I like being the only entry in Appaloosa:) it give me a warm n fuzzy feeling:)

Calamity Hitch

Chapter 2

The woman was screaming and tossing her arms frantically. She was out of breath. It took her a moment to gasp out the words to Virgil and Pony Flores. Both were sitting on the porch of Virgil's home, enjoying the cool night.

"Mister Cole! Mister Cole!" she shouted. "Come, please come!"

By her expression, Virgil figured one of the taverns he bounced for was having trouble. He started walking. Pony walked beside him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Is Mister Hitch!"

Virgil stopped walking.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked.

"He was killed!"

Now Virgil did something he never did before. He paused dead in his tracks. He starred critically at the woman. It was as if he wanted her to take it all back.

"Some men come in. Callico's men and he was shot in the back! I ran for you and—" Tilda spoke so fast it was hard to understand her.

But Virgil wasn't listening.

Pony looked at Virgil.

"Where's Hitch?" Virgil asked.

"In the Boston House."

Virgil headed there. Tilda said no more. She followed the men along as they headed up the road and took the side street that lead to the saloon. Virgil mounted the steps with Pony beside him and opened the saloon door.

Hitch was lying on the floor in the corner. His face looked bloody. Most of the tables were busted in some way or other. Callico's men had gone off already.

Willis was kneeling by Hitch.

Hitch certainly looked dead.

"They done it!" Willis proclaimed. "The whole lot of them for no reason at all! I'll testify to it, Cole, I swear I will!"

Virgil said nothing.

Pony took in a breath beside him. He blew it out slow, through his nose. He didn't go any closer then the door way.

"Any one go for the doctor?" Pony said.

"No, sir." Wilis said.

"I'll go." Pony said. He walked out.

Virgil stood there, frozen as his thoughts ran amuck. He was going to kill Callico. That much was decided already. Especially if Hitch really was dead. For that he bent down himself.

"Everett?" He said. "You hear me, then say so."

"I think he's still alive, Virgil." Willis said.

"You're not sure?"

"He's hurt plenty, makes it hard to tell."

Virgil nodded, then leaned down to Everett and felt around his neck. The way he was folded over it made it hard to find one. If it was still there to find.

Virgil took hold of his right arm and eased him onto his back. Hitch never complained. His head flopped to the side, blood trailed by his mouth onto the floor. In this position a pulse was easier to find. Hitch's chest rose to breathe in an awful sick manner.

"He's alive, that's something, isn't it?" Willis said.

"Who shot him?" Virgil asked.

"Callico."

"Beat him up good."

"That was his deputies." Willis said.

"What first?"

Willis looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Did they beat him first or shoot him first? How did this all ordinate?"

Hitch moaned and they both looked down at him. His face screwed up and one red-stained eye looked at Virgil.

"Originate." Everett corrected.

Virgil almost smiled. "That's right. Originate."

"They shot me first." Everett said.

"Not very polite of them."

"Didn't seem very civil to me." Hitch said. His eye closed for a moment and neither said a thing for a while.

Virgil nodded to Willis. "Pony's been a while fetching the doctor. Why don't you go and check on him."

"Sure Virgil."

Willis got up and left.

"Ringing the doctor too?" Hitch asked.

"Pony and Willis are after him."

"That bad to look at?"

"You aint winning no beauty contest. Where he shoot you? In the back?"

Hitch shook his head. "Shot me in the side, as I was turning. It all hurts. Am I bleeding bad?"

"Bout to look into that." Virgil said. He moved aside Hitch's coat and unbuttoned his vest. Both were splattered red with varying degrees of circumference. The bullet was in the side of his right abdomen. It was bleeding steadily.

"How those ribs feel? You broke em once already."

"That was—" Hitch paused all of a sudden and stiffened. A low growl escaped his mouth before he finished. "That was the left side. His men got me good there with some spurs. How's my side?"

Virgil said nothing until he finished grabbing a cleaning cloth off the floor. He folded it up and pressed it hard against the gunshot wound. That was probably the first and only time Everett cursed Virgil to his face. Virgil didn't much hold it against him either.

"Still bleeding." He said. He actually looked worried.

He was never concerned. This must have been bad.

"Virgil?" Everett said.

"Yeah."

"Think I broke a few teeth too."

Virgil grinned. "You didn't break them, they did. And some of them was bad anyway, let me look."

Everett parted his lips stiffly. One was torn in half. Both were swollen. Two teeth on the right bottom were missing. A top left molar was gone. The one beside it was cracked.

"Not too bad I think." Virgil said.

"Really?"

"Let me see that eye."

Everett felt a hand on either side of his face, and then searing burst of pain caused him to recoil. "Ow—Virgil! Watch it!"

"Cracked your skull, I think."

"Fine then, leave it be. Where's the doctor?"

Virgil turned toward the saloon door. He was wondering the same thing. "Hang here a second."

Everett opened his stained eye. "Where you going?"

"Something aint right." Virgil said.

"Like what?"

"Like why aren't those two back yet. And why did Callico up and leave you here. Something's off."

"It a trap?"

Virgil went to the window and peered his head out. He recoiled instantly when a bullet sailed through the glass and past his left shoulder. Virgil went down on his knees and blocked his head with his arms. Bullets peppered through the windows and splintered dangerously around them. Beyond the outer wall, Virgil could hear the thumping of boots and spurs running along the outside deck. Suddenly the window across from him blasted open.

Virgil drew his colt and shot the gunman down. A second replaced him.

"Virgil!" Hitch exclaimed. His voice wasn't exactly strong enough for a shout. Hitch was outlined in buck shot and .45 caliber rounds. He couldn't stay there. None of them could.

Cole got to his feet and grabbed Hitch around the middle and dragged him up. Everett howled at the harshness of the grab, but Virgil didn't have time to be nice about it.

"Move your legs, Hitch!"

Everett said nothing. He was dropping unconscious even as he tried to get walking. He was in serious trouble. Virgil knew it, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had to drag him up the staircase to the second floor of the Boston House, even if the bullets were following them there.

"Hitch, come on!"

Everett somehow got his legs under him. He half ran/half fell up every step. Virgil kicked open the first available door. He lifted Hitch across the threshold.

"Virgil—" Everett managed those two syllable with difficulty. His head swollen and red hung limp against his chest. Virgil set him down on one of the beds. Hitch was virtually lifeless.

Virgil left him there to rush up the hall. He stuck his hand out a back window and in half a second shot down two men. The gunfire directed up to him and he moved on. At the last room on the left, he shot another man below him easily before running back to Everett.