Chapter 28 - The Accident

A blast of chilly air greeted Sam as she yanked open the front door of the log house, but there was no time to grab anything to keep warm with. She was going to escape back down the mountain, and she was headed for the barn to steal Morro's horse. She wasn't even going to worry about putting on a saddle.

The moonlight provided a bit of illumination of the brush-covered clearing as she quickly ran from the house to the barn. She could see, in her path, some very short but thick branches of a dead bush sticking up about two inches from the ground. She hopped over the bush easily. However, she did not see the patch of wet leaves, moistened by the evening dew, that was located on the other side of the dead bush. Her feet slipped out forward from underneath her, and she landed on her back. The skin of her lower back was instantly shredded by the stubby branches.

Sam let out loud horrifying wails at the excruciating pain.

Her wails were heard by four cowboys, a sheriff, a doctor, and their involuntary guest. They had ridden their horses hard in order to shave time and distance between themselves and the ones they were pursuing. Now, Archer was trussed up in the horse barn. Jay and Zane were tucked away just inside the barn door. Cole and Doc Julien were hiding behind trees at the point where the clearing met the path down the mountain. Lloyd and Kai were concealing themselves behind the hen house.

Lloyd was just about to put a plan into action to draw Morro out of the house and in the open, away from Sam. He and Kai were going to cause the hens to squawk, to make Morro think a wild animal was attacking them. When Morro would come out to investigate, as Lloyd anticipated he would, Lloyd would surprise Morro with his gun drawn, and the others would follow suit. Morro would be outnumbered, even if he was armed.

They had heard Morro's exclamation of pain, but Lloyd didn't expect that it would lead to Sam's sudden departure from the house. When she did run out, the sheriff's original plans were buffaloed, so he quickly needed to rethink the plan.

Before he could come up with an alternative, Sam fell and hurt herself.

It was difficult for Lloyd to listen to Sam's moans of pain, but he had to hold the back of Kai's coat to keep him from rushing out from their hiding place to help her. Lloyd expected Morro to exit the house any moment.

Then across the way he saw Doc Julien leave the trees he and Cole were hiding behind, in order to go to Sam's side with his black medical bag. Lloyd face-palmed himself. Doc, you're gonna get yourself caught! Lloyd thought, but he supposed he wasn't totally surprised. Physicians took an oath to heal people.

The light coming from the open front door dimmed. Morro had indeed spotted someone outside and had closed the door halfway in an effort to conceal his own silhouette. He fired a warning shot from just inside the front door. "Julien, is that you?" he called.

"Yes, it's me, Morro. Sam severely hurt herself. I'm checking her injuries," the physician called back.

"Well, leave your firearm out there and bring her in here," Morro commanded. "And no funny business from the rest of you!" he called out into the night air. "I know you're out there!"

Kai knew that the doctor would not be able to carry Sam by himself.

Kai took Archer's gun out of his holster and tossed it on the ground. Before Lloyd could stop him, he walked out from the behind the hen house into the clearing with his arms above his head. Lloyd face-palmed himself again.

"Morro!" Kai shouted. "I'm coming to help. I'm unarmed!" Kai limped a bit due to the bullet wound Morro had given his foot yesterday.

Sam, lying on the ground and looking up at the sky, wondered if her pain was playing tricks on her mind or if she had actually heard a voice she didn't expect to ever hear again.

"Oh. It's you, hothead." Morro seemed surprised. "Are you like a cat with nine lives?" Somehow the posse must have rescued the cowboy.

Kai ignored his comment as he reached the spot in the clearing where Doc Julien was kneeling by Sam. He knelt down on the other side of her and brushed the back of his hand against her cheek.

"Howdy," he said softly as he smiled tenderly at her.

"Oh, Kai, you're alive!" she whispered, tears of joy mingling with her tears of pain as she reached up to her cheek to intertwine her hand with his.

Doc Julien emptied his holster of Kai's gun and put it on the ground. "Kai, how about if you take her shoulders and I take her feet, then we lift her up on the count of three," he suggested.

Kai stood up and positioned himself at her head, kneeling down again to place his hands under her shoulders. Doc Julien positioned himself at her feet, putting a forearm through the handle of his black bag before grabbing her ankles.

"Ready, Sam?" the doctor asked.

"I'm ready," she said through gritted teeth.

"On the count of three," Doc said. "One...two...three!"

Sam hollered loudly as Doc Julien and Kai lifted her. She breathed heavily through her gritted teeth as the two men transported her through the front door into the house under the watch of Morro.

"Put her in the parlor," he instructed them, keeping his gun pointed at them. He slammed the front door shut, once they were inside. Grabbing a nearby parlor chair, he shoved it against the front door, jamming the back of it under the doorknob as an extra obstacle in the way of the posse, should they try to raid the house.

As Kai and Doc headed to the parlor sofa, Doc advised Kai that Sam should be placed on the sofa lying on her side with her back facing the room so that he could have the best access to treat her injuries. Together they carefully lowered her down.

In the light of the fireplace, blood stains and crumbs of dirt and foliage were visible on Sam's back. Kai also noticed multiple bruises on her neck, obviously put there by the lips of Morro. Kai clenched and unclenched his fists several times to calm himself down. Now was not the right time to avenge his woman.

"What happened to you, Morro?" Doc asked, noticing the madman's face for the first time.

"That little jezebel shoved a candle in my eye!"

Kai hid his smile. Sam had avenged herself.