Chapter Four: Bloodlust
"I'm going after her Teaspoon. You can't stop me! I know something is wrong!"
"Kid, I told you no ten times. Lou isn't even late yet, she's not due back until the morning," Teaspoon said a bit impatiently as he stared at the young man across the table from him.
"She's fine, I'm sure Kid," Rachel said, "And if you ride after her, she'll just get angry. She just needs some time to be by herself is all."
Jimmy glanced from Rachel and Teaspoon's soothing faces to the Kid's pale one. He hated to admit it, but a cold fear had worked its way into his bones too, though he didn't add to Kid's worry by saying so. A gut feeling that he had learned long ago to trust was screaming that something just wasn't right.
"Maybe tomorrow me and Kid can just ride out towards Willow Springs, just to be sure Lou is all right."
Teaspoon turned to study the boy with sharp eyes. Jimmy knew Teaspoon trusted his judgment, and it disturbed him that it wasn't just the Kid who had a bad feeling. Kid always had a bad feeling where Lou was concerned.
"All right, you two, in fact I'll go with you if she's not back by tomorrow afternoon."
"Teaspoon!" Kid growled.
"All right, all right, tomorrow morning!"
Jimmy and Teaspoon exchanged a look over Kid's bowed head. Jimmy read the message in Teaspoon's eyes and thought, yeah I hope I'm wrong about this too.
Lou struggled hard against the weight holding her down, and with one last painful effort, rolled Wicks off her. To her horror, he rolled off the bed and landed with a considerable 'thump' on the floor. Lou grimaced as the letter opener caught the light and glittered grotesquely between the large man's shoulder blades. A circle of red stained the area of the shirt around it.
A violent upheaval of Lou's stomach doubled her over, but she was empty. Hearing the latch at the window opening, Lou grabbed Wick's gun and moved to stand beside the window, pressing herself to the wall.
The man that had first noticed her at the hotel stepped in, and cried out in surprise when he saw Wicks. Lou found another reserve of energy and swung the butt of the gun hard into the back of the man's neck, and he slumped silently to the floor not far from Wicks.
Lou didn't take the time to look back, and with every bone and muscle in her body screaming protest, she crawled out the window and climbed down the stairs to the hard packed dirt of the town. She wondered what she'd do if she was seen, having caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window. Her face was bruised, dried blood matted her hair, and her dress was torn and stained by the still bleeding gashes on her chest. They seemed to stretch more with every step she took, but Lou didn't dare look at them. They were too much a reminder of what she had done.
Within minutes she was on Lightning, the money forgotten in the stall until she was nearly out of town. She couldn't go back for it, and she didn't want it anyway. But she knew it would not take Harley long to rouse the law and come after her, when he discovered Wicks' dead body...and the only person in town who might have spoken in her defense was dead. Dead because of her.
If I can make it to Rock Creek and see Kid and everyone else one more time, I'll go quietly. But I have to let them know the truth. Kid would spend the rest of his life looking for her if he didn't know what had happened. She couldn't let Wicks ruin his life as well as hers.
It was that thought that controlled her mind and body for the next hours as she pushed Lightning more mercilessly than before. Behind her, on the horizon she could see a pale cloud of silver dust rising in the moonlight, and she knew it was a posse chasing her. Her head ached horribly. The saddle chafed her bare thighs. Every inch of her was agony. Her fingers were wrapped tightly in her horse's mane, the reins loosely held as she let the horse run all out for home.
Gradually she put distance between herself and her pursuers, but she had no doubt they knew where she was going. She wasn't going to try to trick them.
She'd been running all her life. After tonight, she would run no more.
Buck opened his eyes slowly, wondering what it was that had awakened him. Then, sensing rather than hearing someone approaching, he sat up. It wasn't unusual for horses to pass by in the night, they were on the outskirts of town, but there was something in the air, almost like a storm, something electrical, and alive, and dangerous. It had a momentum all its own, and Buck knew it was to do with them.
