Hannibal Heyes woke up suddenly, as he was jolted by Jed, who was curled up behind him, coughing harshly and shivering, while obviously trying to avoid doing either. Through the small gap that served as a window, high up on the wall of the barn they'd sought refuge in , Hannibal could clearly see it was still full dark out. This was the second night he'd been woken this way, and the third time just tonight, and if anything Jed's cough sounded even worse than it had last night. Lack of sleep and worry making his tone harsher than he knew was deserved he turned to look at his cousin as he said sharply. "Jed...We got at least three hours before we gotta get moving, so I coulda done with some more sleep ya know."
Jed's face which was flushed with the beginning of a fever, fell, and he replied apologetically, with no sign of a challenge in his voice. " 'M sorry, Hannibal." the words forced out in an almost breathless whisper, against fiercely chattering teeth.
The tone, and the look of not quite hidden hurt on his friend's face quickly deflated his irritation, it wasn't like his cousin had got sick on purpose. "Ain't your fault, Jed. I'm sorry I'm just real tired." He paused, and took in his friend's bruised looking eyes, and pale features, and said gently with a pat on his shoulder. "You try get some more sleep, and now I'm awake I'll figure out what we're gonna do next."
Jed blinked at him and his face dropped again, as he said miserably. "I really wanted to get ya somethin' special for ya birthday Hannibal, but all I got was sick instead."
Hannibal looked over at his friend, and realised with some surprise, having not kept track, that it was his sixteenth birthday in four days. Which meant it'd been exactly two years since they'd run away from the home, on learning Hannibal was going to be apprenticed out to some money lender in Missoula, the day after he turned fourteen. "Well, we're gonna have to find a town anyways, Jed, the weather ain't no good for sleeping in barns."
"But we only got enough for one night, two, if we don't eat breakfast."
"Jed, go to sleep, I can't think with you wittering at me." Hannibal's tone was harsh again, as he knew Jed was right, because all the scheming in the world wouldn't turn two dollars twenty five into the amount they needed to stay warm, for the time Jed probably required to recover.
Jed gave a further painful sounding cough, and shuddered, as he said miserably. "I can't stop shivering or coughing , so maybe I just oughta stay awake to keep ya company while you're planning." He smiled hopefully at his older friend, which only made him look painfully young.
Hannibal felt a stab of guilt at the fact that his friend, who wasn't even fourteen yet , was freezing and broke, because he'd insisted on leaving Valpo with him, which once again gave his voice a snap, as he replied. "Just go back to sleep, Jed. You know I can't think with you whining at me like some annoying tot bugging' his Pa for candy."
Jed's face changed from hopeful and apologetic, to annoyed and hurt. He pushed away from Hannibal, and struggled out of the blanket with another barking cough. Standing on slightly wobbly legs, he said in a tone as sharp and annoyed as Hannibal's had been. "I ain't a baby, Hannibal, and I'm not whining!" Then with another fierce glance, he attempted to stride angrily towards the barn door, the effect was however somewhat ruined by him stumbling, as another cough was wrenched out of him. But he quickly steadied himself and without a glance back continued towards his target.
After the door slammed behind him, Hannibal sighed, they didn't need an argument, and he knew that the reason this had turned into one, was his fault, because with feeling a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility of keeping them both safe, especially as Jed was sick, his temper was short. But he knew it wasn't the solution to anything, and in fact would only make it worse for them both. So he stood, let out a calming puff of breath and followed Jed out. When at first he couldn't see him, a tightness took a hold of his chest at the thought his friend might have stormed off into the dark. But then he spotted him, just a short distance away, sitting miserably under a tree, his arms tight round him, as he shook with the strength of the barking coughs escaping him.
Hannibal shook his head at himself, the last thing either of them needed was to be out here. Not only was it far too cold, they also ran the risk of being spotted and chased away before dawn. He took a deep breath and walked over to Jed, who looked up at him unhappily but said nothing. So letting out another small huff of breath, Hannibal sat down next to him, before gently shoving his friend's shoulder as he said. "Come back inside, Jed...you're sick already, there ain't no point sitting here freezing your butt off, and I sure ain't keen on being out here neither.
