Running With An Outlaw

4

Sam was completely unaware of the tail and he stopped by the store to get a canteen for Clint, figuring the outlaw hadn't grabbed one in his rush to get out. He paid and jumped back on the horse, before heading towards the river, taking the long way around so he wouldn't have to worry about the gorge. When he got closer to the hollow he hopped down and lead his steed across the loose rocks and dirt.
"Clinton? Please do not shoot me", he called out knowing the male would most likely have his gun at the ready.
~~~
The deputy watched Sam as he stopped at the store and then came back out and hurried onwards wherever he was going. He stopped a distance away from the gorge and took another route on foot, watching the younger man from a distance. What're you up to, Samuel? the deputy wondered in his head as he stayed tucked behind a tree, watching the young man. 
~~~
Clint heard the familiar voice and slowly lowered his gun, "Were you followed?!" he asked, shouting in a whispered tone to the sheriff's son.
"I don't think so. I left everyone back at the house", he answered in an equally hushed tone as he left his horse to graze on a sparse spot of grass. He offered him the full canteen with a small smile before before stepping back.
"I don't think anyone else knows about this place but me anyway. It's kind of secluded," he said as he pulled his horses bit out of her mouth so she that wouldn't be biting the hard metal as she grazed.
The outlaw looked at the canteen as it was offered out to him and he took it quickly with a grateful look upon his face and he opened the cap and began to gulp down the water, a good amount of it dripping off his chin.
He then pulled the canteen away and took a breath, wiping off his soaked chin. Sam watched him drink and was pleased that he had been right in believing he had forgotten his own.
"Th-Thank you..." the brunette got out between a breath and he sank his head back against the rocks. 
"You sure you wer-...." he trailed off as he heard a twig snap above them and then a loud sound of rocks sliding and then a thud. "Behind you!" Clinton yelled, grabbing his weapon and aiming at the man who was standing behind Sam now, about five feet away, a gun aimed at his head.
"Guess my partner was right... You are with him..."
Sam jumped slightly at the thud of something dropping down behind him and at Clint's call. Samuel turned slowly to look at the younger deputy in surprise, mouth slight agape before he collected himself.
"Walk away, kid. This doesn't have to get ugly," he warned his own hand moving slowly to the pistol on his hip.
"Who're you calling kid? And what in the hell are you doing with him?!" the younger deputy asked, and wasn't about to put down his weapon.
"Put it down, son." Clinton said in a threatening tone to the deputy, but the deputy instead got a bullet ready in the barrel of his pistol for Samuel.
"You move, cowboy, and your boyfriend's dead..." the deputy threatened.
"You wouldn't kill the sheriff's son." Clinton said.
"Try me."
Sam looked at his father's deputy with a glare, not liking the fact that he had a gun in his face. He had always been good under this sort of pressure and he kept his hand moving to his gun, and flipped the cover off it carefully so that the deputy wouldn't notice.
"Calm down, okay. You are blowing this all out of proportion. Think about what you're accusing me of," he growled even though he was right... well... except for the boyfriend part. If they could keep him talking Sam knew that he could either sow seeds of doubt in his head or his and Clint could take care of him.
"Oh? Out of proportion? So you just happened to know where he was and bring him water and everything, boy?" the deputy asked and then tilted his head, laughing. "Your his toy, aren't you? Oh this is priceless. The sheriff will love to hear his son is the outlaw's boy toy." the deputy grinned, and at that point a bullet went off and the deputy fell, gasping.
Clinton stepped up to the man and shot another right between the deputy's eyes and then looked at Samuel, breathing heavy. "You alright?" he asked, but what he hadn't felt is a bullet from the deputy had went off at the same time as he shot the deputy - but the deputy's bullet lodged into Clinton's shoulder, which Clint hadn't even felt from all the adrenaline coursing through his veins.
"Samuel, are you alright?"
Sam's eyes widened at the shots, fully expecting one to hit him. When the pain never came he looked up he saw the deputy on the ground, blood pooling around his head and turned to look at Clinton, his heart having jumped into his throat. He managed to nod slowly before his eyes trailed to the spot on Clint's shoulder watching as the outlaw's blood blossomed over his shirt.
"Shit, you're hurt", he managed as he made him sit down and unbuttoned his shirt to look at the wound. 
"Shit...."
Clinton slowly lowered his weapon and sat it down and then looked at his shoulder.
"I'm fin- Hey! Hey, hey, what're you think you're doin'?!" he asked and then inhaled sharply through gritted teeth as the younger man unbuttoned his shirt, which brushed against the bullet wound.
"I'm fine... Stop worryin'. Lets just get the hell out of here." he said and looked to the wound. 
