DARK INTRUDER
DARK INTRUDER© nesciri
Part 15
Jimmy woke up as the rays of the sun stung his eyes. He moaned as he tried to rise and gingerly touched the side of his head. When he looked at his hand he could see blood on it and he remembered. Kid had shut him. Slowly he got to his feet and stumbled over to the bunkhouse. He dipped his head in water and then looked up into the mirror. He looked awful with a big gash at the side of his head. He winced as he touched it and realized that he should tie it up. Taking an old bandanna from Cody's bag, he wrapped it tightly around his head. It made him feel slightly better, as his thoughts returned to what had happened earlier. He couldn't believe that Kid had tried to kill him, but as he relived the incident in his mind he realized that there was something wrong. If Kid had wanted to kill him, he would have been dead now. Kid wouldn't have missed - he was too good a shooter for that. Then why had he wounded him? There was something missing and Jimmy had to find out what. Before Kid made good on his threats of hunting Lou and Cody down. They might not be as lucky as he had been.
Lou and Cody ate in silence. Cody had managed to kill a rabbit, which they had roasted over a small fire. None of them had any appetite, but it was better than not doing anything. They had nothing to say. The severity of the situation had got them under its spell and they longed for nothing than that the ordeal they were enduring would end.
The sounds of a horse approaching brought them to their feet.
"No," Lou whispered as Cody dragged her behind him and made his rifle ready.
"Stay there, Lou," he ordered as the rider came into sight. Lou stared at him. At a distance it looked like Kid and she felt a tug at her heart. She couldn't really kill him, could she? As he came closer she searched his face in hoping of seeing some familiarity in his features, but there was nothing familiar or loving in his face as he gazed down at the two refugees. Kid reached for his gun.
"Step away from her, Cody."
"Now, hold it there, Kid - I don't know what's going on here, but I'm not gonna let you hurt her," Cody said uncertainly. It looked like Kid and it sounded like Kid but after what he had seen the night before, he wasn't all that sure it was Kid.
"I said step away," Kid repeated.
Before Cody could react, Lou tore herself from his firm grip and placed herself between the two men.
"I'm not gonna let you kill him, whoever you are!" she called staring defiantly into the dark malicious eyes. "I'm not," she added trembling as he stared at her. To her surprise he laughed at her.
"So you have recognize me, have you Louise?"
"What have you done to Kid?" Lou asked as Cody watched them, rifle ready should Kid do anything hasty.
"Well, he's right here, honey, right before your eyes. And after he has killed your lover, he will bring you home. The town will have pity on him of course, since his wife ran off with one of his friends and nobody will think twice about him killing the friend." Kid raised his gun and urged his horse forward. Lou backed until as she was standing close to Cody, but as Kid came closer, Cody shoved her out of the way and she tumbled to the ground. Raising his gun, Cody found that he couldn't shoot. Maybe they were wrong, maybe they could save Kid, and maybe they didn't have to kill the apparition of Kid. So instead he flung his rifle aside and threw himself at Kid forcing him out of the saddle. They fell together to the ground and Cody desperately fought Kid, trying to hold on to his gun hand and make him drop the gun. But Kid held on to it as they rolled on the ground. Finally, Cody realized that he had to do something or the gun could off in their struggle and maybe hit Lou, who had hit her head as he threw her to the ground and now unsteadily tried to get to her feet. Knowing that he would never be able to wring the gun from Kid's hand, Cody used a trick he had once seen in a fight between two drunken miners. He used his teeth.
Grabbing hold of Kid's hand he let his teeth sink into the hand. Kid called out in pain, but it helped as the pain forced him to open his hand, loosing the gun. Cody immediately made an effort to reach it, when Kid forced them both away by rolling, dragging Cody with him. The roll ended with Kid on top. Cody stared up into the eyes of some that looked like his friend, but whose hateful eyes belonged to someone else, something else. He felt Kid's hands close over his throat, threatening to choke him. Stunned it took him a second to realize that Kid indeed was going to strangle him, but as soon as it stood clear to him, he begun clawing and pull at the hands around his neck. The only sound he could hear was his own gasps for breath. The hold around his throat tightened and he could hear himself wheezing as he tried to drag in air. He started to see black spots before his eyes and somewhere in the distance he thought he could hear Lou call out. He didn't have much strength left and he desperately tried to pry the hands away.
Jimmy heard the commotion before he saw it as he rode into the valley where Lou and Cody had made camp. At first all he saw was Lou, trying to get to get feet as she stared at something a few meters away. Jimmy rushed over to Lou and helped her to her feet.
