Last Updated: 4/7/99

Chandrika Ryley strode into the headquarters of the Seven's offices. She was NOT a very happy person. Today was supposed to be her day off, and she damn well deserved it. Why was it she could get no peace from these people even for ONE day?! She sighed and adjusted the short skirt she wore. So she wasn't dressed for a mission, her skirt barely covering her legs, her clogs not the best footwear for her job, and the very short cropped top she wore barely hid her full figure, but what did they expect? She had been all set to go the club when her beeper went off saying they needed her at HQ for something. She sighed once again as she stepped through the doors, brushing an irate curl out of her pale eyes.

"Chandrika we have a mission for you," her commanding officer said. Chandrika scowled.

"I thought it was my day off," she said, her accent thicker than usual.

"Plans changed. You have to travel," her CO said getting irritated. Chandrika went silent. For him to get that upset at her so quick made her realize something WAS wrong. She settled back on her heels, waiting.

"You have to head back to Four Corners to watch over the Seven," he said. Chandrika raised an eyebrow at that.

"I have no further details. Your bag is over there, you have no time to change so I suggest you change at least into your less revealing clothes when you arrive," he said. He knew a long time ago to never get Chandrika to wear the time period's clothing. She would wear her clothes and nothing else, no arguments. Chandrika nodded, her hand pressing against her flat, bare stomach as she grabbed the very large knapsack, swinging it on her shoulder. She stepped onto the portal pad and turned around.

"Good luck," her CO said with a smile. Chandrika returned the smile then stiffened as the portal took affect. Everything shimmered and disappeared.

Chandrika landed with a thump on the ground wherever she was. It looked like she was in an open field. The effects of the portal where bad on her, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious, her knapsack near her, her skirt rode very high on her thighs. In her mind she wished to god that someone nice would find her in the field before the animals did. And then blackness completely over took her petite form.

Jack opened his eyes slowly. The few minutes he'd been out hadn't made him feel any more rested. *Fire?* he wondered blearily. *Why do we want a fire?*

"You can't burn down the house," he muttered, trying to sit up. "That's evidence."

The argument between Clair and Vin stopped for a moment as they both looked over at the young man but then continued as though there'd been no interruption.

"Let me take a look at you, son," Nathan said as he helped Jack sit up.

Jack jerked away. "I'm fine."

"There's an awful lot of blood for someone who's fine."

"Well since you helped contribute to it..." Jack let the sentence trail off as he worked at getting his legs under him.

"That's a nasty cut on your head."

*He's not going to give up, is he?* "It matches the nasty broken rib and the nasty slash on my hand, not to mention all the nasty bumps and bruises," he grunted as he stood unsteadily. Nathan put a steadying hand on his shoulder but Jack walked away from it.

"It ain't right to burn down the house, give me one good reason why we should?" Vin demanded of Clair.

"I can't explain it now, we just have to do it!" Clair screamed back.

"Give me Kitty," he broke in on the argument.

"Huh?"

Jack didn't wait for more of an answer as he grabbed the baby. Vin was torn between going after him to get her back or going after Clair who was heading for the smoldering cottonwood to get something to start the fire with. He decided it was more important to stop Clair.

"Come on, Kitty," Jack whispered to the sleeping baby as he walked away from the group. "I'm going to find you a nice foster home away from these crazy Western people and you won't have to worry about anyone taking you and maybe I'll visit if I ever come back around this way." He continued mumbling to her, ignoring how tired he felt as he started up the hill. The screamed "I know you're there!!!" made him pause. It was that girl who'd taken Kitty. *Maybe the unseen assailant is attacking her now,* he smiled.

Buck toped the rise overlooking the Taylor place, he was about to ride down the slight incline to the house thinking maybe the Taylor`s had seen the women pass. He wasn`t a tracker like Vin - he`d lost their trail aways back, but he`d followed long enough to know they weren`t headed for the creek. Buck recognized Charlie`s yell instantly, he turned his horse in the direction the yelling was coming from and spurred the horse hard. His horse moved in an explosion of speed, cutting threw the air in long graceful strides. Horse and rider rounded a bend in the trail as two riderless horses barrel toward them.Buck`s horse shied at the panic in the other animals. Seconds passed as Buck fought his horse for control. Finally he was able to coax the animal forward. He came upon Charlie standing in the middle of a clearing yelling at thin air.

