about
keeping her head down. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she was really
quite frightened with what was happening but knowing Vin was behind her, gave
Alex some measure of resolve not to fail him at this most perilous hour.
Vin glanced at Josiah
through the broken glass and nodded at the preacher as a signal to lay down a
wall of suppressing fire at their unseen attackers. Josiah shouted something to
JD that Vin could not quite hear over the sound of gunplay but soon understood
its content when JD started firing with both guns with Josiah doing the same.
The wall of bullets that flew through the window shattered what remained of the
glass, sending fragments in all directions.
"Alex, run!" Vin
ordered and Alex hurried from behind their refuge, like a sprinter at the start
of a race. She ran forward quickly, pulling her skirts up above her ankles,
while keeping her head down at the same time. She could not see the men trying
to kill them but Alex knew, trying to seek them out would be a fatal mistake.
She did however look behind her long enough to see Vin behind her, shooting in
the direction that Josiah and JD were doing with his freshly reloaded
Winchester. It took less than a second for her to look over her shoulder but it
was enough time for one bullet to find its mark. She felt it enter her
shoulder, creating white hot pain that forced a cry of pain from her before she
was even aware that she had been hit. It swept the strength out of her legs and
the air from her lungs.
"ALEX!" Vin screamed as he saw her stumble and fall to the ground,
her white shirt bloodied as she landed on her knees and braced her fall with
her hands. He continued shooting and hurried forward, his arm wrapping itself
around her waist as he pulled her up and tried to keep her moving. Alex was
hurt but not so much that she did not realise the
importance to both their lives at continuing forward. He heard her groan in pain
as she forced herself to move and together they ran towards the shack, with
Vin’s arm secure around her waist as they stepped onto the porch and
practically leapt through the front door.
"Alex are you all
right?" Vin demanded as he kicked the door close behind. Both of them were
side by side by the floor with Alex rolling onto her back and clutching her
injured shoulder, her face contorted into a vision of pain.
With Vin and Alex securely
inside, their attackers concentrated all firepower on the shack. Bullet tore
through the walls, smashing cups and plates and anything that it was able to
reach. Josiah and JD were crouched low below the windowsills, emerging long
enough to fire before the hail of gunfire kept them low.
"How bad is she hurt?" Josiah shouted as he looked on briefly at the
tracker who was trying to make the judgement for
himself. If worse came to worse, they might have to make a run for it.
Vin was tearing at her
sleeves, trying to examine the bullet wound himself. "I don’t know
yet."
"I think its a flesh wound!" She hissed closing her eyes in an
effort to control the pain. "God it hurts!" She swore, trying not to
cry as the pain bit into her.
"We can’t stay
here!" JD declared. "I’m almost out of ammo!" He was quickly
loading all the remaining bullets into his own guns.
"Unfortunately,"
Josiah remarked as another bullet smashed into lamp and shattered it across the
floor. "So am I. Vin, we got to move."
Vin thought quickly as he
looked at Alex trying to control her pain and not be a hindrance to them in
this critical situation. She was right, it was a flesh wound with the blood
making it look a lot worse than it really was. They were running out of ammo
and they had nothing in which to barter for their lives except.....
"Alex," he looked
at her. "Can you move?"
"Yes." She
nodded, speaking through clenched teeth as she did so. "I can move."
Vin had a plan and it was
risky but it was the only chance that any of them had at the moment.
"Josiah, we’re going to the barn!"
"The barn?"
Josiah looked back at him. "Why?"
"Because there’s only
one thing those bastards care about here and its that
damn nitro! They won’t shoot at the barn if we tell them its
there. They need it too much to fire on us!"
As much as Josiah hated to
admit it, Vin was right. If they made their escape through the back, there was
just enough cover in trees and shrubs for them to reach the barn without
getting themselves killed.
"Hold your fire!"
Vin ordered. "Keep everything we got for the run!"
Josiah, JD and Vin
exchanged glances, aware of how much of a gamble this was precisely. The
numbers out there were more than just a few, they were a lot and judging by the
fact that the enemy was willing to destroy the shack and kill everyone inside
to get what they wanted was indication of their ruthlessness. If any of them
were going to walk out of here alive, they were going to have to take this one
shot, no matter how slender it might be. Outside, the darkness would give them
something of an advantage; Vin hoped that was enough.
