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azombiewritesTitle: A Rescue Gone Wrong
Third story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Ezra, Buck and JD rescue a woman from eight men who she says are chasing her. Ezra is injured during the resuce and they are three days away from Four Corners. But the woman has not told them the real reason for being hunted by the group of men.
Main Characters: Ezra, Buck and JD and yes, and a couple of OFC's *shudder*
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. *shamed*
Notes: Third story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 18,211
Part One
Ezra was in a bad mood. They had made him get up one hour after the sun has risen. If there was, one thing in life that he despised it was early mornings particularly this early. He had only gone to bed after midnight. They hadn’t warned him of their early departure because if they had he would have not gotten involved with the poker game that had started in the saloon that night. He wouldn't have drunk as much either. After being woken up at six in the morning, he was riding in the hot sun with a hangover and a stomach that would not sit still. He looked over at Buck and JD who were laughing at one of JD's jokes. Ezra scowled at them. Buck noticed him looking at them with a look that he had worn all morning.
"How ya doing there, Ezra?" asked Buck, finding it hard to keep the smile off his face. "Still got that hangover?"
Ezra didn't reply, just gave him one of the most filthy looks he could put on his face, which made Buck smile even more. He despised people who could be that cheerful at this time of the day.
"Come on Ezra, it's the best time of the day," smiled JD.
"Mr. Dunne, if you’d so kindly stop yelling, as you seem to be aggravating my headache," growled Ezra. He really hated cheerfulness at this time of the morning. He thought about the last six days that they had and hoped that the next six would be better. They had escorted a prisoner to Hampton Creek and were now returning to Four Corners. They had a run in with the man's gang, which resulted in an injury to Buck's left arm. He knew that it wasn’t going to be a quiet ride back with these two. For some reason all they did was talk. He at least hoped that it would be an uneventful one - he didn't know how wrong he was. He took out his trustful flask and took a long drink.
Ezra's mood lasted all morning. Buck and JD seemed to be taking enjoyment from talking louder than they should be which had made him even angrier. They had stopped in the afternoon to rest the horses and have something to eat but he wouldn't eat any of the lunch that was made, as he knew that his stomach would not take it. As the afternoon wore on his headache eased, his stomach settled, and as his mood improved, he started to think that the six-day trip might not be so bad after all. That was until they woke him at six again the following morning.
"Mr. Wilmington?" Ezra muttered in a voice that was slurred with sleep. "Are you going to get me up at this ungodly hour every morning because if you are, I will just shoot you here and now?"
Buck smiled at this until he heard the familiar noise of Ezra's derringer being activated and he knew that it was pointed in his direction.
"Whoa there now, Ezra, you could shoot someone with that thing. And that someone could be me as you have it pointed in my direction."
"You have not answered my question, Mr. Wilmington."
"Okay, we won't make it so early the rest of the trip."
Buck walked back towards JD who was laughing at the situation that Buck found himself in but he stopped when he was told that he was going to wake Ezra tomorrow. Which JD did at seven in the morning and he also faced the other side of a derringer. Ezra wasn’t impressed and he made sure that Buck and JD knew it the rest of that morning. He threatened to shoot them both if they woke him up before nine the next morning. He was really beginning to dislike this trip and his two companions who seemed to be enjoying making fun of him. To make things worse he had run of whisky, he had emptied his last bottle the night before and drunk the last drop from his flask an hour ago. He still had two and a half days of this journey to go. Those days included the company of Buck and JD who for some reason couldn't stop enjoying themselves even with the threat of being shot.
They travelled for another hour, Buck and JD teasing Ezra while he was throwing threats of physical harm back at them when they heard gunshots. All three urged their horses into a gallop. They came to a bend and slowed the horses down. They jumped off and with their guns in their hands rounded the bend in a crouch to make themselves smaller targets. What they saw was a frightened woman who was hiding behind a group of rocks and was being fired upon by at least eight men. They ran to the woman and crouched down beside her. Ezra grimaced as Buck made his usual introduction.