The pain in here stomach went away, for now. She heard noise behind her and drew her gun slowly. She spun around.

"Buck!!" She yelled, her heart jumping into her throat. Buck jumped at her outburst.

"Charlie, what are doin' up here??" He asked, climbing of the horse. Charlie ran over to him, holstering her gun. She started pushing on him.

"Buck, get back on the horse! Go back to town! Please!" She pushed him back toward the horse.

"Charlie, what's wrong with you?" He grabbed her arms. "I want you to come back with me. You shouldn't be out here unsupervised." He looked behind her.

"Buck, I'll be okay- " There was a crash of thunder that sent her to her knees, covering her ears. She couldn't handle this anymore. The feeling of impending doom weighed heavily on her shoulders. It was something she'd never felt before. Something she didn't think she could take. Then, the pain she kept feeling. It made her sick.

She held her eyes tightly closed, the picture still in her mind of the town, and the its people. Then she opened them slowly only to see Buck's bewildered face staring back at her.

"Stay here." She told him, standing up. Then the picture of Buck and the dark man flashed in her head. "No, come with me!" She grabbed him.

"The horse!" Buck said taking the reigns. Charlie pushed them out of his hand.

"Forget the horse!" She ran toward the top of the hill again. "Augh!" She screamed as the stranger carrying the baby topped the ridge. The stranger clutched the baby close to chest and stopped, staring at her. Charlie finally broke down. This was too much. The fear, the feelings. The smell of death, and evil. The darkness, and the cold. Too much. Never had she felt so scared and out of control.

"I can't do this! I can't do this!!" She screamed at the air.

*Great!* Jack thought as he topped the rise and saw Charlie and a new man. They looked at each other for a moment than she began screaming. Jack was taken aback by the sudden change in demeanor and took a step away from her. Buck was looking between the bloody stranger and his crying niece.

"What did you do to her?" Buck demanded.

"Me?" Jack asked, trying to skirt the pair. "I didn't do anything, what did you do?"

Buck stepped to the side to block his path of escape. "You aren't going no where until you explain what is going on."

Jack smiled. "Look, cowboy, I've had enough of your kind today for a life time. Kitty and I are going to keep walking and you can do whatever you want with your crazy friends."

"You can't go," Charlie moaned.

Jack gave her a funny look but started walking anyway.

"What do you mean, my friends?" Buck asked, blocking Jack again.

"I mean Scruffy guy and Knife man down by the house."

Buck gave him a blank look.

"Vin and Nathan," Jack explained.

"What are they doin' out here?" Buck wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Jack said with exasperation as he sidestepped the moustached man. "Committing murder and arson?"

"What?!" Buck exclaimed grabbing his arm.

"Look, you shouldn't come in during the middle of the movie if you want to know how it started, now get out of my way," Jack said pushing him to the side.

Before Buck could respond, a dark raven screamed past. Both men ducked reflexively though the raven was already past them and headed into the valley.

"What was that?" Jack and Buck asked in unison.

"It's him!" Charlie exclaimed turning to run down the slope.

"Who?" called Buck following her.

Jack shrugged and was going to get out of there when he remembered what the voice he'd heard earlier had said to him, "he's coming, you'd better accept help from these men or you'll end up just like the people in the house." A chill went down his spine.

*Why am I listening to a voice in my head?* he wondered as he turned and started back down the hill with Kitty.

"What the hell??!?" Vin shouted, ducking as a black shape screamed down at them from the hill where Jack and Charlie had disappeared.

"Get down!" Nathan hollered. His hand went by reflex to his holster, but it was empty - his gun lay in the grass where it had been dropped. He threw himself to one side as the dark figure screamed overhead, trailing an icy blast of cold air in its wake. Nathan searched the sky frantically for the attacker as he moved across the ground towards his Remington. Vin and Clair were nowhere to be seen, and Nathan hoped they had taken cover somewhere. Across the front yard he could see Charlie bounding down the hill towards the house, frantic, Buck on her heels.

