The Rescue 22
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"HILL!" Matt called as he walked out into the open, hands raised. "I want to talk to you." Though Matt would've walked out there alone regardless, he knew that the men inside the trading post had their guns trained on the barn and every place around the building that could possible hide one of Hill's men. If they made a move, it'd be their last one.
Hill peered cautiously around the barn door at Matt as he walked out into the open, his large frame outlined starkly in the heavy snowfall. "Unless that woman's with you, we ain't got nothing to talk about, Dillon." Hill called back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ritter raise his rifle and aim it at Matt. "Don't you fire till I tell ya to." He growled at him before turning his attention back to the tall man in the yard.
"Hill," Matt called again. "I have proof that Kitty didn't kill Vic Treager. She had nothing to do with it. I have the man that did though and I promise you, if you'll quit this, he'll stand trial for his part in Vic's death."
"You can't promise nothing like that, Dillon." Hill called back. "You're as much an outlaw as that redhead is. When I saw that scruffy friend of yours I knew it was you that stole her from that stage so she wouldn't have to pay for her crime. She's the one that did it and you know it." The effort to call out,as he was, was costing Hill, but he didn't care. He was not going to cave until Kitty Russell was hung like she should've been three months prior.
Matt didn't back down though. He stood on his painful leg in the cold and snow, willing to stay there as long as it took to get this thing solved, hopefully without anymore blood shed. "I have Seth Brody inside there, Hill." Matt called out again. "He swears he's the one that killed Vic. Claims it was an accident. He's willing to tell you himself, if you'll put down your gun and come inside and listen."
Hill swallowed hard. He knew Brody had been acting strange, almost as though he was guilty of something. Still… He shook his head, to clear it. No. Kitty Russell was found with a gun in her hand lying next to Vic. Kitty Russell was tried and convicted of his murder. Kitty Russell was going to pay. "I ain't buying it, Dillon." He called back. "You'd do anything, including forcing Brody to lie, to keep that woman of yours from hanging. But it won't work. Now you either get her out here or I shoot you where you stand."
"No, you won't." Matt called back. "I'm not wearing a gun, and you know I don't lie. She's innocent, Hill. She didn't kill Vic."
Hill considered his words for a moment but angrily put them down. "No! Dammit!" Forgetting everything for a moment, including the wound in his side, he marched out of the barn, gun raised and aimed straight at Matt's head. "She killed Vic!" He screamed. "She did it! And I'm gonna hang her. I AM!"
As he advanced on Matt, his finger found the trigger of his gun and he steadied his hand in order to fire. But before he could pull the trigger, Seth Brody came barreling out of the post, hands in the air, screaming at Hill to listen to him. Festus had called after him, telling him to stay inside, but Brody paid him no heed. He had to stop this.
"Quaid, stop!" He yelled as he ran out towards him his gun still his hand, forgotten as he rushed out. "Stop! Please!"
But Quaid Hill was beyond stopping. The anger in his soul and the pain in his side worked together to cloud any logical thoughts he may have had. When he saw Brody running towards them, he didn't think as he shifted his focus from Matt to Brody and fired.
Seeing what was about to happen, Matt ducked and turned towards Brody. "No!" He yelled. "Go back!"
But it was too late. Hill fired and Brody fell just as another shot was fired, this one from the house. Festus, upon seeing Brody fall, trained his eye on Hill and fired at the man as he turned and aimed once again at Matt.
Soon another shot was heard and yet another as Hill's three remaining men all brought their guns up and began firing at not only the trading post but also at Matt, who'd fallen to the ground, when he turned too sharply and twisted his injured leg. The weakened limb wouldn't hold him and he fell, just as a bullet came whizzing past his head.
"Matthew!" Festus called as he turned and headed out the door.
In the corner of the room, near the fireplace, Maizie did her best to ignore the gunfire and screams going on around her as she diligently worked to remove the bullet from Kitty's shoulder.
Her small sandy haired son was sitting in a corner, having been forbidden by his parents to move. But Maizie, could see the fear in his eyes as he watched the bearded man run out of the door and listened to the sounds of shooting. "Freddie." She spoke as calmly as she could. "Every thing is alright, son. Don't worry about a thing. Do you hear me?"
Freddie shifted his focus to his mother and seeing her calm and composed he relaxed and nodded. "Yes, Mama."
"Good." She said as she turned attention to her daughter. Blond, blued eyed and terrified, Constance stood beside her, holding tightly to a chair and staring wide eyed as she watched Mr. Hagen run out of the building behind the other two.
"Constance." Maizie said with the same calm voice she'd used on her son. "I need you to focus. Constance!"
Upon hearing the sharp tone of her mother's voice, Constance shifted her attention back to her and the woman lying in the bed who was now beginning to lightly moan.
"She's coming to," Maizie told her daughter, "and I'm not yet done. I have the bullet out but I still have to sew this up. I need you to come over here and hold her down, Constance." When her daughter didn't immediately move, she sharpened her tone even more. "NOW, Constance. Help me."
"Ye… yes, Ma'am." Constance snapped out of her fear long enough to let go of the chair, step up on the other side of the cot and gently place her hands on the red headed woman's arms to hold her in place as her mother swiftly threaded a needle and began to sew the torn flesh of her shoulder.
Outside, things had taken a turn for the worse. As Festus ran across the yard, gun raised and firing, Ritter stepped just slightly outside of the barn door's protection and aimed at the running man. Upstairs, Percival Atkins, saw the movement and took careful aim, firing the second he had a clear shot, hitting Ritter's chest dead center.
Festus took no thought to his own safety as he ran towards his friend and as a result nearly became the recipient of another of Quaid Hill's bullets as the man brought his gun up to bear on the figure rushing towards him. But Matt, who'd fallen close to Brody's now dead body, had managed to get close enough to grab the gun from his cold hand, turn and fire, just as Quaid squeezed out a shot in Festus' direction.
Of Hill's two remaining men, the one nearest the house saw Percival in the upstairs window and rose from cover to take a shot at him, but Buster Musgrove saw him first and shot before the man could even move his finger to the trigger.
He fell dead as the last of Hill's hired guns ran from cover on the far side of the post and towards the horses in the corral. He'd had enough and was all for quitting. But luck was no more with him, than it was with his ill-fated boss and companions. Just as he jumped on the back of the nearest horse, the startled animal reared on his hind legs and threw the man off his back. He landed with a sickening crunch, breaking his neck instantly.
When the firing ended, six men lay dead on the grounds of the trading post. Matt and Festus had escaped relatively unscathed, as had the people inside the trading post, and all hope of ever clearing Kitty's name was gone.
TBC