Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
There were bodies everywhere. He was gagging on a breath that was thick with the scent of old blood. It curdled the air and left a lingering stench of death against the overpowering backdrop of the carnage around him. He had woken up into hell, or so he thought when he opened his eyes after an eternity of black and thought for a moment that he had died. Around him were broken bodies, writhing in shock and pain. He saw amputees kicking non existent legs and screaming to doctor and nurses who were trying hard to keep them from trying to stand, defiant in the belief they were still whole. He saw grey skinned doctors, working tirelessly, their aprons stained with so much blood that they looked like butchers in a slaughterhouse not physicians.
He was certain they felt the same.
When Lieutenant Larabee work up, he saw all that and wished that he was dead because he could not feel his legs. The panic gripped him was the fiercest he had ever known in his life and he started to descend into a fit of terror as he started screaming for someone to tell him that what he was feeling below the waist was not what his mind could not accept.
"Easy there, Lieutenant!" He heard a voice along side his bed, holding him down as the amputee he had seen needed to be held down.
"Chris!" He gasped. "My name is Chris!"
"I know that Sir," Wilmington repeated himself, putting his considerable strength into pinning Chris' shoulder's to the bed and forcing the terrified lieutenant who had never been afraid of anything for as long as the private had known him, to calm down and look into his face. "It ain't what you think. You're okay. Really!"
"I can't feel my legs!" Chris screamed. His life was over! He was a cripple! He couldn't walk! Couldn't have children! Couldn't even be a man!
"It's temporary!" Wilmington stated firmly. "You got my word on that Lieutenant!"
"Chris." Chris looked at his face and knew his words were in earnest. The genuine compassion and sincerity in the private's face bled away his fear and slowly, he descended from the altitude of terror into a calmer state of mind.
"Chris," Wilmington said with a faint smile as if he could not accustom himself to calling Chris any other thing. "I know you can't feel nothing but the doctors said this might happen." He continued to speak, unwilling to let this man who had saved his life and a whole lot of others, endure this ordeal alone. "The bullet almost crippled you but they manage to get it out before it did any permanent harm. They did say that it went in fairly close to your back and when you get hit like this, there's some sort of swelling inside that pushes against the nerves. That's why you can't feel anything. When it goes down again, you'll get feeling back in your legs."
Chris eased back into his pillow, the fight dissipating and there was something comforting about having Wilmington around. "What happened?" He managed to ask after a few seconds.
"Ain't no reason to talk about that now Sir," Wilmington said evasively.
"Don't make me pull rank on you Private." Chris gave him a look, tinged with a faint hint of a smile which created a broader one on Wilmington's face.
"Okay Sir," he answered sobering up as if he found the subject distasteful. "It was Captain Julius. He shot you in the back. The men grabbed him and Bellison after he done it. Guess he underestimated how grateful the men were to you after saving their necks the way you did."
"How did I get here?" Chris croaked. His throat felt dry and he needed water. He was glancing at the side of his cot, hoping there was a pitcher of the stuff nearby when he saw Wilmington already reaching for it to pour him a glass. The private held the cup to his lips and Chris took greedy gulps. It felt as if he had been out for days and his mouth was full of cotton.
"After we took care of Bellison, me and a couple of volunteers walked off the line to get you here." Wilmington explained before putting the cup back on top of the small table next to his cot.
Suddenly Chris had a premonition that he owed his life to this young man who had most likely been the main instigation for his being brought here to this field hospital. "Thanks, Wilmington." Chris found himself saying.
"My friends call me Buck," Wilmington replied.
Chris met his gaze and let a hollow smile steal across his face. "Buck it is."
"Chris." Buck's voice snapped him back to the present and Chris turned back to his old friend who was waiting for an answer to a question that he had not heard.
"What?" Chris asked, trying to remember what Buck and Vin had been saying when his mind had drifted off to memories best left in the past.
"I said we can't bring this stuff back to town," Buck frowned, wondering where Chris had been the last two minutes. He certainly was not on the plains where they had intercepted the convoy of wagons and was now attempting to discern its fate. "This much nitro is going to bring someone's attention. We ought to hide it until we know what to do with it."
"Concerns me what so much of it is doing out here." Nathan declared while cleaning the wound on Vin's shoulder in order to keep it from aggravation before they could return to Four Corners where it could be tended to properly. "This much nitro is enough to start a small war." The healer glanced briefly at the four remaining wagons that remained intact after two of its number had been destroyed.
"Obviously they were going somewhere with it." Ezra answered and Chris had to focus for a moment to shake the fog over his brain. This entire situation with Bellison had awoke some very unpleasant memories for Chris and he had trouble concentrating on the present, when so much of the past kept surfacing to remind him of the players that had suddenly walked onto the present stage.
"What happened to Bellison." Chris asked suddenly, slicing neatly through their speculations.
"Josiah and I rode around looking for him," JD spoke up gingerly, a little fearful of the hard edge he heard in Chris' voice. If a word could be put to the gunslinger's mood at this moment, JD was certain 'filthy' would have done quite nicely. Chris was a volcano about to erupt and he was making all his friends nervous. "We couldn't find a sign of him."
"Man's good." Josiah rumbled with an unhappy scowl on his face before Chris could respond to JD's findings. "We didn't even see any tracks."
"He used to be an Indian scout before the war," Chris responded, unaware from where that piece of information had come for a moment before he realised that as a Sargent under his command, Chris was required to know Bellison's history. "Pretty good one from what I heard." He volunteered further a second later and reached into his duster for his cheroot. Suddenly, he needed a smoke real bad. A drink would have to wait until after he got into town.
"So what are we going to do about the nitro?" Vin asked, flinching a little when Nathan tightened a bandage around his injured biceps.