Buck? What the hell was he doing here?

A shriek like a steam whistle came from behind the house and Nathan turned in time to see the winged figure appear from behind the building, heading for the front yard and its occupants with a hellish cry.

Charlie saw the apparition and stopped as though frozen, eyes wide as she watched it approach.

"Charlie!" Buck's yell was audible even over the din as he threw himself at his niece, trying to bear her out of the path of the oncoming demon.

The girl was frozen in his path. Shrieking his delight into the wind, he shifted again.

Wings, thrown back, expanded and strengthened- muscles rippled as the wind caught them. Wickedly pointed talons lengthened and curved. He plumeted toward the earth, feet wide to catch tender flesh. The terror in the air fed him. In the moment of the kill he was no demon. He was a GOD!!!

His target had not broken his spell, but was suddenly no longer there. A man... A MAN had dared to take his kill. With an almost contemptious flick of his claws, he lashed out at the man.

Mighty wings pulled forward. Clawing back toward the sky he wheeled away from the scene he had created.

Ezra rode his horse casually around the fields near town, patrolling as Chris wished him to do. He knew the gunslinger was a little edgey, hell they all where. Something was in the air, and it was not good. His horse suddenly shied and it startled him. He dismounted once he calmed the steed down, glancing at what had caused it. He frowned as he saw a scantily clad woman, that was very tiny, and very lovely, lying in the field, a large sack on her back. He kneeled down to see if she was still alive and could feel her breath on his hand. He sighed. At least he didn't have to take a corpse back to town. He lifted the girl effortlessly into his arms and managed somehow to mount his horse, holding her. He made sure he had a firm grasp on her and he spurred his horse back to town.

"I certainly hope for your sake my dear that Nathan has returned," he muttered to her gently. He could feel the chill of her body easily as he returned to town.

Jack was still high on the hill and had a good view of all that was taking place by the house. Vin and the girl he'd been arguing with were huddled by the cottonwood, Nathan was crawling toward his gun, or at least that's what Jack assumed he was doing, and that bird had changed into some kind of monster and taken down the guy with Charlie.

"Whoa," he said in awe as it turned up and flew higher in the sky. "This has got to be the weirdest day of my life."

The thing spiralled up into the clouds and Jack continued down the hill a little faster. A deafening crash of thunder reverberated through him. He looked back to see what damage the lightening had done and saw instead a shadowy man on the hill behind him. Everything about him was dark and seemed to suck the light in.

"Holy crap," he muttered then ran to join the others by the house. If this was the guy who was coming he didn't want to have anything to do with him.

Malicious laughter echoed after him as lightening struck again and a cold rush of wind knocked him off his feet.

Kit and Lena dismounted Zosa near the scrub. Kit perched on one of several boulders that were scattered around the base of the hill, and Lena all but collapsed onto a second rock. Zosa shook her head and snorted in Kit's general direction before nosing around at the grass.

Kit looked at Lena, who seemed to still be fighting for some sort of control. Kit remembered the abject terror that had gripped Lena in town and asked directly, "What's going on?"

Lena looked at Kit for a long moment, pondering just how much she should share. She didn't really know anything about her. *Except of course, that she kept you from going insane and then there's that whole human-but-not sensation.*

Taking a deep breath, Lena started. To her own chagrin, she discovered that once she started talking, she couldn't stop. The day had been too much, she simply didn't have the energy to lie or tell half-truths. "It's a long story. I'll try and... uh... keep it short..." Her history was pouring past her lips unbidden. The talent she had inherited from her parents. The man from the stable... and then the church. How the world had suddenly been inside her head. "...and then you were there and the pressure was pushed back. I wasn't afraid of you. You...," Lena paused, not sure how to continue, "you aren't exactly..., well..., What are you?"

Kit fidgeted nervously, taken by surprise by the question. Lena's explanation made sense of a lot of things, and Kit bemusedly found herself wanting to confide in her companion. Some secrets were more fun when shared, and the trust Lena had shown in confiding in Kit made her want to do the same in return. The question was, how?