"Afternoon young lady, may we offer you our assistance in this matter," he smiled at her.
She sat there with a look on her face that seemed to say, 'Well, what do you think?' Instead, she simply said yes.
During this time, Ezra and JD had moved in opposite directions and began returning fire. They didn’t know why these men were trying to kill the young woman. She had no weapons of her own and she seemed harmless enough. They would have to ask her later when they got out of this. They heard a yelp of pain as one of the eight men fell due to one of Ezra's bullets entering his chest.
"Now, Ezra, isn't this a lot more fun than threatening to shoot JD or myself," Buck called. He still had that grin on his face. The smile dropped as he saw Ezra take a bullet in his right shoulder.
Ezra had been returning fire and noticed that he had taken one of the men down. Then he heard Buck say something to him, which distracted him so he didn’t see the man come from around the side of one of the rocks to get a better shot at the men who were for some reason protecting the woman. He heard the gunfire and felt the searing pain in his shoulder. He was flung backwards to the ground. He rolled over and in return shot the man dead. He fell back feeling like his shoulder had been torn from his body.
"Ezra's down," Buck called to JD.
JD turned around to see Ezra lying on the ground. He saw him return fire and then collapse again. He knew that there wasn’t much they could do for him now not with these men still shooting at them. He saw another one of the men fall to the ground. That left six of them. He noticed one of them trying to sneak around this side of the rocks which the man who shot Ezra must of done. JD waited for him to show himself and when he did, he shot him. The remaining five seemed to give up then, ran back to their horses, and rode off in the opposite direction. Buck and JD waited a couple of minutes to make sure it wasn't a trick and they then ran to Ezra hoping that he was still alive.
Being shot certainly didn’t help Ezra's mood at all. The pain he felt was agony. He could only feel the pain in the front of his shoulder, which told him that the bullet didn’t pass through. He could hear Buck yelling to JD that he was down. After a few more gunshots, he heard horses galloping off. Then he felt Buck and JD's hands on him and this made him cry out in pain as one of Buck's hands went to close to his wound. He nearly passed out.
"Sorry, Ezra. But I’ve to put pressure on the wound to try and stop the bleeding," whispered Buck. When they had reached Ezra, they could see that he was still conscious. He wasn’t moving though and there was a lot of blood. Buck put his hand to the wound to try to stop the flow and this is what had caused Ezra to cry out.
"It didn't go through," groaned Ezra.
Buck and JD heard the pain in his voice and they knew that he was talking about the bullet. Buck removed his hand but the flow of blood from Ezra's wound hadn’t lessened any. He pulled open Ezra's waistcoat and shirt causing him to grunt in pain.
"Take it easy, Buck, you’re hurting him," said JD.
"I'm sorry but it's got to be done, JD. Now go and get one of your clean shirts out of your saddle bag and any that are in mine or Ezra's so I can use them as bandages." When JD left, he took a closer look at the wound. Ezra groaned aloud as he touched his wounded shoulder. Buck couldn't see the bullet and he was worried that it was in deep. If it was, it was going to be hard to get out.
"I'm sorry, Ezra. I'm going to have to just bandage the wound for now and try to get the bullet out later. We have to get some distance between us and those men in case they come back." He saw Ezra nod his head in agreement. He also noticed how he kept apologising to him and that was because he felt that it was his fault that Ezra had been shot. He had distracted him during a gun battle and as a result, Ezra was now lying here with a bullet in his shoulder.
JD returned with the shirts that Buck wanted. He saw how pale Ezra had become just in the few minutes that he was gone. Buck hadn't been able to slow the flow of blood from his wound.
"JD, I want you to help me sit him up so I can take his jacket and shirt off. I’m going to bandage his shoulder as tight as I can and then we’re going to get the hell out of here before those guys come back."
"Do you actually think that they’ll return?"
They both turned around at the sound of the woman's voice. She was still sitting where they had left her.
