I've upgraded the story to an M I've just finished writing it (well it's reached were I planned it to end,) and reading it back I think that it's the most appropriate rating. This next chapter has alot of angst in it, someone dies and alot of people get hurt physically and emotionally.

Thanks for reading

Chapter 5

Hank stared at Michaela as if she had just spoken in another language, her words sinking into him like knives. He felt physically sick, tangy bile rising to his throat. His ears seemed to close off and he barely registered that Sully had had to step forward to catch the young girl's grandmother as she fell in a dead faint or that Michaela had resumed her treatment of the girl. In a daze he walked from the hospital. His reaction surprised him, especially considering his profession, but he had never knowingly employed an underage girl and even if he had it had been of their own choice. It had happened to Katie he knew it, and the more the idea raced round his head the more likely it seemed especially considering his observations earlier. Hank's mind struggling to cope with the disgusting, wrong and perverted actions taken against the two young girls, two young children. He hardly realised he had reached his establishment until bewildered he sank to the steps. He didn't know how to proceed, if he was right, then it was so damaging for Katie and how do you even go about explaining it to her or her stubborn parents especially considering the altercation he had almost just had with Sully.

"Hank?"he looked up as Dorothy spoke gently to him, her once flame red curls cascading round her face like foam from a waterfall she held her hand up to shield her face from the rain "Are you alright? You look like you seen a ghost"

Hank shook his head, and automatically tried to take a drag from the cigar that was normally in his hand.

Dorothy watched Hank with concern as he tried to smoke his empty hand. "Hank, are you alright? Should I get Michaela?"

Hank shook his head again, fixing Dorothy a stare through watery eyes "The Tattler kid, she's been raped"

Dorothy gasped in shock, her hand coming up to her mouth in horror. "Oh my... but she's so young, who could have done such a thing" she turned and rushed towards the store, leaving Hank alone to dwell in his fractious horrified mind.

"Loren! Loren!" Dorothy called as she rushed into the store; she froze as she saw the solitary customer and the state of his appearance. Dorothy stifled a scream as she took in the torn and blood stained shirt, in her mind, considering what she had just heard, there was one viable explanation. She stared at the man who she recognised as the porter from the hospital, and forced herself to smile.

"Patient ripped my shirt" the man explained casually.

Dorothy nodded in pretend understanding "The shirts are over there" When the man's back was turned she very quietly closed the front door of the store and locked it.

"You losing your mind woman" Loren called as he ambled down the stairs from the first floor "We still got ..." he stopped as Dorothy violently shook her head "Dorothy?" He stepped closer to her his tone lightening "Dorothy why have you closed the door, we still got a customer" he asked her gently.

Dorothy cast a horrified look in the direction of Harrison and beckoned Loren towards her. She leant forward her lips only an inch away from Loren's ear, so that to the casual observer it looked as if she was kissing him. "Don't say anything. The Tattler's granddaughter was violated. Look at his shirt Loren, look at it" she released him from her tight grip.

Loren rotated his head and gave the man a long hard stare. He straightened up and very slowly as to not alert Harrison to his action walked around the counter. Reaching below the counter he pulled out a battered metal box. It had been a long time since he had had reason to open the box and as he did the thick layer of dust fell on to the counter. He lifted the pistol out of its protective casing and began filling the six slots with bullets. As he did so he became aware of movement from the far end of the store. Harrison had turned; his dark eyes squinted as he took in Loren's actions. Fear gripped Loren as the man held his gaze.

"What are you doing?" Harrison hissed at him.

"What happened to your shirt?" Loren countered; slowly he raised the gun, pointing it at Harrison. "Answer the question"

"I told her, a patient ripped it"

"Don't believe you" Loren broke his gaze momentarily to glance at Dorothy who had let a gasp of shock at what was occurring in front of her, she was leant against the door, her hand in front of her mouth. The shift in Loren's gaze gave Harrison the opportunity he needed, rushing forward he seized a knife from the display and rushed at Dorothy.

Katie paused from her filing to listen to the commotion that was going on outside the office, she wasn't sure as to what was happening, but her mother had told her to stay in the office when Hank had first called for her, so she would remain put. She was almost finished with her filing and after that she was hopeful that perhaps whatever it was that was causing the flurry of activity would have quietened so she could go home with her mother and father.

Katie sighed and picked up the next sheet of paper to be filed; she glanced at the name and made to reach for the appropriate file when other words on the page caught her attention. She stared at the triage nurse's neat handwriting

Mrs Holler presented with nausea, dizziness, fatigue, increase in size to her breasts and a cessation of her monthlies.