"Hide it." Buck repeated his thoughts on the matter. "Ain't no way that Bellison could have anything to do with the army if he was running things. If that ain't army, then it can't be legal. Railroad construction use dynamite, not nitro. You're looking to do some serious damage with that kind of firepower."
No one could argue with Buck's statement. After seeing how the wagon had been literally incinerated by one stray shotgun pellet, there was no denying the perilous nature of the cargo that had been in the process of transportation when the seven had come across it.
"Okay so we hide it," Josiah replied. "Where?" He looked at his companions in question. "We ought to keep it out of sight.
Chris tended to agree with the preacher on that assertion and thought quickly as to what they should do about with the wagons and their cargo. "We'll take it to the ranch for now." He said after a moment. "Josiah, you and JD will keep guard on it once we get there. We'll keep this men in jail for now, at least until we can work out what this nitro meant for."
"We must attempt to find out to whom it was destined to reach." Ezra pointed out. "Explosive in this quantity had a purpose, not to mention someone must have paid a tidy sum to purchase it. I think our concerns ought to be focussed on who might come searching in an attempt to reclaim their property."
"Ezra's right," Chris agreed with the gambler, having considered that himself. "The sooner we get it off our hands the better. We'd be inviting a lot of trouble by hanging on to it and we can't just hand it to anyone either. Its gonna have to be the army."
"Well one thing is for sure," Vin started to say and then hissed at Nathan when the healer secured the bandage and kept it from unravelling by use of a safety pin. He scowled at Nathan who returned a look to stifle his complaint or be prepared to get iodine later. The tracker decided against it and turned back to the topic of conversation. "Whatever that stuff was meant for, it ain't legal. You don't move nitro this way, not unless you want it kept real quiet."
"I'll get back to town and wire the army." Chris replied, deciding that the army was the only ones who had any business with this type of munition and would know how to dispose of it or at least take the problem off their hands. However, Chris wanted to know what part of Bellison had to play in this. Whatever it was, Chris was certain it was no good. The appearance of Bellison now sparked other concerns, in particular the fate of Hannibal Julius. Chris had assumed the man had been languishing in a prison since the last days of the war but if Bellison was out and he had incurred the same sentence as Julius, then what of the Captain himself?
Chris did not add that the reason he wanted to wire the army was not simply to tell them about the nitro and ridding themselves of a powder keg of trouble but also to make some inquiries into Julius' ultimate fate.
"We ought to clear out one of the wagons." Buck suggested. "That lot don't look too happy to ride shotgun to the stuff after what happened to the other wagons."
Chris could hardly blame them for that. Before he and Vin had returned, Buck and the others had tied up the men guarding the shipment and rounded them into one place in order to move them back to Four Corners. The gunslinger glanced at the unhappy faces tied up and disarmed waiting judgement, near enough for any of the seven to notice if one of them decided to go back on their word of surrender.
"Okay," Chris agreed with that plan. "There should be room to clear out one since the others don't need space for a guard and supplies any more. Untie a few of them and get them to do the unloading Buck." Chris ordered before adding. "We'll have to tether our horses behind the wagons and take them to the ranch ourselves. I don't trust these men any further than I can throw 'em. Vin you ride shotgun with someone, you ain't in to shape to handle a wagon gently."
"Thanks pard." Vin frowned, hating it whenever he was injured.
"I do feel that we ought to be asking for hazard pay," Ezra retorted as he eyed the four wagons that needed transportation back to Four Corners. Driving a wagon full of nitro glycerin was not exactly the way he wished to exit this life if indeed it was time for him to meet his maker.
"Well you can bring that up with the Judge, the next time he's in town." Chris retorted, more or less expecting some form of complaint from Ezra as if it were some ritual that the gambler felt obligated to perform each time they ran into something unexpected. It brought some sense into Chris' universe to know that at least some things would never change and was almost grateful for the banter in light of Bellison's appearance today.
"Alright," Chris said with a loud sigh. "Let's get to it. I want to be out of here before it gets dark."
With a purpose set before them, the lawmen started to break up, each unconsciously knowing what Chris required of them following their brief discussion regarding their surprise discovery. Buck lingered a moment, wanting to speak to Chris because the gunslinger seemed preoccupied even though he had snapped out of his reverie long enough to give them directions.
"You okay Chris?" Buck asked once the others were a few steps ahead.
"I'm fine." Chris said shortly, knowing why he was asking.
"So you really saw Bellison." Buck remarked. "I thought he was rotting in a federal jail somewhere."
"It was him." Chris said firmly, wishing no mistake on that. "He even called me Lieutenant."
That would make sense Buck decided since Bellison had been absent when Chris had been promoted to Captain. "I wondered what happened to him."
"I didn't," the gunslinger replied staring into the horizon, trying to see something that was not there. "I just wanted him gone."
"You're thinking about the Captain ain't ya?" Buck guessed accurately, since he was thinking about Hannibal Julius himself.
"He's out here somewhere Buck." Chris declared, not knowing how he knew but certain he was right. The moment he had seen Bellison, Chris had no doubt that the former Sargeant was still in the employ of his former master. How strongly he had reacted to Chris was proof of that. "This time he ain't gonna get the chance to shoot me in the back."
It was well into dark by the time the seven finally returned to town with their prisoners. The nitro presently resided at the Lucky Seven ranch, guarded by JD and Josiah for the time being. After Vin had come into town and had his arm properly treated, the tracker would return home and complete the triumvirate of protection that the explosives required. Chris wanted it gone as soon as possible and went straight to the telegraph office to wire the local fort regarding their problem, hoping that someone would soon arrive from the army to collect the liquid explosive. After leaving Franklin with explicit instructions that the telegraph was to be sent immediately, Chris headed for the saloon in need of a drink.
