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azombiewritesTitle: False Identity
Fifth story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Ezra suffers from amnesia after an accident and he is found by a group of outlaws who are able to convince him that he is part of the gang.
Main Characters: Ezra, 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: Fifth story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 13,767
Part Three
That evening a lone rider entered town to find out what had happened to his brother and the man that had recently joined their group. He went to the saloon and glanced inside. Not seeing any of the lawmen he went in and took a place at the bar, listening for any sort of conversation that would tell him what had happened. He didn’t wait long as two men soon joined him at the bar and they had plenty of things to say and some of the conversation included what happened outside the saloon that morning. Alex then left the saloon and rode out of town intending to come back and free their new friend and kill the man who had killed his brother. He was going to free Cal because he had tried to protect Sam. He knew this by the conversation that the two men had. They were shocked that the gambler had gone against his own friends to protect an outlaw. He also learned that Cal was actually Ezra Standish, the lawman who had left Four Corners nearly four weeks ago.
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Ezra woke while Nathan was restitching his shoulder. "Nathan, what are you doing and why am I in a jail cell."
Nathan again was shocked. "Ezra, you remember who I am?" His expression changed to a smile.
"Of course I do, why would I not," he lied.
"Hey guys, he remembers me," called Nathan.
They all got up and made their way into the cell. Everyone but Chris that is. "Hey, Ezra, you remember us," asked JD.
"Did Nathan not just ask me that question?"
JD smiled. "Sorry Ezra."
"Nathan, you have still not answered my question," stated Ezra.
"It's a long story, Ezra, and you need to rest. I'll tell you later."
"Nathan, I don't seem to remember but have I eaten today, I only ask because I feel quite hungry."
"JD, why don't you go and get Ezra something to eat," said Josiah.
JD was about to protest when Buck said that he would go with him. Ezra watched as he noted that it left four of them. He waited until they left and then began to sit up. "Ezra, you stay put, you’re going to open that wound again."
"I'm sorry, Nathan, but I need to sit up, it seems to be making my head feel worse lying down." He sat up noticing that Nathan didn’t have his gun in his holster, he needed to get one of the others in the cell. "If you are not going to tell me what happened could I at least get out of here, go to my own room perhaps."
Nathan looked at Chris who nodded his agreement; they could watch him just as well in his room than here. He looked at Josiah who knew what he wanted. He went into the cell to help Nathan with Ezra. Josiah lent down so Ezra could lean on him for support but instead Ezra pulled the gun out of Josiah's holster and pointed it him. Chris jumped out of his chair, kicking himself for being so stupid.
Josiah stepped back and so did Nathan. "Don't go too far gentlemen," he said. "Put your guns down." Ezra said to Chris and Vin. Ezra pulled himself up off the bunk and made his way out of the cell. He then motioned the others to get in.
"I don't think so," growled Chris.
"If you don't then I’ll shoot you, which I think I’ll do anyway." Ezra lifted the gun and pointed it directly at Chris. Nathan waited for him to pull the trigger but a look came over Ezra's face. He hesitated. He blinked. He then changed his mind. He had no idea why he wasn’t able to pull the trigger. He had all intentions of doing so, this man had killed Sam. A memory then flashed through his mind. He saw himself lying in a bed and this man in black was sitting in a chair across from him. He had been watching him. But the memory was gone as quick as it came. "Get into the cell." Chris still stood outside.
Ezra moved backwards towards the door, he saw his jacket thrown over a chair and grabbed it on the way passed. He stepped out of the door backwards, he glanced behind and saw a horse tied to the railing, he turned back to find Chris quickly moving towards him but he stopped as Ezra again pointed the gun in his direction. He stepped off the steps wincing as the pain went through his shoulder. He untied the horse wincing again as the movement made his shoulder hurt even more. He needed to get on the horse but he would have to put the gun away because he would not be able to pull himself up with his right arm. He fired the gun towards the jail not understanding why he aimed away from the men inside. Chris and the others ducked behind cover also noticing that Ezra had not directly aimed at them but they were not going to risk injury just in case so they didn’t rush out straight away. Ezra used to opportunity to change hands and quickly pulled himself up onto the horse. He then turned the horse and headed out of town in a westerly direction.
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Ezra rode out of town at a gallop only managing to stay on the horse. He knew that Alex would be in this direction, he just hoped that they would find each so they can then take care of the man that killed Sam. He had ridden for half an hour when someone stepped onto the path that he was following. He pulled the horse to a stop. "Alex, is that you?"
Alex stepped forward and took hold of the reins. "Cal, how did you manage to get away?" He saw the blood that was on Ezra's shoulder and took note of the bandage on his head.
"Let's just say they seem to be too trustworthy of the person they claim that I am, I pretended I remembered who I was and they got a bit slack." Explained Ezra. "Alex, they killed Sam, I tried to . . ." Ezra looked down; he couldn’t look Alex in the eye.
