The Outlaw

Chapter Seven

"Here you go, little Caroline." Mitchell said throwing two clean dresses down on the hotel bed. "You and the retard have one hour to get bathed and dressed in these new dresses." With that Mitchell turned and left the room.

Caroline looked at the copper tub full of hot water. As bad as she wanted to tell Mitchell to take the warm bath and the dresses and shove them both up his ass the temptation to remove all the dust, dirt, grime and blood from her body and hair was just too strong.

"You first, Jasmine." she said to her sister. Jasmine nodded and quickly slipped out of her thoroughly soiled purple cotton dress and sunk happily down in the warm water with a smile. Caroline was happy to see that her little sister was still able to smile after all that had happened.

Caroline looked around the tiny room and sighed. It was plain and dirty just the same as the rest of this town. Caroline had not managed to see much before Mitchell had brought both her and Jasmine up to this room but from what she could see this town was barely standing. All the buildings were old and run down and the men walking around were dirty unkempt outlaws like the ones she had spent the last two weeks with.

Caroline had seen Doomer and Franks tie Ethan up and throw him into a room down the hall. She hoped that tonight when all of the men were busy in the saloon she would be able to find a way to get Ethan, Jasmine and herself out of here.

Just then Jasmine thumped the side of the tub with her hand and Caroline turned to her. Jasmine was holding up the soap and pointing to her tiny back. Caroline smiled.

"You want me to help?" she asked. Jasmine smiled and nodded. Caroline knelt down and helped her sister finish bathing. Once both of them were bathed and dressed in their new dresses they sat down on the bed to wait for Mitchell to return.

He returned exactly one hour after leaving and when he saw Caroline and Jasmine sitting there on the bed clean and wearing their new dresses he smiled at his victory. It was a small victory but a victory none the less.

"Red looks good on you, little Caroline." Mitchell said matter-of-factly. Caroline curled her nose as if she smelled something foul. Truthfully he had bathed and changed into a rather fancy pair of gray trousers, shirt and vest. He had a golden pocket watch with a large chain attached to his pants and his graying hair was slicked back on his head. He looked quite handsome. Well as handsome as an old man who murdered innocent men, women, children and babies could look.

"I'm going to head down to the saloon for some fun. I think I'll leave you girls untied but before you get your hopes of escape too high you should remind yourself that there is no window in this room and I am boarding the door so you cannot get out that way either." he smiled when he saw the hope fading in Caroline's eyes. "You ladies have fun now." he added and then left the room. Caroline could hear the board sliding into the brackets on the outside of the door. Caroline knew that by now it must be dark outside though it was impossible to tell from inside this room. She looked at the candles and lanterns hanging on the walls and let herself become lost in the flickering firelight as she thought about how she and Jasmine were going to escape.

888

Ethan groaned as he sat up on the bed. His head was pounding thanks to the crack Franks had given him with his pistol before leaving him alone in this damn room. Ethan had been lying here unconscious since and he glanced over at the window to see that it was dark outside.

"How sweet, they lit me candles." he mumbled as he sat up and looked around the room which was lit up by the many candles and lanterns Franks and Doomer had lit. He tried to raise his hand to clean the blood that was dripping down his face but realized his hands were tied behind him. He looked down at his ankles to see that they were tied together as well.