The Stranger by Suzy

She didn’t move. Not one muscle. Hell, she hardly even breathed and when she did, short breaths are what came out mouth, her soon to be clogged nose with ingested body fluids. And she was scared.

Natalie sat on the edge of the hotel room’s bed eye level with the windowsill. She remembered she cracked open the window just a little to have constant breeze flow through but for one she didn’t remember opening it and two she couldn’t feel the breeze. She was that scared.

And did she sleep or did she stay in this position all night to the early morning until now when the sun beamed high and scorched above the town to tell the locals that it was late afternoon? Was it really this late already when her initiate plan was to leave before dawn? Natalie couldn’t move though. She would not move from her room, have the courage to check out of the hotel, or even so much as hide her face as she walk amongst the townspeople to get her horses, her wagon and get the hell out of dodge before it was too late. But no, she couldn’t do what she’d planned to at dawn. She was too scared to move…to stand for her legs would surely give out on her.

She knew Andy Scout was in town, most likely looking for her. She couldn’t take that chance and walk out without being stopped by one of Alexander’s boys. And she knew every single one of them, what they looked like in great detail, what size boot they even wore. Then Natalie discovered that it had been two years since she’d last seen these men and it’d be more than likely Alexander wouldn’t be riding with the same gunslingers. She just didn’t know and not knowing could be the worst mistake of all…if she didn’t know.

Natalie had time to think over and over about what to do next, but since her legs were in no hurry to move and get out of this town, neither was she more anxious to get caught and taken straight to Alexander by one Andy Scout. Taking a few short breathes which helped so little, she opened her ears from the disgusted screams in her head to listen to the busy talk of the townspeople outside her window, in the hotel corridor, everywhere.

“Can’t be all that bad, Buck.” She heard a young man say just below her window, and even though she didn’t recognize the voice, it was very clear through the crack.

“You try sittin’ on a wagon butt board for three days straight. That’s how long it’ll take to get to Winchester.” A voice she did recognize and it could only have come from the newlywed himself, Buck Wilmington.

Last night at the reception, Natalie couldn’t help but glimpse at Louise as she went on and on about her new job in Winchester, just three days away. She explained how long travels never bothered her, but she didn’t know how her husband would like it. And Natalie knew then from Buck’s voice he wasn’t exactly thrilled the way he groaned, breathing heavily as if he was carrying something large and over the top too heavy for him.

Natalie would take a look herself to find if she was right or not, but peeking her head out the window would surely give herself away. She didn’t want to risk it. She was enjoying this small conversation between comrades just below her two-story window above. So she stayed put.

But her time clock was ticking, the hours were slowly disappearing and if she’d wait for another chance to escape without getting noticed tonight, she had a fifty percent chance she would get caught. If Andy Scout was the same man she knew years ago when he and Alexander first started out as partners. He was the sly one as her husband was the fast gunman. Andy was a clever bastard.

Natalie opened her mouth and released a hot breath of air that been sitting in her tight throat for a while. No, she couldn’t wait any longer. She needed to leave; she would not let her guard down. She’d been doing this for too long now to just quit and be scared of one man she knew she had the power to fight off. She’d been practicing her self-defense for a while now, not with Randall McArthur as he was an old, crippled man. But she knew how to take care of herself…after all she had to learn. After what happened with her and Alexander’s last contact.

She got to her feet, buckled her knees and began to scatter around the room for all her belongings and throw them in her one suitcase.

By the time she packed her things and gripped the bag strap for dear life, she managed to clean her look up a bit. To dispose circles under her eyes, the heated cheeks, the messed hairpins. Before she left the hotel, not yet checking out, she tossed her hood’s cape over her head and tried her best to cover her face entirely.

Natalie walked outside, the sun’s heat blasting away on her already nervous, sizzling body. She looked in every direction; spotting the locals she only knew and saw from last night’s reception and from the time she’s been in town. The wedding guests too were ready to get out of this town and to Natalie’s relief; she only hoped she could blend in with the crowd and sneak away as sly as possible. She held her bag strap tight in her sweaty palm from her nerves kicking in full blast as she held her hood’s cape over her mouth and nose with her other hand.