"Really, I'll be okay... We need to leave, n-now."
"You're not okay, Clint, you've been shot," the dark haired man stated as his brows pinched together in worry, eyes looking back at the wound that was quickly leaking red fluid. "God, this is all my fault..." He whispered quietly before he looked back into his eyes.
"Tell me what to do because you aren't moving until I'm sure you aren't going to pass out on me," he said softly having no idea how to help him.
"Can you get ba-back up out of the gorge? I-If so, if you can find my horse... in hi-his saddle bag is some clean clothes I always keep. Take one of the shirts a-and bring it down here. We'll rip it t-to use as something t-to apply pressure." Clinton said and gritted his teeth some as the air was now able to hit at the wound more. "I've had worse, I'm not passin' out o-on anyone."
Sam nodded before standing up quickly and scrambled up the steep side of the gorge, sliding all over the place as he moved quickly to get out of the hollow. He didn't like the way the outlaw had been stuttering, even if he had assured him he had had worse. He found the horse with some difficulty but calmed him when the animal freaked out at his sudden appearance with ease.
He pulled out a random shirt from the bag before hurrying back to Clint, sliding down a good bit of the slope and jumping down the last few feet.
"H-Hey, be careful!" Clinton scolded at the younger man as he jumped off the remaining few feet. "Don't nee-need you breaking a-anything, too!" he said and then looked at his shoulder and groaned.
"Gosh d-dammit... Just what I need...!" he said and then looked at Samuel.
"B-Ball it up and then press it r-real hard over the wo-wound, okay?" he said and exhaled with a pained quiver.
Sam nodded and did as he was told, looking at him apologetically as he pressed the shirt against the wound knowing it would hurt him.
"I'm so sorry this happened, Clint. If I had been more careful it wouldn't have," he apologized as tears formed in his eyes, though he fought them and they didn't fall. He concentrated on what he was doing to distract himself.
Clinton gasped through clenched teeth as the shirt was pressed to the wound and he looked away from his shoulder and closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath from the sudden pain. "I-It's not your fault. I sh-shouldn't have gotten you into this mess. I-I sh-should've just left the saloon a-alone." he said, his stuttering slightly more slurred with the increase in pain.
Sam looked at him, not quite believing him when he said it wasn't his fault, but shook his head when Clint said that he should've left the saloon alone.
He looked to Samuel, his eyes slightly glazed with pain, "H-Hey, d-don't you ge-get all emotional on me now. I-It's alright, I'm n-not gonna die.... Yet." he teased.
"No, I'm glad I went with you. It was only a matter of time before my pa found you and you ended up dead," he mumbled as he looked up into the male's hazel eyes that were glazed with pain. "What can I do to help ease your pain?"
"Yeah, speakin' 'bout hi-him, if we d-don't soon leave here he-he's going to c-come wi-with his boys and you'll be th-thrown in the jail and I'll b-be dead. We need t-to go, those g-gunshots gave off o-our location." Clinton said and winced as he stood, taking over holding pressure on the wound.
"J-Just help me up o-outta here. And g-grab the deputy's pistol, ne-never know when we might need 'nother gun."
Samuel nodded and moved to the deputy and grabbed the gun from his cooling fingers and shoved it into the mare's saddle bags. "I'm goin' to go get your horse, I'll be right back," he assured him as he placed the bit in the spooked animal's mouth and swung himself back into the saddle.
"Don't pass out on me", he stated before wheeling the horse around and taking off to fetch the gelding from the ridge. Once he was there he grabbed the horse's reigns and led the reluctant animal down into the hollow and hopped down off his horse to help Clint onto his.
"Don't worry! I'll be right here!" Clint yelled up and then leaned back on a rock formation and closed his eyes, looking like he was going to be sick. They brunette looked up as Samuel made his way back down with both horses. "Yo-You're insane..." he said and then pushed off the rock wall and walked over and got his one foot in the stirrup and then groaned as he hoisted himself up into the saddle, the bleeding returning to his shoulder when the pressure was released, the shirt almost soaked in blood. The action caused Samuel to look at him in concern as he swung himself up into his horse's saddle. Clint re-balled up the shirt and pressed it back to the wound and looked at Samuel.
"Y-You're gonna have to tie my horse's reins to your mare's saddle horn... I-I can't let go of the pressure or I'll b-bleed more and definitely p-pass out on you..."
He did as he was told as tied the reins to the saddle horn and looked at him.
"If you feel like you're going to pass out, let me know because I don't need you getting hurt more because you fell off your horse. If it come to it, I will ride with you sitting in front of me, Clint", he warned as he made the horses turn back towards the opening of the gorge and moving at a steady pace to get away from the area.