"It's okay, Cal, I know what happened, and it’s just as much my fault. I shouldn’t have rode out of town. I should have come and helped you. Do you think that you can ride a bit further, were camped over the hill there next to the creek?"
"Yeah sure," said Ezra.
Alex went and got his horse, he was just returning to the camp himself when he heard the horse coming up behind him. He hid behind the tree and waited to see who it was. He recognised the jacket easily. They then rode up to the camp where Ezra practically fell off the horse.
"Cal, come over here and let me look at that shoulder, you seem to be bleeding."
"No, it's fine," said Ezra while another thought flashed through his mind. "So what are we going to do now? Are we going to go back and take care of the guy that killed Sam?"
'I'm glad I am not on his bad side.' Thought Alex. "In the morning Cal we’ll work out a plan, why don't you get some rest for now." When Alex thought that Ezra was asleep, he went and explained what happened to Peter and Fred.
"Did I hear him right?" asked Peter. "Sam is dead."
"Yeah!" growled Alex. "We’re going take care of the man who killed him." He looked at them wondering what their reaction was going to be. "I know who this guy is," he said pointing over his shoulder at Ezra.
"Who is he then?" asked Fred.
"Ezra Standish, the seventh lawman."
"What, you’re kidding; if he’s a lawman then they won't leave us alone till they catch us." Peter was shocked.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," he saw their confused looks. "We’re going to wait for them."
"But there’s only three of us and six of them," said Fred.
"There's four of us, Mr Standish over here still doesn’t know who he really is."
Ezra wasn’t asleep and he had heard the entire conversation. Confusion went through his mind. The men in town were right, that meant that the man who killed Sam was his friend, and he still found that hard to believe. He had no idea what he was going to do. He did though have to make sure that Alex didn't find out that he had overheard their talk. Ezra lay awake most of the night trying to decide what to do. He decided that even though he didn’t remember who he was he would have to try and warn the men that were protecting that town, if he ever got his memory back he didn’t want to live with the thought that he had allowed one or more of them to be killed.
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Buck and JD ran up to the jail when they heard the gunshot and saw Ezra riding off in the direction that would lead him out of town. They ran inside to see if anyone was hurt. "What happened?" asked JD seeing that everyone was okay.
"We allowed him to trick us," spat out Chris. "I can't believe I was so stupid."
"It's not your fault Chris, we all believed him," confirmed Vin.
"What do you mean?" Buck was confused.
"When he woke up he told us that he remembered," said Nathan. "He did a good job, but I’m also sure that he’s starting to remember, just not the right things yet."
They looked at him. "Did you not notice the look on his face when he was going to shoot Chris, I think that there was something there that told him not to, he remembered something. And then when he fired the gun he didn't aim at us. Doesn't that tell you anything? Deep down there’s something telling him not to hurt any of us, he just doesn't know why yet."
"Are we going after him?" enquired Vin.
"Yes, but not until the morning," answered Chris.
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That morning Chris and the others saddled up their horses and headed out after Ezra and the other bank robbers. Vin followed the trail for half an hour; he found it easy to do so as every now and then he found a small drop of blood that must have come from Ezra's shoulder wound. He found the area where he had met another rider and the direction of the trail change. They went to the top of the hill and looked down. There was an empty campsite. They had already left. Vin made his way down on foot; this was to make himself a smaller target just in case there was still someone around. The others did the same thing.
He found where the horses had been tethered and saw that all four horses had headed West. "There are four so Ezra caught up with them," he glanced down closer at the tracks noticing something that he had not seen. "Everybody grab cover!" he yelled.
"What's going on, Vin?" Chris yelled from behind the cover of a rock.
"One of the horses was without a rider and that means that there could still be someone here."
They all heard a distinct southern drawl. "That would be me gentlemen."
They looked out from their cover to see Ezra standing in the middle of the camp. He had not drawn any of his guns. "The others left camp about half an hour ago but they will be back any moment now, they were intending to ambush you."
"And why are you still here?" yelled Chris.
"They thought that it would be best if I stayed behind as I would not be able to walk the distance after they left the horses somewhere. They wanted you to think that they had left when in fact they just moved the horses. And when you arrived they were going to start shooting but they are a little late."
"Are you saying that you remember, Ezra?" called Nathan.
Ezra sighed. "No, I don't but it seems that Alex knows who I am, I heard him tell the others last night. So even though I don't remember you it seems that you were telling me the truth and not Alex so I couldn’t let them kill any of you."
Chris was still not sure about Ezra; he thought that it was a trick until he heard the gunshot and saw Ezra go down.
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Alex and his men arrived at the edge of the campsite just in time to hear what Cal/Ezra had said. They had left him behind because they thought that he would not be able to make it when he had to walk back to the camp. He had decided that they would take their horses away from the camp to give the impression that they had left and then they would come back and wait for the lawmen, as they knew that they would want to find Ezra Standish. Alex also decided that now he knew who he was it was time to take care of him. He raised his gun and fired watching Ezra go down. A smile crept upon his face.
