Ezra was right, they did forget his heroic deed when he risked his own life to save Mary's from the outlaws. Another six weeks had passed and he had almost healed from his wounds. His shoulder still gave him trouble at times but he made sure that only Nathan knew about it. Chris had already begun to treat Ezra the way that he usually did - with distrust and dislike and he did not disguise the way he felt about Ezra.

Ezra had rubbed Chris's face in it, well that's the conclusion that he came to anyway as Ezra did not talk to him about what happened, he did not blame Chris for what happened, he didn't tell him that it was his fault. Ezra did not cast any blame at all and Chris thought that Ezra was doing it on purpose, trying to make him feel guilty and this angered Chris. He did not stop to think that Ezra actually didn't blame him.

They were all the same, except Buck and JD maybe. All it took was one wrong word from Ezra or one wrong intent and it would cause them to think he had his own self interests at heart and they would roll their eyes at him or make some comment and they would then forget the man he had become and treat him as the man that they had first met in the saloon when he was pulling a con.

The six weeks had been pretty quiet up to now and three of the lawmen were trying to deal with three men who had had to much to drink and were trying to make their way to the bottles that sat on the shelf behind the bar. Ezra had been sitting at the card table playing poker with a couple of gentlemen who had arrived in town the day before when he heard the sound of breaking glass. Nathan and JD who were sitting at another table also heard the sound. All three of them got up at once and went to deal with them but the men were not willing to leave easily. They put up a fight. Ezra got to the bar first with Nathan and JD right behind him. Ezra jumped over the bar making sure that he used his left arm to take the weight. He pulled the first man towards him a placed a punch on the man's jaw that knocked him senseless to the floor. Nathan was able to take care of the second by hitting him over the head with an empty bottle. JD though had a bit of trouble with his and before he could deal with him he was able to land a blow against the side of Ezra's skull sending him to the ground. It was not hard enough to knock him out but he did hit the ground hard enough to hurt his shoulder. Ezra grunted at the pain and grabbed his shoulder. Only Nathan saw his reaction as JD was able to finally take care of the third drunk.

Ezra managed to get himself off the ground and gave Nathan a smile to indicate the he was okay but Nathan did not think so. He knew that Ezra did not want anyone else to know that he still had some pain in his shoulder so he did not say anything at that moment. He would talk to him later. Nathan turned to see Vin and Buck coming through the saloon doors to find out what the rucus was about.

"Looks like we missed out on all the fun." smiled Buck as he looked at the mess behind the bar.

"A lot of fun Mr Wilmington." grimaced Ezra.

"Hey Ezra are you okay?" asked JD.

"Of course I'm alright, he didn't hit me that hard." Ezra smiled at him trying to keep the pain from showing on his face. It was beginning to ease already. "Now if you will excuse me I have a poker game to finish." he left them to deal with the three men lying on the ground. They managed to drag them out of the saloon and took them to the jail house to lock them up for the night.

Once they were done Nathan returned to the saloon to check on Ezra. He found him still sitting at the table but he was on his own now. "The game must have finished pretty quick." said Nathan as he sat at the table with Ezra.

"What do you want Nathan?" asked Ezra.

"Just wanted to make sure your shoulder was okay, I noticed you hurt it when you hit the floor." Nathan watched his face waiting for the poker one to replace the one that he was wearing but he kept the same expression.

"It's a bit sore but the pain is easing." Ezra looked up at him.

"You mind it I have a look at it? Make sure that it is okay?"

"Yes I do mind actually. I said that it was okay." Ezra looked back down hoping that it was the end of the conversation.

"Sure Ezra but if you want me to check it you know where I am." Nathan got up and left the table. He had noticed how Ezra had his right arm sitting in his lap while he used his left arm to do drink with.

The pain in Ezra's shoulder did ease but a small twinge stayed in his shoulder for the next couple of days and it was giving him a lot of trouble at night time and he was not able to get a lot of sleep. On the third night he finally gave up and went to see Nathan. He made his way up the stairs wondering if Nathan would be asleep yet. He knocked on the door beginning to hope that he was asleep. He waited a few moments and then grateful that Nathan did not open the door he started to walk away.

"Ezra is that you?" Nathan asked from the doorway. "Is there something wrong, is someone hurt."

"Everyone is fine Nathan, it's . . " Ezra looked down feeling a bit embarrased.

"Your shoulder." suggested Nathan.

"Yes. But if I woke you up I can come back later."

"If I let you go now Ezra you won't come back. Get yourself in here so I can have a look at it."

Ezra walked in not noticing the smile on Nathan's face after he passed him in the doorway. He made his way to the chair and sat down.

"Can you take your jacket off without help?" he asked Ezra. He nodded and proceeded to take his jacket off. Nathan noticed that he did not have his usual waist coat on under it.

Nathan came over and began to use his fingers to feel Ezra's shoulder and back. "Is it giving you a lot of trouble?" He came around to face Ezra.

"No it is just more of a soreness during the day, it's not to bad. It just gets worse at night time when I am trying to sleep on it. I end up sitting in the chair but I'm not getting a lot of sleep lately."

"I can't feel anything wrong with it. It's probably just bruised from when you hit it the other day." Nathan took in Ezra's appearence. He had not noticed until Ezra mentioned it but he did look tired, he saw the blackness under his eyes. "I'm going make up something for you so you can get some sleep tonight. I'll check your shoulder again tomorrow, I might have to get you to wear that sling again for a couple of days."

"I will say yes to your first suggestion Nathan but no to the second." Ezra grimaced at the thought of that sling. He had only gotten rid of it a couple of weeks ago.

It took Nathan only a few minutes to make up something to help Ezra sleep. "Make sure you don't drink it till you are actually ready to sleep because it works pretty quick. It will give you a good night sleep though."

"Nathan." Ezra stared at him. "Could you please keep this between us."

"If that is want you want Ezra." Nathan closed the door and went back to bed while Ezra went to his own room and drank the foul tasting drink that Nathan had given him. He would have to have a word with him about that tomorrow.

The following morning an explosion followed by gunshots echoed through Four Corners.

Ezra heard the gunshots but found it difficult to wake himself up. He wondered if that was because he had been shot. He lay there for a moment trying to remember how it happened but then he realised that he was just asleep in his own bed. He was having trouble opening his eyes because Nathan had given him something the night before to help him sleep. He finally managed to open his eyes and drag himself out of bed. Something was going on outside and he was sure that the others would need his help. He dressed himself quickly and grabbed two of his guns and left his room. As he ran down the stairs he became more alert and he was now hearing voices to go with the gun fire.

Ezra ran out onto the porch of the saloon and saw six men ride past him, shooting behind them as they rode out of town. He knew that these men had to be stopped and he raised his gun to take aim. He fired and saw one of them fall from his horse. The leader turned to see his man go down. He saw a fancy dressed man standing in front of the saloon taking aim again. Ezra fired again and wounded another but this one managed to stay on his horse. Ezra did not bother to fire again as they were now out of range. He heard the other hired gunmen running up to him.

"Way to go Ezra, you got one." JD was glad that at least one of them managed to stop one of the bank robbers. They had all been sitting in the saloon having breakfast when they heard the explosion. They assumed that it had come from the bank and when they got their they saw six men riding off. They gave chase and fired at them hoping to bring them down but they hadn't managed it.

Chris pushed his way through the others. "Where the hell were you?"

"I was asleep Mr Larabee." said Ezra knowing what was coming.

"You were asleep. Six gunmen just robbed the bank, explosions and gunshots going off and you didn't wake up. That's just typical of you isn't it Ezra." Chris growled. Ezra raised his eyebrows when the word explosion was mentioned. He must have been out of it to not have heard an explosion.

"Come on Chris you now how heavy Ezra sleeps." said Buck hoping to ease the situation.

"He was probably still to drunk to wake up." Chris said in disgust.

Nathan stood next to Ezra then wanting to explain what the situation was. "Chris I gave Ezra . . ."

"There is no need to explain it to him Mr Jackson." Ezra interupted.

Chris gave Ezra one of his looks. Ezra was getting quite use to them now. There was not really a time when he didn't look at Ezra like that anymore.

"I want everyone ready to go in fifteen minutes. Were going after them." He looked at Ezra. "And that means you as well."

The others left to get ready leaving Nathan with Ezra. "You should have let me tell him Ezra." said Nathan knowing why Ezra was still asleep while the gunfire was going on around him.

"Why Nathan, it would not have any difference to Mr Larabee. Now don't you think that we should get prepared to leave like we have been asked." Ezra left Nathan standing there wondering why it was much easier for Ezra to have Chris angry at him rather than explain the reason for him still being asleep. Sometimes he really did not understand that man. Nathan shook his head and went to his own things and his horse. He thought that he should take some medical supplies just in case.

Fifteen minutes later the seven hired lawmen rode out of town after the five bankrobbers. They knew which direction the robbers had gone in but because they did not have them in their sight they needed Vin to track them. He stopped the group for a moment as he looked around to see which direction they went in. JD looked over at Ezra and watched him stiffle a yawn.

"Hey Ezra did you hear the explosion? It nearly blew my ears off it was that loud." JD was excited.

"No I didn't." Ezra did not want this conversation to go on. He saw Chris look at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Had to much to drink last night didn't you Ezra." Chris did not voice this as a question. It was an assumption on his part. Ezra grimaced at Chris but he let it go.

Buck saw the look that Nathan was giving Ezra. It was one of understanding and sympathy. Buck thought that it was strange because Nathan only looked at Ezra liked that when their was something wrong with him. Buck's mind began to tick over. He nudged his horse to move and stopped him when he was standing next to Ezra's horse. Buck looked at him. Ezra did not return the look.

"What's wrong Ezra?" asked Buck not to loud because he knew that Ezra would not answer him if he thought that everyone else was listening.

"There is nothing wrong Buck." Ezra said to him.

"If you don't tell me then I will ask Nathan." he threatened him.

"You can ask Mr Jackson if you wish but he will tell you the same thing." Ezra saw Vin get back on his horse and ride off. This gave him an excuse to leave Buck sitting there. Buck looked over at Nathan and saw him sigh and raise his hands in a gesture that said 'I can't say anything.'

Vin was suprised that the bankrobbers were able to get such a lead on them. They had only a fifteen minute head start but they must have ridden the horses hard. He saw an area ahead which he thought would have been a perfect place for an ambush. He stopped his horse and waited for Chris to pull up beside him.

"Something wrong Vin?" asked Chris.

"I just think that we should be careful here. To many trees around which are at the base of a hill. They could be hiding anywhere in there."

Before Chris could say anything they heard a gunshot. "Everyone grab cover!" Chris yelled.

They all rode their horses to the edge of the trees and jumped off the horses. No one bothered to tie them at that moment. They knew they wouldn't go to far anyway.

"Well now we know that they are in there." Vin stated.

"We can't stay here all day though so we are going to go in and look for them."

"Everyone spread out and keep your eyes open they could be anywhere. If you don't find any of them within ten minutes then head back here. And don't try anything stupid." Chris told them.

Everyone spread out in their own directions. Buck and Josiah had moved to the left while Vin and Chris went straight ahead. Nathan and JD followed Ezra to the right but everyone soon seperated again. They would make harder targets if they were on their own. It had been ten minutes and no one had seen anything to indicate that the robbers were still there and as some of them headed back to the area where they were told to meet a group of explosions occured at the same time.

The leader's name was Silvers and he had his men stop at the base of the hill. "Joe you take the horses and Mike around those rocks and tie them up so the explosions don't scare them off. Mike stay with them as you ain't going to be much use to us at the moment. The rest of you come with me." He made his way up the hill taking the sticks of dynamite with him. Silvers had all intentions of taking care the seven men that had followed them. They waited for nearly twenty minutes when they saw them stop just before the tree line. As they were on top of the hill they were able to see them below.

"Steven fire your gun, I want them to scatter." Silvers told one of his men. He did what he was told and the seven lawmen rode into the trees. They lost sight of them from there but that was okay. They didn't need to see them when they started throwing the dynamite. He waited another ten minutes then he passed around four sticks of dynamite and had his men light the fuses and throw them into the trees in four different directions as Silvers knew that the lawmen would seperate while trying to make their way towards them.

The first explosion occurred near Buck. Josiah heard the noise and looked up in time to see Buck fly through the air. His flight was ended when he hit a tree and collapsed in a heap at the base of it. Josiah ran to him hearing another three explosions behind him. He waited to be thrown against a tree as well but it did not happen. He reached Buck and turned him over. He saw the blood flowing from the gash on his forehead. He quickly checked him for any other injuries, when he was sure there was none he picked him and carried him back to the area where he knew the others would also be headed. If they were okay that was.

