Paco Valdez
FB
"I-," You begin, still unsure what you are going to say even as you begin. And then it hits you. Gus used to tell you that the best lies contain elements of truth. You base your story on this theory.
"I had a run-in with the Vigilantes. They're trying to kill me. I went to the only place I didn't think he would be, the middle of the damn desert."
The leader's face remains stern, his companions remain silent. "We know of the Vigilantes. They are ruthless men with no honor."
"I'll agree with you there," You tell them. "I kicked up a bit of a row when I bedded his woman."
One of the braves in the back stifles a laugh which threatens to escape him, the man beside him jabs his ribs sharply with an elbow. There is a long moment of awkward silence before the leader speaks.
"Very well," He says; "You may stay on our land so long as you do not bring any trouble to us. If the Vigilantes come for you, do not expect any help from us," he tells you.
"I won't," you say, "Thank you."
"And do not sleep with our women." The leader adds as an after thought. The braves around him laugh and you do your best to keep your own smile back. They turn around, mount, and ride off; leaving you alone in the desert with only your horse for company.
You watch them ride off and are not surprised when one of them departs company with the others and appears to disappear behind a cluster of rocks. No doubt you will be followed and watched by this man.
After some time you pull out your map and check your surroundings for the landmarks sketched out before you. Satisfied that you are headed in the right direction; you mount Betty and start riding off in search of the next thing highlighted on your map.
Several hours pass as you ride your horse, stopping sometimes for water before continuing on. As night approaches, you find yourself approaching the final landmark on the map before you reach the mines in the foothills of the mountains.
You make camp where you are, wishing you had stopped for traveling rations while hoping for a stray animal to come bounding along.
You sit with your legs crossed before you, Betty chewing on a stray patch of grass. You mentally prepare yourself for whatever may come at you on the morrow.
As you sit there in silence, a desert hare makes some movement. You quickly draw your revolver and drop the jack rabbit to the hard desert floor. You retrieve the hare and begin gathering wood as the sun sets behind you.
The night is peaceful and you encounter no troubles, When morning comes, you find your body well rested, and Betty waiting for you.
You mount up and pass the final landmark on the map. From here you are to simply follow a trail until the old mine shaft appears in the side of the lower hills.
A few hours of riding later, the mine shaft does indeed appear. Abandoned as the crazy old man told you it would be. One of the wooden beams the supported the entrance cracked and fell some time ago. After dismounting Betty you that discover can still get into the mine, as you step around the debris and enter the pitch darkness within.
As you stand there waiting for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, you realize the folly of not bringing a lantern or torch.
You curse yourself for a fool and step back out into the light of day, studying your map once again. It doesn't look like it's too deep in, but without a light it's quite possible that you will simply pass it by.
You look up from the map to the sky above, shouting forth a curse for your own foolishness. Then your eyes go to the horizon. A cloud of dust kicks up behind a cluster of dark silhouette, riders fast approaching.
You shield your eyes from the sun with your hand and squint, counting at least half a dozen in the oncoming masses. And you're pretty sure you know who they are.
You pull out your pistol and make sure that it is fully loaded. You're pretty sure this is the end for you, but you'll be damned if you're going down without taking a few of them with you.
You slap Betty's haunches and she gallops away with little protest. No need for her to get involved in what's about to happen. You step back into the shadows of the mine and await their arrival.
Time passes slowly as you await your death in the shadows of the mine shaft. Your eyes adjust to the darkness a bit, and you creep farther and farther back, keeping an eye on the entrance and waiting for someone to pass before it.
You soon hear the horses approach, the fall of their hooves bouncing off of the walls to you. You hear some of them dismount and wait patiently for them to approach the shaft.
Three of them come walking in, taking careful steps in the absolute darkness. You wait until they have walked a ways into the shaft before opening fire. You drop all three of them before they have time to draw.
"Shit," you hear from outside the shaft. "Now what?"
Another voice responds; an older, calmer voice. A voice that can only belong to the leader of the Vigilantes. The voice of Paco Valdez. "We wait," he says. "He'll have to come out sooner or later."
Time passes in agony. You don't hear much of anything from out there, but you know they remain just outside the shaft; waiting patiently for you to reveal yourself.
