Jill didn't know how long she slept. As soon as her head hit the pillow from the night before she was out.

She grabbed her glasses from the nightstand. With a sigh she realized that it hadn't been a dream after all. She was still in the cabin, so she was still in the O.Z., and still had no idea of why someone would want her here.

She threw the covers off and gingerly sat up. Yep, still sore.

She stood up using mostly her right leg and then put a little more weight on her left. Her knee complained but at least it felt like she could walk on it. She limped over to the dresser and looked into the mirror. She ran her fingers through her hair and almost got it to looking decent. Oh well. I've looked worse for wear.

She then got dressed. She was glad that she had put on a pair of long underwear so that she at least had something besides her sweater and jeans to wear to bed. Trying to wash any of her garments seemed to be out of the question for the time being. She was just going to have to try to suck it up for a few more days.

She opened the bedroom door and looked around. Her jacket had been draped over one of the kitchen chairs. There was a plate, mug, silverware, a sheet of paper and a pen on the kitchen table. She limped over.

"Son of a bitch. He went through my workbag." She had immediately recognized one of the company supplied black pens she always managed to "accidentally" bring home from work.

She picked up the sheet of paper and started to read. It was from Cain. Obviously, who else would it be from?

It told her that he went out early in the morning to check and gather his remaining traps, breakfast was ready and just had to be warmed on the stove and last but not least would be back late morning or early afternoon. She then came to the end.

P.S. I'm sorry about going through your workbag. I had no paper and didn't want to wake you up. Forgiven. I would've done the same thing.

P.S.S. The outhouse is behind the cabin.

Oh, you've got to be kidding. If you took the time to write me where the outhouse is located, how 'bout where to find the toilet paper?

She put on her boots, and then her jacket. She almost opened the door and then turned and went back to her workbag. She grabbed a few extra pieces of paper. Just in case.

She then went outside to find the outhouse.

Cain was up early. If they were going to go back to Central City tomorrow then he had to gather the rest of his traps. He only had a couple set but they were spread out throughout the property. He also wanted to find Jill's truck. Not that he doubted her story, but to see it for himself. Maybe there would be a clue as to why she was brought here; either on purpose or by accident.

As he rode towards the east end of the property he hoped that Jill wouldn't be too upset about him going through her bag to find some paper. He just couldn't bring himself to wake her up. He didn't want to leave her alone but after all she had been through so far; it was too much to ask her to come along. She needed the rest. He could not imagine all of the emotions that she must be feeling; one moment being in her home world and the next moment waking up here. It was something that DG would be able to relate to though.

He hadn't thought about DG since he had been back. The hearings took up all of his time and left little time for mending relationships. It took nearly two months to get through them all. When they were done he asked for two weeks off. Jeb didn't think much of him taking off by himself. He couldn't blame him though. He hadn't seen him for nearly a year. He tried to explain that he needed two weeks just to be alone and to regroup. He didn't know if Jeb understood or not. He never came home the night before he was ready to leave.

And now this.

He reached the first trap. He dismounted Jack and wrapped his reins around a tree branch. The first rays of dawn from the first sun were just appearing.

Jill finished breakfast. Cain left out some bread, coffee, dried fruit, and some sort of spread that resembled peanut butter. Hopefully he had more because she ate all of it. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she took the first bite. She rummaged through the cupboards near the sink and thought that she found something that looked like dish detergent. She washed the dishes and placed them on a towel on the counter to dry.

Now what?

It was late morning and she didn't know what to get in to. She placed another log onto the fire and stoked it a little. That took all of five minutes. Then she reached into her workbag, grabbed the newspaper, and limped over to the couch. She had picked it up from the day before but hadn't read it. She wasn't even sure if she should bother.

Jill had only gotten through the front page when she thought she heard a rumbling in the distance. She put the paper down and listened. Sure enough it was faint but it sounded like the rumbling from a heavy truck. She listened some more. It was definitely coming closer.

She got up and limping as fast as she could grabbed her jacket and workbag and went in to the spare bedroom. She threw them under the bed. The blue blanket went under there as well and she quickly straightened the covers. Under a passing glance it looked like it was never slept in.

She went back out and saw the pen and paper on the kitchen table. She took them and stuffed them in to her pants pocket. She went to the door and made sure that it was locked. Too bad there was only one lock. The rumbling grew louder and she thought that she heard voices. The gun, which in the daylight looked like a double-barreled shotgun was still by the door. She took it and glanced around for more shells. There weren't any, at least not in the open. She hoped that it wouldn't get to that point. From the short time that she had been here, she never got the impression that Cain received a lot of visitors back here. Considering all that had happened to her so far, she didn't have a good feeling about this.