Katie reread the sentence, before taking in her mother's diagnosis

Confirmed pregnancy, approximately 8 weeks gestation

The rest of her mother's words seemed to slide of the page as Katie's mind began to real in shock. The page fell from her hand and she staggered backwards hitting the desk softly. Mrs Heller's symptoms had been what she had suffering for the past couple of weeks, symptoms she had put down as growing up, the growing pains that everyone complained about. She brought her hand to her stomach, and felt it, the fat little belly that she hated since its appearance a few weeks ago. Bile rose in her throat, the flesh wasn't soft like fat, it was firm and then there were the strange sensations she'd had been feeling the last week or so, a strange jerky sensation.

Quickly Katie made her way to the bookcase and pulled the volume that dealt with obstetrics from the shelf. She turned page over page, each one highlighting and confirming something she had been experiencing over the past few months, confirming what she didn't want to be true.

But how could it be true? It wasn't possible, she hadn't been with a man, how could this, have happened? She vomited releasing the contents of her stomach onto her mother's floor. Her mind reached back to the time of her accident and the pain she had felt between her legs. The pain that Dorothy had assured her was pain from her monthlies, something that she had not thought to question. she'd had no reason to question. Katie retched again, but nothing came up, she had nothing left to throw up, she had eaten so little the past few day in an attempt to lose weight. Someone had done this to her, and she didn't know who, she couldn't remember anything. Tears pouring down her face she ran from her mother's office, out from the hospital and onto the street, she didn't know where she was going or what she was doing.

Hank looked up as he heard the sound of someone sobbing. He had until that moment remained stationary on the steps of the Gold Nugget, not caring that he was getting wet as the drizzle passed into steady rain. He watched alarmed as Katie rushed to her horse which was tethered in front of the old clinic. Her face was contorted into an expression of complete despair and despite the rain he could see the tears pouring down her face.

"Katie?" Hank called to her pulling himself to his feet.

She looked at him startled, as she pulled herself onto the horse "I don't want it"

Hank watched as she kicked her horse into a gallop. Quickly he rushed to his horse, She'd figured it out, he knew, her reaction proved it. He turned his horse, guiding it to follow Katie, as he did a gunshot seemed to echo around the town. Hank's head jerked towards the store, the direction from the which it had came, but he didn't stop, instead kicking his heels into the horses flanks and taking off after the distraught girl.

Loren raised the gun to fire again. The warning shot he had fired just over Harrison's head had done nothing to stop the man and he continued to race at Dorothy. The woman turned fumbling to undo the lock on the door so that she could escape but in her panic her hands couldn't work properly.

Loren fired again, his bullet missing its target and hitting one of the displays. "Dor'thy move" he bellowed moving as fast as he could stop Harrison's attack. But the younger man was faster and reached Dorothy first, without hesitation he grabbed her and plunged the knife into her, over and over. Dorothy barely had time to scream as Harrison's attack became frenzied. Loren reached and grabbed the blade of the knife as Harrison raised it over his head to strike her again. The blade sliced into Loren's fingers, his own blood mixing with the stain of Dorothy's blood on the silver surface. Loren tried to pull the knife from Harrison's hand, trying to stop the man from causing anymore damage to Dorothy. Harrison released Dorothy, letting her drop to the floor like a stone against the door. The hospital porter turned his focus onto Loren; quickly he knocked the gun from the older man's grip and pulled the knife from Loren's ruined hand. He raised his arm to strike the blade into Loren, but Loren reacted, lashing his leg out and catching Harrison in the stomach. In that instant Harrison dropped the knife and rather than stopping to retrieve it from the floor he rushed at the old shop keeper. Loren was forced back into his table by the full weight of the charging man. He stumbled and fell, falling heavily onto his hip. Letting out a cry of pain the old man tried to defend himself, struggling as he was pinned to the floor by the weight of the despicable man on top of him.

Harrison's fists moved at a rapid pace, smashed repeatedly into the old man's skull. A bullet burst through the window and Harrison looked up to see the barber pointing the gun at him. He scrambled off of Loren and rushed to gather his knife. The barber followed him outside, his eyes trained on the man, glowing with anger, but he couldn't get in, the door was blocked by Dorothy's ailing body. Harrison rushed for the back of the store, out of the line of fire, leaving the carnage behind him.

Jake forced all his weight against the door but it would not budge, he could see Dorothy's blood soaked arm indicating to him that she had fallen against the door. Other men had joined him, drawn by the sounds of gun fire and the anguished grunts that Jake was emitting as he tried to force his way into the store.