With Josiah helping Alex to
her feet and JD offering the illusion they were still resisting, Vin did the
one thing he could to assure that they would be given something of a
distraction while they made their run towards the barn. The horses had been
removed earlier in order to accommodate the wagonloads of nitro they had found
in their encounter with Bellison. It was meant to be
a safe refuge for the explosives until the army could come and take it off
their hands. Unfortunately, the barn would now seem the safest place to be if
they were to survive this attack.
The shattered lamp had sent
oil in all directions and as JD continued to fire, trying to put up enough of a
fight to be convincing, Vin took a last look at the shack that had been his
first real home and knew he would miss the place. He hoped Chris would
understand why this needed to be done as he held the burning piece of wood from
the stove above the inflammatory liquid sprayed throughout the small corner of
the room.
"JD, get going!"
Vin ordered as he prepared to ignite the oil.
"We go together!"
JD said defiantly, not willing to let Vin indulge in any last minute heroics.
"JD!" Vin
exclaimed exasperated. "We ain’t got time for this!"
"Then you better do
what you gotta!" JD declared, facing down the
tracker with the same determination that Vin wanted him to leave.
Finally, Vin had to concede
and tossed the wood into the oil and watched it ignite immediately. As the
flames began to build, bathing the room in a glow of amber malevolence in a
preview of the destruction to come, JD hurried to Vin as both men retreated out
the back entrance of the small shack. Vin looked back long enough to see the
entire room become consumed, with everything he owned in it except for what was
left in his wagon before deciding someone was going to pay for this.
When they emerged into the
night air, Josiah and Alex were already making their way through the cover of
trees towards the barn. The gunfire was still raining on the shack, putting more
and more holes through the place that Vin could actually see tendrils of smoke
exuding from the bullet holes. It would not take long for the place to become
an inferno and they just enough time before that happened to do that. No doubt,
the enemy would be expecting them to emerge and if they did not do so before
the fire took the building, their subterfuge would be discovered.
With most of the gunfire
concentrated on the shack, the group was able to reach the barn with little or
no trouble. No doubt, if Bellison was behind this, he
might have learnt that Chris Larabee owned this
parcel of land and had come here hoping to trap the gunslinger into revealing
the whereabouts of his nitro shipment.
"How she’s
doing?" Vin asked as he and JD joined Josiah who was using his
considerable strength to keep the doctor on her feet and moving. Even though
she had said it was probably a flesh wound, Alex was hardly the best judge of
that at the moment. The blood flowing onto to her torn shirt had turned the
soiled white into crimson and Vin could see the slick wet on her dark vest.
"Pretty good."
Josiah answered as they saw the barn close by. The tracker was keeping his eyes
open, trying to see if the enemy was close by through the cover of branches and
leaves. Fortunately, wherever they were launching their attack, it was not
close by.
"Speak for
yourself." She grunted. "This hurts! How can you guys stand it!"
That pretty much told Vin
that she was more annoyed than hurt, which gave him some measure of relief, as
they continued their journey to the barn. The gunfire was continuing beyond the
sight of trees but some of it had started to level off and with the increasing
clouds of smoke billowing from the shack, it was starting to dawn upon the
enemy that something was afoot.
"They’re wondering why
we ain’t out yet." JD stated, mirroring exactly what Bellison
and his men might be starting to guess.
"We’re almost
there!" Vin shouted and caused them all to increase their pace forward,
when suddenly more gunfire erupted. Bullets tore through the foliage, shredding
as the hot lead pass through them.
"Run!" Vin
shouted and opened fire, able to see some of the shooters this time and knowing
where to aim. He had better night vision than the others and could see them
clearly through the canopy of branches, twigs and other shrubs. Josiah swept
Alex into his arms and carried her the rest of the way as JD and Vin took care
of their pursuers who were realising where they were
going now and were doing everything possible to keep them from reaching the
barn.