Jed coughed again, then shrugged, stood, and let Hannibal steer him back into the slightly warmer barn, and once inside, he even allowed his friend to coax him into lying down. Another sure sign of just how rough he was feeling. As Jed drifted back into restless slumber, Heyes realised there was only one plan to be had. Head into the nearest town at first light, and use the last of their meagre funds to get a hotel room for however long the money would stretch to.
ASJ
They only had one horse between them, which as they rode into town, with Jed suffering a raging fever half a day later, was a blessing, as Hannibal could sit behind him keeping him steady without worrying about guiding another horse.
"He better not have anything catchin' son, or I'm not gonna let you stay."
Hannibal glared at the bushy moustached man behind the signing in desk, after he'd carefully sat his friend on the worn leather couch near the door, and asked for a room. "He's been sick for three days, and I ain't caught it, and he's gotta get outta the cold or there ain't no way he's gonna get better. I can pay!"
With the last words, anger slipped into plea, and he heard the crack of fear in his voice as he had to swallow round the sudden lump in his throat at the thought of losing the only family he had left. The man glanced between them not speaking, his expression furrowed, obviously noting their youth, very worn clothing and probably even just how skinny they were, and his face softened, as he nodded to himself, coming to a conclusion, that Hannibal hoped involved an agreement to rent them a room.
Hannibal managed a small smile when the man said almost gently. "All right, son. I got a room set away from the others, down the back corridor a ways, its kinda worn, but seeing as I rent it out cheaper than my others, it'll let you stay a bit longer if money is tight. He paused and added some concern in his voice. "Once you got him settled, you gonna need a Doc?"
Hannibal sighed thinking that yes they really did, but he was sure that the money that'd be left after paying for the room, even with the cheaper price, wouldn't stretch to any doctoring, so he shook his head reluctantly. "We're just gonna wait it out. I'll stay away from the rest of your customers I promise."
The man frowned, glanced over at the obviously very unwell boy mumbling quietly to himself on the couch, and shrugged as he said."That'll be 50 cents a night, son. I'll bring some fresh water and an extra blanket up for you in about twenty minutes."
Hannibal handed over the money for four nights, which left him the princely sum of a quarter in his pocket, then took the key the man handed him and turned away. Frowning in worry, he quickly but gently chivvied his now almost unconscious friend to his feet, carefully slinging his arm round his shoulder, as he slipped his hand round his waist, ans said over his shoulder. " The room out back you say?" The desk clerk nodded and waved down the corridor, and Hannibal carefully manoeuvred his friend in the direction the man indicated, and they made their unsteady way towards the room.
The room the key opened was small, worn and shabby, with thin brown curtains that did little to keep out the sun. The carpet and furnishings had definitely seen better days, but the bed looked more comfortable than the rest of the room would suggest, and everything was surprisingly clean. Hannibal gave a sigh of relief as he settled his now mostly unresponsive cousin onto the bed and made him comfortable.
Listening to Jed's wheezy breathing, he walked quietly over to the window, peered through the curtains, and stared down onto the street, and as he watched rain spatter down onto the dusty sidewalks, let himself relax a bit. At least they were dry and relatively warm, even if all he had to eat was jerky.
ASJ
"They've killed 'em all, Ma, Pa,Jacob, and even Ginnie, cos she tried to bite 'em. Pa hid me, but they'll soon figure out we ain't all dead, so we gotta run, or they're gonna kill us. I can't lose you too, and I don't wanna die, so c'mon, we hafta get away."
Hannibal woke from a light doze to the panicked, muffled cries of his cousin, and his hand pulling hard on his arm trying to tug him out of bed. Biting his tongue, and taking a deep breath to stay calm, and drive down the panic that threatened, as this was the sixth time just tonight, he said softly. "It's all right Jed, we're safe, we're safe. We got away, so don't you worry none."