He felt slightly guilty knowing that he ought to be going home for supper but the whole business with Bellison had brought back memories he neither wanted nor could tolerate. A bullet to the back had changed him forever, not simply because he had faced the fear of being half a man until he regained use of his legs but it had educated him most profoundly on how deep human ugliness could reach. He came out of the hospital and convalescence a harder man, with idealism burned away in place of cold cynicism. A situation which had not improved when he had lost Sarah and Adam. He had reached full circle of becoming the man he was now when his wife and child had died.
Even marriage to Mary had not taken the sharp edge of him and he nothing ever would.
He sat at their usual table in the Standish Tavern, still being bartended by Rain for the moment because Inez's role as manager did not require her present on a full time basis. The new mother would come in during the afternoons and early evenings to serve meals for the clientele before taking herself home and retrieving her daughter from Rain who doubled as baby sister during Inez's tenure in the saloon. It was quite an amicable arrangement that had the lady bartender playing the multiple roles she had set for herself. Chris was amazed at her stamina and knew that when their child was born, Mary would be just as tireless. Women seemed to be able to relegate their time into neat little parcels while men were less inclined to be so organised.
Buck had headed off for home shortly after they had delivered the nitro the ranch, undoubtedly eager to see his wife and his new baby even though the big man would be hard pressed to admit it. Chris could hardly blame him for that. Buck had always enjoyed having a family around him even though he confessed to being a ladies man. Ever since his marriage, he had astonished all his friends by his ability to remain faithful to Inez and his utter devotion to his daughter Elena. It was not unusual for the rest of the seven catching the proud father doting unashamedly on his new child.
Chris found himself alone in the Standish Tavern since Ezra had taken the task of keeping an eye on the prisoners in the jailhouse, since JD and Josiah were required to keep an eye on the nitro at the ranch. Nathan would eventually join the gambler once the healer was done looking after he was done treating Vin's arm. No doubt, Vin would head back to the ranch after Nathan was done and complete the triumvirate of protection for the nitro since voluntary rest was not in the tracker's vocabulary. Chris found an involuntary smile stealing across his face at how Vin would fare with that sort of thinking when he found himself married to a doctor.
When he finally decided to go home, he found Mary on her chair, having fallen asleep there while mending some clothes, the bulk of which still sat in a basket at her feet. Her sewing kit rested gently on her lap along with a shirt of his she had been working on at the time she had dozed off and Chris found himself by the doorway to the parlour watching her sleep. By the looks of her, it appeared she had just an equally exhausting day as he did. She was wearing her work clothes and her hair tied up in a bun, had worked free with stray strands brushing her skin after her exertions.
They said pregnant women were supposed to glow and at this moment, whether or not Mary knew it, Chris found his breath taken away by how radiant she looked. The pregnancy was starting to show a little, with a slight curve at her belly he sometimes felt almost afraid to touch for the sheer happiness he felt, when he woke up and realised that she was his and hope had come with her. The initial stages of her pregnancy had been difficult, with morning sickness being particularly brutal. Chris remembered the nights when she had spent most of it retching and wondered how the women of the world did not kill their men from the sheer frustration of being the only one to suffer when it came time for a child to be born. Now Mary spent most of her time, trying not to devour everything in the house and Chris was grateful for that or else he would have to go hunting.
After watching her, Bellison and Julius seemed far away and he came forward quietly, removing the objects in her lap and placing it aside so she could find it easily in the morning before slipping his arms around her and lifting her off the chair. The fact that she barely stirred as he carried her up the stairs towards their bedroom was a testament to how tired she was and now Chris felt doubly guilty for hiding out in the saloon when he should have been home with her. She did not stir until after he had begun ascending the stairs and the irregular movement woke her.
"Chris." She whispered as she fluttered her eyelids and looked up at him. "What are you doing?" She asked even though she was not quite awake yet and reluctant to be free of those wonderful arms around her.
"Taking you to bed." He answered as they reached the top of the stairs.
"Why Mr Larabee," she teased softly. "What are you suggesting?"
Chris found himself grinning. "Mrs Larabee, you got way to much energy for me." He joked and once again, felt himself renewed when he stared into those blue grey eyes.
"Well put me down," she said yawning. "I must be heavy."
"Not a chance," he replied. "I ain't never letting you go now that I got you."
"Flatterer." She smiled and nuzzled her face in her chest, not about to argue with him as he carried her into their bedroom. "Any trouble on the way back?" She asked since trouble and the seven went like bacon and eggs and any other cliche' pairing.
"A little," Chris admitted but not about to go into detail. He was not ready to talk about how he felt about Julius and Bellison. It delved too deeply in the parts of his life he did not want to talk about. If started telling her about them, then he might have to tell her about the rest of it and even now, nearly twenty years after the event, he still found it hard to talk about. However, he would not keep it from her because she was his wife but he was not going to volunteer it either. At least not yet anyway. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to hold his wife in his arms and fall asleep with her scent in his lungs. "But nothing we couldn't handle. Vin got a little hurt."
"Vin always gets hurt," Mary mumbled, letting her sleepiness overtake her again. "I swear I do believe the only reason he's marrying Alex, is so he can have a doctor on call."
"Oh I'd say there at least one other reason." He chuckled softly as he lay her down on the bed, wondering how it was possible that she could take away all the turmoil inside of him with just her smile.
"Probably," she laughed and started to undress as he did the same to join her in her bed. She noted the expression on his face as she undid the buttons on her dress and found herself asking. "Chris, are you all right?"
Chris looked over his shoulder at her, wondering how she was able to manage to discern that something was wrong and then opted against trying to understand how she knew and deal with the fact that she did. "I'm just thinking about things."
"Like what?" She asked, tossing her dress into the near by chair.
"Nothing important." He shrugged and climbed into the sheets with her, once he was freed of clothing. Naked, he slid next to her body and delighted at the feel of her bare skin against hers. Fabric always seemed to be a hindrance when they went to bed and after months of marriage, they had decided that it was pointless wearing anything at all with Chris' craving for his wife almost matched by her surprisingly ravenous appetite for him.