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They could all see Ezra lying in the middle of the clearing not moving. They didn't know if he was dead or alive. The fact that he had been shot told them that he was now on their side even though he didn’t remember who he was. They all hoped that he was still alive so he would be able to remember them. As they turned their attention to the three gunmen, Ezra opened his eyes. He had felt the bullet scrap his side and knew that it wasn’t serious but took the opportunity to fall to the ground and get some sort of cover. He didn’t move for a few minutes hoping that Alex and the others thought that he was dead and would then leave him alone. And when they did, he was able to bring his gun up and fire upon them, as he knew where they were going to be. He watched as Peter fell to the ground. Alex and Fred then moved in opposite directions to try to get better cover from Ezra at the same time firing upon him. Ezra felt the breath of a bullet before it entered the ground next to his head. He had to get out of the open and find some cover. He looked up and saw Chris who nodded to him as though he knew what Ezra was thinking. The other six hired gunmen fired into the direction that they thought Alex and Fred were and Ezra quickly got up and ran to the tree that closest to him.
Once Ezra was behind the tree he allowed himself to drop to the ground, he nearly blacked out at the pain that was coming from his side and his shoulder. Both were now bleeding heavily. He pulled his jacket off and checked his shoulder. The stitches were torn again. He then checked his side, the wound wasn’t deep but it was bleeding freely. He didn't have anything that he could wrap around his waist so he had to leave it for now. He listened to the gunfire around him a noise that was somehow very familiar to him as though it happened a lot. His eyes became glassy as memories started to flood his brain, there were too many at once and it was causing him nothing but confusion. He saw faces and heard sounds but couldn’t put them together. He remembered names and places but couldn't match them. He put his hands to his head wanting it all to stop.
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Chris and the others saw Ezra make it to the safety of the tree but that was all. He was then out of their sight so they didn’t know if, he was alright or not. They were not able to get to him, as they would only be struck down by bullets if they tried. Ezra had taken down one of them so that meant that there were two left. He heard someone cry out in pain, thinking that it was Ezra he looked up, saw Vin shake his head no, and pointed in the direction of the men that were shooting at them. This meant that Vin had shot one more leaving only one for the rest of them to take care of. The gunfire had stopped, it may mean that the last one had been taken care of but they were not going to chance it. Chris looked over the rock again. He saw Nathan quickly running to the tree that was covering Ezra. He saw a flash of light and looked towards it seeing someone aiming at Nathan. Chris quickly stood up and fired, he saw the man fall backwards. Buck and Vin ran to the other side of the clearing to make sure that they were no longer a threat while Chris and the others followed Nathan.
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Ezra had no idea what was happening to him. He was scared of the thoughts and memories. The emotions themselves were becoming too much. He could feel sadness and an anger that was so strong that he couldn’t control them. He didn’t know where they had come from or why he was even feeling. He jumped and cried out when he felt someone grab him. Ezra pushed whoever it was away from him but the arms grabbed him again.
"Get away from me!" he yelled.
"Ezra, it's okay. It's Nathan." He looked concerned. He had arrived to find Ezra sitting against the tree with his head in his hands rocking back and forth muttering to himself.
Ezra looked up. "Nathan?" He knew who this man was now. "Nathan make it stop, please," he pleaded.
"Ezra what's wrong."
"These thoughts are racing through my mind but I can't control them. Make them stop." He put his hands to head again hoping that it alone would stop the memories but it didn't. "There's too many of them."
"What's going on?" asked Josiah. He had joined Nathan and he was soon followed by JD and Chris.
"He’s remembering but it's too much for him." He looked back at Ezra seeing what he was going through and did the only thing that he thought would help. He hit him, knocking him out knowing that he would welcome the darkness. He then eased Ezra back on to the ground so he could check for the new bullet wound. The blood that was soaking his jacket showed where it was. Nathan looked up at JD.
"I know, go and get your medical bag."
Buck and Vin also joined the others to see how Ezra was. "We don't have to worry about them other guys. They’re dead." explained Vin. He watched as Nathan treated a third wound that had been inflicted upon Ezra.
"I’ll clean them again and get the bleeding to slow and then we’ll get him back to town," stated Nathan.
"And before you say anything I’ll go and find his horse," growled JD.
"Buck, Vin, you’ll have to ride out and find the horses and then use them to bring in those guys," said Chris. They nodded and headed off to their own horses.
After Nathan had taken care of Ezra's wounds, they headed back to town and once there they took Ezra up to Nathan's room where he restitched his shoulder and then the wound on his side. The others were again waiting for Nathan to tell them how Ezra was and if he would be alright.
"I have taken care of his wounds but I’ll have to keep an eye on his shoulder to make sure an infection does not set in, it had gotten dirty."
"And his memory?" asked Chris.