The second and third explosions occured near Chris and Vin, they had kept together. Once they made sure that each other was okay they headed back to the meeting point. Nathan and JD had heard the explosions come from different directions, three to their left and one to their right. Without thinking of Ezra they ran back to the area where Chris wanted them to meet after looking for the robbers. They entered the clearing to see Chris and Vin standing next to the area which the horses were supposed to be.

"The explosions must have scared them off." muttered Nathan. They went up to Chris and Vin. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah Nathan were fine. You and JD?" Chris quickly looked them over with his eyes.

"Where fine Chris." answered JD.

"Nathan!" they turned around to see Josiah coming towards them with Buck in his arms. They ran up to him.

"Put him on the ground Josiah. JD go and get my . . ." Nathan's voice trailed off knowing that the horses had been scared off.

"Vin go and see if you can at least find Nathan's horse." growled Chris. Vin nodded and ran off in the direction of town thinking that was the direction they probably went in."

Nathan again checked Buck for any other injuries, he checked for broken bones including his ribs. He found none, it was just the injury to his head that they needed to worry about. He tore a strip from his shirt and wiped the blood away to see how bad the cut was. It did not look serious so he pressed to cloth to the wound to stop the bleeding. The others stood around Nathan waiting for him to tell them how Buck was.

Ezra had heard the explosion that came from the left, he immeadiately thought about the others but before he could go back and find out if everyone was okay three more explosions occurred, one of them close to him. The force of it threw him backwards. At first only the pain he felt came from his shoulder and his first thought was that Nathan was going to make him wear that sling again. It wasn't until he tried to move that he felt the searing pain in his side. He tried to move away from the pain, the agony tearing through his side again. He found that he couldn't move at all. Ezra waited a few moments for his sight to clear, he had nearly passed out. He then tried to look behind him, only moving his head to the side. He saw that he was leaning against an old tree that must haven fallen years ago. He couldn't understand why he couldn't move away from it. He was not going to try again as it hurt to much when he tried. He knew that the pain came from his left side so using his left arm - as there was still pain coming from his shoulder so he didn't want to make that any worse - he lifted his jacket to the side and saw the reason for him not being able to move away from the tree. He saw a branch protruding from his side.

Ezra saw that the branch had entered his side at an angle so he hoped that it had missed his kidney. He thought about trying to pull himself off it but he thought better of it. He decided that the best thing to do was to wait till the others came looking for him. If they were all right that was. He hoped that he would hear them coming through the trees at any moment now. He looked towards the direction that they would be coming from but saw no one as yet.

After five minutes Nathan was able to stop the bleeding. He then went to tear another strip off his shirt but Josiah handed him one that he had already torn form his own. He then wrapped it around Buck's forehead and as he did this Buck moaned.

"Buck can you hear me?" asked Nathan.

"Yeah I can hear you."

"Your okay apart your head wound but it does not look serious." explained Nathan. "You will probably just have a bad headache."

"I've got one of those already." he complained.

Chris smiled at this. It meant that he was going to be okay. He looked up then to see Vin walking towards them with two horses but neither of them were Nathan's.

Ezra thought that at least ten minutes had passed and he had yet to see any of his associates. He began to worry that they were also out there injured and unable to help each other. He had no choice now, he either stayed here like this or he got himself out of the situation. He went for the latter. He knew that it was going to hurt but he couldn't just stay there. He placed his hands behind him feeling the pain in his right shoulder and he gritted his teeth against the pain that he knew would come. He looked at the angle that the branch was protruding form his side and knew that he would have to push in the same direction as it would make it easier for him. He was going to count to three and then push. He closed his eyes and began to count out loud.

"One, two . . ." but he found it hard to say three. He waited a moment longer. "Three." he pushed with all the strength he could, he felt the branch tear through his flesh and before he knew it he was lying on his stomach. He didn't know if he had cried out or not. At that moment all he could see was darkness as it tried to take him. He waited a few minutes hoping that it would, the pain was agony. He remembered the other times he felt pain and thought that it was the worst that he had ever felt but this pain was worse than any of them combined. When the darkness didn't take him he rolled over onto his back. He hardly noticed the pain in his shoulder any more as it was nothing compared to what was coming from his side.

Ezra managed to sit himself up giving out a small cry at the pain. He looked in the direction where he hoped that everyone was but he still saw no one coming for him. He looked down at his side and saw that his shirt was quickly becoming soaked with blood. He put his hand against it, holding back another small scream. He waited a moment longer and stood up. He grabbed the nearest thing to him to stop himself from falling as he suddenly felt dizzy. He held himself against the tree for a few minutes.

After he thought that he could stand without falling Ezra began to walk back to where he hoped someone else would be. He was worried that they were all hurt as no one had come looking for him. It took him at least ten minutes to find his way back as he had to keep stopping as he was beginning to feel weak at the loss of blood that he was suffering from. Once he reached the area he saw five men standing over another. He saw that it was Buck and his stomach lurched at the thought of Buck dead. But then he heard his voice complaining about Nathan not leaving him alone. Ezra could feel the anger boiling within him. If everyone was alright, then why had they not come looking for him. Ezra walked towards them.

"I see that you gentlemen have your priorities straight." growled Ezra as he dropped to his knees.

They all turned around at the sound of Ezra's voice. They saw him fall to his knees. And what he said kept repeating in their minds. They were so worried about Buck they had forgotten about Ezra.

Slivers had enjoyed listening to the dynamite go off. He wondered if any of the lawmen were hurt. He smiled at the thought of it. "Are we going down there to finish them off?" asked Joe.

"No not yet, you can see that most of their horses have run off. We can see if they try to leave from here and if they do we can take them from here. Well just wait for a while." he continued to smile. He knew that Steven was a good shot and if anyone of them tried to ride out - if they could find a horse first that was - he would be able to shoot them from here. They could not see down into the trees as they were to thick in areas but if they were to leave the cover of the trees they would see them. He was going to wait a while and then go down.

"Shit." muttered Chris.

Buck was momentarily forgotten as they ran to Ezra's side. Nathan tried to get him to lie down so he could see what his injuries were but Ezra resisted.

"Get away from me!" he yelled at Nathan as he tried to push him away. In one way Ezra was glad that they were alright but he could not believe that they had not come looking for him. He was so angry at them at the moment that he actually felt sick to the stomach. He had never really lost his temper at them before but this time he was not going to hold back.

"Ezra you have to lie down so I can see if you are badly hurt." argued Nathan.

"I don't have to do anything." Ezra spat at him. He continued to try and push him away. Ezra could not even believe it himself that he was this angry.

"Lie down Ezra and that is an order." growled Chris. They would have to argue about what happened later. Now was not the time. But he knew that it would be Ezra doing all the arguing.

"Don't you even think of giving me orders!" Ezra was starting to feel weak and he felt himself fall onto his injured side. He screamed out at the pain that went through him. They tried to roll him onto his back but he still struggled, he still pushed them away but his struggles started to weaken even more as waves of pain continued to flow through his side. His face was contorted by the pain. He had no choice he had to roll onto his back. He allowed them to roll him over but continued to try and push them away. Even though he was getting weaker his anger was building.

"Ezra will you stay still please, you will have plenty of time later to be angry at us." said Josiah. He couldn't believe that they had forgotten him.

Ezra didn't listen to him. "Why wait till later." the anger was evident in his voice. "I thought that you were all either dead or badly injured but no, all of you are fine. So what was it, you were perhaps hoping that I died out there so you wouldn't have to worry about me anymore." he was staring at Chris.

"Your wrong Ezra." Chris could see that he was getting weaker. He grabbed Ezra's left arm and pinned it to the ground. He felt Ezra struggle but just like he thought he was weak and he was not able to get his arm away from him. "Well talk about it later Ezra." He nodded to Josiah to grab Ezra's other arm. As Josiah did this Ezra cried out again at the pain that went through his shoulder.

"Take it easy with that arm Josiah, Ezra is still having trouble with his shoulder, it's still giving him some pain." he spoke as he tore Ezra's shirt open, he didn't bother about the buttons. "That's why he wasn't there to help this morning. I gave him something last night to help him sleep, that's why it took him so long to wake up."

"Shit." Chris muttered again. He said this for two reasons. One was because of what Nathan had just told him and secondly because he saw the wound on Ezra's side. He was shocked for a moment and he let his hold on Ezra's arm loosen. Ezra managed to pull his arm away and tried to get up. Chris quickly grabbed it again.

"Chris roll him onto his side I want to see if there is an exit wound and then well take his jacket and shirt off." Chris pushed Ezra onto his side again and heard him moan in pain. They then pulled his arm out of his jacket and shirt. They left his right arm in his jacket.

"You think that he was shot Nathan?" asked JD. He had been watching Ezra. He felt terrible about what they had done.

"No, a bullet didn't do this." Nathan answered him as he looked at Ezra's side. He was worried about the wound. He could see that it was dirty. "Ezra what did this?" he hoped that he was going to answer him.

Ezra had finally stopped struggling as it was only causing him more pain than he wanted. "A fallen tree. The explosion threw me against it and one of the broken branches went through my side. I sat there for ten minutes hoping that someone was going to help but when no one came I thought that you were dead or hurt so I had to get myself off it."

They let what he said go for the moment. Nathan gently rolled him onto his back knowing that lying on his shoulder was causing him more pain. He started to go through Ezra's jacket pockets.

"If you are looking for my flask it is still in my room." Ezra smiled but his smile was full of sarcasm. "Mr Larabee would not have approved if I brought it along on this trip."

"JD go and get the canteens and Vin could you see if there is anything that we could use as bandages in the saddle bags."

JD returned with the canteens, one of them was only half full as they had used some of it to clean Buck's head wound. Vin also returned with some shirts from Ezra's saddle bag as one of the horses he had found was Ezra's. Vin knew that he always carried extra clothing in case he needed it and this was one time that he did but he was not going to be wearing it. Buck had also made his way over to see how Ezra was.

Nathan had no idea how he was going to clean Ezra's wound. He knew that whatever he done it would not clean all the dirt or any bits that may have broken off the branch. He had no alcohol to clean it with and he knew that Chris would not let him boil any water in case the bank robbers were still around. He had no instruments to help him get into the wound, he only had his hands and they would not be enough and they were also dirty. He knew that the wound was going to become infected. Once he had done what he could for him he was going to have to get him back to town. There was two horses here now. He would ride one and he would put Ezra on the other. He watched Vin tear one of Ezra's shirts into strips. Vin handed him one and Nathan soaked it with some of the water.

"Turn Ezra on to his side again Chris and hold him down." Nathan watched again as they forced Ezra onto his side. He had begun to struggle again as he knew what Nathan was about to do.

No one had thought about Ezra's legs. They only thought about holding down his arms as they were what he used to try and push everyone away. As Nathan came forward Ezra brought his leg up and kicked out at him. Ezra was so angry at the moment that he did not want anyone touching him and if he couldn't use his arms then he would use his legs. His boot caught Nathan in the chest and it knocked him backwards, the wind gushing out of his lungs.

Vin moved to help Nathan. "I'm alright Vin, just grab his legs would you." They were all shocked that Ezra had done that as it was such an unexpected thing for him to do. As Vin moved towards Ezra he could see him watching him and he thought that he saw hatred as well as the pain in his eyes. Vin was careful just in case Ezra tried to kick out again but he did not have to worry as that one kick drained what little energy he had left. He now just lay there, to weak to struggle anymore.

JD helped Nathan get up. He rubbed his chest, suprised that Ezra had any strength in him at all. He had dropped the wet cloth on the ground and it was now useless as it had gotten dirty. It meant that he would now have to use more water to wet another one. Once he had done that he moved back towards Ezra. He could see Ezra watching him, he was now squirming under everyone's grip.

"Ezra I am going to be as quick as I can." Nathan said to him.

"Why don't you take your time, I'm sure that you will enjoy yourself." Ezra looked from Nathan's face to the damp cloth that he held in his hand.

Ezra turned his head into his own shoulder as Nathan began to wipe his side. The pain was excruciating. His scream was muffled by his own shoulder. He tried to struggle but he was to weak. Nathan pressed the cloth into the wound trying to get as much of the dirt out as possible. Ezra screamed one last time and was then quiet. Chris and Vin no longer held him down as he had lost consciousness. Josiah though continued to keep one hand on his shoulder and he began to wiped Ezra's forehead with the other. He felt so bad about what they had done he felt that he needed to comfort Ezra in some way.

