The Rattlesnake and The Copperhead

Chapter Five

"You're really going?" Callie asks me while she watches me saddle up my horse.

"I have to, I got a job now." I tell her.

"But you've been shot!" She says, concern filled her eyes. I don't reply. She wasn't talking me out of this. "Let me come with." She says suddenly, surprising me.

I shake my head. "I can't ask you to do that Ms. Winters."

"It's Callie and If you're not going to stay and rest then I'm coming with you, you can't change my mind." She tells me.

I lean against West, scratching his ears while I studied her. I guess it wouldn't be the worse thing and if something did happen to me it would be nice to have help. Callie notices my staring and she steps back, her face turning red. "I guess it wouldn't be terrible." I tell her.

Callie grins. I only return it with a frown. "You'll have to change." I tell her.

Callie glances down at her baby blue dress with yellow flowers. "This is my best dress." She frowns.

"Exactly, the desert isn't exactly the place for your best dress." Callie chews her lip, lost in thought. "If you need something to wear, I can lend you some clothes."

Callie turns beet red. "N-no, I didn't...I don't need you to- I should be fine." She takes a step back. "I'll be back." She tells me.

I nod. "I'll prepare you a horse."

Callie returns a few minutes later in a new outfit. I'd just finished putting the saddle in her horse.

"We haven't much time, let's go." I tell her, barely glancing at her.

Callie grabs my arm. "Wait, do you think this is good enough?" She asks, gesturing to her outfit.

I look her up and down. She wore a button down shirt with a leather vest over and worn trousers. "You want me to approve your clothes?"

Callie frowns. "Well, I've never been out of town before, I just want to make sure."

"You'll be fine Ms. Winters."

"It's Callie." She says, her tone getting a little irritated.

I look at her, a smile forming. "Right, do you need help getting on your horse?" I ask her.

Callie gives me a look before spinning on her heel and flawlessly pulling herself on the horse. "I've ridden horses before Chance."

I pat the horse's mane, making eye contact with her. "Just making sure and it's Emmett." I pull myself up on my own horse, pain shooting through my abdomen.

"I should've asked if you wanted help." Callie says in a teasing tone.

"I'll be fine." I say, stifling a groan. I click my heels against the horse. He gallops through the town and towards the direction of Rattlestream.

Callie and her horse follow me remaining only a few feet behind me.

              _____________________

About a hour or two from Rattlestream, I stop my horse, swinging down.

The sun was already starting to set and we wouldn't get far in the middle of the night.

"Why are we stopping?" Callie asks. "Rattlestream is only a few hours away."

"I know but the sun is already going down and the horses need to rest." I watch Callie stifle a yawn. "So do you."

She shakes her head. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not." I move over to her horse, waving her down. "Swing your leg over and I'll help you down."

"I can do it myself." She says. She swings her leg over, watching the ground. She looks back at me. "Actually I may need your help."

I step forward, reaching my arms out to her. She places her hands on my shoulders. As she jumps down, I grab her waist to help slowly lower her.

"I thought you rode horses before." I ask her, smiling.

Callie's eyes narrow. "If you knew that, why did you try to help me down in the first place?"

"I was trying to be polite, ma'am." I realize my hands still rested on her waist. I instantly pull away, turning to look for firewood.

"It's Callie and to answer you, I had a accident getting off a horse once. I guess it still makes me nervous."

I nod. "Hey, you want to make yourself useful?" I ask her.

Callie nods eagerly.  "Of course."

"Find some firewood while I set up camp. Hopefully this part will go easily."

"Do you hate setting up camp?" She asks, her eyebrows rise in curiosity.

I pull the saddle bag from my horse, giving her a slight shrug. "If you travel as much as I do, it can get tedious."

"Why have you stayed in Desert Creek?" She then asks.

"Hm?" I hum, half listening to her as I set up the bottom half of a campfire.

She drops a pile of sticks next to me. I give her a look, wondering how she got that many while having a conversation with me. "Don't bounty hunters always travel? I mean like they never stay in one place. But you stayed." She crouches next to me, resting her chin in the palm of her hand while waiting for my answer.

"I don't know why I stayed." I tell her.

A loud whinny pulls our attention from the conversation. I move to my feet as I see a large white horse with a black spotted face run towards us.

I reach out grabbing the horse's reigns and try to pull them to a stop. The horse lifts up its front legs, kicking them wildly.

"Hey hey, it's alright." I say soothingly. I rub the horse's forehead. After a few minutes of gently petting the horse and talking to it, it finally started to calm down.

"What spooked the poor thing?" Callie asks, as I scratch behind the horse's ears.

"I'm not sure. But..." This horse looked familiar, where have I seen it before. I study the horse's features before I realized who it was. "The Rattlesnake." I mumble.

"Huh?" Callie questions.

"This is The Rattlesnake's horse." I tell her. "He must've left without it or was forced to."

"Maybe he's dead." Callie says.

"I wouldn't be so hopeful." I carefully lead the horse to the others. No point in letting it run off. I pull the saddle off the horse, and they neigh in response. "Let's get some sleep, I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be a long day." I say.

          ______________________

A loud gunshot echoed through the sky, jolting me awake. Callie sits up straight, looking at me. "Chance?" She questions.

"Get up." I grab her arm, pulling her to her feet. "Get the horses, I'll kill what's left of the fire and grab our supplies."

"What is it Chance?"

I clear my throat. "I don't know, just do what I say." Callie nods, pulling the horses with her and behind giant rocks that lay only a couple feet away from our campsite.

I kick dust over the fire, glancing around the area. It was eerily quiet. I inhale sharply, holding my breath. Then I heard it, the distant clip clip of a horse.

Someone's coming.

Callie grabs my arm, gripping it tightly. "What's going on?" She asks me.

"Someone is coming." I swing my arm around her waist and drag her behind the rocks with me.

I peek around the rocks to see a white spotted horse and a rider dressed in dark clothes come up to our camp.

I chuckle quietly. "I don't believe it." I mumble.

"What?" Callie whispers.

"Stay here." I tell her. I reach for my gun and creep up on the rider. I slowly cock it and aim it at their head.

"Get off the horse Rattlesnake, before I shoot you." I snap