"I’ll have to wait till he wakes up. But from what I saw when I reached him, it was all coming back to him," he smiled to reassure them. "He’ll be fine; it will just take time as usual."
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Ezra had slept through most of the day and when he woke up, he found Nathan sitting next to him. He remembered everything. He remembered his friends, his mother, his childhood and most of all what had happened over the last week.
"Aw hell, Nathan, what have I done?"
Nathan had heard what Ezra had said but he was confused by the statement. "What do you mean Ezra?"
"I helped them rob the bank, I was going to shoot Chris, if it wasn't for Josiah . . .” he didn't finish the sentence.
"It wasn't your fault, Ezra. You lost your memory; you could say that it was somebody else that did it, not you."
"Did they succeed in robbing the bank, was anyone hurt?" he whispered.
"They didn't get a lot of money but they did kill George Lascon," Nathan replied. "It wasn’t your fault Ezra. I don't want you blaming yourself. Do you hear me Ezra?"
But Ezra didn’t answer him; he rolled over putting up his brick wall closing himself within it.
"Ezra?" Nathan realised that Ezra had closed himself off to him. He was going to blame himself for everything that happened. "You get some more rest and I’ll come back later. Okay Ezra?" He still didn’t get an answer. He knew that he wasn’t asleep as his eyes were opened but they had a faraway look in them. He then left to talk to the others.
Nathan found them all in the saloon. It wasn’t hard to find them all together when it was a situation like this, they wanted to be close to Nathan's room and the saloon was the closest place they could all gather at. They saw him come in with a concerned look on his face.
"Is there something wrong with Ezra?" asked Josiah.
"Yes there is and I don't know how to fix it." He was looking down. He knew how to fix Ezra's wounds but not his heart. "He blames himself for what happened and for George getting killed."
"But it wasn't his fault," said JD.
"I already told him that, but he’s not listening. He's got that brick wall of his up and it's pretty thick at the moment and I have no idea of how to get through to him," sighed Nathan.
"I’ll go and talk to him," said Josiah as he got up from his chair. When he went into Nathan's room, he found Ezra sitting up in the bed with his head in his hands. "Ezra do you mind if we have a talk about what happened."
"Are you going to laugh at me, Josiah?"
"What do you mean, Ezra, you know I wouldn't laugh at you," said a confused Josiah.
"You laughed at me the day I came to the church to talk to you about my mother." Ezra had still not looked up.
Josiah sighed remembering the day that he had come to the church. "I wasn’t laughing at you, Ezra, I was happy that you were willing and able to talk about what was troubling you as I would like you to do now." He sat down on the bed next to Ezra.
"Well I am not willing to talk about it now, there's nothing to talk about anyway. It's my fault what happened and there’s not enough talk that will change that."
"If you don't want to talk then perhaps you will listen." Ezra didn’t say anything.
"You didn't know what they were going to do in that Bank, Ezra, you had no idea that anyone would be hurt and I know that if you were in there with them that you would not have let them do it."
Ezra finally looked up at him. "You Josiah are lying to me," he saw the look on Josiah's face. "If you believed that then you would not have shot me when I was going to shoot Chris."
"You’re right, Ezra, but I’ll say this, the person that did all that wasn’t you. The men that you were with made you into something else and because you didn’t know who you were, you believed what they told you. If you want to blame anyone blame Cal."
"For me to do any of that it would have to be in me somewhere to start with," muttered Ezra.
Josiah was beginning to get angry. Ezra had no right to blame himself for any of this. "That’s not true, Ezra. We all know the type of person you were and are. You may have been a liar and a cheat but you would never have killed anybody in cold blood. Even when you were going to shoot Chris, it was in somebody else's defence. You were not going to shoot him in cold blood. Do you remember when you escaped from the jail," Ezra nodded, "if you had shot Chris then that would have been in cold blood but you didn't do it. And you didn’t shoot him because it wasn’t in you to do so."
"But I distracted you while they robbed the bank; if it wasn't for me George will still be alive."
"Did you bring them to Four Corners; was it your idea that they rob the bank?" Ezra again shook his head. "Then how could it be your fault. They would have come here and done it anyway. And if it was that way there could have been more people killed." He could see that he was finally getting through to him. "It's not your fault, Ezra."
"Maybe not, Josiah, but there’s always going to be a part of me that is responsible for what happened no matter what you or anyone else says about it."
Josiah patted him on the shoulder. "Just don't let it eat away at you, Ezra." He got up to leave.
"Promise me one thing, Ezra. Promise me that you will talk to me if it gets too much for you."
"I can't promise you anything, Josiah, but I’ll keep it in mind."
Josiah left Ezra alone. He knew that Ezra would always blame himself but he hoped that he had taken some of the responsibility off his shoulders. He went back to the saloon to join the others. When Josiah had left, Ezra put his head back into his hands and begun to cry. An innocent man was dead and he would never forgive himself for that.