As Nathan continued to clean his wounds Ezra still tried to move away but he was that weak that Josiah's one hand on his shoulder was enough to keep him still so Nathan could continue. Ezra also tried to move his head away from Josiah's touch but Josiah continued to run his hand along Ezra's forehead. He then placed his hand on his head and gently moved his thumb across his head from left to right. Ezra soon began to accept the touch as he stopped shying away from the human contact.

Once Nathan had finished he sat back and looked at the wound, it was an angry red and already beginning to swell. He then place his hand against Ezra's forehead and felt the heat that his body was already beginning to generate. He then used more of the strips to bandage the wound. He pulled it as tight as he dared and he heard Ezra groan at the pain that he caused by doing it. When he had finished that he had Josiah help him remove Ezra's jacket and shirt from his other arm and then put the jacket back on to keep him warm.

"We have to get him back to town Chris. The wound is already becoming infected. I have to get him back to my room so I can clean it properly." Nathan stood up and looked down at Ezra. He looked so pale against his red jacket.

Chris nodded. "Vin get the two horses." Vin was already on his way.

Buck and JD were now sitting next to Ezra. They had not taken their eyes off Ezra. His head was now lying against his left shoulder. He didn't move anymore. They knew that there was nothing they could for him at the moment. Buck looked up as Vin returned with the horses.

"Nathan you ride Vin's horse and I will ride with Ezra on his horse." Nathan nodded, he was not going to give Chris an argument.

"What about Buck?" asked JD.

"I'm fine JD, we have to get Ezra back to town." Buck said from his position next to Ezra.

Chris got up on the horse and watched as Vin and Josiah carefully lifted Ezra off the ground and then walk towards him. He helped them lift Ezra up onto the horse placing him in front of him so Ezra could lean against Chris's chest which also allowed Chris to hold onto him so he would not fall off. They then rode off towards town.

The others watched them leave hoping that Ezra was goin to be okay. "Vin, JD why don't you go and see if you can find any more of our horses." suggested Josiah. And as they also left to find the horses they heard a gunshot come from the top of the hill.

Silvers had been watching the edge of the tree line when he saw two riders come of out the trees. "Steven get over here."

"What is it boss?" he followed the direction that his boss pointed in and saw the two riders as well. He squinted trying to see better. "There's two riders on one of those horses."

"Really. Well it's about time we showed them that we are still here. Do you what your best at Steven."

He watched as he lifted his rifle and took aim. He waited a few moments until he heard the gunshot. But instead of seeing a rider fall he saw the horse with the two riders on it fall. Steven had shot the horse out from under them. Oh well he thought, they will still know that we are here.

Chris was worried that the bankrobbers were still around but the further they got from the tree line the better he felt about it. That was until he heard the gunshot and felt Ezra's horse begin to go down underneath him. He quickly pulled his feet from the stirrups so his leg would not get caught under the horse. As it went down he tried to pull himself and Ezra away from it.

Nathan had heard the gunshot and turned around to see Chris and Ezra go down. He rode back to them hoping that he didn't hear another gunshot. When he reached them he jumped off his own horse. "Chris are you okay?" he saw Chris nod and pull himself up. He had managed to get himself and Ezra out from under the horse. Nathan checked both of them though. Chris seemed fine and Ezra did not have any extra injuries but his side was bleeding heavily again. He also remembered to check his shoulder but that was okay as well. He must have landed on his left side.

"We can't get out of here now Nathan, if we try they will just shoot us. We'll have to get back to the others and then go after these guys so we can then get Ezra back to town without getting any of us killed in the process."

Nathan nodded his agreement and he went to pick Ezra up. "It's alright Nathan, I'll carry him." Chris bent down and lifted Ezra up into his arms and they began walking back to the others and with each step they expected to feel the force of a another bullet.

Silvers watched as the two men - one of them carrying another - walked back towards the woods. "Steven fire another shot but don't hit anyone, just scare them so they won't think twice about doing that again." he laughed as he really was enjoying himself.

Steven fired again aiming close to Nathan and he watched as all three of them fell to the ground. He listened as his boss laughed not being able to stop the smile that crossed his own face.

Nathan was walking behind Chris leading Vin's horse behind him. He was unable to see Ezra's face as his head was in the crook of Chris's left shoulder. He picked up his speed to bring himself level with Chris so he could keep a better eye on Ezra. It was going to take them at least ten minutes to get back to the others. Nathan heard another gunshot and expected the worse. He dropped to the ground making sure that he did not let go of the reins. He saw Chris do the same but he was unable to keep Ezra from falling on his injured side again. Nathan noticed that Ezra did not respond to the pain it must have caused him.

"Chris you okay?" Nathan asked again.

"I'm fine Nathan, we weren't hit. You?"

"No. They must have missed us." he moved towards Ezra to make sure that he was still okay. He knew that he would not be alright for much longer.

"I think they missed on purpose." he watched as Nathan quickly checked Ezra. "They want us to know that they are still there and they don't intend to let us go anywhere." He looked down at Ezra knowing that they couldn't get him back to town in a hurry and that also meant that he was going to get a lot sicker before they finally could get him back. "Come on let's get back to the others." Chris picked Ezra up again. He could feel the heat from his body through his clothing and saw that his hair was now clinging to his scalp. His fever was getting worse very quickly.

"You don't think that they will shoot at us again." asked Nathan as he to got up off the ground.

"No." Chris had already begun to walk back to the trees and Nathan had to run to catch up to him.

The four hired gunmen who were left behind heard a second gunshot and they also feared the worse. They wanted to go after them to find out what happened and to make sure that they were alright. Josiah held them back though stating that they to could end up in the same situation if they were not careful. Ten minutes later they looked up as they heard a noise coming from the trees, their first reaction was to draw their guns. They quickly replaced them though when they saw Nathan leading his horse behind him and Chris carrying Ezra in his arms.

Buck ran up to them intending to help Chris with Ezra. He was shocked at the sight of him, it was as though he had not seen what he had already gone through earlier. The sight of him made him react as though it was the first time he saw him in this condition. He saw Ezra lying limp in Chris's arms, he saw his sweat soaked head leaning against Chris's shoulder. He watched as Ezra's left arm which was hanging from his side move back and forth with each step that Chris took. He wanted to take Ezra from his arms but he saw the determined look in his eyes. He could see that Chris felt bad about what happened - they all did - and that he wanted to do anything and everything to make it up to Ezra.

"Chris take him over to that tree there, I don't want him lying in the sun." Nathan said to him and followed him as Chris did what he asked of him.

"What happened?" asked Vin. He had to wait for an answer.

Chris gently laid Ezra down on the ground and stepped back as he knew that Nathan would want to check him over again. "They shot Ezra's horse out from under us and then when we tried to get back to you they fired another shot, but it was their way of telling us they are still around and don't intend to let us go anywhere." he did not look at Vin or the others but instead watched Nathan as he removed the bandage that was wrapped around Ezra's waist. JD saw what he was doing and ran to get some more of the strips of cloth that Nathan would need.

"They shot Ezra's horse? He's not going to be happy about that." said Buck hoping that Ezra would be able to have the chance to get angry about it.

No one said anymore as they waited until Nathan finished with Ezra but he took longer than they expected. JD returned with the makeshift bandages. "JD get me the canteen as well." said Nathan as he took the bandages from JD.

"What's wrong Nathan?" asked Chris as he knelt down beside Nathan.

"I have to stop the bleeding and I'll clean his wound again."

Chris moved to Ezra's other side and turned him onto his side. They watched as Nathan cleaned his wound and then press against it to stop the bleeding. They listened as Ezra moaned and watched again as he tried to move away from him but Chris was able to keep him still enough for Nathan. As Nathan then began to bandaged the wound Ezra opened his eyes. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and then looked at Nathan on one side of him and then at Chris who was on the other holding him down. Chris saw that Ezra had woken and expected him to start putting up a struggle but he didn't. He just lay there staring at Chris who could see that there was just as much anger in Ezra's eyes as there was pain.

Now that Ezra was awake Nathan finished up quickly and then leant back to inspect Ezra's side. Ezra noticed that he had moved away from his side. Only a small amount of blood soaked into the bandage. As Ezra was not struggling against Chris's hold he let go of him and as he did so Ezra quickly sat up and hit Chris as hard as he could, which was not very hard considering what little strength he had left in him. It was not even hard enough to knock Chris over. No one was shocked by what Ezra just did especially after he had kicked Nathan in the chest. Ezra fell back to the ground clenching his teeth against the pain that he had just caused himself.

"Feel better now Ezra?" asked Chris. He did not fail to notice how weak the blow was.

"It is going to take a lot more than that to make me feel better Mr Larabee." Everyone heard the bitterness in Ezra's voice.

Ezra was enjoying the total blackness until he started to feel a pain coming from somewhere, he was not sure where. He just wished that it would go away. It didn't though so he tried to ignore it as he did not want the darkness to leave him behind. The light started to break through though as the pain got worse. The light had become stronger as the pain became worse. He opened his eyes but had trouble focusing. He blinked hoping that it would help. He realised that he was on his side and he looked behind him to see what was causing the pain. He saw Nathan and it all suddenly came back to him. He remembered what happened and how the others had left him out there to die. He turned his head back as he realised that there was pressure on his arms. He saw Chris looking down at him and felt the anger rise in him. He had never been so angry at this man before. He had reason to yes but he always held the anger down but for some reason he did not want to this time.

Ezra knew that if he struggled more hands would hold him down so he waited. He noticed that Nathan had moved away from him and as Chris removed his hands he sat up fighting the pain that exploded in his side and he hit Chris with all the strength that he could muster. He knew that the punch would be weak but he wanted to hit him, he needed to hit him but it did not make him feel any better. If anything he just felt more angry. Ezra was angry and the fever that he was suffering from was feeding that anger and as the fever grew worse his anger became stronger.

Ezra fell back to the ground and lay where he was and closed his eyes. He needed to rest for a moment and then he would tell Chris and the others what he thought about them but he felt the darkness coming back for him and he welcomed it. He could tell them later. Nathan put his hand on Ezra's forehead and felt that his fever was getting worse. When Ezra did not respond by pushing him away he realised that he had lost consciousness.

"He's unconscious." he told the others.

"Vin, Josiah from what I could tell those two shots came from on top of the hill. I want you to go and scout around and then come back. I don't want you to try and do anything. Just get information and then come back and we will think of a plan then." They nodded and then left. "Buck are you up to looking for the other horses with JD?"

"Of course I am. Anything to help Ezra get back to town quicker." answered Buck. He still had a headache but knew that it was nothing compared to what Ezra was going through.

"Good but don't go past the tree line, we don't need anyone else hurt." Chris warned them.

When the others had left to do what Chris had asked of them he went and sat back down next to Ezra. Nathan was wiping his face down with a dry cloth but it soon became wet due to all the moisture that Ezra was loosing from his body through the fever. Ezra started to toss and turn as if in a dream.

Ezra did dream. He dreamt of a world full of pain and anger. He dreamt of lying against a tree with a branch protruding from his side. He couldn't move. He heard laughter and looked up to see his friends standing before him. They were pointing and laughing at him.

"Don't just stand there, help me!" he yelled at them. They didn't help him. Instead they continued to laugh and then they began to walk away from him, leaving him where he was, leaving him alone. "Help me!" he yelled at their retreating backs.

Chris and Nathan looked at each other and then at Ezra as they listened to him yell out to someone to help him. They were not sure if he was dreaming about what just happened to him or if it was something from his past. "He's becoming delirious." said Nathan. "I didn't think all of this would happen so quick. It's only been a couple of hours since it happened." He lifted the banaged away from Ezra's wound and saw the yellow mucus already leaking from the wound. "I must have left a lot of dirt in there." he said to Chris.

"You said it yourself Nathan that you would not be able to clean it enough until you got him back to your room. Don't start blaming yourself." Chris had to talk over Ezra as he voice was getting louder.

In his dream Ezra started to try and get himself off the log as his friends had left him there to take care of himself. Nathan and Chris tried to hold him down as he began to struggle. They heard him count to himself and wondered what was going on. As he tried to push himself off the tree he also tried to push Chris and Nathan away from him but they held on firm. In his dream Ezra could feel something trying to hold him against the tree as though it did not want him to get away from it. He pushed harder and whatever was holding him pushed down harder as well. He couldn't get off it. He was stuck there and his friends had left him, there was no one to help him. He actually started to get scared as he felt that if he couldn't get the branch out of his side he would die here. He would die alone. The idea of him dying alone scared him even more and he started to cry out for help. There fear in Ezra's voice shocked both Nathan and Chris. Ezra cried out once more and jerked himself awake. He rolled over onto his side and lay there gasping for breath, waiting for the fear to subside.

