Paco Valdez

EZ

You give the door to the old man's shack two hard bashes with your fist and hear a little scrambling before you hear the ch-chick of a shot gun being loaded. "Who the hell is out there?!" He demands hoarsely from within the cabin.

"We met earlier," You say, "I'm going into the gold mine."

There is a brief moment before he replies, you wonder if he is going to shoot at you.

"I'll be ready in a minute," He says at last, a clang of the gun hitting the ground reassures you a little.
A few minutes pass before he exits the little cabin dressed in furs with a huge backpack strapped over his shoulders and holding a shotgun in his hands.

"Let's go," He says to you, grinning the ugliest grin you've ever seen, full of large gaps, red gums, and black teeth.

"Lead the way," you tell him, stepping aside and attempting not to wretch over the odor of his passing.

He walks down the path, farting as he passes and leads you off down the path. He leads you for a few hours through the cold desert night. The sand soon turns to burnt grass and eventually you reach the bottom of the rock strewn hill.

He leads you into a cavern at the base of the hill as the sun rises. He sits down with the cavern wall to his back and stretches out his legs. "That'll do for today, why don't you get comfortable? We'll have a heck of a climb this evening."

"Wouldn't it be wiser to climb the hills in the day?" You ask.

"I suppose it would, if you don't mind Kamani arrows peircing through your body," He tells you.

"Shouldn't one of us keep watch?" You ask.

He waves you off. "We'll be fine. Only people who come near this cave are hunters, and they're all looking or food."

You sit down across from him and try to drift off to sleep. You are weary and your head is light, but as the sleep starts to comsume you, you hear a noise outside the cave, like the shuffling of feet.
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