"Yes I do," answered Buck but before she could say anything else, he returned his attention back to Ezra.
Ezra grimaced through clenched teeth as he felt JD and Buck lift him up off the ground, he held back the scream that was forming in his throat. As JD supported his weight, Buck proceeded to remove Ezra's jacket. He felt the pain from his shoulder tear through his body and this time he couldn't stop the scream. JD was relieved when Ezra slumped against his shoulder as he lost consciousness because this would now make it easier for Buck to do what was needed.
Buck rolled up one of the shirts, pressed it against Ezra’s shoulder, and as he did this Ezra tried to move away from the pain even though he wasn’t awake. He held it there for a few minutes, the pressure causing Ezra to struggle
against it. Buck then indicated to JD to hold the shirt against the wound as he tore one of the other shirts apart. He then started to wrap the straps of shirt up and around Ezra's shoulder pulling them as tight as he dared. Once he had done this, he put Ezra's shirt and jacket back on him. JD could feel the heat that Ezra's body was already beginning to generate.
"Okay JD, help me ease him back down." They were careful not hurt Ezra as they laid him back down on the ground. Buck could see the blood beginning to soak the bandage that he had only just put on Ezra's shoulder. He put more pressure on the wound and Ezra let out another involuntary groan. Buck was beginning to worry; if he couldn't stop the flow of blood then Ezra was going to be in real trouble. "JD, go and get the horses."
"I don't have a horse." The lady they had rescued still sat against the rock that they had found her hiding behind.
"Then how did you get out here?" asked Buck who didn’t look at her, he kept his eyes on Ezra's very pale face.
"They shot it out from under me about a mile west of here," she started to crawl towards Buck. "I only managed to get this far on foot."
JD returned with the horses. He knew that one of them was going to have to double with Ezra as there was no way he was going to be able to sit on a horse on his own even if he was conscious. He saw that the woman had joined Buck and Ezra.
"Okay, you can ride Ezra's horse. He ain't going to be able to for a while," he nodded towards the chestnut bay.
"Is he going to be alright?" She had reached Ezra's side and placed a hand on his forehead feeling the warmth and cold clammy sweat that was beginning to form on his body. He was already developing a fever. He was in a bad way. You’re going get a lot worse she thought to herself.
"I hope so, I really hope so," he took his hand away from Ezra's shoulder and watched for a moment seeing that the blood wasn’t spreading as quickly into the bandage, the flow had started to slow. He gave a small sigh of relief but he knew that as soon as they moved him it would only start again. He would have to put pressure on it again once they got him on a horse.
"JD, I'm going to get on my horse and then I want you and . . ." he looked towards the woman on was intently watching Ezra.
"Jane," she lied.
"You and Jane," he continued, "to then help me get Ezra up on the horse with me. Then we'll put a couple of hours distance between those guys and ourselves. And then we’ll take care of the bullet in his shoulder."
Buck got up on his horse and with JD and Jane's help; they were able to get Ezra up onto the horse in front of him. He kept one arm around Ezra's chest to stop him from falling, making sure that his arm was pressing against his shoulder to try to keep the blood flow to a minimum.
They kept the pace steady knowing that if they went to fast Buck would have trouble-keeping Ezra on the horse and if they went to slow, they wouldn't get enough distance between themselves and the men that had been chasing the woman that was now riding with them.
"How is he doing Buck?" JD had brought his horse up level with Buck's. He had been riding with Jane trying to find out why those men had been trying to kill her but she must have been in shock, as she didn't seem to hear his questions.
"Not good JD, we'll ride for another half hour and then stop when we find some sort of cover."
They had been riding for an hour and Buck was worried. The flow of blood had eased but it still hadn’t stopped. Ezra's shirtfront was now soaked with blood and Buck could feel the heat generating from his body. Ezra had lost a lot of blood and was still losing it, he had a fever and the bullet was still in his shoulder and even worse was the fact that they were more than two days from Four Corners. Buck had no idea how to get Ezra through this. He wasn't a doctor and neither was JD and yet they were the only hope Ezra had to survive the ordeal that he was going to go through.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Jason Jackson, JJ to his friends and Mr. Jackson to his employees watched as five of his men returned to the ranch with three men down and without the woman or his horse. He waited until they reached the house before he voiced his anger.
