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azombiewritesTitle: The Hunted
Nineth story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: The bank of Four Corners is robbed and when the seven hired gunmen go after them, the robbers set a trap and two of the lawmen are injured. The hunters then become the hunted.
Main Characters: Ezra, and the rest of the seven, and some OC's
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Beta: Not betaed – written in the early days when I didn’t know what the words grammar and edit meant. *is ashamed*
Notes: Nineth story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Total Word Count: 24,041
Part Four
JD and Vin looked up to see two guns pointed in their direction. Buck was still fighting Ezra off though. He was amazed at the strength and determination that he had in him.
"I don't want to interrupt your argument there but if you could get up and then drop your guns," Silvers said to Buck and Ezra but they both ignored him. Buck knew that if he stopped Ezra would get his gun and then someone was going to end up dead. Silvers nodded to Steven who went over to stop the fight while Silvers kept his gun on Vin and JD. Steven used his boot to stop the fight. He kicked Ezra in the side and sent him sprawling to the ground but he got up and tried to attack Buck again so this time he used the butt of his gun and knocked Ezra to the ground. Buck lay there looking over at Ezra who was not moving.
"Get up," Steven kicked Buck in the side. Buck got up slowly, not taking his eyes off Ezra. "Now drop your guns all of you." Once the three of them dropped their guns and Steven had collected them Silvers went over to Ezra.
"Steven do you know who this gentlemen is?"
"No. Do you know him?" asked Steven wondering how his boss new a lawman.
"He's the one that shot Mike and killed Ben. I recognise the red jacket." He smiled down at Ezra.
Buck didn’t like that smile at all.
Silvers and Steven and been walking through the trees with their horses. They were hoping to get to the edge of the trees and were then going to wait for the lawmen to leave and then take them one by one, as they rode out. They knew that they didn't have a chance on top of the hill once there were only two of them left so they went and got their horses. They found Mike unconscious so they left him there. And as they walked, they heard noises coming from their right and when they went to investigate, they saw four of the men that they wanted to kill and two of them were fighting.
Once they had gotten the situation under control and taken their guns Silvers had recognised Ezra as the man who was standing on the porch of the saloon in Four Corners. He was the one that had wounded one of his men and killed another.
He went over to Ezra and nudged him in the side but Ezra didn’t react. He looked at the others and smiled at them. "Did you two have a disagreement?" He asked Buck. He was curious as to what the fight was about.
"It was nothing," said Buck. He found that he was the one that was scared now. Things just seemed to be getting worse for Ezra. Buck was scared that this time they were not going to be able to help him.
When he looked at him all he saw was death. Ezra didn’t move, he hardly breathed from what Buck could see. He had to do something or else Ezra was going to die. He looked across at Vin and JD and knew that they were thinking the same thing.
"It didn't look like nothing to me. It looked to me like he wanted to kill you." Silvers smiled. He looked down at Ezra and finally noticed that he only had his jacket on. He bent down, undid the buttons, and let the jacket fall open. He saw the bandage around Ezra's waist. "He doesn't look to healthy does he? Did one of my sticks of dynamite do this?"
No one answered him. He turned around and looked at them. He kicked Ezra in the side where the wound was and took satisfaction at the sound of pain that came from Ezra's still form. "Perhaps you will answer me now?"
"Alright," growled Buck. "Just leave him alone."
Silvers moved away from Ezra and stood in front of Buck. "Well then?"
"Yes it was the dynamite that did it." Buck kept his eyes on Ezra as he had rolled onto his uninjured side.
"And why did he attack you?"
"He's got a fever, he's delirious. Thinks we want to kill him." He looked back at the man when he started laughing.
"Did you hear that Steven?" He moved back to Ezra and knelt down beside him. "So he was going kill you because he thought that you wanted to kill him. Is that right?"
"Yeah," answered Buck.
"Well then I wonder what will happen if I woke him up and gave him a gun." He looked over his shoulder at his prisoners and couldn’t help but smile at their shocked faces.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Chris and the others had been following the trail that Vin had left for them. Chris thought that they were at least ten minutes behind them. He was worried sick that they were not going to be able to find Ezra in time. He was responsible for what had happened to him. It was his fault that Ezra even thought that he would kill him. It was his fault that Ezra tried to get away from them. If Ezra died then that would be his fault as well. They kept walking until they heard voices coming from in front of them. They stopped and tied the horses to a tree so they would not get away again. They then moved closer to the voices and they knew that one of the voices they heard didn’t belong to their friends. When they got close, enough they could see what was going on and they were relieved to see that Ezra was there. One man was leaning over him and it looked as though he was trying to wake him up and another man stood over the others with two guns - one pointed at Buck and the other at Vin. Chris motioned to Josiah to move around so he could get a better shot at the second man. He then nodded to Nathan to go around the other side so he could cover the man who was with Ezra. Chris was going to go straight through the middle.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Silvers slapped Ezra across the face hoping to wake him up. He heard Ezra groan and then slapped him again. "Wake up." He heard him groan again and this time Ezra opened his eyes and looked at him.
Ezra had been in total blackness where there were no dreams or voices and most of all there was no pain until he felt something in his side. He slowly rolled over away from it and then it had gone away. But a moment later he felt something else and he heard a voice that he didn’t know. The person hit him again, yes, that's what they were doing, and they were hitting him. He opened his eyes to find out who it was and what they wanted. Ezra looked around him, he saw Buck and the others and fear flashed through his eyes but it was quickly replaced by anger. He tried to get up but he fell back down again. He was to weak, he had used what strength that he had gathered from resting trying to kill Buck but someone had stopped him. It must have been the man standing over him and if he stopped him that meant he was on Buck's side. It meant that this man also wanted him dead.
