This work is copyrighted by the author and may not be reproduced in any form without the specific written permission of the author. The story is one from a time long, long, ago in a land far, far, away. Any resemblance to your experience, or those living or dead from those experiences is purely unintentional and completely coincidental. This is meant as fiction. All feedback is appreciated. Drop a line to: shakes003@hotmail.com or check out my other story at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greatest-fits/ and leave a message. I will get back to you ASAP.
It was light outside when I found the strength to finally manage to pry my eyes open. The air was crisp and sent a chill down my spine. My head felt foggy as I tried to focus on a large form that was blocking the sunlight. The shadow was drawing nearer to me until it stood over me. I struggled to focus my eyes, afraid of what towered over me. When my eyes failed, I frantically rolled away from the shadow and paid the price.
My body seized in pain-every muscle in my body was corded in some sort of vice-like grip. My strangled cry ripped through the peaceful calm surrounding the morning. The shadow crawled even closer and surrounded me, until finally I felt a warm rush of air blow against my neck. I turned my head slowly and was greeted with the familiar muzzle of Kabaya. I sighed in relief.
"Hey, boy." I managed to croak out.
I struggled with my body as I cautiously brought my arm up in order to give Kabaya a rub on his nose. He nodded his head twice before stepping away.
"Good boy," I whispered in a daze mostly. It occurred to me at that moment that I had no idea where I was. I was in pain from head to toe.
"What the fuck...?" I grumbled out, obviously to nobody in particular as I rummaged enough courage to sit up. When I was finally sitting up, the world looked as if it were spinning around me. My stomach became a chunk of ice and I leaned forward and emptied it in front of me.
Kabaya circled me slowly, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with me. His movement was adding to the spinning in my head, which was quickly becoming very annoying.
"Ugh...fuck off, would ya? Help me get up." I groaned.
As usual, Kabaya was his obedient, loyal self and proceeded closer to me so that I could use him as leverage and pull myself up. He leaned his head down next to me and I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck. As he lifted his head, I eased myself into a standing position. It took a few minutes before I was sure I wasn't going to fall flat on my face again.
"Ohhh...shit..." I said as a-matter-of-fact. Kabaya puffed air out of his nose in reply. I surveyed the area around me. There was a bundle of hides and blankets beneath me where I stood, but no clothes were anywhere to be seen. I looked around in confusion. Where was Montana?
A slow panic began to take a hold of me, as there was absolutely no sign of Montana at all besides the hide and blankets that covered me earlier. I was beyond sore, hungry, and my head was still swimming which made it easy for me to panic. I was abandoned, or worse...something had happened to Montana.
I pushed the pain to the back of my mind as I quickly knelt down to grab one of the blankets and secured it around my waist. I turned towards my horse and looked at him sideways.
"You're gonna have to help me out, buddy."
I'm not sure what powers were looking upon me, but Kabaya gave another puff through his nose before kneeling down so that I could actually mount him without killing myself in the process.
"You're the best, Kabaya. Good boy!" I said whole-heartedly as I slowly and cautiously threw a leg over the saddle.
As Kabaya straightened out and stood up, I felt as though my body would be ripped in half. My ass throbbed and burned leaving me gasping as the realization and memory of the night before dawned on me.
"Oh, God! Montana..." I was frozen. I knew I needed to find him. I had a very bad feeling that he was in danger.
"Kabaya, take me to Montana, boy. I gotta find Montana."
I wanted to punch myself for putting too much stock into the horse. He wasn't a dog who could alert me of strangers coming up the path, nor could he fetch a twig or a stick. I could hear Montana's voice ringing in my memory, "take care of him, Kabaya," and knew my only hope was the horse that I tried to steal not so long ago.
"Where's Montana, buddy?" I patted Kabaya on the neck, and he began walking towards the sun.
The air began to change as Kabaya continued his walk towards the sun. The light scent of grass and flowers disappeared, and in its place was the cold smell of death. It was maybe 20 more minutes of riding before I spotted the river, and I could sense where we were approaching before I spotted the clearing on the bank where Montana made love to me a day ago. It already felt like a lifetime ago.
