Kid was tired. He'd been walking for around an hour, near as he could tell. His energy was lagging; he couldn't imagine how Heyes felt. At last they reached the rocky slope Sara had mentioned. It was a sort of diagonal cliff, rocks jutting out and trees growing from the cracks in the earth. Kid hefted Heyes up again to get a better grip on him. He squinted in the darkness, the rocks shining faintly white. It looked a lot steeper than he'd hoped for. Heyes started trembling again in his arms and Kid set his jaw.

"Just a little longer," Kid whispered. "Almost there."

Kid moved forward and stepped up on to the first rock, carefully keeping his balance. He high stepped up to the next slab and wobbled a little before regaining his poise. Heyes stirred in his arms and Curry started talking in a low voice, telling him to stay still and to wait a bit more. He kept up a string of reassuring conversation—talking to his partner was easy; not getting a response was not.

Kid leaned forward a tad and lurched continuously up the incline. He came to a rock wall dead end. He looked around; the cave was on the next height. He knew it; Sara had warned him. The top of the ledge was just at his eye level. He frowned and glanced around him. There was a boulder at the bottom that was tall but had a chunk broken off the side of it leaving a step of sorts. Curry hefted his partner and himself up and stood on it—the stone rocked with him. For a second, Kid panicked as he tried to gain his equilibrium. Careful, he thought. He eased forward, standing on his tiptoes and balancing, feeling rather like an act in a side-show he'd once seen advertised. He began sliding his partner onto the ledge.

Heyes' hurt shoulder bumped against the rock and he groaned, flailing his arms automatically. Kid managed to thrust his cousin forward, safely onto the ledge. He, on the other hand, was already off balance and the rock tilted precariously beneath him.

Curry fell. He tumbled off the rock and down the slope before stopping himself by hitting a tree. He cursed and stayed where he'd landed a moment, in order to extract his heart from his throat. So much for not leaving any sign he'd been there. Kid hoped the rocks that had fallen with him would just look like they'd been in a big rockslide. For his part, he felt like he'd been in one.

Kid sat up, brushing the dust off and feeling for injuries. His thick jacket had protected his arms but he'd torn the left side of pants and scraped his leg. He touched his temple and winced; he had an abrasion there as well. Not to mention the multitude of bruises he knew would appear. Kid frowned at his own clumsiness and stood up. He promptly fell back, catching himself on the tree. Apparently his right ankle was also injured. He stifled a grumble and tentatively climbed the incline back to where he'd fallen from. Curry glared at the offending boulder before slowly getting on top of it.

He got a handhold on the edge and clambered over the top. Immediately, he got on his knees and checked his partner. Heyes had settled, but he was still feverish. Kid moved him further from the edge and eyed the black hole that was the cave. He half expected a bear to charge out and attack them. Nothing else for it, Kid stood and ducked into the entrance, his hand on his gun.

Nothing attacked. It was dark but there had to be a hole to the outside somewhere because he could dimly make out the walls. The cave was probably around five feet tall, ten feet wide, and nearly twenty feet long. After his eyes had adjusted fully, he found evidence of Sara's family having had used the cave for shelter during rained out picnics. There was an old fire pit, a small dilapidated stool, and a cast off toy. The human smell must have kept the animals away.

Satisfied, Kid limped out, lifted his partner with care, and stooped back into the cave. Once inside, he lowered Heyes to the ground, making sure not to jostle his shoulder. After Heyes was down he pulled off his coat and covered his feverish friend with it. He didn't mind the cool night, and besides, Heyes needed it more than he did. Kid settled down against the wall beside him and pulled out the barely wet cloth. He placed this on Heyes' forehead and stayed close, hoping his body heat would help beat his shivers.

Kid watched his partner shake. He kept him from rolling over and made sure the rag stayed on his head. Other than that, he had nothing to do. He was getting antsy. Curry frowned, pulled out the two guns from his belts and the one he'd shoved into Heyes' empty holster. He double checked them, more for the familiar feel of the metal than anything, and reloaded the one he'd fired. The dim light wasn't a problem; he would've been able to reload in total darkness. If he could have cleaned the firearms, he would have. Instead he inspected them and then put two of them back in his holsters. The one he'd had in Heyes' belt was left on the ground, in fear Heyes would roll over, cock the gun somehow, and shoot himself. It would fit in with the rest of the night. Even in the cave, the two ex-outlaws were fish in a barrel if they were found, but Kid couldn't do anything about it. Heyes had been moved too much already. They were staying.

Curry spent the first part of the night worrying. He refused to sleep, jerking out of his dozes. He kept the cloth on Heyes until it was entirely dry and then he just tried to keep him warm and still. He wished he knew how to doctor. Kid stared through the dark at his partner's pale face for so long his vision started to blur. He kept it up, though, he felt as though if he stopped watching, Heyes would slip away. So Kid watched and talked to him, murmuring until his mouth was dry. He was concentrating on his partner so completely that it took him a millisecond longer than usual to process that a noise had come from outside. A few pebbles skipped down the rocks—someone was there. Kid drew his weapon and moved in front of Heyes, closer to the entrance. He cocked the gun and waited.