•Tombstone• Brothers Under The Sun

Chapter 12

𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂𝓮𝓭 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽

Laughing with each other, the pair began to walk down the hill towards the house. Upon looking over the hill, they saw a group of men on horses in front of the house. The man stopped Ellanora from walking down the hill, Elle looked up and saw the men and felt worried for her mother and father who was down in the house.

"Who are they?" Elle asked. The man next to her stayed quiet, watching the men as they talked with Ellanora's mother and father.

Suddenly gunshots rang through the air causing her parents to fall to the ground. Elle opened her mouth to scream but he put his hand over her mouth, muffling her scream. She had dropped the bucket of milk and it tumbled down the hill. He then pulled her down to the ground and hid behind the hill. She had begun to cry and squirmed in his grasp.

"Listen Elle, listen to me," he said frantically grabbing her face. She calmed for a moment and looked at him, tears streaming down her face. "You need to run to the barn, get on Ash, and don't look back. Just go, ride somewhere and just leave." His words were frantic and rushed.

"Wha- I, what about you?" She asked sniffing.

"Don't worry about me, just go. You have to go."

He grabbed her face and kissed her forehead, she stood up and before running to the barn, she looked back at the man and watched him smile to her. His smile was sad, but she took in his face one last time before she ran towards the barn.

"Be careful Elle." She heard him say.

"Elle."

"Elle."

Opening her eyes just a little, she was greeted with a dark lit room with the dawn of the day about to rise on the city. Sitting up in the chair she slept in, she heard coughing and looked towards the bed. Faintly she could see Doc laying there, blood dripped down his chin and he tried to speak again.

"Elle..." he coughed out.

Elle sprung to her feet and grabbed a cloth and dipped it in water that lay on a side table. Sitting next to him on the bed, she brought the cloth to her lips and wiped the blood away. He began to cough again and he tried to sit up to make the coughing better. She helped him slide up the headboard to help more air flow through his lungs. Once he was comfortable, Ellanora got up and decided to open a window, it had gotten warm in his room and he began to sweat even more.

Pushing back the white sheer curtains, she opened the door to the small balcony that rested over Main Street. She let the cold breeze flow through the room and saw the moon hung high in the sky. Pink hanged east to the sky as the sun was about to peek out from behind the horizon.

"Elle."

Turning back around she saw Doc. She walked to his bedside and sat on the chair that was next to his nightstand. Watching, she saw his eyes open and close, as if he was stunned.

"Doc." She whispered.

"What happened." He gasped out.

"You passed out in the Oriental."

Their voices were hushed, hearing nothing but his heavy breathing and the window flow through the curtains. Doc closed his eyes as if to nod, opening them again, he locked eyes with the blonde haired women sitting next to him. The two stayed silent for a moment, Elle leaned back in her chair, it creaked with her weight.

"You were pretty beat up." Elle said. Doc coughed again.

"TB does that to ya." Doc whispered as if ashamed.

Elle looked longingly as Doc started to drift back into unconsciousness. She reported his words in her head, TB. Tuberculosis. Sighing, she looked towards the window, wondering how this man would turn out. So many questions flooded her thoughts about his health, but she chose to ignore them. Leaning her legs on the side of his bed, she felt herself become consumed by sleep once again.

"Come on Ash." Elle said rushing to the young horse, she pulled herself on him and rushed out of the barn.

Looking back towards the hill, where the house was, she heard more gunshots. It echoed off the barn and spooked Ash causing Ellanora to panic for a moment. Once the horse was calm, she heard horses approach from over the hill. Cursing, she pulled Ash away from the barn and headed towards the hill.

Once at the top, she saw him, a bullet to his forehead. Blood plastering his face. Choking on her tears she looked to her home and saw it up in flames, her parents dead on the front doorstep. Crying, she saw the men on the horses in a circle near the back of the house. One of them pointed to her on the hill and they all looked. Ellanora locked eyes with one, his black head shading his eyes from the sun, his stare, burned Elle's skin.

Feeling anger and overwhelmed, she wanted to rush the men, but the only gun she had was a shotgun. It was Ellanora verses ten men. She couldn't do it. The men suddenly started to race their horses towards the hill, causing Elle to race off, down the hill, into the valley.

A sudden knock at the door caused Elle to shake herself away. Her heart pounding, as the knocking had frightened her. The sun shined down into the windows, and the morning breeze flowed through the air. Standing up, she heard the morning rush, from down below in the street. She walked to the door and was greeted by an older man, holding a doctors bag.

"Hello, I was told there was a Doctors visit needed." He said, Elle nodded and let the man in.

Suddenly, Kate came rushing into the room and threw herself onto Doc, who was just waking up. Elle took this as her cue to leave, she had done as she promised and watched Doc until morning. Grabbing her jacket, she looked at Doc one last time before leaving.

He was still pale and slick with sweat, but his eyes seemed hallow. Holliday watched Elle pick her jacket up and turn back to him. Locking eyes for a moment, the women turned away and left Kate and the Doctor to tend to Doc Holliday. It wasn't her job anymore.

Stepping out into the hall, she needed to find Virgil and get her guns back. Walking down into the lobby, the hotel keeper stopped her.

"You best get out of her Miss." he warned.

"Why?" Ellanora asked.

"The cowboys have been going around town sayin' their gonna spill, Earp, Holliday and Raycroft blood today."

Looking at the man in shock, she rushed out of the hotel and looked up and down the road, seeing six cowboys, which included Billy and Ike Clanton, she eyed them as they jogged by on their horses. Ike looked at Elle and pointed finger guns at her and then blew it up, as if to pretend to shoot her in the head. He laughed and so did the other five men as they passed her. Stumbling for a moment, Ellanora ran down the road and straight the the Marshall's office.

She needed to find the Earp's.