Riding back, the cold wind began to pull causing more of a problem for Nick and her wet clothes. She knew that when she got to camp they would make fun of her. But there was nothing she could do, she hadn't thought before she jumped into the water. Her father had always told her that was her greatest flaw, she never thought ahead. It was always the here and now, and never the consequence.
She sighed when she saw the flame of the camp fire, she would of be lost without it's flame. The plains were so dark at night that she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face. As she neared the fire, she readied herself to be taunted for her stupidity. As she got closer, she realized that there was more then just her three companions sitting around the fire. At first, she thought that some other travelers had come along were sharing their fire, then she shivered at the thought that maybe Ty did follow them. She stopped Goliath, and stared off towards the fire. Should she ride up or sneak in? She couldn't decide, either way would make her look like a fool.
Suddenly Boss barked, and came running to her from the darkness. She looked down at him as he jumped up and down excited that she was back.
"Get off the horse, girl." A rough voice said, and the barrel of a rifle was stuck into her face.
Nick looked over at the scruffy man, in the small flickers of light from the fire, she recognized him from Heaton. He was the same man that Rock had gotten into a bar fight with.
"Don't think I would kill a woman." he hissed again, Boss started to bark and growl at him.
It was strange that all Nick could think was, "Not again." She had just gotten out of a life threatening experience, she didn't want to be part of another. Climbing down, the scruffy man went for the horse's reigns. Goliath didn't care for his hand reaching out to him, and thrust his upper body into the air. He squinted his eyes shut as the horse came back down, and ran off into the plains.
"Coward." Nick mumbled as the horse rode off.
"Go sit with your friends." He told her, pointing with the end of his gun to Tate and the others. Boss lunged forward to bit his leg, and he kicked him in the side. It was all it took to scare all the bravery out of the little dog. He ran into the darkness looking for protection from Goliath.
She watched Boss run off and then walked over to Tate. Before she sat down, a younger man tied her hands together. She sat down next to Tate, who rolled his eyes at her. Ignoring him, she looked around at the four men. Two were old and scruffy with long gray beards and hair. One was a middle aged man with black hair, and gray streaks down the side. And of course, the young man who tied her up. None were at all attractive, and looked like they spent far to much time drinking.
"Told ya one was missing." The scruffy man said.
"Clarence, you make sure those ropes are good and tight." The middle aged man said.
The young boy nodded, and ran to check on everyone's rope. He couldn't of been older then fifteen, and Nick guessed that he was the older man's son. They had similar facial features, as a matter of a fact, the boy could have been his young twin.
"Tony, how much you say these boys were worth?" The scruffy man from the bar asked, pointing to Andy and Rock.
"One fifty each, but they ain't worth the price of dragging them back. He's the only true profit." Tony, the middle aged man, answered. He was sharpening a knife on a rock, occasionally he would stop and spit onto it.
"What about the girl?" The other scruffy man asked.
"She's worth nothing, take what you want from her and then kill her." Tony said.
The scruffy man from the bar reached out for her arm.
"Wait Bastian, you know the rules." Tony barked, "I get them first."
Nick looked over at Tate, and hoped he had a plan. These men knew how to tie knots, and there was no way she could escape her bonds.
Tony walked up to her, kneeling down to look her in the face. "Pretty, young thing, ain't cha?" He held out his knife and ran it over her check gently.
"Come on, by the time we get them they are always half dead." Bastian whined.
"You can't handle them wild. Besides, didn't he take your wife twice?" He pointed at Rock, "Thought you had some business with him."
"Yeah, I do." He turned to Rock.
Walking over to him, he punch him in the face and laughed as Rock tried to recover. Nick flinched at the force of the blow, and she saw Tate turn his head slightly.
"What's your name, darling?" Tony asked her.
Nick turned to look him in the eyes, and with one mighty blow spit a stream of spit onto his face. He landed on his nose and mouth. His eyes had closed when he saw it coming, and with his right hand, he wiped it off.
"You little…" He yelled, and punched her.
His fist connected with her jaw, and she felt her teeth cut through the inside of her bottom lip. The force of the punch, shoved her into Tate. He kept his position, so he would fall over with her.
Tony grabbed her arm and yanked her up, "That'll teach you."
Nick spit again, this time blood and saliva fell on his cheek.
He didn't even bother wiping it from his face, "Alright, that's enough. You need some manners." He snapped, reaching out to grab her hair.
Rock was taking his fair share of punches, as the other scruffy man joined in.
"Clarence, you are a grown man now, bought time you had a woman." Tony said, "You can have her after I get all the fight out of her."
