JD had lost all track of time. Williams had tightened a loop around JD's wrists. His fingers had numbed long ago as the rope chafed against his skin. He'd been walking most of the day into the hills, his knees threatening to give way with every step. Williams rode behind, using an occasional kick between JD's shoulder blades to urge him on.
But JD's thoughts were elsewhere. It had hurt the young man when he'd accidentally caused the death of a woman in town a while back. But that was overshadowed by this: the death of his idol, his leader. His friend.
Chris had called him a good friend. Good friends don't get friends killed. JD had defied the others to do what Chris wanted, even when the others felt it wasn't in Chris's best interests. The shot still reverberated in his mind, and he'd squeezed his eyes shut against the memory, trying to push it from his mind. Until now, he hadn't given his own fate much thought. Almost absently, he wondered why he wasn't dead, too, but he didn't want to give anyone any ideas.
JD slowed to wipe his damp sleeve across his forehead, when the next kick sent him to his knees. He stayed on all fours, struggling to draw a breath as the world tilted beneath him. He'd been silent and stoic all this time, but at last his resolve gave way. If he was going to die out here, he wanted to know why.
"What do you want?" he gasped at last. "Where are we going?"
"You were looking for my partner," Williams replied. "And it seems you boys aren't going to give up till you find her, so I'm taking you to meet her."
"Partner? You robbed the bank," JD said breathlessly.
"I merely set up your friend, that's all. Pointed 'im out to her. She did the rest. I'm no bank robber."
"No, just a killer," JD accused. "You killed a blind man."
"I'd watch what I was saying, there, boy. You didn't seem me kill anybody. I only shot 'im. If I wanted to kill him, I would have. He'd have slowed us down. Besides, I was merely helping Nature along. The Great Chris Larabee wouldn't have wanted to live like that anyway."
"You should've let him decide that."
Williams ignored the comment. "I figure your other friend oughta come looking for you eventually, once he knows where to look. Give me that hat." He snatched it from JD's head and tossed it aside. "After we've all had our reunion, she can decide what to do with both of you. On your feet, son. Let's keep moving. She's an impatient little lady."
JD struggled to get his feet under him, but they refused to obey. He weaved for a moment, unable to straighten up, then fell to the ground again.
With an exasperated sigh, Williams dismounted and threw JD across the horse before continuing on.
JD closed his eyes. His thirst and exhaustion were now accompanied by nausea from his undignified position over the animal's back. He hoped Williams was right. Now he hoped Chris was dead. Because he couldn't fact the idea that Chris might still be alive and suffering: sightless, wounded, and alone.
------------------------------
Vin reined in his horse beside the fallen man.
"Chris!"
Damn that Larabee. What the hell was he thinkin'? Had he gone loco?
His worry expressed itself in anger as he grabbed Chris by the lapels of the hip-length jacket.
"What the hell are you doin' out here all by yourself!"
Chris struggled to reply past parched, whitened lips. Vin released him to retrieve his canteen and held it to the dry, cracked lips. Chris drank until he began to choke, and Vin withdrew the canteen.
A cursory examination showed a bullet wound above Chris's hip. Vin rolled him part way over, eliciting a barely-audible moan of protest from Chris. It appeared to have passed through the fleshy part of his side and, although it had bled, the bleeding appeared to have slowed.
"How'd you get this?" said a familiar voice, as hands pressed him back down. Chris squinted. He could just make out light and shadow. And motion. Someone or something moved near him. Perhaps he was mistaken, though. Chris didn't dare hope. After all, it wasn't like he could really see anything.
"Vin? He struggled to sit up. "We have to find JD."
"Easy there. What happened to JD?"
Chris shook his head. "Don't know. Couldn't find 'im. We gotta find 'im."
"Hold on. We will. You keep thrashin' like that, you'll get t' bleedin'."
With an effort, Chris stilled.
"What're ya doin' here," they said in unison, then laughed nervously. Chris winced with pain.
"Was comin' after you," said Chris, his tone serious. "You were headed for Tascosa, weren't you." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yeah," said Vin softly. "Thought I had important business needed tendin' ahead o' me."
"Don't you?"
"Way I figger it, I have more important business behind me."
"So you comin' back?" Chris tried to move again and grunted in pain. "Wish you'd decided that before we started after you."
"How'd you get shot?."
"Don't know. We're burnin' daylight. Let's find JD. Now."
Vin helped Chris onto his feet and onto his horse. As they retraced Chris's trail, Vin marvelled to himself at the amount of distance the man had been able to cover.
"We're here, Chris," he said at last. He got off his horse and looked around. "This must be your campsite. Your bed rolls are still here. And JD's horse."