She considered what Lena had told her about her gift, and she smiled. "It might be easier if I showed you," Kit said quietly. She cast a sidelong glance at Zosa, then asked, "Um, can you ask your cayuse to not try and pound me into the ground? Most horses don't seem to like it when I... um... shift." Lena frowned slightly, but nodded and murmured to the grey. Zosa snorted again, uncertain, but backed off a few paces.

Kit took a deep breath, looked straight into Lena's eyes, and started to shift. At first Lena couldn't see any difference, but a tentative touch to the other girl's mind was a surprise - Kit was suddenly much less complex, much more open. It was the same sort of feeling she had encountered back in town, and suddenly Lena understood what had happened back there, when her sense of Kit had changed and gotten more complex, more human.

"How are you doing that?" Lena asked curiously. Zosa stamped irritably beyond the copse, and Lena calmed her with a word.

Kit grinned, and allowed herself to shift even further. Lena gasped slightly as Kit's brown-gold eyes changed hue to a clear gold, and her features seemed to become more angular and wolfish. Lena at first thought it was a trick of the light that seemed to make Kit's ears appear more pointed. Or maybe it was her hat. But another mind-touch told Lena she wasn't imagining it - Kit's mind felt much more animal than human. But there was no malice in Kit's mind, and Lena wasn't afraid.

*No wonder Zosa didn't like her* she realized, looking over to where the big grey watched, alert.

"That's as far as I dare go right now," Kit said suddenly. Lena focused her attention back on Kit and started in surprise. Kit's human features were gone, and her flat-topped black hat sat incongruously on a head that was decidedly coyote-ish. Lena blinked, but her eyes weren't playing tricks - across from her sat a human form in boots, split skirt, blouse and vest, with the head of a canid. "If I keep going," Kit continued, and Lena was surprised at the relatively clear words coming from the toothy muzzle, "I'll probably split out the seams." Kit grinned, her tongue lolling from her mouth. "I get a little bit bigger when I shift this way - more muscle. And if I want to go all the way to full latrani, I need to put my clothes in a sack and hide them. It can get awkward coming back from a run and suddenly having nothing to wear."

"You... you're a werewolf?" Lena was incredulous.

Kit looked upwards with a long-suffering sigh. "A werewolf, she says." She looked back at Lena, and could smell the other girl's slight nervousness. Lena was still staring at Kit, coming to grips with what she was seeing. It had suddenly occurred to her that she may have insulted a creature that was bigger than she and with much sharper teeth, and that might not be the best thing, in spite of the fact that she still couldn't sense any malice in Kit's mind. Kit laughed, an odd, chortling noise that was almost a bark. "No, it's okay. It's just that the werewolves get all the attention, it seems. They lack subtlety. Tact. They go barging in and do things by force, while we Children of Coyote prefer to do things by finesse."

Clair sat huddled against Vin, protected by his shielding arms from any danger. She watched the demon glide threw the air with a hellish grace. She followed the winged creatures path threw the air, she couldn`t seem to tear her eyes from the sight. Suddenly she remembered the baby, and knew that`s what the creatures real objective was. "Oh God Vin, where`s the baby? It wants the baby". Before Vin had a chance to point out the stranger holding the baby, Clair let out a blood chilling scream. He followed her horrified stare, and saw the creature descend towards Charlie. Vin jumped to his feet and ran towards the girl, with Clair desperately trying to keep up. Buck appeared from the corner of Vin`s vision, he knew Buck`s intention. Vin`s legs mercilessly churned towards his friends, with sickening certainty he knew he wasn`t going to reach them in time. He watched helplessly as Buck took Charlie`s place, and the claws of the creature ripped threw Buck`s flesh.

"No!! No!!" Charlie jumped up from where Buck had pushed her out of the way.

"Buck! What in the name of all that good are you thinking??" She said through gritted teeth, not wanting to cry in front of everyone, also not wanting to cuss in front of them. She was kneeling next to him, checking over his wounds. She made sure he was still breathing. Barely. "Wake up! If you die I swear I'll find you and kill you again, myself!" She couldn't stop the blood that was gushing from where that monsters claws had grabbed him. She felt Nathan put his hands on her arms. He was still crouched low to the ground, still looking for that thing in the sky.

