I have watched season three episodes, and there are some that I have enjoyed ("The Long Chase", "Bushwack", "The Day the Amnesty Came Through", and "McGuffin", for example), albeit always wondering how it would have been had Pete been Heyes, but nonetheless there are few that were well written, well-acted and well worth watching. This ficlet is born from a scene in "Bushwack".
Cress: "That was reeeeally somethin', coulda scared me out."
Heyes: "You oughta see him when he really gets mad."
Defensive Position
Kid Curry rubbed his bloodshot blue eyes, wiped his sweaty brow, adjusted his hat to better shield them from the hot, glaring, midday sun and squinted up the slope to either side. He quickly evaluated every large boulder in the rock-strewn landscape and slightly shook his head, he didn't like their situation one bit, but as of yet all he had was the twisted feeling deep in his gut that always heralded impending disaster. And he seemed to be the only one who was uneasy. The dark bay stamped in frustration and Kid loosened the reins and let the gelding spring into a fast trot to catch up with the rest of the Devil's Hole Gang.
Kyle's excited, high-pitched voice drifted back, "I'm gonna go into Rock Falls and the first thing I'm gonna do is spend time with Lacey Lucille. Whatcha gonna do with your share, Wheat?"
Wheat snorted as he glanced over at his riding companion, "Better take a detour to the bath house first, Kyle. Me, I've got plans, big plans, and they're startin' with a bottle of fine sippin' whiskey."
As Curry passed the bulk of the gang members, most of whom were reliving and retelling their parts of the successful bank robbery thirty-six hours ago. The men, one by one, noted Kid's tense posture, his set expression and general air of surliness, cautious looks passed between them. Kid's mood was in sharp contrast to the general feelings of bonhomie among the group and the confident contentment of the leader of the Devil's Hole Gang riding at the front.
"This has got to one of your better plans, Heyes. We got a nice haul, lost the posse in a few hours, just like you thought we would, and after a day of hard riding, even a chance for all of us to catch some shut eye, when not on watch, that is, all except Kid. He kept stalkin' 'round, peerin' out into the darkness like he couldn't believe there wasn't no one out there. It's nice when everythin' goes according to plan an' we don't to have to race back to the hole. Nice plannin' Heyes," Preacher genially complimented his leader.
"Yep, it's a mighty fine job," agreed Hognose before taking a drink from his canteen.
Heyes smiled benevolently and basked in the feeling of a job well done as he rode along the narrow boulder-strewn valley, his mind already divided between the present situation and potential future plans. After all, he could count on his practical partner to keep a sharp eye out for the unexpected. Sometimes Kid's worrywart tendencies annoyed him but Heyes really did have to admit that Curry did a good job of watching Heyes' back and generally keeping him and the gang members alive.
Heyes heard a horse quickly come up on his right side and was not surprised to see his partner's scowling face. "How about smilin' a little, you'll make the men nervous. " Heyes lowered his voice so only Curry could hear, "Is there a reason to be nervous, Kid?"
"Other than us riding along this valley? You know I hate giving up the advantage of high ground, Heyes." Kid answered half sarcastic, half serious.
"I know, but we planned to come this way if we lost the posse quick enough. It's the fastest route to Devil's Hole, and riding along the ridge we'd be too easy to spot. You agreed."
"I know I agreed, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. You know how you listen to your intuition and change things on the fly, well, my gut intuition is telling me to get out of here and take the longer way."
"You see anything, hear anything, know of any concrete reason why? You know… you didn't get hardly any sleep and you hardly ate, that's not like you."
Kid kept pace with Heyes and leaned closer, his blue eyes intense as he interrupted, "That's what I've been trying to say, something's not right."
The two men glanced around to see if any of the gang members were paying attention. They generally liked to present a united and confident front, especially during a job. They tried not to talk things out, if they could avoid it, in front of the men. Curry and Heyes, by unspoken mutual agreement, spurred their mounts while studying the landscape immediately ahead. Their route took a sharp turn to the left, following the course of the river meandering along the right slope of the valley, which caused a limited range of sight. Heyes' brow furrowed as he experienced a sudden chill. He looked accusingly at the man next to him. "Hrummph!" Curry just nodded his head and hoped he wasn't raining on everyone's parade for no reason.
Hognose and Preacher had dropped back and were riding with Kyle, Wheat, Hank and Lobo. Dutch and Quint, the newest member, brought up the rear. All were blissfully unaware of any potential danger and rounded the outcrop that signaled the sharp turn and narrowing of the valley still good-naturedly arguing the relative merits of various vices for them to spend the money on.
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
Pandemonium ensued. Horses screeched in panic as men leapt out of saddles and threw themselves behind the nearest boulder big enough to serve as halfway decent cover. Bullets whizzed by, dirt and pebbles flying up as they thudded into the ground, chasing the outlaws into defensive positions. The sound of the horses thundering off down the valley, only stopping when they reached a small corpse of trees at the far end, echoed into the suddenly eerily silent, hot afternoon.