Mary continued to stare a little longer before she was willing to nestle into the warmth of his embrace, aware that there was something wrong even if he did not wish to discuss it. However, it was never wise to push him into revealing his inner soul unless he was ready to do so and by the manner of him at this time, Mary assumed that he was far from it. "I was going to clear out the spare room for the nursery, what do you think?" She asked as she snuggled next to him.
"Fine." He said stiffly. "Whatever you like."
"Chris there is something wrong." She pushed herself up on her elbow to look at him.
"I said drop it." He spoke with more harshness than he intended, wishing that she would just leave it alone and then realised that she had and it was he who had bitten.
"Chris, I am not one of your men." She responded just as sharply, completely awake now.
"I know you ain't," he said guiltily. "But I don't want to talk about it or anything to do with the baby right now, is that too hard for you to understand?"
"Of course not," she started to stammer, realising for the first time that he might have trouble coping with the fact that he was soon to be a new father, no matter how much he might have attempted to hide that fact from her. "I just asking your opinion." She was not sure how to deal with this now that the possibility had presented itself to her so starkly.
"You can take care of it yourself Mary," Chris frowned, rolling on his side, suddenly having no wish to face her when he felt unable to stem the hostility that was frothing from inside him without pause.
"Chris...." Mary found herself starting to get upset.
"Look!" He jumped out of bed and grabbed a pillow. "I'm too tired for this." Without saying another word, he pulled on his pants and padded out of the room, leaving Mary to stare after him in stunned silence.
Although Vin had wanted to wait in town until Alex returned from one of her house calls, he knew that Josiah and JD were at the ranch guarding the nitro and should probably go home to give them a hand. Even though Nathan had specifically ordered him to get some rest, both he and the tracker knew that was about as likely to happen as Ezra suddenly giving up cards and taking up knitting as a past time. By the time Vin got to the ranch, it was after dark and he found Alex already present. The doctor had stopped by on her way back to Four Corners to see if he was back from his trip and found Josiah and JD.
Vin walked into the shack and was greeted by the pleasant aroma of food cooking. Josiah and JD were seated at the hewn kitchen table while Alex was at the stove cooking. Despite the jokes he often made at her expense, Alex could cook and quite well. She just did not do it that often. It felt good seeing her there and Vin could not deny looking forward to the day when she lived here permanently. Vin let himself in quietly and gestured for Josiah and JD to be quiet as he went to announce himself to Alex. Both men nodded in understanding and returned to their conversation at the table, leaving the couple to their sentimental exchanges, trying not to notice.
"Hey there Doc." Vin said sliding his hand around her waist and kissing her neck while she was stirring the stew inside the pot before her.
"Vin!" Alex stopped what she was doing immediately and turned around wrapped her arms around him, before their mouths melted in a warm kiss. "Are you okay?" She said breathlessly as she recovered from the effect of his lips against hers and moved to baser instincts. "JD said you were hurt." Her eyes shifted to his arm and noticed the slight bulge of a bandage under his buckskins.
"I'm okay," he assured her, his hands resting comfortably on her waist. "It was just a scratch." He replied before kissing her again, since that was more of a tonic for what ailed him than any treatment Nathan could prescribed.
"It is huh?" She looked at him with apparent disbelief. "I'll check it out later. In the meantime, are you hungry?" Alex asked, gesturing towards the pot and its boiling contents with a sidelong glance.
Vin could not deny that he was a little hungry. He had not stopped to get some dinner in his eagerness to flee Nathan's ministrations and found the aroma of whatever was cooking to be almost as enticing as Alex herself. "I could eat." He winked at her suggestively.
"Food I mean." She laughed and pulled his hat over his face before turning back to the stove. "Get out there and sit down, I'll bring this out in a minute."
"Okay," Vin nodded obediently and took the opportunity to deliver a playful slap on her rear as he departed, garnering a dark look of mock offence as he walked to the kitchen table to join Josiah and JD.
"You really think someone will come after this stuff?" JD asked when Vin sat down and poured himself a cup of the piping hot coffee.
"I'd say so." Vin answered meeting Josiah's gaze who believed the same thing. "Nitro ain't meant to be moved like that and not that much of it."
"Whomever wanted it in those quantities had some kind of purpose for it." Josiah replied. "Anyone needing to cause that much damage is not about to let their means slip out of their reach just because of us. We should expect trouble."
The appearance of Alex suddenly reminded Vin of something important. If danger was coming then it was best that she were not here. She was of course oblivious to what was running through his mind as she started serving the meal, with JD eagerly waiting for the food as only a young man of his age could.
"Alex," Vin spoke up as he pulled her on to his lap as she walked past to take a seat beside him. "I'll take you back to town when we're done with dinner. It might be a little dangerous for you around here with the nitro being kept here."
Her disappointment showed but she understood that he was only being so cautious because he was worried about her. "What about you three?" Alex said unable to forget that he was in danger too. "Are you guys going to be all right?"
"I doubt they'll come after us tonight," Josiah responded allaying her fears. "And tomorrow, Chris and the others will be here, so we should be all right."
"Well take care," she frowned looking at the three of them in concern. Although her love for Vin was without question, Josiah and JD were her friends, she did not want them harmed any more than she wished to see Vin in danger. "I guess we'll have to talk about the wedding another night," she shrugged as she turned back to Vin.
"The wedding?" Vin swallowed visibly. "What's there to talk about?" He asked, suddenly revisited by all the sage advice that he had been given by his friends earlier that day. Vin cast a terrified glance at both Josiah and JD who could only look on in sympathy.
"Well there are arrangements to make," Alex answered, confused by the tension that was suddenly in his voice. "We haven't decided on anything yet."
"What arrangements?" He asked, suddenly taking on the appearance of a deer in someone's sights. "We go get a preacher and get it done."