"Any sign of JD," Chris asked anxiously.
"He's not here. Here's your hat." He reached up and put it in Chris's hands. "Chris? There was just you and JD, right?"
"Yeah."
"'Nother set of hoof prints here. And another set of footprints."
"Another rider?"
"Looks like. But if JD's horse is still here, and if JD ain't--" he paused, not wanting to say the word out loud, "they can't have gotten far."
"Then what're we waitin' for?"
------------------------------
The two men rode in silence, Vin leading the way, Chris behind him, and JD's horse bringing up the rear. It surprised Vin that they hadn't come upon JD yet. The bootprints were getting more erratic as the trail continued.
"We're stopping," Vin said suddenly.
"No" came the stubborn reply.
"Ain't up fer debate. Gotta give the horses a rest. And I'm gonna check that bandage of yours."
Chris allowed Vin to lead him to a place to sit while Vin let the horses rest. The sun had gotten brighter, Chris had noticed, and he wondered about that as he ate and Vin ate a little food, but he still didn't want to his or Vin's hopes up for nothing. Vin handed Chris the canteen, then carefully checked the dressing.
"How's it look?"
"Well, I ain't Nathan, but it looks to be healin'."
"Good. Then let's get going."
Vin helped him up and onto his horse. They were both concerned about JD. Since they hadn't found his body, it was reasonable to assume he was still alive. But if he was, time could be running out.
"You said you were comin' back," Chris prompted suddenly as they rode. "Why?"
Vin didn't hesitate. "Face up to what I done. Whether you wanted me there or not."
Chris nodded. "It was an accident. I know you didn't mean to do it."
"That don't make it right," Vin said angrily. "You ain't gonna try t' tell me it don't bother you, bein'...His voice caught with emotion. "...blind."
"I wanted to hate you," Chris replied thoughtfully, "for what you did to me, but I can't." He paused. "So you was headed to Tascosa? Risked gettin' your neck stretched?"
Vin shrugged. "Preferred it to having to live with knowin' I hurt my best friend. Worst thing in the world. But that was the coward's way out."
"An' you ain't no coward," Chris smiled.
"It was eatin' my guts out, but I figgered what you were livin' with was worse. Don't see how you could ever forgive me. And I owed it to you..." Vin felt the skin all over his body tingle painfully as if his insides were exposed.
"Vin, it's not like that now. I think I can-"
"Stop," he said. The soft urgency in his voice ended any further conversation.
"What?"
"The footprints have stopped. Horse tracks are heavier now."
"Two men on one horse."
"Looks like it." Vin glanced around. "Chris," he said in a tight voice. "Found something."
Vin put something in Chris's hands. Chris felt his blood run cold as he identified it.
"JD's hat."
Vin studied the hat in Chris's hands. "Ain't no blood on it. Don't mean he's still alive, though."
"Don't mean he ain't."
"Right," Vin agreed. He paused and looked up at the sky. "Gonna be night real soon. Won't be able to follow the tracks much longer."
Chris began to dismount, then grimaced suddenly as the pain in his side made its presence known. He staggered a little and felt Vin steady him.
"Whoa, there," Vin exclaimed. "I'm gonna get a another look at them bandages." Mentally, he kicked himself for forgetting about Chris's wounded side. Chris hadn't so much as whimpered in all this time. He was probably hurting like hell, Vin thought.
Over the next few hours, Vin had sacrificed one of his shirts to fashion another makeshift bandage and, by now, both men had eaten and were quietly sipping coffee around the fire.
"You're mighty quiet," Chris observed.
"Just thinkin'...This whole stupid thing is my fault," he said bitterly.
"No. It's not," Chris answered him quietly.
Vin didn't reply.
"If that woman hadn't robbed the bank--" Chris began.
"She wouldn't have if I hadn't been so stupid!"
There was a long silence, that stretched out into the dark night that surrounded them.
"Only proves you're human, Vin."
Vin felt his eyes stinging. He blinked and rubbed them with one hand. "Yeah," he said, softly, a catch in his throat preventing him from saying anything more.
"I need ya, Vin," Chris said at last. "We all do. First light--we find JD."
------------------------------
The dawn had barely cleared the horizon when the two men broke camp. The morning felt cool and moist as they prepared to continue their search.
Vin waited till Chris was astride his own horse. He started to take Chris's reins with him as he headed for his own mount.
"Vin, I can take those...I can see...a little."
Vin stopped dead in his tracks, certain he had heard wrong. "You can SEE?"
"Not exactly," he replied. "I see light, shadow...I see movement. That ain't the same as real seein'. But I think I can follow that." He smiled, indicating Vin's horse, then added "Long as you look back once in awhile t' make sure I'm still with ya."
