Here it is!
Did I proof read this? Not really, but I wanted to post it anyway. Enjoy!
Trigger warning: There is a reference to sexual assault in this chapter. Nothing is too graphically described but please, read responsibly. To skip that part, stop reading when Slim says "Over here, Pard" and you can restart where it says "Slim stood up again".
Chasing Strays Ch 3
The creak of wet leather on leather was almost deafening as Jess listened closely for the sound to come again. It had been a tiny sound, almost masked by the wind, and Jess hadn't managed to get a fix on where exactly it was coming from. Tracking was difficult following a downpour like this storm had been. The rain washed away most stale scents from the air and replaced it with the smell of lightning and damp earth. The wind could snatch sounds away or cover them up all together. Jess closed his eyes to focus.
He listened hard, cataloguing each sound as he went, letting Traveler pick his own path along the road. He filtered out the hoof beats of both horses, the rustle of pine tree boughs as the wind whipped through, the dripping of water all around them, their collective breaths and heartbeats. The rhythm of the sounds around him started to fade away as he listened for a break in the pattern; something that didn't belong.
Just when he thought he had it, Slim's horse snorted. Jess's eye snapped open as his concentration shattered. He grit his teeth and tried again, holding his breath.
When the click-clack of chattering teeth started up, it nearly sent him over the edge.
"Could you cut that out?" Jess snapped, trying and failing to keep the frustration at bay. Sentinel senses were invaluable tools, but they had their limitations.
The chattering stopped. The creak of leather, however, increased as Slim tried to quell his shivering in other ways. Jess let out a huff. He nudged Traver forward into a trot and followed the road. Odds were, the sound was coming from around the next bend anyway. Why anyone would be all the way out here at this hour, Jess had no idea. He was pretty sure it wouldn't have been a voluntary choice. His feeling of unease was growing.
As they got closer, Jess could finally pick out one odor that shouldn't be there.
Wet, charred wood and melted glass, mixed with the smell of several other burnt things.
It wasn't a good scent, but it was one Jess was intimately familiar with. House fire.
As they rounded the bend, Jess amended his conclusion.
Wagon fire.
-Laramie-
Slim clenched his teeth together and did his best to suppress the shivers wracking his body. He now recognized that they were on the little-used north Laramie road. I was poorly maintained due to the infrequent traffic, and Slim was trusting Jess to steer them around the worst of the ruts. Slim pulled his hat down low and his slicker in close to his body to stay warm. His fingers had been numb for what felt like hours, and the rest of his body was starting to follow suit. The quicker Jess could find whatever he was looking for, the sooner they could go home to their own beds.
As they came around the curve in the old road, Slim forgot all about the chill.
Over Jess's shoulder he could see the remains of a wagon, likely burned earlier in the day and put out by the storm. There was no livestock in sight. Overturned boxes and empty sacks lay scattered around in a mess of discarded household items. The entire scene was drenched in shining silver by the night's halfmoon, giving everything an ethereal appearance. Even the wind seemed to quiet out of respect.
It was horrible.
-Laramie-
Jess swung his leg over the saddle and settled onto the ground, quickly turning down his sense of smell as he approached the closest body. The man had ben scalped and stabbed for good measure. It was anyone's guess as to which action had happened first. Jess tried not to look too closely.
"Over here, pard," Slim said, his grim tone ricocheting around Jess's mind. Jess stepped around to the other side of the wagon.
Directly in front of Slim was the body of a woman, and Jess couldn't help but take in the scene. The bodice of her dress had been torn and her skirts were rucked up carelessly. Blonde hair that had once been tied up now fanned out beside her in the mud. Her wedding ring was still in place. Slim, considerate as always, righted the lady's sodden skirts in an effort to preserve her dignity.
It was one of the rare moments Jess wished his vision wasn't as sharp as it was. In the dark of the night, Slim would never know that the woman's eyes were blue. The same wasn't true for Jess. With one glance, that particular shade of blue was burned into his memory and no doubt his nightmares.
Jess felt the bile rise in his throat but he swallowed hard. No matter what action had first befallen the man, Jess sincerely hoped the poor man had not been forced to watch what had happened to his wife.
There was no question what had happened here. It was a wide-open area with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Even if the couple had seen their attackers coming, there would have been very little to do about it. Now, there was little to do besides come back in the morning with a pair of shovels and two crosses.
Slim stood up again and moved to stand at Jess's side. His boots squelched through the mud in the otherwise quiet night. Absently, Jess noticed Slim's shivering had started up again. He was about to reach out to Slim, clap him on the shoulder and suggest they head for home, when he heard it again.
The small whimper pulled Jess's attention away from the gruesome display around the remains of the wagon. About sixty yards farther up the road, off to the side, was a dense clump of sage. He strode toward it quietly. Slim followed behind. As he approached, he could hear the small heartbeat hiding behind it.
-Laramie-
Slim saw the moment Jess zeroed in on whatever he had been tracking. Based on the scene and Jess's actions, Slim realized it was most likely a whomever than a whatever. Slim opened his mind to try and get a sense of who they were looking for. He held his breath as Jess slowly reached out a hand…
And promptly dropped to the ground in agony as a foreign wave of blinding pain and confusion washed over him.
"Slim!"
Jess was by his side in an instant, placing a hand on either side of his face. From the way he flinched back, Slim knew Jess could feel the torrent of emotion. The agony in Slim's mind receded as he shored up the defenses around his mind.