"Vin," Alex looked at him as if he was a child who needed education in the simplest terms. "Its not that simple. There's the ceremony, where we're going to do it, who you want for a best man, that sort of thing."
Vin lifted her off his lap and said very firmly. "You see this is how it starts, first you say arrangements, then you say you want ten people and then twenty, next thing we know, we got more fuss than we know what to do with. I ain't putting up with it, Alex." He stood up and met her eye to eye.
"Vin, have you lost your mind?" Alex declared, staring at him as if he had come from another planet. "When I mean arrangements, I mean are we going to get Josiah to do it? Do you have any religious preference? You talked about doing an Indian thing once and what exactly do you mean you're not putting up with it?" Her hands rested on her hips which told every man in the room especially Vin that she was angry. "It was your idea to get married, Vin Tanner." She jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "If you're having some problems with it, I suggest we get it out in the open now."
"Vin," Josiah started to speak out. "Maybe we ought to go outside."
"Shut up Josiah, its fine." He said sharply. "Alex I ain't got no problem marrying you, I just don't want things to get out of hand. Now a man's got the right to say how things goes in his house with his woman."
Josiah shook his head as he heard those words escape Vin and did not even have to see the black cloud on Alex's face to know what Vin just unleashed upon himself and he picked up his plate and moved to the far end of the table. JD who was just as mesmerised by what was going on, understood the need for distance and did the same.
"His woman?" Alex could only stutter for a few seconds. "Did you say his woman?"
"That's right," Vin replied, still too wrapped up in paranoia to see that he was hurtling towards the abyss. "I mean I don't want no wedding where I'm gonna get fitted for a suit like some kind of undertaker going to a funeral and I don't want place cards or cake!"
"Well," she said nodding in understanding, taking it a lot calmer than Vin had thought she would. "I'm assuming that this topic came up in conversation today, JD?" She looked at the young man because of the two bystanders present, JD was the one most likely to tell her what she needed to know.
"Sort of." JD flinched, offering a silent apology to Vin for his betrayal.
"I see," Alex nodded almost reflectively before turning to Vin and said in a very calm voice that frightened the men in the room more than four wagons of nitro going up in flames. "For starters, contrary to what you've probably been told by Buck I'm guessing, I really do want a small ceremony with our friends and no fuss! I don't know what garbage has been fed into your head," she shot a murderous glare at Josiah and JD before turning back to Vin. "But if you keep up this 'woman' crap, you'll be walking down the aisle with Peso!" With that she stormed out of the room, pausing long enough to grab her riding coat and her sun hat before she walked out the door and slammed it shut behind her.
Vin looked at Josiah and JD trying to discern what had come over him when he let out a groan at the realisation of his utter foolishness wrought of a paranoia and too much advice. "Aw hell! Alex!" He hurried after her.
Vin had pulled open the door and saw Alex striding purposefully towards her horse, wondering whether or not there was any way to grovel and still maintain one's dignity. "Alex, honey, I'm sorry!" He called after her. "I don't know what came over me!"
"How about stupidity!" She shouted as she swung her coat around herself and shoved her arm roughly through the sleeve.
"Look," he ran up to her and took her arm gently, "I let Buck talk me into believing that you wanted this big wedding with all the trimmings and I guess I got a little crazy."
"Gee, you think?" She glared at him sarcastically.
"I'm sorry darlin," he implored giving her that look he knew she could never stay mad at for very long.
Anything she was going to say was cut short by the sudden eruption of gunfire. The bullet struck the hitching post next to her and Alex let out a startled cry of fear as Vin forced her to the ground and went for his gun. Phoebe started rearing up on her hind legs, the sound of bullets far too close for the animal's liking and sending it into panic as it tried to pull itself free of its tether. Vin tried to get a look at where the bullets were coming from but they were right in the open and he was more concerned with getting Alex to safety. He unsheathed his Winchester and fired into the direction of the gunfire but could not see for certain where it was coming from.
"Vin!" Alex cried out terrified. "What's happening!"
"Keep your head down!" He barked and ordered her to stay low as they took refuge behind the scant protection of the hitching post. The water trough was only a few feet in front of them and if they ran for it, they could reach its safety. It was not much in the way of cover but Vin was dealing with one crisis at a time. He did not know how many guns were out there waiting for them but he could tell that it was enough to overcome all three of the lawmen from Four Corners. He fired a few more times and then realised to his dismay he would have to reload.
"Alex," he shouted and grabbed her hand. "When I say go, we make for the trough, you hear?" He ordered.
She looked at him apprehensively and nodded, a far cry from the woman who had just given him hell a few seconds ago. "All right," she swallowed breathlessly, lips quivering and face etched in fear. "Just tell me when to run."
He took her hand in his as the bullet impacted at the ground near them with Phoebe kicking and neighing in fright, providing enough cover for their attackers to have trouble closing in on them. The animal's bulk was the only thing that had kept them from cut down so far. The horse's hooves kicking and stamping on the ground had created a small cloud of dust and since it made no difference whether or not they waited to make their run to safety, Vin decided sooner was the better of the two options.
"Come on!" He answered and the two of them scrambled to their feet and emerged from behind Phoebe taking the gunfire with them as they ran forward. It was only until after they had started running did Vin realise the enormity of their situation. Bullets were coming at them from all directions not just one. The projectiles struck the ground, they embedded themselves into the wood of the hitching post and even flew past the bodies running to escape the reach of lead. Vin and Alex practically skidded on their bellies behind the water trough before scrambling behind the obstruction of wood.
"They've set up a kill zone." Vin replied as he started reloading his weapon.
"A what?" Alex asked terrified as she slid next to him.
"They've got us surrounded." He explained as his fingers moved at lighting speed to insert cartridges into the chamber of his Winchester.
