Chapter 10

"He's not doing well Andrew" Christine whispered to her husband. "He's starting to burn up pretty bad and the wound already seems infected; if the doctor doesn't come soon I don't know how much more he can take."

As Christine turned around to face Kid Andrew put his hands on his wife's' shoulders and squeezed them slightly. He knew his wife suffered along with the young boy whishing she could do more for him, she had always had great empathy for those in pain.

"You're doin' all you can Chrissie, let's pray it will be enough to keep him alive until the doctor arrives"

The two continued to watch Kid closely in wait for the doctor to arrive. When Christine saw that he clutched one hand around a blanket so hard his knuckles had turned white she moved away from her husband and sat down next to Kid who had started to shiver uncontrollably.

Gently unclasping his hand she slipped her own hand into his while dabbing a cold cloth on his burning forehead.

"I know it hurts, but it will all be over soon. I promise" She spoke softly. "Buck rode out to get the doctor and I need you to hang in there until she comes back with him.

Kid did not respond, and Christine became even more concerned. When Buck had brought him in, even though his breathing was shallow, he was responsive and managed to acknowledge whenever he was spoken to. Now it seemed he was slipping away. The occasional shallow wheeze and the intense shivering were the only two things that indicated he was still alive, but when the tight grip around her hand started to loosen and the pause between each intake of breath extended Christine knew she he'd given up.

"Andrew, we're losing him!" She shouted out to her husband.

Andrew rushed towards the bedside and knelt beside his wife. He put a hand on top of Kid's head and leaned over to his ear.

"Don't you give up son, Buck should be back with the doctor any minute now and my daughter rode out to get your friends at the station. They need you to fight for your life, so you fight dammit!"

Kid finally responded by fiercely squeezing Christine's hand. Relieved she let out the breath she had been holding and gave her husband a faint smile.

"Looks like he listened." She said with a grimace while she looked from her husband to the hand she was holding.

Andrew nodded somewhat reassured and then looked at the pained expression on the young man's face.

"Chris, look…. he's trying to say something"

Both she and Andrew leaned in closer in hopes to be able to hear what took Kid so much effort to say.

"….L….. Lou" Kid wheezed almost inaudibly.

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When Jimmy and Lou reached the doctor's office Lou noticed the doctor was busy saddling his horse. Slightly disappointed she turned to look at Jimmy; it seemed they had rode out for nothing as it looked like the doctor was in a rush to be somewhere where he was needed.

"We don't know where the doc's goin'. Maybe he can spare us a minute or two" Jimmy said having read Lou's mind.

The two dismounted but Jimmy motioned Lou to stay put. He would be the one to ask if the doctor had time to talk. Lou nodded and stayed behind with the horses.

"Ehm… excuse me… Doctor Fuller?" Jimmy started. "I was wonderin' if you'd be able to spare a minute or two…"

Doctor Fuller quickly turned around to face the young man that had addressed him and immediately shook his head.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm on my way to see a patient in critical condition. I'm afraid you'll have to come back tomorrow morning. Unless it is a pressing matter, please tell me where I need to go and I'll be there as soon as I can"

Jimmy noticed the alarmed expression on the doctor's face and shook his head. Whoever was in need of a doctor obviously was in very bad shape Jimmy gathered.

"Nothing that can't wait till the morning'. Jimmy said and politely tipped the rim of his hat.

Just as Jimmy was about to turn around to walk back to Lou and the horses he heard a familiar voice coming from inside the doctor's office.

"I've packed everything you asked me to." Buck said as he walked out the door.

Lou recognized the voice, emerged from behind the horses and walked into a blood covered Buck. Unable to speak both a completely horrified Jimmy and Lou stared at their Kiowa friend who was equally shocked to see his two friends. Thinking they came baring bad news concerning Kid, Buck fired a series of questions at them, completely unaware they had left before Fay had reached them to tell them what had happened to Kid.

"What are you two doing here? Is he still breathing? Is Kid still alive?" Buck rattled on anxiously.

At the mention of Kid's name Lou snapped out of her initial shock of seeing Buck covered in blood. Then a horrible feeling crept up as she came to realize the blood her Kiowa friend was covered in was not his.

"What do you mean is Kid still breathin'…?" Lou asked with a shaky voice.

Buck suddenly had a puzzled look on his face "You mean you don't know? Fay didn't tell you?

"Didn't Fay tell us what? How was she to know we were comin' to see doc Fuller?" Jimmy asked confused.

Buck sighed heavily "…You left before she reached the station" he muttered disheartened and ran his hand through his hair.

The horrible feeling Lou felt earlier instantly turned into panic as she exchanged looks between Buck and Doctor Fuller.

"Buck, you need to tell me what's goin' on" She urged shaken.

"Lou, Kid's hurt pretty badly. He took a fall and landed on the branch of a tree… we need to get the doctor to Fay's house immed-"

But Buck wasn't able to finish his sentence. Lou abruptly turned around, untied the reins, jumped in the saddle and rode off in a blaze towards the homestead where she was told her badly injured Kid would be.

"Lou! Wait" Jimmy called after her but he knew it was useless.

"We need to get there as soon as we can" Doctor Fuller commented. "Buck, you have everything I asked you?

Buck nodded and mounted his horse. "Let's go"

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Not bothering to wait for her horse to come to a full stop Lou flung herself off the saddle and bolted towards the front door. When she rode up to the house she noticed there was light in one of the rooms upstairs and figured that probably was where they were tending to Kid.

She immediately ran up the stairs but paused when she had reached the door to the bedroom. Slowly she pushed open the door and stood motionless when she saw Kid stretched out on his side on the bed with a piece of wood sticking out from his back. She noticed he was hardly breathing and trembled constantly.

"Who are you? Where is the doctor?" Andrew asked surprised at the unannounced and unexpected appearance at the entrance.

"Kid…" She merely whispered and hurried to his side.

Andrew protectively pulled Christine away from the bed and watched Lou take of her hat and gently run her hand along Kid's cheek.

"Oh Kid… you're gonna be fine now. I'm here and the doc is on his way." She said gently and planted a soft kiss on his clammy forehead

"…L..ou…" Kid breathed.

Kid stirred and tried to move causing a new tidal wave of excruciating pain to which his body immediately responded to. The shallow wheezing again was replaced with labored gurgling gasps of air accompanied with blood running from his mouth and the shivering initially caused by the spiking fever had intensified due to the incapacity to handle the pain.

"What's happenin' to him?!" Lou cried out to Andrew and Christine.

Christine was about to try to calm Kid down when the gurgling and the shivering suddenly stopped. There was nothing but silence in the room as Lou stared at the still form in front of her. With shaking hands she touched his cheek and reached out to grab his hand completely unaware she had hot tears running down her cheek.

"No… NO! Kid… don't you die on me! Don't you dare die on me ya hear!

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