Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry once again found themselves riding for their lives, ducking low over their horses' necks as they dodged bullets from the posse that had been after them for the past two hours. They entered a grove of trees, keeping their horses to a breakneck speed as they began weaving their way in and out, the branches slashing painfully at their faces. Behind them the guns fell silent, the posse losing sight of them as they began to follow the two men into the trees, albeit at a much less dangerous speed. The partners emerged relatively unscathed from their wild ride and seeing the wide winding river directly in front of them spurred their animals into it, heading downstream and disappearing around a bend. Staying in the water that was more than belly deep on their animals, they continued on for some distance until the Kids' horse lost its footing and went down, both horse and rider briefly dipping out of sight before managing to get to their feet. The Kid surfaced sputtering, reaching out to grab the trailing reins as he made his way toward the bank. Heyes had dismounted and was watching anxiously as his cousin dragged himself out of the river, dropping to his hands and knees when he reached dry land. His head was hanging as he continued gasping and coughing up water, so cold that his teeth were chattering. Heyes quickly grabbed his jacket and crouching down beside him, wrapped it around his shivering friend. The river was deeper than normal due to the snow melt coming down from the mountains. That along with the cool breeze and the sun being obscured by heavy clouds all combined to cause Heyes to worry about his friend who was susceptible to lung ailments.
"I'm sorry Kid but we gotta keep goin' for a bit longer, don't know if we lost that posse or not."
"I know," he said getting clumsily to his feet and pulling himself back onto his horse.
Heyes followed suit and they rode for another hour before deciding that it was safe to stop. The clouds had at last been replaced by sunshine when they found a secluded spot not far from the river. Heyes dismounted turning to check on his partner, his eyes narrowing when he saw him leaning miserably against his horse, still shivering uncontrollably.
The Kid didn't even hear Heyes walk up to him, starting when he felt his hand on his shoulder.
"I'll get a fire goin'. Get those wet clothes off and wrap this around ya."
The Kid eyed the bedroll that his friend was holding out to him.
"You're g…gonna n…need…"
"Everything you own is soaked so stop arguin' and just take it so I can get a fire goin'," Heyes said cutting him off as he shoved the bedroll into his partners' arms before walking away.
He knew that Heyes would be fretting…and he had to admit that he did seem to have an annoying habit of catching bad colds. He dropped the bedroll and with trembling numb fingers he managed to get the gear off his horse, hoping the saddle would dry before he had to climb back into it. That done he neared the fire that had been started dropping his saddlebags before stripping down to his longjohns. Wrapping the bedroll around his shoulders he squatted down in front of the fire, holding his hands out to the flames hoping to get some feeling back into them. He heard Heyes sigh softly as he grabbed up the wet saddlebags and proceeded to spread the contents over some bushes to dry.
"I was gonna d…do it Heyes, just n…needed to warm my hands first."
"It's all right Kid, I got it. You stay by the fire."
By the time Heyes had finished and returned to the fire he saw his friends' head beginning to nod. Rummaging through his own saddlebags he extracted the makings of a meal of sorts and before long he had coffee brewing while he split the can of beans he had heated between two plates.
"Here eat this it'll help warm ya up a bit. Coffee'll be ready in a minute."
The Kid's head jerked up and he blinked at his partner as he silently took the plate that was being held out to him.
"Eat while it's hot."
The food along with the coffee had the Kid feeling warmer and he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Heyes watched him closely, not liking the fact that he was still so pale from his dunking in the freezing cold water of the river. Seeing his eyes beginning to droop tiredly he loudly cleared his throat smiling when the Kid looked blearily over at him.
"Get some sleep Kid, I'll keep first watch."
"Make sure you wake me so's I can take my turn. You need sleep too."
Heyes responded with a nod, watching as his friend drew the bedroll tightly around him before curling onto his side, falling asleep almost immediately.
'Will we ever catch a break?' Heyes wondered to himself as he put more branches on the fire before pouring himself more coffee. Casting another glance over at his partner he sighed again, almost certain that he would be coming down with a cold at the very least and hoping he wouldn't get too sick…at least until they could get to a town and a doctor.
xxxxx
The Kid woke feeling a light touch on his shoulder and hearing his partner saying his name softly. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking himself awake when he saw Heyes' smiling face. He sat up yawning and rubbing his eyes.
"Think you can watch while I get a couple hours sleep? There's lots of coffee for ya."
