Without Mercy
Authors:
Carole – April –
Judy – Teri – AussieLass – Sue - Amelia
September
2009
Round Robin
Challenge on the Vin F&D list
Universe: OW
Theme:
Water
Limitations: 7 parts, no more than 500 words each
*************************************
Part 1
by Carole
425 words
Buck sighed,
adjusting his hat to provide as much protection from the sun as possible, and
once again studied his surroundings.
“Hell, this is
one fine mess,” he muttered. He probably should have been grateful that
the outlaws had simply freed his prisoner, leaving him to fend for
himself. But he wasn’t. Not really. A quick death would have
been preferable to what he now faced.
He untied his
bandana, using it again to wipe the sweat and dust from his face and
neck. He knew it wouldn’t be the last time.
The
confrontation had been quick. Too quick. Buck had been ambushed,
outnumbered, and outgunned, without recourse but to surrender not just his
prisoner, but also the very things he needed to survive: his horse, his
weapon, and his canteen.
He’d watched
the men ride away, his own horse in tow, their
laughter trailing behind them. One of them had even held up Buck’s gun,
firing it in his direction with no real chance of hitting his target, taunting
him with the stolen weapon.
The canteen had
been returned, but not in the same condition in which it had been taken.
Now, it was
clutched against his chest, carefully held so that the bullet hole in its side
faced the sky, in an attempt to insure that the small amount of remaining
liquid would stay inside.
Horseless.
Weaponless. And soon, waterless.
Buck sighed
again.
And alone.
His fellow
peacekeepers knew where he was, or at least, where he was supposed to be.
But, it would be a few days before word would be sent to Four Corners about his
failure to reach the small town of Cottonwood. And it would be even
longer before anyone would be able to arrive at his current location, no matter
how fast they rode.
A slight wind
rose, whipping up the dust and dirt from beneath his feet. It didn’t
matter. Dust already covered his clothes, darkened his face. Coated
his throat and mouth. Made it harder and harder to swallow.
There were
rocks in the distance, short, stumpy rocks that would provide a minimal amount
of shade during the early morning hours, and then
again in the evening. But he’d have to get there first. It would be
a long, long walk, across broiling sand, with nothing to block the rays of the
hot sun. And with little or no water to sustain him.
Buck took a
deep breath, knowing he only had two choices. He could just lie down and
die. Or, he could start walking.
***********
Part two
April
486 words
He had never
been one to give up, and he wasn’t about to start now. The boys would come for
him, but he had to survive until they could find him.
With one last
look in the direction the outlaws had taken, he tied his bandana over his mouth
and nose in a pitiful attempt to keep the dust out, and started towards the
rocks in the distance. They might not be much, but they were better than nothing.
As he walked,
carefully holding his perforated canteen, he tried to take his mind off of his
situation. Thinking about the long walk wouldn’t make it any shorter, or any
more enjoyable. The sun beat down on him, making it hard to concentrate on
anything. Even thinking about his favorite saloon girls was proving to be a
challenge.
So he
started to think of what he would do to those men when he caught them. And he
would. Once the boys found him, they would give chase. He had to get Lady back.
There are some things you just don’t do to a man, and stealing his horse is one
of them. A man depended on his horse for survival out here, as his current
situation was proof of. If anything happened to her,
those men wouldn’t live long enough to hang.
Smiling at the
thoughts of revenge running through his mind, he paused to wipe more sweat from
his eyes and take a small sip of water from his canteen. Checking to make sure
he was still heading in the right direction, he started off again.
He wondered
what the boys were doing now. It was not quite lunchtime, so Ezra probably had
yet to make an appearance. Josiah was more than likely working on his church,
maybe with Nathan’s help. Chris and Vin he could see
sitting on the boardwalk, watching over the town. JD had mentioned going to the
frog pond with Casey, maybe to fish, or even swim.
Swim. Buck
sighed at the thought of all that glorious, cool water surrounding him. He’d
dive in and stay under for as long as he could hold his breath. Or maybe he’d
just float on his back, watching the clouds in the sky. Or maybe he’d take on
JD in a game of King of the Mountain. Or maybe…
Buck shook his
head. All these thoughts about water were not helping him, they were making it
worse. Looking ahead, he smiled. His distraction had paid off, he was almost to the rocks. Taking another small sip of
water, he quickened his pace. He really hoped there might be some form of
water in the rocks, he only had a couple of swallows
left.
