Title: Are You Quick Enough To Be Dead?
Summary: The Quick and the Dead After they burned his mission Herod gave him a choice, Fight or Die. He had chosen death. They had made him fight. They had forced him to fight because Herod knew he was fast. But Cort doesn't want to be fast. All Cort wants…is to die.
Disclaimer: I own no characters from the movie, The Quick and the Dead.
A/N: Grumpirah this chapter has been dedicated to you, because you were my first reviewer.
And I must ask…What's up with all the Miracle fics? If there where any more of them they could stop calling this section the 'Miscellaneous Movies' and start calling it 'Miracle.' What we need is more Gothika fics (and no fem slash either. Some Miranda and Pete, or something), Howl's Moving Castle…and of course, The Quick and the Dead.
The Wind and the Wire
Ellen stared at the barbed wire fence that stood solidly in front of her. It was a drift fence, and a fairly new one by the looks of the wire. She shook her head. She had just been through this area but a month ago and there had been no fence then. More and more restrictions upon the land.
Sitting high in the saddle she cantered back to her friends. The small wagon was silhouetted against the cold grey evening sky when she rode in and Katie was trying to get a fire going.
The Doc looked up at her, "What is it?"
She simply shook her head and un-cinched the saddle. Pulling a piece of rope out of her saddle bags she hobbled the horse's feet before finishing un-tacking. She dumped the heavy hunk of tooled leather on the ground next to the wagon and unrolled her bed roll.
Arnold handed her the pump action Winchester he had been cleaning and moved to help his wife fix the evening meal. Katie was pealing a few potatoes that she had thrown in a sack at the last minute before they had left the other night. She looked close to tears, but was trying hard not show it.
Ellen glanced at Wallace and he was watching the young woman as closely as she was. When the gun slinger looked back over at the fire, Katie suddenly emitted a sob. Pushing the knife and potato onto Arnolds hands, the brunette turned as dashed off into the darkening grass that surrounded the camp.
The doctor made as if to go after her, but Arnold stopped him. "Give her a minute or two. She's worried about her Pa."
A frown creased Wallace's brow. "What if she gets lost?"
Ellen sighed and rose from her blanket. "I'll keep and eye out for her, Doc. You stay here and help the kid with dinner."
The Blonde woman took the Winchester with her and strode out into the edge of grass in the direction Katie had taken. Squinting her eyes in the dim lighting she peered out into the coming night. The slim figure of her friend was no where to be seen. Frowning, Ellen rotated slightly on the spot, scanning the horizon for a sign. But Katie was no where in sight.
Scowling, she walked farther out, still searching for a glimpse of Katie. Tightening her grip on the rifle Ellen strode out farther still gleaning through the waves of grass for her married friend.
A sharp crack caused her to drop to the ground. Eyes wide and body tensed for battle, Ellen looked around in sharp jerks of her head. She was searching for the source of such an odd sound. It hadn't sounded much like gun fire, but one could never be too careful. After a few quick breaths, she tried to pin point the direction the noise had come in.
A female scream resonating from her right suddenly galvanized her into action. She had forgotten about Katie in her haste to discover what the sound was! Now she realized it had been the crack of a horse whip. Cursing she leaped to her feet and tore back into the makeshift camp.
Wallace and Arnold had hard Katie's cry and were staring anxiously out into the evening gloom. The doctor stepped forward when his former charge came into the camp only to leap back again as she hurried past him.
Ellen pulled a bowie knife from her belt and slashed the hobbles on her horse. Not bothering to saddle him, she leapt on bareback. Suddenly pausing she threw the rifle at Wallace.
Then she spurred the huge beast into a gallop and tore out of the camp only slightly faster than she had run into it.
Once away from the fire light she drew her pistol and drew the horse up to a walk. It wouldn't do to alert who ever it was who had Katie before she was in range. Her mount was a hammer headed buckskin mustang that could out run anything in the west with legs, so she wasn't duly concerned with losing her prey after she had found it. Her problem, was finding them in the first place.
Keeping the horse in check, she slowly rode in the direction that she had heard the scream in. As they mounted a hill Ellen heard another crack this time from almost directly in front of her. Not waiting another second she kicked the mustang forward and over the hill top.