"Cody," she whispered and he followed her gaze and saw the two men struggling on the ground. He reached for his gun, but then h became uncertain. He couldn't kill Kid and besides if he fired he might as well kill both of them. So hesitating he just stood there with Lou by his side staring at the scene.
"Stop it." The voice sounded strongly as it broke the scene. Baruk loosened his grip on the blonde rider and rose to face the newcomer.
"So, you've come to help your friends?" he sneered.
"I'm here to stop you."
Lou and Jimmy stared with unbelieving eyes at Buck. He was awfully pale and there was a weary expression in his face, but he never looked away from the cold stare of Baruk as their eyes locked. Cody slowly crawled away, still gasping for breath. Jimmy found his movement and helped him over to where he and Lou stood uncertain of what to do.
"You're too weak - you can't help them," Baruk stated as a cruel smile played over his lips.
"Give it to me," Buck demanded and held out his hand.
Baruk laughed viciously. "So you figured that out did you. No, I'm not handing you the amulet."
The amulet. So White Feather had been right, Buck thought. There was something that connected this evil spirit to this world. Now all he had to do was force the being to hand it over. He felt a hint of fear as he realized that the spirit before him was stronger than he anticipated. And he was weak - White Feather had urged him not to go, as he wasn't fully recovered. White Feather's words echoed in his mind. Lure him onto our sacred lands, where he'll be weak, he had said, and where I can help you. If you do battle with him elsewhere, you'll be on your own. But Buck had had no chance of doing that and now he was faced with the task of defeating this fiend on his own. And he was by no means sure he would win. All he knew was that he was forced to try.
"Kid, give the amulet to me," he continued, "don't listen to him."
Baruk laughed again. "Your friend can't do anything," he said. "You're wasting your time, boy."
But Buck continued. "Fight him, Kid. I know you can do it. You know this is wrong."
Baruk felt the captured soul inside him wake up to the voice and decided that it was time to put an end to this game. He raised his hand as the amulet started to glow, pointing at Buck.
Buck felt the pain as Baruk's mental force hit him, threatening him. Determinedly he gritted his teeth, refusing to give in, doing his very best to block Baruk's mental sending. He continued to call out to Kid, as well as reaching out to his soul.
The others stood close together, petrified, watching the two opponents facing each other. Despite the lack of fists, they knew that there was a battle going on - a battle they couldn't see nor understand. And since they had little or no knowledge of what was going on, all they could do was stare. Cody carefully reached down and grabbed his rifle, cocking it. If Buck lost, he thought grimly, then he would put a bullet through the demon's heart, Kid or no Kid.
Baruk struggled to keep the now stirring soul witin his grasp as he battled the young Indian. He brought out the memories he once had collected, and forced images from the boy's life into his mind.
Buck fought as painful and threatening images, his own memories, appeared in his mind. He knew that it was Baruk that created them, forced him to remember them, twisting his memories around and playing with his mind. Don't listen, he told himself as he was forced to his knees. "Kid," he mumbled, "drop the amulet. Let it go."
Cody raised his gun as he saw Buck sank down to his knees. Trying to keep his heart from raising he silently took aim.
Somewhere, Buck's words found a way into an unguarded corner of the prison of Baruk's entity, and somewhere another soul another mind started to react.
As if slow motion, Kid's left arm went to his pocket and returned with the amulet, now glowing in a bright red light.
"Drop it," Buck pleaded as he was forced to place on hand on the ground for support. He was loosing this battle, but maybe he could save his friends. "The amulet," he called out. He wanted to say more, but his voice wouldn't carry the words.
It was Cody that reacted. Recognizing the light from the night he and Lou had fled from the bunkhouse and remembering all the horrors she brought his rifle up to his shoulder. As Kid opened his hand and let the amulet fall to the ground, Cody's bullet hit it in mid-air, shattering it to pieces.
A terrible howl almost deafened them as they watched in horror how something lifted Kid up several feet in the air, only to drop him like a rag doll back onto it a second later. A silent explosion sent a shock wave through the air, forcing them to the ground and throwing Buck clear, several feet away. A cold wind whirl around them, forcing Jimmy, Cody and Lou to cover their faces and press themselves to the ground as the wind howled around them. It felt as there was claws in the wind, tugging at their clothes, wanting to hurt them. Jimmy protectively moved so that his body covered Lou's.