Gratefully,
Buck climbed the first rock. At least now he might be able to find some shade
and rest for awhile. Getting to the top, he looked down and stopped in
surprise.
***********
Part
3
By
Judy
476 words
Buck blinked. He hadn’t expected the rocks to be on the edge
of a hill overlooking a small depression that appeared to house a small spring
and… he dropped to his belly, pushed his hat back and carefully looked over the
edge again.
Maybe it was one of them mirage’s. Buck shook his head and
wiped his dry, aching eyes. Nope. He wasn’t seeing things. There were people
down there. Due to the shadows thrown on the area by the angle of the sun, he
couldn’t tell exactly who they were, but there were at least five of them. And
from the way most of them moved, they were men used to protecting themselves.
Buck scooted back down and rolled onto his back, placing his
hat back on his head to protect his face from the sun. Who were these men? Was
it safe to go down there? God, he was thirsty.
Buck jolted up and grabbed his canteen. He shook it gingerly
and sighed. No more than a mouthful or two left, but at least he hadn’t spilled
it. He looked around at the rocks that had been his destination all morning.
They weren’t really much more than a few boulders. One offered a bit of shade,
but that wouldn’t last long.
That valley and spring were what he really needed. Buck
belly-crawled back to the edge of the hill. He had to be sure they were
friendly before he made his presence known. He watched the men for a good
twenty minutes before deciding there were only six of them.
Five men had ambushed him and freed his prisoner, making six
total. Buck frowned. How could I have caught up to
them? They were going the other way. Did I get turned around? Why did they
stop? He smoothed his mustache thoughtfully as he continued to watch. If he
could see the horses better, he’d know for sure. Lady would be easy to
identify, but they had the horses tied in the shadows beside a stand of
Mesquite trees and he couldn’t see them all.
His best bet was to wait until dark and sneak down there to
check things out. He had plenty of experience being sneaky. He hadn’t survived
as a law man and all those visitations with the ladies without learning how to
move quietly. Of course, he’d learned a thing or two from Vin
the last few years too. And as Ezra would say, he should stack the deck in his
favor.
Buck looked up at the sky. It was about four o’clock, he
reckoned. Two or three hours until sunset. He moved over into the scant shade
and took a sip from his canteen. He’d wait, catch a short nap and when the sun
was down, go see who was in the valley. Help or
hinder. Friend or foe.
***********
Part 4
By Teri
500 Words
Buck awoke,
disoriented, with shivers racking his body. Slowly the memory of his
situation returned and along with it the gnawing thirst. He reached for
the canteen and tipped it to his parched lips, but to his dismay it was now
empty of even the last remnants of water. His decision had been made, it
was now imperative that he work his way down to the spring below.
Another shiver
shook his body as Buck contemplated with fascinated wonder a land that mere
hours ago had him blistering in the sun yet now had temperatures dipping low
enough to make him wish for the comforts of a blazing fire. The full moon
above him bathed the area in a pale light and he wondered if perhaps the moon
were as cold as the sun hot. He shook his head as if to clear his mind,
realizing his wandering thoughts were the result of the lack of water from
which his body was suffering. Rolling over onto his stomach Buck prepared
to move toward the edge and the water beyond.
Buck had about
reached the drop-off when a hand covered his mouth and a weight pressed down
upon his back. He tensed, prepared to battle as long as his strength held
out, until he heard a whispered, "Bucklin, it's me."
"Vin?"
The single word came out coarse and scratchy as relief flooded the man.
"You's maybe expecting someone
else?" Vin gave Buck's shoulder a squeeze
before he moved to look down on the scene below.
"Ambushed,
they took my horse," Buck began, only to be silenced by Vin, as the two
looked down the incline to where the group of men had built a fire and now
seemed settled for the night.
Vin nodded to the
horses hobbled below as the glow of the moon shown off the pale coat of the
gray mare.
"Lady,"
Buck murmured, and then felt a tug at his ankle as Vin
moved back away from the edge.
~~~~~~
"Slow
down, just sip it. Don't want ya gettin' sick," Nathan grumbled as Buck took another
deep drag from the canteen.
"How'd you
know to look for me?" Buck asked, savoring the feel of the cool liquid.