The End.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
Master Fan Fiction List
Fifth story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Ezra suffers from amnesia after an accident and he is found by a group of outlaws who are able to convince him that he is part of the gang.
Main Characters: Ezra, 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: Fifth story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 13,767
Part Three
That evening a lone rider entered town to find out what had happened to his brother and the man that had recently joined their group. He went to the saloon and glanced inside. Not seeing any of the lawmen he went in and took a place at the bar, listening for any sort of conversation that would tell him what had happened. He didn’t wait long as two men soon joined him at the bar and they had plenty of things to say and some of the conversation included what happened outside the saloon that morning. Alex then left the saloon and rode out of town intending to come back and free their new friend and kill the man who had killed his brother. He was going to free Cal because he had tried to protect Sam. He knew this by the conversation that the two men had. They were shocked that the gambler had gone against his own friends to protect an outlaw. He also learned that Cal was actually Ezra Standish, the lawman who had left Four Corners nearly four weeks ago.
Ezra woke while Nathan was restitching his shoulder. "Nathan, what are you doing and why am I in a jail cell."
Nathan again was shocked. "Ezra, you remember who I am?" His expression changed to a smile.
"Of course I do, why would I not," he lied.
"Hey guys, he remembers me," called Nathan.
They all got up and made their way into the cell. Everyone but Chris that is. "Hey, Ezra, you remember us," asked JD.
"Did Nathan not just ask me that question?"
JD smiled. "Sorry Ezra."
"Nathan, you have still not answered my question," stated Ezra.
"It's a long story, Ezra, and you need to rest. I'll tell you later."
"Nathan, I don't seem to remember but have I eaten today, I only ask because I feel quite hungry."
"JD, why don't you go and get Ezra something to eat," said Josiah.
JD was about to protest when Buck said that he would go with him. Ezra watched as he noted that it left four of them. He waited until they left and then began to sit up. "Ezra, you stay put, you’re going to open that wound again."
"I'm sorry, Nathan, but I need to sit up, it seems to be making my head feel worse lying down." He sat up noticing that Nathan didn’t have his gun in his holster, he needed to get one of the others in the cell. "If you are not going to tell me what happened could I at least get out of here, go to my own room perhaps."
Nathan looked at Chris who nodded his agreement; they could watch him just as well in his room than here. He looked at Josiah who knew what he wanted. He went into the cell to help Nathan with Ezra. Josiah lent down so Ezra could lean on him for support but instead Ezra pulled the gun out of Josiah's holster and pointed it him. Chris jumped out of his chair, kicking himself for being so stupid.
Josiah stepped back and so did Nathan. "Don't go too far gentlemen," he said. "Put your guns down." Ezra said to Chris and Vin. Ezra pulled himself up off the bunk and made his way out of the cell. He then motioned the others to get in.
"I don't think so," growled Chris.
"If you don't then I’ll shoot you, which I think I’ll do anyway." Ezra lifted the gun and pointed it directly at Chris. Nathan waited for him to pull the trigger but a look came over Ezra's face. He hesitated. He blinked. He then changed his mind. He had no idea why he wasn’t able to pull the trigger. He had all intentions of doing so, this man had killed Sam. A memory then flashed through his mind. He saw himself lying in a bed and this man in black was sitting in a chair across from him. He had been watching him. But the memory was gone as quick as it came. "Get into the cell." Chris still stood outside.
Ezra moved backwards towards the door, he saw his jacket thrown over a chair and grabbed it on the way passed. He stepped out of the door backwards, he glanced behind and saw a horse tied to the railing, he turned back to find Chris quickly moving towards him but he stopped as Ezra again pointed the gun in his direction. He stepped off the steps wincing as the pain went through his shoulder. He untied the horse wincing again as the movement made his shoulder hurt even more. He needed to get on the horse but he would have to put the gun away because he would not be able to pull himself up with his right arm. He fired the gun towards the jail not understanding why he aimed away from the men inside. Chris and the others ducked behind cover also noticing that Ezra had not directly aimed at them but they were not going to risk injury just in case so they didn’t rush out straight away. Ezra used to opportunity to change hands and quickly pulled himself up onto the horse. He then turned the horse and headed out of town in a westerly direction.
Ezra rode out of town at a gallop only managing to stay on the horse. He knew that Alex would be in this direction, he just hoped that they would find each so they can then take care of the man that killed Sam. He had ridden for half an hour when someone stepped onto the path that he was following. He pulled the horse to a stop. "Alex, is that you?"
Alex stepped forward and took hold of the reins. "Cal, how did you manage to get away?" He saw the blood that was on Ezra's shoulder and took note of the bandage on his head.
"Let's just say they seem to be too trustworthy of the person they claim that I am, I pretended I remembered who I was and they got a bit slack." Explained Ezra. "Alex, they killed Sam, I tried to . . ." Ezra looked down; he couldn’t look Alex in the eye.