He was already up and strapping on his gun when the sound of a horse approaching at a desperate rate roused the rest of the riders.
"Who would be riding up at this hour?" Cody wondered, jumping down from his bunk.
Kid's face went whiter than it had been, and with Buck on his heels, he ran barefoot out of the bunkhouse.
Jimmy, Cody, and Noah grabbed their guns and followed quickly. Not much later, Teaspoon was striding quickly towards his riders, who were looking expectantly in the direction the sound was coming from. The night was so still that the approaching rider could be felt in mild tremors of the ground. Jesse followed not far behind Teaspoon, and Rachel appeared on the porch of the large main house.
"What in God's name is going on?" Teaspoon wondered, breaking the strained silence.
"Rider coming fast, Teaspoon, may be trouble," Noah commented.
"It's Lou!" Buck cried, his eyes having pierced through the blackness, "She's hurt!"
In a moment, they saw what Buck had. Lou was leaning far off her horse, swaying unsteadily, pitched entirely too far forward.
Lightning was running wildly, out of control, and he was coming in too fast.
"Whoa!" Jimmy and Cody called, stepping boldly into the path of the lathered and panicked horse, raising their hands high.
Lightning slid to a stop and skittered sideways nervously. All the riders watched and waited for Lou to tumble off, but though she still leaned unevenly, she remained on the animal's back.
"Lou!" Kid nearly screamed as Jimmy brought the horse to a final trembling halt, placing a hand on Lou's leg to hold her on the horse. Kid reached her in two strides and grabbed her waist. Her head lolled back limply then, and for the first time he got a look at her. They all did, and what they saw scared them out of their wits.
Her face was blackened and blood matted her hair. She wore a dress that was torn and gaping at the top, exposing five deep tears across her chest. Her arms and hands were wound into the horse's mane and also covered in blood. Her eyes were glassy and full of a horror that was unspeakable.
"Oh, Jesus, Lou, what happened?" Kid breathed, his voice breaking as he attempted to help her off the horse.
Lou stared at him without recognition for only a moment before she fell forward on her horse's neck, unconscious.
Buck and Jimmy were instantly at Kid's side, trying to help lift her off the horse.
"Her hands are wrapped in his mane," Buck frantically said, and tried to pry them open so they could take her inside, "I can't get her hands open, I'm afraid I'm going to hurt her!"
"Cut the mane then," Jimmy suggested, his eyes on Lou the entire time.
Buck quickly did so, and watched in horrified silence as Kid slid a boneless Lou into his arms everyone and then carried her inside the bunkhouse. Her hands still clenched around fistfulls of black horse hair.
Teaspoon glanced at Jesse who was pale and scared. All of the riders looked that way, but he knew Jesse especially needed sheltering from a truth none of them wanted to face. "Jesse, do Lou a favor and take care of Lightning. He's been ridden too hard, but I'm sure there is a good reason. Unsaddle him, blanket him, and walk him down. When he's cool fix him a hot bran mash, and check him for soundness, all right?"
For the first time, Jesse was content with doing what he'd usually view as a kid's job, and before taking the reins of the trembling horse he turned blue eyes full of fear up towards Teaspoon, "Is she gonna be alright?"
Teaspoon couldn't lie to him. "I don't know yet son. I hope so, but I don't know. Go tend the horse."
"Oh Louise," Rachel breathed when she looked over Lou. Kid moved from stoking the fire to see what Rachel was looking at. She had pulled the torn neckline of the dress aside to reveal the five jagged tears across Lou's collarbone and chest. They were no doubt made by a man's hand.
"Rachel, did he..." He couldn't seem to muster the word, then suddenly he spit it out, "Did he rape her?"
Rachel reached back to squeeze Kid's hand, "I don't know yet, Kid. Why don't you wait outside while I look her over?"