You damn near shit your pants when you feel a tug on your shirt. A voice whispers for you to stay quiet and follow close. It's too dark for you to make out who it is, but you're not asking any questions.
The man leads you a little further down the shaft and then down a side tunnel. After several minutes following your savior, you see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. You emerge from the shaft to the side of a hill, where Betty and another horse stand waiting.
The man who saved you was the Kamani who had been following you. You thank him kindly and walk to your horse, ready to flee the scene and live another day.
But the Kamani who saved you shakes his head, no. "We must stop these men. For if they do not find you, they will harm others."
Reluctantly you agree. He shakes your hand and tells you that his name is Lone Wolf. You reload your revolver and follow him as he climbs the hill side.
After a little travel up the hill and alond narrow ledges, he stops you and points. Not too far below you are nearly a dozen men waiting for you outisde the mine shaft. Lone Wolf motions for you to stay there while he takes another position. You comply.
You wait for what seems like forever before an arrow embeds itself into the chest of one of the Vigilantes. The others look up in shock and mutter curses. "Damn Injun's," one of them says.
They begin firing blindly up the hill toward where Lone Wolf was positioned. You take this opportunity to step forward and fire twice into the masses. One of your bullets takes a man down. Suddenly the gunfire is redirected to your position, and you quickly step back out of range.
After a while, the gunfire dies down and you and Lone Wolf step forward almost simultaneously, loosing a barrage of bullets and arrows upon the Vigilantes. Before they are able to return fire, three more have fallen, leaving seven below.
You wait for the return fire to end again before stepping forward. When you step up this time, however, the Vigilantes seem to be ready and are firing the moment you appear. You are so caught off guard by their assault, that you momentarily lose your footing and tumble down to the ground below, in the center of the Vigilante masses.
Landing beside you is a man with an arrow sticking out of his back. He stares at you with dead eyes that grow more an more distant.
A middle aged man stands over you wit a wel groomed mustache. He spits on your face before speaking. "You are the son of pigs. You have fucked with the wrong man, and now you will pay."
"With all due respect," you reply, "I didn't fuck with you. I fucked with your woman."
You are still laughing when he puts a bullet in your head.
"I-," You begin, still unsure what you are going to say even as you begin. And then it hits you. Gus used to tell you that the best lies contain elements of truth. You base your story on this theory.
"I had a run-in with the Vigilantes. They're trying to kill me. I went to the only place I didn't think he would be, the middle of the damn desert."
The leader's face remains stern, his companions remain silent. "We know of the Vigilantes. They are ruthless men with no honor."
"I'll agree with you there," You tell them. "I kicked up a bit of a row when I bedded his woman."
One of the braves in the back stifles a laugh which threatens to escape him, the man beside him jabs his ribs sharply with an elbow. There is a long moment of awkward silence before the leader speaks.
"Very well," He says; "You may stay on our land so long as you do not bring any trouble to us. If the Vigilantes come for you, do not expect any help from us," he tells you.
"I won't," you say, "Thank you."
"And do not sleep with our women." The leader adds as an after thought. The braves around him laugh and you do your best to keep your own smile back. They turn around, mount, and ride off; leaving you alone in the desert with only your horse for company.
You watch them ride off and are not surprised when one of them departs company with the others and appears to disappear behind a cluster of rocks. No doubt you will be followed and watched by this man.
After some time you pull out your map and check your surroundings for the landmarks sketched out before you. Satisfied that you are headed in the right direction; you mount Betty and start riding off in search of the next thing highlighted on your map.
Several hours pass as you ride your horse, stopping sometimes for water before continuing on. As night approaches, you find yourself approaching the final landmark on the map before you reach the mines in the foothills of the mountains.
You make camp where you are, wishing you had stopped for traveling rations while hoping for a stray animal to come bounding along.
You sit with your legs crossed before you, Betty chewing on a stray patch of grass. You mentally prepare yourself for whatever may come at you on the morrow.
As you sit there in silence, a desert hare makes some movement. You quickly draw your revolver and drop the jack rabbit to the hard desert floor. You retrieve the hare and begin gathering wood as the sun sets behind you.
The night is peaceful and you encounter no troubles, When morning comes, you find your body well rested, and Betty waiting for you.