"It's okay Ezra, your going to be alright." said Nathan.

"No thanks to any of you." Ezra gasped. He could still feel the fear, it wouldn't go away but he was still angry, very angry and he allowed it to grow even more hoping that it would take over from the fear that he was feeling.

Nathan ignored the remark. "You want some water Ezra? And please don't say no because you need it." he knew that Ezra was angry and that he could also be very stubborn when he was angry and he hoped that he was not going to refuse to drink water. Even Ezra could not be that stubborn.

Ezra nodded because he was thirsty. Nathan got the canteen as Chris tried to help Ezra up but he pushed Chris away. "I can get up by myself." he said harshly. Ezra struggled to push himself up onto his right elbow. He somehow managed to do it but he started to wobble as he was to weak to hold his own weight. Nathan quickly allowed him to drink from the canteen but he only drank a small amount and then his arm collapsed under his weight.

"Ezra I'm going to have to clean your side again as it has become infected. I need to get the mucus out." Nathan looked at Chris who nodded in return.

"Is there any particular reason you keeping cleaning it while I am awake." grimaced Ezra. He was tired of Nathan causing him all this pain. He didn't understand why he couldn't do it while he was asleep. Ezra was beginning to believe that Nathan was doing it on purpose.

"Are you going to stay still Ezra or will I have to hold you down?" asked Chris.

Ezra looked at him and remembered his dream, he could still feel some of the fear as it was yet to go away. He remembered Chris standing in front of the others laughing at him and Chris was the first one to turn away from him. "If you touch me Mr Larabee I will shoot you the first chance I get."

Chris was stunned and he looked up at Nathan. "It's his fever that is doing the talking Chris." explained Nathan.

"Think what you want Mr Jackson but I mean what I say." Ezra looked at him. "Do what you want now but next time wait till I am not awake." he turned away from him then and closed his eyes waiting for the pain.

Nathan tried to be as gentle as he could but when he finished Ezra was trembling and the sweat was dripping off his body. He wanted to be quick as he recalled what Ezra said about doing this while he was awake. He only did what needed to be done at that time and he was then going to do more when Ezra was asleep. He then used another piece of material to wipe Ezra's face as the sweat was running into his eyes. He would have gotten Chris to do it but he knew that Ezra would have refused it.

Ezra then went back into the darkness while Nathan and Chris sat with him. "Nathan what did you mean when you said it was the fever talking?" asked Chris after he noticed that Ezra had stop trembling and was now sleeping.

"He is getting delirious from the fever and he will say and do things that he would not usually say or do. It will also make his anger stronger as well. We will have to watch him carefully as he may even become paranoid."

"Paranoid?" Chris raised his eyebrows as he was now really confused.

"He is angry at us Chris. The fever may even allow him to think that we are trying to harm him in some way. He may even begin to think that we didn't look for him on purpose."

"Well he'll be wrong." stated Chris.

"We know that Chris but with the fever he won't be thinking straight. Just remember that because he might get a lot more angrier and meaner. He might say things that he would not usually say and he won't mean any of it. He'll just say them to make us feel bad, to try and hurt us they way he thinks we hurt him." Nathan grabbed another cloth and put a small amount of water on it. "Chris will you hold him down please because I am going to get more of the mucus out now that he is asleep." Chris nodded. He looked down at Ezra and for the first time in a long time he began to feel scared. Not for himself but for Ezra.

Ezra continued to dream. He had managed to get himself off the tree but he was still alone and begining to feel frightened again. He closed his eyes but opened them when he heard a voice. He looked up to see his mother standing before him.

"What are you doing Ezra? You know that your friends are not going to help you." she sat down on the tree. "You have to look after number one Ezra, you have to take care of yourself."

Ezra did not say anything. He just stared at her wondering how she had gotten here and he also felt better because he knew that his mother would help him get away from here.

"Look after number one Ezra, that is what I always told you so stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something." she gave him an angry look and he suddenly felt like a child again.

"Mother could you help me up please?" he made sure that he had a pleading look in his eyes as he knew that as a child it usually got her to soften up and help him when he needed it. But this time it did not work.

Maude shook her head at him in exasperation. "What did I just tell you Ezra, you look after yourself." she got up then and started to walk away.

"Mother, you can't just leave me here like this." he yelled at her. "Mother!"

"I can do what I want Ezra, I am your mother remember." she laughed as she continued to walk away from him.

Ezra knew that she was right. He had to look after himself. He had to take of number one and he was going to do that. He tried to get up but felt that same force pushing down again. Whatever it was it did not want him to get up. He tried to push harder but each time he did that the pressure in return became stronger as well. He was frightened that whatever it was it wanted him to die here. He decided to try and use his fists and his feet to try and get rid of the pressure but he became to weak and his struggles soon stopped and when he knew that he could not get away he turned onto his side and curled himself up into a ball.

Chris had no idea what was happening. He could hear Ezra talking in his sleep. He heard him call out to his mother asking her not to leave him. Ezra had been lying still but he now tried to get up and Chris and Nathan gently held him down. They didn't have to use much force as Ezra had become weak. Ezra tried a second time to get up but when they pushed him back down again he started to struggle more. He started to lash out with his arms and legs. They held onto him as best they could and waited for his struggles to subside. Once they did Ezra rolled onto his side and then into a ball. Chris went to move him back on his side but Nathan told him to leave him be for a moment. They listened as Ezra began to whimper in his sleep.

Ezra was lying on his side still when Vin and Josiah returned. They took one look at him and turned away. They couldn't handle seeing him like he was. He was shaking and whimpering and they had no idea what to do or say. Chris saw that they were not going to come any closer so he went up to them.

"Well?" he asked them. He was glad to be away from Ezra for a moment.

"There's five of them. Four on top of the hill and one with the horses at the bottom of the hill and he is injured so he won't be hard to take." explained Vin.

"They have plenty of cover and will probably see us coming." added Josiah.

Chris sighed and hung his head. "We have no choice." he turned around and looked at Ezra. "He's going to die if we don't get him back to town. Nathan says that they wound is already infected and his fever is taking control of him. He also said that he was becoming delirous and that could cause us some trouble."

"Trouble?" asked Josiah.

"Nathan thinks that it may make Ezra do things that he would not normally do especially when he is so angry at us. He threatened to shoot me before." Chris smiled at that but when Ezra had said it he was shocked. "Buck and JD aren't back yet so why don't you go and look for them, see if they needed any help." said Chris. Vin nodded and started to walk away. But Josiah stayed where he was.

"I wouldn't mind staying with Ezra for a while if that's okay Chris." Josiah was watching Ezra as he stood there. He suddenly felt the need to stay with him.

"Sure Josiah, I'll help Vin look for the others." he walked away and joined Vin who had been waiting for one of them to go with him.

When Josiah joined Nathan Ezra had quietened down and had stopped shaking. Josiah took the damp cloth from Nathan's hand and began to wipe Ezra's face while making sure that the tear that was in his eye did not fall.

Ezra could feel something damp against his skin and he tried to move away from it but it did not leave him. He asked what ever it was to go away but it wouldn't. He opened his eyes to see what it was and he saw Josiah leaning over him. "Are you going to leave me alone to die as well Josiah?" whispered Ezra.

As Josiah wiped Ezras' face he tried to move away and then he saw Ezra's eyes open and then when he heard Ezra speak he was shocked that Ezra would even think that of him. "I'm not going to leave you Ezra and I am not going to let you die." he told him.

Ezra just laughed though and grimaced at the pain in his side. He lifted his head and looked around. "Where's my mother?" he asked Josiah and Nathan.

"She's not here Ezra." Josiah said as he looked at Nathan. He remembered what Chris had told him.

"She left me to then." he smiled. "She always leaves me."

"She didn't leave Ezra, she wasn't here, it was a dream. It's the fever." explained Nathan.

Ezra became angry then. "Your lying, she was here I saw her."

"You were dreaming Ezra." said Nathan.

"And was I dreaming when I was left alone out there with a branch in my side." he snarled at them knowing that it was not a dream. That he was on his own had he had to look after himself, he had to take care of number one. Ezra looked at Nathan and then Josiah. He knew that they were also going to leave him alone to die. It was only a matter of time. A thought occured to him then. What if he didn't die, what then. He knew that they would be glad if he did die then they would not have to put up with him anymore. They would probably be dissapointed. So dissapointed that they may even decide to kill him themselves. He was suddenly scared and he realised that they could probably see that. He put on his poker face to hide the fear that he felt when he looked at them. He had to get away from them before they killed him.

Josiah continued to wipe the sweat off Ezra's face after he had fallen asleep again. He looked up as he heard a noise. He was about to draw his gun when he saw that it was Chris and the others. Buck, Vin and JD were with him, and they had four of the horses which meant water for Ezra. Nathan got up as he recognised one of the horses was his but JD was already walking towards him with his saddle bags. He took the bag from JD and went back to Ezra. He took what he needed from the bag, herbs and balm.

"I can do something for him now Josiah." Nathan smiled. He then removed the bandaged from Ezra's side and began cleaned the wound. The fluid was still yellow and tinged with the colour of Ezra's blood. The wound was swollen closed and Nathan had to use his fingers to open it. Ezra groaned and moved away from him. Josiah held him down so Nathan could keep going. When he had finished he put the herbs that would help with the infection on both sides of the wound. He then put a small amount of balm on it as well. He then asked JD for one of the canteens. He then placed some herbs that would help Ezra's fever into it so when he woke up he could drink some of it. And while he did this Ezra dreamed.

Ezra woke up to find Chris Larabee standing over him. He tried to get up thinking that Chris had helped him but he still couldn't move. He looked up into Chris's face and saw him smile. Ezra's stomach tightened. He watched as Chris drew his gun and pointed it at him.

"What are you going to do Chris?" asked Ezra as he felt the fear build in him.

"You are not dead yet Ezra so I thought I would help you along." Chris continued to smile.

"Your going to kill me?" Ezra knew that he was. He thought that Chris had wanted to do this for a long time.

"I am going to put you out of your misery and ours. You have been nothing but trouble to us Ezra. And it is about time you left the group and because you won't do it on your own I thought that I would help you."

Ezra's eyes widened as he watched Chris's finger squeeze the trigger. "No!" he yelled at him.

Chris and the others turned around at the sound of Ezra yelling out. They saw him sit up as he continued to yell out. Nathan and Josiah used their hands to lie him back down but Ezra fought them off. Chris came over to help them, he sat in front of Ezra and took his arms and shook him awake. "Ezra, it's just a dream." Chris said to him. Ezra stopped fighting them and he opened his eyes and saw Chris in front of him.

Ezra closed his eyes but he did not feel the bullet enter his body instead he heard it hit the tree next to him and Chris then started to laugh. "That's just a warning Ezra, next time I will shoot you." he kept laughing as Ezra opened his eyes. Chris was now sitting in front of him with his hands on his arms. He knew that Chris had come back to finish the job and he started trying to push him away and yelling at him at the same time.

Chris saw Ezra's eyes spring open and the only thing that he saw in those eyes was fear. He saw Ezra focus on him and then his eyes widened even more and Ezra then started to fight for his life. "Get away from me!" he yelled at Chris as he tried to push him away. "Get away from me!" he yelled again. Even with the three of them trying to hold Ezra down he still managed to push himself up against the tree. "Don't let him kill me!" Ezra was still yelling and the others stood by listening, confused as to why Ezra would think that Chris wanted to kill him.

Buck ran to Ezra's side and pushed Chris away. "Ezra it's Buck, it's okay I won't let him hurt you." Buck managed to take Ezra's face in his hands. He felt the burning heat of the fever. He turned his head toward him but Ezra kept his eyes on Chris. "Ezra look at me!" Ezra finally turned his eyes to Buck. "Your okay Ezra." Buck felt him relax a bit so he kept talking to him. "Your okay Ezra." he repeated.

"Buck?" Ezra looked at Chris and then back at Buck. "He wants to kill me Buck. They all want to kill me. Don't let them kill me. Please"

Buck nodded to the others to move away. They left him alone with Ezra. They didn't know what to think or do. They were ashamed that they allowed this situation to happen. That they had even put the slightest thought in Ezra's mind that they didn't care if he lived or died. They knew that this was happening because they had forgotten about him when Buck was injured. They also knew that they would never be able to make this up to him. They watched as Buck took Ezra in his arms and kept him there until he fell asleep again. Buck then laid him down gently and stood up and then joined the others. He felt the dampness on his shirt caused by the sweat coming from Ezra's body.