After crossing an open alley, she made a quick turn around to make sure no one in particular was following her, looking in every which direction as it seemed but not straight in front of her as she smacked clean and hard into…

“Whoa there!” Buck yipped and picked her bag up that fell out of her sweaty fingers. “Sorry, ma’am. Wasn’t looking where I was goin’.”

“Nor was I, Mr. Wilmington.” Natalie said under the satin fabric. She didn’t let herself let her hood go and offer this kind man a smile.

Buck did the smiling for the both of them. “You know my name?”

Natalie nodded then said, “Everyone knows your name. At least by now they should.”

He cocked his head to the side with still that gentle, melting smile of his. “I don’t think I have the pleasure of your name, ma’am.”

No, no, no, Natalie told herself. “My name isn’t necessary to have. You’ll forget it as soon as I walk by.” And she tried to walk past him but he stopped her. Her eyes fluttered open, wider now, and she gripped her bag tighter in her hands. Even so much as a gentle smile from this man couldn’t make her worries go away.

And Buck saw this, “Everything okay?”

“What tells you I’m not?” she spiced her tone up now, eager more than ever to get rid of him.

Buck wouldn’t let it go. His happiness and moaning about this long travel ahead of him suddenly stopped to worry for this woman he didn’t know except for her look and whispers about town, and the look in her fretful eyes told him a different story after she said she was okay. “Forgive me again then.” And he stepped aside; he had to for her sake. Something was up and as Natalie pushed her way by him, Buck didn’t have to think twice about informing the other guys…especially when one of his guys noticed this woman.

Natalie held herself close. She gripped her bag harder with each ragged breath she took as she walked down the town lot, blocking out any contact with the locals she’d pass. The run into with Buck Wilmington alone was enough to handle, to take in and think did she give too much away by the sound of her voice, the beaded sweat along her cheekbones, her eyebrows. The hollow colds in her eyes.

And did he really think something as soon as she left? Is that why he gave in and allowed her to leave the way she did, as quickly as she did? Immediately, Natalie turned around to see if she could find Buck and to her unlikely surprise, he was no where to be seen. She cursed under her breath and thought maybe he did suspect something and he went off to do something about it, tell his comrades, to tell his new wife, tell anybody for that sake. Either way, Natalie would be gone and they’d have no leads to where she went off to.

But then a twinge of running away and never coming back ached her heart, pulsed in her brain that she may never see this one Chris Larabee again. A man who willed to help her when she asked for it. And then she came to the thought of why she asked for his help from the start. She didn’t need his help and in the wee hours of the morning, she begged herself not to get anyone else involved. So what if she was running. Running away right now was her best solution and her only. She couldn’t afford to take anymore chances, to speak anymore out about herself and especially to a man who looked as if he knew what he was doing with a gun.

When Natalie found this Buck Wilmington gone from where he and she just had their run-in, she turned back around, disposing of any self-stiffness as before, to rid the scare in her eyes and as soon as she faced the scenery before her, she again ran into a tough masculine build, but she stopped her feet from falling into his arms.

She looked up at this man who stopped her walk and suddenly the scare in her eyes came back. She recognized the stubbly chin, the crazed eyes, little hairs aligning his cheekbones, on his upper lip, the craggy dead tresses that wore as his hair, the dark, threatening cloud that hung above his head.

“Andy Scout,” Natalie said controlled and tempered, but inside she was screaming, breaking down— no, no, no, no.

“Mrs. Rose,” Andy mumbled: the two time loser without a cause or a love for life. “Funny to find you here.”

“Funny isn’t the word, Andy.” Through clenched teeth, Natalie fought against her tears, the emotions to stay tough and keep courage.

“And why you say that, Mrs. Rose?” he asked, a taunt of play in his voice.

“Stop calling me that,” she said, gripping her bag strap, cutting off circulation.

“That’s your name, right?”

Natalie went still. She looked at this man for as long as her eyes could hold before she turned away abruptly and tried like she had with Buck prior and walk by him, but unlike Buck Wilmington, Andy refused and grabbed her.