Ezra looked up at him with the anger showing in his eyes. Silvers made the mistake of thinking that the anger was from seeing that the other man was still alive. He didn’t know that the anger was aimed at him. That Ezra now wanted to kill him as much as the others. Ezra didn’t want to die and he was prepared to do anything to protect himself and if that meant killing the men who he thought were going to kill him then that's what he will do. Ezra tried to get up again but he couldn't. He could feel the fever raging through his body. He began to feel very cold and began to shiver. He drew his coat around himself. He could see a darkness coming towards him but he was not ready for it yet.
"Hey, you want to kill those men over there?" Silvers asked Ezra. But Ezra didn’t answer him. He stared at him but he didn’t answer him. That was okay thought Silvers he doesn't have to talk. "How would you like me to give you a gun so you can?" He saw Ezra react this time. He watched him as he slowly nodded.
Chris could hear what the man was saying and he had to make a move even if Josiah and Nathan were ready or not. He stepped out from behind a tree just as Silvers handed Ezra his gun. He expected Ezra to take his gun and aim it at one of his three friends but instead he pointed it directly at him. Ezra saw this man as a threat to his own life and he had to end that threat. He aimed the gun at him but his hand shook with the weight of it.
Silvers was shocked, he was supposed to point the gun at someone else not him. "Hey you’re supposed to be killing them not me. Steven, do something."
Steven turned around and was about to pull the trigger when Chris fired his own gun stopping him from causing Ezra any more harm. Silvers spun around to find the other three lawmen with their guns pointed at him as well. Ezra had heard the shot and turned around to see Chris standing there with his own gun in his hand. Ezra thought that he had come to finish what he first started and that was to kill him. He turned the gun that he had in Chris's direction.
Chris saw Ezra point the gun at him but he didn't want to shoot Ezra, not after everything that had happened. He put his gun down by his side trying to show him that he wasn't going to shoot him. That he didn't want to hurt him. Josiah saw what Ezra was doing, he wasn't going to shoot him either as he had already done that once. Both Chris and Josiah knew that if they shot Ezra while he was in this condition they would have a very hard time trying to convince him that it was in self-defence. Chris could do nothing but face the gun that Ezra was aiming at him. Buck, Vin and JD sat there watching and waiting for something to happen. Buck had seen the look in Ezra's eyes when he found him under the bush and that look told him that he would shoot Chris.
"Ezra, listen to me. Chris does not want to hurt you," Buck called to him. "Ezra, are you listening to me?"
Josiah took the advantage of Silvers blocking Ezra's view of him as he headed towards him. He took each step carefully as he knew if Ezra saw him coming towards him he would start shooting. He also hoped that Buck's efforts of trying to distract him worked. He stepped towards him as Buck spoke to him and Chris faced him. Nathan also stood to the side but he knew Ezra would see him coming so he kept his gun aimed at Silvers just in case he did anything, he would have to be careful though as he could see Josiah trying to get closer to Ezra.
"Ezra listen to me," yelled Buck.
Ezra slowly looked around at Buck but kept his gun pointed in Chris's direction. Ezra could see the darkness again out of the corner of his eye, it was still trying to take him. He knew that it would make the pain and fear go away but it would just have to wait a bit longer. He wanted to take care of the man who wanted to kill him. He heard someone calling his name but he ignored it at first but then the voice called him again and he looked in the direction that it came from and saw the other men who also wanted to kill him. Ezra's gun hand was beginning to shake badly and everyone hoped that he would drop the gun.
"Ezra, none of us want to hurt you, were trying to help you. You’re sick, the wound on your side is infected."
"His lying," smiled Silvers.
"Ezra, we’re your friends. Why would we hurt you?" Buck had ignored what Silvers had said. He could see Josiah making his way to Ezra and he only wanted to keep his attention long enough for Josiah to do something.
Ezra could hear someone laughing at him. He looked back at Chris. He was laughing at him. He watched as Chris lifted his gun again and aimed it at Ezra. Buck could see the look on Ezra's face and knew instantly that he was going to pull the trigger. He yelled out to Josiah. Everything seemed to happen at once. Chris watched what was happening and actually thought for a moment that he was going to die. He heard both Buck and Ezra yell. He saw Josiah lunge towards Ezra and grab the gun pointing it away from Chris just as he pulled the trigger. Chris felt the breath of the bullet against his face and was actually surprised that Ezra still had good aim when his arm was shaking so much. Josiah had heard Buck call out to him and he knew that he wanted him to stop Ezra. He lunged at him grabbing the gun at the same time. He heard the gun go off and looked up to see Chris still standing. He and Ezra then fell to the ground. Ezra knew that the man laughing at him was about to kill him so he aimed and pulled the trigger but as he did so he felt something hit him from the side and he fell to the ground seeing the man he wanted to kill still standing after his gun went off. He lay there with the weight on him.
Josiah stayed on Ezra thinking that he would start struggling but he didn't. Instead, he laid his head on the ground and closed his eyes. This terrified Josiah.
"Nathan," he yelled. Everyone looked at Josiah and Ezra and then ran to them forgetting Silvers for the moment.