"Oh my god!" Alex cried out and tried to peer over the edge when a bullet splintered the edge of the trough near her and forced a cry of fright as she recoiled back into cover.
"Keep your head down woman!" He replied pulling her the rest of the way down.
"Don't yell at me!" She shouted in anger borne party of the fear she was feeling. She hated that she could not see them and that made it all the worse, knowing that the enemy whomever, was closing in on them.
"I'm not yelling at you!" He swore back and decided that that they had to get to the shack or else they were not going to last very long where they were. Suddenly, he saw Josiah and JD taking point, laying down a barrage of fire though the windows they had broken in order to offer cover to Alex and Vin so that they could make a run for the shack.
"Vin!" Josiah shouted, the man's deep voice like a beacon of light to a ship lost at sea. "We're covering you!" The preacher repeated himself.
"Alex," Vin turned to her, seeing just how afraid she was as she crouched low, shuddering at every eruption of gunfire, trying not to react in fright each time she heard a bullet too closer to her. She was breathing hard and had pulled her legs close to her body and watching everything like a skittish animal. "We got to make a run for it." He said in low voice, trying to keep calm himself because she needed him to look like he at least knew what he was doing.
"Okay," she nodded. "What do we have to do?" She asked, lips quivering a little.
"When I tell you, you keep your head down and make for the shack as fast as you can." Vin instructed, flinching when another projectile struck the wooden through and send tiny splinters in all directions. "Josiah is giving us cover to make it there."
"What about you?" She asked, unwilling to leave him until she knew he was going to be safe too. She did not want him to put himself at unnecessary risk by trying to protect her and she was not going without him.
"I'll be right behind you." Vin answered automatically, knowing that to say otherwise was to ensure that she would not do as he asked. Alex was just as fiercely protective of him as he was of her. "I promise." He added, just to make sure that she understood that he was not saying whatever he could to make her obey.
"Okay," she nodded quickly and moved into position, mindful of what he had told her about keeping her head down. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she was really quite frightened with what was happening but knowing Vin was behind her, gave Alex some measure of resolve not to fail him at this most perilous hour.
Vin glanced at Josiah through the broken glass and nodded at the preacher as a signal to lay down a wall of suppressing fire at their unseen attackers. Josiah shouted something to JD that Vin could not quite hear over the sound of gunplay but soon understood its content when JD started firing with both guns with Josiah doing the same. The wall of bullets that flew through the window shattered what remained of the glass, sending fragments in all directions.
"Alex, run!" Vin ordered and Alex hurried from behind their refuge, like a sprinter at the start of a race. She ran forward quickly, pulling her skirts up above her ankles, while keeping her head down at the same time. She could not see the men trying to kill them but Alex knew, trying to seek them out would be a fatal mistake. She did however look behind her long enough to see Vin behind her, shooting in the direction that Josiah and JD were doing with his freshly reloaded Winchester. It took less than a second for her to look over her shoulder but it was enough time for one bullet to find its mark. She felt it enter her shoulder, creating white hot pain that forced a cry of pain from her before she was even aware that she had been hit. It swept the strength out of her legs and the air from her lungs.
"Alex!" Vin screamed as he saw her stumble and fall to the ground, her white shirt bloodied as she landed on her knees and braced her fall with her hands. He continued shooting and hurried forward, his arm wrapping itself around her waist as he pulled her up and tried to keep her moving. Alex was hurt but not so much that she did not realise the importance to both their lives at continuing forward. He heard her groan in pain as she forced herself to move and together they ran towards the shack, with Vin's arm secure around her waist as they stepped onto the porch and practically leapt through the front door.
"Alex are you all right?" Vin demanded as he kicked the door close behind. Both of them were side by side by the floor with Alex rolling onto her back and clutching her injured shoulder, her face contorted into a vision of pain.
With Vin and Alex securely inside, their attackers concentrated all firepower on the shack. Bullet tore through the walls, smashing cups and plates and anything that it was able to reach. Josiah and JD were crouched low below the windowsills, emerging long enough to fire before the hail of gunfire kept them low.
"How bad is she hurt?" Josiah shouted as he looked on briefly at the tracker who was trying to make the judgement for himself. If worse came to worse, they might have to make a run for it.
Vin was tearing at her sleeves, trying to examine the bullet wound himself. "I don't know yet."
"I think its a flesh wound!" She hissed closing her eyes in an effort to control the pain. "God it hurts!" She swore, trying not to cry as the pain bit into her.
"We can't stay here!" JD declared. "I'm almost out of ammo!" He was quickly loading all the remaining bullets into his own guns.
"Unfortunately," Josiah remarked as another bullet smashed into lamp and shattered it across the floor. "So am I. Vin, we got to move."
Vin thought quickly as he looked at Alex trying to control her pain and not be a hindrance to them in this critical situation. She was right, it was a flesh wound with the blood making it look a lot worse than it really was. They were running out of ammo and they had nothing in which to barter for their lives except.....
"Alex," he looked at her. "Can you move?"
"Yes." She nodded, speaking through clenched teeth as she did so. "I can move."
Vin had a plan and it was risky but it was the only chance that any of them had at the moment. "Josiah, we're going to the barn!"
"The barn?" Josiah looked back at him. "Why?"
"Because there's only one thing those bastards care about here and its that damn nitro! They won't shoot at the barn if we tell them its there. They need it too much to fire on us!"
As much as Josiah hated to admit it, Vin was right. If they made their escape through the back, there was just enough cover in trees and shrubs for them to reach the barn without getting themselves killed.
"Hold your fire!" Vin ordered. "Keep everything we got for the run!"
Josiah, JD and Vin exchanged glances, aware of how much of a gamble this was precisely. The numbers out there were more than just a few, they were a lot and judging by the fact that the enemy was willing to destroy the shack and kill everyone inside to get what they wanted was indication of their ruthlessness. If any of them were going to walk out of here alive, they were going to have to take this one shot, no matter how slender it might be. Outside, the darkness would give them something of an advantage; Vin hoped that was enough.
