Paul and Willy rode on their horses slowly. Ike walked behind them, his body tied up in a lasso and was half walking, half being dragged by the riders. Since he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t complain, and the two bounty hunters were happy with that fact.

"We should stop and let him rest a bit," Paul stated, stopping his horse.

"Stop?" Willy looked back at Ike, who collapsed on his knees. "Town ain’t that far. He won’t die on us."

Paul jumped down from his horse and tied him to a tree. "Were you born with no compassion, or did you make yourself this way?" he asked as he pulled the water canteen out of his saddlebag.

"Treating your prey as a normal person makes you weak!" Willy shouted as Paul started to walk back towards Ike.

"But this isn’t prey. He IS a normal person." Paul handed Ike the canteen, in which the young rider drank from it thirstily.

Willy jumped off his horse and stalked over to them, then grabbed the canteen from Ike’s hands and drank the rest of it. "He’s a dummy," Willy growled, then walked away, throwing the empty canteen to the ground.

Ike was dead tired from being half dragged across the land, but he was able to muster enough energy to stand up and make himself look intimidating to Willy from that comment. Willy snickered and approached him. "You wanna fight, dummy?"

Paul stood up and placed a hand on Willy, to fend him off. "Don’t cause trouble."

"The signs say dead or alive," Willy commented. "It doesn’t say undamaged." He cracked his knuckles and stared at Ike. Ike stared back, his eyes burning with a deep fire. Nobody called him a dummy and got away with it.

Willy went to throw a swing, and Ike ducked out of it, backing away. His arms were still tied up, and couldn’t really fight, but he wasn’t going to just sit down. Willy approached, and Ike kicked his leg out, catching the bigger man in his stomach. Willy doubled over, then looked up.

"Good, you can fight back," Willy stated. "That will make beating you all the more fun."

Willy charged at Ike, who sidestepped the attack and kicked Willy in his back. Willy fell forward into the dirt. He came up, sputtering the dust from his mouth. He noticed Ike’s rope laying beside him, and he grabbed it. Ike didn’t notice this in time, and was knocked off balance as Willy pulled the rope around Ike.

Willy walked over to Ike, who was struggling to get back up. One kick to his side and another kick to Ike’s head satisfied Willy, and he wiped the rest of the dirt off his face. "There, dummy. Now let’s see you fight."

Paul, who had stood back from the little fight, now stepped forward as Willy started kicking Ike a little harder than he should. "Ok, Willy, that’s enough." But Willy didn’t stop, and Paul ran forward, grabbing Willy and pulling him back from a bleeding Ike. Willy struggled out of his grip and swung backwards, slugging Paul right across his jaw.

Paul grabbed his jaw and rotated it in a circle. "What the heck you think you’re doing?"

"Never, ever stop me from giving a prisoner their due!" Willy shouted.

"He’s had enough," Paul shouted.

"Not even close!" Willy reached for a knife at his belt, but the sound of metal on leather stopped him. Paul held his pistol in his hand, aimed at him. "Drop it," Paul said.

"What the hell…"

"Drop it." Paul motioned at the knife with the gun, and Willy slowly dropped it. "Now take your horse and get out of here."

"We had a deal!" Willy said. "I hunt, you provide the equipment."

"Yeah, but harassing the prisoner wasn’t part of the deal."

"He’s the bad guy!"

Paul looked at Ike. He sat on a rock now, rubbing a scar on his cheek with his shoulder. Ike looked up at Paul with eyes showing that he didn’t know what he was being harassed for. Paul moved himself between the two. "Get out of here, before I shoot you and leave YOUR body for the coyots."

Willy gave Paul a hard stare, then walked to his horse. He mounted it and started to ride off. "You’ll regret this, Paul. I’ll be coming back!"

Paul kept his aim on Willy until he disappeared from sight. He then lowered his head and went to Ike’s side with some water and a cloth. "You ok?"

Ike nodded.

Paul started to wipe the blood off Ike’s cheek. "I ain’t gonna be the one who kills you, that’s for sure," Paul stated. "I believe in repaying for crimes, not murder."

Ike nodded, then made a motion with his hands. "You want something to write with?" Paul asked, and Ike nodded. Paul considered it for a moment, then nodded, reached into his pocket. However, he couldn’t find either. "I’m sorry. I don’t got any."

Ike looked at him with sad eyes, but nodded. Paul was taken aback, but shook his head to hide it. "We had better put some distance between us and Willy. I know he’ll be after us. Now, if you promise not to act stupid, I’ll let you ride behind me. Will you behave?"

Sadly, Ike nodded. Paul stood and helped Ike up. They walked to the horse, and Paul got Ike on, then jumped on behind him. Together they rode off.

Willy watched them from the distance, then slowly started his horse forward. His rifle was slung over his shoulder, ready for action. "Just wait until nightfall, Paul. Just wait."

Approaching the other way from town, Buck and the rest of the riders came around the outside edge of town while Cody and Kid entered to find out news of Ike. They rejoined the group a few minutes later.

"Seems that they got another bank further up, heading on a wayward path towards Fort Laramie.," Kid stated. "Maybe we should head there and wait for them."

"And if they aren’t going there?" Buck says. "Or if something happens to Ike on the way? I won’t forgive myself. We can find their trail and follow it."

"Buck," Lou said. "I understand your feelings for Ike, but we also got to make sure that we aren’t walking into danger ourselves."

"We could split up into two groups," Hickok stated. One group head to Laramie and work our way back, the other group find a trail and follow it from here."

Buck thought about it for a moment. "You guys go to Laramie, I’ll track them."

"You’re gonna need someone with you," Kid said, but Buck shook his head.

"Tracking is harder to do in a group," Buck said. "I can get it done faster by myself."

"Buck…"

"No Lou," he said, cutting the words off before it left her mouth, "I’ll be fine. Right now I just want to find Ike as fast as we can. I promise not to move on the group without the rest of you."

The other riders looked at each other and nodded. "We’ll meet up with you when we find them," Cody said, and the group took off riding on a more direct route to Fort Laramie.

Buck, meanwhile, rode to the edge of town and stopped, jumping off his horse. He looked around the ground, trying to find any wagon trails that looked a few days old. Finally, a pair showed in-between some weeds that were growing. Buck climbed back onto his horse and took off after them.