The Stallion

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter 16 – The battle for Rose Creek

It's been about forty-five minutes since the women were lowered below ground when the floor shakes with the sound of dynamite. The babies are crying as the mothers desperately try to soothe them. The youngest of the children cry into their mother's skirts, and the mothers pray for their husbands to come out alive.

Elizabeth is worried sick to her stomach about Joshua, the same for the other two. The gunshots ring out high above them and they can't help but think those shots are being aimed at their men.

"This makes me sick," Autumn tells the other two lowering her head to Elizabeth's shoulder, "Any of those bullets could be them."

"Don't think like that," Autumn says thinking the same thing, "they are the best shots in the West and they are going to survive this," she tells her doubting her own words.

After about twenty minutes a barrage of bullets ring out from above and the dust from above shakes to the ground and coats the women and children.

"That's not rifles we hear," Autumn says haunted by the sound of the machine gun.

"Do you smell that?" Akira asks the women.

The women begin to panic as the smell of smoke permeates the room. There had to be a fire going on above, and the room was locked from the outside. They had no way out.

"Shit! We have got to get out of her," Elizabeth tells them rushing towards the door, trying to push her way through it.

Suddenly the door above them is lifted and Sam is calling for them to run, they needed to get far away from her. Bogue had brought an automatic weapon a Gatling gun, which was currently being reloaded.

When Elizabeth emerges she sees Joshua running towards her, a gunshot wound in his abdomen spurting blood from his side. The women and children began running for the fields to escape the gunfire. Instead of embracing him, Elizabeth runs towards a fire and grabs a poker.

"What are you doing?!" he shouts at her, "Get the hell out of here!"

"I am so sorry!" Elizabeth begs him before placing the tip to his skin cauterizing the wound.

Joshua screams in pain holding tight to her arm, leaving a bruise. The smell of burnt flesh was enough to make Elizabeth vomit but she knew it would have to work for now. Eventually he would need further care if he was to live but this would have to do.

"I am not leaving you!" she yells at him.

"I am not going to make it through this!" he tells her, "you need to get out of here! SAM! Get her out of here!" Joshua grabs her face giving her a rough kiss and pushes her toward Sam who pulls her towards the field where Akira is waiting.

Josh looks on hopelessly at his wife who is screaming his name, and shoots at the approaching men trying to take them down before they can reach the women and children.

"JOSHUA!" Elizabeth screams, falling into Akira's arms.

"Get her away! Where the hell is Autumn?" Sam asks.

"She ran off!" she tells him trying to pull a wailing Elizabeth from the scene.

In the confusion Elizabeth steps down on Akira's foot and elbows her in the face taking off full speed in the direction Joshua went, hearing Sam's voice yelling after her. Dead ahead is Joshua riding full speed toward the Gatling gun. Elizabeth grabs a horse and a gun and follows shooting the men following behind him. Elizabeth shoots down as many men as she can, and behind her Billy and Goodnight keep shooting from the bell tower of the church, giving them cover.

When they reach the gun Elizabeth slides off her horse and stands between the men and Joshua who is trying to push her out of the way.

"GO!" he screams pushing her, "Get out of here!"

"NO! I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU!" she shouts firmly standing her ground.

Elizabeth does not budge and turns to the men. "If you're going to shoot him, you might as well kill me too."

"Shit, isn't that the girl the boss wants?" one of the men asks pointing at her.

Elizabeth notices movement, behind the men is someone with a gun. Two guns, and several more appear in the tall grass, suddenly there is one gun for everyman in front of them. All at once they aim and fire, killing the men. Autumn appears out of the bushes and gives her a thumbs up. Elizabeth falls to her knees and Joshua follows her pulling her into his arms.

"That was the stupidest damn thing you have ever done! What if they had shot you? Would you have really made me watch you die?" he asks her, "What if they weren't there?"

"I ask you the same question." She looks him in the eye and he knows he has lost this argument.

The two embrace and stand turning to the others. From the side they see Bogue and two men riding full speed towards the town.

Joshua pulls Elizabeth with him and when they are out of range he blows the dynamite he was carrying and destroys the Gatling machine.

When they arrive back in the town Emma and Sam are embracing each other in a hug. Letting the group know that Bogue is dead. Autumn runs toward the church where her husband was fighting and lets out a frustrated scream at not being able to find him. Hearing his wife's call Vasquez removes himself from his hiding spot and embraces her, careful to avoid his left arm which is shot to hell and bleeding.

Elizabeth walks around the church, and sees the bodies of Billy and Goodnight who died in the fighting, she silently sends up a prayer for their souls.

The women and children who fled return several minutes later, to find that most of the townsmen are gone and only a handful have survived. The seven pray over the loss of Goodnight, Billy, and Jack Horne who died saving Teddy from Bogue's Comanche assassin who was later killed by Red Harvest.

When the celebrating is over, the dead are collected and buried. It takes them all four days to dig all the graves, and the three men of the seven who sacrificed their lives were given a funeral of honor. When all was said and done, the remaining four and their women sat together in the saloon giving a farewell drink to their friends.

Tony has his arm wrapped in a sling, and Joshua is recovering from his bullet wound that the local doctor removed several days before. He was lucky no major organs were hit.

"So, what's next?" Sam asks the team.

"We are on our way to Mexico, since I am still an outlaw here, they will never stop hunting me here. We need to flee the country." Vasquez tells the group holding Autumn close to his side.

"We are going to live off the land, and become our own tribe together. I have heard of a group of Nomads in the White Mountains and we will see about joining them." Akira tells them.

"We," Joshua begins looking to Elizabeth, "are going to stay here for a while, maybe settle down on a little piece of land."

The two of them smile to one another, keeping a secret between them.

"What about you Sam?" Elizabeth asks him.

"Me, well..." Sam trails off looking to Emma who is smiling at him, "I think I might be staying here for a while too."

The team look to one another remembering all the memories they have had. "Hey! I have an idea." Joshua tells them, "how about we all meet back here in this town one year from now. Like a reunion. What do you say?"

Everyone smiles and agrees. In the morning they will go their separate ways always remembering the day they became The Magnificent Seven.

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