"It's okay, Cal, I know what happened, and it’s just as much my fault. I shouldn’t have rode out of town. I should have come and helped you. Do you think that you can ride a bit further, were camped over the hill there next to the creek?"
"Yeah sure," said Ezra.
Alex went and got his horse, he was just returning to the camp himself when he heard the horse coming up behind him. He hid behind the tree and waited to see who it was. He recognised the jacket easily. They then rode up to the camp where Ezra practically fell off the horse.
"Cal, come over here and let me look at that shoulder, you seem to be bleeding."
"No, it's fine," said Ezra while another thought flashed through his mind. "So what are we going to do now? Are we going to go back and take care of the guy that killed Sam?"
'I'm glad I am not on his bad side.' Thought Alex. "In the morning Cal we’ll work out a plan, why don't you get some rest for now." When Alex thought that Ezra was asleep, he went and explained what happened to Peter and Fred.
"Did I hear him right?" asked Peter. "Sam is dead."
"Yeah!" growled Alex. "We’re going take care of the man who killed him." He looked at them wondering what their reaction was going to be. "I know who this guy is," he said pointing over his shoulder at Ezra.
"Who is he then?" asked Fred.
"Ezra Standish, the seventh lawman."
"What, you’re kidding; if he’s a lawman then they won't leave us alone till they catch us." Peter was shocked.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," he saw their confused looks. "We’re going to wait for them."
"But there’s only three of us and six of them," said Fred.
"There's four of us, Mr Standish over here still doesn’t know who he really is."
Ezra wasn’t asleep and he had heard the entire conversation. Confusion went through his mind. The men in town were right, that meant that the man who killed Sam was his friend, and he still found that hard to believe. He had no idea what he was going to do. He did though have to make sure that Alex didn't find out that he had overheard their talk. Ezra lay awake most of the night trying to decide what to do. He decided that even though he didn’t remember who he was he would have to try and warn the men that were protecting that town, if he ever got his memory back he didn’t want to live with the thought that he had allowed one or more of them to be killed.
Buck and JD ran up to the jail when they heard the gunshot and saw Ezra riding off in the direction that would lead him out of town. They ran inside to see if anyone was hurt. "What happened?" asked JD seeing that everyone was okay.
"We allowed him to trick us," spat out Chris. "I can't believe I was so stupid."
"It's not your fault Chris, we all believed him," confirmed Vin.
"What do you mean?" Buck was confused.
"When he woke up he told us that he remembered," said Nathan. "He did a good job, but I’m also sure that he’s starting to remember, just not the right things yet."
They looked at him. "Did you not notice the look on his face when he was going to shoot Chris, I think that there was something there that told him not to, he remembered something. And then when he fired the gun he didn't aim at us. Doesn't that tell you anything? Deep down there’s something telling him not to hurt any of us, he just doesn't know why yet."
"Are we going after him?" enquired Vin.
"Yes, but not until the morning," answered Chris.
That morning Chris and the others saddled up their horses and headed out after Ezra and the other bank robbers. Vin followed the trail for half an hour; he found it easy to do so as every now and then he found a small drop of blood that must have come from Ezra's shoulder wound. He found the area where he had met another rider and the direction of the trail change. They went to the top of the hill and looked down. There was an empty campsite. They had already left. Vin made his way down on foot; this was to make himself a smaller target just in case there was still someone around. The others did the same thing.
He found where the horses had been tethered and saw that all four horses had headed West. "There are four so Ezra caught up with them," he glanced down closer at the tracks noticing something that he had not seen. "Everybody grab cover!" he yelled.
"What's going on, Vin?" Chris yelled from behind the cover of a rock.
"One of the horses was without a rider and that means that there could still be someone here."
They all heard a distinct southern drawl. "That would be me gentlemen."
They looked out from their cover to see Ezra standing in the middle of the camp. He had not drawn any of his guns. "The others left camp about half an hour ago but they will be back any moment now, they were intending to ambush you."
"And why are you still here?" yelled Chris.
"They thought that it would be best if I stayed behind as I would not be able to walk the distance after they left the horses somewhere. They wanted you to think that they had left when in fact they just moved the horses. And when you arrived they were going to start shooting but they are a little late."
"Are you saying that you remember, Ezra?" called Nathan.
Ezra sighed. "No, I don't but it seems that Alex knows who I am, I heard him tell the others last night. So even though I don't remember you it seems that you were telling me the truth and not Alex so I couldn’t let them kill any of you."
Chris was still not sure about Ezra; he thought that it was a trick until he heard the gunshot and saw Ezra go down.
Alex and his men arrived at the edge of the campsite just in time to hear what Cal/Ezra had said. They had left him behind because they thought that he would not be able to make it when he had to walk back to the camp. He had decided that they would take their horses away from the camp to give the impression that they had left and then they would come back and wait for the lawmen, as they knew that they would want to find Ezra Standish. Alex also decided that now he knew who he was it was time to take care of him. He raised his gun and fired watching Ezra go down. A smile crept upon his face.
