There was nothing she could use as a weapon and no way to escape. Isabelle wasn’t sure whether they had created windows in other parts of the cave, but there was no natural light in their room and no fresh air. The lantern provided the only light available, and with enough time spent there, Isabelle was pretty sure that a person would lose track of time.
Isabelle was still wondering what to do when she heard footsteps approaching again. Her stomach twisted and bile rose in her throat. The door creaked on its hinges, and she instinctively moved back on the bed and wrapped her arms around Sarah. It wasn’t Quincy. It was one of the other men. She was pretty sure that she had heard Quincy calling him Brian.
“Well, hello, beautiful,” he said with a huge smile on his face.
Isabelle did not answer. He had brought them food before and taken them for their walks during their travels to the cave. He had never spoken to her like that before, and she knew it wasn’t a good thing. He walked over to her. His shadow was dancing in the light of the lantern.
“You should wake her so that we can use the bed,” he instructed.
Sarah immediately knew what it meant, and fear rose within her. She knew what was going to happen, but she would rather it be her than her daughter. She still didn’t reply but did as instructed.
“Wake up,” she whispered as she gently shook Sarah’s shoulder.
Sarah sat bolt upright, her eyes wide as she took in the man standing over them.
“Go sit by the chest and stay quiet.”
“Ma . . .” Sarah breathed, panicked.
Isabelle shook her head. “It’s okay. Just go, please.”
Sarah knew they had no say about what happened, so she got up slowly and made her way to the spot next to the chest. Isabelle watched her carefully until she was sitting and then turned her attention back to Brian.
One after the other, the men started coming into the room and having their way with Isabelle. None of them touched Sarah, only Isabelle. It was horrible, and Isabelle felt like she wanted to die, but she refused to cry. Eventually, after hours of torture, the room was filled with silence again. The only sound was Sarah’s cries.
Isabelle had no idea how to make things better for herself or her daughter. “It’s okay,” she whispered again as she slid off the bed and crawled to her daughter. Nothing was okay, but at least the men had hurt her and not Sarah. She would endure the pain as long as her daughter didn’t have to suffer.
Chapter 19
Excluding his little adventure when Rider had shown up at his house a few weeks ago, Deadshot hadn’t gone further than a couple of miles in every direction from his cabin. The town wasn’t too far away, and there was a stream and great hunting grounds not too far from his cabin. Deadshot had taken his retirement seriously. His body had demanded that he slow down, and he had listened. Considering all the aches and pains he felt daily, he should likely have retired much earlier than he had.
During his bounty hunting years, Deadshot captured many dangerous outlaws, but Quincy Callaway was infamous. He wasn’t scared to go after somebody so feared. Deadshot didn’t gain his reputation by going after easy targets. Bandits used to fear Deadshot, and lawmen envied him. He would find Quincy and discover what happened to the kid’s mother and sister. There were two things about the mission that did scare Deadshot, though. The first was whether his body could actually handle it, and the second was taking the kid along.
Deadshot had no idea how to take care of a kid. He had never had any of his own and had generally kept his distancefrom people. He had lived on the road, and when he had been around people, it had mostly been for specific reasons. Friends and family weren’t something he was interested in, and making conversation wasn’t his strong suit.
After agreeing to help the kid, they had to pack. Since the child had no idea how long they were going to be away or where they were going, he packed what he thought was necessary. The most important thing was weapons. His Colt Army stayed in his gun belt, and he added more bullets. His Colt Navy and a couple of boxes of slugs went into his saddlebag. He then secured his Winchester rifle on his back, and his Hawken rifle went onto his horse.
It was always necessary to take some extra clothes, so he packed an extra pair of pants, some socks, underwear, a shirt, and of course, his coat. He added two neckerchiefs to his bag, as well as pots, cups, plates, and a bunch of knives. Once those necessities were collected, he packed some personal belongings like his map, compass, pocket watch, and money.
All in all, packing didn’t take long. It was something he was used to, and he didn’t really need much to get by. Since the kid didn’t have a bedroll, Deadshot gave him one of his, and then they secured their belongings to the backs of their horses. Next on the list of things to do was to buy some groceries that they could take with them on the road. They went to the general store in town and bought a bunch of canned foods, as well as some coffee beans, sugar, bread, oats, and rice.
The kid didn’t say much as they made their way through town. He simply followed Deadshot and took it all in. It felt strange to Deadshot to have the kid with him, but he was going to have to get used to it. Deadshot also bought a few more boxes of ammunition, sewing equipment, matches, and a bottle of alcohol. The alcohol wasn’t for drinking, but on a journey such as they were going to undertake, it was easy to get injured, and alcohol worked well to clean wounds.
When they were done in town, they headed to the kid’s ranch to pack his things. The kid had told him that he had never gone far from home and that he had never been on a trip like the one they were going to undertake. The kid grew up on the ranch and knew a lot about ranching, taking care of animals, and planting, but he knew nothing about tracking or fighting.
This was not surprising to Deadshot, but it was disappointing because it meant more work for Deadshot to keep him safe. Once they arrived at the ranch, Deadshot quickly helped the kid pack his things, and then they were on their way. The kid had taken one of his father’s gun belts, as well as his father’s Colt and shotgun.
Although Deadshot tried to hurry, it still took them quite a while to actually get on the road. The kid’s ranch was hours away from where Deadshot lived, and by the time they had traveled an hour from his ranch, it was almost already time to set up camp for the night. Deadshot didn’t mind traveling in the dark, but he did not want to travel during the night unnecessarily, especially since the kid was with him. Traveling at night was dangerous when you had no experience at all.
Taking the kid along was a risk, but Deadshot simply couldn’t tell him no. The kid reminded him too much of himself, and maybe by helping the kid, he could somehow help himself. It didn’t really matter. Deadshot had come to terms with his existence a long time ago, but he would be lying to himself if he said he wouldn’t love to get rid of the nightmares that haunted him.
“So, what’s the plan?” the kid asked, sitting down next to Deadshot.
“Right now, there is no plan,” Deadshot replied honestly. “We start by visiting nearby towns and asking around. See if we can learn something that’ll point us in the right direction.”
The kid nodded. “You’ve done this before, though.”
It sounded more like a question than a statement.
