The Rescue 17

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"Matt." Kitty cried in alarm. "Matt, if he has Festus…"

"Kitty, calm down." He said sternly. He hated to use that tone but he needed to get her attention. He knew what she was going to try and do and he simply wouldn't let her. "I can see Festus and he's fine. He can take care of himself, so don't worry."

He sounded confident but inside he wasn't nearly as sure as he sounded. Festus, though standing, looked unsteady on his feet and he kept dropping his head as though he was having difficulty in keeping it up. Abruptly, Festus went limp and dropped to the ground, unmoving.

Hill, who'd nearly gone down with him, suddenly realized his shield was gone and scrambled backwards to the safety of the barn door. Matt aimed carefully at the retreating figure and fired, only to have a volley of bullets flying back at him and the post from several different directions.

Anxiously Matt looked at Festus lying helplessly on the ground, willing him to move, to give some sign that he was alive. For several seconds, Festus laid inert on the ground, not a muscle twitched. Suddenly his eyes opened and Matt could tell he was alert and could see him. "Cash." He called to the old miner at the window. "Can you get a good shot at that barn door?"

Cash rose on his five foot six frame and looked out of the window at every angle he could find. "I cain't hit nothing behind it," he finally said. "But I kin sure enough keep em from coming around it."

Matt nodded. "Mr. Musgrove?"

The trading post owner approached with a rifle. "You're going out after him, ain't ya?"

Matt nodded. "If you and Cash can keep them pinned down, I think I can get him and get back in. There's at least one behind that barn door, one over there by the watering trough and two more over there over there in those trees. "

"No, Matt." Kitty said fearfully as she pushed herself up from the cot. "Please, let me go out there. He wants me."

"Kitty, stay there." Matt's voice was even sterner than before and with an added touch of panic.

Maizie Atkins had never been the strongest of individuals and seldom stood up to her domineering husband of seventeen years. But she could see that the determined redhead would go with or without the big man's approval and would most likely get herself killed.

Without a glance in her disapproving husband's direction, she swiftly crossed the room and grabbed Kitty gently by the arm, guiding her back onto the cot. "Now, now." She said soothingly. "Your man knows what he's doing. You let him do it. You're too badly hurt to do anything."

Kitty tried to break the woman's grasp but she was too weak and just the act of rising caused her to head to spin. Weakly, she gave in and settled back down on the cot.

Matt gave Maize an appreciative nod, Kitty a loving gaze and then glanced back over at Musgrove. "You ready?"

The old man nodded. "They won't poke their heads out while you're out there."

Holding his pistol tightly in his hand, Matt rose and crossed to the door, opening it just a crack. Immediately a shot rang out, hitting the frame next to his head. Instantly, Cash and Musgrove began firing, laying down a withering line of bullets in the directions Matt had pointed out.

Matt jerked the door all the way open and ran headlong into the yard and over to Festus. "Can you run?"

"Just git me on my feet." He said. "I kin run."

Keeping his gun aimed at the barn door, Matt grabbed Festus' arm and hoisted him to his feet. "Let's go."

Running as fast as they could and praying the two men inside were still aiming at the bad guys and not them, they made it back to the post safely. Opening the door, Matt shoved Festus in then started in himself. He almost made it. Musgrove and Cash, seeing the two men at the door stopped their firing a second too soon. Hill took a chance; darted out from the door he had been using as sanctuary and fired at the Matt as he was going in. Matt went down just inside the door, a bullet wound to his leg.

"Matt!" Kitty screamed as she pushed aside Maizie and her own dizziness and tried to get to him.

Despite her frailty, Maizie found it hard to keep a hold of the strong willed woman. Finally, seeing no other option, she took a hold of Kitty's arm and helped her over to the chair Musgrove had pulled Matt into.

Seeing her coming on unsteady legs, Musgrove gripped another chair and sat it down next to Matt just as Maizie brought her close. "Here, Ma'am. Sit." He said kindly. "You shouldn't oughta be up."

Kitty took the chair but ignored his words as she reached for Matt. "Matt…"

"Kitty, I told you to stay in that bed." Matt grimaced as Cash knelt beside him and cut his pants. "You have no business being up."

Kitty ignored him as she watched the grizzled old miner examine his leg. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Well, I ain't no doctor." Cash shrugged. "But it don't appear to be too bad. Bullet went right through. He ain't gonna be dancin' anytime soon, though."

As Kitty relaxed her death grip on his arm, Matt took her hand. "Now will you please go back over there and lay down?" He truly didn't mean to snap at her, but his concern for her was driving him and he knew no other way to get her to listen to him. But when he saw the stricken expression on her face, he instantly regretted his tone. "I'm sorry, Honey. I'm just worried about you."

"Come on, Miss Kitty." Festus said as Musgrove released him from the ropes binding his hands and he stepped up beside them. "Matthew's right. Ya gotta lay down. Matthew'll be alright."

Looking at Matt again then up at Festus, Kitty wearily nodded and allowed him and Maizie to help her up and back over to the cot. In truth, she wasn't sure she could sit up much longer anyway.

As Maizie smoothed the blanket back over her, she patted Kitty's hand. "I'm not a doctor, but I do know a few things. I'll clean his leg up and make sure it's taken care of."

Kitty gave her a grateful nod. "Thank you."

Maizie looked down at her for a moment and hesitated. "Like I said, I'm not a doctor. But I'll see what I can do for you too. Not sure I can get that bullet out, but I can at least clean up that wound and bandage it properly."

"Matt first, please?" Kitty pleaded. "I've gone this long; a little while longer won't hurt."

Maizie nodded. "Just rest. I'll be back as soon as he's tended to."

As she moved away from the cot, however, her husband grabbed her arm, pulling her forcefully to the other side of the room and away from Kitty and Matt. "What do you think you're doing?" He growled into her ear. "You leave them alone. That woman is a murderer. She's trash and not worth your time or attention. Let her die, if she's going to."

If asked about it later, Maizie would never be able to explain it. But her husband's words hurt. Usually he was a kind and decent man, but he had acted anything but that over this. Jerking her arm free of his grasp, she raised her other simultaneously and slapped him hard across the face. "No." She hissed at him. "They need help and I'm going to help them. And you WILL NOT stop me."

As Maizie marched away from her husband, Seth Brody sat back in his corner, almost completely forgotten by the other people in the room. He watched the various dramas playing out before him and each one urged him to make a move. Still he hesitated. He knew what he should do, he just wasn't sure he was brave enough to do it.

TBC