Ben and Adam were sound asleep. Totally unaware of the storm that was passing them by. Their fire was slowly dying out.

That’s when Rooster, Sam and Billy were passing by less than 10 feet from them. Sam was struggling, trying to get Rooster’s hand away from her mouth. She recognized Ben and Adam camping there and she needed their help more than anything at that point.

Rooster knew that he was losing at keeping his hand over her mouth. He nodded to Billy and soon as the camp was behind them, they picked up pace. That’s when Sam finally got Rooster’s hand off her. “Ben! Adam! Help me! They killed Hoss and kidnapped me!!” She screamed as the horses went into a full run.

Both Cartwrights were awaken by the sound of hoof beats and Sam’s voice in the distance. Half awake they were not fully sure what had happened.

“Did you hear that, Pa?” Adam asked, half awake.

Ben nodded, “I could have sworn I heard Sam say ‘they’ killed Hoss.” He said frowning. His heart was pounding in his chest.

Adam looked at his Pa, shaking his head, “That’s not possible, Pa.” He replied as thunder rolled in the distance. There was no way.

“It’s what I heard, son.” Ben said, tears in his eyes.

Adam wasn’t fully sure he had heard the same thing. He did know that he had heard Sam though. “It’s not possible. Everyone is back at the ranch. If something had happened, they would have come to the camp, not yelled it at us.”

Ben didn’t reply. He just stared in to the distance. Was his middle son dead? Did he hear what he thought he heard?

“Pa, just get some sleep. When we get to Trinity, we’ll send a wire back and find out that everyone is just fine.” Adam said, trying to comfort his father. And in truth, himself.

——————————————–

Hoss was riding Chubb at a steady pace but the ride was wearing both rider and stead down. Hoss’ head was pounding but he wasn’t going to let that slow him down. He needed to find Sam. He had made her a promise that he’d never let those men anywhere near her and it seemed that he had broken that promise.

Of course, his more rational side told him that it wasn’t his fault. After all he had been shot and knocked unconscious. He was lucky that he was still alive to be making the trek.

He took another look at the ground and saw the two sets of muddy hoof prints. He knew that judging by the deeper imprints that one horse was riding double. Which meant that he was on the right track.

Even with the crease to his head and his mind being somewhat foggy, he was still the best tracker in the territory.

He snapped Chubb’s reins and his old pal picked up speed. He came to a turn and saw signs that a horse had recently slipped and dumped its rider. He knew now that he was getting closer and he wasn’t giving up until he had Sam back safely in his arms.

———————————————

“You’re never going to get me to Trinity.” Sam cursed. She just prayed that Ben and Adam had heard her. They just had to. She had screamed as loud as she could at them.

“Oh, I think we will.” Rooster boasted.

Sam fought her restraints again and this time fell from Rooster’s horse. When she hit the ground she tried to take off on foot. But having her hands tied behind her, her balance was off and it was hard to run.

It wasn’t long before Rooster grabbed her from behind. She turned and kicked at him, hitting him in the knee. Rooster grabbed his gun and hit Sam on the side of the head, sending her to the ground unconscious.

He picked her up, threw her over his saddle and mounted up.

As they were starting off Billy shook his head, “Cal’s not going to like that.”

Rooster turned to his partner, “At this point, I don’t really care.”

————————————————-

The dawn was breaking and the storm had finally passed. The sun was trying to break through the clouds as Joe started to wake up. For a moment he had almost forgotten where he was, until he went to stretch and found that he couldn’t. He smiled when he saw that Eddy was curled up into him.

He yawned and slowly moved his arm out from under Eddy’s head. Once he was sure that he hadn’t woken her, he stretched and then made his way over to the fire that was almost out. He threw more wood on and stoked it. As the flames were coming back to life, he filled the coffee pot and sat it over the flames.

As the strong aroma began to fill the air Eddy stirred in the bedroll. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up. A lazy smile made its way onto her face as she looked over at Joe crouched down by the fire.

“Morning.” she said.

Joe jumped, startled at the sound of her voice. “Uh, morning.” he replied.

Eddy chuckled. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay. Want some coffee?” he asked as he filled two cups. “I got some jerky here to, if you’re hungry.”

“Please. It smells like heaven.” she replied as she took the cup and jerky he held out to her.

Joe walked back over to the bedroll and sat down beside Eddy. They sat in comfortable silence and enjoyed the freshly brewed nectar and dried beef.

After they finished their coffee and jerky, they saddled up their horses, mounted up and started off again towards Trinity.

—————————————————-

Ben and Adam were just finishing packing up their camp when they heard hoof beats, at a very fast pace, make their way towards them.