Kid shook his head, "I'm not going anywhere Rachel."
Rachel knew better than to argue with him and nodded, "Well then, go put some water on the fire so we can clean up these scratches. They are dirty from all that dust, and I'm afraid they'll get inflamed."
Kid nodded and went to work for Rachel, numbly following her instructions, his eyes only leaving Lou when they had to.
It was when he turned back around from getting Rachel a soft towel that he noticed her skirt had inched up above her knee. And he saw a trail of blood on the inside of her thigh and calf.
"Rachel," Kid breathed, feeling like he'd been turned to stone.
At the despair in his voice, Rachel whirled from where she'd been looking for bandages to care for Lou's scratches, honestly afraid Lou had died while her back was turned from Kid's tone.
"Rachel, look--" Kid finally broke, the first tears coursing down his cheeks.
She did look, saw the blood. Pushing Kid to sit by Lou's head, Rachel gingerly lifted the skirts of the gown, and felt bile threaten to rise to her throat. Lou's thighs were bare, chafed raw from the saddle, and bruised from the grip of rough hands. Her undergarments were gone.
"Rachel?" Kid's words were ragged, agonized, begging her to deny the truth he'd just seen with his own eyes and confirmed in Rachel's expression.
"Yes." Was all Rachel could say.
Kid grabbed Lou's hand between both of his and bent his head to rest beside hers on the pillow, a sob shaking his shoulders hard.
It was that moment Jimmy walked cautiously in the bunkhouse and upon looking at Kid, knew instantly that their fears were not unfounded.
"I'm gonna kill him," Jimmy whispered, and turned on his heel to do just that.
When Jimmy made his intentions clear, Noah and Cody gathered themselves to ride shotgun.
Teaspoon caught them at the barn entrance. "What the hell do you think you all are doin?"
"You know what we're doin'." Jimmy said flatly. "And don't try to stop us, damn it."
"And where you gonna look? You don't even know this was Wicks. You don't know where he is, or if he's even still alive. You gonna just ride till you hit the Pacific, looking for what you think you are after? Or you gonna wait until Lou wakes and tells us what happened?"
"Damn it, Teaspoon!" Jimmy roared, his fury with Wicks hurled at Teaspoon, who, damn him, was right. "I can't just sit here! You saw her!"
"You listen to me," Teaspoon growled. "If she can bear it, then so can we. We are not gonna start falling apart right now, you got it? We are gonna hold ourselves together because she is going to need us. So I'm going to insist you all get a tighter grip on your control! You hear me?"
Jimmy, Cody, and Noah visibly deflated, shoulders sagging in defeat as they dismounted.
"When she wakes up, I'll be the first to ride out, boys. But we aren't facing this blind."
She didn't wake. Kid didn't know if it was exhaustion from the ride, the blow to her head where she'd bled quite a bit, or the simple inability for her mind to confront whatever had transpired in the interval since he'd last seen her. She lay in a cold sweat, murmuring and crying out softly in fear or pain, trapped in some internal hell he desperately wanted to pull her out of.
Lou suddenly strained hard against Kid's gentle hold on her hand and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Jimmy and Teaspoon burst into the bunkhouse, guns in hand, ready to fight who ever had gotten in. The others were close behind them.
"It's all right, Teaspoon," Rachel said quietly, smoothing Lou's hair away from her forehead, while she whimpered and tossed her head to avoid the touch. "She's just delirious."
"Not Theresa!" Lou pleaded as Kid helplessly tried to soothe her. Tears ran from Lou's closed eyes and she trembled and jerked on the bed.
Kid bowed his head. He was past his tears, turned inside out with grief for her. Teaspoon had never seen a boy in so much torment as he did when Kid tried to break through to Lou, who was trapped in the terror of her mind, "Lou, he's not here, you are safe! I swear it this time!"
Teaspoon sighed, "I'm going to get some whiskey, maybe it will quiet her, and let her rest."
