Life or Death

Chapter One

The late day sun, its rays being drawn back and forth between growing clouds, cast a warming glow over the vast outline of the Sherman ranch. Slim Sherman rode his horse through a section of his property, following a fence line that he had just finished rewiring to meet up with his friend and ranch partner, Jess Harper. When the lone worker came into his view, still at work on the same fence line, Slim smiled at the half glance his partner sent his way and then left his horse tied alongside the other mount that patiently waited for their return to home.

"Are you going to be at that all day?" Slim called to Jess as he stopped at their stash of tools to drop the fencing gear he'd been using.

"I have been at it all day," Jess answered with slight annoyance attached to each word as he continued to tighten a new string of wire. "In case you haven't noticed, sun'll be going down in a little bit and we've been out here since sunrise."

"You were the one who suggested we take that lengthy break for lunch and then you dropped your hat over your eyes," Slim came up behind Jess and touched the back of his hat to let it drape over Jess' eyes. "Next thing I knew I heard you snoring."

"Cut that out, Slim," Jess said, trying not to grin as he pushed his hat back where it belonged. "If I can't see what I'm doing, I can't finish this dad-gummed job. By looking at your grinning face, I take it you finished with your end of the line."

"Yeah," Slim nodded, draping his arm over the nearest fence post.

"And I gather you ain't gonna help me finish my end," Jess said as he took the fencing tool from his hip pocket and secured the wire in place.

"Nope, I'm done working today. I guess you shouldn't have dozed off earlier," Slim smiled as Jess playfully slapped at him. "I'm heading back to the house. It'll feel good to sit down on the porch, prop my feet up and relax."

"Rub it in a little rougher," Jess commented wryly, keeping his eyes on his hands as he worked.

"Remember," Slim tapped on the rim of Jess' hat, "we both decided heading out here this morning that we'd work on separate areas and see who got the most work done."

"Yeah," Jess spoke as he continued to work. "Next time wake me so I don't have to look at your smug face when the day's over. There. Just another post to attach the wires to and I'm done."

"Good," Slim smiled, heading towards his horse, Alamo. "See you back at the house. Don't forget to bring all the tools home."

"Yeah, sure," Jess gave a wave towards Slim without looking at him as he quickly finished the job.

When Jess was finished a few minutes later, he grabbed the tools and quickly hopped onto his horse, Traveler. He knew Slim had only left a little over five minutes ahead of him and he had planned on taking a short cut, running his horse up a stream to meet with the road, where if he guessed correctly, he'd come up on the road near the creek crossing just before Slim would.

Right before Jess turned his horse into the creek bed, he pulled his mount to a swift halt. Something was triggering his senses. He sat still, listening, but heard nothing but nature, smelling, but noted nothing abnormal. Jess slowly eased Traveler forward, keeping his eyes trained for any movement that didn't belong. If he could have defined how he felt, he would have said it was more than an instinctive feeling, as one often felt if something was about to go wrong. He took a long, hard look around him and then led Traveler into the water, wanting to get to Slim as fast as he could, because if there was danger around, with Slim being there on the main road, he might be riding right into it alone.

Jess kept Traveler at a quick pace, but not at a frantic pace, lest he injure his mount. He kept listening, but now that the hooves of his horse were splashing, it was harder to hear every detail. Jess was certain he wasn't being followed, was almost equally as certain that there was no one watching him, but he knew there was something wrong, as if whatever was causing this feeling was standing right in front of him. The loud blast of a rifle that suddenly broke the silence was evidence enough that he hadn't been mistaken.

Jess flinched at the sharp report and had his pistol in hand a second later. He could have sworn he felt pain, but knew a bullet hadn't penetrated his flesh, but there was something squeezing his chest, whether it was fear or reality, he didn't know. Jess kept Traveler still only a moment longer before he urged his mount to hurry to where the road was.

There were two paths he could have taken. The first was the one he'd initially planned to meet Slim, the second, this one a little more precarious, would take him up a steep slope to meet the road where it would start to turn a corner. The second one was the path Jess chose. Before he reached the top of the trail that would connect to the road, pounding hooves on the road above him met his ears. He knew he was too far below the road to get there in time to meet with whoever was running the horse at a full gallop, but he had his gun in hand, ready just in case as he hurried Traveler to the top. Breaking through the brush, Jess could only see a faint dust cloud heading in the opposite direction of the ranch house. For a moment, Jess debated whether he should take off after the rider, but there was that trepidation warning going off in his head again, so loud he couldn't ignore. He turned Traveler away from where the rider had left and started to turn the corner towards home.