"Where is she?" He knew these men would tell him the truth, as they were afraid of him. Everybody in this area was afraid of him, that’s the way he wanted it, and he intended to keep it that way. That is why the woman had to be killed. He couldn't let it be known that a woman had outsmarted him. It would ruin his reputation. If she had to die to save, his reputation then so be it.
"Some men showed up and helped her," said Davies, they had decided to select him spokesperson as they knew if they just stood there when they got back not knowing who was going to speak then Mr. Jackson would only get mad and if he got mad enough he might shoot one of them. "They took out three of us but we got one of them. We thought it would be best if we came back and got some more men."
"And how many were there?"
"Um, three, but they knew what they were doing. It was as though they were professionals. If we all got killed then you may not have gotten that woman."
Jackson wanted to shoot Davies there and then but he knew the man was right, they were only stupid ranch hands anyway, and were certainly not use to doing this sort of work. He had sent his best men off to Hampton Creek to deal with the three lawmen that were escorting his brother to the jail there but they were not successful. A thought crossed his mind. Three. Could it be a coincidence? The three men would be on their way back to their own town now.
"Did you get a look at any of them?" He asked Davies with a look that said if he didn't then he was going to be in trouble.
"We saw the one that Peters shot. He was dressed fancy with a red coat."
Dawson who had just returned that morning had said that one of the lawmen was wearing a red coat and that he dressed fancy. Said he was a gambler by trade. Dawson was the only to come back after the failure of trying to save his brother. He decided that he and Dawson were going to join the chase and they would take a few of other men with them so they would end up being ten men. If they can't deal with two lawmen then there was something wrong with them.
Part One | Part Two
Master Fan Fiction List
Third story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Ezra, Buck and JD rescue a woman from eight men who she says are chasing her. Ezra is injured during the resuce and they are three days away from Four Corners. But the woman has not told them the real reason for being hunted by the group of men.
Main Characters: Ezra, Buck and JD and yes, and a couple of OFC's *shudder*
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. *shamed*
Notes: Third story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 18,211
Part One
Ezra was in a bad mood. They had made him get up one hour after the sun has risen. If there was, one thing in life that he despised it was early mornings particularly this early. He had only gone to bed after midnight. They hadn’t warned him of their early departure because if they had he would have not gotten involved with the poker game that had started in the saloon that night. He wouldn't have drunk as much either. After being woken up at six in the morning, he was riding in the hot sun with a hangover and a stomach that would not sit still. He looked over at Buck and JD who were laughing at one of JD's jokes. Ezra scowled at them. Buck noticed him looking at them with a look that he had worn all morning.
"How ya doing there, Ezra?" asked Buck, finding it hard to keep the smile off his face. "Still got that hangover?"
Ezra didn't reply, just gave him one of the most filthy looks he could put on his face, which made Buck smile even more. He despised people who could be that cheerful at this time of the day.
"Come on Ezra, it's the best time of the day," smiled JD.
"Mr. Dunne, if you’d so kindly stop yelling, as you seem to be aggravating my headache," growled Ezra. He really hated cheerfulness at this time of the morning. He thought about the last six days that they had and hoped that the next six would be better. They had escorted a prisoner to Hampton Creek and were now returning to Four Corners. They had a run in with the man's gang, which resulted in an injury to Buck's left arm. He knew that it wasn’t going to be a quiet ride back with these two. For some reason all they did was talk. He at least hoped that it would be an uneventful one - he didn't know how wrong he was. He took out his trustful flask and took a long drink.