Ezra didn’t try to struggle under the weight as he could see the darkness coming at him again. He knew that once he let it take him that he would no longer feel anything and that's what he wanted. He gave in and allowed the darkness to take him away.
Nathan practically pushed Josiah away with one arm while he used the other to roll Ezra onto his back. He allowed Ezra's jacket to fall open and he put his ear against his chest hoping to hear a heartbeat. For a while the only sensations he felt was the dampness of Ezra's sweat and the heat from his body.
"Nathan, is Ezra . . ." started Buck but the wave of Nathan's hand told him to be quiet.
While they were waiting with the breaths caught in their throats Chris saw Silvers moving away from them. He quickly drew his gun again and went after him grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him back. He threw him onto the ground a short distance away from Ezra but where he could also keep an eye on him.
Nathan lifted his head then placed his hand over Ezra's mouth and nose to feel for any sort of breath coming from his lungs. "Chris, we have to get him back."
"Nathan, is he alive or not?" asked Buck.
"He's alive, Buck, but He’s in a coma. His heartbeat is very weak and his breathing is so shallow I can hardly feel it. I don't think He’s going to make it. I think were too late." Nathan hung his head not wanting to see the emotion that showed on everyone's faces.
"Let's get him back to town, Nathan, so you can do what you can for him," said Chris hiding his own emotions. He turned around to see Silvers smiling at him and Chris drew his gun and hit him across the side of his head. He wasn't going to allow the man the satisfaction of seeing Ezra die. "Vin, JD, throw these two over one of their horses and head back to town. Well be right behind you." Chris didn't care about Silvers riding with a corpse, if he woke up while he was still on the horse then that would be fine.
Buck bent down to pick Ezra up and looked into his pale face. "Don't you die on me, Ezra. Don't you dare die." He picked him up not failing to notice how limp he was. He felt like he was carrying a corpse. If it weren’t for the heat that Ezra's body was, still generating Buck would have thought that he was dead.
Buck wanted to take Ezra with him on his horse so he allowed Josiah to hold him while he got on his horse and then took him as Chris helped Josiah lift him up. Buck then rode as fast as he dared back to Four Corners with the others following him. Nathan didn't dare tell them that he didn’t expect Ezra to survive the ride back. When had first felt for a heartbeat he didn’t find one, it took a couple of minutes before he finally heard and felt Ezra's heartbeat. It was so weak that he also checked his breathing just to make sure that he had actually felt his heart beating. Nathan kept his thoughts to himself on the ride back, not knowing if Ezra would still be alive when they arrived in Four Corners.
Chris watched Buck's back during the ride back to town. He was relieved when Buck took Ezra with him. He knew what Buck would be going through with Ezra during the twenty-minute ride back to Four Corners. He had been through it himself when he brought Ezra back after he had been shot by some gamblers who wanted payback. There had been plenty of times during that ride back to town when he had thought Ezra had died and he knew that Buck would be going through moments like that now. He just hoped that like then Ezra was still alive when they go back.
Chris wouldn't look at Nathan because when he did all he could see was his expression of total hopelessness. Nathan thought that Ezra was going to die. Chris would not allow himself to believe that. Ezra couldn't die. He was determined that this time he was going to apologise without anyone telling him to.
They arrived back in town to find Vin and JD pacing back and forth at the bottom of the steps to Nathan's room. Chris could see the question on their faces and he saw Buck nod to them. This told Chris that Ezra was still alive. He finally looked at Nathan and saw a look of relief on his face. His own expression must have been the same.
Buck eased Ezra down off his horse into Vin's waiting arms. He then got off and followed him up the stairs. On the ride back he had placed his hand over Ezra's heart just as Nathan had done and once he had found his heartbeat he left his hand there expecting it to stop beating during the ride back but it hadn't. Ezra was still alive and Buck now watched as Vin placed him on the bed. Ezra was still not responding to anything. Everyone came into the room after him and JD went to put some water on to boil, as he knew that it's what Nathan would ask of him anyway. For some reason it had become his job as every time someone was hurt - and it was usually Ezra - JD was the one to boil the water. Vin helped Nathan take Ezra's jacket off but they left his other clothing on for the moment.
Nathan rolled Ezra onto his side and removed the bandage. He used his fingers to check the wound. It was still leaking mucus and blood, it was also still swollen. Nathan didn’t say anything as he worked. He went and cleaned the instruments that he would need. He then cleaned his own hands and went back to Ezra. JD brought over the water and anything else that he would need and then stepped back and quietly waited with the others. Nathan used one of the instruments to open Ezra's wound as much as he could and then began to clean the mucus out. Ezra still didn’t show any sort of response. Nathan found pieces of bark and dirt in the wound. After he cleaned it, he continued to apply pressure to it hoping to get as much of the fluid out as he could. He knew that it would build up again so he'd have to clean it on a regular basis. He then poured alcohol over and into the wound. He didn't stitch it or bandage it, as he knew that it would be a waste of time until the infection had cleared - if it would clear so he put a dressing on it to keep it from getting any more dirt on it. Apart from the infection, Nathan's worst fear was dehydration. Ezra had had only a small amount of water and it was now close to nighttime and while his fever continued so would his loss of body fluids.
Once Nathan had finished he removed the rest of Ezra's cloths and his boots. He left him on his side and covered him with a blanket. He then turned to face everyone. They had stayed quiet the entire time Nathan cleaned Ezra's wound and like Nathan they had seen that Ezra didn’t move or voice any protest against the pain. He had laid there as quietly as they had been standing to the side watching. He lay as still as they had stood.
