Heaven Forgive Me
"Jarrod, no – "
Heath tried to hold onto him, but his arm wasn't strong enough, and he wasn't strong enough to get up and stop him. Jarrod stood up, stood between Heath and the man holding the gun. "You don't want him," Jarrod said. "You want me. I know who you are."
Irwin smiled, a slow nasty smile. "You finally remembered."
"I remembered long before now," Jarrod said. "I just didn't figure on you going after my family instead of me."
"Jarrod – " Heath said, trying to get up, failing.
"You leave Heath be," Jarrod said. "You and I will go off down the road, have a talk, and if you still want me after that, you can have me."
"What is there for you and me to talk about?"
"What happened during the war."
Irwin choked. "You're forgetting again, Captain. I was there. I know what happened."
Irwin fired and shot Jarrod through left arm, a wound to match Heath's. Jarrod fell to his knees. Heath reached for him as best he could, but Jarrod had moved out of range. Heath was getting weaker from blood loss. He struggled but he just couldn't get up and help.
Jarrod held tight to his arm wound. He felt bleeding in two places – the bullet had gone straight through. He had to keep from losing blood or he'd end up flat out on the ground like Heath. He couldn't help either one of them if he was flat out on the ground like Heath. He struggled back up to his feet. "You can put bullets in me all day until one of them kills me," Jarrod said. "You can play with me all you want until I scream as much as Bagger did. You've got no reason to hurt my brother again."
Irwin shot Jarrod again, through the left leg this time. Jarrod went down flat. "Then scream, Captain," Irwin said.
"Irwin!" Heath yelled as loud as he could. "You do this and our family will find you and kill you!"
Irwin laughed. "They won't even know it was me."
"Think again," the growl of the middle Barkley brother came from behind Irwin.
Irwin froze.
"Put the gun down now," Nick said, "or I will kill you."
Irwin looked like he was thinking about it, but he looked Jarrod in the eye, and shot him one more time, this time in the chest.
Nick killed Irwin right away and went running to get the gun away from him, just in case. But Irwin was flat on his back, eyes open but unseeing the sun above. Nick had to fight the urge to shoot him again right in the head.
Jarrod was flat on his back now, too, but his open eyes saw the sky. His open eyes saw his brothers, both of them, bending to help him. He moaned.
Heath had found the strength to tie his own bandana around Jarrod's arm wound. Nick was pressing a kerchief against the chest wound, saying, "Take it easy, Jarrod. You're hurt bad."
"I know," Jarrod said quietly. "I'm sorry."
Heath took off his belt and pulled it tight around Jarrod's leg wound. "You got nothing to be sorry about."
"I should have told you," Jarrod said. "I should have told you what this was about."
"It doesn't matter now," Nick said. "Irwin's dead. Heath, keep pressure on this wound. I'm going for help."
"Wait," Jarrod said, reaching with his good right arm. "It's about the war."
"You can tell us later," Nick said, straightened up, and ran off. The house wasn't far away. They had probably heard the shots, just like Nick by the corral had. Help was probably already coming.
"What about the war?" Heath asked, recognizing that Jarrod had to talk because he didn't know if there would be a later for him.
"Irwin was in my command, cavalry, near the end of the war," Jarrod said quietly, barely a whisper, but clear. "The rebels weren't taking black prisoners – sometimes they were just killing them and their officers. Me, Irwin, three others got hunkered down – it was night – rebs were all around. Bagger was a kid – he'd been wounded in the gut. He was dying but he was hurting so bad he couldn't stop screaming. The rebs would hear him. I killed him. I took my gun and clubbed him until he was dead, to keep him from giving us away, because the rebels would have killed us as soon as they saw us. Irwin and the other man ran for it while I was clubbing Bagger. They got away. I stayed with Bagger. Come daylight, the rebels were gone. I wasn't hurt. I left Bagger there and made it back to our lines. I wasn't charged. They said I was saving my men."
Jarrod was weakening. Heath said, "You be quiet now. Save your strength. You told me. I understand."
Jarrod said, "Irwin shot you to make me feel what he felt. Bagger was his brother."
Jarrod was slipping off. Heath said, "You stay with me now. You be quiet. You said what you needed to say, and I'll remember it, and I'll tell everybody. You be quiet."
Jarrod clutched Heath's good arm with his good hand. "I'm sorry," he said. "Heaven forgive me, I'm sorry."
"Shhh – " Heath said.
The End