The Fugitives 28
I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.
Author's note: Mathison County in MO is completely fictional, therefore anything that occurs and the terrain it occurs in, is purely imaginary.
I must also give high praise and thanks to LadyBrit for her advice on all things medical.
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Riding slowly and apprehensively down the slope towards the shanty, Payne was aware that there were eyes on him and the three men that were with him. Though he had no idea just how many eyes, he was conscious of the need for caution. He made sure he, and the men with him, kept their hands in plain view and away from their rifles.
When they finally made it into the yard, they reined in and looked around them. An older man stepped out of the door, dressed in a pair of coveralls, with a shotgun pointed in Payne's direction. "Have yer say," the man spoke calmly, "then git."
Payne swallowed hard and moved to dismount, the shotgun following his every movement.
"My n…name is Warden Cli..Clifford Payne." He finally managed over the scared lump in his throat. "I'm…uh…that is my men and I… well we're…uh… looking for a woman by the name of Kitty Russell. I w…was told she was here."
"Ya was, was ya?" the man said with a touch of amusement in his voice. "What ya want with her?"
"She…she's an escapee from the prison I manage. We've come to take her back."
Payne stood stiffly as Eustice stared at him, seriously hoping Bob Mathison was carrying through on his part of this plan. The hill man in front of him, with the scatter gun, was seriously beginning to scare the wits out of Warden Payne.
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Mathison stood in the dense woods at the base of the ridge, and watched as Payne and three of his men, rode into the yard of the shanty. He and the remaining nine of his men stood and waited until Payne had dismounted, and had garnered the attention of the old man in the house.
Quietly and slowly two men separated from the group and worked their way towards the back of the barn unseen by everyone, save their companions.
Mathison and two more of his men followed shortly behind them, only they moved towards the only blind spot the shanty possessed. Near the back of the house, was one small lone window, its only view being the backside of the barn.
After surveying the place carefully Mathison had decided that was where he and his men would make their entrance while Payne kept the occupants at the door and the fire, that would soon consume the empty barn, caught everyone's attention.
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Kitty lay on the cot feeling powerless, while Eustice stood at the door blocking Payne's attempt at an entrance, and Matt and Doc kept watch out of two of the three windows in the room. She hated not being able to do anything, and the thought of lying there helplessly, doing nothing, while Matt and Doc and Eustice risked their lives for her, wasn't sitting well.
Gritting her teeth, and firmly clamping her mouth down on the groan, caused when she began to pull herself up, Kitty finally got herself to a sitting position on the side of the bed. Glancing at the backs of the three men with her, she saw their attention was focused outside.
Grasping the chair beside the cot, she worked hard to gain her feet without putting strain on either her injured leg or shoulder. Once on her feet she felt the sting in unsteady muscles but ignored it. She wanted to at least be standing, to face whatever came.
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Having cleared the barn of all livestock, Festus and Sam, as well as several other Haggens, had originally taken cover there, but upon Little Jess's report that the interlopers were on the ridge to the west and north of the cabin, most of the Haggens moved out and in that direction.
Festus and Sam however remained behind, positioning themselves to either side of the entrance, keeping watch. They did not notice the two men sneaking in through the seldom used back door of the barn, until they were on them. Sam never saw the man that clubbed him from behind. Festus saw his attacker but couldn't stop the man that hit him on the side of the head with his rifle butt.
Quickly the two men gathered some of the hay and placed it in a big pile, in the middle of the barn, and lit a match.
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Matt had been intently watching out one of the side windows, towards the barn. He had thought he saw movement there, but with the trees so thick around it, he couldn't be sure. Glancing to the front he noted the rigid set of Eustice's shoulders, as he barred entrance to the irksome warden, and Doc's stoic look as he watched through one of the other windows, shotgun at the ready.
Out of habit, he turned to look at Kitty, seeking calm and a sort of comfort, as he always did, in her presence. But instead of seeing her lying quietly on the cot, she was standing on her one good leg and teetering towards the floor.
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Sam came to a couple of minutes after the lights had gone out. With a groan he rolled onto his back and began the arduous task of sitting up. To his left, he saw Festus slumped to the floor beside him, and as the smell of smoke assailed him he looked behind him to see the hay, which was burning merrily, and a fire which was beginning to spread.
"Festus," he yelled, getting clumsily to his feet. His cries went unheard by the hill man. Despite his pounding headache, Sam grabbed Festus under the arms, and began to pull him towards the doors as the fire began to steadily consume the structure.
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As the first orange-yellow flames began to lick at the walls and frame of the old barn, the Haggens who had moved away, smelled the smoke and turned, running back to the building they had so recently abandoned.
Eustice took note of the commotion, but recognizing it for the diversion it was intended to be, remained at the door, resolutely refusing entrance to the warden and the men with him.
Having seen Kitty about to fall, Matt fairly dove across the room to catch her, barely getting to her side before her leg gave way. Before he could protest her refusal to stay down, he was shocked, when Kitty grabbed his shoulder and screamed, "Matt, get down."
As he had reached her, and grabbed her about the waist, Kitty happened to glance over his shoulder and see Bob Mathison's sneering face looking in the unwatched rear window, a gun pointed at Matt's back. Grabbing Matt by the shoulder she began to push him down and out the line of fire, when she felt a tearing in the wound on her leg, and heard the sound of a gun being fired.
TBC
