Chapter Two

"Grab your friend, Harper," the man barked out. "There's a shovel waiting for ya."

Choosing to ignore the stranger for now, Jess kept his eyes on Slim's face, willing his partner to open his eyes and acknowledge him. He reached a shaking hand down to Slim's neck and felt a faint and uneven heartbeat under his fingers. Jess' eyes closed briefly as he fought back the stinging tears that were threatening to roll down his face. The man reached out and kicked Jess hard in the side with his foot, startling Jess out of his momentary stunned grief.

"Grab your friend," he repeated.

Jess stood up then, his anger threatening to explode. "He's not even dead!"

The man cocked the gun again and pointed it back at Slim's prone form. "Not yet."

Jess stood a moment longer, wondering if he could somehow get the gun away from the stranger, but he was too far away to make a lunge for it. There would be no time to stop this man before he shot Slim yet again.

"NOW!" the man screamed out and the gun began to shake in his trembling hands. Jess could see the tension rising from the man's taunt skin. "You're lucky I'm even giving you the chance to say goodbye," the stranger croaked out, his voice now softer and beginning to crack with barely suppressed grief. "It's more than you gave me."

"I don't…" Jess hesitated. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course," the man scoffed. "Here I've been obsessing over what you've done, and you don't even remember it." The man swallowed loudly, attempting to hold back his own grief now. "No more talking. Grab your friend and get outside."

Seeing no other options but to follow through with the stranger's demands for now, Jess reached out and grabbed hold of Slim's ankles. "Sorry Pard," he whispered quietly, and then he began to drag his friend's limp frame out the front door.

Sure enough, a shovel was waiting for Jess just off the front porch. Dropping Slim's ankles lightly to the ground, Jess strode over and plucked the shovel from the dirt that it was standing in. "Now what?" he said, his anger returning as he glared up at the stranger, who was still standing on the porch, his body standing menacingly large over Slim's unconscious form. "You expect me to bury my friend alive?"

"Why not?" he laughed humorously. "You've plenty of practice burying people, Harper. What's one more body?"

Jess shook his head and threw the shovel back into the dirt. "I told you – I don't know what you're talking about. And I won't do it." Jess stared at Slim's slack face, which had already gone so pale. "I won't kill him, and I won't let you either."

The stranger sighed and pointed the gun back at Slim's body. "You don't have much of a choice." He nodded with his head towards the yard. "Start digging."

Jess hesitated again, his eyes still transfixed on his friend's body. "His body," Jess thought, and he shivered at how a whole person was eventually always reduced to a "body" in death. Just a vessel that had once carried the very heart and soul of someone who was loved and cared for. He could feel the tears springing up behind his eyes again and he blinked them away furiously. "No," Jess thought. "He's not gone yet. This isn't over." He stooped down and picked up the shovel and stomped over to the tree that stood just a few yards away from the front of their home. He began to dig, and then he winced as he heard the stranger pulling his friend off the porch and sliding him across the ground.

Jess looked up and over at the man. The stranger had had to put the gun in his waistband in order to drag Slim's much larger body through the yard. His back was currently turned to Jess as he began to set Slim's feet down onto the ground. This was it, Jess thought – his only chance. Without a second thought, he hopped out of the shallow grave he had just dug and ran to the man, swinging the shovel out in front of him as he did so. Unfortunately, the man was mid turn as Jess started running and he was able to turn with the swing of the shovel. There was a crunch as the shovel collided with the man's skull, but due to the motion of the stranger's body, it was just a glancing blow. Blood sprang forth from the man's forehead, but he was able to stagger backwards and quickly regain his senses; just in time to pull the gun out of his waistband.

Another shot went off, and Jess vaguely noticed that the bullet had hit him somewhere in the leg, but he didn't have time to worry about that now. He dived forward, knocking the man back and sending the gun flying through the dirt and grass. The two men wrestled for the gun, rolling each other over and throwing punches that glanced off each other's faces and arms. The man was smaller and older than Jess, so Jess was easily able to overpower him, but the man then threw his hand up and dug his fingers into the fresh bullet wound in Jess' right thigh.

With a strangled cry, Jess released the older man and tumbled backwards as he pulled his leg up towards his chest. However, the roll away from the man had pushed Jess closer towards the gun. He stretched a hand out and grabbed the fallen weapon. He wrapped his fingers around the trigger and pointed it at the man, who, realizing what was about to happen, was all ready sprinting away from Jess.

"A coward!" Jess thought, as he watched the small retreating form sprinting away from the tree. Jess struggled to pull the trigger. He wasn't the type of man to shoot someone in the back, but this man had nearly killed his friend right in front of him. Jess hesitated, and then pulled the trigger, aiming to hit the stranger somewhere non-life threatening. He heard the man call out as Jess' bullet found its mark. Unable to see from this far away where exactly he had hit the man, Jess took a moment to focus his attention on Slim.

Unable to get his right leg to hold his weight, Jess dragged himself over to Slim's side. Jess pulled out the clean bandana that he had shoved in his jean pocket earlier this day and held it over the wound in Slim's abdomen. "Slim," Jess called, gently shaking his friend's shoulder with his free hand. "Slim, come on, talk to me."

Just then, Jess became aware of the sound of hoofprints. Turning sharply, he pulled the gun that was still lying next to him up quickly and turned towards the sound. He was overcome with relief to see the next stage coming in. He could hear old Mose the stage driver calling out to the horses and announcing to the passengers that the Sherman Relay Station was right ahead. Jess lifted the gun up above his head and fired it off three times, hoping that the warning shots would give Mose the sense to be on the alert. Jess wasn't sure what had happened to the man he'd shot. His mind had been too preoccupied with keeping Slim alive to worry about what had happened to the hated stranger. He heard Mose call out to the horses again, urging them to slow. They came to a stop just a few feet away from Jess and Slim.

"Jess?" Mose called out. He clambered down from the stage and rushed over to where Jess sat over Slim's still unconscious form. "What happened?" Mose asked.

"He's hurt bad, Mose," Jess said, his voice shaking with fear for his friend. "We've got to get him to the doctor."

Mose put a gentle hand on Jess' shoulder. "You too, it looks like, boy," Mose said, motioning towards Jess' pant leg, which was now covered in sticky blood. "I've only got one passenger, and as luck would have it, she was a nurse in the war," Mose said, motioning back towards the waiting stage. "Let's get him on and take him into the doc in Laramie."

"Should we risk him bouncing around in there?" Jess asked.

Moses' passenger, a middle-aged woman with slowly graying hair, was pulling herself down from the stage now. She had overheard the conversation and she rushed over to where Slim lay. She reached down and pulled a bit of fabric from the underside of her dress and then pressed it onto the wound, which had already bled through Jess' bandana. "I don't think he'll make it if we wait until the doctor can get out here," she said, after examining the bullet wound more closely for a few minutes. "He needs someone to remove this bullet. That's a bit beyond my skill."

"Okay Mose," Jess said, struggling to pull himself to his feet. "Help me get him on."

Together, the two men and the woman worked to carry Slim's body to the coach. Unfortunately, Slim was much larger than the other three, and with Jess' weak leg, they wound up having to drag him most of the way. They were able to lift him up and onto the coach, and Mose helped Jess climb up after him. The nurse clambered in behind them, and Jess and her worked to keep pressure on Slim's wound as they laid him across the stagecoach floor.

"Drive fast, Mose," Jess called out. "But be careful."

"Always am!" Mose called back, and despite his fear for his friend and the pain from his leg wound, Jess gave a soft chuckle.