“Let me go,” she hissed when pressure of his hand gripped her elbow.

Andy thought about letting her go but it was just a tease of bad luck and soured eyes, “Think I’m gonna let you go just like that? After we’ve been lookin’ for ya for so long? Not a chance.” He squeezed her arm.

“Come on, Andy, leave me be. Let me leave. I don’t want to cause a scene and get you killed for it.”

“Death would only be my greatest adventure, Mrs. Rose.” He looked over her head then and found no one in particular looking over at them. Andy’s gaze came back on Natalie’s fretful expression and he smiled at this. “Oh, come on, Natalie, it will be like old times.”

“Old times are dead.”

“Just like your son?”

In a fit of uncontrolled but quiet anger, Natalie lifted her hand and curled it into a fist and was ready to slug Andy but his hand caught that fist and he relaxed her hand and linked fingers.

“Let’s get out of the sun.” He held their connected hands close to his chest then wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, folding his dirty fingers into her soft brown hair and without much of a fight, only more numb, Natalie allowed him to lead her where ever they were going.

Her walls crumbled, her courage died…

He knew he should be going. He knew his wife was waiting for him in front of Virginia’s Hotel doors for him. He knew he shouldn’t get caught into another gunfight of mixed pleasures and giddy up commotions he enjoyed so much when it came to taking lives.

But Buck knew he couldn’t get involved for Louise’s sake. And when the suspense was down right killing him to go and seek adventure about this new woman in town, a woman who caught every wranglers, cowboys, and elders’ attention whenever she graced her presence. A woman Buck had yet to know with all the wedding preparations taken place and all. A woman he knew his old friend had an attraction towards, and if this woman’s eyes showed him just how scared she was of something coming about that made her move her feet so quickly, Buck couldn’t let this mishap of a maybe murder take place. Not to her, not for Chris.

So he did it. He made the move and walked right into the saloon and peered over the getting wasted locals, the already drunks, and the regulars. He tipped his hat when Inez walked by him and she flashed him a friendly smile. Standing by the saloon’s swinging doors, the mid-afternoon breeze flapping against his back, he turned away from the bar and found whom he’d been searching for on the opposite side of the floor, in his usual sitting area with Ezra and Nathan keeping him company.

Then Buck took no time to walk his way right toward him.

“Chris?”

In the middle of a card game, Ezra called out his usual tone whenever someone interrupted one of his precious games but Buck blocked him out and looked right at Chris, tucked back in the corner, lost in the poker cards he held.

“What is it, Mr. Wilmington that you had to interrupt?” Ezra asked calmly with a roll of the eyes.

“Chris,” Buck repeated and after he did Chris looked up and met his concerned gaze and waited. “I don’t know if you’d call this a fact, but it is definitely a wonder.”

“What are you talkin’ about, Buck?” Nathan asked, entering the conversation after seconds of silence.

“I wish I knew, Nathan.” Buck said, turning toward to the healer then smacked his palms together. “I don’t know if she’s in trouble, if she needs our help—someone’s help.”

“Mr. Wilmington, aren’t you suppose to be gone now?” Ezra asked, shuffling the cards.

“Yeah, of course I’m meant to be gone now!” Surprised he raised his voice, as everyone in the whole saloon was too when they turned their attention to the corner where all four gunslingers were.

Buck shook his head, trying to make sense of what he was trying to say. “The woman, the new woman roamin’ about town. I think there’s something goin’ on we’re not suppose to know about.”

“How do you know this?” Nathan asked.

“I have my suspicions, don’t I? And she’s in trouble. If you only saw her face, Chris.” Buck switched his attention back on the man he was only meant to talk to about this.

“Andy, please…” Natalie stammered through angry tears she dared not try and release. If she did she knew he’d see straight away and do something really to make her cry. It was just the way Andy Scout was.

“I caught you once, Natalie, and I told you I do it again and again and again until you stay put.”

“As you can see, Andy, I haven’t learned from my mistakes.”

Andy gave the most satisfying expression Natalie ever saw coming from him. “Maybe you’ll learn from this one.” He then shoved her tiny figure through a pair of doors and she landed directly in the focal of the barbershop building. Where there would usually be customers, the locals requesting a shave or a simple haircut, there were none but a man sitting in one of the fancy spinning, padded chairs with a sack over his head.