"Sentinel," Slim said, gasping for breath.
"I'm right here," Jess replied, bewildered, clearly missing the point. He hadn't even had a chance to move the brush before he'd leapt to Slim's aid.
"The kid," Slim tried again as he regained his composure. Jess's eyes widened. "Let me."
Jess stepped to the side as Slim picked himself up and quietly approached the bushes, hoping he looked a lot more confident than he felt. He peeked beyond the brush.
Staring back at him with wide, scared eyes was a boy, no more than six or seven years old. He had an uncanny resemblance to a jackrabbit; tense and ready to run.
"Easy there," Slim said, holding the brush back with one hand and holding up the open palm of his other. "You're alright now, we've gotcha, it's alright now," he continued, speaking softly and slowly.
The kid didn't move a single muscle. Slim wasn't even sure he was breathing. The last thing he wanted was for the kid to bolt and run the risk of hurting himself in the dark. Slim felt Jess lay a hand on his back, lending him support. Jess had read the situation right, as usual. This was going to take a bit of persuasion. With a deep breath, Slim focused on channeling as much feeling of calm and safety as he could. Braced this time, and with Jess's steadying, he relaxed his defenses as he pushed those feelings outward, projecting them onto the boy.
The big, scared eyes blinked only once before the boy suddenly launched himself into Slim's arms. By reflex Slim wrapped his arms around the boy in return. The kid buried his face into Slim's neck, his small arms clinging tightly to his shoulders. Slim brought one hand up to the back of the boy's head and cradled him against his chest.
"Easy now, that's it," Slim said again, keeping his voice low. The boy let out a shuddering breath, somewhere between a sigh and a sob, before going totally limp in Slim's arms. Slim immediately looked over to Jess, somewhat alarmed, but his friend was just shaking his head in wonder.
"Well I'll be dad-gummed," Jess muttered under his breath.
Slim nodded in silent agreement and focused on maintaining his projection. It was much easier now that the boy was unconscious. Jess reached forward and eased the front of Slim's slicker open, doing his best not to rouse the boy, and then re-closed it so that the boy was wrapped inside the leather as well. Slipping a hand under Slim's elbow, Jess helped him to his feet. They moved in tandem back toward the horses.
"You said he's going to be a sentinel?" Jess asked curiously, glancing at their young charge.
Slim shook his head. "He is a sentinel, Jess," he replied softly. "Based on the feel of things, he's got brand new senses to deal with."
Jess paused for a moment as he took in the information. "No wonder," he mused, mostly to himself. Slim couldn't recall his own awakening in any great detail. He'd been too worried about his mother and Andy at the time. Jess, on the other hand, had told Slim about developing his senses during the war. As Jess told it, being a brand-new sentinel was no easy thing to navigate.
Jess grabbed Alamo's reins and led him over to where Slim stood. Mounting one handed wasn't usually a problem, but doing it with an extra forty pounds of dead weight was a bit of a challenge. Jess helped Slim get his boot in the stirrup and boosted him up without a word. Jess sung up onto Traveler's back and collected Slim's reins with ease, leaving Slim's hands free to steady the boy.
"Did you put him out on purpose?" Jess asked, as he turned them toward home.
"No," Slim said, shaking his head. "I just took away some of his fear. Without that, I don't think there was anything left to keep him going," he reasoned with a shrug. The boy tried to burrow deeper into Slim's chest in response to the jostling.
"Can't hardly blame with little guy," Jess mused, "not after what he's been through today. I reckon we'd all be down for the count after something like that." Slim saw the outline of his shoulders slump. "Cryin' shame, all the way around."
Slim just hummed his agreement. There wasn't much to add to that anyway.
"Never heard of someone's abilities developing so young," Jess continued. "Have you?"
"Never, but I suppose in this case it makes sense. It's usually brought about by strong emotions or trauma," Slim reasoned, trailing off. "Or at least it was for both of us."
"Reckon he's had more than enough of that," Jess answered grimly.
"We'll get him home, dried off, and into bed," Slim suggested. "Some hot food can go a long way, even with your cooking," he joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. He was rewarded with a sideways glance and a half smile from Jess before he turned serious again.
"I'll ride over to the Bates' place as soon as the sun's up and send one of the boys to fetch Mort and the doc," Jess said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Then I'll head back out here to take care of things."
Slim sighed. It was an unpleasant but necessary task. He himself would have his hands full trying to guide the fledgling sentinel once he woke up, leaving Jess to take care of the burials by default.
They lapsed into silence. The night darkened as the moon slipped below the horizon. Slim rubbed his thumb against the young boy's back in time with each breath as his own eyelids started to droop. It had been a long night for everyone. Jess soldiered on through the inky blackness, leading them closer to home with every step.
They had a plan for the morning, but Slim couldn't help but wonder…
What comes after that?
-Laramie-
Notes: There we have it! Our duo becomes a trio! To all of you who guessed correctly, kudos to you, and to those who had different guesses, kudos to you, too :)
I'll be honest, I have never liked the episode Dragon at the Door. In my little universe, the wagon of Chinese travelers just keeps on traveling to their destination with no incidents and never stops at the Sherman Ranch. They all live happily ever after, the end. Mike is also a little younger here than I think he's supposed to be in the show, but, here we are.
For our boys, on the other hand, we'll have a couple more chapters in this story to wrap up Mike's arrival. Stay tuned, and thank you all for your comments