With Josiah helping Alex to her feet and JD offering the illusion they were still resisting, Vin did the one thing he could to assure that they would be given something of a distraction while they made their run towards the barn. The horses had been removed earlier in order to accommodate the wagonloads of nitro they had found in their encounter with Bellison. It was meant to be a safe refuge for the explosives until the army could come and take it off their hands. Unfortunately, the barn would now seem the safest place to be if they were to survive this attack.
The shattered lamp had sent oil in all directions and as JD continued to fire, trying to put up enough of a fight to be convincing, Vin took a last look at the shack that had been his first real home and knew he would miss the place. He hoped Chris would understand why this needed to be done as he held the burning piece of wood from the stove above the inflammatory liquid sprayed throughout the small corner of the room.
"JD, get going!" Vin ordered as he prepared to ignite the oil.
"We go together!" JD said defiantly, not willing to let Vin indulge in any last minute heroics.
"JD!" Vin exclaimed exasperated. "We ain't got time for this!"
"Then you better do what you gotta!" JD declared, facing down the tracker with the same determination that Vin wanted him to leave.
Finally, Vin had to concede and tossed the wood into the oil and watched it ignite immediately. As the flames began to build, bathing the room in a glow of amber malevolence in a preview of the destruction to come, JD hurried to Vin as both men retreated out the back entrance of the small shack. Vin looked back long enough to see the entire room become consumed, with everything he owned in it except for what was left in his wagon before deciding someone was going to pay for this.
When they emerged into the night air, Josiah and Alex were already making their way through the cover of trees towards the barn. The gunfire was still raining on the shack, putting more and more holes through the place that Vin could actually see tendrils of smoke exuding from the bullet holes. It would not take long for the place to become an inferno and they just enough time before that happened to do that. No doubt, the enemy would be expecting them to emerge and if they did not do so before the fire took the building, their subterfuge would be discovered.
With most of the gunfire concentrated on the shack, the group was able to reach the barn with little or no trouble. No doubt, if Bellison was behind this, he might have learnt that Chris Larabee owned this parcel of land and had come here hoping to trap the gunslinger into revealing the whereabouts of his nitro shipment.
"How she's doing?" Vin asked as he and JD joined Josiah who was using his considerable strength to keep the doctor on her feet and moving. Even though she had said it was probably a flesh wound, Alex was hardly the best judge of that at the moment. The blood flowing onto to her torn shirt had turned the soiled white into crimson and Vin could see the slick wet on her dark vest.
"Pretty good." Josiah answered as they saw the barn close by. The tracker was keeping his eyes open, trying to see if the enemy was close by through the cover of branches and leaves. Fortunately, wherever they were launching their attack, it was not close by.
"Speak for yourself." She grunted. "This hurts! How can you guys stand it!"
That pretty much told Vin that she was more annoyed than hurt, which gave him some measure of relief, as they continued their journey to the barn. The gunfire was continuing beyond the sight of trees but some of it had started to level off and with the increasing clouds of smoke billowing from the shack, it was starting to dawn upon the enemy that something was afoot.
"They're wondering why we ain't out yet." JD stated, mirroring exactly what Bellison and his men might be starting to guess.
"We're almost there!" Vin shouted and caused them all to increase their pace forward, when suddenly more gunfire erupted. Bullets tore through the foliage, shredding as the hot lead pass through them.
"Run!" Vin shouted and opened fire, able to see some of the shooters this time and knowing where to aim. He had better night vision than the others and could see them clearly through the canopy of branches, twigs and other shrubs. Josiah swept Alex into his arms and carried her the rest of the way as JD and Vin took care of their pursuers who were realising where they were going now and were doing everything possible to keep them from reaching the barn.
With what little ammunition that was left in their guns, Vin and JD managed to keep them away and finally passed though the large doors of the barn before closing it shut. While JD secured the door, Vin hurried up the ladder to the loft while Josiah tended to Alex. He scaled the length of the building quickly and opened the small window on the top of the structure. Below him, the wagons had been left untethered with their dangerous cargo still in place. The gunfire had stopped now, mostly because their attackers were aware that the game had shifted the minute they had taken refuge inside this building.
Vin pushed open the window and peered outside. He could see the shack burning away to its inevitable end and make out the faint outline of the enemy scattered throughout the immediate area. He counted at least ten of them and knew leaving the shack had been a good idea. Otherwise, the lawmen from Four Corners and Alex would now be dead. Still, he had one more act to play in this drama to ensure their continued survival and he would do it now, while Bellison and his men were still reeling from the sudden change in circumstances.
"We got your nitro in here!" Vin shouted on top of his voice. "You don't back away, we'll blow it up!"
Vin looked down at his friends and saw their anxious faces praying that the gamble he had taken with their lives had been the correct one. Vin hoped so too. He swallowed deeply and waited for the few seconds that it took for an answer to come. His stomach knotted slowly, like a snake coiling into a muscle of tension, waiting to spring if the right response was not received. Vin looked at Alex, saw the blood on her shoulder and told himself that this had to work. It felt like almost an eternity when he suddenly heard a voice respond.
"You're bluffing!" The man called out and despite having heard it only once before, Vin knew that it was indeed the elusive Mr Bellison for whom Chris held so much hatred.
"Try me!" Vin shouted back, seeing the man himself emerging from his hiding place. It was Bellison all right. The former Indian scout strode brazenly towards the barn, halting when he saw Vin targeting him with his Winchester, unaware that the chamber was empty because Vin had used up the last of his ammunition reaching the barn. "We give up and you'll kill us anyway! Near as I can figure it, we ain't got nothing to lose!"
"You let us take what we want and we'll let you go!" Bellison tried another tact.