"I can keep cleaning his wound but there’s nothing else that I can do for him," said Nathan.
"What do you mean nothing?" asked Buck. "You've got to be able to do something for him, Nathan."
"I'm sorry, Buck. The infection has poisoned his blood, that's why he’s in a coma. I can't fight it for him, he has to do it on his own now. And he may be too weak to fight," explained Nathan.
"There's got to be something," said JD as he wiped the tears away from his eyes. JD felt close to Ezra, he felt close to all of them and he knew that he would feel the same way if it was any of them on the bed now instead of Ezra. He thought of Ezra as a friend that he could trust. He was never sure how Ezra felt about him though but then again no one knew how Ezra felt or what he was thinking most of the time.
"I'm sorry, JD," Nathan said. He went back to the bed and sat with Ezra. He wiped the damp hair away from his forehead and placed a damp cloth against it. He put his hand on his chest feeling the heat and again had to wait a few anxious moments to feel his heart beat. Once he had confirmed that Ezra was still alive he went and sat in his chair to wait. He didn't know though if the wait would end with Ezra's death or of a sign that would show him that he was improving.
They all heard what Nathan said. They heard the lack of hope in his voice. They all then found their own area to wait with him. They only waited an hour before Buck threw back his chair in frustration and left the room. The others looked up at him understanding what he was going through. But they stayed where they were, looking down at the floor waiting for Nathan's voice or what they hoped would be even better - Ezra's voice. Chris got up after a moment and followed Buck outside.
He found Buck standing outside the door. "How are you holding up Buck." Chris knew that it was a stupid question but it might get him talking.
"He can't die, Chris." Buck leaned against the railing. "You should have seen him when we found him, Chris. He was hiding in a bush, he was terrified. I didn't know what to do."
"Nathan said it was the fever, Buck," Chris tried explaining.
"Fever or not, Chris. We had to have done something to him to make him even think that we would kill him."
"We were preoccupied with you after you were hurt. We didn't look for Ezra. We forgot him. That made him angry and it went from there," Chris said. He was going to make it up to Ezra though. "Come on, let’s go back in."
"I can't stand to see him like that." Buck stood where he was.
"Buck, you have to be in there when he wakes up. If He’s still thinking the same way, he'll need you to be in there with him. You’ll probably be the only one who will be able to calm him down."
Buck knew that Chris was right but he also knew that at the end Ezra also thought that Buck had wanted to kill him as well. When they went back in Nathan was cleaning Ezra's wound again. He told them that there was no change, that the wound was the same. It hadn't started to clear up. Buck moved back towards the bed and sat with Ezra. He looked down at his pale face. He wanted to talk to him but he had no idea what to say. So he sat back and waited.
During the next twelve hours, that Ezra managed to live through the only time that any one left was for personal reasons and once when JD and Josiah went to get some food and coffee for everyone. They drunk the coffee but left the food untouched. Nathan had cleaned Ezra's wound every hour but it was still leaking mucus although it was no longer tinged with blood. Nathan thought that this was a good sign but he kept it to himself. The fact that Ezra was still alive after twelve hours surprised him. This was something that he also kept from the others. But his fever hadn’t improved and he was still in a coma.
They hardly said a word during that twelve hours. The room remained quiet but they still had to strain their ears to hear Ezra's breathing. Nathan, Josiah and Buck took turns wiping the sweat from Ezra's face and body. When the others were not sitting next to him, they sat as far away as possible so they couldn’t smell the sickness that came from his body. They were worried that the odour would change to the smell of death.
After another two hours had passed Nathan began to clean Ezra's wound again. He lifted the dressing and found the fluid that was still leaking from the wound had become clearer. He looked around the room at the others and quickly spoke when he saw their expressions of concern.
"His infection is clearing up."
"That means his going to be fine then doesn't it." JD jumped up from his seat on the floor. He wasn't able to keep the smile from his face. The others though waited until Nathan had finished what he was saying.
"I didn't say that, JD. He's not out of danger yet. He still has a fever and He’s yet to come out of the coma."
"So what your saying is that Ezra could still die," said Josiah.
Nathan nodded his head agreeing with what Josiah had said and then went back to cleaning Ezra's side. There was definitely less mucus and it was clearer. When he was finished, he laid Ezra onto his back as he had been alternating the position that Ezra lay in to try to make it more comfortable for him.
Everyone had managed to stay awake the last fourteen hours but it was now becoming a struggle to do so. They didn't want to sleep, as they were afraid that Ezra would die while they were not with him. But one by one, they fell asleep. Buck eventually fell asleep but he kept waking up every time he saw the look of fear in Ezra's eyes when he found him in the bush hiding from them. Buck knew that this image was going to stay in his dreams for quite a while. It was on the third occasion that the dream woke him up when he decided that he was not going to allow sleep to take him again. He looked over at Ezra and saw him lying on his side.
'Nathan must have turned him over.' Buck thought to himself. He looked over and saw that Nathan was asleep. Buck thought for a moment and then decided to make sure, as a sudden surge of hope came to him.
"Nathan," he nudged his shoulder but he didn't wake up. He wasn't going to be nice about this.
"Nathan," he repeated loud enough to wake Nathan and everyone else. He just hoped that he was right in what he was thinking.
"Mm," mumbled Nathan. He opened his eyes and saw Buck standing over him. "Oh no, he isn't . . ."