"A-Alright, I will, cowboy." Clinton said and then exhaled painfully and kept the pressure to the wound as best he could, using his legs and his feet that were in the stirrups to keep him in the saddle as they made their way up and out of the gorge. 
"W-We need to get away from here. A-And once I'm far away and t-this wound is taken care of, you ne-need to get away from me and go home, Samuel. I can't keep having y-you do this... Lying to your father a-and risking your life for me, it's not w-worth it."
Sam tried to keep the horses at as steady of a pace as he could manage so Clint didn't have to deal with too much bouncing around. He listened as he spoke but didn't say anything at first, mulling the words over in his thoughts.
"No," he said finally," That deputy was put on as a tail for me. When my dad sees that he's dead he's going to know what happened. I'm in just as deep as you are now."
"A-And what's your father going to do? K-Kill you?" Clinton asked with a slight laugh, "I highly dou-doubt it, so go back w-while you still have the chance." he said.
"You don't know my father. He's.... well I don't think he'd really care now that one of his deputies are dead and I helped the outlaw he's been after for years escape," he said seriously as he looked at him, but his eyes turned to concern.
A while of riding they finally got to a small area off in the woods with a fire pit and a couple logs around it for seating area, and it looked to be abandoned. Nothing more was around, but it'd make for a good area to rest for the night.
"We should stop he-here and rest and then continue on in the morning. The h-horses could use a break, too..." Clinton suggested, pain even more laced in his voice.
When they reached the abandoned campsite he stopped the horses and looked at Clint. He looked pale and Sam grew even more worried about him, he slid off the mare and moved around to Clint's gelding so that he was beside the outlaw.
"Come on, big guy. I won't let you fall", he said with a forced smile.
"Oh,so your father don't like you much now? Peachy." he said and then looked as Samuel came over to the side of his gelding and he slowly swung his leg off the horse and went to dismount, but lost his grip and somewhat fell back into the younger man as he got to the ground.
"Me and him have never seen eye to eye, I told you that before. This will just make it worse." Sam caught him when he fell, making sure he didn't hurt himself worse, and helping him straighten up.
The outlaw straightened up, his face contorted with pain and his skin even more paled.
"D-Dammit..." he stuttered and then fell down onto one of the logs, sitting there. He doubled over, throwing up into the grass away from them, spitting out the remaining of his food yesterday, which wasn't much. 
He was trying to remain calm but was freaking out on the inside as he waited for Clinton to finish throwing up. 
"Tell me what to do and I'll do it," he asked of the man as he kneeled down beside him and carefully pressed the shirt back against the wound.
"You going to be able to pull a bullet out of my shoulder, Samuel?" he asked, exhaling slowly.
"I-I highly doubt it." he said and then bit his lip and groaned as the pressure was reapplied to his shoulder once again.
"How else are we going to get it out?" He asked as he looked at his face knowing that he was right, but if he had to then Sam knew he'd do it.
"If you hadn't gotten into this mess you c-could be home and sleeping i-in your own bed, b-but now you're stuck out here wit me."
He shook his head slightly," Shh.... we have different things to worry about that me being out here with you."
"Well, I could try to get it out m-myself." he said and then he looked to the wound that was covered with the blood-soaked shirt and looked back at the younger man. "Thank y-you for all this, r-really, Samuel. You r-really are t-to kind for y-your own good..."
"I'm worried you'll just hurt yourself more", he admitted ignoring the stickiness that covered his fingers as his blood soaked through the shirt. They would definitely have to do something soon. 
"Don't worry about it, Clint," he said with a small forced smile. He had always been one to be kind to others unless they pissed him off.
"D-Do you think you can get i-it out?" Clinton asked in a stutter and exhaled in pain, biting the bottom of his lip as the pressure shifted some.
"G-God d-damn it hurts..." he huffed out and then put his head back and closed his eyes. "D-Dammit..."
"Just tell me what to do", he reinforced before looking at him hurriedly.
"I'm sorry it hurts, I wish I could do something for it", he added as he sighed trying to think.
"Alright, I-Im going to okay down so you can work easier. You need to insert t-two of your fingers into the wound and f-find th-the bu-bullet,-..." he trailed off, getting more dizzy. "C-Can you do that?" he asked as he then slowly laid down onto the ground.
"I-I think I can do that", the sheriff's son answered unsteadily and he watched him lay down on the ground. He sat one knee on the crook of his uninjured arm as a precaution before lifting the shirt from the wound.
"I'm really sorry", Sam apologized as he leaned over the male and started to work. He slid two fingers into the bleeding hole and his own stomach nearly turned at the feeling.