Not much later, both Jimmy and Kid had to hold down the thrashing, sweating, rambling Lou as Teaspoon eased the whisky down her throat. It didn't take long before she had quieted.
Flushed and trembling, Lou finally ceased to fight the hands that tried to soothe her. Her torn chest began rising and falling more easily, and she slept quietly. Still, even in the liquor induced stupor, her brow was furrowed with pain.
Kid seemed to finally breathe a little easier when Lou rested. He sat in a chair by the bed, and oblivious to the others, lay his head down beside hers, holding her hand, eyes open and resting on her face.
Jimmy wasn't far away either, ready to see Lou open her eyes. His eyes traveled along the curve of her face, and his blood grew hotter as he took in the large cut on her temple, and then the cuts on her chest, covered by bandages now. Even the hand that Kid so gently held had been covered in blood. Maybe it is Wicks blood, Jimmy fervently hoped. Did you get a piece of him, Lou?
Rachel had said it had taken both her and Kid to pry her fingers from the horsehair that had anchored her to Lightning on her hellish ride for home.
Teaspoon placed a hand on Jimmy's shoulder, startling him out of his grim musings.
"Why don't you boys get a few hours sleep. It's dawn, but it's been a hard night."
"I don't think any of us could sleep after all this, Teaspoon," Buck said grimly.
Teaspoon nodded, "I know it."
Not long after that, Jesse slowly let himself into the bunkhouse. Teaspoon instantly saw that the boy had been crying. "I know I shouldn't be in here, but I couldn't wait any longer."
Noah quickly set his arm around the boy's shoulder, "You have every right to be here. You are family."
"Is she all right?"
"She will be," Jimmy muttered with conviction and wished he didn't see the doubt on the faces of almost everyone else in the room at his words.
Morning had just started its way across the sky when a group of riders approaching caused everyone in the bunkhouse but Lou to stir. They were coming close to the bunkhouse rather than passing into town.
The boys all jumped for their guns with bloodthirsty eyes, ready to face Wicks.
"You boys calm the hell down now!" Teaspoon roared, "You aren't going to murder him!"
"Teaspoon!" Buck cried, "Is this not enough to hold him still?"
"I'm going to arrest him, Buck. But he has to be alive for me to do that! I'll go out there!"
"We're going with you!" Cody said, "Don't try to stop us."
"You boys just stay calm, you understand me?"
"Okay," Noah, Buck, and Cody agreed, making an effort to look calm.
Jimmy met Teaspoon's eyes in defiance, not promising anything. Kid stared at the door, his expression maddened.
"You two stay inside. The rest of you come on. And I do the talking!"
Jimmy would have protested, but he knew that if he went, the Kid would go, and there would be no controlling him. He paced while the others went outside, and Kid continued to stare at the door wordlessly. Jimmy glanced towards Jesse, who looked uncertain. Rachel shifted foot-to-foot restlessly. There seemed a lack of air in the bunkhouse as they waited.
Teaspoon quickly scanned the crowd of men, and did not see Wicks among them. He was surprised to see another marshal among the men.
"Hello Marshal. How can I help you?"
"I am here with the citizens of Sand Creek to apprehend a murderer and a thief that has run from us."
"You think he's in Rock Creek? I'm sure I'd know about him if he was," Teaspoon smiled, relieved that it wasn't Wicks after all.
"First of all, it's not a he, it's a she. And I know she's in Rock Creek and so do you."
"What are you talking about?" Cody asked.
"Louise McCloud murdered Frank Wicks last night in Sand Creek, and another man is very close to death by her hand!"
The boys all threw each other surprised looks as Teaspoon said, "Murder? If Frank Wicks is dead he was killed in self-defense, and all you have to do is look at her to realize that! He nearly killed her!"
"Frank Wicks had reason to go after her. You see among her other belongings she left in the stable we found nearly five hundred dollars in cash that Frank Wicks had reported she'd stolen. And the other man she killed is a hotel clerk, as gentle a soul as they come."
