•Tombstone• Brothers Under The Sun

Chapter 17

𝓣𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻, 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭. 𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓰𝓸𝓷𝓮, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶.

Everyone was tired. The city was tired. The morning was quiet, no one walked it's streets. But they watched. Watching from the windows and porches of saloons, hotels and houses. They watched. The sun was coming up over the horizon and hung itself high in the morning sky. It was too bright and beautiful for such a somber day.

With heavy eyes, Elle watched as Doc Holliday helped Wyatt Earp place a fresh oak casket into the back of the wagon. Soft cries were heard from Lou. Allie and Mattie held their sister-in-law close, all dressed in black. Doc Holliday backed away from the wagon as Wyatt looked off to the street, seeing the dark eyed waitress, Josephine Markus, cross the street. Her eyes were ahead of her, nose stuck up. Mattie glared towards the woman and hugged Lou.

Wyatt looked tired, his eyes seemed hallowed into his skull. He looked older then what he was. He wore a long black coat that flowed behind him as he walked.

"And she walked out of our lives forever." Doc said.

Wyatt put his head down and walked to the front of the wagon, Virgil sat with Allie and the ladies in the one that trailed behind Wyatt and the casket. Virgil had been told that he would have no use to his arm, therefore as it healed, it would be in a sling. They were leaving town as well. Leaving to go back to California. Elle didn't question it, because she knew the feeling of wanting to leave when things happened. She knew it too well.

Doc Holliday looked at Ellanora as she watched Morgan's casket be driven down the street and to the end of the city. The two looked at each other but didn't say a word. Turning away, they both got on their horses and rode slowly back to the hotel.

"Let's go for a ride." Doc suggested.

Elle looked over at him and gave him no expression, her face blank. "Why?"

Doc looked at her, he was hiding something from her. "Because it'll do you some good."

"I'm not your problem." She said looking away.

"And I hope you never are, cause I won't help ya." Holliday huffed, "But a ride would be nice." He said sternly.

Elle saw Doc glance as some Cowboys as they walked by, eyeing the pair with cold eyes. Looking back at Doc she agreed. She felt uneasy in this town, the cowboys saw her differently. There was more tension. A storm was brewing.

Riding to a creek near the town, deep into the woods, Elle and Doc stopped to let their horses take a drink. Doc had lit a cigarette as Elle rubbed the back of her neck, taking off her hat. Ash let his head down and drank from the stream. The early afternoon air breezed it's way through the trees and danced around Ellanora. She leaned against a tree and saw Doc look towards the river.

"There's somethin' coming, isn't there?" Elle asked, Holliday turned to her and looked down.

Before Doc could answer a horse was heard entering the trees and Elle took her gun out, pointing it in the direction of the noise.

Wyatt Earp rode into the woods with his black steed and looked at Elle wide eyed. "You can put your gun away Miss Raycroft." He said getting off his horse, which joined Doc's and Elle's at the river.

Putting her gun down she huffed a sigh, "what the hell are you doing here?" Doc and Wyatt exchanged a look, Elle smiled and shook her head, "If you've come to tell me to stay in Tombstone then you might as well give it up now, you know damn well-"

"No that's not why." Wyatt said putting his hands on his belt. The women looked between the men for a moment.

"Wyatt wants a ride." Doc said before taking a huff of his cigarette.

"Like a vendetta?"

Doc shrugged, "Of sorts."

"I know this is askin' a lot of you," Wyatt stepped forward, "those cowboys killed my brother, and they killed Marshall White," his eyes got sad, his expressed was serious. "But I know that if you have any feeling, any sort of hatred for these sons-of-bitches, then you'll join us."

Elle stayed silent, she knew her face was showing the pain and hurt she had gone through because of the cowboys. Looking down she thought of Fred White. Shot by Curly Bill, a cowboy. She thought of everything he had done for her, the kindness he showed. He cared. His lifeless eyes flashed in her head.

She then thought of Morgan Earp, meeting him for the first time and seeing his handsome boyish smile. He had a gentleman's charm that was hard to come by, something she could never forget. His bloody lifeless body appeared in her mind.

She thought of him. Shot. Killed.

Not wanting the remember the last pain from the cowboys she looked up at Wyatt, who was waiting for answer.

"Who else?" She whispered.

"Doc, Turkey Creek, Texas Jack, and Sherman McMasters."

"McMasters?" She narrowed her eyes.

Wyatt nodded his head, "He left the cowboys. Said it got too much and he didn't believe what they were doin' was right."

Looking over at Doc, she saw him watching her every move, waiting for an answer. She thought of everything that could go wrong. She could die, but she didn't mind. The thought of death was welcoming, it gave her a sense of belonging. If she died, she would die getting revenge on her fallen friends. Her days of traveling would become days of running. Running from the law. She would do what was right for not just Tombstone, but for the Earp's and herself. She needed to have a purpose, maybe she did need to stop running from her past. Maybe she needed to run for a different reason.

"When do we ride?" She asked as Wyatt smiled, gratefully, and Doc nodded his head, tapping the ask off his cigarette.