Bastian stopped hitting Rock for a moment, turning around quickly he yelled. "Tony! I'm second."
Tony had pulled Nick up to a standing position by her hair, with his knife he pointed at Clarence, "My son is second now."
He yanked Nick away from the camp and into the darkness. Andy, who was sitting on the other side of Tate, watched as she was dragged off. He looked at Tate, who didn't seem to have noticed she had been taken. He stared down at the dirt with no expression on his face.
Bastian had stopped beating on Rock, because he lost consciousness. His face was cut and bloody, and he laid in the mud motionless. Andy wanted to check on him, but knew moving might bring him to the same fate. So, he sat there, trying his best to get a look and check for any signs of breathing.
After a few moments, they could hear Nick screaming, followed by several hollers from Tony telling her to stop or he would kill her.
"You've made a big mistake." Tate hissed.
Bastian walked over to him, kneeling down on one knee and smiled at him. "Did you talk?" He said with a grin.
"I swear I'll kill both you, and your friends." Tate said with disgust in his voice.
"What don't like to hear your woman's passionate screams for another man?" He laughed.
Tate's hand flew out, and stabbed him in the neck with a long knife. Both the other scruffy man and Clarence began shooting at him, Andy rolled out of the way once he saw the knife go through the man's throat. Tate used his large body to cover him from the bullets, and with his other hand grabbed the revolver on the corpse's hip.
He only shot twice, killing both the boy and the other man. Standing up, he looked at Andy.
"You alright?" He watched Andy nod, "Check him." He said pointing at Rock.
There was a shot fired in the distance, where Tony had dragged Nick off to. "Clarence? Bastian? Mitch?" Tony voice called from the darkness.
Tate aimed his gun from where he heard the voice.
Tony entered next to his son's body, holding his gun on Tate. On his left cheek was four scratch marks, that dripped with blood, compliments of Nick. He looked down briefly at his son's body, and when he looked up his eyes were teary.
Andy looked towards the darkness where he had dragged Nick, there was no noise and no sign of Nick.
"You killed my boy, you son of a bitch. You killed my boy!" He yelled.
Tate looked down at the boy's body, "You shouldn't of brought a young boy along, especially one willing to shoot a gun at a man."
"You are going to suffer for this, I'm not just going to kill you. I'm going to torture you, and send piece of you home to your mother. I'm…"
"Where's the girl?" Tate asked.
Tony smiled, "I shot her in the head. She's dead."
Andy gasped.
Tate almost made the mistake of looking over at Andy, but kept his eyes on Tony. He was angry, so angry that his hand began to shake. There was nothing in his mind that he wanted more then to beat this man until his head caved in.
"Mean little bitch." Tony grinned and pointed at his scratches, "I like them untied so they can fight me. Had you two not interrupted us, I might have had the best night of my life." He laughed.
"You son of a bitch, I'm going to give you the worst night of your life." Tate snapped.
Tony kicked his son's corpse, "We are even I think, now I'm going to walk away. I think we both had our fair share of fatalities." He looked over at Rock, "Doubt he'll pull through that beating."
"He's a-ah lot stronger th-then you think." Andy cried out.
"I'll be back for you, Norcliff. I've been hunting you for years, and now it's personal." Tony told him, and both Tate and he lowered their guns.
A gun shot rang out, and Tony stared at Tate for a moment. Tate's gun was still down, as was Tony's. Opening his mouth slightly, blood dripped out and onto the ground, and Tony's body soon followed.
Nick stood with Goliath behind her, and the rifle in her hand. Her clothes were ripped and muddy from her clothes being wet. She looked at Tate and continued to breath rapidly.
"You hurt, Nick?" Andy asked.
She shook her hand, and brush a strand of muddy hair out of the way. Revealing that the bullet had just cut above her temple and didn't go in. "How is Rock?"
"He's pretty beat up." Andy told her, "Could I get untied?"
Tate turned to him, and picked up his knife from the ground. He had bought it back in Heaton, and stuffed it into the back of his pants. Nick didn't grab his back in Honeycomb, and he wasn't about to waste time over a knife. He cut Andy loose and then offered the knife to him, so that he could cut Rock free.
"We thought you were dead?" Tate said to Nick.
She had rope still attached to her left arm, but not her right. "He shot me, but I guess it was too dark for him to get a good shot." She pointed to Tony, "Got me though, burns a bit." Nick said touching the small wound on her head. "That's two head wounds now."
"Did he touch you?" Tate asked.
"No, I'm fine, there was gun fire before he got far." She looked at Tate, his right arm was bleeding. "Are you injured?"