You mount up and pass the final landmark on the map. From here you are to simply follow a trail until the old mine shaft appears in the side of the lower hills.
A few hours of riding later, the mine shaft does indeed appear. Abandoned as the crazy old man told you it would be. One of the wooden beams the supported the entrance cracked and fell some time ago. After dismounting Betty you that discover can still get into the mine, as you step around the debris and enter the pitch darkness within.
As you stand there waiting for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, you realize the folly of not bringing a lantern or torch.
You curse yourself for a fool and step back out into the light of day, studying your map once again. It doesn't look like it's too deep in, but without a light it's quite possible that you will simply pass it by.
You look up from the map to the sky above, shouting forth a curse for your own foolishness. Then your eyes go to the horizon. A cloud of dust kicks up behind a cluster of dark silhouette, riders fast approaching.
You shield your eyes from the sun with your hand and squint, counting at least half a dozen in the oncoming masses. And you're pretty sure you know who they are.
You pull out your pistol and make sure that it is fully loaded. You're pretty sure this is the end for you, but you'll be damned if you're going down without taking a few of them with you.
You slap Betty's haunches and she gallops away with little protest. No need for her to get involved in what's about to happen. You step back into the shadows of the mine and await their arrival.
Time passes slowly as you await your death in the shadows of the mine shaft. Your eyes adjust to the darkness a bit, and you creep farther and farther back, keeping an eye on the entrance and waiting for someone to pass before it.
You soon hear the horses approach, the fall of their hooves bouncing off of the walls to you. You hear some of them dismount and wait patiently for them to approach the shaft.
Three of them come walking in, taking careful steps in the absolute darkness. You wait until they have walked a ways into the shaft before opening fire. You drop all three of them before they have time to draw.
"Shit," you hear from outside the shaft. "Now what?"
Another voice responds; an older, calmer voice. A voice that can only belong to the leader of the Vigilantes. The voice of Paco Valdez. "We wait," he says. "He'll have to come out sooner or later."
Time passes in agony. You don't hear much of anything from out there, but you know they remain just outside the shaft; waiting patiently for you to reveal yourself.
You damn near shit your pants when you feel a tug on your shirt. A voice whispers for you to stay quiet and follow close. It's too dark for you to make out who it is, but you're not asking any questions.
The man leads you a little further down the shaft and then down a side tunnel. After several minutes following your savior, you see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. You emerge from the shaft to the side of a hill, where Betty and another horse stand waiting.
The man who saved you was the Kamani who had been following you. You thank him kindly and walk to your horse, ready to flee the scene and live another day.
But the Kamani who saved you shakes his head, no. "We must stop these men. For if they do not find you, they will harm others."
Reluctantly you agree. He shakes your hand and tells you that his name is Lone Wolf. You reload your revolver and follow him as he climbs the hill side.
After a little travel up the hill and alond narrow ledges, he stops you and points. Not too far below you are nearly a dozen men waiting for you outisde the mine shaft. Lone Wolf motions for you to stay there while he takes another position. You comply.
You wait for what seems like forever before an arrow embeds itself into the chest of one of the Vigilantes. The others look up in shock and mutter curses. "Damn Injun's," one of them says.
They begin firing blindly up the hill toward where Lone Wolf was positioned. You take this opportunity to step forward and fire twice into the masses. One of your bullets takes a man down. Suddenly the gunfire is redirected to your position, and you quickly step back out of range.
After a while, the gunfire dies down and you and Lone Wolf step forward almost simultaneously, loosing a barrage of bullets and arrows upon the Vigilantes. Before they are able to return fire, three more have fallen, leaving seven below.
You wait for the return fire to end again before stepping forward. When you step up this time, however, the Vigilantes seem to be ready and are firing the moment you appear. You are so caught off guard by their assault, that you momentarily lose your footing and tumble down to the ground below, in the center of the Vigilante masses.
Landing beside you is a man with an arrow sticking out of his back. He stares at you with dead eyes that grow more an more distant.
A middle aged man stands over you wit a wel groomed mustache. He spits on your face before speaking. "You are the son of pigs. You have fucked with the wrong man, and now you will pay."
"With all due respect," you reply, "I didn't fuck with you. I fucked with your woman."
You are still laughing when he puts a bullet in your head.