Then everything stopped and silence settled. For several minutes the three friends just laid there, trying to fathom what had happened. Covered in dust that the wind had sent over them they got to their feet. They could see Kid, lying on the ground, unconscious or dead, they didn't know which. There was no sign of Buck. Wearily, Jimmy and Cody with their guns ready, they slowly approached the unmoving body. Lou hesitated and followed the others, uncertain of what she would find. Suddenly she knew that Baruk was gone - the demon was gone. She rushed past Jimmy and Cody and despite their warnings, she kneeled by Kid's side, turning him over.
His eyes looked up at her and it was her Kid's eyes. There was nothing alien about them, they were the same eyes she had fallen in love with that first day she saw him.
"Lou." His voice was so weak that it was almost inaudible. Then he closed his eyes and his head sank back.
"Kid!" Lou yelled frantically, trying to get him back. He looked so pale and for a moment she thought she had lost him again, until she noticed him breath. Barely, but he was breathing. She could feel Jimmy kneel next to her.
"Try and find Buck," Jimmy told Cody as he tried to get Lou away from Kid's body. He wasn't at all sure what just had happened, but until he was sure that this demon was gone he wouldn't risk anything.
"It's Kid," Lou sobbed as she felt Jimmy try to drag her away. "Jimmy, it's Kid." Tears streamed down her cheek.
"You're sure?" Jimmy looked doubtfully at her.
"Yes. He's gone. The demon is gone. Cody killed him."
Jimmy remembered how Cody's bullet had shattered the amulet and how every shattered piece had turned into dust. But it was Lou's heart-breaking plea that it indeed was Kid laying there that convinced him.
"We better get him home then," he mumbled as Lou through him a grateful look.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Buck closed his eyes as the pain spread in his chest. He moved his hand over the tender area before lifting it to his eyes. It was covered in blood and he slowly sank back. He hadn't lost but he hadn't won either. Baruk was gone, never to return, with the destruction of the amulet. But in the process he had taken something with him. Buck moaned as White Feather's words returned to him.
"If you loose and succumb to the evil spirit's force, then the healing with not be."
"What do you mean - not be?" had he asked.
"My healing powers are not unlike those of the spirits - with the difference that where they destruct, I heal. But if you do battle and loose then you will be as you were before I found you. And this time I can't help you."
Buck swallowed hard as the reality of White Feather's word hit him. He was laying on the ground, suffering from the two gunshots, as he had been that night when White Feather came to his rescue. The only difference was that there would be no White Feather here for him. He could feel his life slowly ebb out of him and he closed his eyes, hoping that it would be over soon as the pain severed through his chest.
Cody run over to where he had last seen Buck, searching frantically for his friend when he heard a soft moaning. Running over to where he had heard it, he found Buck lying on his back in the short grass. Cody placed himself next to him and desperately searched for any wounds. He didn't have to search long. Two bloodstains on Buck's chest that slowly increased only too well told him the truth. Cody tore Buck's shirt open only to find two gunshot-wounds. His first thought were that it was his bullet that had hit Buck, until he remembered that he had only fired once. And he hadn't heard any more shots. Not that it mattered, his only concern was to stoop the blood that flow from the wounds making his friend weaker for every second. Using what material he had - his own undershirt and Buck's shirt he made a makeshift bandaged tightly over the wounds. While he was working he heard Buck moan again and open his eyes.
"It's no use," he mumbled, trying to get Cody to stop.
"It is until I think it isn't," Cody replied between his teeth. "I ain't gonna let you die on me."
"Cody--," Buck begun weakly, but realized that it was futile. Cody wouldn't listen to him. "The others?" he managed to ask.
"Lou and Jimmy are fine."
"Kid?"
"Don't know. Now stop talkin' and don't move. I think I've managed to stop the bleedin', but we need to get you to a doctor right away. I'll tell the others."
"What's wrong with him, Lou?"
"I don't know - there's no wound." Lou stared nonplussed at Kid's inert form. After he had spoken her name, he had been unconscious but neither Lou nor Jimmy could find any wound or other injury that could explain his blackout. Now they didn't know what to do when Cody came running up to them.
"I've found Buck," he panted. "He's taken two bullets in his chest and I think he's pretty bad. I've wrapped the wounds, but he needs to get to a doctor."
Jimmy rose. "Can you take him, alone, riding double?"
"Sure - why?"
"Kid's out cold - don't know why. Lou and I'll wait here if you tell Teaspoon to get us a wagon. Don't dare to put him on a horse if he's hit his head."
"Al right," Cody agreed.
A few minutes later Cody headed towards Rock Creek with Buck securely in the saddle in front of him.