Tate looked down, "Yeah, the kid got me. I'll be fine, just got to dig it out."
Turning around he took the knife from Andy, who was pouring water over Rock's bloody face. He sat down and pulled off his shirt, and looked at the bullet wound in his upper right arm.
"Damn, and no whiskey." He mumbled.
"You want me to do it?" Nick asked.
He shook his head, and put the knife to his wound. He clenched down on his teeth, grinding them together, and then dropped his left hand.
"If you can't do it with your left hand, then I can help." Nick said again, still standing in front of Goliath.
"I can do it, just hurts a little more when there is no whiskey."
"Wait." Nick said, and walked over to Tony's body.
She patted him down, until she found the right pocket. Reaching under his jacket, she pulled out a small flask and held it up for Tate to see.
"I could smell it on his breath." She told him, when he gave her a questioning look.
She walked over to him, and sat down beside him. His upper body was covered in old bullet wounds, some Nick was curious as to how he managed to survive them. Now, wasn't the time to question his scars.
Snatching the flask from her, he drank it down and then poured some over his wound. "Only time I ever drink." He told her, and then looked down at the knife again.
Her hand reached out for the knife, and he let it go without a fight.
"Look the other way, Tate."
He looked up in her eyes, "I'd rather watch and make sure you are doing it right."
"When I went on drives, sometimes the ranch hands would get shot by bandits. My father taught me how to do this. Also, back home before the doctor moved there, Teresa was the nurse maid of the area. All the wounded came to her, and I saw a thing or two watching her. So, you don't have to worry."
Tate stared at her for a moment.
"It's better if you don't look."
He turned his head, and she began to dig. Clenching his teeth again to fight past the pain, he let out a long, low moan.
"Alright, stop." He told her. "This hurts more then being shot."
"I almost have it out." She told him, "Give me your belt." She ordered.
Tate glared at her for a moment, trying to decide if she was serious.
"No time to argue, Tate. Just give me the belt."
Tate did as he was told, and handed her the belt when he was done. He took his seat next to her and watched her wrap it once around his upper arm. She held up what was left of the belt to his mouth. "Bite down on this, and I'll be done in a second."
"I'm not biting on my belt."
"It wasn't an option." She said pushing the belt into his lips, eventually he opened and bit down.
He kept moaning, and even kicked his foot a couple times.
"Stop clenching your arm, Tate."
"It hurts!" He hissed, dropping the belt from his mouth.
Nick grabbed it and held it up to his mouth, "Don't talk."
He bite down again and looked as far away as the belt would allow.
"There." She held out the bullet in her hand for him to see, "Not so bad."
"For you, maybe."
Nick giggled, "Andy, you still have a bandage?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Can you let Tate have one?"
Andy nodded again, "Yeah." He stood up and went to get one off his saddle.
Bringing it back, Nick took it with a thank you.
"I don't need a bandage, I'm fine." Tate snapped.
Nick stared at him for a moment, and he dropped his eyes telling her that he had given in. Wrapping his arm up, she gave him a smile. "There, now I have to get Goliath's saddle off."
Standing up she walked to the edge of darkness and whistled for her horse and Boss. They both came, Boss was tender where he had been kicked, but seemed to be in decent condition.
"We need to bury these bodies, we don't want someone to stumble on them with us around."
Andy nodded, he was still looking over Rock. When Nick took the saddle of her horse, she went to take care of Rock. Andy and Tate tied the bodies to their horses and dragged them away into the night to rid themselves of them. When they were gone, Nick dropped her head and brought her hands to her face. She began to cry, she now had been in the most scary situation of her life.
She put on a strong face because she didn't want Tate to think she was weak, but in fact she was tired. The idea of making to Redrock and avenging her father was seeming like a worse idea everyday. Not even on drives had their lives been this hectic, she just wanted to go home. But the notion of giving up on what she started on pulled on her heart. She loved her father and everyone else who died that night, she couldn't give up on them.
She ripped a piece of cloth from her now damaged shirt, and ran it over Rock's face. They had hurt him pretty badly, his nose was broken, and one of his ears were bleeding. She feared he might go deaf in that ear, but there was nothing she could do for him. Just sit and wait for him to awake, and hope they don't run into anymore bounty hunters like these men.
Tate had wanted to ride further north, but he knew it wouldn't be possible with Rock unconscious. He tried to come up with a plan, staying here would only bring more trouble. They needed to get moving, and fast.
He stared at Nick as she fed pieces of her jerky to Boss, and pet him just for eating it.
"You treat that dog like a human."