Vin eyed him warily, trying to figure out if Chris was trying to do more than he was really able to. "You sure?"
Chris nodded.
"Then let's ride."
------------------------------
Not too many hours behind, four peacekeepers had been riding a long time. So much so, that they had finally straggled into a single line.
Maybe something was up and maybe it wasn't, but the four men knew they'd sleep better once they had located their companions. Too many people were missing from town for too long, and at the same time: Vin, Chris, JD, and now Williams. And among those, one of them in particular--a certain blind man--should never have left. Buck was trying to follow what tracks he could. It would've helped if Vin was with them, but he wasn't.
Buck hadn't stopped cursing himself under his breath for letting Chris leave with JD. A blind man had no business riding around out in the wilderness. Vin was a grown man who'd made his own decisions and, whether Buck agreed with them or not, that was his right. Chris should've taken that into account and let him go. If he was inclined to come back, he would in his own good time.
"Ahead," Josiah said shortly, pointing. Buck nodded as they headed for the remains of a campsite. The four dismounted and looked around. "Small campsite. Not many footprints. Small fires. Second one looks fairly recent."
The ladies' man nodded. Then his eye caught something. He squatted down to pick it up. "Josiah," he called. The big man stood beside him. "What do you make of this?" Buck handed him some torn bits of fabric. "Looks like pieces of Vin's shirt..."
Josiah studied at them carefully. "Looks like blood on some of 'em. Bandage maybe?"
Buck squinted up at him. "For who?"
"Buck?" Nathan was pointing to a patch of ground by some rocks. "Blood."
Ezra walked over to them. "Looks like a lot of people have decided to travel in one particular direction back there. Shall we join them? If Mr. Tanner needs our assistance, perhaps that's where we'll encounter him."
"And Chris and JD, I hope," said Buck.
Josiah nodded. "Don't we all."
------------------------------
The night had seemed unending to JD, but the day was worse. He had been given some water and a little food, but now he felt sick from the motion of the horse and his head was pounding. He drew in a shuddering breath as the animal finally came to a stop. A hand grabbed his belt and pulled him off, sending him tumbling to the ground.
"We're here," Williams said shortly.
JD stood on wobbly legs and looked around. Here? It was an old two-room cabin, hidden up in the hills and a good distance from anyone who might be remotely considered a neighbor. The building itself looked long-abandoned and ready to collapse, with rotting window frames and chinks between the weather-worn boards. It didn't look like anyplace one would stay for very long. A small shudder passed through him at that thought, as he also realized Williams may have already decided that JD was leaving here alive.
"Inside," ordered Williams, hauling JD to his feet by the rope around his wrists and half-dragging him into the cabin.
Inside, the air was stale, and a heavy veil of dust danced in the sunlight that streamed through broken, dirty windows. Everything looked and smelled of decay. This was no trapper's cabin. The size of the place and the plain, built-in sideboard along one wall suggested a family may have lived here once. But that was clearly a long time ago.
Williams pulled a rickety old chair to the center of the room, and roughly pushed JD into it. Holding the gun in one hand, he loosed the rope around JD's wrists before ordering the young man to put his hands behind the back of chair. Williams quickly re-tied JD and stood back to look at him.
"Well, you look just perfect like that," he said with a leer.
JD swallowed hard, his mouth dry. "Now what?"
Williams pulled out a pocketwatch to check the time. "We wait."
--- The sun was high overhead when Vin stopped his horse. It took a moment for Chris to recognize that Vin had halted, then Chris stopped, too.
"Tracks lead straight to a cabin just up yonder. Can barely see it through the trees."
"You think JD is there?"
"No way o' knowin'," Vin said. "Could be a wild goose chase. But them tracks look like they lead straight to it."
"Then what're we waitin' for?" Chris started to nudge his horse forward, but Vin reached out and caught the reins.
"Just hold it right there. This is as far as you go."
"Like hell, it is."
"Don't argue with me, Larabee. You're stayin' put back here and that's that."
Chris set his jaw in angry frustration. "I ain't stayin' outta this like some cripple."
Vin could tell this was one fight he wouldn't easily win, so he decided to try a compromise.
"Fine. You stay here until I can get up close enough to check it out. Then you can follow me. Think you can watch my back without shootin' it?"
"Try me."
"Couldn't say 'yes', could ya," Vin muttered as he started forward.
He crouched in the brush, squinting ahead. The place looked deserted at first but, as he maneuvered to his right to get a better look at the place, a horse came into view. Someone was inside, all right.