Teaspoon was at a loss for words momentarily. Lou had lied to them. She did have something Wicks wanted besides her. She had stolen from the man. Had been caught with the money she had denied existed. And that put her in a very bad situation.
"There must be some mistake, Marshal," Buck began.
"No, son, there is no mistake. Now, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to take me to the girl, or you'll be in danger of obstructing justice."
Teaspoon put a hand on Buck's shoulder when Buck started forward. The boy was more volatile than Teaspoon had ever seen him, still mad with grief over Ike, and now Lou. The last thing they needed was for Buck to get into trouble too.
Teaspoon cleared his throat, "Sir, the girl is inside, but she is badly injured and in need of rest. She's been unconscious for some time, and until I hear what she has to say, I'm afraid I can't let you take her."
"I'll demand your full cooperation, sir!" The marshal began.
"With all due respect sir, you are in my town. I'll demand yours!"
The marshal of Sand Creek and Teaspoon stared each other down, neither willing to back down. Teaspoon finally said, "As a law enforcement officer I am duty bound to uphold the law. I give you my word as a fellow lawman that I will detain the girl and question her. Then you will be allowed to question her. After that we will reach an agreement of what is to be done!"
"She's to be taken to Sand Creek and hanged!" Harley almost shouted, and several of the men snorted in agreement.
In a moment, Jimmy appeared on the porch, his hand near his ivory handled colt. "What's going on?" He whispered to Cody.
"You don't even want to know," Cody mumbled, "Looks like Lou stole money from Wicks, and then killed him."
"What?" Jimmy exclaimed.
Teaspoon was speaking again though, so Cody didn't answer him, "I suggest you men make camp. I'll send a rider out to get you when she comes to."
The marshal nodded, "You better know what you are dealing with. That girl is a vicious killer, and she'll be treated as such! She stabbed Frank Wicks in the back. I wouldn't turn my own back on her if I was you."
"You ain't me. If you were you'd know how damned crazy you are for thinking that girl don't have a solid reason for this," Teaspoon defended Lou.
"She had a reason all right. She wanted his money."
Teaspoon didn't respond, but glared coldly at the men as they filed away from the bunkhouse. Wordlessly he turned and went inside, with the other riders on his heels.
"What are we gonna do Teaspoon?" Noah wondered.
"They can't really hang Lou can they?" Buck wondered incredulously.
"She couldn't have stolen Wick's money, could she?" Cody asked, shaking his head, "And even if she did, she had a good reason for doing it!"
"I know that, and you know that, but there is no way we can prove it to them!" Teaspoon muttered. "What the hell could she have been thinking, stealing money from a man like Wicks?"
"What I'm wondering about is the other fellow the marshal was talking about. The hotel clerk. All of you and I both know that Lou didn't try to kill an innocent man," Noah said slowly.
"Is Wicks locked up?" Kid growled, standing up.
"Wicks is dead, Lou killed him," Cody supplied.
"Good!" Kid snapped.
"No, not good, Kid," Teaspoon said, "The marshal along with a posse from Sand Creek are calling it cold-blooded murder. Seems Lou had some of Wick's money, and an innocent man was caught up in this mess too."
"What does Sand Creek have to do with any of this?" Jimmy wondered.
"I guess we won't know that until Lou wakes up," Teaspoon said, then narrowed his eyes. "Maybe that shouldn't be for a good, long while…"
"Why would you say a thing like that?" Jesse wondered for all of them.
"Because we need time, son. The longer I can hold them off, the better the chances they get tired of waiting and go home. Or at least they calm down a bit."
Teaspoon turned. "Jimmy, you and Cody head for Sand Creek. Find this hotel clerk that the marshal was talking about. If he's still alive, find out what really happened to him. If not, ask some questions, find someone who saw something. I need you to ride like the Devil is chasing you both ways. Get back here with the information, and the hotel clerk if he can ride!"