Nick looked up at him, and then back down at Boss. "What?" She said and brought her ear closer to Boss, "Oh, I see." She giggled and looked up at Tate, "He says the same thing about you."
Tate kept his frown, but inside he chuckled and watched her return to feeding Boss. His eyes wondered over to Andy, who was sitting silently watching Rock. The man was huge and moving him would be a problem.
"Alright, we need to get moving." Tate said standing up.
Nick looked at him, and then stood up, smacking her hands together. "What about Rock? We can't leave him here."
"We have rope, blankets, and there are some large limbs down by the pond. We can make him a small cart that his horse can drag along."
"But where would we go?" She asked.
"My mother and her tribe wasn't to far from here last I rode through. We can hope they haven't moved for the winter or been chased off."
"Your what?" Nick asked.
"My tribe…" He barked, "Yeah, I'm half Indian, I'm a mutt, you have a problem with that?"
"I was speaking of your mother, I'm just terribly shocked that you have one."
Tate folded his arms, "Come on Andy, lets get some wood together."
"Alright, now, we roll him onto it, and tie him on." Tate told Andy.
"What if he wakes up?" Nick asked.
Tate reached down, along with Andy, and with two rolls pushed Rock into it on his back. "If he wakes up he won't know where he is anyway." He began tying the rope around Rock, "We are lucky those men had all this rope on their horses."
"Would have been luckier if they hadn't come at all."
Tate, who was crouched down, turned his head to look at her. "Well, they did, Nick, and we have to get moving. We can't sit out here and wait for the next bounty hunter, and Rock needs to be look after properly." With those words, he gave one last tug on the rope and stood up, "Let's get moving. Andy, lead his horse."
"I'll lead the horse." Nick stood up.
"No, you are a good shot, Andy will." Tate mounted his horse.
Nick looked at Andy, she was becoming annoyed and thin on patience. She walked over to her horse and mounted him, Boss danced around the Goliath's legs. The horse and the dog were so use to each other presence, that they knew what they could and couldn't do.
Andy lead the horse over to his own, and then mounted her. "How long will it take to get to your tribe?"
"My mother's tribe." Tate corrected, "If they are still in the same spot, don't think it will take much longer then a few hours."
They rode silently for sometime, before Andy couldn't take it any longer. "Tate, wh-why didn't you use that kn-knife back when your friends had us?"
"You mean Oscar and them?" Tate asked, he couldn't hear Andy respond, so he assumed it was a yes, "I didn't have it.
Bought this knife back in Heaton. My other knife is still in Honeycomb as far as I know."
"B-back in Honeycomb?" Andy questioned.
"Yeah, my savior didn't grab it for me." Tate said, and turned his head slightly to smile at Nick.
She kept her frown, then checked on Rock.
"She ain't too h-happy with you." Andy chuckled.
"No, I reckon she ain't." Tate continued to ride on, and the conversation stopped.
Andy allowed the silence for a moment longer, and then continued with his questioning. "You think your t-tribe will let us st-stay with them?"
"My mother's tribe, and yes I do. My mother is the chieftain's wife."
"Indians get m-married?" Andy asked.
"In a way, yes."
"Never th-thought they did that."
Tate frowned, "You don't think they have feelings like you or I?"
"You have f-feelings?"
He laughed, then looked back at Nick, who was still watching Rock. "He's on there tight, Nick, he's not going to fell off."
She turned her head slowly to look at him, "I'm worried more about the sun on his face. He has open wounds they can't be basking in the sun all day."
"It's pretty cold right now, I'm sure the warmth is welcomed."
Nick glared at him, and then looked forward.
"Is there a reason you are angry with me?" He asked after a few moments.
"I don't think it's wise to go where you are taking us."
Tate rose an eyebrow, but kept his eye forward. "And why is that?"
"It's commonly known that we are not welcomed in Indian villages."
"My father was." Tate retorted, "I don't think you know as much about them as you think, Nick. Besides we are all injured it would be best if we stopped and rested for a couple days to heal up. And we can't be out in the open, waiting for Rock to pick one way or the other."
"One way or the other?" Nick questioned.
"If he is going to die or live."
She gasped, "Don't say he's going to die. How dare you."
"You think words will change fate."
"I think behavior just might."
Tate chuckled, "Sounds like ignorance to me."
"It's gotten you this far." Nick snapped.
He turned his head to look at her, and then faced forward again. They both fell silent, and little was said for the rest of the day.