They could all see Ezra lying in the middle of the clearing not moving. They didn't know if he was dead or alive. The fact that he had been shot told them that he was now on their side even though he didn’t remember who he was. They all hoped that he was still alive so he would be able to remember them. As they turned their attention to the three gunmen, Ezra opened his eyes. He had felt the bullet scrap his side and knew that it wasn’t serious but took the opportunity to fall to the ground and get some sort of cover. He didn’t move for a few minutes hoping that Alex and the others thought that he was dead and would then leave him alone. And when they did, he was able to bring his gun up and fire upon them, as he knew where they were going to be. He watched as Peter fell to the ground. Alex and Fred then moved in opposite directions to try to get better cover from Ezra at the same time firing upon him. Ezra felt the breath of a bullet before it entered the ground next to his head. He had to get out of the open and find some cover. He looked up and saw Chris who nodded to him as though he knew what Ezra was thinking. The other six hired gunmen fired into the direction that they thought Alex and Fred were and Ezra quickly got up and ran to the tree that closest to him.
Once Ezra was behind the tree he allowed himself to drop to the ground, he nearly blacked out at the pain that was coming from his side and his shoulder. Both were now bleeding heavily. He pulled his jacket off and checked his shoulder. The stitches were torn again. He then checked his side, the wound wasn’t deep but it was bleeding freely. He didn't have anything that he could wrap around his waist so he had to leave it for now. He listened to the gunfire around him a noise that was somehow very familiar to him as though it happened a lot. His eyes became glassy as memories started to flood his brain, there were too many at once and it was causing him nothing but confusion. He saw faces and heard sounds but couldn’t put them together. He remembered names and places but couldn't match them. He put his hands to his head wanting it all to stop.
Chris and the others saw Ezra make it to the safety of the tree but that was all. He was then out of their sight so they didn’t know if, he was alright or not. They were not able to get to him, as they would only be struck down by bullets if they tried. Ezra had taken down one of them so that meant that there were two left. He heard someone cry out in pain, thinking that it was Ezra he looked up, saw Vin shake his head no, and pointed in the direction of the men that were shooting at them. This meant that Vin had shot one more leaving only one for the rest of them to take care of. The gunfire had stopped, it may mean that the last one had been taken care of but they were not going to chance it. Chris looked over the rock again. He saw Nathan quickly running to the tree that was covering Ezra. He saw a flash of light and looked towards it seeing someone aiming at Nathan. Chris quickly stood up and fired, he saw the man fall backwards. Buck and Vin ran to the other side of the clearing to make sure that they were no longer a threat while Chris and the others followed Nathan.
Ezra had no idea what was happening to him. He was scared of the thoughts and memories. The emotions themselves were becoming too much. He could feel sadness and an anger that was so strong that he couldn’t control them. He didn’t know where they had come from or why he was even feeling. He jumped and cried out when he felt someone grab him. Ezra pushed whoever it was away from him but the arms grabbed him again.
"Get away from me!" he yelled.
"Ezra, it's okay. It's Nathan." He looked concerned. He had arrived to find Ezra sitting against the tree with his head in his hands rocking back and forth muttering to himself.
Ezra looked up. "Nathan?" He knew who this man was now. "Nathan make it stop, please," he pleaded.
"Ezra what's wrong."
"These thoughts are racing through my mind but I can't control them. Make them stop." He put his hands to head again hoping that it alone would stop the memories but it didn't. "There's too many of them."
"What's going on?" asked Josiah. He had joined Nathan and he was soon followed by JD and Chris.
"He’s remembering but it's too much for him." He looked back at Ezra seeing what he was going through and did the only thing that he thought would help. He hit him, knocking him out knowing that he would welcome the darkness. He then eased Ezra back on to the ground so he could check for the new bullet wound. The blood that was soaking his jacket showed where it was. Nathan looked up at JD.
"I know, go and get your medical bag."
Buck and Vin also joined the others to see how Ezra was. "We don't have to worry about them other guys. They’re dead." explained Vin. He watched as Nathan treated a third wound that had been inflicted upon Ezra.
"I’ll clean them again and get the bleeding to slow and then we’ll get him back to town," stated Nathan.
"And before you say anything I’ll go and find his horse," growled JD.
"Buck, Vin, you’ll have to ride out and find the horses and then use them to bring in those guys," said Chris. They nodded and headed off to their own horses.
After Nathan had taken care of Ezra's wounds, they headed back to town and once there they took Ezra up to Nathan's room where he restitched his shoulder and then the wound on his side. The others were again waiting for Nathan to tell them how Ezra was and if he would be alright.
"I have taken care of his wounds but I’ll have to keep an eye on his shoulder to make sure an infection does not set in, it had gotten dirty."
"And his memory?" asked Chris.