Ezra's mood lasted all morning. Buck and JD seemed to be taking enjoyment from talking louder than they should be which had made him even angrier. They had stopped in the afternoon to rest the horses and have something to eat but he wouldn't eat any of the lunch that was made, as he knew that his stomach would not take it. As the afternoon wore on his headache eased, his stomach settled, and as his mood improved, he started to think that the six-day trip might not be so bad after all. That was until they woke him at six again the following morning.
"Mr. Wilmington?" Ezra muttered in a voice that was slurred with sleep. "Are you going to get me up at this ungodly hour every morning because if you are, I will just shoot you here and now?"
Buck smiled at this until he heard the familiar noise of Ezra's derringer being activated and he knew that it was pointed in his direction.
"Whoa there now, Ezra, you could shoot someone with that thing. And that someone could be me as you have it pointed in my direction."
"You have not answered my question, Mr. Wilmington."
"Okay, we won't make it so early the rest of the trip."
Buck walked back towards JD who was laughing at the situation that Buck found himself in but he stopped when he was told that he was going to wake Ezra tomorrow. Which JD did at seven in the morning and he also faced the other side of a derringer. Ezra wasn’t impressed and he made sure that Buck and JD knew it the rest of that morning. He threatened to shoot them both if they woke him up before nine the next morning. He was really beginning to dislike this trip and his two companions who seemed to be enjoying making fun of him. To make things worse he had run of whisky, he had emptied his last bottle the night before and drunk the last drop from his flask an hour ago. He still had two and a half days of this journey to go. Those days included the company of Buck and JD who for some reason couldn't stop enjoying themselves even with the threat of being shot.
They travelled for another hour, Buck and JD teasing Ezra while he was throwing threats of physical harm back at them when they heard gunshots. All three urged their horses into a gallop. They came to a bend and slowed the horses down. They jumped off and with their guns in their hands rounded the bend in a crouch to make themselves smaller targets. What they saw was a frightened woman who was hiding behind a group of rocks and was being fired upon by at least eight men. They ran to the woman and crouched down beside her. Ezra grimaced as Buck made his usual introduction.
"Afternoon young lady, may we offer you our assistance in this matter," he smiled at her.
She sat there with a look on her face that seemed to say, 'Well, what do you think?' Instead, she simply said yes.
During this time, Ezra and JD had moved in opposite directions and began returning fire. They didn’t know why these men were trying to kill the young woman. She had no weapons of her own and she seemed harmless enough. They would have to ask her later when they got out of this. They heard a yelp of pain as one of the eight men fell due to one of Ezra's bullets entering his chest.
"Now, Ezra, isn't this a lot more fun than threatening to shoot JD or myself," Buck called. He still had that grin on his face. The smile dropped as he saw Ezra take a bullet in his right shoulder.
Ezra had been returning fire and noticed that he had taken one of the men down. Then he heard Buck say something to him, which distracted him so he didn’t see the man come from around the side of one of the rocks to get a better shot at the men who were for some reason protecting the woman. He heard the gunfire and felt the searing pain in his shoulder. He was flung backwards to the ground. He rolled over and in return shot the man dead. He fell back feeling like his shoulder had been torn from his body.
"Ezra's down," Buck called to JD.
JD turned around to see Ezra lying on the ground. He saw him return fire and then collapse again. He knew that there wasn’t much they could do for him now not with these men still shooting at them. He saw another one of the men fall to the ground. That left six of them. He noticed one of them trying to sneak around this side of the rocks which the man who shot Ezra must of done. JD waited for him to show himself and when he did, he shot him. The remaining five seemed to give up then, ran back to their horses, and rode off in the opposite direction. Buck and JD waited a couple of minutes to make sure it wasn't a trick and they then ran to Ezra hoping that he was still alive.
Being shot certainly didn’t help Ezra's mood at all. The pain he felt was agony. He could only feel the pain in the front of his shoulder, which told him that the bullet didn’t pass through. He could hear Buck yelling to JD that he was down. After a few more gunshots, he heard horses galloping off. Then he felt Buck and JD's hands on him and this made him cry out in pain as one of Buck's hands went to close to his wound. He nearly passed out.