She sighed when she saw the flame of the camp fire, she would of be lost without it's flame. The plains were so dark at night that she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face. As she neared the fire, she readied herself to be taunted for her stupidity. As she got closer, she realized that there was more then just her three companions sitting around the fire. At first, she thought that some other travelers had come along were sharing their fire, then she shivered at the thought that maybe Ty did follow them. She stopped Goliath, and stared off towards the fire. Should she ride up or sneak in? She couldn't decide, either way would make her look like a fool.
Suddenly Boss barked, and came running to her from the darkness. She looked down at him as he jumped up and down excited that she was back.
"Get off the horse, girl." A rough voice said, and the barrel of a rifle was stuck into her face.
Nick looked over at the scruffy man, in the small flickers of light from the fire, she recognized him from Heaton. He was the same man that Rock had gotten into a bar fight with.
"Don't think I would kill a woman." he hissed again, Boss started to bark and growl at him.
It was strange that all Nick could think was, "Not again." She had just gotten out of a life threatening experience, she didn't want to be part of another. Climbing down, the scruffy man went for the horse's reigns. Goliath didn't care for his hand reaching out to him, and thrust his upper body into the air. He squinted his eyes shut as the horse came back down, and ran off into the plains.
"Coward." Nick mumbled as the horse rode off.
"Go sit with your friends." He told her, pointing with the end of his gun to Tate and the others. Boss lunged forward to bit his leg, and he kicked him in the side. It was all it took to scare all the bravery out of the little dog. He ran into the darkness looking for protection from Goliath.
She watched Boss run off and then walked over to Tate. Before she sat down, a younger man tied her hands together. She sat down next to Tate, who rolled his eyes at her. Ignoring him, she looked around at the four men. Two were old and scruffy with long gray beards and hair. One was a middle aged man with black hair, and gray streaks down the side. And of course, the young man who tied her up. None were at all attractive, and looked like they spent far to much time drinking.
"Told ya one was missing." The scruffy man said.
"Clarence, you make sure those ropes are good and tight." The middle aged man said.
The young boy nodded, and ran to check on everyone's rope. He couldn't of been older then fifteen, and Nick guessed that he was the older man's son. They had similar facial features, as a matter of a fact, the boy could have been his young twin.
"Tony, how much you say these boys were worth?" The scruffy man from the bar asked, pointing to Andy and Rock.
"One fifty each, but they ain't worth the price of dragging them back. He's the only true profit." Tony, the middle aged man, answered. He was sharpening a knife on a rock, occasionally he would stop and spit onto it.
"What about the girl?" The other scruffy man asked.
"She's worth nothing, take what you want from her and then kill her." Tony said.
The scruffy man from the bar reached out for her arm.
"Wait Bastian, you know the rules." Tony barked, "I get them first."
Nick looked over at Tate, and hoped he had a plan. These men knew how to tie knots, and there was no way she could escape her bonds.
Tony walked up to her, kneeling down to look her in the face. "Pretty, young thing, ain't cha?" He held out his knife and ran it over her check gently.
"Come on, by the time we get them they are always half dead." Bastian whined.
"You can't handle them wild. Besides, didn't he take your wife twice?" He pointed at Rock, "Thought you had some business with him."
"Yeah, I do." He turned to Rock.
Walking over to him, he punch him in the face and laughed as Rock tried to recover. Nick flinched at the force of the blow, and she saw Tate turn his head slightly.
"What's your name, darling?" Tony asked her.
Nick turned to look him in the eyes, and with one mighty blow spit a stream of spit onto his face. He landed on his nose and mouth. His eyes had closed when he saw it coming, and with his right hand, he wiped it off.
"You little…" He yelled, and punched her.
His fist connected with her jaw, and she felt her teeth cut through the inside of her bottom lip. The force of the punch, shoved her into Tate. He kept his position, so he would fall over with her.
Tony grabbed her arm and yanked her up, "That'll teach you."
Nick spit again, this time blood and saliva fell on his cheek.
He didn't even bother wiping it from his face, "Alright, that's enough. You need some manners." He snapped, reaching out to grab her hair.
Rock was taking his fair share of punches, as the other scruffy man joined in.
"Clarence, you are a grown man now, bought time you had a woman." Tony said, "You can have her after I get all the fight out of her."
Bastian stopped hitting Rock for a moment, turning around quickly he yelled. "Tony! I'm second."
Tony had pulled Nick up to a standing position by her hair, with his knife he pointed at Clarence, "My son is second now."
He yanked Nick away from the camp and into the darkness. Andy, who was sitting on the other side of Tate, watched as she was dragged off. He looked at Tate, who didn't seem to have noticed she had been taken. He stared down at the dirt with no expression on his face.
