Jonah fired back immediately, but both Blade and Dakota had already started to move. Dakota spun to her right. There was a wall there that she could hide behind. From the corner of her eye, she saw Mrs. Carter point her rifle at her. It all happened so fast, but at the same time, it felt like time had stopped. Dakota saw the moment Mrs. Carter pulled the trigger, and then, from out of nowhere, Dakota was pushed out of the way. The slug hit Blade in the abdomen, sending him crashing to the floor, but not before he returned fire. Even while falling, Blade’s aim was true. The bullet hit the woman right between the eyes, killing her on the spot.
“Protect yourself,” Blade groaned as he clutched his stomach.
His eyes were wide, his pupils dilated, and his breathing heavy. Dakota watched in horror for a moment before acting on instinct. Blade was injured, and she needed to get him somewhere safe. Gripping her Colt, Dakota flung herself out from behind the wall. Both Jonah and his son came into view, and she shot off two rounds in succession. The first one hit the son right in the center of his chest. He went down without any resistance. The second .44 slug hit Jonah in the shoulder. He didn’t go down, but he dropped his rifle.
Dakota’s boots slid on the wooden floor as she stopped her sideways momentum and came to a stop. She allowed herself only a second to adjust her aim before she pulled the trigger again. Jonah went down hard, hitting the ground right next to his son. Dakota didn’t bother checking to see if he was dead. If he wasn’t, he would bleed out soon enough. The slug had entered the side of his head. There was no way anybody was going to survive that.
Holstering her pistol, Dakota rushed to Blade. He was awake but only barely. There was no way she was going to be able to pick him up, so she grabbed hold of his shoulders and dragged him out of the house. She was scared that she was hurting him more, but she had no other option. Once outside, she left him on the ground and ran to where they had left the horses. Luckily, it wasn’t far. Getting Blade onto Africa’s back was incredibly difficult. He tried to help, but he couldn’t stand. Using all her strength and the adrenaline pumpingthrough her veins, Dakota lifted Blade and hoisted him onto the horse.
“I need you to hold on,” she said, pressing Africa’s reins into his hands.
Blade gripped them tightly, leaning forward so that he was pressed against Africa. Even in the darkness of the night, Dakota could see Africa’s white coat turning red with blood. She had to do something, and she had to do it fast.
She tied Africa to Riot, jumped onto her horse, and took off down the road. Blade needed a doctor, but she couldn’t take him to the doctor in town. After what they had just done, they would be locked up for life. Not knowing what else to do, she rode Riot out of town, pushing him to go faster than ever before.
She didn’t go too far from the town before she stopped the horses behind a cluster of big boulders. Next to her, Blade groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head before focusing on her.
“I don’t know what to do,” Dakota admitted as tears streamed down her face. “Please tell me what to do.”
“St-stop the bl-bleeding,” Blade replied through clenched teeth.
With only the moon as light, she couldn’t see much, but the dark stain on Africa’s coat was growing bigger. Blade was losing way too much blood.
“How?” she begged, desperate to help him.
“Cau-cauterize it.”
Dakota’s stomach lurched as he spoke the words. She knew how cauterizing wounds worked. It was a horribly painful procedure, but it was effective. Dakota slid off Riot’s back and grabbed her bag. She really didn’t want to do it, but she had no other choice.
Working as fast as she could, she started a fire, which was needed to heat her knife and provide light so that she could see what she was doing. Once the fire was going, she pressed the blade of her knife into it. She considered helping Blade off Africa but quickly decided that it was a bad idea. There was no way they could stay there. She had to get Blade to a doctor, and that would mean lifting him back onto Africa. Instead, she left him on his horse’s back. She would make it work.
It didn’t take long for her knife to reach the right temperature, but it felt like a lifetime. Every second counted when Blade’s life was on the line. As soon as the knife was ready, Dakota ran to Riot and hoisted herself onto his back.
“You need to sit up for a second,” she told him.
Blade didn’t look well. His face was pale, and his pupils were way too big, but he didn’t argue. He pushed himself up with a loud grunt.
Taking Africa’s reins, she pushed them into Blade’s mouth. “Bite down on that.”
Next, she ripped open his coat, lifted his shirt, and then pressed the scalding-hot blade onto his wound. An anguished sound escaped Blade’s mouth, muffled by the reins.
Dakota held the blade in place, tears streaming down her face as she counted in her head.
Once she was sure that it was done, she slowly removed the knife and leaned in closer. There was blood everywhere, but the wound was closed, and no new blood was coming out.
“I have to check for an exit wound,” she told Blade. “You can lean forward again.”
Blade slumped forward, his breath coming fast and heavy.
Dakota scooted back on Riot and lifted Blade’s shirt where she assumed the exit wound would be. There was nothing, meaning the slug was still somewhere inside him.
There was nothing more she could do for him. He needed a doctor, or he would die. Moving as fast as she could, Dakotapacked up her stuff and then looked at Blade’s map to see where the closest town was. She was bad with directions, but she couldn’t afford to mess up. There was a town called Twin Springs not too far away, and it looked easy enough to get there. She just had to follow the road she was on and then take a left when she got to the lake.
All in all, it didn’t take too long, but time was precious. After cauterizing his wound, Blade had passed out, and Dakota was doing everything she could to keep herself together. Blade needed her. She couldn’t afford to lose it.
Dakota tied Blade to Africa so that he wouldn’t fall off and then headed down the road, going as fast as she could. Getting to Twin Springs wasn’t difficult, but the problem was that it was the dead of night, and the town was dark and quiet. Nothing was open, and she had no idea where to find a doctor.
There was one place she knew would be open. The saloon, as it was in most towns, was busy despite the time. Dakota jumped off Riot and rushed inside. It was a good thing that all of the men were drunk because she really didn’t want to try to explain their bloody appearance.