"Like hell you will!" Vin retorted, not knowing much about Bellison but certain of that at least. "You try to come in here and we'll blow this nitro sky high and take as many of you with us as we can!"
Bellison paused in mid step, appearing to consider his options. The man withdrew into the darkness and Vin held his breath, waiting for a further response. In the nearby distance, the sky was illuminated in amber as the fire from the shack continued to burn with heat. He did not know how long he stayed perched on that ledge waiting but it became evident that Bellison was not about to rush them, with the possibility that his cargo could be destroyed.
The silence of minutes stretched into hours with the lawmen keeping a vigil throughout most of the night, rotating their period of wakefulness with that of sleep in the instance the enemy attempted to force their way into the structure. In the meantime, Alex offered instructions enough to Vin for him to be able to patch her shoulder until the morning, aware that only at daylight would help come.
"I suppose you think this gets you out of trouble." She said with a smile as he used a length of her skirt as a make shift bandage. The injury was not quite a flesh wound thought as she had believed because the bullet was lodged in muscle and bone but Alex assured him that it could wait until morning for treatment as long as the bleeding had been halted.
"I was kind of hoping." He looked at her trying to hide his worry. Next to him, JD was fast asleep, snoring lightly. The youth had succumbed to some well deserved rest after keeping himself awake for half the night while Josiah had taken a few hours to sleep. Vin had found it difficult to sleep though, knowing that the stalemate could end at any time if Bellison became convinced that he was bluffing. Josiah was keeping a vigil from the loft, ensuring that there were no surprises in the middle of the night.
"I'm sorry I got mad at you." Alex whispered drowsily from his lap. "I really don't want a big wedding you know."
"I don't really want to walk down no aisle with Peso." Vin joked and was pleased when she rewarded him with another smile.
"Good," Alex mumbled softly as she fought a losing battle with sleep. "I don't think that horse will fit my wedding dress." She chuckled before the exhaustion finally caught up with her and she succumbed to her dreams.
"Didn't you sleep well last night, Chris?" Nathan inquired when he saw Chris Larabee massaging his neck for the umpteenth time as they took the familiar trail that would complete their journey towards the ranch the next morning.
"I slept fine." Chris said tautly, immediately desisting in the action now that the astute healer who observed everything noticed it. Chris did not want it known by anyone that he had spent the last night trying to sleep on a chair following his abrupt departure from his bedroom. Chris had no need of his friends telling what an idiot he was when he himself knew that he had no reason to behave the way he had towards Mary. His nerves had been agitated by Bellison's appearance and he had taken it out on his wife for no good reason. Mary had hardly spoken two words to him this morning and he felt awful enough as it was without having to explain it to his friends as well.
"Oh Jesus." Chris heard Buck suddenly exclaim as his old friend became the first to turn the corner and get a full view of the ranch.
His response immediately captured the attention of everyone and Chris felt his heart constrict in his chest as he rode on ahead and saw what had forced such a dismal exclamation from Buck. As he saw the smouldering remains of the shack, he was suddenly reminded of the morning that he had come back from Mexico and found his home burned to the ground as the shack now appeared. Chris jumped out of the saddle, trapped in a place of absolute horror as they saw the evidence of the gunfight from the evening before.
"Vin!" Chris shouted, unable to imagine how he would cope if he had to go searching for his best friend in the cindered remains of his home.
"JD!" Buck cried out, just as paralysed by fear at the thought that the boy might have shared Vin's fate, not to mention Josiah and Alex who were here last night as well.
Chris dragged himself to the shack, what was left of it anyway, trying to ignore the charred smell of wood and the sight of all that destruction. He could not be certain of any body being amongst the wreckage but then he had used the same argument when he had came home that morning from Mexico and found the remains of his wife and son in the still warm embers. Chris was not certain if he could go through that again. Buck had dismounted and was wearing the same stricken expression on his face, no doubt revisited by the same memories. Ezra and Nathan lingered behind, new to the horror but affected just the same. They crept forward slowly, almost afraid of what they might find if they searched too deeply amongst the ruins.
"Buck!" JD's voice sang out of the barn and was like the sweetest music they had ever heard.
As Buck, Nathan and Ezra hurried towards the youth who emerged from the barn with Josiah and Vin, Chris found himself letting out a deep sigh of relief as the cold fist around his heart suddenly unclenched and he found he could breathe again. The others were too far from him to notice but Chris was shaking inwardly, coming to grips with the intense emotion of seeing his friend alive and well, not victims of another fire. After a few seconds, he composed himself and forced his legs to move. Before he had heard JD and seen with his two eyes that his friends were among the living, he was not certain that he could have managed it.
Buck had embraced JD happily, with Ezra greeting Josiah with a wide grin which was only a fraction of the real depth of his feeling, while Nathan was not so restrained and wrapped his arms around the preacher in a bear hug that spoke his happiness clearly. Vin did not join them. He stepped out of the barn just far enough to show that he was all right, before retreating inside the building once.
"Alex is hurt Nathan," JD quickly said to Nathan.
"Hurt?" Nathan looked up in concern, all thoughts of a happy reunion fading from his mind as he strode towards the barn.
"What happened?" Chris finally found his voice.
"We got ambushed last night," Josiah started to explain. "It was your friend Bellison. He and about a dozen men came after us. Alex got shot and Vin took us into the barn. Figured he could use the nitro for leverage. We threatened to blow it up if they tried to come for us."
"My god." Buck exclaimed. "That bastard keeps turning up."
"Well considering the value of what is inside the barn, he could hardly afford to gamble with it loss. Mr Tanner's punting saved the day." Ezra commented.
"This ain't over then," Chris let out a deep sigh, grateful that no one was hurt this time but it was not going to be the last. "They'll come back." He said grimly and everyone knew he was right. While the nitro was in their possession, its owners were going to attempt to retrieve it.
Even it meant killing every last one of them.