"Sorry, Ezra. But I’ve to put pressure on the wound to try and stop the bleeding," whispered Buck. When they had reached Ezra, they could see that he was still conscious. He wasn’t moving though and there was a lot of blood. Buck put his hand to the wound to try to stop the flow and this is what had caused Ezra to cry out.
"It didn't go through," groaned Ezra.
Buck and JD heard the pain in his voice and they knew that he was talking about the bullet. Buck removed his hand but the flow of blood from Ezra's wound hadn’t lessened any. He pulled open Ezra's waistcoat and shirt causing him to grunt in pain.
"Take it easy, Buck, you’re hurting him," said JD.
"I'm sorry but it's got to be done, JD. Now go and get one of your clean shirts out of your saddle bag and any that are in mine or Ezra's so I can use them as bandages." When JD left, he took a closer look at the wound. Ezra groaned aloud as he touched his wounded shoulder. Buck couldn't see the bullet and he was worried that it was in deep. If it was, it was going to be hard to get out.
"I'm sorry, Ezra. I'm going to have to just bandage the wound for now and try to get the bullet out later. We have to get some distance between us and those men in case they come back." He saw Ezra nod his head in agreement. He also noticed how he kept apologising to him and that was because he felt that it was his fault that Ezra had been shot. He had distracted him during a gun battle and as a result, Ezra was now lying here with a bullet in his shoulder.
JD returned with the shirts that Buck wanted. He saw how pale Ezra had become just in the few minutes that he was gone. Buck hadn't been able to slow the flow of blood from his wound.
"JD, I want you to help me sit him up so I can take his jacket and shirt off. I’m going to bandage his shoulder as tight as I can and then we’re going to get the hell out of here before those guys come back."
"Do you actually think that they’ll return?"
They both turned around at the sound of the woman's voice. She was still sitting where they had left her.
"Yes I do," answered Buck but before she could say anything else, he returned his attention back to Ezra.
Ezra grimaced through clenched teeth as he felt JD and Buck lift him up off the ground, he held back the scream that was forming in his throat. As JD supported his weight, Buck proceeded to remove Ezra's jacket. He felt the pain from his shoulder tear through his body and this time he couldn't stop the scream. JD was relieved when Ezra slumped against his shoulder as he lost consciousness because this would now make it easier for Buck to do what was needed.
Buck rolled up one of the shirts, pressed it against Ezra’s shoulder, and as he did this Ezra tried to move away from the pain even though he wasn’t awake. He held it there for a few minutes, the pressure causing Ezra to struggle
against it. Buck then indicated to JD to hold the shirt against the wound as he tore one of the other shirts apart. He then started to wrap the straps of shirt up and around Ezra's shoulder pulling them as tight as he dared. Once he had done this, he put Ezra's shirt and jacket back on him. JD could feel the heat that Ezra's body was already beginning to generate.
"Okay JD, help me ease him back down." They were careful not hurt Ezra as they laid him back down on the ground. Buck could see the blood beginning to soak the bandage that he had only just put on Ezra's shoulder. He put more pressure on the wound and Ezra let out another involuntary groan. Buck was beginning to worry; if he couldn't stop the flow of blood then Ezra was going to be in real trouble. "JD, go and get the horses."
"I don't have a horse." The lady they had rescued still sat against the rock that they had found her hiding behind.
"Then how did you get out here?" asked Buck who didn’t look at her, he kept his eyes on Ezra's very pale face.
"They shot it out from under me about a mile west of here," she started to crawl towards Buck. "I only managed to get this far on foot."
JD returned with the horses. He knew that one of them was going to have to double with Ezra as there was no way he was going to be able to sit on a horse on his own even if he was conscious. He saw that the woman had joined Buck and Ezra.
"Okay, you can ride Ezra's horse. He ain't going to be able to for a while," he nodded towards the chestnut bay.
