Author's Note: I am so so so so so sorry I haven't posted sooner! A thousand apologies to you, you wonderful and amazing fans! I must beg one more apology for yet another cliffhanger, but I felt that this would be a clean breaking place. Reviews are much appreciated, if any of you are still around! :)

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Adam eyed the men. They were getting ready to start a fight; he could sense it. His bullet had been the declaration of war, and they were answering. He noticed the big one was missing and knew he would be circling. Adam also knew all the door and windows were boarded up; they would be able to hear if the man broke one down. He wasn't worried about him.

He could feel Joe's eyes on him. He looked over his shoulder. "Get ready; they will start shooting pretty soon, I bet."

"You should go." Joe said suddenly, causing Adam to frown. "What?"

"You could go; get help. They aren't after you…they wouldn't follow you." Joe said saying in a tumble. "You could ride, get the Sheriff…"

Adam reached over and gently smacked Joe on the back of his head. "You can stop right there."

Joe obeyed, giving a little half smile. The relief in his eyes made Adam smile slightly himself, before falling serious again. "They sent the big one around back; if we start firing on them before he gets back we might have a chance. Fredricks is jumpy…it wouldn't take much to spook him. Harvess is the deadliest one out there, I think."

Joe nodded in agreement, showing he was following his brother's train of thought.

"If we start it, we have the better chance of finishing it." Adam looked over the windowsill for the briefest of seconds. "They are talking right now, distracted. Are you ready?"

Joe nodded sharply. "Ready." He raised his gun and Adam realized in surprise there was no fear in his little brother's eyes. Joe had no doubt they would make it out of this; Adam thought with a start.

"On three." He said, lowering his voice needlessly. "One, two…"

It seemed the longest instant in the world before he said three, and in that split second, they gang opened fire on the old Hotel.

Adam ducked as the window above him shattered, sending glass shards skittering over the dusty floor. Joe returned fire, busting out a section of the window above him to fire through. Adam did likewise, aiming at Harvess. But the man was fast, faster than Adam's bullets. He ducked and started running, but then Adam's attention was brought to Fredricks, who was a good shot for being so nervous. The little man, hiding behind an old watering trough, raised his gun and fired at Adam through the window. Adam managed to avoid the bullet, but only barely.

A bullet passed through the door within an inch of Joe's ear. Joe jumped, and Adam realized his brother was out of bullets.

"There's more in the bags, Joe." Adam said unnecessarily; Joe knew where the extra bullets were. He spoke to assure himself that this was not a dream; he hoped it was. His heart was pounding in a surreal way and his vision almost seemed to swim. No such luck, he realized.

"Got it." Joe hissed, slithering down and running to the bags. The other men seemed to be out as well; no more gunfire tore through the air. Adam risked a look, and saw in horror that Harvess, flanked by his men advancing on the Hotel quickly.

"Joe! They're coming in!" Adam leapt to his feet as the door came crashing in. Harvess looked angry; angrier than Adam could think possible. He could use that to his advantage.

"Alright, throw your gun over here." Harvess aimed his gun at Little Joe. "And you can hold it right there, kid."

Adam reluctantly put his gun on the floor, as slowly as humanly possible.

"Come on, hurry up!" Harvess snapped angrily, jerking his gun at Little Joe. "You're making Fredricks nervous, and he gets all twitchy when he is nervous."

Fredricks, as Bill said, looked very jumpy and was holding his pistol straight at Adam's head. The young man-Jakes- didn't have his gun aimed at anyone properly, but it was drawn and he had his finger on the trigger. The sound of the gunfight had brought Pines back to the front, and he came through the door with his gun drawn as well.

The two Cartwrights were outnumbered. That in itself didn't bother Adam; they had been outnumbered before, and four against two weren't terrible odds. But these men were smart and they were tough. It would take a miracle to get them out of this scrape. Adam had nothing against hoping for miracles, but he chafed against the fact he was helpless.

"Alright, Pines; get their guns. Knives too; we don't want any surprises." Harvess instructed. The two brothers did not fight the scarred man as he took their weapons. Adam set his jaw tightly when Pines shoved Joe on his wounded shoulder. Joe's head shot up and he glared at the man, but didn't say anything. Joe just clenched his fists.

Fredricks herded Adam closer to Joe, keeping his shaking gun aimed at the two. Adam raised his hands as Fredricks jerked his gun upwards, complying with every demand. He was not going to give these men any reason at all to shoot. Not that they really needed a reason.

Harvess gave a dramatic sigh. "If only you boys hadn't gone poking your nose around. You know, kid, if you had just kept riding on that trail we would have left you alone. You really have no one to blame but yourself." He gave a little grin. Joe, to Adam's relief, just kept staring at Harvess with that disquieting expression he had perfected. He said nothing. Seemingly bored, Harvess glanced at Adam, then stepped forward and hit him as hard as he could with the butt of his gun.

Adam went down on one knee, black spots exploding over his vision and his head pounding.

"Leave him alone." Joe snapped. Pines and Harvess laughed, and Fredricks's unsteady laugh joined in, thundering in Adam's head.

Come on, Adam…think! You have to think! He thought angrily. You can't rush them; you have to distract them. Keep them unbalanced, keep them away from Joe. That's his only chance.

Harvess was speaking again. "Look there, boys. The little boy gets all blubbery when his precious brother is attacked. How sweet." The acid in his voice was hateful, and accompanied by a sharp kick to Adam's ribs. "Remember kid, this is your fault."

