Walkers Creek - A Western

'We can't leave him here,' he says.

She keeps staring at the spreading fire, tears rolling openly down her cheeks.

'Emily.' He says.

The surprise of hearing him call her that breaks the spell.

'I need you to help me move him. If he's hurt then he needs our help to get him away from the fire.'

'Where?' she says, still bewildered by seeing her childhood home burning.

'We'll take him to Billy's room, and stop up this door to buy us some time.'

'You think it will all burn?'

He nods, pitying her. This, she said, was her only haven. She wasn't able to think of anywhere else to run to, nowhere else to escape the attentions of Humby and McLaren. And now it was going up in flames. A slower destruction than the one he'd wreaked on McLaren's house, but just as certain.

They drag the unconscious deputy, boots skidding on the spilled blood, down the corridor and into Billy's room.

'Is he dead?'

'I don't think so.'

'Where was he shot?'

'I don't know. There's a lot of blood and he's out cold.'

'Why did you bring him in here?'

'The house is on fire.'

'What?'

Logan takes a deep breath and explains to Laura and Billy about the fire and how quickly it is spreading.

'We're going to have to get on those horses we saddled and ride away from here.' He says.

'Where will we go.'

'We can work that out later. We'll burn if we stay here, or choke on the smoke.'

'How are we going to get the horses?' Emily has stopped crying. 'The fire is cutting off our exit.'

'We'll use the window,' he says. 'I've done it before.' He remembers how the drop hurt his ankle. 'It's a long way down though. I suggest one person goes to get the horses and then the others can jump down onto the horses’ backs instead of all the way to the ground.'

'I don't mean to be any trouble Mister, but I don't think I'm in much of a shape for jumping onto anything,' Billy says.

'Oh, you'll jump Billy. And if you don't I'll throw you. And jumping is going to be nothing to riding your own horse at a full gallop so you'd better think again about what you can and can't do.'

Laura gasps at Logan's outburst.

'I'm having to battle a wound too you know.' He points at his injured shoulder. He's already pulled the arm clear of the sling to use it to steady himself while dragging Wilson. It throbs but he's doing his best to ignore it.

He crosses the room and pulls the window open, producing a sharp pain as his shoulder objects to him raising his arm. There doesn't appear to be any of McLaren's gang round this side of the house. Thin trails of smoke are wafting across the corral.

Wilson coughs.

'He's awake!' Emily shouts.

'What happened?' Wilson shakes his head as though trying to clear it.

'You got shot.'

'Damn, my leg.'

'Your leg? Are you sure? We thought you were dead.'

'It feels like I hit my head when I fell. My leg. It's a flesh wound I think. Damn, that hurts. Help me get my belt round it to stop the bleeding.'

Laura rushes to help him, bringing some bandages from by Billy's bed.

'I'm going to fetch the horses.' Logan says.

'Good idea.' Wilson nods his approval, immediately alert. How can he be so clear headed after getting shot and knocked out? 'Go through the window and run round through the smoke, it'll give you some cover. You might need to be shooting fast once you get near the horses though, those men will be watching for you. Of course they might have untied the horses themselves and driven them off already.'

Logan's been worrying about that. It seems like the obvious thing to do if you've got some people trapped in a house, to take away their horses. Maybe McLaren will be too drunk to have thought of it but he doesn't want to count on it. And even if the horses haven't been untied, the fire might spook them enough to pull free and run off on their own anyway.

'Laura, make sure Billy's bandages are good and tight, he's going to be on a horse in a couple of minutes whether he likes it or not.'

With that, he swings his leg out through the window and drops as carefully as he can onto the ground below. He manages not to hurt his ankle this time but his arm feels worse than ever.

The smoke is thickening and fire seems to be spreading fast. There is no time to lose. He drags the sling from round his neck and wraps it over his mouth and nose and then plunges into the smoke cloud.

When he returns he is leading five horses that follow uncomfortably behind him.

'What took you so long?' Emily says, coughing. There is smoke in the room now.

'Never mind that. Get Wilson and Billy out here first. I'll hold a horse under the window and you get them to climb out.'

'Wilson has gone.'

'What?'

'He went off to the other side of the house to give you some cover when you fetched the horses. He hasn't come back.'

'And you let him do that? Didn't anyone go with him? Or go to look for him? The house is on fire and you let a man with one good leg go off on his own?' He is angry because he knows he owes Wilson his life.

'Don't be mad at me,' Emily says. 'I couldn't stop him any more than you could. Don't think I didn't try, I owe him just as much as you do.' He can see that either the smoke is making her eyes water, or she is crying. 'He told us to go without him.'

'And leave him behind?'

'I guess he knew what he was doing. I don't want to leave without him either but he stands a better chance than anyone of getting out of this mess.'

They clamber out of the window clumsily and struggle onto the horses. Billy howls with pain as he lands on his horse and sits sobbing while the others get themselves into their saddles.

There is still gunfire to be heard on the other side of the house. Wilson must still be alive.

'We should get round to the other side of the house and get Wilson out,' Logan says, turning his horse and grabbing the reins of the fifth horse.

'No,' Emily says. 'He told us to go without him.'

'I can't ride off and leave him to burn.'

'Stop thinking about yourself for a minute will you.' Laura says angrily. 'How many more of us need to stop a bullet? Take a look at your army that you're about to use to protect your wonderful deputy. You've only got one arm, Billy is in agony and we haven't even started riding yet. I don't have a gun and Miss Nixon can't shoot straight.'

'Hey!' Emily says indignantly.

'I'm just saying it how it is Miss. We ain't no match for them, even if they are just a couple of drunks. We can't save Wilson if he can't save himself.'

He knows she is talking sense, but it makes him uncomfortable and deeply unhappy to ride away from Wilson and leave him to almost certain death. If McLaren's gang doesn't get him then the fire certainly will. But how will he feel to see Laura or Emily shot because he decided to take them back into a gunfight? And even if they do take that risk, there's no guarantee that they'd be able to get Wilson out anyway. Or that he'd want to go.

Without saying another word, he starts to walk the horses away from the burning building.

They ride in the smoke as much as they can bear, to stay out of sight. They’re unable to go much faster than a walk when Billy suffers with every movement of the horse. As they reach the trees, Logan shoos the loose horse away and the four of them pick their way through the branches and rocks and head uphill.

Logan stops to listen from time to time. He thinks he still hears gunshots from beyond the smoke, he wants to hear them. His arm is stiff and painful and there is fresh blood seeping into the bandage. They must push on. Sooner or later they will be followed and they'll need all the head start they can get.

'I don't think we can go on much longer.' Laura says.

Logan doesn't acknowledge her. He knows they have ridden for hours and that Billy may be dying because of it. Their trail will be easy to follow though and there is still some daylight left.