Chapter 3: Found

Startled by the sound of a thus somewhere not too far from the camp Jimmy pulled out his colt pistol quietly preparing for a fight. Crouching low to the ground he made his way towards his sleeping partner. "Lou," he whispered harshly, "Lou, wake up, I heard something."

Rousing from her sleep she noticed Jimmy's pistol out and followed suit, getting ready in case she needed to defend herself. For several minutes both riders stayed low to the ground, ears straining to hear sounds of any life coming there way. Jimmy slowly looked around before standing up, pistol at the ready for any sign of trouble.

"Jimmy, are you sure you heard anything? Maybe it was just a coyote or something." Lou questioned, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"I know what I heard Lou, whatever's out there, what ever made that noise…it's just too big to be a coyote." Jimmy responded, eyes searching the darkness. "Stay right here, I'm going to see if I can't find anything." And with that he was off into the darkness looking for whatever it was that had made the noise.

Eyes already adjusting to the darkness Jimmy carefully made his way out into the desert, occasionally looking back towards the fire to make sure not to get lost. Judging from his distance from the camps fire, he figured that he'd already walked a good hundred yards or so without any sign of life, not even the rattle of a snake which was surprising being so far out. Deciding to head back to camp he quickly re-holstered his gun and took one final look around, and that's when he saw something. On the ground in the dark was a dark lump that was too big to be a coyote and it wasn't moving. Carefully he made his way towards the figure and knelt down beside it. It was hard to make out any real physical traits, but from what he could tell, it was a female who'd been through something awful.

"Lou!" Jimmy called out checking for a pulse, "Lou get over here quick!" Finding a pulse he added, "And bring your canteen!"

In the darkness he could hear Lou's light footsteps running towards him. Lifting the unconscious girl off the ground and into his lap, he brushed her hair out of her face and waited for Lou to get to them.

"What is it?" Lou asked handing Jimmy the canteen of water.

"A girl, and from the looks of it, she must have been out here for a while…I wonder where she came from…" Jimmy responded, attempting to get some water into her system hoping that it would to wake her.

The water slid past Willows lips and down her throat making her body jolt and she began choking on the water. Willows eyes opened suddenly, 'There's water!' Grabbing the dark air in front of her until she finally found the source of the water, and even though it was attached to a hand already, it really didn't bother her as she brought it to her mouth and took a deep long drink.

Gently pulling the canteen away for the girl he was relieved that she was still alive, and now conscious. The girl however, didn't seem to be finished and tried bringing the canteen back to her lips.

"Hey now," Jimmy responded lightly, "Your safe now. There's no need to drink yourself sick."

Willows silently wondered who she was with, part of her was relieved to be found, but another part of her was scared, wondering what these people would do now that they had found her. She didn't have to wait long for the silence to be broken when another person spoke, this time a female.

"Jimmy lets get back to the camp and we can see what needs to be done to help her." And with that they stood up, Willow still in Jimmy's arms as they headed towards the dim light of a camp fire. Willow, still completely drained, rested her head against the shoulder of her savior as her eyes began to droop close. Unable to fight it any longer, Willow fell asleep on their way towards camp.

Upon arrival to their camp Jimmy gently leaned the sleeping girl against his saddle before stoking the fire back to life. In the light both were finally able to see their new companion. Lou let out a small gasp as she fully took in the sight before her. All exposed skin was red and swollen, extremely sun burnt, the clothing she wore was dirty and torn. The shoes that Willow had made were completely torn to pieces exposing cuts and swollen feet.

"Where did she come from Jimmy?" Lou asked quietly careful not to wake the sleeping red head.

"I don't know Lou. Let's get some rest and in the morning we'll set out earlier than usual. We need to get her to a doctor and hopefully find out what happened to her."

Lou simply nodded her head before lying down and going to sleep, Jimmy on the other hand had a difficult time falling asleep. Looking over to the lost girl he wondered about her and hoped that she would make it through this incident without anymore damage.

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A/N: Since this chapter is so short I hope to have two more chapters posted by the end of today.