Destiny's Cycle: Six, Page | 6

"The Wall"

As Curry squared off to fight, Heyes held his breath, fully aware, as he was every time, in seconds, his life could be altered forever. Then a flat stab of flame was reaching for Billie, the rowdy was bucking backward, dirt kicking from beneath his boot heels.

Releasing his pent up air Heyes took a step toward his partner. Except it felt like a firebrand had landed on his chest. He looked down, and a frown tugged at his face, unable to comprehend the red stain on his shirt front. Thinking to ask his partner, Heyes looked up to find Curry's face slack and unusually white under Delano's gaudy, glaring gaslights.

Swallowing hard, Heyes thought, 'why do the lights look so bright.' Then he twisted, and was staring at the stars above, with his hands splayed out, digging into the sandy dirt of the street feeling like he was sinking in dark, cold… no, not cold… frigid water. With a gasping cough, he gulped for air, and blood filled his mouth. 'No..!' He dug at his burning chest, trying to swallow the blood. The bright stars began to fade. 'No! I didn't get to…'

It was dark, but Heyes realized he could smell dirt, sweat, and most overwhelmingly, blood. 'Why can't I see? I need to see…I need to see. Fear pulsed through him, enwrapping him like a heavy blanket, and as it wrapped tighter, he saw a flicker of light in the blackness; with all he had, he pushed toward the light.

All he could think was,'Where am I?' His eyes felt like they moved of their own accord, and about him was a room he did not recognize. 'Where am I?' Then he felt the pain, it grew becoming monstrous, 'haven't ever hurt like this before.' The darkness was returning, he felt himself sinking into it, 'No!' Clenching his teeth, he inhaled through his nostrils, gritting out, "Kid!?"

Curry appeared over him.

'He looks frantic. What's happened?'

"Joshua… I'm here with a doctor… you hear me, Joshua."

Heyes blinked repeatedly, thinking, 'why can't I get enough air to speak? It all hurts so much. My throat feels dry as a desert floor.'

Placing his hands on Heyes' shoulder, Curry leaned in close, "you can't breathe because your lung is deflated."

'What's he mean, my lung is deflated?!' Heyes thought, wanting to prove otherwise, he struggled to breathe, filling the room with a rasping gurgle.

From somewhere, a gravely, stern voice snapped, "Settle him the hell down. His blood is spewing from him like a gorge in spring rain."

"Hold still," Curry ordered, turning Heyes' face to him, "look at me, Joshua, I need you to settle down."

Heyes' eyes narrowed, 'I cannot feel myself moving? Oh, Lord, my chest burns….so much pain, I want it to stop…stop."

Leaning in closer, Curry's softly hissed, "Hannibal, can you hear me?"

Hearing his name, Heyes' dark eyes darted to his pal, and he jerkily nodded.

Nodding back, Curry flicked his overly bright, worried eyes away, and following them, Heyes saw a stranger standing over him. He was an older man, there was blood on his hands, and his grizzled, white hair stood out at all angles in the golden, lamplight.

"You see, the Doc?" Curry asked, his eyes coming back to Heyes. "He says, you're moving is making you bleed more. You have to lie still."

Heyes' eyes narrowed, and he took a breath to speak, but doing so caused his whole body to jerk.

"Damn it, settle him." The Doctor barked, "can't have him bucking around like that."

Putting his mouth beside Heyes' ear, Curry whispered. "Han, I know you're scared, know it 'cause I would be, but I need you to think on a bank heist plan, just get lost in some plan, and drift off, like you do on me."

Closing his eyes, Heyes thought, 'lost track of the times, Kid has chewed on me for dropping too deep into my thoughts, or drifting off as he calls it. His lectures have always included how I wouldn't manage to stay alive without him, and every time I've told him, I didn't know what he was talking about that I could do just fine on my own. Truth is…' Heyes stared up at Curry standing guard over him, '…truth is….his alertness, dependability, steadiness, caution…allows me to let my mind wander, and for the first time ever, he is asking me to….but, can't the pain is too much.'

"This sides clean, put your hand right here," the Doctor instructed, and Heyes watched Curry reach out, then felt the warmth of his hand, and a spreading agony as he applied pressure.

With a nod, the Doctor sad, "Good, just like that, now let's turn him on his side."

When they did, Heyes found himself nose to nose with Curry, who was keeping steady pressure on the chest wound. 'There are lines grooved in Kid's face that somehow match how I feel, and the fear in his eyes, tells me how bad off I am.'

"He's a lucky man," the Doctor grunted, "slug came on out his back."

Heyes' eyes flicked to Curry, who gave him a tight smile.

'Wish I could smile back, let him know I'm not feeling so lucky, not with blood leaking out of my mouth, and all this pain. Damn, I haven't ever felt anything like this.' Exhaling softly, Heyes felt the darkness coming back, and this time reached for it.

Feeling his partner going lax in his grip, Curry slapped his cheek, "don't be giving up on me."

The dark eyes sluggishly opened, but when Heyes tried to answer all, that came out was a gargled cough, that brought on another cough, and another, with Heyes skin growing paler.

"Joshua! Joshua!"

"He passing out is for the best. Leave him be, there ain't much that hurts more than a deflated lung." The doctor said, bending to take a closer look as he dug at Heyes' back, muttering, "So, I been told."

Next, Heyes woke; the room was being bathed with the gentle, gray light of dawn. Blinking, he took a hesitant breath, 'Most of the pain is gone, and I don't feel like I'm drowning anymore.' Turning his head, he searched for Curry and spotted him standing at the window. For a time, he studied his partner's slumped windows until it came to him, Curry's forehead was resting against the glass. Taking another breath, Heyes softly, called, "Hey."

