So...this post is for the fans of my page on Facebook for my current WIP, The Curse of Billy the Kid. If you have not liked that page yet, DO IT! Trust me, you won't regret it! I share cool moments in history, pictures of Lincoln, NM (old and new), things about that time in the Wild West, and other cool stuff that surrounds the legend that is Billy the Kid.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the first part of three I'm going to release!
Happy Thanksgiving, all! -Tamsin :)
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From the chapter titled, "Damned if I do, damned if I don't."
“I’ll leave you boys to organize as you
see fit and I’ll bring the horse-n-wagon ‘round to the back door.”
“Thanks, Isaac,” I said as he left.
“So, what’s first?” Ben asked.
Noticing he wore a cartridge belt and
his six-shooter, I said, “You’ll need new ammo for this trip. Trust me.”
“We’re just goin’ down the street, why would we—” he
started to say.
“Ben?”
“All right, if you say so,” he said,
walking over to where I sat with the two crates of silver ammunition.
“Take off your belt. I’ll have you load
it up, just in case. Same with your rifle.”
“Any chance you’re gonna explain why, or
should I just smile and nod?”
“The latter is a wiser option.”
“All right then,” Ben said, beginning to
swap out his bullets for the silver ones I handed him.
While we worked, I figured it would be a
good opportunity to verify the rumor we’d been told in San Patricio. “Have you
heard any information about Jessie Evans and Tom Hill?”
Ben removed the bullets from his gun and
began to replace them, saying, “I have, Tom is dead, just like Morton and
Baker. Did y’all really kill those two men?”
I sat and began to fill up my belt. I
couldn’t tell him the truth about what had happened that day so all I said was,
“We did. Killed them while they was tryin’ to escape.”
“Serves ‘em right, then,” he said, then
filled me in on the word he’d heard from customers and the like. It all matched
up to what we’d heard, except that Ben had been told Jessie’s elbow had been
hit, shattering his arm.
“We heard it was his wrist, but either
way, son of a bitch is in a hospital in pain and botherin’ no one since he’s
under arrest,” I said, finished with my reload.
“Jimmy Dolan broke his leg yesterday.”
“And I thought there couldn’t possibly
be more good news!” I joked, standing up and brushing the dust from my knees.
“How the hell did he do that?”
“Stupid SOB was chasing some unarmed man and
jumped off his horse while it was still at a gallop.” Ben started to laugh. “Drunk
as a skunk is what he was. I’d be surprised if he even felt it break.”
I started to laugh. “That’s hilarious!
Oh my Lord, wait until I tell the boys.”
“Maybe that’ll slow his mean streak,”
Ben said.
There was a pause where we both looked
at one another and said at the same time, “Doubt it.”
After a good belly laugh we loaded up
our rifles, took the crates to the small wagon out back, covered them up, and
prepped to take the silver shipment down to he McSween’s house. Lookin’ up at
the sky, I saw we had a half moon, givin’ us some light for our ride. I wasn’t
sure what the werewolves did on half moon nights, but I was hopin’ we’d not get
the chance to find out. However, we were not that lucky.
As Ben and I reached the Juan Patron
Store, I felt a tingle up my spine and cocked my rifle.
“Is there a problem?” Ben asked.
“Not sure…feels wrong. Pick up the pace
a bit. Let’s get these boxes into the patio of the McSween home as fast as we
can.
Ben snapped the reins on the family
horse only picked up the pace a little and I said, “When you said she was a
calm horse, you meant it.”
“Steady and true, my girl Mable is, aren’t
ya?”
The horse whinnied and I cringed. Right
now was not the time for slow and careful. I took a deep breath and said, “She
might wanna go a bit faster.”
“Why? I thought you didn’t want us to
draw attention.”
The howl of a wolf split the night air
like lightning, chilling me to the core.
“We’re already being watched,” I told
him.
“By who?” he asked, sounding skeptical.
“More like what,” I said, scanning the dark.
It didn’t take long to find them, their
movement giving them away. Two wolves ran past us and onto the road. Causing
Ben to swear and start to pull Mable to a halt.
“Stopping is not a good idea,” I told
him.
“Did you see those—”
“That’s why you can’t…”
I let my words trail off as I noticed
the wolves stop on the road as two more joined them, all four turning to face us
like we was playin’ some weird game of chicken.
“This is not good,” I said. “Ben, listen
to me carefully, those are not just mindless animals, we cannot get caught by
them. Do you understand?”
“What is going—”
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, but—”
“Just drive! Now!”
Ben snapped the reins hard and yelled
out at Mable, but she just pranced a bit and whinnied at her owner. The wolves
began to walk toward us a unit so I decided to take a chance. Without knowing
if it would work or not, I reached out and lay my hand on Mabel’s right flank. Pushing
some of the energy stored in me from Morton and Baker into the horse, I told her
what was needed. She huffed air out of her nose in reply.
Hoping she was on board with this, I
gave her flank a slap and yelled, “Now!”
Rearing up, she kicked out toward the
wolves with her front legs, but once those hooves hit the ground she was off
and running.
“Holy shit!” Ben said, grabbing fast to
not lose the reins.
“She’s got us, just hold on!”
Not knowing what to do with a large
horse barreling toward them, the wolves split two to each side and let us
through before running alongside us. The one closest to Ben jumped up to take a
snap at him and I pulled the trigger.
TO BE CONTINUED
STAY TUNED...THE NEXT SECTION MIGHT BE UP AS SOON AS TOMORROW! :)
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