"Don't you think we should wait for Lou to wake up? She may be able to clear up this whole thing with two words," Rachel asked.
"No, I don't think we should wait for Lou to wake up. Once she wakes up I have no excuse for holding off that mob outside. They are fired up enough now that Lou wouldn't make it back to trial. They are gonna stop at the first tree they pass and string her up. Noah, real quiet like, I need you to go to the doctor. Tell him I need laudanum, and for him to keep it to himself I asked. Let the men think she isn't going to wake up at all, maybe they'll lose interest. Even if they don't, I don't have to let them take her until she can travel."
"You are going to drug her? I don't like that idea, Teaspoon," Kid said, shaking his head.
"Do you like the idea of that group lynching her any better?" Buck asked, "You trust the law to set her free?"
Teaspoon sighed, but couldn't argue with Buck.
"One question, Teaspoon," Cody suddenly asked, "What happens if the hotel clerk died and no one saw nothing? The marshal made it sound like he was in bad shape. Then it's Lou's word against theirs."
Teaspoon sighed, "I'm counting on him being alive. If not, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"Or burn it," Jimmy suggested and nodded at Cody, "Come on, Billy. We got work to do."
Cody tipped his hat, letting his eyes stop on Lou. He walked over to her and leaned down close to her. Grabbing her hand, he whispered, "Don't you worry, Lou, we're gonna get to the bottom of all this."
Jimmy too walked to the bed, but he had no words he wanted the others to hear. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead, not caring what the others thought of that. With his eyes downcast to hide the worry in them, and ears hot with embarrassment, he pushed his black hat low and exited the bunkhouse.
"Marshal Hunter, I don't appreciate these games you've been playing with us! I want to see the girl for myself! How do I know you haven't let her slip away and she isn't in Mexico right now?"
Teaspoon sighed and looked at the other marshal. He couldn't blame the man for being suspicious. Hell, he was deceiving him. "What if I let you see her, would that be satisfactory?"
The marshal nodded, "Yes, that would be good. For a start."
Teaspoon watched the marshal's face as he lay eyes on Lou. Kid stood up and moved away, eyes bloodshot, face unshaven and grim. The older man's mouth grew solemn and his cheeks flushed with anger at the sight of her injuries.
"She looks better than she did, Marshal," Teaspoon said quietly, "Worked her over good don't you think? He damn near killed her. Raped her too."
The marshal didn't say anything for long moments. Then, "the girl still stole from him. How do we know Wicks' wasn't acting in self-defense? And how do you know it was rape?"
Kid made a dangerous sound in his throat, but it was Rachel who spoke up. "Come on, Marshal. Look at her. Really look at her and tell me how you think Wicks is the victim?"
"How do you explain the hotel clerk then? He was a good, harmless boy," The marshal persisted.
"I can't, but I know she can, when she wakes up," Teaspoon said, and thought, or when Jimmy and Cody get back.
"I'd feel better if you'd put her in the jail," The marshal finally said, "My men would be a lot happier if you did that too."
"You questioning my word?" Teaspoon growled.
"No, but Roger Miller, the hotel clerk, had a lot of friends. And some men out there are getting tired of waiting. One of Wick's men is stirring them all up, and it's getting harder to keep them quiet. They got business to get back to in Sand Creek. Marshal. I don't know how much longer I can keep them calm. One way or another, that girl's gotta answer for what she did, and you're gonna want it to be my way and not theirs."
Teaspoon nodded, "All right, I'll put her in a cell."
"Teaspoon! She's in no condition to be moved around, or locked in that cold jail!" Rachel protested, and Buck and Jesse quickly nodded in agreement.
Teaspoon gave them his I-know-what-I'm-doing-look, and they were quiet. Within the hour Kid was carrying Lou, who was wrapped in a blanket against the cold, through town. Teaspoon swung the iron door of one of the cells open and Kid glared at him through sullen eyes.