"Let me look," He told her. Charlie stood up and turned around.

"Oh no..." She saw Jack on the ground, the baby was screaming again, and that monster was after it.

"Get the baby!!" She screamed, her voice hoarse. "Get the baby!" She started running again, waving her arms as if it would help, like chasing birds away. Jack got up, he didn't look very good.

"Grab her!" She was still about thirty feet away.

There was crash of lightening so close Charlie felt it in her chest. The girl hit the ground, shielding her head from whatever would be shattered or splintered by the bolt.

*That's the second time today,* Jack thought as he pushed himself up to his knees. *Different hill, same pain,* he added with a groan.

Charlie was running toward him, yelling, but Jack couldn't quite figure out what she was saying. "The baby?" he asked blankly. "The baby!" he jumped weakly to his feet and turned to look farther up the hill. The dark man was slowly stalking down it toward the crying child. Thunder and lightening were crashing mercilessly around the area, destroying trees and shaking the ground, but he could still hear the wail from Kitty.

"I'm coming Kitty!" he yelled as he ran falteringly back toward her.

Sweeping her into his arms moments before the demon was within reach, Jack spun around and continued his flight down the hill. A shrieking roar and fierce winds rose up behind him but he did his best to keep running. He passed the figure on the ground shielding her head.

"Come on, Charlie!" he yelled over his shoulder as he ran toward the group huddled around Buck.

Charlie uncovered her head slowly and looked around. She caught sight of that thing and was and running in no time at all. She caught up with Jack and grabbed his arm, begging him to run faster.

They got to the group and she stopped. All feeling drained her body. All color drained her face. All sorts of thought flooded her mind.

This was the first time she had ever predicted something this horrible.

Usually it was something good, sometimes it was something bad, but not like this. Maybe someone tripping and falling, or just getting hurt in another kind of accident. But never had they been so.... horrifying. So damned scary, or even dangerous. She had never invisioned death, or anything like this. And now, everything she had seen in her mind in the past few days was coming true, and it was scaring her to death. She couldn't stop shaking. She just wanted to crawl into a small, dark hole, curl up, and have a good cry, all alone.

The girl turned away from the group as they huddled over her hurt, and probably dying uncle. She couldn't stand here and watch him....die.

She suddenly remembered what had brought her up to this moment, and looked around. Where had the creature gone?

*It would be so easy to end it here,* he thought, stalking toward the child. Then remembering the way it had felt to scatter the humans, added *I haven't enjoyed mortals this much since Roanoke. My pets found a game worthy of my attention for once. It would be a shame to end it too quickly.*

Thinking of his pets, he checked on the other preperations that were being made. That idiot had grabbed the girl too early. *Why is it that the only followers I can attract anymore are incompetant. When did evil go out of fashion?* his thoughts were heavy with irratation, *The one convieniant bit to the whole mess is that The Mayfaire is in town, she will have to deal with this. I have other things to tend to.*

A man had snatched up the child. As if a mortal could shield her from his power. He caressed the infants tiny mind. *Sleep girl, I'll be back when the time is right. Learn from these self-appointed guardians.* He checked one last time, making sure that the changes in her mind were undetectable. Assured that girl appeared completely normal, he vanished.

The small homestead at the center of the termoil burst into unholy flame.

Gia sat down on her bed and thought of how the night was going to go. She wanted to make a good impression and she was sure she would with the help of her new 'friends', Casey and Mary.

However, Gia did feel there was something amiss in this small, sleepy town. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was sure it was something that would make her goals a little harder to attain. She had heard much about the seven that stood guard over the town. Funny, since her arrival, she had yet to see or meet one of them.

Maybe this was going to be easier than she thought. Gia let out a wicked, little laugh and began to dress for dinner.

