After dinner, Ike and Callie told and retold all about what had happened during and after the mudslide. Luckily for them, the dirt had been loose and most of it had washed away as soon as it fell. After everyone had sat up late talking, they had finally all gone to bed. Now, as Teaspoon sat at the tabling thinking about all that had happened since Callie had shown up, he shuddered, thinking what could have happened had the mud not been so watered down. He didn't want to think about that now though. They were both back and they were safe.

The sound of someone pacing on the porch outside drew his attention. He glanced out the window and saw Callie pacing back and forth nervously, her eyes glued to the western horizon. She seemed anxious about something; it was as if she was waiting for something to happen. Quietly, Teaspoon opened the door. "Hey." he whispered. Callie jumped and spun around. "Oh, hey Teaspoon. You scared me. I didn't know that anyone was still awake."

Teaspoon quickly apologized for startling her. Then, he sat down on the steps and looked in the direction that she had been looking in. "What're you watchin' for, Callie? What's gonna happen?" He asked her, point-blank. She just stared at him for a moment before answering. "To tell the truth, I don't know. I just have this feeling that something is about to happen. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. That restless feelin' down deep in yer bones. The kind of feeling that makes you wanna just start screamin' cause you know something's gonna happen and you just can't wait. I know exactly what you mean."

Callie smiled at him. Teaspoon really was a good man and he had taught the riders well. She only hoped that none of them would get hurt because of her. She had already lost too many of the people that she loved. She didn't want to lose anyone else.

Just then, the sounds of pounding hooves reached their ears. Callie stood in front of Teaspoon, her hand on her gun. She relaxed when the rider came into view. It was Noah and Buck returning from another day of helping clear out the bodies at Sunset Creek. Only this time, they weren't alone. Someone with fiery red hair was laid across the saddle in front of Noah. He reined to a stop in front of the station house. "Teaspoon! Survivor from Sunset Creek!" he yelled.

Quickly, Callie and Teaspoon moved to help Noah with the unconscious young woman. Teaspoon pulled the girl out of the saddle and passed her into Callie's waiting arms and told her to take the young woman to Rachel. When Callie saw the girl's face a sudden chill of recognition ran up her spine. Despite all the dirt and the caked blood, it was unmistakably Scarlett McMahon.

After getting over the initial shock of realizing that she held her best friend in her arms, she turned and stepped up on the porch. Realizing that she couldn't open the door, she kicked it several times to try and wake up the other riders.

A very sleepy looking Ike opened the door, dressed only in his underwear. Callie raised an eyebrow and looked at him. He gave her an annoyed look and then motioned to the girl in her arms. (Who's that?) he signed.
"Survivor from Sunset Creek. Where's Rachel?" She asked as she carried the girl inside and laid her on the table. Ike just shrugged.

By now, the other riders were beginning to wake up and stumble out of bed. "Who's the girl?" Kid asked. "Survivor from Sunset Creek. Would someone please go find Rachel?" she said, exasperated. Cody pulled on his pants and walked over to Rachel's house. Just a few moment's later, Rachel ran into the room. "What's going on? Who is this? What's happened?" She asked hurriedly.

Callie answered in an equally rushed tone as she helped Rachel check the girl for injuries. "I don't know what's going on, ask Teaspoon. This is a survivor from the Sunset Creek Massacre. I don't know what happened, we'll have to ask her when she wakes up."

Just as Callie spoke, the young woman began to wake up. "Alright boys, all of you out. We have things to do." Rachel commanded. They riders quickly dressed and scooted out the door. All of them were curious, but they knew better than to mess with Rachel when she was busy.

Back inside the house, Rachel and Callie had managed to get the girl into the back bedroom where Callie usually stayed. They had gotten the girl's clothes off of her and were relieved to find that her only injury was a minor gunshot wound to the shoulder. They quickly cleaned and bandaged the wound. All the while the girl kept muttering unintelligible words, but she never fully woke up. Then, just as Rachel and Callie were leaving to go tell everyone that it was okay, the young woman whispered a name. "Van Dahl."

Callie stopped dead in her tracks. "shitshitshitshitshit" she thought to herself. Rachel gave her a strange look, "Well, Callie, seems she knows your friend. Do you know this girl?"

"No. No, I don't. I've never seen her before in my life." Callie lied.
Rachel just looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and walked out. She didn't tell her that she had found an Ace of Spades identical to the one Callie carried tucked in the girls vest pocket.

Callie stayed behind. Quietly, she shut and locked the door. Then, she walked over to the bed. She looked down at the young woman lying there on the bed. They had cleaned all of the blood and dirt off of her, and she looked quite innocent lying there. Callie chuckled under her breath. Looks could be deceiving. She sat down on the bed and looked long and hard at her friend lying there in the bed. She had been so scared when she had seen Scarlett's pale face and felt her chilled skin. She walked over to where Scarlett's clothes were lying in the chair and started to fold them, knowing that her friend hated to see things all messed up. As she was folding Scarlett's vest a paper fell out. She picked it up and opened it, knowing her friend wouldn't mind if she read it. As she started to read she realized that it was a letter to her. She sat down on the edge of the bed to read.

Dear Callie,
I can't believe I did what I just did. I met the most charming man and for some reason I just fell in love with him. He wanted to know all about my life and my friends, especially you. Of course, I didn't tell him much. Then, on the day of the wedding I was going through some papers in his desk looking for the vows I had written for the wedding. I found a letter he had written to a friend all about how he was going to get you through me. He had signed it "Van Dahl". You can't IMAGINE the shock that I got reading that. Well, it was just moments until the wedding. I changed out of my dress and into my regular clothes and grabbed my guns and snuck out a window. I was gone before he knew what had happened. I'm writing to warn you, he knows that you're in Sunset Creek. I'm coming to help you so don't worry. I'll be there soon.

Love always,
Scarlett.

Callie almost fell off the bed, she had just received a major shock to the system. Her best friend had been engaged to the man she hated and had vowed to murder. And to top it all off, Scarlett had left him at the alter! Callie stood, rather shaken though she didn't know why. "I need a drink." she muttered. As she tucked the paper back into Scarlett's clothes she decided that she wouldn't tell the boys that she and Scarlett were connected. The less talk got out about them being here and together the less chance Van Dahl would have of being able to get them both at once. She made up her mind to stay with her friend until she woke up so that she could tell her the plan. Well, at least what little bit of a plan she had.