Old West Vendetta [Closed]

[Dreamweaver28]

With great speed and reckless abandon the woods were brought alive with chaos and gunshots. The blasts illuminated the night under the canopy of trees that usually only allowed brief glimmers of light from the moon and stars. A weary and wounded man clung to his horse tightly as it was now a beast with no master to truly command it. They were both in pure flight, the instinct that all animals had to self preserve its life when confronted by overwhelming odds. Just as the horse broke into a clearing a bullet ripped through the leg of the man upon its back. Fully awakened by the blast that entered and exited his thigh Mitch pulled himself up again into riding position to direct his horse.

As consciousness returned he barely noticed the pain in his leg for his body had been battered and abused by an earlier fall off his horse. With blood blinding his one eye he looked back for a moment and the next directed his horse away from the woods and towards a steep incline. He tugged on the reins to force the animal to make the journey up the side of the loose graveled incline. The horse fought the choice as it shook his head but Mitch led him on. Slowly the horse bounded up it, dug in, and struggled to reach the top. A bullet ripped into the side of the little mountain and the horse reacted with renewed energy to reach the top.

Finally, after much error and energy wasted the horse reached the top and was allowed no respite as Mitch looked back to see five men still on the hunt. They were now incredibly close now, but like Mitch, they had a long climb ahead of them. To slow them down further and end the chase for one or two Mitch pulled his revolver from his holster, raised it, and fired shots at his pursuers. However, with only one eye opened and the only blurred by sweat the shots were far off their mark. But, it wasn’t all a waste.

The men did rein in their horses and circled around as bullets whizzed past them and into the ground. They returned his shots in their direction with a volley of rounds, which Mitch didn’t stick around for. He already had led his horse away from the edge of the cliff and towards the woods. Just as he had wiped his brow and turned back to see that none of his pursuers had seen them enter the woods a sickening crack was the last thing he heard before darkness.

The beast again in sole control it continued its rampage through the woods, its passenger now dangled limp and across the horses back. The only thing that kept him on its back was a leg tangled in the stirrup. However, the ride wasn’t to last much longer as in the distance a lightning flash lit up the sky and alerted the horse to a cliff ahead of it. The horse struggled to stop, but it was too late. As the front two hooves went over the edge of the cliff the horse fell forwards and flipped, which tossed its passenger off its back. The two rolled violently down the hill and they crashed finally into a river below.

On the riverbank, an unknown distance from where he entered, Mitch washed up and was laid upon the rocky edge of the water. Around him the ground was a dark reddish brown from the blood that had soaked into it. It was obvious from the amount of blood he had been there awhile, his dark brown hair strewn about his face, mixed with blood. Upon his forehead was a large gash that still oozed blood, but much less as it had begun to clot. His shirt was ripped apart as were his pants, and as he was faced down a large exit wound from a gunshot could be seen on his thigh through the torn pants.

 

[LovelyLuna]

She could hear the sound of guns off in the distance, ringing through the night. It was a noise she wasn't very used to, with the farm being so far removed from most other people. She was kept safe here, guarded well by a father who knew how to use a gun and a severely overprotective mother. Delilah was just shy of 19 years now, her older brother Aaron a ripe 24 and her younger sister Frances only 8. She was the middle child, so she was the one ignored most days, unless her parents wanted to yell at her for forgetting to do a chore, or for trying to sneak off the farm.

Delilah couldn't even remember the last time she had seen a living soul who wasn't flesh and blood related to her. She couldn't even remember what people who weren't family looked like.

The dawn was breaking and it was time for her long day to begin. She had to fetch well water, clean the clothes down by the river, collect eggs from the chickens and probably replenish the horses' hay stash; they had been peckish lately. Delilah pulled her loose fitting dress over her head, leaving off her long underwear and opting for tight cotton shorts instead. Mama would have a fit if she saw her bare legs, but she didn't intend to show them off. It was just so damn hot.

Her long, black hair was a wavy mess, so she braided it into two simple plaited pigtails and then tried as best she could to wipe the dirt off her face using the bowl and pitcher in her room. She knew it didn't matter, but she hated feeling dirty.

When she was finished, Delilah crept downstairs trying not to wake her sister, who was running a small fever and needed the sleep. She began her day with fresh milk from their fattest cow, then went to work. The sun was high in the sky by the time she had collected water. She decided to do the chickens and horses next and then start on the dirty clothes. When she was finally heading down to the river, basket of clothes and a washboard in hand, she was exhausted.