He ducked again as he heard, then saw a rider approach. At first, he thought it was a boy. The rider was dressed in buckskins like his own, hair streaming out from under a flat-brimmed hat. Vin's blood ran cold in his veins and his heart felt as though it has stopped. Someone he never expected to see again had come into full view of the afternoon sun.
'Priscilla.' Or whoever she was. She dismounted, then paused, looking around, then stared in surprise.
Chris was still with the horses, and preparing for a fire fight. He groped in his saddle bags. JD said they were here. They were the reason he'd gone for days now without a smoke. He reached inside, fingers brushing against metal and leather. They were there, all right. He pulled out the heavy gunbelt and, clumsily at first, strapped it on. The palm of his hand rested against the gun's grip, fingers curling over it instinctively.
He squinted ahead. His vision had been slowly but steadily improving. He could almost make out shapes now. Blurry ones, but they there nonetheless. Vin was near the house. Chris could just make out the familiar buckskin jacket.
He squinted. Vin had said Chris was follow him and now he waited for the signal. He squinted still more till his eyes were nearly slits. Vin was beckoning for him to join him.
The time had come. Chris moved swiftly and quietly forward.
------------------------------
Vin had seen Priscilla come to a halt, then look off toward him. For a moment, he thought he'd been seen. Then he realized with a shock that she was looking at something else. She stared for a moment, her hand poised on her gun. Then a small smile crept across her face--one that give Vin chills--and she waved to someone.
Vin glanced back to see who it was. His heart dropped into his boots. Chris. And he was walking straight toward her.
Why in the hell--? Almost instantly, he surmised the answer to that. Chris must have thought Priscilla was him.
Damn! Vin wanted to shout to him, stop him, shoot him, SOMETHING to halt Chris's progress toward the bank robber. What could he do? Chris was heading straight into a trap and there was nothing he could do but watch helplessly.
------------------------------
The four men passed another campsite as they followed the thick trail of horse tracks.
"More of Vin's shirt," said Josiah, scooping up the scraps in one hand.
"Less blood, though," Nathan observed hopefully.
Ezra remained cautious. "If whoever it is has any left."
Buck mounted his horse again. "Then let's keep movin'."
------------------------------
"Anybody inside?" Chris asked.
"Why don't we find out?"
Chris stiffened. It wasn't Vin. It was a woman. Chris didn't know who she was, but he could tell by her tone he should do what she told him. He wondered where Vin actually was as he turned toward the blurry structure in front of him. He approached it slowly, cursing himself silently for getting into such a mess. He stumbled slightly on the steps and continued inside.
------------------------------
Vin cursed as Chris disappeared into the building. Now what to do? That woman had Chris now, and he still didn't know if JD and his abductor were in there. Vin crouched low as if tracking an animal and moved silently toward the cabin. First he needed a closer look. Then he needed a plan.
------------------------------
Chris scanned the inside. There were two other people already in the building, one sitting and one standing nearby.
"What the hell-"
Williams' voice. Chris tensed a muscle in his jaw as he realized that the woman had to be the infamous Priscilla.
"Chris!" JD exclaimed in a voice mixed with surprise and tempered relief. He was happy Chris was still alive, but probably figured it wouldn't be for much longer.
------------------------------
Outside, the building was surrounded by low brush and high weeds. Vin managed to swiftly move close until he was right beside the wall of the cabin. He ducked his head and moved forward slightly toward the window. He could hear low voices inside.
Chris.Williams. JD. And Priscilla.
------------------------------
Williams looked at Priscilla in surprise. "You bringin' in strays, now, Mavis?"
"He was outside," she said shortly. "I see you brought in one of your own. What's he doing here?"
"Following you, I'd expect, m'dear. Figured we finish 'em off and we're free and clear. I hear the Union Bank is looking for a manager in Wyoming." Williams removed Chris's gun and prodded him into a seat, then turned his attention to Chris. He pulled Chris's black jacket open to survey the wound, then nodded, satisfied. "Thought I shot you. Now...where's the other one?"
"Other one," Mavis echoed with concern.
"Tanner. The three of them left town. He's gotta be around here somewhere."
"I came alone," Chris said flatly.
"Sure you did." Williams sent a knee into Chris's wounded side. Chris cried out in searing agony and doubled over to the floor, landing on his uninjured side.
"I brought him here!" JD shouted.
"Shut up, boy!" Williams backhanded him sharply, drawing blood from the corner of JD's mouth.
Chris tried unsuccessfully to sit up. "Leave 'im alone! I told you I came alone!"
------------------------------
As Vin shifted his weight by the window, he did a double take. A door. It appeared that the cabin had an old root cellar. He winced at Chris's sudden cry of pain but used the moment and shouting that followed to mask his careful opening of the old door.