The Kid didn't answer, just nodded and got to his feet. Handing Heyes the bedroll and grabbing his now dry clothes he got dressed. Heyes watched for a few moments seeing the Kid shiver as he wrapped his hands around the cup he had just filled, but then weariness gradually dragged his eyes closed and he slept.
Three hours later Heyes woke feeling the warmth of sunshine on his face. He got up, stretching before reaching out to accept the cup that his partner offered him.
"How ya feelin' this mornin'?" Heyes asked eyeing his partner critically.
"I'm fine Heyes, quit worryin'."
Heyes hadn't really expected him to say anything else, but noticed that his voice was a little deeper than normal.
Copper Creek is only a couple days ride Kid, and since we didn't get a chance to stock up on supplies in the last town before we had to leave, I reckon we should head there."
"Whatever you think Heyes.
"Well I'd kinda like to eat somethin' other than beans."
"I could maybe shoot somethin' you know," he responded rather testily.
"Hmph, but you can't shoot a beer or a soft bed."
"Fine Heyes, let's head to Copper Creek as I sure wouldn't want ya to suffer such hardships longer than necessary."
His deeper than normal voice made his comment sound harsh and Heyes shot him a sharp look, but seeing the impish smile realized that he was being teased.
"Smart ass," he said shaking his head and chuckling softly.
"Let's head out, we should be able to reach town late tomorrow afternoon."
xxxxx
The weather remained sunny and they rode all day, making camp just before dark. The Kid got the horses seen to while Heyes got the fire going and cleaned the rabbit that his partner had shot a little earlier. They sat quietly eating although Heyes noticed his companion seemed to be picking at his food…he was also sitting quite close to the fire. He pretended not to notice when the Kid gave up trying to eat the rabbit he had been given, throwing it in the fire when he thought Heyes wasn't looking. Wiping his hands on his pants he reached for his cup, wrapping his hands around it trying to absorb the heat. Heyes looked away to try to hide his concern because for Kid not to eat, he was feeling unwell.
"You want first crack at gettin' some sleep?"
"No, Heyes you go ahead I ain't tired yet."
Heyes paused as he looked at him, seeing the dark circles under his eyes knowing he was lying.
"All right, but you'd better wake me up in four hours," he said, knowing there was no point in trying to argue with him
"Yeah, I will."
Heyes got into his bedroll curling up as he got comfortable on his side, his eyes following his partner as he walked around the perimeter of their camp before squatting back down poking at the fire as he added more fuel before pouring himself coffee. Heyes lay still staring worriedly at his friends' back watching him take a couple sips from the cup. He was only slightly startled when he heard the Kid speak.
"Ain't no need for ya to watch me Heyes, I'm all right. Close your eyes and get some sleep," he finished talking abruptly as he tried rather unsuccessfully to stifle a cough.
Heyes grimaced at the deep cough.
"Don't forget to wake me."
"Told ya I would didn't I?"
That brought on another cough so Heyes said no more, trying his best to try to get at least a couple hours of sleep.
xxxxx
Heyes' concern had grown by the time he had shaken his friend awake the next morning. He had heard the beginnings of a wheeze in his breathing as he had slept but at least his cough didn't seem to have gotten any worse. He had the camp cleaned up and his horse saddled in the time it had taken the Kid to saddle his horse. They pulled themselves into their saddles, the Kid more slowly. As they exchanged a glance Heyes smiled at his partner, but the Kid could see his smile had a deeply worried edge to it. Saying nothing they urged their horses in the direction of Copper Creek.
The hours passed slowly as they rode, both men wishing they would soon catch sight of the town that lay ahead of them. Hearing another deep cough, Heyes glanced over at his partner riding slightly behind him, watching as he tried to burrow down even further into his Sherpa. He saw him still shivering occasionally and although his partner wasn't overly talkative to begin with, he had become even more uncommunicative. He eyed his friend noting that the only colour on his face was the red tinge on his cheeks that denoted fever. The Kid somehow sensing his partner was looking at him raised his head meeting Heyes' glance.
"Would ya stop Heyes, told ya I'm fine," he said tiredly.
"So ya told me, but you don't look fine and ya sound terrible. Town is only a couple more hours away and hopefully we'll be able to get rested up some,"… 'and get you to a doctor,' he added silently.
The Kid just grunted in response as, wincing in pain he pulled an arm tight against his chest. He slouched low in the saddle, letting his head droop wearily, thankful that his horse was used to following Clay. Heyes looked away shaking his head as he gazed off into the distance willing the town to appear.