"Sh-Shit!" he cussed, turning his head away from the wound, closing his eyes, his chest heaving raggedy in breaths from the pain. He bit his lip and dug his fingers into the grass some. "D-Did y-you fi-find it?" The outlaw whimpered out and inhaled with a pained quiver.
"Y-yes", Sam managed as his fingers grabbed the hard object at the bottom of the wound. He slowly pulled the bullet out and dropped it on the ground beside them before pressing the shirt back over the wound and wiping his hands on his jeans.
"G'ahhh!" Clint screamed as the bullet was pulled from the wound and he then exhaled with a pained quiver, his eyes glistening with tears from the agony that brought.
Sam flinched at the scream and looked at him with concern and held the shirt on carefully, but with enough pressure to help stop the bleeding.
"D-Dammit..." he stuttered out and winced when the shirt was 're-applied. "Th-Thank you." he managed to get out, his hand grabbing Sam's gently.
He looked a little surprised when the outlaw grabbed his hand, but he gave it a small comforting squeeze.
"You're welcome", Sam smiled weakly his stomach still churning from what he had just done for the brunette.
"I know that couldn't have been easy f-for you t-to do." the outlaw said and kept his hand over the younger man's. "I-I'm sorry you got dragged I-into th-this mess of mine." he said in more of a whisper, his head starting to move from side to side as he fought to keep consciousness.
"Stop worrying about it, Clint. Let's worry about making sure you don't die on me," he said quietly as he stood up, pulling his hand away from his, and went to his horse's saddle bag and getting out some cloth he usually brought with him in case the animal got hurt during a ride.
"S-Stop saying th-that... I'm n-not going an-anywhere. G-Gonna have to... h-have to...." Clint trailed off and started to pass out, his hand beginning to lose conciousness. "I... g-go home.. le-leave m..." he mumbled out.
Samuel moved back over to him and settled down beside him and pulled away the blood soaked shirt and pressed some of the clean cloth back onto it.
"I'm not going anywhere. Rest, I'll take care of you", the younger man whispered quietly as he watched the outlaw fight a losing battle with unconsciousness. He wrapped the remaining cloth strips around his shoulder carefully to hold the ball of cloth on it, pleased when he saw the bleeding had slowed.
"Do-Don't l-let m-me die..."" He barely got out before he passed out. The grey gelding walked over and laid down by the two men and exhaled through it's nostrils as if watching over his owner(s) to make sure they were okay. Especially the one who had just lost consciousness.
"I don't plan on it," he whispered before standing up and gathering wood around the camp for a fire, seeing as it would be dark soon. Once he had one decently set up he moved to the horses and pulled the saddles off of them and sat the tack near a tree, getting the saddle off the gelding was difficult due to him laying down. He shrugged off his jacket and laid it over the slightly older man before settling down beside him, listening to his breathing.
The man mumbled incoherent things as he fought with his body's want to stay out like a dead light.
-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-
Hours passed and with it came the darkness of the light, but also the quiet sound of the outlaw's voice filling the cooled air around them.
"S-Sam... Sa-Samuel..." he mumbled, blinking his eyes, trying to get his whereabouts together. The horse whinnied quietly and nudged the man, trying to further wake him.
"I'm right here", Sam said from beside the fire just a few feet away from him. He had made sure the bandages hadn't been soaked occasionally but for the most part it seemed like the bleeding had stopped. He stepped closer, and sat beside him carefully, the canteen in his hand. 
"Are you thirsty?" he asked as he pulled the lid off.
The outlaw slowly managed to sit himself up but he didn't look very good. He was pale and his hands were shaking some from the amount of loss of blood and being dehydrated as well. "Yea-Yeah." he said quietly and then moved more over to Sam. "Wh-Why didn't you l-lead...? You c-could've le-left me..."
Sam watched with worry as the man sat up and couldn't help but notice how pale he was, almost a shade darker than death. He pushed the thought away and helped him drink from the canteen so his shaking hands wouldn't spill it all over himself.
"I'm not going to leave you out here alone hurt. It isn't going to happen so get it out of your head" he sighed finally.
The outlaw looked at the man holding the canteen and he exhaled slowly before taking a drink as the man held it for him. He sighed and wiped some off his chin and then looked at Samuel.
"I j-just don't want to put you into anymore trouble than you're already in. We sh-should get moving by the morning." 
"Will you be up for that?" Sam started as he capped the canteen and sat it beside him. He looked him over for a moment before his eyes fell back onto his face.
"Because you look and sound like shit, I don't want you hurting yourself more," he finished.