Curry spun, "Heyes," with a smile that was a thing to behold, like a child at Christmas, or maybe more like a man who had seen a beautiful woman. "You made it!"

Then it came to Heyes, 'it was the smile of seeing someone you love survive,' and with this realization, he returned the largest smile he could muster, "I step in front of a stampede, I was unaware of?"

"You go on and joke, I've been praying all night."

"You… praying?"

The way Curry's face tightened let Heyes know he had hit a nerve, and he thought, 'how would I feel if it had been him lying here all night.' Quirking out another grin, Heyes softly said, "got myself shot, didn't I."

"That damn boy pulled the trigger as he went down." Curry walked over to the bed, "Here, I didn't want to kill 'em, and he nearly did you in."

"What the Doc say?"

"That the bullet went straight through your lunk, just missing your heart, and if you made it through the night, and if infection doesn't get you, you will be able to get out of this bed in eight weeks or so."

"Eight weeks?!"

"Afraid so."

Heyes' eyes angled away, 'I should feel grateful, but, hellfire, eight weeks.'

"I know, partner."

"Suppose I could write my memoirs."

"Your what?" Curry responded, straddling the chair near the bed and dropping on it.

"Nevermind, we got bigger problems."

"Bigger than me being shot through the lung?"

"Yeah." Draping his arms across the chair's curved back, he dug his chin into his wrist, looking sheepish. "Used up about all our money for this room and paying the Doctor." His mouth twisted into a sickly grin, "even gave the Doc your pistol as part of the payment."

Heyes' dark brows bunched, wanting to say several rather harsh words one the subject of his pistol being gone, but instead, chose to keep them to himself, knowing every one of them would start an argument.

-ASJ-ASJ-ASJ-ASJ-

"So, you get the job?"

"Went to the address you found in the paper."

"And?"

"That blame fool is hiring men to build a brick wall, all the way, around his land."

"Why does it sound like you didn't take the job?"

"Cause, you know I didn't. Building a brick wall is awfully hard on the back. I'll find something on my own tomorrow."

As the day's drug by, Curry would return each night with Heyes' dinner, a copy of the Wichita Eagle newspaper, and tales of his labors. Except on this particular night, he came dragging into the room as if returning from a ten-mile forced march.

Setting his book aside, Heyes grinned brightly, "Good seeing you not covered in paint."

Curry dug up a returning smile, "I would never have taken that last job if I had known, how many walls Mrs. Murdock wanted painted. Swear, my shoulder is never going to be the same."

"So, what did you do today," Heyes asked, opening a dinner pail, and seeing Curry had swung by the Chinese district, beamed up at his pal.

"Heard tell, Mr. Jabara was hiring men to stock his new mercantile. It's on the other side of the river, and Heyes, you would not believe how big that building is." Curry answered, flopping on his bed with a groan. "Spent the day, climbing up and down a ladder, stocking every shelf along the east wall."

"You going to have to find another job tomorrow?"

"No," Curry growled, rolling on his side with a frown for Heyes. "I still have the west wall to do."

Heyes nodded, 'Kid sure does seem to be having a terrible time finding a job that agrees with him. At least, he doesn't have to keep flat on his back.' Heyes shoved another mouthful of chow in, 'hell, his trials sound wonderful compared to spending another damn day staring at these four walls.' Having finished his dinner, Heyes set the pail aside, "want to play cards?"

Curry frowned, but seeing the eagerness in his partner's face replied, "just a few rounds, got to be back at Jabara's in the morning."

Another day had drug by for Heyes, and as the shadows began stretching across the room, he felt his excitement building, so by the time he heard the key in the lock, he felt like cheering. "Sure, good to see you, Kid. Tell me everything you've done and seen today."

"Don't start on me, Heyes. I been talked at all I need today."

"What?"

"I took a job with Mr. O'Lawery that you saw in the paper," Curry replied dryly, handing Heyes a dinner plate.

"Oh, he's the one building a house."

"Yep, and we framed walls today and, I don't think he stopped talking to even take a breath. Not once."

"Oh." Heyes sniffed at the yellow potato salad stuck to his fork. "You going to keep working for him?"

"Not sure," Curry replied, pulling off his boots, letting them hit the floor with heavy thuds.

"Hmm?"

Stripping out of his clothes, Curry glanced at Heyes, his nose wrinkling, "he's paying pretty good. Just don't know if I can put up with all his jabbering."

Heyes moved the salad about on his plate, "You think you're going come back, wanting silence every night?"

Rubbing a hand across his face, Curry responded, "might."

Heyes nodded, then looked Curry straight in the eyes, "Way I see it, Kid, I'm not so sure building a house suits you."

For a full breath, Curry looked down his nose at his partner, then collapsed into his bed, staring at the water-stained ceiling. "You sure it's 'cause it don't suit me or, 'cause me wanting silence don't suit you?"

When he did not receive an answer, Curry propped his arm behind his head, looking across at his partner, and huffed out a sigh. "You look like a cat licking cream, stop smilin' at me that way."

"You going to find a different job?"

"Ain't decided, eat your dinner, and let me be. "

Heyes studied the remains of his dinner, hearing Curry moving, he watched him crawl under the blankets, close his eyes, even as he tucked his arm up behind his head. Exhaling heavily, Heyes, thought, 'great, only three more weeks.'