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five
Master Fan Fiction List
Nineth story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: The bank of Four Corners is robbed and when the seven hired gunmen go after them, the robbers set a trap and two of the lawmen are injured. The hunters then become the hunted.
Main Characters: Ezra, and the rest of the seven, and some OC's
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Beta: Not betaed – written in the early days when I didn’t know what the words grammar and edit meant. *is ashamed*
Notes: Nineth story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Total Word Count: 24,041
Part Four
JD and Vin looked up to see two guns pointed in their direction. Buck was still fighting Ezra off though. He was amazed at the strength and determination that he had in him.
"I don't want to interrupt your argument there but if you could get up and then drop your guns," Silvers said to Buck and Ezra but they both ignored him. Buck knew that if he stopped Ezra would get his gun and then someone was going to end up dead. Silvers nodded to Steven who went over to stop the fight while Silvers kept his gun on Vin and JD. Steven used his boot to stop the fight. He kicked Ezra in the side and sent him sprawling to the ground but he got up and tried to attack Buck again so this time he used the butt of his gun and knocked Ezra to the ground. Buck lay there looking over at Ezra who was not moving.
"Get up," Steven kicked Buck in the side. Buck got up slowly, not taking his eyes off Ezra. "Now drop your guns all of you." Once the three of them dropped their guns and Steven had collected them Silvers went over to Ezra.
"Steven do you know who this gentlemen is?"
"No. Do you know him?" asked Steven wondering how his boss new a lawman.
"He's the one that shot Mike and killed Ben. I recognise the red jacket." He smiled down at Ezra.
Buck didn’t like that smile at all.
Silvers and Steven and been walking through the trees with their horses. They were hoping to get to the edge of the trees and were then going to wait for the lawmen to leave and then take them one by one, as they rode out. They knew that they didn't have a chance on top of the hill once there were only two of them left so they went and got their horses. They found Mike unconscious so they left him there. And as they walked, they heard noises coming from their right and when they went to investigate, they saw four of the men that they wanted to kill and two of them were fighting.
Once they had gotten the situation under control and taken their guns Silvers had recognised Ezra as the man who was standing on the porch of the saloon in Four Corners. He was the one that had wounded one of his men and killed another.
He went over to Ezra and nudged him in the side but Ezra didn’t react. He looked at the others and smiled at them. "Did you two have a disagreement?" He asked Buck. He was curious as to what the fight was about.
"It was nothing," said Buck. He found that he was the one that was scared now. Things just seemed to be getting worse for Ezra. Buck was scared that this time they were not going to be able to help him.
When he looked at him all he saw was death. Ezra didn’t move, he hardly breathed from what Buck could see. He had to do something or else Ezra was going to die. He looked across at Vin and JD and knew that they were thinking the same thing.
"It didn't look like nothing to me. It looked to me like he wanted to kill you." Silvers smiled. He looked down at Ezra and finally noticed that he only had his jacket on. He bent down, undid the buttons, and let the jacket fall open. He saw the bandage around Ezra's waist. "He doesn't look to healthy does he? Did one of my sticks of dynamite do this?"
No one answered him. He turned around and looked at them. He kicked Ezra in the side where the wound was and took satisfaction at the sound of pain that came from Ezra's still form. "Perhaps you will answer me now?"
"Alright," growled Buck. "Just leave him alone."
Silvers moved away from Ezra and stood in front of Buck. "Well then?"
"Yes it was the dynamite that did it." Buck kept his eyes on Ezra as he had rolled onto his uninjured side.
"And why did he attack you?"
"He's got a fever, he's delirious. Thinks we want to kill him." He looked back at the man when he started laughing.
"Did you hear that Steven?" He moved back to Ezra and knelt down beside him. "So he was going kill you because he thought that you wanted to kill him. Is that right?"
"Yeah," answered Buck.
"Well then I wonder what will happen if I woke him up and gave him a gun." He looked over his shoulder at his prisoners and couldn’t help but smile at their shocked faces.
Chris and the others had been following the trail that Vin had left for them. Chris thought that they were at least ten minutes behind them. He was worried sick that they were not going to be able to find Ezra in time. He was responsible for what had happened to him. It was his fault that Ezra even thought that he would kill him. It was his fault that Ezra tried to get away from them. If Ezra died then that would be his fault as well. They kept walking until they heard voices coming from in front of them. They stopped and tied the horses to a tree so they would not get away again. They then moved closer to the voices and they knew that one of the voices they heard didn’t belong to their friends. When they got close, enough they could see what was going on and they were relieved to see that Ezra was there. One man was leaning over him and it looked as though he was trying to wake him up and another man stood over the others with two guns - one pointed at Buck and the other at Vin. Chris motioned to Josiah to move around so he could get a better shot at the second man. He then nodded to Nathan to go around the other side so he could cover the man who was with Ezra. Chris was going to go straight through the middle.
Silvers slapped Ezra across the face hoping to wake him up. He heard Ezra groan and then slapped him again. "Wake up." He heard him groan again and this time Ezra opened his eyes and looked at him.
Ezra had been in total blackness where there were no dreams or voices and most of all there was no pain until he felt something in his side. He slowly rolled over away from it and then it had gone away. But a moment later he felt something else and he heard a voice that he didn’t know. The person hit him again, yes, that's what they were doing, and they were hitting him. He opened his eyes to find out who it was and what they wanted. Ezra looked around him, he saw Buck and the others and fear flashed through his eyes but it was quickly replaced by anger. He tried to get up but he fell back down again. He was to weak, he had used what strength that he had gathered from resting trying to kill Buck but someone had stopped him. It must have been the man standing over him and if he stopped him that meant he was on Buck's side. It meant that this man also wanted him dead.
