Mal felt the hands on his back. As he was rolled over he drew and aimed through the pain at his would be assailant. He saw Allison crouching over him.

“What happened?” he asked as he holstered his gun.

“Well when you went down, we put up a fight.” Allison shook his head “Then Simmons caught one in the brainpan. I went to reposition, but by the time I did the shooting had stopped.”

“What of the others, Ollie and…”

Allison drug Mal into the woods “His cousin Thurmond? I saw horses heading over the hill, might be they ran for it, hard to tell, couldn’t make out riders.” Allison tried to hide the sadness “Ollie was a good man, fine deputy. I hope he made it out.”

Mal looked back towards the cabin. Two men had captured their horses and were on the way back to the cabin. “How many are left?”

“I’ve seen five still moving, one of them is injured. Their packing up.” Allison stood and checked the load in his rifle “Guess I better get down there and see what I can do about it”

Mal looked at the man with the same look he gave River when she spouted nonsense. “You go out there they’ll kill you”

Allison held up his hands, Mal could see his fingers were turning blue. “We don’t get to that hover we’re going to freeze to death, assuming you don’t bleed out first. I know when you think of a sheriff, I’m not exactly what comes to mind. I’m pretty much henpecked by my wife. The town council thinks I’m a joke.” He stood a little straighter “But I am wearing this badge so I going to do my job…unless you want to call your ship to pick us up, maybe give me back those good you took from the mill?”

Mal pulled his gun.

“You gonna shoot me?” Allison asked.

“Thinking on it” Mal said grimacing. He reached into his coat and pulled out his com. The bullet that tore through his belly was lodged in the com. He tossed it to the snow. “How long you known?”

Allison grinned “Walter’s gang would have killed them guards outright. You let slip that bit about your ship. But mainly we don’t have a stage service.”

Mal