September 7th.

Heath opened his eyes and saw that Jarrod had fallen asleep leaning against the cave wall. Heath wondered when they had gotten to the cave. The only thing he could remember from the night before was that it had started raining. Slowly he tried to sit up. It was then he remembered that his shoulder was still very sore. He gasped, waking up Jarrod.

"Easy, Heath," Jarrod tiredly spoke. "Feeling better?"

"I'm fine," Heath told him.

Jarrod carefully helped Heath sit up and lean against his saddle. He then put his hand on Heath's forehead, once satisfied that the fever was gone Jarrod stood up and went to get a canteen. He handed the canteen to Heath.

"Thanks." Heath took the canteen and drank for several seconds. Finally satisfied he gave the canteen back to Jarrod. In the short time it took Jarrod to sit down, Heath fell asleep.

After a few minutes of struggling to stay wake Jarrod decided it was time to wake Nick.


The rain had finally stopped early the next morning. The sun was just beginning to shine. Nick rolled over onto his back and was startled awake when he accidentally put his arm in a stream of cold water. He quickly removed his arm from the water and sat up.
It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dim lighting. When he could see he looked over to where Heath was laying.
Jarrod sat with his back against the cave wall just barely managing to stay awake. Heath laid unmoving, his fever had broke around one in the morning, but Nick and Jarrod thought it best to keep an eye on him.

"How's he doin'?" Nick asked.

"Fine, he hasn't woke up since this morning," Jarrod answered. He slowly stood up his sore muscles protesting against the weight.

"Why don't you rest for a few minutes. I'll get started on some breakfast," Nick suggested.

Jarrod nodded his head in agreement. He went to his bedroll and laid down. He was asleep in just a few minutes.

Nick added more wood to the fire then went to work making breakfast. While the food was cooking he went to change Heath's bandage. The wound had bleed some more during the night, but nothing to be worried about. He carefully lifted Heath's head and untied the bandage then he tried to removed the piece of cloth that was on the wound, but the dried blood made it stick.
Not wanting to hurt Heath, Nick got a canteen and soaked a bandanna in the water. He used the bandanna to wet the cloth making it easy to pull off the wound. Nick then went to get the shirt that they had used the night before to make bandages.
Again he cut the sleeve off and a square from the back. When he turned back to Heath he saw that he was awake.

"How are feelin'?" Nick questioned.

"Fine," Heath quietly answered. Heath rolled his eyes at the look Nick gave him. "I'm a little tired, but other then that I feel fine," Heath assured him.

"What something to drink?" When Heath nodded his head Nick picked up the canteen and passed it to him. Then he began to replace the bandage on the wound.

Heath sat the canteen down. Heath asked, "where's Jarrod?"

"He's sleepin'." Nick finished tying the knot on the makeshift bandage. He then helped Heath to sit up. "Hungry?"

"Yeah." His head hurt and his ribs and shoulder were sore, but other then that Heath was feeling pretty good. He was pretty sure his chest and stomach were cover in bruises he had not had a chance to look yet.

"Here," Nick held out a plate.

"Thanks, Nick." Heath took the plate.

"So what happened out there?" Nick asked. Heath had told them he would tell them when they got home, but Nick was bored so he asked anyway. "You said there was more then one. How many was there?"

"Three," Heath answered between mouthful's of food.

"How'd you end up with the money?" Nick questioned.

Heath rolled his eyes, the only way Nick was going to be quiet was if he told him the story. He started from the beginning.
"I was a few days away from town when I noticed a cloud of dust. I didn't worry about at first, but when they started to get closer I figured they were up to no good. They caught up pretty fast and Gal fell. Thats how I hurt my shoulder. They beat me that night and the next morning I high tailed it outta there. I one of the horses I took had the money in the saddle bag, but I didn't know that 'til later." Heath finished the story and continued eating.

Nick sat quietly for a few minutes going over Heath's story. Heath sure wasn't one to give a lot of details. Shaking his head Nick stood up. "I'm gonna go saddle the horses. We need to leave pretty soon Mother and Audra are probably worried sick." Nick went to the horse and began to saddle them.

Thirty minutes later Nick woke up Jarrod and the three brothers left.


Sorry that its been awhile since I've updated and sorry for another short chapter. I'll try to update faster next time. Thanks for reading.