Ezra looked up at him with the anger showing in his eyes. Silvers made the mistake of thinking that the anger was from seeing that the other man was still alive. He didn’t know that the anger was aimed at him. That Ezra now wanted to kill him as much as the others. Ezra didn’t want to die and he was prepared to do anything to protect himself and if that meant killing the men who he thought were going to kill him then that's what he will do. Ezra tried to get up again but he couldn't. He could feel the fever raging through his body. He began to feel very cold and began to shiver. He drew his coat around himself. He could see a darkness coming towards him but he was not ready for it yet.
"Hey, you want to kill those men over there?" Silvers asked Ezra. But Ezra didn’t answer him. He stared at him but he didn’t answer him. That was okay thought Silvers he doesn't have to talk. "How would you like me to give you a gun so you can?" He saw Ezra react this time. He watched him as he slowly nodded.
Chris could hear what the man was saying and he had to make a move even if Josiah and Nathan were ready or not. He stepped out from behind a tree just as Silvers handed Ezra his gun. He expected Ezra to take his gun and aim it at one of his three friends but instead he pointed it directly at him. Ezra saw this man as a threat to his own life and he had to end that threat. He aimed the gun at him but his hand shook with the weight of it.
Silvers was shocked, he was supposed to point the gun at someone else not him. "Hey you’re supposed to be killing them not me. Steven, do something."
Steven turned around and was about to pull the trigger when Chris fired his own gun stopping him from causing Ezra any more harm. Silvers spun around to find the other three lawmen with their guns pointed at him as well. Ezra had heard the shot and turned around to see Chris standing there with his own gun in his hand. Ezra thought that he had come to finish what he first started and that was to kill him. He turned the gun that he had in Chris's direction.
Chris saw Ezra point the gun at him but he didn't want to shoot Ezra, not after everything that had happened. He put his gun down by his side trying to show him that he wasn't going to shoot him. That he didn't want to hurt him. Josiah saw what Ezra was doing, he wasn't going to shoot him either as he had already done that once. Both Chris and Josiah knew that if they shot Ezra while he was in this condition they would have a very hard time trying to convince him that it was in self-defence. Chris could do nothing but face the gun that Ezra was aiming at him. Buck, Vin and JD sat there watching and waiting for something to happen. Buck had seen the look in Ezra's eyes when he found him under the bush and that look told him that he would shoot Chris.
"Ezra, listen to me. Chris does not want to hurt you," Buck called to him. "Ezra, are you listening to me?"
Josiah took the advantage of Silvers blocking Ezra's view of him as he headed towards him. He took each step carefully as he knew if Ezra saw him coming towards him he would start shooting. He also hoped that Buck's efforts of trying to distract him worked. He stepped towards him as Buck spoke to him and Chris faced him. Nathan also stood to the side but he knew Ezra would see him coming so he kept his gun aimed at Silvers just in case he did anything, he would have to be careful though as he could see Josiah trying to get closer to Ezra.
"Ezra listen to me," yelled Buck.
Ezra slowly looked around at Buck but kept his gun pointed in Chris's direction. Ezra could see the darkness again out of the corner of his eye, it was still trying to take him. He knew that it would make the pain and fear go away but it would just have to wait a bit longer. He wanted to take care of the man who wanted to kill him. He heard someone calling his name but he ignored it at first but then the voice called him again and he looked in the direction that it came from and saw the other men who also wanted to kill him. Ezra's gun hand was beginning to shake badly and everyone hoped that he would drop the gun.
"Ezra, none of us want to hurt you, were trying to help you. You’re sick, the wound on your side is infected."
"His lying," smiled Silvers.
"Ezra, we’re your friends. Why would we hurt you?" Buck had ignored what Silvers had said. He could see Josiah making his way to Ezra and he only wanted to keep his attention long enough for Josiah to do something.
Ezra could hear someone laughing at him. He looked back at Chris. He was laughing at him. He watched as Chris lifted his gun again and aimed it at Ezra. Buck could see the look on Ezra's face and knew instantly that he was going to pull the trigger. He yelled out to Josiah. Everything seemed to happen at once. Chris watched what was happening and actually thought for a moment that he was going to die. He heard both Buck and Ezra yell. He saw Josiah lunge towards Ezra and grab the gun pointing it away from Chris just as he pulled the trigger. Chris felt the breath of the bullet against his face and was actually surprised that Ezra still had good aim when his arm was shaking so much. Josiah had heard Buck call out to him and he knew that he wanted him to stop Ezra. He lunged at him grabbing the gun at the same time. He heard the gun go off and looked up to see Chris still standing. He and Ezra then fell to the ground. Ezra knew that the man laughing at him was about to kill him so he aimed and pulled the trigger but as he did so he felt something hit him from the side and he fell to the ground seeing the man he wanted to kill still standing after his gun went off. He lay there with the weight on him.
Josiah stayed on Ezra thinking that he would start struggling but he didn't. Instead, he laid his head on the ground and closed his eyes. This terrified Josiah.
"Nathan," he yelled. Everyone looked at Josiah and Ezra and then ran to them forgetting Silvers for the moment.
