Jimmy stepped on to the path, standing over the bloody spot on the dirt. He stared at the ground willing the Kid to be there. Charlie was right, this was the location.

"What the hell?!" he asked in confusion as he started whirling around, looking in every available location he could think of. "Kid!!" He started shouting as he felt panic setting in. Where was he?

Buck pushed past Jimmy and knelt down next to the spot on the ground. He touched it, getting confirmation that it was still fresh, even though he knew it was just from looking at it. "Jimmy, will you just calm down for a minute."

"I am not gonna calm down, not until Kid is safe with us," Jimmy hissed, getting into Buck's face then turning back to his searching. He started to step away from the path but stopped when Charlie started to speak.

"Listen, maybe he just moved away out of sight so he wouldn't get hurt worse. Maybe the wound made him fall unconscious and that's why he can't answer," Charlie said quickly, taking a deep breath when he was through. He'd never seen Jimmy this pulled apart before and was afraid the man wouldn't let him say anything, or if he did, wouldn't listen to what he had to say.

Buck listened to Charlie then tried to pull Jimmy's arm to get him to listen, only to have his hand roughly shoved aside. He ended up talking to his friend's back. "Jimmy, Charlie could be right. Kid's hurt but we don't know how badly, maybe it was just a flesh wound. You know what Teaspoon once told us - don't stay and fight, run like hell. Anything to stay alive, right? He's probably just held up somewhere, waiting for us to come take him out of here."

Jimmy paused as he listened to Buck. Kid would know to not try to play hero and keep fighting, he would've done what they said and found safety somewhere else if he could. And he obviously could since he wasn't where he had fallen.

"Alright, then let's spread out and start searching. He was bleeding. Buck, see any signs anywhere to indicate where he might have gone?" Jimmy didn't wait for an answer as he continued in the direction he'd started in.

Buck was glad because he was having a hard time taking all this in. His eyes hadn't stopped checking the area out since they'd gotten there but what he saw, or rather didn't see, disturbed him greatly. There was no visible blood anywhere other than on the main path, there was no worn or trampled area of underbrush where a man would have pulled himself slowly across or lay in safety. He lifted his eyes and met Jimmy's glance.

It was like Kid just vanished into thin air.

"There should be a sign that he went somewhere but I don't see one," Buck admitted, becoming frustrated. "And he couldn't have gone too far, he was hurt, dammit!" Suddenly, he had an idea and whipped his head around, searching for it.

Jimmy came up to him quickly. "What? What is it?"

"Katy," Buck said excitedly. "She wouldn't leave him, not unless she was forced to. We find Katy and we’ll find Kid." A smile started forming on his lips, pleased that he'd come up with the solution to the mystery.

"I knew their crazy relationship would come in handy sometime," Jimmy agreed.

The three men started wandering around, whistling and calling to the paint mare. Jimmy paused as he thought he heard a faint whinny. Listening closely, he grinned as heard it again. "Buck! Charlie! Over here!" Without waiting for them to catch up, he ran ahead up the slope, not far from where they were initially but to a more heavily wooded and rocky area, just around a bend.

Standing in front of him was Kid's horse. She was struggling against something and complaining loudly. "Whoa, Katy, take it easy, girl, it's alright." He talked soothingly to her, the way he'd heard Kid do it a hundred times until the animal stopped pulling. She let him approach, as Buck and Charlie came up behind them.

"What's wrong with her?" Buck asked in concern.

"She's just got her reins tangled in some brambles," Jimmy answered, setting her free. "See Kid anywhere?"

Their searching fell unsuccessful again.

"I don't get it," Buck admitted. "I was sure she would lead us to him."

"Well he didn't just vanish," Charlie said. "We're just not looking hard enough. The underbrush is pretty thick in areas; maybe we just missed a spot."

"Well, I'm not leaving here until I've covered every square inch of this valley," Jimmy declared firmly.

"Yes, you are and you know you have to."

The voice came from behind them and caused all three men to whirl around, guns drawn.