“Thanks…” George murmured. Slim went to speak,
“So, are…”
All of a sudden, before Slim could finish his sentence, there were loud crashing noises outside. They both sharply got up and as they moved closer, the sound of gun shots could be heard.
Both George and Slim, quickly moved to the door but Slim ushered George inside whilst he checked out what was happening outside…
Slim opened the door and was instantly horrified by what he saw. There were dead bodies scattered brutally across the ranch. He twisted his head around to see a group of hooded men on horses riding off into the distance like a group of jail escapees.
“God no...” Slim muttered to himself.
“What is it?!” George broke out as he burst out of the door.
“Look for yourself” Slim answered.
The sight that George could see, left him in dismay, and he slowly plundered to his knees promptly to a body that lay metres from him.
Candy lay there motionless, with his back up against the bunkhouse and wounds high up on his torso. His face looked unexplainable, for this man deserved not to die, and had some type of confused remark upon his pallid face.
George got up and ventured slowly, dragging his feet, around the various bodies; Carlson, Buckett, Frankson. Then he stopped abruptly, standing over a slowly struggling body. He lent down. It was Curley.
“I… I nearly…. had them,” he blubbered.
“Who? George asked promptly.
“Those bastard…the bastards who just left!”
He coughed heavily and George felt like he could hear the blood spluttering.
“The rider that just left?” George continued/
“Ye… yea, those guys.
Knowing that his time with George was slowly and desperately coming to an end, he asked George one final question,
“Will you get them for me George?”
“Yea… I guess”
The bleak face in front of him smiled, but then limply dropped to the ground.
But, it was different. For, he had seen another side of Curley there, a good side…
George turned around to see Slim moving over towards him.
“Who did this massacre?!” George blurted out at Slim.
“I’m not quite sure, but it might have been the boys from up north. They call themselves the band bandits. They spend their time murdering people for their money, food and sometimes because they’re annoyed. Makes me sick!” he told George.
“They will back,” Slim continued, “A couple of days time maybe.”
They got up simultaneously, and they decided on going straight to their bunkhouse for the night.
George awoke the next morning to a small shine of bright yellowish light peering through the window. He sat up to see Slim with a large sack placing all his possessions into it.
“What you doing Slim?” George asked.
“Just cleaning up, like you should be.”
“Hey Slim, I just thought of something, you know that little ranch I used to tell you about?”
“Yeah,” Slim chuckled, “I remember, sounded like nice little place.”
“Well… you wanna go there and start up our own place?”
“How? I only got myself 400 bucks, you need 500 don’t you?” Slim questioned.
“Well before Candy died, he wrote a will, giving me his possessions if he passed on and that was 350 bucks, so, how about it Slim?”
“Ok then, we’ll go in early afternoon.”
They both took their final trips around the ranch, picking up their final things for their new journey to begin.
It was a dull summer afternoon, and the sun was visible over the trees. From the exit of the ranch, you could smell the sorrow of the moment, and dust was drifting off of the orange-coated path. They had a few hours of light left to travel in, so they agreed in beginning their journey.
Suddenly, some hooded riders came galloping into view, like a pack of angry bulls, and as they got closer every second, they pulled out their guns and fired. It narrowly missed, and about 10 more riders pulled out their weaponry.
Was this the end for George... but he noticed as they came into view, for they were not the bad boys from up north… they were the Soledad Police!
By Josh Gill
10 S2