Feeling the heat pouring off him, Hannibal rolled out of bed despite his friend trying to hold onto him, and pull him in the opposite direction, obviously fearing he was heading the wrong way. Rubbing his itchy tired eyes, he swallowed hard, before squeezing the flannel cloth set next to him, into the water basin by the bed . Turning back to Jed, he gently wiped his forehead and neck, carefully making sure at least some of the liquid ended up in his friend's mouth, puffing out a breath when after a few feeble efforts to drag him away, from whatever danger he was imagining, his cousin fell back into a restless sleep. He returned the cloth to the basin, and settled down to another difficult night of soothing Jed out of his fever induced fears.
ASJ
Hannibal woke with a start, to full sun streaming through the thin curtains, and the sound of Jed's peaceful breathing coming from next to him. He anxiously felt his forehead, and realised his friend's fever had finally broken, so he lay back down with a sigh of relief. His movement woke Jed who looked at him a little blearily, but his eyes were clear, and the fever flush had left his cheeks, leaving him pale. Blinking heavily then looking round him, Jed gave a harsh cough, and winced, but it sounded dry, and with the alertness in his gaze, it was clear he was over the worst of whatever had laid him low. Hannibal watched in relief as he frowned in concentration and gazed round the room again, not surprised when he asked, sounding a little confused. "We bin here long? I sure don't remember getting here at all."
Hannibal made a quick calculation, then let out a short laugh. "Yeah, we bin here a few days, Jed, long enough that's its my birthday!"
Jed sighed, then gave a small smile. "Happy Birthday, Hannibal. I ain't got nothing for ya." His face fell, then his lips turned back up into a smile and scrambled a little clumsily out of bed, ignoring Hannibal's attempt to grab hold of him and found his boots, digging eagerly into the left and bringing out a small handful of coins and counting them with enthusiasm.
"I got four dollars, Hannibal, I was savin' it to buy you somethin'."
He handed the money over to Hannibal with a smile and his friend took it with a small grin of his own. While hardly the sweet sixteen birthday he'd sometimes imagined when his family were living, with his friend well again, and them having enough money for a decent meal, maybe even an upgrade to a better room, plus a drink or two, it felt enough for now.
ASJ
The girl curled up next to him, stirred and gave him a dazzling smile as her hand slid south. "Those friends of yours gave me enough money to keep us both busy for the rest of the night...you ready for another go?"
After, Heyes holding the girl while she slept, stared up at the colourful ceiling, as the chimes from the nearby clock chimed one am, indicating he was now eighteen. His seventeenth birthday had been spent with he and Jed helping Soapy and Silky pull a con on some walk-off railroad man, whose level of greed had fortunately been much higher than his brain power.
A few months later, Heyes had looked over at his cousin, and seen a young man staring back at him, just three weeks after that, merely two weeks after the Kid turned fifteen, he was gone. "I gotta work out who I am, and I can't do that properly, 'cept on my own. I'll miss you, and once I figure it out, I'll come lookin' for ya I promise." That had been several months ago, and Heyes still missed him.
He'd followed the colourful and attention grabbing newspaper reports about the rise of a baby faced gunfighter, who could out draw anyone. Being so familiar with Jed and recognising just how good he'd been in the weeks before they'd parted ways, he knew exactly who they described. At first he'd been worried that his friend had moved an awful long way from the boy he'd grown up with, and wondered how he'd missed the fact his cousin was so bloodthirsty. But when he'd ignored the penny dreadful tone of the articles, and only took notice of what had actually happened, he'd quickly realised that this Kid Curry was never the aggressor, and in all the gunfights recounted, the challenger had usually been an ass hat who should have known better. That fact somehow always made him smile a little, as his cousin had never been able to step back from an idiot, right from the time he was old enough to be able to recognise one. All he needed now was for his friend to come find him, now he'd obviously figured out who he was. Then maybe together they could work out exactly what they were going to do with their lives.