With what little ammunition
that was left in their guns, Vin and JD managed to keep them away and finally
passed though the large doors of the barn before closing it shut. While JD
secured the door, Vin hurried up the ladder to the loft while Josiah tended to
Alex. He scaled the length of the building quickly and opened the small window
on the top of the structure. Below him, the wagons had been left untethered with their dangerous cargo still in place. The
gunfire had stopped now, mostly because their attackers were aware that the
game had shifted the minute they had taken refuge inside this building.
Vin pushed open the window
and peered outside. He could see the shack burning away to its inevitable end
and make out the faint outline of the enemy scattered throughout the immediate
area. He counted at least ten of them and knew leaving the shack had been a
good idea. Otherwise, the lawmen from Four Corners and Alex would now be dead.
Still, he had one more act to play in this drama to ensure their continued
survival and he would do it now, while Bellison and
his men were still reeling from the sudden change in circumstances.
"We got your nitro in
here!" Vin shouted on top of his voice. "You don’t back away, we’ll
blow it up!"
Vin looked down at his
friends and saw their anxious faces praying that the gamble he had taken with
their lives had been the correct one. Vin hoped so too. He swallowed deeply and
waited for the few seconds that it took for an answer to come. His stomach
knotted slowly, like a snake coiling into a muscle of tension, waiting to
spring if the right response was not received. Vin looked at Alex, saw the
blood on her shoulder and told himself that this had to work. It felt like
almost an eternity when he suddenly heard a voice respond.
"You’re
bluffing!" The man called out and despite having heard it only once
before, Vin knew that it was indeed the elusive Mr Bellison
for whom Chris held so much hatred.
"Try me!" Vin
shouted back, seeing the man himself emerging from his hiding place. It was Bellison all right. The former Indian scout strode brazenly
towards the barn, halting when he saw Vin targeting him with his Winchester,
unaware that the chamber was empty because Vin had used up the last of his
ammunition reaching the barn. "We give up and you’ll kill us anyway! Near
as I can figure it, we ain’t got nothing to lose!"
"You let us take what
we want and we’ll let you go!" Bellison tried
another tact.
"Like hell you
will!" Vin retorted, not knowing much about Bellison
but certain of that at least. "You try to come in here and we’ll blow this
nitro sky high and take as many of you with us as we can!"
Bellison paused in mid step, appearing to
consider his options. The man withdrew into the darkness and Vin held his
breath, waiting for a further response. In the nearby distance, the sky was
illuminated in amber as the fire from the shack continued to burn with heat. He
did not know how long he stayed perched on that ledge waiting but it became
evident that Bellison was not about to rush them,
with the possibility that his cargo could be destroyed.
The silence of minutes
stretched into hours with the lawmen keeping a vigil throughout most of the
night, rotating their period of wakefulness with that of sleep in the instance
the enemy attempted to force their way into the structure. In the meantime,
Alex offered instructions enough to Vin for him to be able to patch her
shoulder until the morning, aware that only at daylight would help come.
"I suppose you think
this gets you out of trouble." She said with a smile as he used a length
of her skirt as a make shift bandage. The injury was not quite a flesh wound
thought as she had believed because the bullet was lodged in muscle and bone
but Alex assured him that it could wait until morning for treatment as long as
the bleeding had been halted.
"I was kind of
hoping." He looked at her trying to hide his worry. Next to him, JD was
fast asleep, snoring lightly. The youth had succumbed to some well deserved
rest after keeping himself awake for half the night while Josiah had taken a
few hours to sleep. Vin had found it difficult to sleep though, knowing that
the stalemate could end at any time if Bellison
became convinced that he was bluffing. Josiah was keeping a vigil from the
loft, ensuring that there were no surprises in the middle of the night.
"I’m sorry I got mad
at you." Alex whispered drowsily from his lap. "I really don’t want a
big wedding you know."
"I don’t really want
to walk down no aisle with Peso." Vin joked and was pleased when she
rewarded him with another smile.
"Good," Alex
mumbled softly as she fought a losing battle with sleep. "I don’t think
that horse will fit my wedding dress." She chuckled before the exhaustion
finally caught up with her and she succumbed to her dreams.
