BW

"O.K. Lets' do it."

Bob and Maria started down the ridge, headed towards the new comers. Tim and Alex watched them go. Shortly after they had left, Tim spoke up.

"If they are the ones headed down there, why am I so scared?"

"Think you're scared? I'm even more scared."

"What makes you think that?"

"Two things. I've never shot at someone before."

"That makes two of us."

"Yeah, but that is MY Dad going down there, and I'm the one covering him. Tim, I think we need to do something."

"What's that?"

"A couple of years ago, I was thinking of signing up in the military. Dad told me some of the things he went through. One thing he told me was that one of the worst things you could do was to have all of your firepower concentrated in one place. It was too easy for the enemy to hit that place, and wipe out everybody. I think we need to spread out a little."

"Makes sense. You go left, I'll go right. Try not to kick up too much dust and let them know we're here."

"My thoughts, exactly."

Tim and Alex moved carefully until they were about twenty-five yards apart. Meanwhile, as Bob and Maria moved down the hill, they had their own conversation.

"Bob. I think we have three men and a girl out there."

"I agree. One of them is a man with long hair. I thought he was a women. The smaller one does seem to be a girl."

They fell silent as they continued foreword. As they drew closer to the strangers, Maria spoke again.

"Bob, I made a mistake."

"How so?"

"That's not George."

"George?"

"He used to ride with John, as a relief driver. That is not him."

"Good thing to know. Did you notice the men all have side arms?"

"The bulges under their jackets? Yeah, I saw them."

"Well, at least they aren't gunfighters."

"How do you know?"

"Later. What do you think about the girl?"

"She just looks scared."

"Agreed. We don't have to worry about her. I want to stop about fifteen yards short of them. Most people aren't very good with handguns. These guys don't strike me as the kind who have spent much time on the firing range. The extra distance might just make the difference. Besides, they will be slightly above us. I don't want to get in between them and our people."

"I see."

"Can you do fat, dumb, and happy?"

"What?"

"Act that way to lull them off guard."

"Oh. Yeah, I can do that."

"Good, follow my lead."

They both stopped at the agreed distance. Bob noticed that the girl had a bruise on her left cheek. He was getting a bad feeling about the situation. He smiled broadly as they got close to the group, and effected a western drawl in his speech.

"Howdy friends. Glad to see you. I'm Bill, and this is my sister, Mary."

They waited for an uncomfortable period of time before anyone spoke. Finally the long haired man replied.

"Hi. I'm Charlie, this is Jack, and he's Johnnie. Nice to meet you. Are you responsible for the fireworks we saw?"

"That is our 'doorbell'. It lets us know when someone is coming."

"Well, ding dong, we're here. Anyone else around here?"

"Oh, the town was evacuated a while back. We weren't here when it happened. So we've been waiting to see if anyone comes back. I don't recognize you fellas' You from around these parts?"

Bob noticed as they spoke, Jack and Johnnie had slowly moved to either side of Charlie.

"No we got out of the city when they started bombing them. Seemed like the smart thing to do. You know Bill, that's a mighty good looking sister you have there. You ever miss having a man around, Mary?"

"I'm fine. And in case you didn't notice, Bill is a man."

"Sure he is. But I'm not talking about brotherly love here."

"I'm sure you weren't."

"Wouldn't you like to have a man of your own? Say someone like me?"

"Not really. I like men who know what soap is for."

Bob spoke again. "Maybe you fellas should just move on. No point in everyone getting upset here."

Charlie laughed, followed by Jack and Johnnie. Bob noticed they seemed to take their cue from whatever Charlie said or did.

"Oh we ain't upset. But it seems a shame for a lady like Mary ain't got a man of her own. Maybe we ought to stay awhile."

"Maybe you shouldn't."

"Think the two of you can stop us? I don't" Charlie reached for the pistol on his hip.

"DOWN!!" Bob hollered, and at the same time pushed Maria down behind a large rock, sticking out of the ground. He felt a blow to his back that spun him around onto his back, before he heard the shot. He continued to roll, as he hit the ground, until he rolled into a small depression in the earth. He was on his back, and looked at the three men. Jack and Johnnie were still trying to draw their weapons from under their jackets, as Charlie aimed at Bob for another shot. Suddenly he was lifted off his feet, and thrown backwards, and the resounding BOOM of Bobs' rifle reached them as he hit the ground.

The other two men, weapons now drawn, looked in the direction of the shot. Bob pulled his pistol and fired once at Jack. The bullet hit him dead center, and knocked him backwards. Johnnie didn't know what to do. Shots coming from two directions, had confused him. He didn't know which way to turn his attention. That is when the bullet from Tim's' rifle hit him. He joined his comrades on the ground.

"Bob! Are you alright?" Maria called.

"Yeah, I think so." Bob answered. Then when he started to sit up, pain raced through the right side of his back. "No, I'm not."

"Lie still." Maria said.

"It's O.K. Look after the girl."

Maria, did as Bob said. She moved closer to the girl, who had taken shelter behind another large rock. As Maria got closer, the girl shrank back from her. Wondering what the problem was, Maria realized that her pistol was in her hand. She holstered it, and held out both hands, while speaking softly to the girl.

"Hey, sweetie. It's alright. We aren't going to hurt you. Come on out. Let me have a look at you. Are you alright?"

She moved slowly, and continued to speak to the girl gently. As she leaned towards her, the locket she had showed to Bob earlier came out of her shirt, and reveled that a gold cross was on the chain as well. Seeing the cross, the girl reached out, and touched it, looking at Maria, with an unspoken question in her eyes. Maria said,

"That's right. We're Christians."

Soon, she was able to reach out and put her hand on the girls arm. Gently she pulled her to her feet. The girl suddenly clung to Maria as if her life depended on it, and started to sob.

"Bob? Are you O.K.?"

"I think they just winged me. My back sure hurts though. Take her back to town, and send Alex down here on your way. I'll wait here."

"Make sure you do that. Don't you go moving around and making things worse."

"Yes, mother."

Bob really had no plans to do much, his back felt like it was on fire. However, as Maria and the girl moved away he decided it couldn't hurt to check the dead men for whatever he could learn.

Bob had expected that these men had actually told the truth about one thing. They fled the city after the bombings. Their drivers licenses showed they were from Reno, and their clothing was certainly not meant for living in the country. He heard footsteps coming closer. Looking, he saw Tim jogging to him.

"Bob. Are you badly hurt?"

"I'll live."

"Can you get that jacket off? I'll check you."

Tim was surprised at the amount of blood on Bobs' back, and after gently lifting the shirt, found a deep furrow carved in his back, right across the shoulder blade.

"I don't think it went in, you were just grazed."

"Where's Alex?"

"He's uh indisposed at the moment."

"Indisposed?"

"After the shooting ended, he wanted to make sure those three were down. He cranked the magnification on your scope up to the max. He got a real good look at what he did to the first one. I don't think he is going to be eating anything for awhile."

"I see. Well lets' get these bodies out of sight. There is a gully over there, we can put them in there, and bury them later."

"BOB. SIT DOWN!!!"

"What?"

"Bob, you're still bleeding. You might still go into shock. You sit here, I'll take care of it."

"Nonsense. I'm fine. Let me up to help you."

"Bob, you lived across the street from me for ten years. I saw you working in the yard countless times, so I KNOW there isn't a big 'S' anywhere on your chest. Now sit down, or I'm going to knock you down and sit on you until you show some sense."

Surprised at Tim's' forcefulness, he agreed, and let Tim conceal the bodies. Then once that was done, he let Tim help him up, and they headed back to town.

BW, Vietnam Vet