"What the hell was that all about?" Buck said to Chris.

"It's his fever Buck, it's got nothing to do with Chris. He's delirious." Nathan put a hand on Buck's shoulder to calm him down.

"We can't leave him like this." Buck said. He turned away from them as he tried to control his emotions. He watched his friend as he lay on the ground. He wiped his eyes roughly and then turned back to the others. "What are we going to do Chris?"

"Were going to leave one of us here with Ezra and the others are going up to that hill to deal with those guys and then we are taking Ezra home." growled Chris. "Nathan you stay here with Ezra." he walked away then and the others followed.

Ezra had not fallen asleep. He lay there listening to what they were saying but he heard it differently. What he heard was that one of them was going to stay here to deal with him while the others went home. He had to get away before they killed him. Nathan went back and sat with Ezra not knowing that he was pretending to be asleep.

Chris and the others slowly made their way to the base of the hill. He motioned to Vin and Josiah to go around the side and take care of the man minding the horses. But they returned five minutes later saying that he was unconscious. Chris nodded and they carefully made their way to the remaining four outlaws on top of the hill. They got three quarters of the way up before they were spotted. They returned gunfire and because they knew that Ezra's was life was in danger they took more risks and kept going. Vin was able to shoot one of them and he then ducked behind a rock as the man rolled passed him. He then turned when he heard Chris cry out. He saw that he had taken a bullet in his arm. Buck had also seen this and he moved to another tree closer to him.

"You okay Chris?" he yelled to him.

"I'm fine, keep going."

Josiah shot another one, which left two of them. They noticed the lack of returning gunfire and took the chance that the other two were dead or injured. They ran to the top of the hill without being shot at. When they reached the top they saw one dead bank robber but the other two were gone.

"Nathan and Ezra." yelled Chris and they all turned and headed back to where they were making sure they kept an eye out for the outlaws on there way.

Nathan listened to the gunfire in the distance and hoped that everyone was alright. He looked down at Ezra and saw that the noise had not woken him up. He then turned to look back at the hill to see if he could see anything. But he couldn't, he could only hear the gunshots.

Ezra had also heard the shots and this moved him into taking action. He opened his eyes just as Nathan turned away from him. He looked around for a weapon and saw a thick branch lying just out of reach. He leaned towards it and gritted his teeth against the pain in his side. He picked it up with his right arm and with all the strength that he had he struck Nathan across the side of the head and watched him fall to the ground. When Nathan did not get up Ezra through the branch away and tried to get to his own feet. He managed to do this after a few minutes. He looked towards the hill when he noticed that there was no more gunshots to be heard. They would be coming back soon he thought to himself. He began to walk towards the woods intending to find a hiding place until they stopped looking for him. He did not think to take Nathan's gun with him.

Ezra stumbled into the woods and stopped to hold on to the tree that he fell against. He looked behind him to make sure that no one was following him. When he saw that nobody was coming he took a moment to try and get control of himself. He had to think, he needed to find somewhere to hide so they couldn't find him because he knew that if they found him they would kill. He pushed himself away from tree ignoring the pain in his side and heading further into the woods. As he walked he kept hearing a voice in his head telling him to hurry that they were not far behind him. He turned around to look and then stumbled and fell to the ground. He cried out but cut the cry short by closing his mouth against it. If they heard him they would find him. He lay there for a few minutes listening for them but he didn't hear anything so he struggled to get up and kept going. Ezra was getting weaker with each step but he couldn't stop, he had to keep going, the fear that was building in him kept him going. He managed to walk for fifteen minutes before he collapsed. He couldn't get up, he was to weak. He began to panick, they were going to find him. He looked around and saw a thick bush. He dragged himself towards it. He no longer felt the pain in his side, the fear had taken control of him. He reached the bush to find it hollow inside where the sun did not reach it to allow it to grow. He crawled in there and when he was hidden by the bush he finally allowed himself to relax.

Chris and the others returned to the area where they had left Nathan and Ezra only to find Ezra gone and Nathan struggling to sit up. They ran over to him.

"Nathan what happened? Where's Ezra?" asked Chris.

Nathan looked around to find Ezra gone. "He was there asleep and I was facing towards the hill when something hit me." he rubbed the side of his head and brought his hand in front of his face to see if he was bleeding. There was no blood on his hand though.

"Do you think that it may have been Ezra?" Chris hoped so because if it wasn't then the two other bankrobbers would have him.

"Yeah I do." grimaced Nathan. "You heard him Chris, he thinks we want to kill him. He must have been pretending to be asleep. Did you think that it was someone else?"

"Two of the bankrobbers got away from us. We thought that they might have come down here." said Chris.

"We've got to find him." said Buck as he started to walk into the woods."

"JD, Vin you go with Buck and I'll stay and make sure that these two are alright." Josiah said to them. "We'll follow you shortly." JD nodded at him and started after Buck but Vin started looking around the ground.

"Hold on there a minute Buck." said Vin as he looked around the tree.

"We haven't got a minute Vin." Buck growled at him.

"I'm just trying to find which way he went Buck, there is no use running off after him if we don't know which way he went."

Buck stopped and looked at Vin. He was right. He watched him for a couple of minutes and then followed him as he went into a different direction than the one Buck had almost taken. JD silently followed them. He was afraid that they were going to be to late, that Ezra would be dead when they found him.

When they had gone into the woods after Ezra Josiah made sure that Nathan was alright. Nathan said that he was fine and proved it by taking care of Chris's arm. The bullet had left a deep graze that would need stitching once they got back. He put herbs and balm on it and bandaged it. Nathan and Josiah each led two of the horses as they followed the others into the woods. When they found Ezra they were not going to waste time coming back for the horses so they brought them with them.

Ezra lay in a fetal position in his hiding place. His body had begun to shake which made the pain that he was feeling even worse. He was hot and cold at the same time. But he felt safe as no one had found him. He heard a noise a short distance from him and he no longer felt safe. He could see out and was afraid that whoever it was could see into the bush. He tried to push himself further into his hiding place. He saw someone come closer to the bush. He recognised Vin, and then Buck as he joined him. JD then stood beside them. Ezra held his breath hoping that they could not hear him.

Vin had followed Ezra to this area and by the signs on the ground he could tell that Ezra had crawled into the bush to hide. He indicated to Buck that Ezra was in the bush. Vin used his hands to tell Buck that he and JD will step back and that he should go in there. Buck nodded and then got down on his knees.

Ezra watched as two of them moved away but Buck had bent down and looked into the bush. Ezra started to push himself further back trying to get away from him but he could only go so far as the scrub would not let him go any futher. Buck looked into the bush and saw Ezra trying to get away from him.

"Ezra it's Buck. Take it easy now, I'm not going to hurt you." he spoke quietly making sure that he also used a soothing voice. Ezra still tried to move away from but stopped. Buck thought that it was because he couldn't go any further. He moved into the bush himself. He could see the terrified look in Ezra's eyes, it was like he was a cornered animal that knew it was about to die. It hurt Buck to see him like this. "Ezra, can you hear me." he put out his hand hoping that Ezra would take it but he didn't. Buck watched as a change came over Ezra.

Ezra watched as Buck came closer. He was terrified of him. This man wanted to kill him. He tried to get away but they had found him. He heard the voice in his head but this time it was the voice of his mother. It told him to look after number one, to take care of himself. The sound of his mother's voice made him angry. He wasn't going to let this man kill him easily, if he could he was going to try and take him with him. Ezra gathered all the courage he could and charged at Buck and as he grabbed him they both exited from the bush and landed at Vin and JD's feet. Both of them stood there a moment watching Buck struggling with Ezra. They didn't expect Ezra to attack him. But then they moved to help Buck as they saw that Ezra was trying to get Buck's gun. They didn't see the two bankrobbers come out of the trees beside them.

"Well then what have we got here?" said Silvers.

JD and Vin looked up to see two guns pointed in their direction. Buck was still fighting Ezra off though. He was amazed at the strength and determination that he had in him.

"I don't want to interrupt your argument there but if you could get up and then drop your guns." Silvers said to Buck and Ezra but they both ignored him. Buck knew that if he stopped Ezra would get his gun and then someone was going to end up dead. Silvers nodded to Steven who went over to stop the fight while Silvers kept his gun on Vin and JD. Steven used his boot to stop the fight. He kicked Ezra in the side and sent him sprawling to the ground but he got up and tried to attack Buck again so this time he used the butt of his gun and knocked Ezra to the ground. Buck lay there looking over at Ezra who was not moving.

"Get up." Steven kicked Buck in the side. Buck got up slowly not taking his eyes off Ezra. "Now drop your guns all of you" Once the three of them dropped their guns and Steven had collected them Silvers went over to Ezra.

"Steven do you know who this gentlemen is?"

"No. Do you know him?" asked Steven wondering how his boss new a lawman.

"He's the one that shot Mike and killed Ben. I recognise the red jacket." he smiled down at Ezra. Buck did not like that smile at all.

Silvers and Steven and been walking through the trees with their horses. They were hoping to get to the edge of the trees and were then going to wait for the lawmen to leave and then take them one by one as they rode out. The knew that they didn't have a chance on top of the hill once there was only two of them left so they went and got their horses. They found Mike unconscious so they left him there. And as they walked they heard noises coming from their right and when they went to investigate they saw four of the men that they were wanting to kill and two of them were fighting. Once they had gotten the situation under control and taken their guns Silvers had recognised Ezra as the man who was standing on the porch of the saloon in Four Corners. He was the one that had wounded one of his men and killed another.

He went over to Ezra and nudged him in the side but Ezra did not react. He looked at the others and smiled at them. "Did you two have a disagreement?" he asked Buck. He was courious as to what the fight was about.

"It was nothing." said Buck. He found that he was the one that was scared now. Things just seemed to be getting worse for Ezra. Buck was scared that this time they were not going to be able to help him. When he looked at him all he saw was death. Ezra did not move, he hardly breathed from what Buck could see. He had to do something or else Ezra was going to die. He looked across at Vin and JD and knew that they were thinking the same thing.

"It didn't look like nothing to me. It looked to me like he wanted to kill you." Silvers smiled. He looked down at Ezra and finally noticed that he only had his jacket on. He bent down and undid the buttons and let the jacket fall open. He saw the bandage around Ezra's waist. "He doesn't look to healthy does he? Did one of my sticks of dynamite do this?"

No one answered him. He turned around and looked at them. He kicked Ezra in the side where the wound was and took satisfaction at the sound of pain that came from Ezra's still form. "Perhaps you will answer me now?"

"Alright." growled Buck. "Just leave him alone."

Silvers moved away from Ezra and stood in front of Buck. "Well then?"

"Yes it was the dynamite that did it." Buck kept his eyes on Ezra as he had rolled onto his uninjured side.

"And why did he attack you?"

"He's got a fever, he's delirious. Thinks we want to kill him." he looked back at the man when he started laughing.

"Did you hear that Steven?" he moved back to Ezra and knelt down beside him. "So he was going kill you because he thought that you wanted to kill him. Is that right?"

"Yeah." answered Buck.

"Well then I wonder what will happen if I woke him up and gave him a gun." he looked over his shoulder at his prisoners and could not help but smile at their shocked faces.

Chris and the others had been following the trail that Vin had left for them. Chris thought that they were at least ten minutes behind them. He was worried sick that they were not going to be able to find Ezra in time. He was responsible for what had happened to him. It was his fault that Ezra even thought that he would kill him and it was his fault that Ezra had tried to get away from them. If Ezra died then that would be his fault as well. They kept walking until they heard voices coming from in front of them. They stopped and tied the horses to a tree so they would not get away again. They then moved closer to the voices and they knew that one of the voices they heard did not belong to their friends. When they got close enough they could see what was going on and they were relieved to see that Ezra was there. One man was leaning over him and it looked as though he was trying to wake him up and another man stood over the others with two guns - one pointed at Buck and the other at Vin. Chris motioned to Josiah to moved around so he could get a better shot at the second man. He then nodded to Nathan to go around the other side so he could cover the man who was with Ezra. Chris was going to go straight through the middle.

