Breaking the Rules (1st in Breaking Series)

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

He could see her standing there in her blue cotton dress. She was smiling and reaching for him. He reached for her but suddenly she was moving away from him, still with that loving smile on her face. He tried to catch her. He ran and ran but no matter how fast his legs worked, he couldn't get any closer. She just kept getting further and further away.

"Stop, Elizabeth. Come to me!" he yelled with frustration. Still she stared at him with love and just kept getting further and further away. Then the gunshots rang out and he yelled in horror as her crimson blood soaked her dress.

"No!" He screamed. "I promised I'd keep her safe!"

Brody's eyes flew open and he tried to sit bolt upright in the bed he was lying on, only to be struck with a sharp pain in his chest that had him crying out and collapsing back against the feather tick mattress.

"Easy there, chief." A gruff voice said beside him.

Brody looked over at the man who had spoken. He was sitting in a chair, his clothes were dirty and crusty and seemed to be stiff with sweat and mud. His hair was blond and messy on his head and his face was a tangle of scars. His gray eyes were familiar when they looked at Brody but he wasn't sure why.

"Where... Am.. I.." Brody choked out. His mouth and lips were drier than the desert itself and the man grabbed a glass of water off the table beside him and helped Brody take a drink.

"You're in my house... Well shack I guess. Never thought I'd see you again, chief."

"LeRoy?" Brody asked as recognition dawned on him. He hadn't seen private Banner since the war had ended and their whole company had went their separate ways.

"Yep. Who the hell shot you full of holes?"

"My wife..." Brody gasped suddenly as he tried again to sit up. LeRoy put a firm hand on his uninjured shoulder and held him down, "Now dammit, do as I say. They shot you up good. Your ribs saved your heart but your damn shoulder got hit and your leg is broke. It'll be a good six weeks before you're able to get up and move around much," he warned sternly. "Why in the hell did your wife shoot you for?"

Brody closed his eyes against the pain that was coursing through his body. His shoulder burned, it hurt his ribs to take a deep breath, and the brace on his leg, held it immobilized, "No. Where is my wife? Is she okay? Did you save her?" Hope rose up in Brody. If LeRoy had gotten there in time to save him then maybe he had gotten there in time to save Elizabeth. LeRoy shook his head and seemed puzzled, "There wasn't nobody there but you."

Brody felt even more hope. They'd taken her prisoner. But how long ago? "How long have I been here?" he demanded.

"About two weeks. I thought you was gonna die of fever but you're looking a bit better now."

"I have to go."

"You can't go!" LeRoy looked at Brody as if he were crazy. "You have a broken leg and a bullet hole in your chest and shoulder."

Brody knew the man was right but that didn't mean he was happy about it. He couldn't even sit up, let alone hop on a horse and go riding. "I think you should know something, chief." LeRoy added with sadness. Brody looked at the man, who was only few years older then him but looked decades older with all those scars, "What?"

"There weren't no other bodies there, but there was blood."

Brody's heart stopped beating in his chest, "Blood?" he whispered around the lump of dread in his throat. His nostrils flared as he took deep breaths to try to keep himself from losing it. "How much blood?"