Ezra didn’t try to struggle under the weight as he could see the darkness coming at him again. He knew that once he let it take him that he would no longer feel anything and that's what he wanted. He gave in and allowed the darkness to take him away.
Nathan practically pushed Josiah away with one arm while he used the other to roll Ezra onto his back. He allowed Ezra's jacket to fall open and he put his ear against his chest hoping to hear a heartbeat. For a while the only sensations he felt was the dampness of Ezra's sweat and the heat from his body.
"Nathan, is Ezra . . ." started Buck but the wave of Nathan's hand told him to be quiet.
While they were waiting with the breaths caught in their throats Chris saw Silvers moving away from them. He quickly drew his gun again and went after him grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him back. He threw him onto the ground a short distance away from Ezra but where he could also keep an eye on him.
Nathan lifted his head then placed his hand over Ezra's mouth and nose to feel for any sort of breath coming from his lungs. "Chris, we have to get him back."
"Nathan, is he alive or not?" asked Buck.
"He's alive, Buck, but He’s in a coma. His heartbeat is very weak and his breathing is so shallow I can hardly feel it. I don't think He’s going to make it. I think were too late." Nathan hung his head not wanting to see the emotion that showed on everyone's faces.
"Let's get him back to town, Nathan, so you can do what you can for him," said Chris hiding his own emotions. He turned around to see Silvers smiling at him and Chris drew his gun and hit him across the side of his head. He wasn't going to allow the man the satisfaction of seeing Ezra die. "Vin, JD, throw these two over one of their horses and head back to town. Well be right behind you." Chris didn't care about Silvers riding with a corpse, if he woke up while he was still on the horse then that would be fine.
Buck bent down to pick Ezra up and looked into his pale face. "Don't you die on me, Ezra. Don't you dare die." He picked him up not failing to notice how limp he was. He felt like he was carrying a corpse. If it weren’t for the heat that Ezra's body was, still generating Buck would have thought that he was dead.
Buck wanted to take Ezra with him on his horse so he allowed Josiah to hold him while he got on his horse and then took him as Chris helped Josiah lift him up. Buck then rode as fast as he dared back to Four Corners with the others following him. Nathan didn't dare tell them that he didn’t expect Ezra to survive the ride back. When had first felt for a heartbeat he didn’t find one, it took a couple of minutes before he finally heard and felt Ezra's heartbeat. It was so weak that he also checked his breathing just to make sure that he had actually felt his heart beating. Nathan kept his thoughts to himself on the ride back, not knowing if Ezra would still be alive when they arrived in Four Corners.
Chris watched Buck's back during the ride back to town. He was relieved when Buck took Ezra with him. He knew what Buck would be going through with Ezra during the twenty-minute ride back to Four Corners. He had been through it himself when he brought Ezra back after he had been shot by some gamblers who wanted payback. There had been plenty of times during that ride back to town when he had thought Ezra had died and he knew that Buck would be going through moments like that now. He just hoped that like then Ezra was still alive when they go back.
Chris wouldn't look at Nathan because when he did all he could see was his expression of total hopelessness. Nathan thought that Ezra was going to die. Chris would not allow himself to believe that. Ezra couldn't die. He was determined that this time he was going to apologise without anyone telling him to.
They arrived back in town to find Vin and JD pacing back and forth at the bottom of the steps to Nathan's room. Chris could see the question on their faces and he saw Buck nod to them. This told Chris that Ezra was still alive. He finally looked at Nathan and saw a look of relief on his face. His own expression must have been the same.
Buck eased Ezra down off his horse into Vin's waiting arms. He then got off and followed him up the stairs. On the ride back he had placed his hand over Ezra's heart just as Nathan had done and once he had found his heartbeat he left his hand there expecting it to stop beating during the ride back but it hadn't. Ezra was still alive and Buck now watched as Vin placed him on the bed. Ezra was still not responding to anything. Everyone came into the room after him and JD went to put some water on to boil, as he knew that it's what Nathan would ask of him anyway. For some reason it had become his job as every time someone was hurt - and it was usually Ezra - JD was the one to boil the water. Vin helped Nathan take Ezra's jacket off but they left his other clothing on for the moment.
Nathan rolled Ezra onto his side and removed the bandage. He used his fingers to check the wound. It was still leaking mucus and blood, it was also still swollen. Nathan didn’t say anything as he worked. He went and cleaned the instruments that he would need. He then cleaned his own hands and went back to Ezra. JD brought over the water and anything else that he would need and then stepped back and quietly waited with the others. Nathan used one of the instruments to open Ezra's wound as much as he could and then began to clean the mucus out. Ezra still didn’t show any sort of response. Nathan found pieces of bark and dirt in the wound. After he cleaned it, he continued to apply pressure to it hoping to get as much of the fluid out as he could. He knew that it would build up again so he'd have to clean it on a regular basis. He then poured alcohol over and into the wound. He didn't stitch it or bandage it, as he knew that it would be a waste of time until the infection had cleared - if it would clear so he put a dressing on it to keep it from getting any more dirt on it. Apart from the infection, Nathan's worst fear was dehydration. Ezra had had only a small amount of water and it was now close to nighttime and while his fever continued so would his loss of body fluids.
Once Nathan had finished he removed the rest of Ezra's cloths and his boots. He left him on his side and covered him with a blanket. He then turned to face everyone. They had stayed quiet the entire time Nathan cleaned Ezra's wound and like Nathan they had seen that Ezra didn’t move or voice any protest against the pain. He had laid there as quietly as they had been standing to the side watching. He lay as still as they had stood.