Bastian had stopped beating on Rock, because he lost consciousness. His face was cut and bloody, and he laid in the mud motionless. Andy wanted to check on him, but knew moving might bring him to the same fate. So, he sat there, trying his best to get a look and check for any signs of breathing.
After a few moments, they could hear Nick screaming, followed by several hollers from Tony telling her to stop or he would kill her.
"You've made a big mistake." Tate hissed.
Bastian walked over to him, kneeling down on one knee and smiled at him. "Did you talk?" He said with a grin.
"I swear I'll kill both you, and your friends." Tate said with disgust in his voice.
"What don't like to hear your woman's passionate screams for another man?" He laughed.
Tate's hand flew out, and stabbed him in the neck with a long knife. Both the other scruffy man and Clarence began shooting at him, Andy rolled out of the way once he saw the knife go through the man's throat. Tate used his large body to cover him from the bullets, and with his other hand grabbed the revolver on the corpse's hip.
He only shot twice, killing both the boy and the other man. Standing up, he looked at Andy.
"You alright?" He watched Andy nod, "Check him." He said pointing at Rock.
There was a shot fired in the distance, where Tony had dragged Nick off to. "Clarence? Bastian? Mitch?" Tony voice called from the darkness.
Tate aimed his gun from where he heard the voice.
Tony entered next to his son's body, holding his gun on Tate. On his left cheek was four scratch marks, that dripped with blood, compliments of Nick. He looked down briefly at his son's body, and when he looked up his eyes were teary.
Andy looked towards the darkness where he had dragged Nick, there was no noise and no sign of Nick.
"You killed my boy, you son of a bitch. You killed my boy!" He yelled.
Tate looked down at the boy's body, "You shouldn't of brought a young boy along, especially one willing to shoot a gun at a man."
"You are going to suffer for this, I'm not just going to kill you. I'm going to torture you, and send piece of you home to your mother. I'm…"
"Where's the girl?" Tate asked.
Tony smiled, "I shot her in the head. She's dead."
Andy gasped.
Tate almost made the mistake of looking over at Andy, but kept his eyes on Tony. He was angry, so angry that his hand began to shake. There was nothing in his mind that he wanted more then to beat this man until his head caved in.
"Mean little bitch." Tony grinned and pointed at his scratches, "I like them untied so they can fight me. Had you two not interrupted us, I might have had the best night of my life." He laughed.
"You son of a bitch, I'm going to give you the worst night of your life." Tate snapped.
Tony kicked his son's corpse, "We are even I think, now I'm going to walk away. I think we both had our fair share of fatalities." He looked over at Rock, "Doubt he'll pull through that beating."
"He's a-ah lot stronger th-then you think." Andy cried out.
"I'll be back for you, Norcliff. I've been hunting you for years, and now it's personal." Tony told him, and both Tate and he lowered their guns.
A gun shot rang out, and Tony stared at Tate for a moment. Tate's gun was still down, as was Tony's. Opening his mouth slightly, blood dripped out and onto the ground, and Tony's body soon followed.
Nick stood with Goliath behind her, and the rifle in her hand. Her clothes were ripped and muddy from her clothes being wet. She looked at Tate and continued to breath rapidly.
"You hurt, Nick?" Andy asked.
She shook her hand, and brush a strand of muddy hair out of the way. Revealing that the bullet had just cut above her temple and didn't go in. "How is Rock?"
"He's pretty beat up." Andy told her, "Could I get untied?"
Tate turned to him, and picked up his knife from the ground. He had bought it back in Heaton, and stuffed it into the back of his pants. Nick didn't grab his back in Honeycomb, and he wasn't about to waste time over a knife. He cut Andy loose and then offered the knife to him, so that he could cut Rock free.
"We thought you were dead?" Tate said to Nick.
She had rope still attached to her left arm, but not her right. "He shot me, but I guess it was too dark for him to get a good shot." She pointed to Tony, "Got me though, burns a bit." Nick said touching the small wound on her head. "That's two head wounds now."
"Did he touch you?" Tate asked.
"No, I'm fine, there was gun fire before he got far." She looked at Tate, his right arm was bleeding. "Are you injured?"
Tate looked down, "Yeah, the kid got me. I'll be fine, just got to dig it out."
Turning around he took the knife from Andy, who was pouring water over Rock's bloody face. He sat down and pulled off his shirt, and looked at the bullet wound in his upper right arm.
"Damn, and no whiskey." He mumbled.
"You want me to do it?" Nick asked.
He shook his head, and put the knife to his wound. He clenched down on his teeth, grinding them together, and then dropped his left hand.