The hair on my body was standing on end. The area surrounding me had as much pleasantness to it as a graveyard. The world was silent, and not even the calming rushing sound of the river could drown out the sound of my breath and heart beat getting faster. I painfully removed myself from Kabaya and swallowed hard. It was eerie.
I left Kabaya to walk aimlessly around in circles. There was no trace of Montana to be seen anywhere; not his horse or any of his belongings. That familiar panic started to brew in the pit of my stomach--the feeling that I'd been abandoned. I began to wander in a daze to the river, the sound of the water running beginning to fill my head. I walked out into the water until it was at my knees. I stared out at the water and thought of Montana the day before. He looked so peaceful as the water sparkled around him. My body ached remembering the events of the last day. It was then that I looked down and nearly jumped out of my own skin.
"Jesus Christ!" I bellowed out and ran to shore as fast as my beaten legs would carry me. It was him. It was the man from the day before with the scraggly hair. I tried to catch my breath as things began to register. There was a bullet hole perfectly situated in the middle of his forehead. I got cold, and fast.
"Fuck it! Where are you, Montana?" I asked myself in a panic. As I tried to get a hold of my breathing and my emotions, it dawned on me that Kabaya had wandered off.
"Great!" I yelled. "You stupid fuck! Where are you?" I was a ball of fear and anger. I wasn't sure if it was the horse that I was yelling at, or Montana.
"Kabaya!" I yelled out, and could hear his puffing a ways away in the trees. I cautiously inched my way towards the trees, trying to follow the sound of Kabaya's breath. As I neared, I could hear him whinnying and getting upset. I had nothing on me besides the blanket wrapped loosely around my waist. I had nothing--no gun; not even a rock to use incase of danger. I was completely helpless.
I could see Kabaya's form through the leaves of the brush as I made my way to him. Something spooked him and had him moving as aimlessly in circles, as I had been earlier. I trudged through the bushes and trees until I was within ten feet of my horse when he reared up and cried. He let his front legs down hard as I came up behind him and saw the carnage that lay at Kabaya's feet.
"Oh, shit!" I held onto Kabaya as much as I could for fear I was going to land face first into the bodies that lay ahead of us. There were five men laying there with blood and a mess that was scattered everywhere. Some were shot, and some were not as lucky. I closed my eyes slowly as I fought to keep my stomach in check. What the fuck was going on?
A sudden rustle in the trees not far ahead made me very alert. Kabaya backed up a few paces, unsure of the surroundings, and I didn't try to hold on. My feet felt planted in the dirt and clay beneath me as I tried to move forward--sidestepping, and generally stepping over the corpses that blocked the way. I crept towards the rustling, not certain what was the cause of the noise.
"Hello?" I asked like a scared little kid. There was more rustling and I could see branches and leaves moving as I slowly moved forward. I looked down at my feet and saw a small stream of blood running towards me. I couldn't breathe.
"H-he...hello?" I slowly brought my hand up to clear the branches and leaves. I could see movement from the ground, softly rustling the brush again. I heard a soft moan before the leaves were clear enough for me to see. There was an eerie screech piercing the air around me. It took me a while before I realized it was coming from me.
" 'Tanna!" I screamed out as I dropped to my knees beside him.
Montana was sprawled out on his back in the dirt, fresh blood flowing from his right shoulder. His right arm slung over his taut stomach, his left was by his side-his left hand clutching his gun. He looked at me like I was a stranger at first. His eyes skimmed over me slowly before any form of recognition registered on his face.
"Lucky," was all he got out before I covered his mouth with my own and branded him with a desperate kiss. He responded quickly--his skin becoming warm underneath me. I kissed him fiercely, starting from his lips and then making my way around his face when he winced in pain and brought me out of my state.
"I thought you left me." I stated simply, and let the fact slip into my head. It took a hold of me, and next thing I knew my head was buried in Montana's belly and I was sobbing in spite of myself. I cried my eyes out and soon felt his fingers gently roaming through my hair.
"I told you, Lucky. I'll never leave you. Do I have to beat it into that thick skull of yours?"