*********
"Didn’t you sleep well
last night, Chris?" Nathan inquired when he saw Chris Larabee
massaging his neck for the umpteenth time as they took the familiar trail that
would complete their journey towards the ranch the next morning.
"I slept fine."
Chris said tautly, immediately desisting in the action now that the astute
healer who observed everything noticed it. Chris did not want it known by
anyone that he had spent the last night trying to sleep on a chair following his
abrupt departure from his bedroom. Chris had no need of his friends telling
what an idiot he was when he himself knew that he had no reason to behave the
way he had towards Mary. His nerves had been agitated by Bellison’s
appearance and he had taken it out on his wife for no good reason. Mary had
hardly spoken two words to him this morning and he felt awful enough as it was
without having to explain it to his friends as well.
"Oh Jesus." Chris
heard Buck suddenly exclaim as his old friend became the first to turn the
corner and get a full view of the ranch.
His response immediately
captured the attention of everyone and Chris felt his heart constrict in his
chest as he rode on ahead and saw what had forced such a dismal exclamation
from Buck. As he saw the smouldering remains of the
shack, he was suddenly reminded of the morning that he had come back from
Mexico and found his home burned to the ground as the shack now appeared. Chris
jumped out of the saddle, trapped in a place of absolute horror as they saw the
evidence of the gunfight from the evening before.
"VIN!" Chris shouted, unable to imagine how he would cope if he had
to go searching for his best friend in the cindered remains of his home.
"JD!" Buck cried
out, just as paralysed by fear at the thought that the
boy might have shared Vin’s fate, not to mention Josiah and Alex who were here
last night as well.
Chris dragged himself to
the shack, what was left of it anyway, trying to ignore the charred smell of
wood and the sight of all that destruction. He could not be certain of any body being amongst the wreckage but then he had used
the same argument when he had came home that morning from Mexico and found the
remains of his wife and son in the still warm embers. Chris was not certain if
he could go through that again. Buck had dismounted and was wearing the same
stricken expression on his face, no doubt revisited by the same memories. Ezra
and Nathan lingered behind, new to the horror but affected just the same. They
crept forward slowly, almost afraid of what they might find if they searched
too deeply amongst the ruins.
"Buck!" JD’s
voice sang out of the barn and was like the sweetest music they had ever heard.
As Buck, Nathan and Ezra
hurried towards the youth who emerged from the barn with Josiah and Vin, Chris
found himself letting out a deep sigh of relief as the cold fist around his
heart suddenly unclenched and he found he could breathe again. The others were
too far from him to notice but Chris was shaking inwardly, coming to grips with
the intense emotion of seeing his friend alive and well, not victims of another
fire. After a few seconds, he composed himself and forced his legs to move.
Before he had heard JD and seen with his two eyes that his friends were among
the living, he was not certain that he could have managed it.
Buck had embraced JD
happily, with Ezra greeting Josiah with a wide grin which was only a fraction
of the real depth of his feeling, while Nathan was not so restrained and
wrapped his arms around the preacher in a bear hug that spoke his happiness
clearly. Vin did not join them. He stepped out of the barn just far enough to
show that he was all right, before retreating inside the building once.
"Alex is hurt
Nathan," JD quickly said to Nathan.
"Hurt?" Nathan
looked up in concern, all thoughts of a happy reunion fading from his mind as
he strode towards the barn.
"What happened?"
Chris finally found his voice.
"We got ambushed last
night," Josiah started to explain. "It was your friend Bellison. He and about a dozen men came after us. Alex got
shot and Vin took us into the barn. Figured he could use the nitro for
leverage. We threatened to blow it up if they tried to come for us."
"My god." Buck
exclaimed. "That bastard keeps turning up."
"Well considering the
value of what is inside the barn, he could hardly afford to gamble with it
loss. Mr Tanner’s punting saved the day." Ezra commented.
"This ain’t over
then," Chris let out a deep sigh, grateful that no one was hurt this time
but it was not going to be the last. "They’ll come back." He said
grimly and everyone knew he was right. While the nitro was in their possession,
its owners were going to attempt to retrieve it.
Even it meant killing every
last one of them.