"JD got a
telegram from the sheriff in Cottonwood. Seems some cowboy was braggin' how his friends were planning to free Simms before
he made it to town."
"I's out at the reservation visitin'
and Chanu mentioned some cowboys were holed up
by the spring on the back edge of the reservation. Nobody supposed
to be out there. I's gonna go check it out when
the boys rode in. Pretty much put two and two together," Vin explained.
"Chris
sent us to look for you. Good thing too since it was getting dark by the
time we reached where you were attacked. Vin tracked you through the
desert," Nathan said in awe.
"Figure
the gang doubled back after they left ya."
"And
Chris?"
"Reckon
he's got 'em in his sights."
***********
Part 5
by AussieLass
500 words
Chris’ eyes
narrowed as the voices from the camp rose. One of the men threw a mug,
which missed his intended target and rolled between the horses. The men
laughed. Lady moved restlessly.
Chris’ cheek
twitched with roaring rage as his thoughts drifted to his oldest friend.
These men had left Buck alive but not out of any sense of mercy. They’d
wanted his death to be slow and agonizing. “Mongrels.”
“Chris?” J.D.
whispered.
Larabee raised
his hand for silence. They needed to be ready. Once Vin and Nathan found Buck, Nathan would stay to tend to the
wounded man and Vin would join the rest of them here.
Wounded?
Again, Larabee’s blood began to boil, but eased quickly. Buck had covered good
ground so he wasn’t badly hurt. The issue had never been the severity of
his injuries but finding him before the elements or beasts overcame him.
Chris shook his
head with appreciative amazement. When Vin had
identified the spot of the attack, Larabee had been swamped by
helplessness. There was no sign of Buck, and no tracks to show the
direction their companion had taken. The peacekeepers knew where the gang
was, based on the reports from Kojay’s braves, but
Buck? From what Chanu had said, Buck wasn’t
with the gang and he wasn’t dead, but which direction would he have gone?
Surely he would have headed east to the shade of the hills but if he was
disoriented, would he have known east from west?
Chris had
suggested the six of them head in six different directions but Vin had started walking in gradually widening circles. “He
went east.”
Chris smiled as
Ezra’s words returned. “I do declare the man is part bloodhound.” Chris
didn’t doubt that for a moment. After all, he and the others had been
studying the same rock-hard barren surface and could discern nothing.
Following
something only he could see, Vin had led the
peacekeepers for several hours before stating, ‘Gang’s a few minutes further
on. Can smell ’em.”
That was when
Chris had ordered Vin and Nathan to continue to look
for Buck while he and the others ‘took care’ of those who had attacked their
companion.
To his
surprise, Vin had stated, “Only be a few
minutes. Buck’s trail goes up yonder. Reckon he’s holed up above. I’ll
take Nathan to’im. If you circle around, I’ll
meet you on the other side. I want to be a part of this.” Vin’s voice had sounded deadly. Like Larabee, he
didn’t take kindly to those who attacked people he cared about.
He’d left muttering, “Come on, Nathan. Best be quiet. Don’t want to
startle Bucklin or he might start shootin’.”
A low whistle
sounded to Chris’ left, returning his thoughts to the present. Vin melted out of the darkness. Tanner nodded to his
anxious companions. “He’s fine and he and Nathan are in position.”
Chris drew in a
deep breath and smiled with relief… then satisfaction. “All right, boys. Let’s
do this.”
***********
Part 6
Sue
499 words
After casting a
glance across at the shadows on the other side of the camp, where he knew Buck
and Nathan were waiting, Chris gave a slight nod to the rest of his men and
drew his gun from its holster. Flanked by JD and Josiah on his left, and Vin and Ezra on his right, Chris stepped clear of the cover
of the trees and as Buck and Nathan stepped out of the shadows, Nathan’s rifle
gripped firmly in Buck’s hands, the circle was complete, the outlaws were
surrounded.
“Evenin’fellas,”¯ Buck greeted
in a low voice, “remember me?”¯
Stunned by the
sudden appearance of the seven men, and the various weapons aimed unerringly in
their direction, three of the outlaws immediately raised their hands in the
air. One of the others made the mistake of going for his gun and paid the
price as Chris’ bullet hit him in the chest and slammed him to the
ground. Another scrabbled for his rifle, and Vin’s
mare’s leg barked, the bullet shattering the rifle stock and convincing
the man to raise his hands.