Jack fell to his knees because it was easier than trying to stand. The fire roared hellishly behind them, lighting up the cloud darkened day. The first big drops of rain slowly started to plop down on the group. Nathan was trying to save the man Jack still didn't know the name of, and the woman he didn't recognize was trying to help. Looking at the blood that still gushed sluggishly from the man's wounds, he knew they weren't going to be able to save him without some better supplies. He didn't even bother to ask if anyone had called an ambulance, there wasn't a road for it to come on or time for it to arrive, not to mention they didn't look like the types to be carrying cellular phones. He came to a decision.

Grudgingly handing Kitty to Vin, who didn't look like he wanted to hold her, he pushed past the unknown woman. "I've got some training, let me see him," he said tiredly.

Nathan gave him a sad look and Jack recognized it as meaning he'd lost hope but didn't want to say it.

"Please," Charlie pleaded. "Do what you can for him."

"What's he to you?" Jack asked as he looked at the wounds. They were deep and ugly. He was a goner.

"He's my uncle, Buck Wilmington."

Jack sighed. He didn't particularly like Charlie, though she seemed somewhat admirable. If he had any intention of getting to know these people maybe it would be different, for now he only had the fact that she'd tried to take Kitty from him to base his impression of her on. Still, he didn't think this man should die for saving his niece from whatever that was.

Concentrating, he took away much of the lost blood. He was grateful for the now pounding rain because no one would notice it was suddenly gone. Putting it back into Buck, hoping it could find its own way, he slowly closed the wounds. Not all the way, but enough that they were no longer life threatening. He'd learned the hard way that he couldn't trust even friends with something like what he did, let alone crazy people he'd just met a little while ago.

"I think he's going to be okay," he said finally. "We need to clean and wrap the wounds. And getting him out of the rain wouldn't hurt."

Nathan did a double take, he obviously wanted to add something to that diagnosis. But Charlie looked so happy that he couldn't say it outright.

Dragging Jack away from the little group he whispered loudly, "What are you talking about? You shouldn't get her hopes up like that!"

"It's not that bad, check for yourself. It just looks really bloody and deadly."

Nathan didn't like the sarcastic tone, but went back to Buck. If there was even a small chance he could help him, he'd keep trying.

Jack heard a low groan from the group and knew Buck was waking up. With a small smile he sank to his knees. He felt so drained even the cold rain couldn't quite get through his dulled senses. "At least some people's day has gotten better," he whispered then fell flat on his face in the growing mud.

Buck`s body lay prone on the ground, blood seeping from his wounds. His mind was in a far different place. A place of complete blackness, where nothing penetrated. In the depths of his mind he wondered if he were dead, but that couldn`t be true there was no fire. His mind raced to make sense of what had happened to him. He had decided he wasn`t dead, because he knew with absolute certainty that if he were he`d be in hell by now. A roar of laughter echoed in the darkness and he realized it was his own voice. He entered the conscious world with the same laughter flowing from his lips. His eyes opened to find a small group standing around him looking at him as if his mind was what had been damaged. "At least I ain`t in hell," Buck managed to spit out between bouts of laughter.

Buck`s laughter turned to moans of agony. He had tried to push himself to a sitting position when he realized he wasn`t about to die anytime soon. As he moved his left shoulder a searing pain engulfed the whole side of his body. He try to lay still on the ground,the slight movement had reopened the wound and fresh blood mingled with the falling rain and soaked quickly into the ground.

Jon's first order of business was to find Mrs. Travis and pay his respects. He and Jared had left town shortly before Stephen had died and Jon hadn't been back since.

They had been on their way back, when Jon had spotted a wagon that was floundering mid-ford. When it became obvious that the wagon was going to go, they had helped the family to shore. On the last trip, the wagon had rolled. Jon could still remember the look in Jared's eyes as he tossed the young boy to Jon and dissapeared 'neath the wood, canvas, and water.

Frowning, Jon turned his thoughts to better times. Like that last winter in Four Corners. Evenings with the Travis's. Mary at the kitchen table in a mock school room. The Sister's at the boys home had made sure he knew his letters and numbers, but Stephen and Mary had taught him how to read. Stephen and Jared had talked away many long evenings arguing politics, until Mary, finally fed up, would offer her own opinion and end the conversation. For the first time Jon had a group of people he could call a family.