Silvers slapped Ezra across the face hoping to wake him up. He heard Ezra groan and then slapped him again. "Wake up." He heard him groan again and this time Ezra opened his eyes and looked at him. Ezra had been in total blackness where there were no dreams or voices and most of all there was no pain until he felt something in his side. He slowly rolled over away from it and then it had gone away. But a moment later he felt something else and he heard a voice that he did not know. The person hit him again, yes that's what they were doing, they were hitting him. He opened his eyes to find out who it was and what they wanted. Ezra looked around him, he saw Buck and the others and fear flashed through his eyes but it was quickly replaced by anger. He tried to get up but he fell back down again. He was to weak, he had used what strength that he had gathered from resting trying to kill Buck but someone had stopped him. It must have been the man standing over him and if he stopped him that meant he was on Buck's side. It meant that this man also wanted him dead.

Ezra looked up at him with the anger showing in his eyes. Silvers made the mistake of thinking that the anger was from seeing that the other man was still alive. He did not know that the anger was aimed at him. That Ezra now wanted to kill him as much as the others. Ezra did not want to die and he was prepared to do anything to protect himself and if that meant killing the men who he thought were going to kill him then that's what he will do. Ezra tried to get up again but he couldn't. He could feel the fever raging through his body. He began to feel very cold and began to shiver. He drew his coat around himself. He could see a darkness coming towards him but he was not ready for it yet.

"Hey, you want to kill those men over there?" Silvers asked Ezra. But Ezra did not answer him. He stared at him but he did not answer him. That was okay thought Silvers he doesn't have to talk. "How would you like me to give you a gun so you can?" He saw Ezra react this time. He watched him as he slowly nodded.

Chris could hear what the man was saying and he had to make a move even if Josiah and Nathan were ready or not. He stepped out from behind a tree just as Silvers handed Ezra his gun. He expected Ezra to take his gun and aim it at one of his three friends but instead he pointed it directly at him. Ezra saw this man as a threat to his own life and he had to end that threat. He aim the gun at him but his hand shook with the weight of it.

Silvers was shocked, he was supposed to point the gun at someone else not him. "Hey your supposed to be killing them not me. Steven do something."

Steven turned around and was about to pull the trigger when Chris fired his own gun stopping him from causing Ezra any more harm. Silvers spund around to find the other three lawmen with their guns pointed at him as well. Ezra had heard the shot and turned around to see Chris standing there with his own gun in his hand. Ezra thought that he had come to finish what he first started and that was to kill him. He turned the gun that he had in Chris's direction.

Chris saw Ezra point the gun at him but he didn't want to shoot Ezra, not after everything that had happened. He put his gun down by his side trying to show him that he wasn't going to shoot him. That he didn't want to hurt him. Josiah saw what Ezra was doing, he wasn't going to shoot him either as he had already done that once. Both Chris and Josiah knew that if they shot Ezra while he was in this condition they would have a very hard time trying to convince him that it was in selfdefence. Chris could do nothing but face the gun that Ezra was aiming at him. Buck, Vin and JD sat there watching and waiting for something to happen. Buck had seen the look in Ezra's eyes when he found him under the bush and that look told him that he would shoot Chris.

"Ezra listen to me. Chris does not want to hurt you." Buck called to him. "Ezra are you listening to me?"

Josiah took the advantage of Silvers blocking Ezra's view of him as he headed towards him. He took each step carefully as he knew if Ezra saw him coming towards him he would start shooting. He also hoped that Buck's efforts of trying to distract him worked. He stepped towards him as Buck spoke to him and Chris faced him. Nathan also stood to the side but he knew Ezra would see him coming so he kept his gun aimed at Silvers just in case he did anything, he would have to be careful though as he could see Josiah trying to get closer to Ezra.

"Ezra listen to me!" yelled Buck.

Ezra slowly looked around at Buck but kept his gun pointed in Chris's direction. Ezra could see the darkness again out of the corner of his eye, it was still trying to take him. He knew that it would make the pain and fear go away but it would just have to wait a bit longer. He wanted to take care of the man who wanted to kill him. He heard someone calling his name but he ignored it at first but then the voice called him again and he looked in the direction that it came from and saw the other men who also wanted to kill him. Ezra's gun hand was beginning to shake badly and everyone hoped that he would drop the gun.

"Ezra, none of us want to hurt you, were trying to help you. Your sick, the wound on your side is infected."

"His lying." smiled Silvers.

"Ezra where your friends. Why would we hurt you?" Buck had ignored what Silvers had said. He could see Josiah making his way to Ezra and he only wanted to keep his attention long enough for Josiah to do something.

Ezra could hear someone laughing at him. He looked back at Chris. It was him that was laughing at him. He watched as Chris lifted his gun again and aimed it at Ezra. Buck could see the look on Ezra's face and knew instantly that he was going to pull the trigger. He yelled out to Josiah. Everything seemed to happen at once. Chris watched what was happening and actually thought for a moment that he was going to die. He heard both Buck and Ezra yell. He saw Josiah lunge towards Ezra and grab the gun pointing it away from Chris just as he pulled the trigger. Chris felt the breath of the bullet against his face and was actually suprised that Ezra still had good aim when his arm was shaking so much. Josiah had heard Buck call out to him and he knew that he wanted him to stop Ezra. He lunged at him grabbing the gun at the same time. He heard the gun go off and looked up to see Chris still standing. He and Ezra then fell to the ground. Ezra knew that the man laughing at him was about to kill him so he aimed and pulled the trigger but as he did so he felt something hit him from the side and he fell to the ground seeing the man he wanted to kill still standing after his gun went off. He lay there with the weight on him.

Josiah stayed on Ezra thinking that he would start struggling but he didn't. Instead he laid his head on the ground and closed his eyes. This terrified Josiah.

"NATHAN!" he yelled. Everyone looked at Josiah and Ezra and then ran to them forgetting Silvers for the moment.

Ezra did not try to struggle under the weight as he could see the darkness coming at him again. He knew that once he let it take him that he would no longer feel anything and that's what he wanted. He gave in and allowed the darkness to take him away.

Nathan pratically pushed Josiah away with one arm while he used the other to roll Ezra onto his back. He allowed Ezra's jacket to fall open and he put his ear against his chest hoping to hear a heartbeat. For a while the only sensations he felt was the dampness of Ezra's sweat and the heat from his body.

"Nathan is Ezra . . ." started Buck but the wave of Nathan's hand told him to be quiet.

While they were waiting with the breaths caught in their throats Chris saw Silvers moving away from them. He quickly drew his gun again and went after him grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him back. He threw him onto the ground a short distance away from Ezra but where he could also keep and eye on him.

Nathan lifted his head then place his hand over Ezra's mouth and nose to feel for any sort of breath coming from his lungs. "Chris we have to get him back."

"Nathan is he alive or not?" demanded Buck.

"He's alive Buck but he is in a coma. His heart beat is very weak and his breathing is so shallow I can hardly feel it. I don't think he is going to make it. I think were to late." Nathan hung his head not wanting to see the emotion that showed on everyone's faces.

"Let's get him back to town Nathan so you can do what you can for him." said Chris hiding his own emotions. He turned around to see Silvers smiling at him and Chris drew his gun and hit him across the side of his head. He wasn't going to allow the man the satisfaction of seeing Ezra die. "Vin, JD throw these two over one of their horses and head back to town. Well be right behind you." Chris didn't care about Silvers riding with a corpse, if he woke up while he was still on the horse then that would be fine.

Buck bent down to pick Ezra up and looked into his pale face. "Don't you die on me Ezra. Don't your dare die." He picked him up not failing to notice how limp he was. He felt like he was carrying a corpse. If it wasn't for the heat that Ezra's body was still generating Buck would have thought that he was dead.

Buck wanted to take Ezra with him on his horse so he allowed Josiah to hold him while he got on his horse and then took him as Chris helped Josiah lift him up. Buck then rode as fast as he dared back to Four Corners with the others following him. Nathan didn't dare tell them that he did not expect Ezra to survive the ride back. When had first felt for a heartbeat he did not find one, it took a couple of minutes before he finally heard and felt Ezra's heartbeat. It was so weak that he also checked his breathing just to make sure that he had actually felt his heart beating. Nathan kept his thoughts to himself on the ride back, not knowing if Ezra would still be alive when they arrived in Four Corners.

Chris watched Buck's back during the ride back to town. He was relieved when Buck took Ezra with him. He knew what Buck would be going through with Ezra during the twenty minute ride back to Four Corners. He had been through it himself when he brought Ezra back after he had been shot by some gamblers who wanted payback. There had been plenty of times during that ride back to town that he had thought Ezra had died and he knew that Buck would be going through moments like that now. He just hoped that like then Ezra was still alive when they go back.

Chris wouldn't look at Nathan because when he did all he could see was his expression of total hopelessness. Nathan thought that Ezra was going to die. Chris would not allow himself to believe that. Ezra couldn't die. He was determined that this time he was going to apologise without anyone telling him to.

They arrived back in town to find Vin and JD pacing back and forth at the bottom of the steps to Nathan's room. Chris could see the question on their faces and he saw Buck nod to them. This told Chris that Ezra was still alive. He finally looked at Nathan and saw a look of relief on his face. His own expression must have been the same.

Buck eased Ezra down off his horse into Vin's waiting arms. He then got off and followed him up the stairs. On the ride back he had placed his hand over Ezra's heart just as Nathan had done and once he had found his heartbeat he left his hand there expecting it to stop beating during the ride back but it hadn't. Ezra was still alive and Buck now watched as Vin placed him on the bed. Ezra was still not responding to anything. Everyone came into the room after him and JD went to put some water on to boil as he knew that it's what Nathan would ask of him anyway. For some reason it had become his job as everytime someone was hurt - and it was usually Ezra - JD was the one to boil the water. Vin helped Nathan take Ezra's jacket off but they left his other clothing on for the moment.

Nathan rolled Ezra onto his side and removed the bandage. He used his fingers to check the wound. It was still leaking mucus and blood, it was also still swollen. Nathan did not say anything as he worked. He went and cleaned the instruments that he would need. He then cleaned his own hands and went back to Ezra. JD brought over the water and anything else that he would need and then stepped back and quietly waited with the others. Nathan used one of the instruments to open Ezra's wound as much as he could and then began to clean the mucus out. Ezra still did not show any sort of response. Nathan found pieces of bark and dirt in the wound. After he cleaned it he continued to apply pressure to it hoping to get as much of the fluid out as he could. He knew that it would build up again so he'd have to clean it on a regular basis. He then poured alcohol over and into the wound. He didn't stitch it or bandage it as he knew that it would be a waste of time until the infection had cleared - if it would clear so he put a dressing on it to keep it from getting any more dirt on it. Apart from the infection Nathan's worst fear was dehydration. Ezra had had only a small amount of water and it was now close to night time and while his fever continued so would his loss of body fluids.

Once Nathan had finished he removed the rest of Ezra's cloths and his boots. He left him on his side and covered him with a blanket. He then turned to face everyone. They had stayed quiet the entire time Nathan cleaned Ezra's wound and like Nathan they had seen that Ezra did not move or voice any protest against the pain. He had laid there as quietly as they had been standing to the side watching. He lay as still as they had stood.

"I can keep cleaning his wound but there is nothing else that I can do for him." said Nathan.

"What do you mean nothing?" asked Buck. "You've got to be able to so something for him Nathan."

"I'm sorry Buck. The infection has poisoned his blood, that's why he is in a coma. I can't fight it for him, he has to do it on his own now. And he may be to weak to fight." explained Nathan.

"There's got to be something." said JD as he wiped the tears away from his eyes. JD felt close to Ezra, he felt close to all of them and he knew that he would feel the same way if it was any of them on the bed now instead of Ezra. He thought of Ezra as a friend that he could trust. He was never sure how Ezra felt about him though but then again no one knew how Ezra felt or what he was thinking most of the time.

"I'm sorry JD." Nathan said again. He went back to the bed and sat with Ezra. He wiped the damp hair away from his forehead and placed a damp cloth against it. He put his hand on his chest feeling the heat and again had to wait a few anxious moments to feel his heart beat. Once he had confirmed that Ezra was still alive he went and sat in his chair to wait. He didn't know though if the wait would end with Ezra's death or of a sign that would show him that he was improving.

They all heard what Nathan said. They heard the lack of hope in his voice. They all then found their own area to wait with him. They only waited an hour before Buck threw back his chair in frustration and left the room. The others looked up at him understanding what he was going through. But they stayed where they were, looking down at the floor waiting for Nathan's voice or what they hoped would be even better - Ezra's voice. Chris got up after a moment and followed Buck outside.