"If you can't do it with your left hand, then I can help." Nick said again, still standing in front of Goliath.
"I can do it, just hurts a little more when there is no whiskey."
"Wait." Nick said, and walked over to Tony's body.
She patted him down, until she found the right pocket. Reaching under his jacket, she pulled out a small flask and held it up for Tate to see.
"I could smell it on his breath." She told him, when he gave her a questioning look.
She walked over to him, and sat down beside him. His upper body was covered in old bullet wounds, some Nick was curious as to how he managed to survive them. Now, wasn't the time to question his scars.
Snatching the flask from her, he drank it down and then poured some over his wound. "Only time I ever drink." He told her, and then looked down at the knife again.
Her hand reached out for the knife, and he let it go without a fight.
"Look the other way, Tate."
He looked up in her eyes, "I'd rather watch and make sure you are doing it right."
"When I went on drives, sometimes the ranch hands would get shot by bandits. My father taught me how to do this. Also, back home before the doctor moved there, Teresa was the nurse maid of the area. All the wounded came to her, and I saw a thing or two watching her. So, you don't have to worry."
Tate stared at her for a moment.
"It's better if you don't look."
He turned his head, and she began to dig. Clenching his teeth again to fight past the pain, he let out a long, low moan.
"Alright, stop." He told her. "This hurts more then being shot."
"I almost have it out." She told him, "Give me your belt." She ordered.
Tate glared at her for a moment, trying to decide if she was serious.
"No time to argue, Tate. Just give me the belt."
Tate did as he was told, and handed her the belt when he was done. He took his seat next to her and watched her wrap it once around his upper arm. She held up what was left of the belt to his mouth. "Bite down on this, and I'll be done in a second."
"I'm not biting on my belt."
"It wasn't an option." She said pushing the belt into his lips, eventually he opened and bit down.
He kept moaning, and even kicked his foot a couple times.
"Stop clenching your arm, Tate."
"It hurts!" He hissed, dropping the belt from his mouth.
Nick grabbed it and held it up to his mouth, "Don't talk."
He bite down again and looked as far away as the belt would allow.
"There." She held out the bullet in her hand for him to see, "Not so bad."
"For you, maybe."
Nick giggled, "Andy, you still have a bandage?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Can you let Tate have one?"
Andy nodded again, "Yeah." He stood up and went to get one off his saddle.
Bringing it back, Nick took it with a thank you.
"I don't need a bandage, I'm fine." Tate snapped.
Nick stared at him for a moment, and he dropped his eyes telling her that he had given in. Wrapping his arm up, she gave him a smile. "There, now I have to get Goliath's saddle off."
Standing up she walked to the edge of darkness and whistled for her horse and Boss. They both came, Boss was tender where he had been kicked, but seemed to be in decent condition.
"We need to bury these bodies, we don't want someone to stumble on them with us around."
Andy nodded, he was still looking over Rock. When Nick took the saddle of her horse, she went to take care of Rock. Andy and Tate tied the bodies to their horses and dragged them away into the night to rid themselves of them. When they were gone, Nick dropped her head and brought her hands to her face. She began to cry, she now had been in the most scary situation of her life.
She put on a strong face because she didn't want Tate to think she was weak, but in fact she was tired. The idea of making to Redrock and avenging her father was seeming like a worse idea everyday. Not even on drives had their lives been this hectic, she just wanted to go home. But the notion of giving up on what she started on pulled on her heart. She loved her father and everyone else who died that night, she couldn't give up on them.
She ripped a piece of cloth from her now damaged shirt, and ran it over Rock's face. They had hurt him pretty badly, his nose was broken, and one of his ears were bleeding. She feared he might go deaf in that ear, but there was nothing she could do for him. Just sit and wait for him to awake, and hope they don't run into anymore bounty hunters like these men.
---***---
By the next morning, Rock still hadn't awaken. He had jerked his hands slightly, but made no real move of consciousness. While Nick and Andy were worried, Tate seemed annoyed. He had been that way since they came back from disposing the bodies. They couldn't find a place to bury them, and they had no tools for the job. Eventually, they threw the bodies into the pond and hoped they would submerge long enough for them to get away.Tate had wanted to ride further north, but he knew it wouldn't be possible with Rock unconscious. He tried to come up with a plan, staying here would only bring more trouble. They needed to get moving, and fast.
He stared at Nick as she fed pieces of her jerky to Boss, and pet him just for eating it.
"You treat that dog like a human."
Nick looked up at him, and then back down at Boss. "What?" She said and brought her ear closer to Boss, "Oh, I see." She giggled and looked up at Tate, "He says the same thing about you."