She pulled the curtain back just a hair. She saw a flatbed truck. It looked like there were cylinders, toolboxes, and something covered with a tarp strapped down on the bed. The truck was dark gray and looked like it was from the 30's or 40's. She saw some men on horseback but didn't hang around to count them. She limped back to the spare room and closed and hid behind the door. All she could to do was stay quiet and hope for the best. Fortunately there weren't any windows so she didn't have to worry about anyone peering in. She pulled the shotgun up for a closer look. She found the safety, switched it off, and waited.

The flatbed truck parked near the cabin. It was flanked by five men on horseback. All five dismounted and pulled blasters from their saddle pouches. The leader motioned for two of them to the barn. He motioned for another to go around back and the other two to come with him.

They reached the porch and slowly climbed the steps. The leader stood in front of the doorway. One of his men looked through the window while the other stood nearby.

He knocked on the door. There was no answer. Then he pounded on the door. After a minute, he motioned to his men. The one to his right was much, much bigger than he. The leader and the other man took up defensive positions behind the big guy.

With a heavy grunt, he reared back and delivered a kick to the door. The door weakened but held its ground. He grunted again and delivered another kick. This time the door gave in. All three busted through.

Jill heard all of the grunting and the explosion of the door being kicked in. She pressed her back closer to the wall. Her breathing was shallow and her palms were sweaty. She gripped the gun and held it close to her chest.

It didn't take long for the men to do a quick sweep of the room. Jill could hear the cupboard doors being thrown open. Then she heard footsteps right outside the bedroom door. It took an eternity for the door knob to click and turn. The door squeaked open. She could hear the heavy breathing; only the door separated her from the man who had just broken in. She smelled stale cigarettes, sweat, and wood smoke.

She didn't dare breathe. It was so quiet that she was sure the man could hear her heart beating.

The man turned and walked away. She heard one of them, "Charlie, it doesn't appear that she's here." Then another one, "There's no one in that bedroom."

"Let's get out of here."

Jill heard the footsteps fade away. She heard more voices from outside but couldn't make out what they were saying.

Someone ground the gears in the truck and then she heard it take off.

She stood silent for a long time. She strained to hear anything, anything at all, but there was only silence.

She clicked the safety back on and let herself slump to the floor. She laid the gun down on the floor beside her, brought her knees up to her chest and began to cry.

It took longer than he expected to gather the traps and so it was already late morning by the time he left the boundaries of his property, got to the road, and eventually found Jill's truck.

He dismounted Jack and slowly walked up to it. Jill told him that it was on its side but someone flipped it over. Not only were there too many human and horse footprints to count; there were large truck tracks as well.

The hood was up and he looked in. The engine was gone. Whoever was here stripped it. He opened one of the doors and found that there wasn't much left on the inside either.

He walked around the truck, looking at the ground and trying to pick up some other clue but there was none to be had. There was no indication as to who might have been here.

He quickly walked over to Jack and pulled himself up. He nudged him and Jack opened up to a brisk trot.

Jack was a strong horse but being loaded down with trapping gear Cain didn't want to nudge him to go any faster. He tried to ignore the truck and horse tracks that were in front of him but couldn't. This road was popular in the summer since it was one of the scenic routes from Central City to lake country. There was barely any traffic during the winter though. Seeing those tracks made him uneasy and impatient.

It took till early afternoon to get to the fork and the trail leading to his cabin.

He brought Jack to an abrupt stop. Jack whinnied in protest and looked back at him with annoyance.

The truck and horse tracks followed the trail to the cabin. He looked down the road to Central City. The tracks followed it. Whoever it was had been to the cabin and then continued on to Central City.

"Oh fuck."

Sorry Jack, I hate to do this to you but I need you now. He kicked Jack hard and they took off at a gallop down the trail.

Cain came within sight of the cabin. He stopped Jack and dismounted. The large horse whinnied again and shook his head. Cain took the reins and wrapped them around a bush and gave him a few pats. Jack was seating and breathing heavy. "It'll only be a few minutes and then we'll get you into the barn."

He drew his handgun and walked along the edge of the clearing. The tracks led right up to the porch. From what he could tell no one was around. As he walked closer to the cabin he saw the front door slightly cracked open.

He quickly walked behind the cabin, saw nothing except footprints and then went to the barn. He scanned the inside. Again there were only footprints. He then turned and went to the cabin. He cautiously went up the front steps and pushed the door open just a little more. He cocked his handgun, and then hesitated, listening for any sign of life.

"Jill!"

No answer.

"Jill! It's me Cain."

He heard movement and he went further inside the doorway.

There standing in the doorway to the spare bedroom was Jill. She held his shotgun, with the butt buried in her shoulder, ready to fire.

He held up his gun and cocked it. He looked in her eyes and saw that they were red and puffy. It took Jill another moment to register that it was actually Cain standing in front of her and that he was alone.

She dropped the barrel of the shotgun and limped over to him. Cain almost missed the slight motion of her finger clicking the safety back on but didn't say anything. It hadn't been the first time a loaded gun was pointed at him.

He allowed her to hug him and didn't break the silence.