"I'm have to be. I just have to be. We can't stay in one area for very long. It's just not safe with everything that's going on." Clint said and then exhaled slowly and brushed his fingers through his hair.
"We will take it slow and stop whenever you need to," Samuel sighed in defeat knowing the outlaw was right.
"Thanks for all this... really," He looked at his jeans for a moment, but looked up quickly when he was thanked.
"I couldn't just let them find you and I'm sure as hell couldn't just leave you hurt."
"Fair enough." he said and then exhaled slowly and bit his lip some as he sat back up and then he looked at him and softly kissed his lips.
Sam smiled lightly as he kissed him, his face flushing slightly but was hidden by the orange light from the fire.
"I really appreciate everything you've done for me," The brunette stated and then smiled weakly at the younger man.
"I would do it all again.... but leave out the part where you got shot," he laughed. "Get some more rest, Clint. Tomorrow's gonna be rough."
"Yeah, well, that'd be a nice thing to leave out." he laughed as well and then he kissed him again softly. "Just shut up and kiss me, man." he said and then grinned some.
Sam smiled back at him before leaning forward and kissing him back. He pulled away slightly to look at him for a moment and shook his head lightly. "You are one hell of a mystery, Clint." He laughed quietly before he kissed him softly again.
"Yeah, so are you, Samuel." he said and then kissed him again. "I'm really enjoying your lips right now. Helps with the pain a lot, just sayin'."
"Guess I'd better kiss you for a while then, huh?" He teased before looking down into the man's hazel eyes, his own twinkling humorously.
"Probably would be a good idea to do so if you like me." he said in more of a tease than anything else and then he softly bit the younger man's lower lip and then whispered on his lips. "You saved my ass today, you know that?"
"Nah, totally don't like you or anything. I hate you really, just figured I'd come along for the ride," he said sarcastically but with a smile before kissing him lightly.
He thought about the question as he chewed his lip in thought. He nodded slowly but didn't pull away from Clint's lips.
"I would do it again," he whispered against them.
"Well just so you know I like you quite well. So well I took a bullet for you today, ya know." The outlaw joked and then smirked a little, it was obvious he was trying to distract himself from the pain that he was in.
"That's good to hear... Thank you for that by the way,"he smiled at first but it fell away from his face. He sighed quietly and looked back up at him with a smile.
"My guardian angel," he teased before reaching a hand out and tussling his hair slightly.
"Mmm, you're welcome. You just owe me later you know." he teased and then got up and brushed a hand over the man's cheek.
"I know," he smiled as the outlaw ran his hand over his cheek. 
"How did you learn to ride down steep areas like that, back at the gorge?"
"I've had a lot of practice, I generally like horses better than people so I've learned how to work with them," he explained. "In places like that you just let the horse take over, they don't want to fall anymore than we would."
"Well, next time I pay you a visit if you do go back home I'm going to buy a second horse off you. That stallion I got is fantastic." he said and then whispered in the boy's ear, "But so are you."
Samuel's face flushed again as he looked at his pants with a smile. "You're pretty great yourself, outlaw," he teased before turning his head slightly and kissing his jaw.
"You need a better pet name, boy," he chuckled and then kissed the man again before whispering on his lips.
"When I'm better I think you deserve a reward for saving me, what do you think?"
Sam chuckled with him and kissed him back. "I might like that... but first get better, then we'll talk," he answered quietly before kissing him again. The dark-haired male sat a hand on the outlaw's knee and pulled away slightly.
The outlaw raised a brow and then scoffed as if he was offended by the man's words," I can't believe you wouldn't immediately jump at an opportunity like that."
"Now lay back down and relax before I make you," Samuel laughed but fully knew he couldn't make the man doing anything he didn't want to.
"I like that dominate side of you a lot, Samuel. But, as you well know, you can't make me do anything."
Sam gave a soft laugh and leaned back slightly out of the outlaw's reach, using his arms to prop himself up.
"Fine, but the longer you put stress on your body, the longer it's going to take for you to recover," he warned with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. He looked over the outlaw for half a second in a discreet manner, noticing how he still looked pale from the blood loss. Samuel found himself wondering how long it would take the man to recover his usual tanned color.
The outlaw  looked at the younger man with a soft smile and then softly leaned over and kissed the man's tender lips before sighing and laid on his side, laying with his good arm under him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, ma... don't need to sweat it." he teased. 
"Go to sleep, Clinton. We will talk more in the morning," Sam ordered as he rolled his eyes slightly at the tease. The dark haired man laid down as well and looked at him with a soft smile, watching as the outlaw closed his eyes finally.
"Fine, night Samuel..."
"Goodnight, Clinton..."