Throwing down her things, Delilah decided to cool off first. She hiked up her dress around her soft, pale thighs and waded into the water, closing her eyes and sighing at the sensation. She bent down, eyes still closed, running her hands through the water. It felt like heaven down here, and she was tempted to blow off her chore for another hour or so. But alas, she couldn't. Daddy would be down here eventually, and he'd be mad. Opening her eyes, Delilah noticed that her hand was shining with something light red. Why was the water -

"Oh my God...." Delilah exclaimed, finally catching sight of the man who lay by her feet, unconscious and bloodied. Was he dead? She hesitantly kneeled in front of him, her dress soaking up a bit of blood and dirt. "Sir...?"

He gave a very faint grunt, and it was then that Delilah noticed how large the wound on his leg was. Rushing into action, she began to scream for her Daddy, and for Aaron. She ripped a piece of her dress off to make a temporary tourniquet, just as her older brother came running through the clearing.

"Aaron, he's hurt real bad... Please..." Delilah watched as her brother hoisted the man up onto his shoulders and began walking at a fast clip toward the house. "Is that his horse?" Aaron grunted, pointing to his right.

Delilah hadn't noticed the gallant steed before, but there he was, still and calm, somehow. "I suppose so... I'll stable him with Chet..." Delilah made her way to the animal, who accepted her presence graciously, then led him toward the barn. It was her best guess that the man she had found was a victim, someone that a band of outlaws had shot and stolen from. He was good looking, probably a bit older than Aaron, and Delilah found herself hoping he lived. He was the first man besides family that she could remember laying eyes on in years.

 

[Dreamweaver28]

Slowly his eyes opened but his vision was blurred due to blood loss and the pain. The groans slowly escaped his lips as he tried to respond, but nothing anyone would be able to understand came out. A girl and a man were with him, he knew that, but he had no idea what they were said and though he tried to move his body didn’t listen to his commands. With his blue eyes, as blue as the river in which he laid, he looked up and tried to protest as the man lifted him up. Mitch groaned in pain with each bounce as everything hurt, his revolver dropped from its holster and landed on the ground. Mitch tried to reach for it and that was when he felt a pop inside his chest as a rib was dislocated. As he was about to scream in pain his vision went dark again and he fell into unconsciousness.

----- Two Days Later -----

“William!!”

His hand shot out to the right to reach for the gun that wasn’t there. It wasn’t until the realization the gun wasn’t there that he stirred to figure out where he was. As he quickly tried to sit up he winced in pain and placed his hand over a bandaged chest. Mitch gritted his teeth and slowly relaxed as he fell back onto the bed. Naked from the waist up, scars covering his abs and lightly haired chest, Mitch’s dark blue eyes scanned the room. At six foot one, quite taller than most men, his body barely fit in the bed that he was laid in. He was also quite physically fit, though it’d be a bit harder to recognize that by the state of his current condition. As he reached up to scratch his chin he found the hair was a bit longer than he remembered from what had been a light stubble.

Still alone his memories did not go back to the violence that had led him to his current state, but they went back to the battle of Vicksburg, his final battle of the Civil War, when he rescued three companions, but lost his brother. William. Far too young to have been conscripted in war, but the Confederates had been decimated, everything was lost, and every good Southern boy was forced to fight. They didn’t even have enough ammunition.

As he stirred in the bed and shifted he groaned again as he left thigh burned. He lifted the covers, realized he was naked, and that there was a bandaged wound on his thigh. Jacobs. That bastard. Now Mitch had no idea who had shot him, but it all went back to Jacobs and his obsession with vengeance against the world and bloodlust.

Just as he was about to remember the events that got him here he heard voices in the next room. It was those voices he listened to.

 

[LovelyLuna]

"Ma, I told you already, I just found him laying there by the river! There was nothing nearby, just the horse and a whole ton of blood..."

"Well, Delilah, it just doesn't make any sense. How would a stranger even make it all the way to our side of the river?"

"MA... I DON'T KNOW." Delilah was growing exasperated with the way her mother was interrogating her about the man in the next room. It had been two days since she had stumbled upon his body, and he was doing infinitely better than before. Delilah's mother Sue was a fantastic nurse when she needed to be, and she had exactly the medicine that his wounds had needed, stored up in her medicine bag. His leg wound was healing well, and they only had to keep changing the bandages on it once every 12 hours or so to prevent infection. The gash on his head wasn't nearly as bad as it had looked once they had gotten it cleaned up.

