I'm sorry about the last chapter everyone, but something happened in the editing or something. Anyway, here's Chapter 2!
Ben Cartwright sat at his desk, sorting through the various papers piled upon it
when his oldest son, Adam walked through the door.
"Hey Pa, do you know where Joe is? I went to the school to pick him up on my way out of town and his teacher said that she hasn't seen him all day.
Ben stared up at his son, concern etching itself over his features.
"I don't know why that would be. I sent him to school this morning just like every other day." he said slowly, trying to think of a reason why his youngest had not turned up to school that day.
"I think we should saddle up and go find him. Adam, could you ride up to where Hoss is repairing up the fences and get him to come, then ride down the road towards Virginia City and try to find any sign of Joe. I think I'll go down the road and start checking now."
Adam nodded, then headed back out the door. Ben rose to his feet, walked to the door , and buckled on his gun belt. Wherever his son was, he was going to find him. Grabbing his hat, he headed out the door.
Joe's head swam in a thick swirling fog, yet all he was aware of was the pain. Though seemingly centered around his shoulder and lower back, the pain lanced throughout his entire body. His was dimly aware of voices penetrating the thick, swirling mists in his brain, but he couldn't make any sense of them.
"...spyin' on me, little whelp...." "...didn't need to..."
Joe tried to focus on the words, trying to make sense of them. The pain seemed to increase as the haziness started leaving his mind. He became aware that he was laying on a cold dirt floor. He tried to move his head a little to clear away the grogginess and immediately groaned aloud at the pain that erupted from the slight movement.
"Hey I think our little spy is wakin' up." said a voice at Joe's side.
He remembered the harsh, cold voice from somewhere but just couldn't place where he'd heard it before.
"Good. Now you can take him back to his family or dump him by their house so he isn't found with us! You're always getting us into trouble. I just got out of jail from your last little plot and I'll be damned if I'm going back again." A second voice hissed on Joe's other side. This voice Joe was sure he had never heard before.
"I can't take him back, he's seen me an' if he lives through this, he's gonna go blabbin to everyone 'bout who shot him an' that ol' miner Kennings."
Like a brick, memories rushed back as though a dam had been torn down in his mind. The shots, a man laying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, those icy blue eyes.... his thoughts all froze and all he could see were those icy pools that seemed to hold an eternity in an instant, and still so shallow, so mean, so incredibly insane....
"Kid, hey kid! We know you're awake, just open your eyes. I won't let this idiot kill you."
Joe opened his eyes slowly. They watered as the light assaulted them.
"Who...you...?" Joe managed to gasp.
"That aint none of your concern. Don't worry, I don't plan on keeping you here long. But I want you to know that once you're back comfy-cozy with your family, you better not breathe a word of this, boy." He turned to the other man in the room. "I'll be back in a while. I've got to find out some information. Don't kill him or I swear to God Mason that you won't live another day." He slipped out the door.
Joe looked over at Mason. "Why...wh-where are we?" Joe fought back a wave of nausea as pain coursed through his body. Inky blackness threatened to overtake Joe's mind when he heard an ominous cracking noise above his head.
"Well, Clay might've gone all soft on you, but personally, I can't stand spies and sneaks. So looks like your luck is about to run out." He continued to crack his knuckles and, with a demonic grin plastered on his face, he took a step towards Joe.
Ben rode slowly down the trail. He hadn't gotten very far from the ranch house in the past 15 minutes, but he was he was being thorough in his search of the road. He stopped and looked back at the thunder of hooves behind him. He watched as his two oldest sons rounded the corner and came towards him.
"Pa, we thought you'd be farther down the road by now." said Adam, his brows furrowed. "Did you find anything?"
"Not yet, but I- " He cut off at the sound of a familiar whinny down the road.
Hoss, Adam, and Ben wheeled their horses around and hurried down the road. Cochise, Joe's pinto, was standing off the road in a group of trees, her reins wrapped around a tree limb.
"Well, that's strange," muttered Hoss, sliding off his own mount, Chubb, and walking over to the nervous pinto.
"Joe don't usually leave Cochise tied off somewhere for any length of time unless he's near." he patted the horse's neck and rubbed down along her back. "and she's been here awhile."
"JOSEPH" Ben called into the surrounding trees. There was no answer.
"Pa, look." said Hoss, pointing to the ground. "Those are his prints leading into the trees."
"Let's go." said Ben, and without another thought they headed into the trees. There was a clearing up ahead of them and as they walked, they noticed a form laying on the dirt.
"Joe!" cried Adam, as he raced into the clearing. But it wasn't Joe laying in a pool of his own blood. Adam rolled the man gently onto his back. Hoss came and stood behind Adam.
"Isn't he that Kennings fella?" he asked.
"Yes," answered Ben quietly. "But where's Joe? Hoss, you ride into town and get Sheriff Roy Coffee and bring him out here. Adam stay with me and let's find Joe."
Hoss left Adam and Ben to continue their search for any other clues that would lead them to the youngest Cartwright's whereabouts. They backtracked to the spot where Joe's prints ended, and started following them back. They both froze at Hoss' shouts down the road.
"Pa, Adam! Get over here quick!"
They ran over to where Hoss was standing in the road. In front of him in the dirt was a patch of crimson.
"Oh my God," Ben whispered as he ran to the spot. He could see clearly that it was a pool of blood, and the dirt was turned up around the spot as if someone had fallen. Beyond it, they could see the unmistakable smaller bootprints of Little Joe.
"What happened here? Where is he?" exclaimed Ben, trying to see anything that he may have missed. "Hoss! Go get the sheriff!" Hoss remounted Chubb and galloped off down the road.
"Hold on Joseph, hold on." Ben muttered.
Thanx for waiting! I'm going to try and keep the chapters a little bit longer from now on. Thanx to everyone who reviewed my last chapter: chochise, Igbabyblu, Kusiner, Spots on a Pony, and Jas-TheMaddTexan!