Back to back, sides pressed tightly against granite, Heyes and Kid found themselves behind the same large boulder, brown and blue eyes searching to identify the positions and status of their friends as well as the attackers. Heyes worked to regulate and calm his breathing before inquiring, "Kid, you all right?"
"Yeah, you?" Kid answered tersely back.
Heyes risked a quick glance over his shoulder to reassure himself before continuing, "I'm fine. The gang's all here and everyone's upright and relatively protected. They have us pinned down good, though. Any idea of how many we're facing?"
Kid rose slightly on his haunches and ducked back down as splinters of rock ricocheted around the partners. He blinked and wiped the trickle of blood from a small cut at the corner of his left eye. Both men listened as rapid shots were exchanged between the law and the outlaws.
"Kinda hard to tell…there's at least one rifle and he'll cause us the most trouble. A couple of .45's and I heard a .38 or two. I'm guessing about 10 men about the same number as us. The difference, which I'm sure I don't have to point out to you, is that they have the advantage of position, horses and the supplies on those horses while we have only what's on us." Kid nodded over to his left and muttered curses under his breath. "As much as it pains me to say it, I've gotta hand it to Wheat. He managed to grab his shotgun, although he probably doesn't have many shells on him. None of the rest of us got a hold of our rifles."
The posse members, who appeared evenly spread out along the top of the ridge, rained another salvo down the slope, cutting off any further conversation as each outlaw concentrated on staying alive amid the deadly hail of lead flying their way.
Preacher's black hat was riddled with holes as it went flying off backwards. Kid nodded encouragement over to the older man has he huddled behind weathered boulder ten feet away, checking himself over in white-faced disbelief. Hognose, who shared his position, was not so lucky. Preacher grabbed a dirty bandana out of his friend's shaky, bloodied hands and tightly wrapped it around the man's right arm. Hognose picked his revolver off the ground with his left hand and proceeded to reload it before resolutely taking aim up slope, steadying the firearm along a notch in the chipped granite.
Heyes paused in his own volley to grimace with determination as he watched Dutch clutch his shoulder and reel backwards to land flat on his back, unprotected by any stone. Lobo and Quint, who were crouched behind the same large group of piled smaller rocks, exchanged grim looks. Lobo leaned towards the newest member and shouted in his ear. Both men nodded, Lobo raised up, took a deep breath and started to fire from the opposite side of the pile while Quint grabbed Dutch's feet and pulled with all his adrenalin-fueled strength, dragging the downed man to safety.
"$# ###*," Lobo cursed in pain but managed to shout to a watching Heyes, "It's a graze, I can keep firing, as long as our ammo holds out."
The standoff continued as minutes, which seemed like hours, dragged on. The Devil's Hole Gang was not ready to capitulate and the posse was secure in the belief of their eventual victory. After all, the law had God and location on their side as they had the criminals vulnerable and trapped while they could just sit tight and rain destruction down into the small valley. No one would dare assail their superior position.
Kid surveyed the carnage and fumed while Heyes kept up defensive retorts. Heyes and he were untouched, except for minor skin deep wounds. Dutch and Hank were down and out. He couldn't tell how badly they were hurt, but each man seemed to be still breathing. Hognose, Lobo, and Kyle were actively bleeding and compromised with bandanas hastily wrapped around assorted body parts. Wheat, Preacher and Quint were unharmed and fiercely focused on the task at hand.
"Heyes."
"Yeah Kid," Heyes panted back while reaching around his back for more bullets from his dwindling supply.
Kids whistled and proceeded to rapidly perform a series of hand signals when those who could turned their attention to the Devil's Hole Gang's lead gunman. Situations like this was when Kid commanded and earned absolute obedience and respect.
"Heyes, you know were sittin' ducks, right. They have us pinned down while they're advancing into better positions."
"I know Kid, but I'm not givin' up and I'm kinda too busy to think up any brilliant ideas at the moment. Damn it! I know I shoulda listened to your gut." Heyes' eyes narrowed even more as he finished reloading and took position to start firing again as soon as Kid dropped down to reload.
"I'm not saying we should give up or that you're responsible in any way so shut up and listen, will ya!"
Heyes, briefly taken aback by the vehemence in his partner's voice, paused for a split second and stared at him, speechless.
"If we sit here much longer, there's only one way this is gonna play out and it's not the way we want so I'm gonna make a move that they're not expectin' while the rest of you are gonna cover me. First that rifleman's gotta go. The accuracy is too much of a threat, even though he's not the best shot I've ever seen. Good thing too, otherwise I'm not gonna have a chance in hell." Kid ruefully grinned at his staring leader.
Heyes grinned back in spite of himself. "I'm not gonna like what's coming next, am I?"