Around the bend, Jess gasped at the sight that met his eyes. Slim lay flat on the ground, so pale was his face that Jess instantly feared that his life was already gone. "Slim!" Jess leapt from his horse and knelt beside his fallen partner.

Jess saw the lungs still working on air at the same moment he put his finger to Slim's neck to feel for a pulse. It was so weak he barely felt it and he had to keep his finger there for ten long counts of its beat to really convince himself that Slim wasn't dead. There wasn't any blood on Slim's front, but he didn't have to look long to know where the bullet had hit. Blood was soaking into the dirt beneath him and Jess barely raised Slim from the ground to see that he had been shot in the back.

Rage was the first emotion that Jess could define that pushed through the shock. He looked back towards where the rider he'd heard had gone and said through teeth gritted so tight his words barely were audible, "a dirty back shooter."

Slim groaned, although it sounded more like a wheeze and Jess' full attention was back to his partner. He gently took his handkerchief and put pressure onto Slim's wound, but the blood was coming so quickly it turned the blue bandana crimson in seconds, seeping through to his hand, then dripping back into the dirt. He had seen many wounds before, but none this bad that the man that suffered had lived.

"Here, Trav," Jess barely glanced at his horse, instructing his mount to come. With his horse near his side, Jess looked up to the saddle to where he would need to place Slim when he had a sudden realization. "Where's Alamo?"

Even if the horse had taken a fright when Slim had fallen, Alamo shouldn't have been too far. They had trained their horses too well for him to run pell-mell home. He called the horse's name and whistled, but when there was no response, Jess had the sick feeling wash over him that he hadn't just heard any horse galloping away, but he had heard Alamo's hooves. The man who shot Slim did so for his horse. The rage was even stronger then.

Jess lifted Slim as gently as he could and placed him on his saddle before climbing up behind him and holding him with one arm, and reaching for the reins with the other. "You know the way home, Trav, get going," Jess instructed, casting one last glance to where the shooter had fled to, knowing he'd be back to track the man down. "I'll be coming for you, mister," Jess vowed, "no man's gonna shoot Slim down without answering to me."

The distance to the house wasn't covered fast enough for Jess. He couldn't let Traveler pound the ground, or the rapid movement could have been fatal for Slim. When the house finally came into sight, Jess started hollering for Jonesy and was relieved when the older man came running from the barn as soon as he saw Slim slumped in his arms.

"What happened?" Jonesy reached up for Slim and fearing the worst, felt his chest for the faint heartbeat.

"Someone shot him in the back and stole Alamo," Jess said, letting Jonesy's hands hold onto Slim while he dismounted. Once on the ground, Jess took Slim in his arms and carried him into the house where he nearly ran into Andy who had just come from the bedroom.

"Slim!" Andy cried, covering his hands over his mouth. "Is he?"

"No," Jonesy patted Andy on the shoulder, "and he's not gonna," although Jonesy knew even at that moment he might not be telling the truth.

"We're gonna need lots of bandages," Jess swallowed, not liking the tightness he felt in his throat.

"Are you shot too?" Jonesy asked, looking at Jess with wide eyes.

Jess shook his head as he looked down at his shirt. From how he had been holding onto Slim and the blood that had soaked onto his front, it did appear as if he'd been carrying a bullet as well. He hadn't noticed during the ride at how much blood had transferred from Slim's body to his, but he felt a strange gratification that how he had held him tight, his own body working like a compress, had helped slow the flow of blood.

"What're we going to do?" Andy asked, his body visibly shaking.

"I'll ride to town and get Doc Sweeney," Jess answered, never taking his eyes off of Slim while he spoke. He had to keep watching him breathe to know that he hadn't lost him but he also knew he would have to leave, and that thought nearly tore him in two. "Jonesy, you do whatever you can."

"I will," Jonesy promised while he sat down on the bed next to Slim, his hand protectively touching Slim's forehead. He spoke softly, tenderly wiping away the beads of sweat that trickled down Slim's face. "Get there quickly, Jess. I'm afraid there won't be much time for this one."

Jess nodded, took a deep breath, grabbed an extra shirt from his drawer and changed out of the soiled shirt and into the clean one while he exited the house, leaving the bloodied top right where it fell just outside of the house. He was on top of Traveler in a flash and as he rode from the house, he saw Andy out of the corner of his eye watching him ride away, tears streaming down the boys face, but he didn't turn to look at him fully, otherwise his own cheeks would turn wet. However, he could hear Andy plainly, his cries floated to him as Jess urged his mount onward. "Hurry, Jess, hurry."