“Ah, Mr. Randall McArthur!” Natalie instantly turned around to the high-spirited voice that belonged to Andy walking in after he’d lock the doors.

Randall McArthur? Natalie turned back around to face the man sitting in the chair only to now see his face had been revealed, the sack gone.

Randall McArthur!

Shocked and overwhelmed with emotions she thought she controlled, she turned back to face Andy whom stepped right beside her. “Andy, please!” She begged and she was not one to beg to any man but in this case, she had to do some serious begging if Andy was going to do what she’d suspected. With four men standing over the older man tied helplessly to the chair, a rope in his mouth, dry tears surfacing his aging eyes.

“I don’t know, Natalie, I just don’t know about this one.” Andy said, shaking his head sarcastically, pretending he cared about this old man’s life when really Natalie knew it was all a scam, a plead for her to go with them wherever they were going. A joke for her to get back to Alexander.

“Andy, let him go. He has nothing to do with any of this!” Natalie yelled, but Andy covered her mouth before she had the chance to scream again.

“Lady Alexander, must I remind you that we are in a protective town surrounded by seven killer gunslingers?” he breathed on her and she felt her eyeballs dry up and the taste of vomit coming up her throat.

He released her when she threatened to bit his hand and then she said, “Mr. McArthur is not your business, Andy. I am. Whatever you’ve been planning the past two years, it does not concern him. Let him go.”

“You don’t see the truth, Natalie, because he is involved in this. He’s been involved from the start. He’s been nothin’ but a snitch against me, Alexander, the rest of us. He found you before we did to snitch on us and I have to say, I am very tired of it. Did Mr. McArthur come here and warn you we were comin’?”

Natalie bit her tongue and she bit down hard. No way could she be the reason again for this man’s punishment. So she didn’t speak a word about his involvement with her sudden leave. “No, he did not. I was leaving today as it was.”

Andy shifted his weight, switched his gaze on her astounded words, and then he gave up, not believing a word. “Well, I guess all I can do now is end this poor man’s misery because before we tied him up, beat him severally, he told us he did come here and tell you to run.”

And that was it. She’d lost the battle, the inferior rage she held deep in her loins for him to let the old man go. Natalie had nothing left to give, nothing else to give in exchange for what was about to happen.

Before Natalie could prepare for the worst, Andy grabbed her arms, twisted her weak body around and she was forced to lean her backside into his stiff chest and he brought his arms up and wrapped one across her chest and with the other he held her wrists together.

“Go on, Maxton, do what you were hired to do.” Andy whispered as low as he could but it was like a siren in Natalie’s ears. The man he called out as Maxton glanced over his shoulder at them with a sick, silly grin. Kenneth Steele untied the rope around poor Randall’s mouth and he choked out to catch a breath of air but as soon as he was able, Maxton came at him with his personal picket knife. With Kenneth holding the old man’s shoulders and Ronald Chest holding his jaw, Maxton pulled out his tongue.

“Andy?” Natalie said through a breath of air.

“Natalie…” Randall managed to speak.

“And what did they use to do to the prisoners who’d lie in the medieval times, Natalie, any guesses?” Andy asked but he didn’t wait for her to answer nor could she with eyes wide open and the sounds of deep throaty cries coming from Randall McArthur she stood only footsteps from. Crazy-eyed, she couldn’t take her eyes off Maxton and his rough edged knife. And then a blood-curdling scream arose from her
throat and Andy did nothing but let her scream as he strained her to watch.

If only you could have seen her face…

Chris dropped the cards in his hands and looked over Buck, then came to his eyes and looked at him hard and controlled with question buzzing around him. Yeah, Chris knew something was up with that woman. He knew it from the start and after what she told him last night…he knew. But Damnit, he could only swear to himself after realizing from Buck’s voice and his emotional state of mind that Natalie Rose planned to run again. That he really knew. And he didn’t know who to be angry with more, himself or Natalie.