"I can keep cleaning his wound but there’s nothing else that I can do for him," said Nathan.
"What do you mean nothing?" asked Buck. "You've got to be able to do something for him, Nathan."
"I'm sorry, Buck. The infection has poisoned his blood, that's why he’s in a coma. I can't fight it for him, he has to do it on his own now. And he may be too weak to fight," explained Nathan.
"There's got to be something," said JD as he wiped the tears away from his eyes. JD felt close to Ezra, he felt close to all of them and he knew that he would feel the same way if it was any of them on the bed now instead of Ezra. He thought of Ezra as a friend that he could trust. He was never sure how Ezra felt about him though but then again no one knew how Ezra felt or what he was thinking most of the time.
"I'm sorry, JD," Nathan said. He went back to the bed and sat with Ezra. He wiped the damp hair away from his forehead and placed a damp cloth against it. He put his hand on his chest feeling the heat and again had to wait a few anxious moments to feel his heart beat. Once he had confirmed that Ezra was still alive he went and sat in his chair to wait. He didn't know though if the wait would end with Ezra's death or of a sign that would show him that he was improving.
They all heard what Nathan said. They heard the lack of hope in his voice. They all then found their own area to wait with him. They only waited an hour before Buck threw back his chair in frustration and left the room. The others looked up at him understanding what he was going through. But they stayed where they were, looking down at the floor waiting for Nathan's voice or what they hoped would be even better - Ezra's voice. Chris got up after a moment and followed Buck outside.
He found Buck standing outside the door. "How are you holding up Buck." Chris knew that it was a stupid question but it might get him talking.
"He can't die, Chris." Buck leaned against the railing. "You should have seen him when we found him, Chris. He was hiding in a bush, he was terrified. I didn't know what to do."
"Nathan said it was the fever, Buck," Chris tried explaining.
"Fever or not, Chris. We had to have done something to him to make him even think that we would kill him."
"We were preoccupied with you after you were hurt. We didn't look for Ezra. We forgot him. That made him angry and it went from there," Chris said. He was going to make it up to Ezra though. "Come on, let’s go back in."
"I can't stand to see him like that." Buck stood where he was.
"Buck, you have to be in there when he wakes up. If He’s still thinking the same way, he'll need you to be in there with him. You’ll probably be the only one who will be able to calm him down."
Buck knew that Chris was right but he also knew that at the end Ezra also thought that Buck had wanted to kill him as well. When they went back in Nathan was cleaning Ezra's wound again. He told them that there was no change, that the wound was the same. It hadn't started to clear up. Buck moved back towards the bed and sat with Ezra. He looked down at his pale face. He wanted to talk to him but he had no idea what to say. So he sat back and waited.
During the next twelve hours, that Ezra managed to live through the only time that any one left was for personal reasons and once when JD and Josiah went to get some food and coffee for everyone. They drunk the coffee but left the food untouched. Nathan had cleaned Ezra's wound every hour but it was still leaking mucus although it was no longer tinged with blood. Nathan thought that this was a good sign but he kept it to himself. The fact that Ezra was still alive after twelve hours surprised him. This was something that he also kept from the others. But his fever hadn’t improved and he was still in a coma.
They hardly said a word during that twelve hours. The room remained quiet but they still had to strain their ears to hear Ezra's breathing. Nathan, Josiah and Buck took turns wiping the sweat from Ezra's face and body. When the others were not sitting next to him, they sat as far away as possible so they couldn’t smell the sickness that came from his body. They were worried that the odour would change to the smell of death.
After another two hours had passed Nathan began to clean Ezra's wound again. He lifted the dressing and found the fluid that was still leaking from the wound had become clearer. He looked around the room at the others and quickly spoke when he saw their expressions of concern.
"His infection is clearing up."
"That means his going to be fine then doesn't it." JD jumped up from his seat on the floor. He wasn't able to keep the smile from his face. The others though waited until Nathan had finished what he was saying.
"I didn't say that, JD. He's not out of danger yet. He still has a fever and He’s yet to come out of the coma."
"So what your saying is that Ezra could still die," said Josiah.
Nathan nodded his head agreeing with what Josiah had said and then went back to cleaning Ezra's side. There was definitely less mucus and it was clearer. When he was finished, he laid Ezra onto his back as he had been alternating the position that Ezra lay in to try to make it more comfortable for him.
Everyone had managed to stay awake the last fourteen hours but it was now becoming a struggle to do so. They didn't want to sleep, as they were afraid that Ezra would die while they were not with him. But one by one, they fell asleep. Buck eventually fell asleep but he kept waking up every time he saw the look of fear in Ezra's eyes when he found him in the bush hiding from them. Buck knew that this image was going to stay in his dreams for quite a while. It was on the third occasion that the dream woke him up when he decided that he was not going to allow sleep to take him again. He looked over at Ezra and saw him lying on his side.
'Nathan must have turned him over.' Buck thought to himself. He looked over and saw that Nathan was asleep. Buck thought for a moment and then decided to make sure, as a sudden surge of hope came to him.
"Nathan," he nudged his shoulder but he didn't wake up. He wasn't going to be nice about this.
"Nathan," he repeated loud enough to wake Nathan and everyone else. He just hoped that he was right in what he was thinking.
"Mm," mumbled Nathan. He opened his eyes and saw Buck standing over him. "Oh no, he isn't . . ."
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five
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