The cellar was tiny and not deep enough for even a boy of 12 to stand up straight in. His hope for using this as an entry to the cabin above was quickly dashed. The only way in or out of the cellar was via the small, rotted door he'd come through. And there was nothing in the cellar except an old, discarded bucket.
Vin continued to study his surroundings as he tried to think of something else. He looked up through the cracks in the floorboards to see JD in the chair and Chris on the floor trying to control his breathing, his face contorted in pain. Time was running out.
------------------------------
"What are we waiting for?" Mavis demanded, her patience ebbing. "If he came alone, then Tanner might not be anywhere near here. If Tanner's not around, I don't want to wait any longer for you to finish having fun. Let's just kill them, take our money, and head for Wyoming."
""No! If there's one of them left, he'll come after us. He's around," Williams said confidently. He nodded at Chris. "Didn't you hear? He's blind. He couldn't have gotten all this way by himself. He had to have help."
"I can see," Chris gasped through gritted teeth.
Williams squatted beside him. With an evil grin, he grabbed Chris by the collar and dragged him back into the chair.
"Oh, you can, can you?" He glanced around the cabin, then pulled out a knife. He stepped over to a wall and carefully peeled off an old piece of newspaper used to paper some of the walls. "Read this, then."
Chris looked at the yellowed paper. The newsprint was just a black, blurry smear. He could make out the lines of print, but even as he struggled to make sense of the words there, he knew he couldn't.
"Can't read," he bluffed.
Williams smirked and moved closer to JD. "You'd better be able to read. Or your young friend here is going to be sorely disappointed. Sorely." He nudged JD's temple with the barrel of his gun.
------------------------------
Vin heard Chris's bluff and Williams' threat clearly. He could just see the ex-bank manager waving his gun close to JD's face.
Vin was out of time.
He surveyed the flooring above him. The dry sink had probably been close to one of the windows. He scanned the boards in the half-light till he saw a patch that looked more rotted than the rest of the floor. He traced his fingers across the softened wood. Vin placed the bucket carefully under the spot, turning it over so he could stand on it.
Time seemed to speed up then, as events unfolded quickly.
With his gun in his hands, he bent his knees, then surged up through the floor, sending wood pieces and splinters flying as he opened fire on Williams.
Chris moved instantly. Ignoring the pain in his body, he grabbed Williams' gun and turned it on Mavis, pulling the trigger at the same instant that she fired at Vin.
------------------------------
When the smoke cleared, two people were dead and two were looking the worse for wear. The two men turned their attention to the cabin door as they heard several footsteps running toward them.
"Buck!" shouted JD.
Chris and Vin lowered their guns, as the others rushed inside.
"Sounds like you two started the party without us," said Buck, recognizing Williams and noticing the woman nearby. "I take it this little lady was Priscilla?"
Vin nodded.
Buck tilted his head to look at her. "Well, she was pretty. Honest mistake any man coulda made."
Josiah finished cutting JD loose. "You boys ready to come home?"
"I'll take care of the money," offered Ezra.
"You do that," Josiah agreed. "We'll still count it when we get back to town."
"On second thought, perhaps JD here can hold onto it."
"Good idea," said the ex-preacher.
Chris turned to face Vin."You're bleedin'," he said suddenly.
Vin glanced down at his sleeve. "It's just a- You can really SEE that? You can, can't you!" Vin's eyes widened and his jaw dropped with shock and delight."I thought you was bluffin' back there!"
"Well, I was," he shrugged. "Still can't read nothin'."
"Not yet," Nathan added. "But if you can see this much, you must be healin'."
"How many fingers," asked Buck, holding up his hand.
"Three dirty ones." With a huge grin, Buck impulsively hugged his old friend and Chris gasped in pain.
"Sit down, Chris. Vin, you too," Nathan ordered. "Got me some patchin' to do. Buck, Josiah, you can give me a hand."
"Nathan, I think JD can help me," suggested Chris. "He's done a good job so far. And I trust him."
Vin sat beside Chris as the others took care of the two dead thieves.
"Glad that's over. Y'know...you shot a woman. I thought you'd never shot a woman."
Chris shrugged. "She gave me a reason."
He sat still as JD helped apply a fresh bandage to the wound, thinking he was never so happy to see such a dusty, ragtag bunch in all his life. He looked at each of them, realizing that these men had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure he was fed, clean, healthy and safe during his ordeal. They had tried to prevent him from following Vin only to protect him and had followed him, JD and Vin for the same reason.
"You guys sure are a sight for sore eyes," Chris said with a smile. And he meant it.
------------------------------
END