Chapter Three
It was almost nightfall before Adam pulled himself out of the stupor that had settled over him. He was lying face down over something and it took a moment to register that it was Hoss. The sickly smell of blood made him gag before he pushed himself upright and turned back to nudge at his brother. Hoss barely groaned as he kept shaking him and Adam almost wept in relief.
The dull ache in his head made no sense until he realised his own face was coated in thick, congealing blood. He raised a tentative hand towards his hair and flinched as he made contact with the source. A furrow across his skull told him just how close a bullet had come to ending his day completely.
Adam slowly pushed himself up onto his haunches and looked back towards where his brother still lay sprawled in the dirt.
"Hoss. Can you hear me?" Adam slapped at the side of his brother's face. "Come on … time to wake up. Hoss!" He could hear the fear in his own voice and Adam sucked in a sharp breath and tried again. "Hoss, we've gotta find Little Joe."
Adam smiled at him as his plan worked and his brother's protective instinct forced his eyes open.
"A'am … where's Joe?"
Hoss was slurring as he spoke and Adam was already running hands over him trying to find just how seriously his brother was injured. His hand came away covered in sticky blood and he only just contained a groan as he realised the entry wound had no corresponding exit wound.
"Come on, Hoss. You need to sit up so I can get a better look at you."
"Where's … little … brother?" Hoss winced with every breath as he tried to help Adam lift him up.
Adam concentrated on getting Hoss upright as he tried not to think too much about the question. From where he was crouched on the ground, Adam had already seen Mack's lifeless body lying in the dirt and he dreaded getting up and finding a matching body on the far side of the stagecoach. The ambush had happened so fast and he hadn't had time to shout a warning or do much of anything at all before going down.
"A'am?" Hoss was wobbling against him as Adam tried to lean him up against a wheel of the stage. He looked up to see his brother's intense gaze and he shook his head.
"I don't know! Let me get you sorted first and then I'll go and look." Adam stood up and yanked the stage door open before Hoss could object. He reached inside to find the basket of food that Hoss had been happily devouring only a short time before. There were a few napkins inside along with a bottle of brandy that Len Miller had given him to pass onto his father as a final goodwill signature on their timber deal. He clambered back out of the stage and quickly set to work on his brother's wound. Hoss groaned as he poured the brandy out onto him and it ran down his chest and over his stomach, mingling with the blood trail that had gone before it.
"I'm sorry, but that bullet's still in there."
"S'okay," Hoss nodded at him as he clamped his jaw firmly shut.
"I'm sorry," Adam muttered again as he pushed a couple of the napkins up against the wound before twisting the last one around Hoss' shoulder to secure the makeshift bandage in place.
"Ain't your fault," Hoss whispered as he tried to keep himself upright. "Now … go … find Joe!" He waved a hand vaguely towards the direction where they had last seen their brother and he nodded approvingly as Adam climbed to his feet.
Adam glanced back over his shoulder as Hoss sunk back against the wheel and closed his eyes. "You'd better be here when we get back!"
"Ain't goin' nowhere. I'll keep watch here."
Adam smiled in spite of himself. "Sure thing."
As he steeled himself to begin his search, Adam quickly found another body lying face down in the dirt. Using the toe of his boot, he pushed the man over onto his back and nodded with approval, as he knew Joe must have taken one of them down. After all, neither he nor Hoss had managed much of anything as the ambush had come so quickly.
"Good for you, Joe."
It was small comfort as he quickly scouted the surrounding area. There was no sign of his youngest brother anywhere and he felt a nagging fear chewing at his insides. Hoss was bleeding heavily and he needed that bullet taken out, sooner rather than later. They were still two hours from the waystation at the stage's usual speed and he knew he had no hope of driving the team at that pace. While he considered it a godsend the horses hadn't bolted as the shooting began, he knew that teams were picked to handle difficulties and not be skittish or cause trouble for the driver. Mack knew his horseflesh and picked his own team personally. Adam sucked in a sharp breath, as it had been Joe's insistence that he also knew good horseflesh that had put him on the trip in the first place.
Adam cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted with as much energy as he could muster. "Joe! Where are you?"
The sound echoed around the rocks and he waited silently, praying for an answer.
"Joe!"
For over half an hour, he clambered over the rocks in the general area where he had last seen his brother. He found Joe's hat sitting atop a rocky outcrop and was dismayed to find his unstoppered water canteen lying in the dirt.
"Joe!"
The silence was deafening as he tried to figure what to do next. The rocks had swallowed up any kind of boot prints and he had no idea where to even look next. As much as he hated to make the decision, in the end, Adam knew it was no longer a choice. It was well past time to get Hoss to whatever help he could find. He reluctantly turned back towards the stage, steeling himself for the inevitable argument that he knew was coming with his middle brother. There was no way Hoss was going to agree to leaving their youngest brother behind, even if it cost him his own life.
Adam stumbled back up the incline and was momentarily overcome by nausea and a wave of dizziness. The ache in his chest was even more compelling as he knew he may well be signing away any chance Little Joe had of being found. It was sheer stubbornness that forced him forward again.
Hoss was still sitting against the wheel and his chin had dropped to his chest. Adam hunkered down in front of him and reached out to pull his face upright.
"Hoss?"
"Hmmm." Cloudy blue eyes tried to focus on him as Adam tried to pull his brother upright. It was no mean feat getting Hoss to his feet with next to no assistance from his brother. Adam hoisted one arm around his shoulder and he pushed and prodded until he got Hoss sitting on the floor of the stagecoach.
"Where's Joe?"
Adam ignored the question and focussed on what he knew he needed to do as he climbed in over his brother. Hoss was bleeding again from the stress of moving and Adam pulled him up against the far side of the coach before crouching down to retie the bandage. He didn't need to check underneath it to know his brother was in trouble. He debated pulling Hoss onto the bench seat, but quickly decided against it as there was nothing to stop his brother rolling right off and landing on the floor. Instead, he made sure he was as secure as possible, propped up against the seat and began to edge out backwards.
"We're going to the waystation."
Adam turned to climb out the door as Hoss called out again. "Where's Li'le Joe?"
"He's fine." Adam quickly closed the door and leaned his head against the side of the coach. If Hoss knew the truth, he'd fight him every step of the way. He'd already lost one brother and wasn't about to make it two. As he climbed up into the driver's seat and took the reins in his hand, Adam glanced down at Mack's body lying so still in the dust. He felt another pang of guilt that he couldn't at least take the man's body with them or give him a decent burial beside the road. The throbbing in his head reminded him that he simply didn't have the luxury of doing the decent thing. His brothers needed him to get the team moving and find help before he fell out of the seat and failed them altogether.
The hours melded into each other as Joe concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. He was long past paying any attention to where he was going. Two long nights had passed as he had played the sickening scene over and over as if he could see it right before him and reach out and touch it. It didn't matter anymore. His brothers were both dead and the world would never look the same again.
Tears had come along with great shuddering shakes and he had finally succumbed to utter exhaustion that first dark night. As the earliest hint of dawn appeared in the sky, he had jolted awake and had a few blissful moments where he had no idea where he was or what had happened. And then it had crashed over him like some great wave rolling into shore and threatening to drown him. He wished that it had.
In the hours since, he had no thought where he was going, nor did he care. The world was blurring into a dull grey as his boots finally slid out from under him. His last thought as he fell into darkness was that nobody would be looking for him and he didn't want anyone to come anyway. He simply didn't deserve to be found.