Ezra watched Buck push on a window to no avail. Looking around he saw a good size rock on the ground. Picking it up, he handed it to Buck. "Time is not allowing us the courtesy of being covert." He saw the look Buck was giving him. "Break the window. You can boost JD and myself through."

Buck shook his head and took the rock from Ezra. Knocking the glass out of the window, he turned and put his hands down for Ezra to use as a step. He watched Ezra pull himself through the window, knocking loose glass off as he went. Turning he did the same for JD. Hoping they had gotten the broken glass off the window sill, he pulled himself inelegantly over the window sill and into the room.

Ezra hadn't waited for JD to enter before starting to systematically go through the rooms. He glanced over at Buck as he exited yet another room. The look on his face told him he wasn't having any more luck in finding them.

JD came out of one of the rooms at the end of the hall. "They're not here."

Ezra shook his head. "Keep looking. We need to check the rooms on the front."

Buck nodded then froze. "Smell that?"

JD sniffed the air. "Something's burning."

Ezra moved to the end of the hall and pulled open the door leading to the front of the house. Flames licked the walls of the front of the house. Going through the door he called out to the men behind him, no longer worried about trying to stay quiet. "We need to find them now."

Buck and JD raced into the burning room after Ezra. Buck looked at the steps leading up to the loft area. Flames were already dancing across the walls going up the stairs. He looked over as Chris and Vin appeared through the flames that almost covered the front door. "Where's Royal?"

"Dead." Chris knew if the other men were in this part of the house, in the middle of an inferno, they had already checked the rooms in the back. He glanced up the steps and didn't think twice about bolting up them.

"Chris…". Buck started up the stairs after Chris but jumped back as part of the loft railing tumbled down from above. His eyes roamed across the loft area, waiting to catch a glimpse of Chris. His friends' tendency to wear black wasn't making it easy to spot him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he caught sight of movement. Kicking the fiery debris out of Chris's way he watched Chris jump off the side of the steps as the railing collapsed. Pulling him up he met Chris's eyes. He knew where Chris's head was and if Chris was going to be of any use to them he knew he had to keep him focused. "They're not in the house. And if we don't want to die we need to get out and keep looking for them."

Chris pulled away from Buck. "They have to be here. This was Royal's plan." He covered his mouth with his arm. The smoke was getting thick and parts of the ceiling was starting to collapse. He had only allowed himself to imagine what Sarah and Adam had gone through once…and had crawled so far into a bottle of whiskey he hadn't been able to move for days. He knew if he had let the thought surface again he wouldn't be able to survive the aftermath. Now, that's all he could think about and it was happening again.

Ezra covered his mouth and nose with his arm. The smoke was thicker than it had been a few moments ago and he knew it was only going to get worse. Panic had set in long ago. They had been through every room in the house. He didn't think they had missed anything but they hadn't seen any sign of the women. He started to turn to go back to the rooms at the rear of the house when JD caught his arm.

"Ezra, we need to get out of here. The house is starting to collapse." JD coughed into his arm as the smell assaulted his senses.

"No. Not until we find them." Ezra looked back at the kitchen then over at the stairs. Chris had made it to the loft and back down. He turned again to head to the back of the house.

JD grabbed his arm again. "Ezra…they're not here. We need to get out of here."

Chris looked across the room as he heard JD's voice over the crackling of flames and wood. He watched Ezra turn and yank his arm out of JD's grasp and a piece of him jerked back into the reality of the situation. Grabbing Buck he pulled him towards Ezra and JD. Vin was already making his way towards them. He stopped in front of Ezra and locked eyes with him. "They're not here. They've got to be somewhere we haven't looked."

Ezra started to argue and heard Nathan's shout from outside. All five men turned to look towards the door leading from the kitchen to the outside. Josiah and Nathan were pulling burning bush off of a root cellar door. The closer the five men got, they could hear the calls for help from below. Joining in the effort they cleared the rest of the burning debris. Pulling his sleeve over his hand Ezra slid the bolt back.

Hearing the bolt slipping out of its containment, Mary and Maddie pushed the door upwards. Smoke billowed upward, escaping the confines of the earthen room. Maddie reached back and grabbed Casey and propelled her forward, Mary doing the same with Nettie. They repeated the process with Rain and Hannah. Mary looked up when she heard Chris yelling. Reaching out she grabbed his hand and felt herself pulled up the stairs. She didn't think her feet even touched the ground as Chris pulled her further away from the fire. She finally caught a glimpse of Maddie and realized Ezra had done the same.

"Mary, are you ok?" Chris ran his eyes over Mary finally landing on hers. Getting a nod, he let out the breath he had been holding. Nodding he looked over at Nathan. He didn't trust himself to keep looking at Mary. "Nathan…you, Josiah, and Ezra take the girls back to town. Make sure they're all ok. We'll make sure the fire doesn't spread."

Josiah hooked up his horse to a wagon that he had located near the house. Helping Hannah into the cart, he glanced over at Nathan when she wouldn't let go of Rain's hand. Rain followed her onto the wagon. Nathan handed the reins of his horse to Mary and hopped up into the wagon with Rain. Seeing her alight from the smoking root cellar had shaken him.

Nettie took Vin's hand as he helped her up into the wagon seat next to Josiah. She glanced over at the rest of the women. "Son, we need to find you a girl."

Vin laughed. "Don't have the best track record on that front…"