"Maybe," I mumbled into his belly. I felt him chuckle beneath me, and I wrapped my arms around his waist and quietly thanked the Angels or God, or whoever, that Montana was alive and underneath me. We stayed where we were for a time. Montana slowly was making me drowsy with his constant petting of my hair. I felt warm and lazy as I brought my one arm out from underneath Montana, and started softly stroking his thigh. It didn't take long to find it's way to the bulge at the front of his pants. Montana shifted under me.
"Lucky," he started, but I was in a trance.
"I want you in me, 'Tanna." It was out before I could stop it.
"Lucky, I don't think that's a good idea for a while."
"Is it because of them guys last night?" My hand continued to play with Montana's cock through the soft material of his pants. I heard him sigh, and I dragged my face down from the flat planes of his stomach, to the hot mound of his manhood. When I kissed the steely mass I heard him gasp.
"No, Lucky," Montana choked out. "I'm kind of bleeding over here, kiddo."
"Fuck! Montana, I'm sorry!" I was out of my dreamy state, and back to the present. I jolted up and found Montana smiling up at me.
"It's okay, baby. I want to, too but right now we gotta get us out of this mess."
"What happened?" I looked over my shoulder in the direction of the bodies that I tripped over not too long ago. When I looked back at Montana, his face was stone.
"I thought they killed you." He said softly, and then swallowed before continuing. "What they did to you. I couldn't let it go." He let out a laugh. "They didn't go down without a fight. Caught one in the shoulder."
I was about to ask what he meant before it dawned on me.
"Fuck it, 'Tanna! You got shot?" I was in hysterics.
"Well, what the fuck do you think I'm bleeding from, you moron?" He was slightly annoyed, but his voice was still full of love. I thought about it, and realized that it always had been.
"Shit!" I yelled and yanked the blanket from around my waist, and started ripping off large portions of it to use as bandages. We were both silent as I nursed Montana's wounded shoulder. The bullet had gone through, and was bleeding a fair amount, but seemed to slow as the torn cloth added pressure to the wound. To keep his arm immobile, I made a sling and tied it around his neck.
"You do good work, Lucky." He commented in appreciation as he tried to sit up straight.
"I guess that makes me good at something." I shrugged, and wondered what the hell we were going to do. "Does it hurt? I mean, are you gonna be okay?"
Montana shrugged back at me with his good shoulder. "I'll live. Been whooped better than this, that's for damned sure. What the hell am I gonna do with you, now?"
"What you mean?"
"Well, I'm wearing all you had for cover under this sling. You gonna run around this earth in your birthday suit?"
"Are you telling me you don't approve?" I teased Montana, and watched his lips slowly curl up into a smile. He didn't reply but his eyes burned through to my heart.
It took all the strength that I had left to help Montana get to his feet. With Kabaya gone, it took time to clear the trees. We leaned on each other as we crept towards the stream. The sun was a few hours away from setting, and parts of it still glistened off of the water. My eyes were fixed on the calming waters. Inside I was a bundle of nerves.
"What are we gonna do?" I didn't mean to make it sound helpless, but I couldn't help but feel responsible for everything bad that was happening to us. If I had just kept my fuckin' pants on back in Silveridge, we wouldn't be here right now.
"You're hurt, Lucky." Montana's voice was soft on my ear before I felt his lips brush against me. His left hand rubbed my shoulder. His touch felt so good.
"This is my fault." I said sadly, letting the guilt grip me.
"Shut up, Lucky. It's not your fault."
"Yeah, it is!" My voice was louder than I meant it to be. "You said yourself, 'Tanna. I'm a fuckin' moron! Lookit the shit we're in. What do we do now?"
"I'll tell you what we fuckin' do now. We get the fuck outta here, and I don't want to hear that shit from you again. Do you hear me?" I nodded in reply and looked back out at the water.
"Where's that fuckin' horse?" Montana was annoyed, but I hoped it wasn't at me. He wandered slowly about, searching while I stood drained, staring at the stream. I heard Montana whistle loud and low, ending in a high note. I barely noticed the sound of hooves a moment later. My skin was cold--my eyes lost in the stream.