Paco Valdez
FA
You rise to your feet and move towards the cave entrance as quietly as you can. You shudder once when your boot scuffs against the ground, but it doesn't seem as though whatever is outside noticed.
You peer out into the light to see an Indian with his back to you, crouched down behing a scraggly looking bush with a bow and arrow in his hand. You stand there for some time, not saying anything or moving while the young man remains tense and ready to shoot whenever whatever he is looking for should show.
A bird caws over head and he turns at the sound of it. Your curse inwardly when his eyes meet yours. He pulls at the arrow and prepares to release the missle but you beat him to the punch by pulling out your revolver before he has the string taut and plug a bullet deep into his chest. The arrow releases as he falls and clangs off of the ceiling to the cave above you.
There is an unattural silence after the gunshot, a sharp contrast to the boom of your barrel. The only sound you hear is of the Indian falling to the ground.
Suddenly, the old man clears his throat from behind you and you turn to see him still sitting on the ground, but staring at you.
"What the hell was that all about?" He asks.
"He was gonna hit me with an arrow," You tell him.
"Well I'm glad you shot him," He says, "Now damn near e'rey injun in these parts is like to know our position."
"I didn't have a choice," You argue.
"You could've just stayed where you were and not looked outside the damn cave," He shoots back at you.
He gets up slowly from the ground and grunts a little as he stretches, his joints and bones popping and cracking. He slips his pack onto his back and rubs the sleep from his eyes.
"Let's get movin' then," He says. "So much for passing through their territory stealth-like."
He walks out of the cave as you quickly gather your pack and rush to catch up with him. He takes you further up the hill and through a small grove of skinny and malformed trees before the hill drops down again.
You follow the old man for several hours through many similar rises and falls of the hills and several forrests struggling to grow. The scenary is much the same the next day, thought the trees are starting to look more and more healthier the more distance you put between you and the desert.
Eventually, while you are cmoing to the end of another near-dead colony of wood, the old man stops you with one finger over his mouth and another pointing to a group of four Indians sitting at a small fire just outside the mouth of a cave.
"That's the mine right there," The old man tells you.
You size the men up. Threee of them look like very strong warriors while the fourth is an elder. You figure you could take them out with or without the old man beside you, but then you realize you're being arrogant. You think about it again and think that maybe you can take three out if you get the jump on them. Maybe.
"I don't know, kid," He says to you; "Should we try and wait 'em out, or just attack?"
You rise to your feet and move towards the cave entrance as quietly as you can. You shudder once when your boot scuffs against the ground, but it doesn't seem as though whatever is outside noticed.
You peer out into the light to see an Indian with his back to you, crouched down behing a scraggly looking bush with a bow and arrow in his hand. You stand there for some time, not saying anything or moving while the young man remains tense and ready to shoot whenever whatever he is looking for should show.
A bird caws over head and he turns at the sound of it. Your curse inwardly when his eyes meet yours. He pulls at the arrow and prepares to release the missle but you beat him to the punch by pulling out your revolver before he has the string taut and plug a bullet deep into his chest. The arrow releases as he falls and clangs off of the ceiling to the cave above you.
There is an unattural silence after the gunshot, a sharp contrast to the boom of your barrel. The only sound you hear is of the Indian falling to the ground.
Suddenly, the old man clears his throat from behind you and you turn to see him still sitting on the ground, but staring at you.
"What the hell was that all about?" He asks.
"He was gonna hit me with an arrow," You tell him.
"Well I'm glad you shot him," He says, "Now damn near e'rey injun in these parts is like to know our position."
"I didn't have a choice," You argue.
"You could've just stayed where you were and not looked outside the damn cave," He shoots back at you.
He gets up slowly from the ground and grunts a little as he stretches, his joints and bones popping and cracking. He slips his pack onto his back and rubs the sleep from his eyes.
"Let's get movin' then," He says. "So much for passing through their territory stealth-like."
He walks out of the cave as you quickly gather your pack and rush to catch up with him. He takes you further up the hill and through a small grove of skinny and malformed trees before the hill drops down again.
You follow the old man for several hours through many similar rises and falls of the hills and several forrests struggling to grow. The scenary is much the same the next day, thought the trees are starting to look more and more healthier the more distance you put between you and the desert.
Eventually, while you are cmoing to the end of another near-dead colony of wood, the old man stops you with one finger over his mouth and another pointing to a group of four Indians sitting at a small fire just outside the mouth of a cave.
"That's the mine right there," The old man tells you.
You size the men up. Threee of them look like very strong warriors while the fourth is an elder. You figure you could take them out with or without the old man beside you, but then you realize you're being arrogant. You think about it again and think that maybe you can take three out if you get the jump on them. Maybe.
"I don't know, kid," He says to you; "Should we try and wait 'em out, or just attack?"