He found Buck standing outside the door. "How are you holding up Buck." Chris knew that it was a stupid question but it might get him talking.

"He can't die Chris." Buck leaned against the railing. "You should have seen him when we found him Chris. He was hiding in a bush, he was terrified. I didn't know what to do."

"Nathan said it was the fever Buck." Chris tried explaining.

"Fever or not Chris. We had to have done something to him to make him even think that we would kill him."

"We were proccupied with you after you were hurt. We didn't look for Ezra. We forgot him. That made him angry and it went from there." Chris said. He was going to make it up to Ezra though. "Come on lets go back in."

"I can't stand to see him like that." Buck stood where he was.

"Buck you have to be in there when he wakes up. If he is still thinking the same way he'll need you to be in there with him. You will probably be the only one who will be able to calm him down."

Buck knew that Chris was right but he also knew that at the end Ezra also thought that Buck had wanted to kill him as well. When they went back in Nathan was cleaning Ezra's wound again. He told them that there was no change, that the wound was the same. It hadn't started to clear up. Buck moved back towards the bed and sat with Ezra. He looked down at his pale face. He wanted to talk to him but he had no idea what to say. So he sat back and waited.

During the next twelve hours that Ezra managed to live through the only time that any one left was for personal reasons and once when JD and Josiah went to get some food and coffee for everyone. They drunk the coffee but left the food untouched. Nathan had cleaned Ezra's wound every hour but it was still leaking mucus although it was no longer tinged with blood. Nathan thought that this was a good sign but he kept it to himself. The fact that Ezra was still alive after twelve hours suprised him. This was something that he also kept from the others. But his fever had not improved and he was still in a coma.

They hardly said a word during that twelve hours. The room remained quiet but they still had to strain their ears to even hear Ezra's breathing. Nathan, Josiah and Buck took turns wiping the sweat from Ezra's face and body. When the others were not sitting next to him they sat as far away as possible so they could not smell the sickness that came from his body. They were worried that the odour would change to the smell of death.

After another two hours had passed Nathan began to clean Ezra's wound again. He lifted the dressing and found the fluid that was still leaking from the wound had become clearer. He looked around the room at the others and quickly spoke when he saw their expressions of concern.

"His infection is clearing up."

"That means his going to be fine then doesn't it." JD jumped up from his seat on the floor. He wasn't able to keep the smile from his face. The others though waited until Nathan had finished what he was saying.

"I didn't say that JD. He's not out of danger yet. He still has a fever and he is yet to come out of the coma."

"So what your saying is that Ezra could still die." said Josiah.

Nathan nodded his head agreeing with what Josiah had said and then went back to cleaning Ezra's side. There was definitely less mucus and it was clearer. When he was finished he laid Ezra onto his back as he had been alternating the position that Ezra lay in to try and make it more comfortable for him.

Everyone had managed to stay awake the last fourteen hours but it was now becoming a struggle to do so. They didn't want to sleep as they were afraid that Ezra would die while they were not with him. But one by one they fell asleep. Buck eventually fell asleep but he kept waking up everytime he saw the look of fear in Ezra's eyes when he found him in the bush hiding from them. Buck knew that this image was going to stay in his dreams for quite a while. It was on the third occasion that the dream woke him up when he decided that he was not going to allow sleep to take him again. He looked over at Ezra and saw him lying on his side.

'Nathan must have turned him over.' Buck thought to himself. He looked over and saw that Nathan was asleep. Buck thought for a moment and then decided to make sure as a sudden urge of hope came to him.

"Nathan." he nudged his shoulder but he didn't wake up. He wasn't going to be nice about this. "Nathan!" he repeated loud enough to not only wake Nathan but to wake everyone else as well. He just hoped that he was right in what he was thinking.

"Mm." mumbled Nathan. He opened his eyes and saw Buck standing over him. "Oh no, he isn't . . ."

"No Nathan but I want to ask you something." smiled Buck.

Nathan was totally confused as to what Buck wanted. He looked at Ezra then at the others and then brought his eyes back to Buck. He was about to say something when he realised what he had seen. Buck saw the understanding in Nathan's eyes.

"Buck did you?" The question was left unfinished as Nathan looked at Ezra and back to Buck again.

"No. Did you?" Buck knew that Nathan knew what he was talking about but the others didn't.

"What are you two going on about?" demanded Chris.

Both Buck and Nathan smiled and turned to the others. But instead of saying anything Nathan went straight to Ezra and felt his pulse while Buck told them what they both had seen.

"Ezra's on his side and we didn't put him there." explained Buck.

Understanding began to dawn on everyone's faces. Nathan looked up at them. "He's come out of the coma. He's sleeping now, he must have rolled over on his own. It's a deep sleep though but he's not in a coma anymore." he turned back to Ezra feeling his forehead. "He still has a fever but his pulse is stronger than what it was."

Everyone smiled and slapped each other on the back. Nathan could not help but his smile with them. The infection was clearing and he had come out of the coma. Now they just had to wait until his fever broke and for him to wake up. Another four hours had passed and Ezra had not moved again. Nathan knew that he had not lapsed back into the coma but he still began to worry again. His fever had still not improved. All he wanted was for Ezra to wake up so he could give him some fluids. Nathan decided it was time to try and wake Ezra up.

"Buck could you come over here." asked Nathan. The others looked up to find out what was going on.

"What's wrong Nathan." Buck had suddenly become worried.

"I'm going to try and wake him up. I just want someone here just in case. He still has a fever so I don't know if he's still going to be the same as before." Nathan wanted someone there just in case Ezra tried to attack him. He hoped that he no longer thought they wanted to kill him but he wanted Buck there just in case.

"How are you going to try and wake him up?" asked Buck.

"I'll try smelling salts first and if they don't work I may have to try force." Nathan looked back at Buck and stepped back.

"Are you saying that your going to do something to hurt him." growled Buck.

"Take it easy Buck." Vin had come forward and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't like the way he looked at Nathan. "None of us want to see Ezra hurt anymore but Nathan would have to have a reason for it." he looked at Nathan for an explanation.

"Buck I have to get some fluids into him. If I don't then he may end up dying of dehydration and not from the wound." he saw Buck relax and then he went and got some smelling salts. He returned with what he needed and when he began to try and wake Ezra no one thought to make sure that their guns were not within his reach.

Nathan placed the smelling salts under Ezra's nose and waited for a few minutes. They didn't work, he did not respond at all. He looked at Buck and then gently slapped Ezra across the face. "Ezra can you hear me?" He tried again but this time hitting him harder. "Ezra I need you to wake up for me." He still didn't wake up. Nathan then hit him hard enough to cause everyone to flinch. "Ezra! wake up." He still do not make any sign of waking up. Nathan sighed. "I'll try again later." he got up and walked away. He had no idea why Ezra didn't wake up. He was beginning to become very worried.

In the darkness Ezra thought he heard someone calling him. A few seconds later he felt something against his face and then the voice again. It was telling him to wake up. But he didn't want to. He felt safe where he was and he didn't want to leave. He began to relax when he felt a something hit him hard across the face again. He tried to tell whatever it was to go away but he couldn't even form the thought in his head let alone speak it.

"Ezra can you hear me?" asked Buck as he shook Ezra's shoulder. He saw that Nathan had no luck in waking Ezra so he thought he would try it himself. He looked at Ezra's pale sweating face and saw the hand mark already begin to form on his cheek. He was shocked that Nathan had hit him so hard but more suprised that it hadn't woken Ezra. "Ezra can you hear me?" he repeated. He continued to shake him. He was gentle at first as Nathan was when he first slapped him but then the shaking became stronger. "Ezra are you listening to me?" Buck continued to talk to him as he shook him.

In the darkness Ezra began to hear another voice and then he began to shake. He wondered what was wrong but then realised the owner of the voice was shaking him. He ignored it hoping that it would go away like the other person did. He was comfortable where he was. After a few minutes the voice was still there and he was still shaking. Ezra thought that he may leave the darkness long enough to tell the person to go away and leave him alone.

"He's not going to wake up Buck so why don't you leave him be." said Josiah.

"No!" Buck continued to shake Ezra and then stopped when he thought he heard him moan. "Ezra if you don't wake up I will sit here and shake you until do. Do you hear me!" Buck had raised his voice as he was sure that he heard something come from Ezra's mouth.

Ezra heard the threat and decided that he was going to tell that person to go to hell. He struggled up from the darkness knowing that once he completed his task he could go back. He tried to lift his arm to move the person away from him but his arm felt like a dead weight to him so he tried using his voice. But what came out was a low groan. He tried again and managed to say what he wanted but only just. "Go to hell." was all he said but it was enough to bring tears to Buck's eyes.

They had all heard him, his voice was a low whisper but they heard him. "Not until you wake up Ezra." Buck started to shake him again.

Ezra realised that his statement didn't work. He would have to do more. He tried opening his eyes but they wouldn't open so he used his voice again. "Leave me alone." he croaked.

Nathan came back over to Ezra and knelt down on the floor next to the bed. He had a cup of water with some herbs mixed in it. "Ezra do you think that you could drink some water for me?" asked Nathan.

Ezra heard the voice, it was the one that first spoke to him, it was the one that hit him. He didn't answer that voice. Nathan looked at Buck and frowned. "Ezra I want you to drink some water and I'm not going to take no for an answer." Buck said to him.

"You'll let me go back?" whispered Ezra. He thought that if that's what it took then he would drink the water so they could leave him alone and let him go back to the darkness

Buck didn't know what he was talking about. "Sure Ezra as long as you drink some water."

Nathan smiled. "Ezra we'll lie you on your back and then help you drink it okay?' Nathan took hold of Ezra's arm and rolled him onto his back and placed his hand under his neck and lifted his head. He placed the cup against his lips. Ezra opened his mouth and drank some of the water. Nathan then waited to see if he was able to keep it down. When he did he gave him some more. Once he was satisfied he had enough he laid his head back on the pillow. Ezra was asleep again before his head hit the pillow.

"Do you think that he will be okay now Nathan?" asked JD.

"I feel more confident now that he has had some water but I will feel even better when his fever goes down." answered Nathan.

Ezra slept for another few hours and then he heard that voice again trying to wake him up. This time he managed to open his eyes and he looked straight at Buck. "Hey Ezra." He had found it easier to wake him up and this time he had even opened his eyes. "Think you can drink some more water?"

Ezra just looked at him. Nathan came over with another cup of water. Ezra looked past Buck at Nathan and cringed away from him. Buck was beginning to see that frightened look in his eyes again. "It's alright Ezra, he's not going to hurt you." Buck took the cup from Nathan who then moved away from the bed. Everyone had seen Ezra's reaction to Nathan so they stayed out of the way. Buck was able to get him to drink some more water. He watched as he screwed his face up at the taste of it. "It will make you feel better."

"It tastes like it's going to kill me." muttered Ezra.

Buck laughed at this as it was usually Ezra's response to something that Nathan made him drink but what he didn't know was that Ezra was serious when he said it. When Ezra went back to sleep the darkness was not as welcoming as it had been. This time it had him dream. He dreamt of being in pain afraid of dying alone. There were men in the dream who laughed at him, who pulled their guns on him and pulled the trigger each time missing him which made them laugh even harder. The fear had come back. The next time he woke up it was with a scream.

Ezra lay in the bed gasping for breath trying to swallow the fear that he was feeling when he felt arms grab him. He screamed again and instinctively tried to push the arms away. "Ezra it's okay it's Buck." He had been sitting in the chair opposite Ezra when he heard him scream. He went to the bed but Ezra tried to push him away. Joisah joined him and tried to help him. "Ezra your okay, it was a dream." he finally got him to calm down and go back to sleep. Josiah stayed with Ezra wiping the hair away from his forehead. He continued to do this as he hoped that it calmed Ezra's dreams. He could still feel the fever that had not yet left Ezra's body. After a few minutes he began to toss and turn in his sleep. Nothing that Josiah could do helped him.

After the rest of the day was spent in a restless sleep Ezra finally woke up again. He managed to keep the scream from escaping. Buck was at his side within seconds with more water. Nathan joined him. "Ezra I want you to drink some water again before you fall asleep."

"No." Ezra looked around the room and saw the same people who plagued his dreams. The people who wanted him dead.

"Ezra you need to drink it to get better." said Nathan.

"No."

Chris moved forward then hoping that he could convince Ezra to drink the water. But Ezra saw him out of the corner of his eye and he hid his fear. He looked down and saw Buck's gun still in it's holster and before anyone could stop him he grabbed it and again pointed it in Chris's direction.