“Chris, don’t you get what I’m sayin’?” Buck asked and before he could finish a last minute thought…

A scream then, a shout, a holler came blaring from outside the saloon windows and the open swinging doors and all three occupants of the table and the card game shot out of their chairs.

Ezra and Nathan ran outside into the open town lot where Pete McGee, the barber, searched for help of any kind from anyone. “Help! You must help me!” he yelled and Nathan ran up to him and stopped him from running into a crowd full of onlookers.

“What’s wrong, Mr. McGee, what?” Nathan asked, holding the man’s arms.

“There’s a man in my building! He’s bleeding severally!”

Both Nathan, Ezra, and Pete McGee turned to find a man stumbling out of the barbershop bleeding from his mouth. Internal bleeding, Nathan wondered, but he could only do so much from where he stood. Taking that sign into effect, he charged after the man covered in blood, trying to hold in what he could with his hands, but his weakened legs gave out. Nathan spotted right away a false leg helped support him partially, but that didn’t matter now. He was bleeding and Nathan had to help him.

Vin and Josiah came running from the direction of the church and JD and Casey ran down the town lot from just getting back in from a long afternoon ride.

The man fell down in the middle of the town, unable to keep hold of his balance with no cane, with no support. And Nathan caught him in mid-fall and Ezra helped lay him down in the dirt.

“Oh, Lord!” Ezra gasped, choking back vomit lodged in his throat from the amounts of dark blood this man had pouring out. “Shouldn’t we get him out of the sun?”

Nathan looked up, still unaware what was exactly wrong with this man he held in his hold, and found quickly the town’s suspicious wonder crowd around them. He turned his gaze on the opening saloon doors and watched Chris and Buck walk out and moving fast up to him, up to this man who was in dyer need of medical assistance.

“Have no where else to put him. He won’t budge.” Nathan said to Ezra’s minute long ago comment about how he can’t have this man here with everyone around, watching, whispering, wondering.

And it was true, the old man wouldn’t move and he’d do nothing but put all his weight into his backside and allow not one person carry him off somewhere. It’d only conflict more pain. Nathan looked down at the man and blood just poured out of his mouth uncontrollably. And then he saw the man tried to say something. A word or two, maybe even a sentence but Nathan couldn’t make it out.

“Don’t talk, sir. We’ll get you fixed right.” He told him.

“What happened?” Chris asked, standing above Nathan and Ezra.

“Not sure yet, Mr. Larabee.” Ezra moved his hat further up his forehead to look at the gunslinger better. He recognized the man as soon as he walked up.

“Natalie!” the old man screeched through pain, blood, clenching teeth and Chris could swear he felt his heart jump. Nathan leaned in closer then to inspect the man’s mouth and he asked someone, anyone for something to wipe the blood away so he could have a better look. With a few handkerchiefs thrown at him, he only took one and tried his best to wipe at the man’s chin, his bottom lip, and what he saw when it was clear enough to make an accurate conclusion…Nathan leaned away from this man, startled to what he found and shocked as hell that he still managed to speak.

And Josiah saw the terror in the healer’s eyes and the way he moved his hands away from the man’s mouth. “What is it, Nathan?”

Nathan looked up, the sun beaming in his eyes. “He has no tongue.” He then glared right at Chris and just like that, the quiet gunslinger was on his knees, pushed Nathan away and Ezra’s hands and gripped Randall McArthur’s shirt collar and pulled him to his face.

“Natalie.” Chris said in the form of a question. “Where is she?”

“Please—” Randall splattered out, or that’s what it sounded like he said according to Buck, Ezra, and whoever else was close enough to hear. “They— took her—away.” Not bad for a man with no tongue.

“Where?” Chris demanded the answers right now and he gave the old man a jerk to get them out.

“Chris…” Buck said to this sudden need to know.

“You tell me, mister!”

“Help her…” Randall slurred with more blood pouring out. “The old Rose—ranch. Just past Dover’s—Creek.” He brought his weak hands up and placed them on top of Chris’s hands. “Please he—lp her. Men—did this-to me. Not—good men.”

“Gunslingers?” Vin asked.

“Plea-se— go now—or the-y’ll –kill her.”