Barely aware of
the events unfolding around him, Simms focused on the vision of the ‘dead’ man
standing before him. Letting out a guttural bellow of rage, his hand
dropped to his holster but he never cleared leather, Buck’s shot from the
borrowed rifle hitting him high in the shoulder, spinning him around and
dropping him to his knees.
Stepping
forward, Buck removed Simms’ gun from his holster and glared at the man as he
held his injured shoulder.
“Hell, Simms,
you were only lookin’ at jail time. Now you’re
gonna hang for horse thieving, you worthless piece of ...”¯
“It was Simms
that took ya horse, mister,”¯ one of the
other men offered loudly. “We di’n’t have nuthin’ to do with it.”¯
“My, my,”¯ Ezra shook his
head as he and Josiah gathered up the outlaws’ guns, “it would appear there
truly is no honor among thieves.”¯
Retrieving Buck’s
gunbelt from one of the outlaws, JD kicked the man’s
feet as he walked past. “I s’pose you had nuthin’ to do with takin’ his gun
and leavin’ him with no water as well.”¯
Not waiting for
a reply, JD approached his friend and handed him the gunbelt.
“You alright, Buck?”¯
“I am now.”¯ Buck smiled,
and he was, now. He’d never doubted that his friends would come for him,
only whether they’d be in time, but fate, or lady luck, had been kind to them
once again and the seven were reunited, and safe. Suddenly, he remembered
his horse. “Lady?”¯
“She’s fine,”¯ JD assured
him. “Vin’s just movin’ her over with our
horses.”¯
Buck breathed a
sigh of relief and looked up as Chris came to stand alongside him.
Resting a hand on his friend’s shoulder, Chris could feel the tension as Buck
fought to control his anger.
“Hangin’s too good for them dogs,”¯the big man
growled.
Chris nodded. “It’s
your call, Buck."
************
Part 7
By Amelia
Words- 495
Buck
looked up instantly at Chris and saw the wink his long time friend gave him.
Some of the tension eased and Buck replied loud enough for Simms and his gang
that Ezra, Josiah and Nathan just finished tying up. "You think Vin would mind using some of them things he learned from the
Comanche on them?"
"For
what they done to ya Bucklin, I'd be real happy to
cut their ears off, or tack them over a fire and slowly roast them," Vin assured as he came back from the horses, catching on
real quick what they were up to.
"You
know brothers since they're going to Hell anyway, it would give them an idea of
what to expect," Josiah joined in.
Ezra
stopping beside Buck and Vin lowering his voice so the
gang wouldn't hear, "I do believe you gentlemen have the obnoxious vile
odorous men sweating and shaking in their deplorable boots as to what you
yourself might do Mr. Wilmington. Or what you may have Mr. Tanner do with his
native knowledge."
"Good,"
Buck stated.
The
men moved around the camp and set their bedrolls down around the fire after
deciding to wait until morning before taking the prisoners in. They tossed the
gang's bedrolls over to their feet.
Settling
back now that he had tended the last of the outlaws’ wounds, Nathan hid his
smile at the sight of Vin staring at Simms, as he
slowly sharpened his large hunting knife. And of Chris cleaning his gun. Every
once in a while pointing it at the tied up gang leaving them unsure if he was
checking the aim or thinking on shooting them. But it was Ezra who broke the
silence with, "Mr. Wilmington, do you think this will be sturdy enough to
hold a heavy moving sordid miscreant?"
Josiah
and JD, who were standing guard on the prisoners, had to turn away to hide
their smiles at the hangman's noose Ezra held up that he had made out of the
end of a rope.
"Ya
know Ezra, I'm not sure. Would say let's test it out, but I'm just too tuckered
out. But I'll tell you what, if Simms or any of them fella's
give us any trouble tonight, well we'll test it then and see if it'll
hold." Buck smiled, lay back holding the full canteen against his chest
and placed his hat over his face. The desert had cooled, he had water, and he
was safe now with his friends.
Simms
and his gang were caught and would all be tried and probably hang for what they
did to him. But what really touched him was that his friends were seeing to it
that the gang knew that he was their friend and they had no problem killing
them for leaving him out there to die. 'Yep' he thought, 'it's good to have
friends'.
The
end
We’d
love to know what you thought.
Carole – April – Judy
– Teri – AussieLass – Sue - Amelia
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