Paco Valdez

You wait nervously in the shadows of the rock while the riders came closer, your mind constantly worrying that the approaching riders are Vigilantes.

Relief floods through you when you recognize the sour old man riding beside the hard faced woman as Gus and Annie, respectively.

"Help!" Your prisoner calls out foolishly, not realizing that the riders are in fact your friends. You almost laugh. The two pull up thier reings as they reach you, Annie looking down at you coldly while gus tries to contain his fury.

"You have a prisoner?" Annie asks.

"You brought a damn prisoner?!" Gus fuses, spit flting from his mouth, his face is a dep red that might be otherwise comical. "What in the hell were you thinking?! You realy are one stupid son of a bitch, you know that?"

It don't matter what you do, Gus would never be pleased. Then again, you do seem to keep making stupid decisions. Sleeping with the woman of the leader of the Vigilante gang was not a good decision. Taking a prisoner, in retrospect was another poor choice. But that's not what is important. The important thing is that you have a prisoner.

"Fact of the matter, though," Annie says to the two of you, "is that there is a prisoner. The question is what do we do with him?"

The three of you look over at the Vigilante slung across the back of your horse.

"I say we kill the bastard." Gus says.

Annie looks at him scornfully. "You're not serious." She says, denying his words.

But he's not joking, of that you and Annie soon discover by his imploring gaze. Annie looks between the two of you before settling on you. "We don't need a corpse on our hands," She says.

"Please don't kill me," the prisoner calls. The three of you look at him for a moment before returning to your conversation.

"We can bury him," Gus says more quietly.

Annie looks to you, her eyes screwed up in disbelief. "You can't let him do this."

You meet Gus's eyes behind her while she tries to maintain your gaze. The old man speaks to you. "It's your dicision, cowboy. He's your prisoner."