As they charged down the other side Ellen had her gun ready to fire, but when she was over the hill she realized she didn't have anything to fire at. There was nothing at the bottom of the rise in the land. Nothing but grass. No people or horses and most importantly, no Katie.
She let out another curse and stared about herself, looking for a sign. But, again, there was nothing. "How can anyone just disappear like this?" She muttered bad temperly under her breath.
She was just turning to ride back to her friends when she noticed the silhouette of a horse and rider appear on the hill top across from her. Smiling grimly she praised her luck as she sent her mount towards the lone figure. Maybe this person knew what was going on.
Half way to the mysterious form on the ridge Ellen heard the crack once again and stared in shock as a stage couch suddenly appeared out of the blackness in front of her. The sturdy mustang beneath her snorted in shock but didn't bolt as the huge enclosed wagon rushed by within feet of them.
Ellen gaped at it. There was no way she had missed something that big on her way down here. No possible way, but there it was none the less. She gaped even more as Katie's horrified face flashed in one of the stagecoach windows.
The slender cowgirl let out a strangled yell and spurred her horse after the speeding carriage.
Out of the darkness had come more that just a stage coach. Ellen had been so wrapped up in saving Katie that she didn't notice the other riders until they were right upon her. She saw the first one out of the corner of her eye and stiffened when she saw the gun in his hand. Taking a deep breath she decided to ignore him for the moment and focus on Katie, after all, if he had wanted her dead he would have shot her by now.
Or so she thought. But as soon as the mustang had brought her along side the Stagecoach they started firing. Gritting her teeth she drew her own gun and fired behind her blindly. One shot. Two shots.
She nearly dropped her weapon in pain as a bullet grazed her left side. Gasping she pulled away, knowing that she couldn't fight with her enemies behind her waiting to shoot her in the back. When she had fallen back far enough she took aim and resumed her assault. She got one of the riders between the shoulder blades and he toppled from his horse.
She had taken a bead on her next target when the stagecoach door swung open. To Ellen's shock and dismay, Katie was forced to climb up the outside of the moving Coach and onto the roof. She was followed closely behind by a large man. When the two of them were safely perched among the baggage, the man pulled a gun and put it to the young woman's head. With his other hand he gestured for Ellen to stop.
Blinking against tears, the blonde did as ordered. For the next half hour she stared out across the distance in the direction her young companion had vanished into. Anger boiled up in her as she glared into the surrounding darkness. By the time Wallace and Arnold drew up beside her, angry and foul epitaphs were spewing from her mouth like water.
Wallace waited until she had to pause and take a breath to speak. "We passed a dead man back there." He then gestured behind him and Ellen noticed the Pinto tied to the wagon. "That horse was grazing around him. Figured the two went together, but since a dead body is no good to us we just took the animal. You couldn't find Katie?"
Ellen sighed. "Nothing we can do for Katie right now Doc. Ya'll go on ahead a ways. You'll come to a drift fence, camp there and I'll catch up with you in a bit."
The old man nodded and clucked to his horses. They set off for the drift fence while the gun slinger turned back for the man she had shot.
He was lying flat out on his back and Ellen figured the doctor had turned him over to get a better look. The moon was out now and she could just make out his features in the gloom. Getting down off the mustang, she crouched next to the unfortunate man and rifled through his pockets, looking for some kind of identification.
In his left breast pocket he had a pouch of tobacco and some paper for smokes, but his other pockets were empty. Ellen smiled grimly as she stripped him of his gun belt and weapons. He wouldn't be kidnapping any little girls anytime soon.
After wrapping his things in a 'kerchief she stuffed them in a saddle bag. Ellen turned back to the body with a groan. Now came the rather unpleasant part, getting him back to the others. Gritting her teeth and straining her muscles, she hauled the dead weight upright and over her saddle. Swinging up behind him she winced as the head thunked against her leg.
The stench of decay was just starting to rise from the dead flesh when Ellen dumped the body next to the pinto. The horse snorted and shied away from his now dead master.
The slender woman ignored her companions and their questions as she un-tacked her own horse and unrolled her blankets. Pulling off her boots and setting her gun next to the make shift bed she bid the men good night and went to sleep.
Now what will happen? I wonder….
Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter.
Dannie