"Would you rather those men rush in the bunkhouse and drag her back? Because that is what could have happened, Kid. With Jimmy and Cody gone, we're down too many men to stop it."
"I would rather have killed Wicks last week when he came in here."
"And then it would be you locked in this cell, just like that fool that shot Wicks first," Noah muttered, "Don't be a fool, Kid. And don't blame this on Teaspoon."
Kid said nothing as he placed Lou on the small cot in the cell. Rachel was not far behind him, covering her with extra blankets. Finally, without looking Teaspoon in the eye he mumbled, "Noah's right. I'm sorry."
"I know this is trying you more than any of us son. But I want you to realize that I'm just tryin' to do what I know how to do to keep her safe."
In a moment, the marshal from Sand Creek walked through the office door. He nodded and grunted to himself in satisfaction when he saw the girl being locked in the cell.
"You need some rest. You can sleep on the cot in the next cell, but you can't sit up with her any longer," Rachel said, walking in front of Kid as Noah dragged him out, obstructing his view of Lou. "We'll take shifts watching her, and if there is any change you'll be the first to know."
Kid saw he was outnumbered, and he lowered his voice so that the marshal couldn't hear him, "What if we've given her too much laudanum? What if she never wakes up?"
"Nonsense, Kid, Doc told Teaspoon how much to give her," Noah hissed, "Now quit being a fool and go get some sleep."
"I guess now I'll just wait for her to wake up," The marshal said nonchalantly.
Teaspoon cleared his throat, knowing they couldn't slip her any more laudanum with him there and said, "I can send Buck here out to get you when she wakes."
"Warmer in here," the marshal persisted, not to be outfoxed, "My bones agree with it in here much more."
Teaspoon sighed. He could only hope Jimmy and Cody would find the hotel clerk alive and ready to talk to them. He glanced at Lou and thought, just keep your eyes closed a little while longer. Her reality wasn't anything she should be in a hurry to get back to.
Later that night, Kid sat at Teaspoon's desk, his feet propped up on the desk, his chin on his chest, sound asleep. Everyone else had long turned in, including the marshal from Sand Creek. He had given Lou more of the drug as soon as he was gone. The others had left for home. Only Kid had refused to give up his vigil, but the long hours of worry had taken their toll on him, and finally he gave over to sleep.
That's why he never heard the door open and light footsteps move across the office. It was his instinct rather than noise that caused him to jump awake in the chair. He'd no more than realized there were men in the jail when something crashed into the back of his head and he slumped first into the chair, then to the floor.
Lou stirred slightly for the first time at the commotion, having fought consciousness for a long while. Something told her she didn't want to wake, to face what was happening, but before there had always been soothing hands and a sickly sweet liquid poured down her throat to help her back into merciful darkness. She longed for that to come now, but it didn't.
She couldn't remember where she was to save her life. The pain in her head was too great to hold her eyes open for long, but in a quick glance she saw she was in a jail cell. She again forced her eyes open when she felt hands on her, expecting them to be the comforting hands that brought her escape of sleep. However, it was a rough and urgent grip, and the next thing she knew she was being hauled up out of the bunk. A groan of pain escaped her as her aching head was jarred and her healing scratches cracked open as she was jostled.
"No," She mumbled softly, "Where are we going?"
"Well, Louise, you are going straight to Hell. We're gonna hang you for what you done to Frank Wicks." The voice struck a chord in her memory, and Lou forced her eyes open to see the man who held her so roughly, oblivious to her wounds. She gasped in surprise to see Thomas Harley.
Her eyes searched the area wildly, and she spotted Kid laying on the floor, motionless.
Harley clapped a hand over her mouth before she could scream. At the close contact with him, Lou felt panic wash over her like a black wave. Then, the drug pulled her back down into darkness.