Tate kept his frown, but inside he chuckled and watched her return to feeding Boss. His eyes wondered over to Andy, who was sitting silently watching Rock. The man was huge and moving him would be a problem.
"Alright, we need to get moving." Tate said standing up.
Nick looked at him, and then stood up, smacking her hands together. "What about Rock? We can't leave him here."
"We have rope, blankets, and there are some large limbs down by the pond. We can make him a small cart that his horse can drag along."
"But where would we go?" She asked.
"My mother and her tribe wasn't to far from here last I rode through. We can hope they haven't moved for the winter or been chased off."
"Your what?" Nick asked.
"My tribe…" He barked, "Yeah, I'm half Indian, I'm a mutt, you have a problem with that?"
"I was speaking of your mother, I'm just terribly shocked that you have one."
Tate folded his arms, "Come on Andy, lets get some wood together."
---***---
Nick watched Tate tie the last bit of rope together around the large wooden limbs. He had made a rectangle cot, long enough to fit Rock's form, and softened the hard wood with their blankets. Fastening one end to Mud, he checked to see if the ropes were tight enough."Alright, now, we roll him onto it, and tie him on." Tate told Andy.
"What if he wakes up?" Nick asked.
Tate reached down, along with Andy, and with two rolls pushed Rock into it on his back. "If he wakes up he won't know where he is anyway." He began tying the rope around Rock, "We are lucky those men had all this rope on their horses."
"Would have been luckier if they hadn't come at all."
Tate, who was crouched down, turned his head to look at her. "Well, they did, Nick, and we have to get moving. We can't sit out here and wait for the next bounty hunter, and Rock needs to be look after properly." With those words, he gave one last tug on the rope and stood up, "Let's get moving. Andy, lead his horse."
"I'll lead the horse." Nick stood up.
"No, you are a good shot, Andy will." Tate mounted his horse.
Nick looked at Andy, she was becoming annoyed and thin on patience. She walked over to her horse and mounted him, Boss danced around the Goliath's legs. The horse and the dog were so use to each other presence, that they knew what they could and couldn't do.
Andy lead the horse over to his own, and then mounted her. "How long will it take to get to your tribe?"
"My mother's tribe." Tate corrected, "If they are still in the same spot, don't think it will take much longer then a few hours."
They rode silently for sometime, before Andy couldn't take it any longer. "Tate, wh-why didn't you use that kn-knife back when your friends had us?"
"You mean Oscar and them?" Tate asked, he couldn't hear Andy respond, so he assumed it was a yes, "I didn't have it.
Bought this knife back in Heaton. My other knife is still in Honeycomb as far as I know."
"B-back in Honeycomb?" Andy questioned.
"Yeah, my savior didn't grab it for me." Tate said, and turned his head slightly to smile at Nick.
She kept her frown, then checked on Rock.
"She ain't too h-happy with you." Andy chuckled.
"No, I reckon she ain't." Tate continued to ride on, and the conversation stopped.
Andy allowed the silence for a moment longer, and then continued with his questioning. "You think your t-tribe will let us st-stay with them?"
"My mother's tribe, and yes I do. My mother is the chieftain's wife."
"Indians get m-married?" Andy asked.
"In a way, yes."
"Never th-thought they did that."
Tate frowned, "You don't think they have feelings like you or I?"
"You have f-feelings?"
He laughed, then looked back at Nick, who was still watching Rock. "He's on there tight, Nick, he's not going to fell off."
She turned her head slowly to look at him, "I'm worried more about the sun on his face. He has open wounds they can't be basking in the sun all day."
"It's pretty cold right now, I'm sure the warmth is welcomed."
Nick glared at him, and then looked forward.
"Is there a reason you are angry with me?" He asked after a few moments.
"I don't think it's wise to go where you are taking us."
Tate rose an eyebrow, but kept his eye forward. "And why is that?"
"It's commonly known that we are not welcomed in Indian villages."
"My father was." Tate retorted, "I don't think you know as much about them as you think, Nick. Besides we are all injured it would be best if we stopped and rested for a couple days to heal up. And we can't be out in the open, waiting for Rock to pick one way or the other."
"One way or the other?" Nick questioned.
"If he is going to die or live."
She gasped, "Don't say he's going to die. How dare you."
"You think words will change fate."
"I think behavior just might."
Tate chuckled, "Sounds like ignorance to me."
"It's gotten you this far." Nick snapped.
He turned his head to look at her, and then faced forward again. They both fell silent, and little was said for the rest of the day.