The evening grew darker and Kitty clung tighter to Doc. "When do you think we should stop for the night?" her eyes pierced Doc's. He wanted to go as far as he could, but even his own body was telling him otherwise. Without food and water for a day, he tried to evaluate their situation.

Kitty sat down in the grass with a punk. She dropped Doc's medical bag beside her. "Doc. I'm too tired to go any further tonight. And I'm hungry."

Doc used the shotgun as a cane and looked around the field for a solution, but there was none in sight. With a heavy sigh, Doc slowly settled down next to Kitty. He held his leg and took a deep breath.

Kitty noticed his actions. "That's really starting to hurt, isn't it?"

Doc gulped and nodded. "Hurts like thunder." He tried to reposition himself to ease the pain, but nothing was helping him. He blew a deep breath from his lungs knowing that infection was setting in and if he didn't get help soon, he may loose his leg, or worse his life.

"Oh, Doc, what do we do?" Kitty clutched at the doctor's arm.

"Kitty, I'm all out of answers. I've gotten us lost and I'm terribly sorry about that. You may have to go on your own to find help." Doc grimaced as a wave of pain swept through him. His empty stomach churned with nausea.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Festus was able to track the trail to where Doc and Kitty spent their last night. The sight of even more blood worried both Matt and Festus. "Matthew. One of them is hurt awfully bad. There's blood everywhere..."

Matt kicked at some discarded bandages with his boot toe. "Yeah." was all he was able to say as he tried to remain calm. The marshal knelt down next to the smothering ambers and held his hand over top to judge when it was lit and last used. "I'm guessing they left here this morning." Festus nodded. "Peers they were headed in that direction over yonder." he pointed.

Matt gathered himself. "We'll stay here tonight and head out at first light. They can't be far."

Festus knelt and ran his hand over some of the blood that he had found on a rock. "No, they can't be far...not with this much blood loss." his right eye scrunched and he looked out into the forest. "And that ol' cat is still following them." He stood and looked back to Matt. "Matthew, I'm plannin' on going as far as I can tonight. I can't stop here."

Matt turned to the hill man. "Now look Festus. I'm just as worried about Kitty and Doc as you are, but we can't risked taking the horses though this rocky terrain at night. Sure there's some moonlight, but if Ruth or Buck breaks a leg going through there, we're gonna have a heck of a time bringing Kitty and Doc out safely." Matt swallowed hard. He almost choked on his own words wishing he hadn't said them. He placed his left hand on Festus' shoulder. "As soon as the sun breaks we'll go out after them...and we'll find them. Doc is pretty crafty, you know. He'll see that Kitty is taken care of..." the lawman smiled and turned to start a fire.

"But will Miss Kitty be able to care fer ol' Doc, ifin he's the one that's hurt?" he asked only loud enough that he was the only one to hear the question as he stuffed his thumbs into his vest pockets and looked out into the darkening night. Reluctantly he stayed put as Matt had asked.