"I’ll have to wait till he wakes up. But from what I saw when I reached him, it was all coming back to him," he smiled to reassure them. "He’ll be fine; it will just take time as usual."
Ezra had slept through most of the day and when he woke up, he found Nathan sitting next to him. He remembered everything. He remembered his friends, his mother, his childhood and most of all what had happened over the last week.
"Aw hell, Nathan, what have I done?"
Nathan had heard what Ezra had said but he was confused by the statement. "What do you mean Ezra?"
"I helped them rob the bank, I was going to shoot Chris, if it wasn't for Josiah . . .” he didn't finish the sentence.
"It wasn't your fault, Ezra. You lost your memory; you could say that it was somebody else that did it, not you."
"Did they succeed in robbing the bank, was anyone hurt?" he whispered.
"They didn't get a lot of money but they did kill George Lascon," Nathan replied. "It wasn’t your fault Ezra. I don't want you blaming yourself. Do you hear me Ezra?"
But Ezra didn’t answer him; he rolled over putting up his brick wall closing himself within it.
"Ezra?" Nathan realised that Ezra had closed himself off to him. He was going to blame himself for everything that happened. "You get some more rest and I’ll come back later. Okay Ezra?" He still didn’t get an answer. He knew that he wasn’t asleep as his eyes were opened but they had a faraway look in them. He then left to talk to the others.
Nathan found them all in the saloon. It wasn’t hard to find them all together when it was a situation like this, they wanted to be close to Nathan's room and the saloon was the closest place they could all gather at. They saw him come in with a concerned look on his face.
"Is there something wrong with Ezra?" asked Josiah.
"Yes there is and I don't know how to fix it." He was looking down. He knew how to fix Ezra's wounds but not his heart. "He blames himself for what happened and for George getting killed."
"But it wasn't his fault," said JD.
"I already told him that, but he’s not listening. He's got that brick wall of his up and it's pretty thick at the moment and I have no idea of how to get through to him," sighed Nathan.
"I’ll go and talk to him," said Josiah as he got up from his chair. When he went into Nathan's room, he found Ezra sitting up in the bed with his head in his hands. "Ezra do you mind if we have a talk about what happened."
"Are you going to laugh at me, Josiah?"
"What do you mean, Ezra, you know I wouldn't laugh at you," said a confused Josiah.
"You laughed at me the day I came to the church to talk to you about my mother." Ezra had still not looked up.
Josiah sighed remembering the day that he had come to the church. "I wasn’t laughing at you, Ezra, I was happy that you were willing and able to talk about what was troubling you as I would like you to do now." He sat down on the bed next to Ezra.
"Well I am not willing to talk about it now, there's nothing to talk about anyway. It's my fault what happened and there’s not enough talk that will change that."
"If you don't want to talk then perhaps you will listen." Ezra didn’t say anything.
"You didn't know what they were going to do in that Bank, Ezra, you had no idea that anyone would be hurt and I know that if you were in there with them that you would not have let them do it."
Ezra finally looked up at him. "You Josiah are lying to me," he saw the look on Josiah's face. "If you believed that then you would not have shot me when I was going to shoot Chris."
"You’re right, Ezra, but I’ll say this, the person that did all that wasn’t you. The men that you were with made you into something else and because you didn’t know who you were, you believed what they told you. If you want to blame anyone blame Cal."
"For me to do any of that it would have to be in me somewhere to start with," muttered Ezra.
Josiah was beginning to get angry. Ezra had no right to blame himself for any of this. "That’s not true, Ezra. We all know the type of person you were and are. You may have been a liar and a cheat but you would never have killed anybody in cold blood. Even when you were going to shoot Chris, it was in somebody else's defence. You were not going to shoot him in cold blood. Do you remember when you escaped from the jail," Ezra nodded, "if you had shot Chris then that would have been in cold blood but you didn't do it. And you didn’t shoot him because it wasn’t in you to do so."
"But I distracted you while they robbed the bank; if it wasn't for me George will still be alive."
"Did you bring them to Four Corners; was it your idea that they rob the bank?" Ezra again shook his head. "Then how could it be your fault. They would have come here and done it anyway. And if it was that way there could have been more people killed." He could see that he was finally getting through to him. "It's not your fault, Ezra."
"Maybe not, Josiah, but there’s always going to be a part of me that is responsible for what happened no matter what you or anyone else says about it."
Josiah patted him on the shoulder. "Just don't let it eat away at you, Ezra." He got up to leave.
"Promise me one thing, Ezra. Promise me that you will talk to me if it gets too much for you."
"I can't promise you anything, Josiah, but I’ll keep it in mind."
Josiah left Ezra alone. He knew that Ezra would always blame himself but he hoped that he had taken some of the responsibility off his shoulders. He went back to the saloon to join the others. When Josiah had left, Ezra put his head back into his hands and begun to cry. An innocent man was dead and he would never forgive himself for that.
The End.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
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