Adam, who was tying his bedroll to his saddle, looked up and saw Joe and Eddy coming at him. He looked over at Ben, who was rolling his own bedroll up. “Hey Pa, we got company.” Adam said, walking around Sport.

Ben looked at his oldest son and then stood up holding his bedroll. He frowned and then sound of the hoof beats caught his attention. “Joe, Eddy. What are you two doing here?” Ben asked, worried. The thought of what had happened, hearing Sam, ran through his mind like a freight train.

“We came after you two.” Eddy said, jumping down from Cashe.

“Why?” Adam asked. His exterior was calm but inside he was frantic. Hearing Sam last night, although he tried his best to deny that anything was wrong, had caused the worry to take root with Joe and Eddy’s arrival.

“Look, Pa, we…” Joe started as he jumped down from Cochise.

Ben shook his head, “Listen son, before you tell me why, answer me this.” Ben said as tears formed in his eyes. “Are Hoss and Sam okay?”

Joe and Eddy looked at each other. “Yeah, sure. Why?” Joe replied and then asked.

“They were fine when we left them at the ranch.” Eddy added, a hint of worry in her voice.

“So you don’t know for certain if they’re alright?” Ben asked.

“Well, no, but…” Joe said, but stopped himself as he started to worry. “Pa, wh-what’s going on?”

“We’re pretty certain we heard Sam yelling as she rode by our camp.” Adam replied.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Eddy said. “If it was her, why wouldn’t she stop?”

“That’s what we were wondering.” Adam stated.

Ben was thinking back to what he had heard. “She was yelling that she had been kidnapped and that Hoss…” Ben couldn’t even finish the sentence. It was too painful to even think about, let alone speak aloud.

Joe looked intently at his Pa. “That Hoss what?” he asked. When Ben didn’t answer, Joe grabbed his arm and forced Ben to look at him. “Pa, what about Hoss? What happened!?”

Ben still couldn’t answer so Adam spoke up for him. “She said that Hoss had been killed.”

That sentence seemed surreal coming out of Adam’s mouth. There was no way that Joe just heard what he thought he heard. No, Hoss couldn’t be dead. Not his big brother, his best friend. It just wasn’t possible. It was all a mistake. It had to be. They would go back to the ranch and Hoss would be there waiting for them, with that big goofy smile on his face.

Eddy looked at them, she found herself short of breath. She placed a hand on Joe’s shoulder but he pushed it off. “It can’t be.” He said to no one in particular.

“We found the horse tracks, Joe.” Adam answered.

Eddy looked at the group, she didn’t know what to say. She felt light headed but tried shaking it off. She saw the pain in everyone’s eyes. She looked at Joe, “She could be mistaken. It…” She was at a loss for words.

“I’m going back.” Joe said, heading for his horse. “I have to….”

Adam grabbed Joe’s arm and stopped him. “Joe, let’s continue on to Trinity. We can send a wire and find out for certain if…”

Joe pulled his arm from Adam’s grip and glared at his oldest brother. “You want me to go on to Trinity when Hoss could be back there…” Tears welled up in Joe’s eyes. He just couldn’t think of Hoss in that state. “I’m going back to the Ponderosa.”

Adam grabbed his arm again. “Joe, if Hoss is dead…”

At those words, Joe hauled off and punched Adam right in his jaw. Sending the older man flying back onto the ground. “Don’t say that again, Adam! Don’t talk about Hoss like that!”

Joe was madder than a hornet and he lept at Adam. The two men rolled around on the ground, punching each other.

Eddy ran to the two men and grabbed Joe, “Joe, please!” She screamed, trying to pull them apart. But her attempts were futile and she ended up getting punched by Joe. She stumbled backwards, landing on her butt.

The two men continued to fight. Eddy looked at the scene as Ben started screaming at the boys. Her sister had been kidnapped and Hoss was dead. What else did she have to lose? She wiped the blood from her nose and looked at the scene before her with tears in her eyes. She ran to Cashe and jumped into her saddle and took off towards Trinity, without even so much as looking back. It was better if she handled this herself. The Cartwrights had already lost too much.

Ben watched Eddy blow by him on Cashe as he pried his two sons apart. “Eddy!!!” he yelled.

Joe pulled his arm from Ben’s grip, ran to Cochise and jumped into the saddle. Adam started towards Joe but Ben stopped him. “Let him go.” he replied quietly as the two men watched Joe head back in the direction of the Ponderosa. “This is something he needs to do.” Ben knew how Joe felt about Hoss and vice versa. His two boys had a special bond that no one would ever be able to break. Even when one of them… no he wouldn’t think of it. Not now. He looked back at Adam. “We’ll follow Eddy and take care of things in Trinity.”

Adam watched Joe until his younger brother disappeared in the distance. Then he sighed, mounted Sport and he and Ben took off towards Trinity.