"Is he going to be alright?" She had reached Ezra's side and placed a hand on his forehead feeling the warmth and cold clammy sweat that was beginning to form on his body. He was already developing a fever. He was in a bad way. You’re going get a lot worse she thought to herself.
"I hope so, I really hope so," he took his hand away from Ezra's shoulder and watched for a moment seeing that the blood wasn’t spreading as quickly into the bandage, the flow had started to slow. He gave a small sigh of relief but he knew that as soon as they moved him it would only start again. He would have to put pressure on it again once they got him on a horse.
"JD, I'm going to get on my horse and then I want you and . . ." he looked towards the woman on was intently watching Ezra.
"Jane," she lied.
"You and Jane," he continued, "to then help me get Ezra up on the horse with me. Then we'll put a couple of hours distance between those guys and ourselves. And then we’ll take care of the bullet in his shoulder."
Buck got up on his horse and with JD and Jane's help; they were able to get Ezra up onto the horse in front of him. He kept one arm around Ezra's chest to stop him from falling, making sure that his arm was pressing against his shoulder to try to keep the blood flow to a minimum.
They kept the pace steady knowing that if they went to fast Buck would have trouble-keeping Ezra on the horse and if they went to slow, they wouldn't get enough distance between themselves and the men that had been chasing the woman that was now riding with them.
"How is he doing Buck?" JD had brought his horse up level with Buck's. He had been riding with Jane trying to find out why those men had been trying to kill her but she must have been in shock, as she didn't seem to hear his questions.
"Not good JD, we'll ride for another half hour and then stop when we find some sort of cover."
They had been riding for an hour and Buck was worried. The flow of blood had eased but it still hadn’t stopped. Ezra's shirtfront was now soaked with blood and Buck could feel the heat generating from his body. Ezra had lost a lot of blood and was still losing it, he had a fever and the bullet was still in his shoulder and even worse was the fact that they were more than two days from Four Corners. Buck had no idea how to get Ezra through this. He wasn't a doctor and neither was JD and yet they were the only hope Ezra had to survive the ordeal that he was going to go through.
Jason Jackson, JJ to his friends and Mr. Jackson to his employees watched as five of his men returned to the ranch with three men down and without the woman or his horse. He waited until they reached the house before he voiced his anger.
"Where is she?" He knew these men would tell him the truth, as they were afraid of him. Everybody in this area was afraid of him, that’s the way he wanted it, and he intended to keep it that way. That is why the woman had to be killed. He couldn't let it be known that a woman had outsmarted him. It would ruin his reputation. If she had to die to save, his reputation then so be it.
"Some men showed up and helped her," said Davies, they had decided to select him spokesperson as they knew if they just stood there when they got back not knowing who was going to speak then Mr. Jackson would only get mad and if he got mad enough he might shoot one of them. "They took out three of us but we got one of them. We thought it would be best if we came back and got some more men."
"And how many were there?"
"Um, three, but they knew what they were doing. It was as though they were professionals. If we all got killed then you may not have gotten that woman."
Jackson wanted to shoot Davies there and then but he knew the man was right, they were only stupid ranch hands anyway, and were certainly not use to doing this sort of work. He had sent his best men off to Hampton Creek to deal with the three lawmen that were escorting his brother to the jail there but they were not successful. A thought crossed his mind. Three. Could it be a coincidence? The three men would be on their way back to their own town now.
"Did you get a look at any of them?" He asked Davies with a look that said if he didn't then he was going to be in trouble.
"We saw the one that Peters shot. He was dressed fancy with a red coat."
Dawson who had just returned that morning had said that one of the lawmen was wearing a red coat and that he dressed fancy. Said he was a gambler by trade. Dawson was the only to come back after the failure of trying to save his brother. He decided that he and Dawson were going to join the chase and they would take a few of other men with them so they would end up being ten men. If they can't deal with two lawmen then there was something wrong with them.
Part One | Part Two
Master Fan Fiction List