Revelation in the Light of Day, Chapter 4 "Give the Devil His Due"

This story is intended for mature audiences due to language, violence, and the vivid depiction of a consensual adult relationship. 

Lester raised both his hands in the air, giving an oily smile as he took a step away from Kitty.  “Well, hello there, Marshal.  Come to join the party?  I tell you what…I’ll give you first dibs…”

“Shut up, you filthy son-of-a-bitch.  I said let her go…”  Matt pointed the gun directly at Clyde.  “Now.”

With that, five more figures slipped out of the shadows behind Matt.  Kitty cried out in vain behind the gag because Matt didn’t have a chance against so many men.  One knocked the gun from his hands, and it took three of Lester’s accomplices to restrain him, one with a choke hold around his neck and two clutching his arms.  When Lester grabbed Kitty by the hair and bent her face down over an empty whiskey barrel, Matt cried out in anguish. 

“You want to watch, Marshal?  That’s what happens when you go around pistol whipping innocent men like my friend Clyde here.  Ain’t that right, Clyde?” 

Clyde grunted in reply, watching as Lester’s hands slithered down Kitty’s back to grab her bottom roughly through her skirts. 

“Oh, yeah, Clyde…you and me both are gonna get a piece o’ this fine ass tonight.”

Kitty suddenly kicked back at Lester, connecting with his shinbone. 

“Dammit, you hellcat!” He bent over in pain and motioned for one of his cronies to come over.  “Hold her legs for me.  Don’t you dare let go of her!”

Matt struggled mightily as the two men held Kitty down over the barrel lid and Lester slowly raised her skirts.  Kitty’s desperate whimpers and the sound of ripping cloth assaulted Matt’s ears, while the look in her panicked eyes tore his heart out. 

“Lookee what we got here, boys…” Lester grinned and stroked his hand over Kitty’s creamy, exposed skin. 

“Get your goddamn hands off her!” Matt hoarsely cried.

He snickered, “What’s the matter, Marshal?  You act like you’re takin’ this kinda’ personal.”  Lester slid a probing hand between Kitty’s legs as she wailed through her gag in protest, all the while looking into Matt’s face pleadingly.  Lester raised a hateful brow and sucked his index finger into his mouth.  “Jealous?”

A roar of rage ripped from Matt’s throat.  The two men pinning his arms soon lay unconscious on the ground as he brutally throttled their heads together. Matt bent double and pitched the captor behind him over his head onto the ground, pounding his face mercilessly with his bare fists.   

Matt quickly retrieved his gun from one of the unconscious men, stalking single-mindedly toward Lester and Clyde.  The man holding Kitty’s legs backed off fast.  Matt growled low in his throat, “Let her go.”

Clyde fumbled for his gun, and Matt shot him dead through the heart.  Lester raised his hands and smiled appeasingly, “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man, would you, Marshal?

“Step away from her now,” Matt demanded through gritted teeth, his eyes burning with fury. 

“Come on, Marshal.”  Lester gave a low chuckle and raked his fingers through Kitty’s tumbled curls where she still lay trembling.  “What’s all this fuss over a common saloon whore?  You know this ain’t the first time she…”

Matt aimed his gun and shot Lester pointblank between his black eyes.  Marshal Dillon’s gun hand trembled violently as he lowered it back to his holster, and he looked into Kitty’s wildly frightened gaze.  He heard the two remaining men scurrying down the alley, making their getaway, and soon after, spurs jingling loudly behind him. 

Festus pulled up short and surveyed the bloody scene around him.  His startled eyes beheld Kitty, her clothing torn and disheveled, body trembling uncontrollably as she wrenched a gag from her mouth.    He peered at Clyde’s body and then at the unarmed Lester, lying dead at Kitty’s feet.  His gaze slowly shifted to Matt, breathless, eyes glazed, expression feral.  Festus then quickly took his gun from his holster and put it in Lester’s right hand. 

“Folks’ll be comin’ soon, Matthew, what with shots fired and all.”  He looked pointedly into Matt’s eyes, “It’s too bad that feller drew on you like he did.  You go on and take care o’ Miss Kitty, and I’ll see ta’ this.”  Festus nodded and squinted meaningfully at Matt, who stood staring, unable to move.

Festus prodded him, “Go on now.  You do what you gotta do.  I’ll take care a’ this here.”

Matt’s lips moved slowly, “Festus…”

Festus clutched Matt’s arm and whispered hoarsely, “It’s fer the best.  Go on, Matthew, Miss Kitty needs you.”

Spurred to action by the sound of approaching voices, Matt scooped Kitty up in his arms.  “I’m taking her to Doc’s.  We’ll talk later.”  He swept down the dark alley toward Doc’s office before anyone could see them, clutching a quietly sobbing Kitty tightly to his chest.

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