The gun was to heavy though and Ezra's arm began to shake and he dropped the gun before he could pull the trigger. He collapsed back onto the bed staring at Chris with both fear and hatred in his eyes. Buck was stunned, he stood there staring down at Ezra. Nathan quickly took the gun and as he did so Ezra tried to push himself away from him as he thought that Nathan was now going to shoot him. Buck was finally moved into action and he grabbed Ezra's arms and turned his body towards him but he still faced Nathan.

"Ezra will you please look at me." said Buck trying not to show the emotion that he felt come out in his voice.

Nathan moved away from the bed and quietly spoke to the others, they then left Buck alone with Ezra as Buck seemed to be the only one that he would listen to or even talk to. Once they had gone he was able to get Ezra's full attention.

"They want to kill me Buck."

"No they don't Ezra. It's the fever that you have that is making you think like this." Buck tried to tell him as Ezra's eyes were beginning to close already.

"They left me to die Buck, they didn't come for me." Ezra closed his eyes and drifted back to the darkness and the nightmares. Buck could hear the pain in his voice. He made him comfortable and went to let the others know that he was asleep again. When they went back in Ezra was already in a dream, he didn't seem to be able to sleep without them.

"How long is he going to be like that Nathan?" asked Vin.

"Hopefully he will be fine once the fever is gone." Nathan hoped, he wasn't sure.

"Then how long is the fever going to last?" Vin asked again.

"His infection is cleared up so it shouldn't be to much longer before his fever breaks." said Nathan. This he was sure of. The last time he cleaned Ezra's wound there was no mucus left in it and that was a couple of hours ago.

They watched Ezra as he dreams continued not knowing how to stop them. They listened as he talked in his sleep and they did not like what they heard. He constantly asked not to be left alone, that he didn't want to die alone and they knew that it was their fault that he was thinking this way. They took turns to take a break, stretch their legs or get some sleep each coming back to find that there was no change in Ezra. Buck sat by him wanting to do something to help him but there was nothing he could do while he slept. It tore at his heart the things that Ezra was saying in his sleep. He didn't know how it effected the others but he knew what those words were doing to him. He could hear the fear in his voice each time he spoke. He looked around the room at the others, looking at their expressions and knew that they were thinking the same thing, even Chris.

Buck knew that Chris blamed himself, he always did while Ezra was hurt but that blame seemed to dissappear when Ezra healed. He hoped that this time would be different, he didn't want Chris to blame himself, he wanted him to talk to Ezra this time. He wanted them to get everything out into the open and deal with whatever it was that would make Ezra think that Chris wanted to kill him. Buck knew that it was the fever but he also knew that it had to be in there deep down to start with. A couple of hours later he thought about taking a break but he heard Ezra's voice calling him. He thought that he was talking in his sleep but when he looked at him he could see him looking back. He was awake.

"Buck."

"Ezra. How are you feeling?" Buck could not see any fear in his eyes at the moment but he was going to tread carefully.

"Thirsty. Can I have some water please?"

"Sure. JD you wanna get Ezra some water and then go and get Nathan for me." Buck watched Ezra for a reaction to Nathan's name but he did not get one. At the moment it was only Buck, JD and Josiah with Ezra. The rest of the guys were taking a break. JD came back with the water, he smiled at Ezra and then left the room.

Josiah came over and helped Buck sit Ezra up so he could drink the water. Ezra looked at Josiah carefully but took the cup from Buck's hand his own shaking slightly but he managed to drink the water. Josiah took the cup from him and then placed his hand on Ezra's forehead. He felt cool to him, his fever had finally broken. Ezra leaned back and closed his eyes and was asleep again in minutes. Buck and Josiah laid him back down as Nathan came into the room and made his way to the bed. He felt Ezra's forehead himself feeling that the fever was no longer there. "I actually thought that you were going to die Ezra." he said to him knowing that only Buck and Josiah would hear him.

Ezra still had the occassional dream but his sleep was mostly calm, he slept through the night and didn't wake again until late morning. Buck had stayed with him, he wasn't going to leave until he knew that Ezra would not react with fear to the others and the best way to know that was to have Chris in the room when he next woke up. So Chris stayed also while the others checked in with them to see how Ezra was doing.

When Ezra woke a groan escaped from his mouth, he had been lying on his injured side and he quickly rolled off it. His sleep had been so deep that he hadn't felt the pain until now.

"It hurts doesn't it Ezra." smiled Buck hoping to get a response but Ezra just grimaced at him.

Chris came up next to the bed, he also wanted to know how Ezra was going to react to him. "How you doin' Ezra?" he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I see that I did not succeed in shooting you Mr Larabee." responded Ezra.

Neither Buck or Chris knew how to take that response. They looked into his eyes and saw no fear but they did see confusion and anger.

"You can shoot me now if you want." said Chris.

"Not now but maybe later." growled Ezra.

They could see that Ezra was no longer paranoid in regards to thinking that they wanted to kill him but he was very angry. Chris did not say anything but nodded at him and turned and left. Ezra watched him go and then looked at Buck. "Buck did I really try to shoot him?"

"Yeah you did, you actually managed to pull the trigger the first time." smiled Buck but it wasn't a humerous smile.

"I can remember but it seems like a dream." said Ezra. He remembered what happened. How they had been to worried about Buck to realise that he wasn't there with them. That they hadn't looked for him.

"They didn't do it on purpose Ezra." He couldn't really explain to Ezra why they had not looked for him. He would have to get them to do that. "You want something to drink, maybe some food."

Ezra shook his head, he didn't want either. "How can you be sure Buck?"

"I've known Chris a long time Ezra. He would not leave you out there to die. He was to worried about me and wasn't thinking straight."

"And what about the others?"

"Ezra I can't explain to you what happened. You are going to have to ask them." Ezra looked away from him. "I don't want you holding all of this in Ezra. I want you to talk to them about it. Will you do that for me?"

"I'll think about it." muttered Ezra.

"Okay you think about it." Buck wasn't going to push him about it now but when he was better he was going to make sure that the others talked to him. He didn't want to leave it like this. He was worried that Ezra would no longer trust them and in the line of work that they did they needed his trust.

Over the next few days Ezra mostly slept. Sometimes his sleep was peaceful but on other occassions it was plagued by nightmares. There were times when he woke that he was able to stop the scream from escaping but other times the scream was out before he could stop it. On one such occassion the nightmare was so bad that he woke with the scream escaping and his body which was soaked with sweat shaking so bad that he had to clench his teeth against the pain that the shaking was causing to his side. He sat up putting his head in his hands while he waited to for the shaking stop. After ten minutes had passed and the shaking eased he looked around the room to find Chris seating in a chair watching him. He put his head back in his hands as he didn't want to look at him.

"Do you want to talk about them Ezra?" asked Chris. He could tell by Ezra's voice and his reactions to the nightmares that what was in them scared the hell out of him. And what he said in them confirmed this.

"Talk about what?" Ezra kept his hands against his head hoping that Chris did not see how badly they were still shaking. The rest of his body had stopped but his hands had kept shaking.

"Your nightmares."

"I don't remember them." lied Ezra.

"If you like I can tell you what you dream about." said Chris. They all knew what he dreamed about as he talked in his sleep. He dreamt of being left alone against that tree with the branch still in his side and dying alone. He dreamt of his friends wanting to kill him and all of this scared him. He was terrified in his dreams. Ezra lifted his head and looked at him. "You talk in your sleep." Chris continued.

Ezra lay down and rolled onto his uninjured side and closed his eyes hoping that sleep would take him so he did not have to talk to Chris. But it wouldn't.

"We didn't leave you out there on purpose Ezra." Chris watched him hoping that he hadn't fallen asleep again.

"I don't want to talk about it Mr Larabee." muttered Ezra.

"You have to talk about it Ezra, I'm not going to leave it like this. You actually thought that we wanted to kill you." Chris kept talking hoping to force Ezra into the conversation.

Ezra turned his head to face him. "Please Chris I really don't want to talk about it now. Later but not know. Please." Ezra still felt the fear of the dream and the last thing he wanted to do was talk about the thing that was causing the fear.

Chris saw the emotion on Ezra's face as he did not hide it. He thought that Ezra would get angry at him but he hadn't. He could still see the fear in his eyes caused by the nightmare. Ezra was right it was not the right time to talk about it. "Later then Ezra."

As the days continued to pass Ezra's nightmares lessened and as his fear left him has anger returned. Nathan finally gave in to Ezra's demands to allow him to return to his own room above the saloon. Ezra preferred to be in his own room as it meant that the others would be more likely to stay away and leave him alone but he thought wrong. They continued to check in on him to make sure that he was okay. He began to spend more time in the saloon than he did in his room and sometimes drank more than he should have and they had to help him back to his room. The others finally decided after one of these times that they were going to talk to Ezra. They waited in the saloon for him to come down from his room. It wasn't until the afternoon that Ezra did come down and he saw them all looking at him. He knew what they wanted. He had been dreading this time for the last week. He tried to ignore them and continued on to the bar to get a bottle of whisky. He was going to return to his room but when he turned around he saw Chris standing in front of him.

"Were going to talk about it now Ezra wether you want to or not." and he took Ezra's arm and dragged him to the table where everyone was waiting for him.

As soon as he was made to sit down Ezra tried to pour himself a drink but Chris took both the glass and bottle from him. He needed to do something with his hands so he took out his cards to shuffle them but they were taken from him as well.

"We want you to tell us what your feeling about what happened Ezra." said Buck as he looked at Ezra. He could see that he was wearing his poker face but they were no going to let him go until he let it all out of his system.

"There's nothing to feel about it. It happened and there's nothing anyone can say to change it." Ezra stared back at Buck daring him to take it further. Buck did.

"You do feel something Ezra and I want to know what it is."

"We all do." added Chris.

"I told you, I don't feel anything."

"Yes you do Ezra. We were to worried about Buck to realise that you hadn't come back. We forgot about you and you had to get yourself out of that situation." Josiah joined in the conversation. Ezra looked away from them and they knew that what Josiah said had brought back a memory that he would rather forget. "Were sorry for what happened Ezra. It was not a conscious thought to do what we did." Josiah continued.

Ezra hung his head. He was angry, he wanted to tell them what he thought but it meant showing them his emotions and he did not want to do that.

"Ezra talk to us." growled Buck.

Chris decided that Ezra wasn't going to deal with it so he thought he would try something else. "Your right Ezra we did leave you out there. We knew that you hadn't come back but Buck was hurt and at the time he was more important to us." he lied.

Ezra was not the only one who looked at Chris but he was the only one who showed any anger. "Do you have any idea what it felt like thinking that all of you were dead or hurt. I thought that was why you didn't come for me. And then to find out that you were all okay . . ." Ezra didn't finish the sentence.

"We don't have any idea Ezra that's why we want you to tell us." Buck put his hand on Ezra's arm but he threw it off. He could feel his anger building and he knew that he couldn't keep it in even if he wanted to.

"Fine, you want to know how I felt. I was angry, I am angry. What do you expect me to feel, you left me out there on my own to die. You didn't come looking for me. What am I supposed to think or feel." Ezra practically yelled at them.

"You have every right to be angry Ezra. What we did was wrong. And we are sorry for what we did." Chris told him.

"You just said that you . . ." Ezra started but Chris stopped him.

"I said it to make you tell us what you felt." Chris explained to him. "Now I also want to know why you thought that we, I wanted to kill you."

Ezra looked straight at Chris and did not even flinch when he spoke. "You have threatened to kill me on more than one occassion Mr Larabee." It was Chris's turn to hang his head. "You have told me that you don't trust me, that you don't even understand why I am still here so it should not be to hard for you to understand why I would think that." Ezra looked around at everyone. "Does anyone have anything else they want to say while were at it.?" He asked them.

"Only that we are sorry Ezra and we don't expect forgiveness for what we did." said Josiah.

"Well you are not going to get it either Mr Sanchez." Ezra got up to leave as he was finished with the conversation.

"Ezra?" JD had finally spoken up. "Are you going to be okay?"

Ezra could see the concern on his young face. "As I told Buck once, I always land on my feet." He left them sitting at the table as he went back to his room with the bottle of whiskey.

"That wasn't really a good enough answer was it." said Chris.

"I don't think that he is going to give us a better one Chris." Buck looked at him. "Were just going to have to keep an eye on him for a while. Make sure that he is okay."

When Ezra returned to his room he drank the whisky until he fell asleep and he dreamt the same dreams that he had for the past two weeks and these dreams continued to plague his sleep for quite a while.

The End

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