Jon was so lost in thought that he nearly missed the rider with the body slung across his saddle. Curious, Jon focused his hearing on the pair. The rider's breath was excited, the girl's was deep and slow. *Now that is definitly wrong. Who takes a nap across a saddle?* Freeing his long Colt 45 rifle, Jon went to find out just how wrong.

"Take it easy, Buck," Nathan admonished, pressing gently on Buck's shoulders to keep the big gunslinger down. "Don't go movin' around, now."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Buck managed hoarsely. In spite of the worry on her face, Charlie managed a slight smile.

Nathan, scowling, examined Buck's side. The gouges that had looked fatal a couple of minutes ago now looked manageable, and though they were still oozing blood, there wasn't a pool of it seeping into the ground like he remembered. Maybe the rain and mud had made Buck's wounds look worse than they really were. Maybe Jack was right. Nathan tore off part of Buck's shirt and folded it into a bandage pad to press against the wound. He looked around for Jack, and saw the stranger lying face-down in the mud nearby. "Charlie, here - hold this. Don't let ol' Buck go moving around, okay?" he said, making room for the girl at Buck's side. Charlie nodded and held the bandage against her uncle's wound.

Nathan scrambled to his feet and hurried over to Jack, who was still lying where he had fallen, overlooked with all of the attention centered on Buck and the still-burning house. Nathan carefully rolled Jack over onto his back, and the falling rain immediately began washing mud streaks from the man's face. Nathan took a moment to study the newcomer. He looked to be barely older than JD, and his clothes - or what was left of them - were like nothing Nathan had ever seen. Worried at Jack's stillness, Nathan laid an ear against the man's chest, and was reassured by the steady thumping of Jack's heart. He'd passed out, what with all the excitement, Nathan figured. He'd be okay, if they could get him out of this damned rain.

Looking around, Nathan felt a sudden, powerful feeling of deja-vu. The rain, the mud, the fire off to one side, the clusters of people around fallen companions... it reminded him suddenly and strongly of a Union Army hospital camp. His time as a stretcher bearer in the army meant he'd spent plenty of time in such camps. And in spite of all the mud and rain and mess of those camps, he'd never overestimated someone's wounds as badly as he'd evidently done to Buck's. He was sure that Buck's wounds had been fatal, was positive, in fact. But Jack had said they weren't - how did he know? Nathan wished that Jack would wake up. He had some questions for the stranger.

Vin and Clair, with the baby, were still in the yard, off to one side, watching the house burn. Buck and Charlie were huddled a little ways away, and there was no way Buck was going to be getting back to town under his own power. "Vin!" Nathan called. The tracker looked over at him, handed the baby to Clair, and hurried to Nathan's side.

"What's the matter with him?" Vin asked, nodding at Jack.

"He's just passed out, I think. But we gotta get him out of this rain. Him and Buck." Nathan looked over his shoulder at Buck, still lying on the wet ground with Charlie hovering over him, then up at Vin, concern in his dark eyes. "He can't ride, not with that side. And this fella, well, he don't even look to have a horse."

Vin was already looking around. "The Taylors must've had a buckboard or wagon of some sort - I'll go see if I can find it," he said, getting up and striding off into the rain.

Charlie kept the cloth held gently, but firmly over the wound. She couldn't help but keep thinking how bad Buck looked, though she was glad he was still alive. That stranger had saved his life, as well as the child's.

She glanced over where Nathan was, crouched next to the newcomer. He was unconcious. He had some nasty cuts and bruises, and huge gash on his head, blood all over him--some of it was Buck's, most of it was his own. He looked like he'd been through a war.

She turned her attention back to Buck. He was covered with both blood and rain. She was beginning to wish she hadn't left town. Then Buck wouldn't have ended up like this. Maybe things would have turned out for the worse if she hadn't though. At least everyone was still alive, for now. But they still had to get back to town.

She brushed her hair out of her face, the rain had soaked her to the bone. This had been the longest day of her life. And still it wasn't over. She shook her head unbelieving.

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