"Nope, but it's our only chance. I'm headin' over to the others to explain and gather supplies. Cover me." Curry yelled as he sprung from Heyes' side and ran as fast and as low to ground has he could, weaving and dodging to the closest cover.
Heyes' eyes darted from his intended targets to the side and he exhaled in relief when Kid dived safely next to Preacher. He continued to split his attention, worry deepening the furrow of his sweaty brow.
Kid hastily conferred with Preacher and Hognose while reaching for Hognose's gun. He checked the load before shoving it into the back of his trousers. Hognose rapidly divided his remaining bullets and handed half to Kid and threw the rest down on the ground next to Preacher. Preacher nodded to Curry and started firing over the top of his boulder, giving Kid some cover fire as Curry crossed the ground to the next group of outlaws.
"Hiya, Kid," Wheat grunted at Curry, not sparring a glance as he moved slightly over, giving the gunman room to check on a pale Kyle. Kid tightened the bandana on Kyle's thigh and hastily reinforced the makeshift dressing before grabbing Kyle's .45 from his trembling hand. He shoved the gun into his waistband next to Hognoses. He then turned to Hank, reaching out to check the pulse in his neck. Kid sighed in relief at finding one and before he could lift the bloody shirt and check the left-sided wound Wheat spoke, "Don't bother, there's nothing more you can do but get us out of here. The bullet carved a deep furrow but didn't hit nothin' important. Let him be, for now."
Curry looked into older outlaw's eyes and saw controlled panic mixed with blind faith and hope. "I'm trying Wheat. Save your ammo until I move, then let loose fast. Your job is to stay alive and keep me covered, don't worry 'bout being a hero. Just shoot for cover. Okay."
"Okay, Kid."
Curry readied himself for one last dash to the last set of boulders with gang members hunkered down behind. He took a deep breath and burst out into the open to Wheat's earnest admonishment to be careful.
Just as Kid came barreling into Lobo, Quint grabbed the side of his head and collapsed over Dutch's still form, blood running down the side of his face. Kid and Lobo looked behind them, red fury infusing their faces. Curry collected the last of the unused revolvers, checked the loads of each, filled his gun belt with bullets stripped from the downed men's and shoved a handful into his pocket. Lobo whispered, "Go get them Kid."
Curry, with a revolver in each hand and three more stuck in the back of his pants, crouched determinedly, picking out his preferred route of attack. The slope was steep but not impossible and there were enough large banks and boulders to provide reloading stops on the way to the top, if he made it that far. Taking a deep breath with his eye and right arm taking aim at the rifleman's position, Kid made his charge.
Heyes, Wheat. Lobo and Preacher held their collective breaths while shooting as fast as they could, not even bothering to aim unless it was away from Curry darting up the slope. They watched in fascination as overconfident lawmen were picked off, wounded one by one by Kid effectively shooting on the run with both hands, dropping one or two of the revolvers when empty on the way.
The rifleman dropped his rifle in pain, grabbing his right shoulder and scrambled up the slope to the backside of the ridge. A man upslope was yelling undecipherable words as he dragged his grazed companion further away from the charging deranged gunman.
Kid threw himself behind a bank of dirt, amazed that he was still in one piece and reloaded his various remaining guns. Rolling quickly left he managed to graze another posse member before retreating back behind his cover, panting from the exertion.
Panicked disbelief prevailed up above. Voices mingled into the cacophony of firearms discharging.
"Henry, half of us are wounded, bleeding. We didn't sign up for this. I'm getting out of here."
"You're crazy if you think I'm gonna stick around waiting for Kid Curry to get up here. He's even better than I've heard and he's crazy too!"
"No rewards worth my life, Henry. It may be your job but it's not mine."
"He's only one man and he's right down there only about fifteen feet away. We can get him." Henry, the sheriff, pleaded to his disappearing posse.
"You get him, fifteen feet's too close and he's hit everything he aimed at, while running. I'm outta here."
Curry rearmed and fully reloaded charged again only this time the defensive position was assumed by the retreating bloodied posse. The sheriff fired the last shots at Kid Curry, missing by only inches, but unwilling to stand alone, before mounting his horse and galloping away.
Curry aimed his last chambered rounds into the air while he caught his breath.
The Devil's Hole Gang members, those who were the walking wounded and those who remained intact, came out from behind their makeshift shelters and gave silent thanks for the courage and skill of the young man silhouetted against the late afternoon sky at the top of the ridge. Quint, Dutch and Hank stirred and strained to make sense of the silence and their situations.
Wheat called over to Heyes, "I've never seen Kid do anything like that before. Hell, that was really scary and I was behind him."
Heyes' gaze remained fixed on the figure above as he answered, "Yeah, don't ever get him really mad, he loses his mind."
Kid Curry holstered his weapon, shoved the others back into his waistband and watched the law ride into the distance before turning and wearily making his way back down to his friends. The Devil's Hole Gang will survive to ride another day.