Storyteller / Shared NPC
That single shot rang out, followed by a second. That signaled trouble. What kind of trouble, the men rising from the table did not know, but they needed to find out! They had friends out there, and that might be them. If there was trouble the old man would come down hard on them, he'd warned them about starting anything, but it had only been one shot so how bad could that be?
They came out through the bat wings and fanned out looking down the street, Del Vincent, Zeb Freeman, and Will Carter, the man who had been delegated to be in charge. What he saw was a fight about to bust wide open, they'd killed a man and fired at another. As they started forward, some woman with a street howitzer had yelled at them to drop their iron, and that was certainly not going to happen, not now. They could see that the two Evergreen men were about to run for their horses, so they stepped off the porch as a rider with a big shiny badge came thundering past them, This was not good, but it was on now.
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
This wasn't the first time Jonah had been shot at and probably wouldn't be his last, but usually he was running away from gunfire. At least this time he could see the barrel of the gun swinging in his direction with barely enough time to sidestep, avoiding a direct hit, although later he'd find a hole through the sleeve of his coat.
For a moment, his steps faltered, until he realized that the thugs were running away from him, one of them dragging the hapless Miss Constance with him. F-Browne was not a concern, but the young Wigfall boy was down, and Mrs. Lutz was working her way toward him, so Jonah moved that way.
"Are you all right?" he asked Clara as he knelt beside Hector, feeling for a pulse that was thankfully present. "We need to get him out of the street," he told Clara, hoping she could help him drag the lad out of harm's way. Mrs. Lutz was no fainting dame, so he had no doubt she would pitch in.
With the men running away, Addy started across the street toward Clara, Hector and the doctor. As much as she'd like to help Constance, she knew there was little she could do, especially with the scatter-gun -- the range wasn't good, and there was too great a chance of hitting the waitress.
So instead, she crossed to where Clara and Jonah were helping Hector, giving them cover as they moved from the street...
Clara probably would be sporting a bruised face the next day but otherwise, she was functioning. She saw Hector go down after the ringing sound of another shot just above but then the thug turned to make a run for it. She crawled for the young Wigfall to hopefully do something, anything to save him.
The doctor was there now too, thankfully!
"Are you all right?" he asked Clara as he knelt beside Hector, feeling for a pulse that was thankfully present.
"I am fine," she insisted.
"We need to get him out of the street," he told Clara.
"Of course! Whatever you need to do," she promised.
Addy was there and she was armed with a shotgun too. Clara was ready to respond to any directions the doc gave. (You can move her in your next post, Bongo).
She did glance further down the street and saw Constance was being forced to accompany - make that shield - the man who had killed Mr. Browne. And she was helpless to do anything about it!
The two original instigators of this disaster were now closing in on their horses, maybe 25-30 yards to go yet. The one whose arm was wrapped around Constance was slower of course. Both of them were heartened by sight of three more of their Evergreen partners. For the moment at least things looked like they'd get away without further trouble.
Ralph and Caroline were among those watching at the saloon. Caroline frowned.
"One of those bastards has got a woman hostage!"
Ralph nodded, "I see that." He had a revolver in one hand instead of his sawed off shotgun he also kept behind the bar.
"Well, do somethin' or do I gotta go out there and do it?" Caroline pressed.
Ralph's eyes narrowed, there were five of Steelgraves men out there and he was no way eager to take on those kind of odds without other local folks jumping in too. Keeping the pistol lowered by his side, he stepped on out onto the boardwalk, waiting for the right opportunity.
Brendan happened to be on his way back to the butcher shop after making a delivery. He'd just stepped out from a side street into the main thoroughfare when a gunshot rang out. Ducking instinctively and dropping the wooden crate he carried, he darted back behind the shelter of a building. Voices, the sound of a struggle, and then Brendan saw Doctor Danforth run by with a tiny derringer in his hand.
Two more shots. Without stopping to think, Brendan sprinted the short distance through the side streets to the Wigfall house, crashed through the front door -- not literally, although Mary Wigfall might swear there was a dent in the door later -- and thundered up the stairs to his room. God, it had been almost a year since he'd last used either his rifle or his pistol. But he'd kept them in good working order in case they ever needed to be sold or used. He thrust his pistol into his waistband, grabbed his rifle and some ammunition, and practically flew back down the stairs.
Then he was off through the dusty streets again, maneuvering to come out further down Main Street in the direction Doctor Danforth had run. He slowed to catch his breath, went down on his knees, and peeked into the street to get a lay of the land.
There was Doctor Danforth, kneeling beside a body alongside Clara Lutz. Two men were making their way toward some horses tied near the saloon, dragging a woman along with them. And three more men were fanning out just outside the saloon.
It didn't take very long to take in the scene. Brendan had a fleeting inking of doing something heroic to prove to Clara that he really had changed, but it appeared that Addy Chappel was giving her and Doctor Danforth cover, so the immediate danger was to the unfortunate hostage of the Evergreen men. Why, he knew a couple of the men by sight. It really was time to prove himself.
Brendan wet his lips and brought his rifle up to his shoulder, sighting down the barrel to see if he could get a shot at the man dragging the blonde girl who'd taken up waitressing at the diner. The angle was a little awkward, but the men wouldn't be expecting a shot from this far down the street. Unless one of the three men from the saloon spotted him and gave a warning. It was now or never.