They still didn't know his name. Delilah's father Joe had tried to coax information out of the strange man, but he was only conscious in short bursts, and it was impossible to get anything out of him that way. Now Sue wanted Delilah to find out more, find out why he had been shot.

Agreeing to change his bandages, Delilah hoisted the medicine bag up over her shoulder and then used her butt to push through the heavy door to the room they were keeping the man in. She puttered around, not bothering to look at him much because she assumed he was still out. Setting her things down on the table and then taking out a new bandage and some iodine, Delilah was startled when she heard his voice.

"Miss? Where... where am I?"

She jumped back, swallowing hard, her green eyes searching and finding his own deep blues. "I... uhm... you're in my house." She knew it was a stupid thing to say, but she was shocked. First of all, she hadn't expected to actually be able to talk to him. Second of all, he was a man, and he was practically naked, and that was fine if he was unconscious, but now she had to look at him in all of his barely clothed glory, and speak to him? It was too much.

 

[Dreamweaver28]

From outside his room he could hear too women talking, or from how it sounded, a mother and her daughter. It was quite simple to put together really from there. He had been found unconscious and brought to a farmhouse. It didn't take a real genius to figure that out and he surely wasn't an educated man. As he looked up as the door pushed opened he watched the young girl enter his room, he couldn't begin to guess her age, but he assumed pretty young and thus covered himself. He was raised by a good mother after all and knew where there was a mother and daughter there surely was a man that would likely take even less kindly than either of them.

Lovely startled eyes turned to look at him as he spoke, but she didn't run from him though he wouldn't have minded. She was an obviously beautiful girl and customs were important in a region such as this, the cross above the doorway spoke of that. He was sure that she had likely barely been in the presence of men other than relations either and knew all too well how a father would react to his daughter alone in the room with a stranger, especially one who showed up as he had.

"Then I suppose I have you to thank Miss, but maybe it be best if I speak to the man of the house. I have my thanks to give for his help and would like to be on my way as soon as possible."

It was then that Mitch turned in the bed to sit up, but ensured that the covers would not expose his private regions. However, as he shifted he felt a tear in his chest and yelled in a most horrendous volume and obvious pain. What took only a moment Mitch regained himself and held up his hand to keep her back and show he was alright.

 

[LovelyLuna]

Delilah turned toward the door as the man screamed, knowing that someone would come running in less than a few minutes. She made a move toward him, wanting to help, but he held up his hand to stop her. She knew it was unconventional for a young lady to be alone with a slightly older, quite naked man, but it was what it was.

"Look, Sir, I wrapped your bandages, I can help.... is it the rib? Daddy thought it was dislocated, but we couldn't be sure. He set it back into place but he also said it would probably be excruciating for a bit... maybe you need more pain medication..."

Delilah began to dig through the medicine bag on the table, searching for the little red bottle that her mother had showed her and instructed her was only to be used in the most severe cases. This seemed severe.

"By the way, I'm Delilah.... we've been waiting for you to wake up so that we could figure out your name.... what is it?"

 

[Dreamweaver28]

As he grit his teeth in pain he looked back at the young woman as she explained that she had helped patch him up and would be able to help. While she dug through her bag and looked for pain medication he responded. "Yeah, it's the rib," he began. "The name's Mitch." When she had retrieved the pill Mitch took it from her with a nod of thanks and took it with a glass of water. He knew it would take awhile for the pain to subside, but he could bare it in front of a lady. "I overheard you talking to your mother. I can take care of my leg bandage myself. I think it'd be best if you go."

"And I need to speak to your father or your mother!" He had gotten a bit tired by her obvious lack of understanding. She couldn't help him nor was she the head of the family, he needed to speak to her parents, immediately, and let them know they had better see him on his way.

Mitch didn't know where he was, but he knew for sure that his former comrades were still looking for him. The last thing he wanted to do was put these good people in the crosshairs of people who were far more brutal than he was. Plus, at risk of the lives of the family he knew that he would be turned over to the band without a second thought.

He needed to get a change of clothes, his horse, his gun, and then express his thanks before he continued his journey.