"Here" Jake was pushed away from the door by Robert E as the man hurriedly tied rope around the door handles. "Get back Jake" The knots tied he threw the rope to another man who sat on a horse. "Pull it open" Robert E ordered, pushing Jake back so he would not get hurt. The doors to the store were pulled from the frame and those gathered rushed in to help, Robert E bellowing orders.

Just as Jake made to enter the store he saw Harrison, who had evidently managed to get out of the back of the store. Harrison grabbed one of the horses that had been abandoned by the men's haste to get in the store and kicked it into action.

"Hey" Jake screamed leaping onto his horse and starting after Harrison.

Robert E stared after the departing men "You lot get after him" He staggered to his feet Loren's body in his arms and began stumbling toward the hospital.

As Robert E staggered through the hospital doors he let out a strangled yell "DR MIKE!"

Michaela exited the recovery room in a flash, her face paled as she saw the state of Loren in Robert E's strong arms. She rushed to them calling for Sully and Simon to help her. Robert E placed Loren on the triage bed and took a trembling breath. "What happened?" Michaela asked pressing her hand against Loren's bleeding head her other taking his gushing hand and studying it.

"Harrison attacked them in the store" Robert E said gently, his eyes fixed on Loren's swollen misshapen head.

"Them? Is Dorothy alright? Is someone bringing her over?" Michaela asked glancing towards the door to see if anyone else was approaching

Robert E shook his head sadly "No Dr Mike, there ain't anything you can do for her. He killed her"

Hank forced his horse off the road following Katie as she guided her horse to canter into the woods. He did not know where she was going but he knew he had to stop her. Luckily for him his horse which was larger than Katie's was closing the distance with every stride. Finally he drew alongside her, taking a wild grasp, he seized hold of her reigns and pulled on them to try and slow her down. The horses skidded to a stop on the soft mud, Katie slithered from her horse and broke into a run, heading up the gently slope that they had been ascending. Hank took after her, his long legs covering twice as much ground as her short ones could take in each step.

"KATIE, STOP" Hank called reaching to grab her but she ducked out of his way "LET ME HELP YOU"

Katie stopped her blonde hair sticking to her face as the rain fell down from the sky "Help me! You can't help me!" she screamed at him

Hank grabbed her holding her arms firmly she couldn't escape, no matter how much she struggled "I know Katie. I know you're pregnant" Katie stopped struggling and sagged towards the ground, sobbing. Hank cradled her gently letting her sob into his chest. Soothingly Hank stroked her wet hair "I know someone, in Denver, she can make it go away" Katie pulled her head away from his chest and stared at him with her tear filled eyes "Take the girls there sometimes. I can take you there. Have it all fixed by tomorrow night"

"You can make it go away?" Katie gasped between her sobs.

Hank nodded eagerly at her, surprised that he had come up with the suggestion "If we leave now, reckon we can get the last train" He lifted her to her feet gently "If you want, I'll take you"

Jake yelled as his horse lurched forward. The pair of them fell heavily in the mud, his large brown horse landing onto his leg. Jake howled in agony as the horse writhed, crushing his left leg beneath its enormous weight.

"Shoulda looked where you were goin" Harrison spoke as he moved out from the tree line, dismantling the trap he had laid out, which had caused Jake and his horse to fall.

Jake stifled a cry of pain and stared at the man "You're going to pay for what you've done"

"Am I? Who's going to make me pay? You?" Harrison moved to crouch near Jake, smirking at him. "You can't even get up"

"You're sick" Jake spat at him.

"I just know what I like" Harrison muttered, pulling out the blood stained knife and dragging the sharp edge along the fallen animal's flank making it writhe in pain in turn causing more pain for Jake. "I don't like to be with something that is spoiled; only way you know is if you get them while their young. They're so tender" he smirked "I like what I like and I do it nicely, I make sure they don't remember, they don't got the memories but I do" Jake disentangled his right leg from the stirrup and swung it at Harrison. He didn't meet his mark instead Harrison grabbed Jake's leg. With a malevolent grin Harrison plunged the knife into Jake's leg slicing the tendons making the lower leg go flaccid. Jake screamed in pain. The sound of approaching horses filled the air and Harrison looked up concerned. "Better get going, but just to be sure you can't follow me" he leant forward reaching round to Jake's back. With one swift movement he plunged the knife into Jake's spine. Leaving the knife in situ the man got to his feet and quickly mounted his horse, leaving the chaos he had caused behind.