ASJ
Kid Curry lay on a cell bunk, bruised and aching from a beating by a bunch of idiots, unhappy he'd embarrassed them by out-shooting their mouthy leader. He was uncomfortably curled up on the narrow bunk, impatiently waiting for Elmo's walk-off Sheriff to realise the other guys were the aggressors, and so let him go. Finally frustration gave way to exhaustion, and he was on the edge of sleep, when he heard the town clock chime two in the morning and was jolted to wakefulness as he realised that meant Heyes had turned eighteen two hours ago.
He knew from scouring newspaper articles and listening to barflies, that Heyes had moved from conning to outlawing, which neither surprised or even worried him, except that his cousin was alone, and could be hurt, because he and Heyes had known for a long time, that for boys such as them, honestly earned success was pretty much out of reach.
He had thought about looking for him, as he'd promised all those months ago, but he worried whether his cousin would understand how and why he'd earnt his reputation and accept that for all that, he was still pretty much the same as he'd ever been. Which was perhaps the greatest irony of all, in leaving he'd found that he was exactly who he'd been when he was with Heyes, only lonelier and far less safe. Despite that realisation, he'd still come to the conclusion weeks ago, that staying away from his cousin was for the best, but with Heyes' birthday, the first they'd spent apart, the need to find him and try to explain, was once again warring fiercely with the feeling he really should stay away, and today neither option seemed an attractive solution to him.
Eventually, despite the turmoil of his thoughts, he did finally sleep, because he was woken by sun streaming in through the barred window high above him, a loud throat clearing and a jingle of keys. He looked into the face of a disgruntled looking deputy. "Sheriff says we gotta let ya go."
The Kid shuffled, feeling the stiffness in his joints, caused by too long in the same position, and sat up. "Hope ya gonna feed me."
The Deputy eyed him with great distaste before shrugging and nodding. "Guess so, but then you're outta here, and we don't want to see ya here again. 'Cos we aren't fond of folk like you staying in our town."
The Kid snorted and said. "Well that seems a fair bargain, seeing as folk like me ain't exactly fond of the people in this town."
ASJ
Holed up in another cold barn, hiding from a posse, three days after realising Jim Plummer had done a flit with the whole of his gang's thirty thousand robbery bounty, Heyes was almost glad that he was on his own. It was just plain embarrassing after all, and would hardly have done much to convince his friend that he was the genius he claimed to be. Though being honest, he knew while his cousin's loyalty to him was unbreakable, his belief in his total infallibility was sometimes slightly less solid than Heyes would have liked.
Two months after that though, as the newly established second in the D.H.G. Heyes missed seeing the carefully hidden pride that he would have seen on Jed's face.
ASJ
Kid glanced towards the pretty brunette at the bar, who was giving him the eye, in fact had been doing so all evening, and sighed as he jangled the sparse number of coins in his pocket. He was faced with a depressing choice: four candles upstairs, and a room with no breakfast, or a room and breakfast. Mentally shrugging, he decided as it was his birthday, he'd go for the four candles...he had jerky in his saddlebags after all, and he needed something a little more intimate than his right hand today.
But before he could catch her attention and nod towards the stairs, he became aware of being watched. Damn it all to hell, not another walk-off angling to take on Kid Curry. He swirled round with his hand on his gun, and nearly gasped out loud as his eyes met a very familiar face, with an expression that Kid couldn't quite pin down, out of practice in the sometimes complicated art of reading Hannibal Heyes.
He felt a smile cross his face though, when after a heartbeat, his cousin's face broke into a dimpled grin, and he started to walk over to him. In just a few moments his forearms were gripped in an affectionate hold, as his friend said, with no hint of irony. "I got some friends, who sure would be pleased to meet with Kid Curry, if you're interested that is. Some folk just ain't impressed by genius, and prefer your more direct approach to a problem. There sure ain't no accounting for people if you ask me."
Jed couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him, as he looked at his cousin, and as every emotion he could think of washed over him in a heartbeat, before finally settling down into pure happiness at seeing his friend.
Heyes winked at him, with his familiar devil may care grin, and the Kid knew he was right back where he oughta be. He nodded firmly, more than ready to go with his friend, wherever he was heading.