"It's not his fault you became a coward and a scoundrel." Adam pointed out sarcastically. "And no one could help the fact you were born ugly."

Harvess turned to Adam with anger in his eyes. Adam winced in pain as Harvess kicked him again. Joe was shaking visibly, eyes flashing and Adam could almost hear a growl coming from Joe's throat.

"I want you to remember that, with your last few minutes, kid. You have no one to blame for your brother's and your death but yourself." Harvess said, motioning Pines over to Adam. The older Cartwright knew instantly what was going to happen. He tried to fight back, struggling to get his feet. Pines hit the back of his neck and he went down again. Pines kicked him again, and continued to do so anytime he moved.

"Watch him, kid. See him bleed. Because of you."

"I'm going to kill you, Harvess." Joe's voice was almost calm, but the choked emotion was still too clear. "I will see you in hell."

"Oh, I don't doubt that, kid. Only thing is, you Cartwrights are going to get there first." Harvess sighed. "I'm getting bored of this act, boys. Let's move on to the grand finale."

Pines backed away until he was right beside Joe, nodding in agreement.

Bill aimed his pistol at Adam. Adam looked up, through the blood pouring in his eye from a gash on his forehead and saw the man grin. Adam saw the flash of fire from the gun and writhed in pain as he felt the bullet hit home.

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"No!" Joe yelled like a madman, lunging forward. There was a buzzing in his ears, a loud clamor grew louder as he saw Adam lay still. Pines grabbed him and held onto him, preventing him from attacking Harvess. The ringleader laughed.

"Jakes, bring the kid here. I want him to see this, up close and personal."

"No." The young man said in shaky defiance. Startled, Harvess looked over at the young man. Jakes was standing tall, his gun aimed at Harvess. "I'm not going to let you do that, Bill. It's not right. Nothing you did was ever right. And I'm not going to let you kill him."

"That's too bad, boy." Bill said with venom. He turned his gun to the young man, and that provided the opening Joe needing. He slammed his head back into Pine's face as hard as he could. Pines swore violently, letting him go. Joe ducked as gunfire erupted all around him. He grabbed the gun resting on the floor and began shooting. There was confusion everywhere, a cloud of gun smoke and shouting that seemed to cover everything. Joe spotted a clear shot at the cause of all this pain. Suddenly he couldn't hear the other gunfire; it was as if everything had stopped around him as he turned, aiming carefully.

Harvess's mouth dropped open as he looked down at his chest, then back at Joe. He slowly fell, landing on his back with his hand still clenched around his gun.

Joe heaved a strained breath and looked around the abandoned hotel. Pines also lay dead, and Fredricks was lying wounded, whimpering and pleading for Joe not to kill him. Joe ignored the cowardly man and ran to Adam.

"Adam!" He snapped as he turned his brother over. "You stay with me, you understand? You hear me?"

Adam didn't answer, and Joe felt like he was about to break, right there on the pitted and dusty floor of a forgotten hotel, surrounded by dead and dying men.

"No, Adam, you can't be dead." Joe said in a whisper. "I can feel your heartbeat; you're still with me. And you are going to stay with me, you hear?"

He looked his brother over and found the wound in his brother's side. It didn't look too serious, but was bleeding heavily; causing concern. Joe pressed his coat to the wound, eliciting a sudden hiss from Adam.

"Adam?" Joe said in hope.

"If this is heaven, I got a bad deal." Adam said lightly, sitting up. "It's okay, Joe. It's just a flesh wound. I just passed out…I am sorry. You had to fight them off yourself."

Joe sat back and started laughing hysterically. Adam looked at him sharply. "What's so funny?"

"Only you, Adam. Only you would go through hell and back for me, then be angry at himself for passing out when he was shot." Joe ran a hand through his curls roughly. Adam didn't smile, instead pressing the makeshift bandage closer.

"I should have thought they would have followed us. I am sorry." He seemed adamant on taking the blame for the whole nightmarish ordeal.

"It wasn't your-" Joe broke off as the window above his head shattered from a gunshot.

Fredricks had crawled to Harvess's gun and had shot at the boys. Adam snatched the gun Joe had laid down and fired faster than Joe could see. Fredricks died where he lay.

Adam fell back with a grunt. "Can you ride?"

"What?" Joe said in surprise, still shaken.

"Can you ride?" Adam said again.

"Well…yeah. I can ride." Joe said slowly, knowing he was not about to like whatever Adam said next.

"You will have to ride back to Carson City for the Sheriff and the Doctor."

"Adam, I'm not going to leave you here!" Joe said firmly.

"Joe, listen to me." Adam winced again. "You have to. I am in no shape to move. If you ride hard you can get back to Carson City by mid afternoon. You can be back with the Sheriff and Doctor by first light tomorrow. It's…my only shot."

"I thought you said it was just a flesh wound." Joe said, feeling tears sting his eyes.

"I may have…understated the problem." Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It's…a little more serious than I let on."

Joe swallowed shook his head. "I can get the bullet out, Adam. I can help you."

"I appreciate it, but it's impossible, Joe. You don't have the proper tools…" Adam winced again. "Please, Joe. Hurry."

"You bet I'll hurry. I'll be back by first light tomorrow morning." Joe said with his characteristic resoluteness. "You can bet on that."

And in a way, Joe guessed…Adam was betting on that. He was betting his life on that.

Joe just prayed it wasn't a bluff.