Jasmine looked at Ethan and felt tears pouring silently down her face. He was standing there looking so handsome and proud with his hands tied behind his back. The rain was coming down so hard it was difficult to see things clearly but she could see the blood pouring from the spots on his chest where Mitchell had whipped him. His face was bloody and bruised.

This was her fault. She had wanted to do something nice for him to pay him back for all the help and kindness he had shown to her and her sister. She hadn't realized that Mitchell and his men were really chasing after them. She hadn't realized that starting that tiny fire just to boil some coffee would lead to this.

"I won't kill him, Mitchell." she heard Caroline's strong voice say. "I love him." Jasmine looked at her sister ignoring Mitchell's reply to her comment. Jasmine could tell that Caroline was scared. She may be standing straight and her voice may sound strong but she was scared. Jasmine knew Mitchell wanted Caroline to kill Ethan. But Jasmine also knew that Caroline loved Ethan. They didn't know it but Jasmine had been listening the night before when Ethan had asked Caroline to marry him and Jasmine had been so happy when her sister had said yes.

Jasmine could feel Mitchell's arm wrapped tight around her shoulders and she felt a shiver run down her spine. She hated Mitchell. Mitchell was a bad man and he had killed her daddy and her big brother.

"If threatening your life won't work then I'll just have to try a different tactic." Jasmine heard Mitchell say and then he was pulling her in front of him and she felt the cold hard barrel of his gun against her head. She let out a silent scream of fear and she saw the panic on Caroline's face as she begged for her little sisters life.

Jasmine saw Caroline turn back Ethan. She could hear them talking and she could hear Ethan telling her to kill him even as Mitchell counted. Jasmine saw Caroline raise the revolver and aim it at Ethan and she screamed at her older sister not to kill him… This was Jasmine's fault and it wasn't fair that her sister and Ethan were suffering! Of course no one could hear Jasmine's desperate screams because her voice didn't work. It never had. Jasmine heard the gun in her sister's hands fire and both Ethan and Caroline fell to the ground. Caroline crawled to Ethan and then turned and yelled at Mitchell.

"Well then if I am such a heartless son of a bitch I can't very well let her live can I?" Mitchell asked and Jasmine knew she was going to die. She saw the panic on Caroline's face and she wished that she could tell her sister that she loved her just one time. Jasmine was dead before the sound of the shot had time to reach her ears.

888

Grayson  was on his way back to his tiny shack after a long day out hunting on the plains. He was returning home with nothing to show for all his hours of work because some damn posse had ridden past him in the rain and scared every critter within one hundred miles way.

He decided to take the shortcut through the ridges and he was just passing by the big pool of water that he loved to swim in when he heard a moan to his right. He grabbed his rifle quickly and aimed it toward the sound. A man couldn't be too careful out here in outlaw territory. He looked through the rain which was starting to let up a bit. It was growing darker though and Grayson knew within another fifteen minutes or so he wouldn't be able to see his hand in front of his face.

"Who's there?" he called out. He heard the moan again and that's when he saw the man lying half naked in the mud. Grayson jumped from his mare and walked cautiously toward the man. A flash of color caught his eyes and he turned to see a girls body on the ground as well. He ran to her but she was clearly dead and shot in the head and he shuddered at the sight of her. He turned his attention back to the man.

He walked over to him and nudged him with the barrel of his rifle but the man just moaned again and made no attempt to move. Grayson flipped him over with the toe of his boot and gasped. The man was covered in blood. Grayson wondered what the hell had happened to him and the girl.

He whistled for his mare and she walked over to him obediently. He hoisted the man up over his shoulder and then threw him over the mares rump. He'd have to come back with a shovel and bury the girl before the critters got her.

"Come on, old lady, let's get this fella out of the rain." Grayson said lovingly to his mare as he jumped in the saddle. Grayson had been living out here on his own for nearly twenty years and for the last twelve he'd had his Annabelle for company. She was the closest thing to a wife he had ever had and he treated her just as lovingly as he would a wife.

They made their way through the dark to Grayson's tiny cabin. He had worked painstakingly hard to make sure it was camouflaged among the hills and rocks and he knew that even from the ridges it was invisible unless he had a fire going.

He carried the man into the house and took him out of his wet clothes. He tended his wounds the best he could and wrapped him in a thick wool blanket before starting a fire in the fireplace to dry to damp air in the shack. Then he grabbed his shovel and went back out in the rain to go bury the girl's body.