Brendan sighted once more, aiming for the back of the man's knee. If he hit, the man would go down. If he missed, hopefully the bullet would go through the girl's skirts and she'd be unhurt.
He pulled the trigger.
"The law is the law."
"Mining's not everyone's choice of hobbies, it just happens to be mine."
Speed pulled hard on the reins and his horse dropped its haunches and slid to a stop as speed leaped free of his mount and hurriedly looked around, he could see Doc Danforth, Addy, and of all people, Brenden Connelly raise his rifle as if to take a shot, his eyes followed the rifle barrel to a man dragging young Miss Straub from the Lickskillet as a shield!
He was about to shout at Brenden about the risk when the young man fired the rifle, and that opened the ball!
*********************
Del was the first one to fire, but the other two, Freeman and Colbert let loose an instant behind him. In their haste, their aim was off, as the lead bullets fell short of whatever targets that they had picked, kicking up dust close to them harmlessly.
The sound of gunfire brought Dex McKinney and Santee on the run from Numer 6 Washington Street with Doc Gilcrest and his trust twelve guage right behind them! Gunfire was their business.
"Good girl," Jonah muttered to Clara, not that she was girl, nor that he expected she would back down like a coward...he actually expected more of her than himself! "Grab his feet..."
Scooping Hector under his arms, Jonah dragged the unconscious young man, with Clara's help, to the boardwalk and against the building, it would have to do as cover until they could get somewhere better, but at least he was confident that Addy would protect him. Hopefully, that wouldn't be necessary, though, and the troublemakers would ignore them. More armed folks were appearing in the street, among them Leah's battalion, so Jonah figured those men had better things to worry about.
Once huddled in the relative safety off the street. Jonah turned his attention directly to Hector, tearing the man's shirt open to find the damage. There was air bubbling from a hole in his upper right chest, not a good thing!
"Press your hand here," he instructed Clara, then started checking for more injuries.
Damn! That was the marshal who just galloped by and now dismounted near the knot of townsfolk. The gunmen knew he would be definitely be one dangerous foe. This was only getting worse.
It definitely got a whole lot worse for the thug holding Constance as he yipped in pain and fell against the side of the one of the buildings. He let go of his hostage too in his surprise and discomfort. The young woman did not fail to take advantage of her release and raced for an alley only a few yards back then disappeared into it, out of sight of any of the Evergreeners.
The man looked down at the source of his misery. He was shot! Shot in the leg!
Brendan might have aimed for the fellow's knee but the bullet hit somewhat lower, ripping into his lower leg. Regardless it had done the job, the hostage was now safe. That is unless one of the gunmen took it into their head to chase down that alley.
There were other shots now too as the trio of Evergreen hands were joining their falling back comrades.
Del was the first one to fire, but the other two, Freeman and Colbert let loose an instant behind him. In their haste, their aim was off, as the lead bullets fell short of whatever targets that they had picked, kicking up dust close to them harmlessly.
Ralph saw it all, he knew they firing at locals and that's all he needed to know, the Marshal was present now too, more reinforcements would be showing up too what with all the racket. He took cover behind a water trough and opened fire on the Evergreen trio from behind, catch them in a crossfire. He only fired two shots though, he only had the six rounds in his revolver, no holster so he would need to conserve ammo as he well recalled his Civil War days in the US cavalry.
***
Clara had helped the doc haul the badly wounded Hector out of the firing line then knelt to watch wide eyed as Danforth tore open Hector's shirt, he'd been hit the chest! That can't be good.
"Press your hand here," he instructed Clara, then started checking for more injuries.
"Yes," Clara said thru gritted teeth then did as told, fortunately she was not skittish about blood. She could wash her hands later.
Anna stood there watching the unfolding drama, hoping that the two women involved would survive what was slowly turning out to be a gun battle. Both Clara and Constance had just been in the General Store where she worked. Now, they were in trouble and there was nothing she could do to help. She didn't know how to use a gun and she was certainly no match for the men who had accosted her friends.
She had been oblivious to the drama that was going on outside until the gunshot rang out. Rushing to see what had happened, she was dismayed to see a man already on the ground and some young fellow lying not too far away. One of them looked like that kind but rather eccentric, Mister Browne and the other, the hapless Hector Wigfall but she wasn't quite sure.
Shortly after that everything seemed to happen so quickly but she could see that Clara had scrambled away to help one of fallen men. Even though the crowd had been building most of the stood far enough away. Then out of nowhere, the Marshall arrived it seemed the incident would soon be over. However, another gunshot proved that it wasn't and some of the crowd made a hasty retreat indoors to get out of the way of what was coming.
To her relief, she saw that Constance had escaped and fled down one of the alleys. Wanting to see if the girl was alright after her ordeal, Anna made her way to the back of the General Store in attempt to see could find her.
Constance was now free of that monster, that was her only thought for the moment as she half stumbled in that long dress then ran into the alley. About halfway down the alley, she turned her head to see if HE was pursuing her? No, thank God! She now took some deep breaths. Mrs. Lutz was still out there though and shots continued to reverberate throughout the street. So this was what they called a shootout? Horrifying!
The waitress did not even know where she was then, some alley but she was definitely not used to the town enough to know anymore than that. Unbeknownst to her, one of the buildings she was standing next to was the General Store, it had a side door too but no sign over it of course. That door now opened. Constance spun about to see who had opened it, wide eyed.
ooc: Assuming Anna?