Western RP: play thread

Over those hills, 4 horsemen ride, as from the city, Deputy Sanders rides out to meet them.

"You got here quickly..." Sanders salutes his men.
"We weren't far off..." the lead rider explained.
"Very good..." Steve nodded, turning his horse and leading them back to the city. "Now, before the others get here, this is what I need you 4 to do..."

Though he didn't see or hear more than that, Greg's curiosity was piqued. He wasn't concerned enough yet to make any move back into the city, but it turned out he didn't have to...

He watched Sanders escort the men to the nearest saloon, and leave them. Not long later, a group of Army soldiers makes way to that very same saloon, and, minutes later, are seen escorting 4 rabblerousing 'drunks' out into the street...

Soon, the drunks have been led from the city limits, where the deception is exposed, the drunks sober up and take advantage of the soldiers, along with several other thugs from the shadows...

while Greg looked on, the Army troops were beaten, throats slit, disrobed of their uniforms and their bodies dragged from the area behind horses.

The mysterious 4 horsemen then returned to the city, from the dark of night, wearing the Army uniforms...

... and the night passed into dawn...

Greg was totally taken aback. 'What the hell was that?' Were the Sanders taking over the town? Something big was happening here, and Greg would find out what. All he needed to do was watch and wait.

Catori put on the clothes handed to her. She wrinkled up her nose as she decided they fit her weird. She wondered what kind of test these people were going to run on her. Could she not just go see a healer.

Luis continued tirelessly for hours at an easy lope. Finally, when dusk turned to evening, he decided he'd better stop and get at least a few hours rest. He checked his saddle bags for something to eat. Damn. He was all out of jerky. And he didn't want to light a fire, he might attract attention. Whatever he could find to eat, it would have to be raw. He cringed at the thought. Oh well, it wasn't the first time he had eaten raw jackrabbit.

Buddy smiled warmly as Catori fidgeted in the white mans' underwear.

"Brown is your color... it brings out the, uhhh... brown in your eyes..."
he stuttered over his words, still captivated by the girl's innocent beauty.
"Thinking about Home, aren't you?" he predicted. "Me too, Flower... me too..."

He wasn't exactly sure how all this would turn out, but so far, it wasn't looking too promising, though he tried not to let his anxiety and fear show. It had been a great many years since Buddy had spent time in an Army infirmary; he didn't reckon he'd ever see the inside of such a a place again.

"We'll be oughta here in no time, Catori..." he tried to sound positive, even though he was uncertain. "I promise..."

...it wasn't like he was lying, exactly... they could be carried out-- feet first-- if anyone of the soldiers recognized them, now that they were clean and unmasked...

Vic woke up in another room of the dark infirmory. She felt like she was hit by a donkey but otherwise fine. Wobbling she fell from the small bunk bed onto the floor hard and slowly stood up. Her brother came closer to her and she started to feel uncomfortable. "What do you want?" she asked.

Steve Sanders stood up suddenly, from his sister's bedside.
"I...I wanted to make sure you were alright... I have been here all night since the soldiers brought you here for treatment..." he lied.

"I'm so sorry, Victoria." he faked remorse, twisting his guilt for the betrayal to his advantage, even managing to tear up a bit, for effect. "This is a dangerous place, especially at night, and with all the criminal element out and about... I should have took care of you better, sis... should haven taken care of you long ago..."

"Well, now i see you are up and about, I should let you get some rest..."
he helped Vic back to bed. "I should get some rest myself, it's been a long day, and I've got some scoundrels to round up in the morning..."

"That's great," said Vic brightly although she knew he was faking. Knew that when he started to say those things to her. Vic left and headed down the hall until she was caught into the arms of a man and he wouldn't let her go.

"No leaving tonight, young lady..." the Army guard instructed, escorting Victoria back to her bunk. "We have had a possible outbreak of the fever brought in tonight, so we have to make sure its contained... you should be safe here, and be able to leave in the morning."

"That's a nasty bruise and bump you got there, pretty lady..." the guard continued as he settled the girl in bed. "You sure are a pretty one too! Why, if I hadn't had my nuts crushed by a brahma bull back in '58, I might like ta get---

"Back to your post, soldier!" it was Commander Jericho, all disheveled and undone, wearing his Army-issue top coat and breeches but no shirt or undershirt underneath. And he was piss-drunk and angry about something. "I'll have a few words for the Scholar Lady, Ms... Sanders, aint it?" Jericho leered at the prime and proper woman sitting uncomfortably upon the simple bunk.

"I demand that we be released!" Buddy was play-acting the part of a beleaguered ranch owner. "I have crops, and animals to tend to... speaking of which, I came in with a dog..."

"Yes, yes, Mr... Polk, was it?" the nurse stammered. "About the dog..."

"Who is running this garrison?!" Buddy roared. "I demand satisfaction! I demand to speak to the commander of the guard!!"

"That would be Commander Jericho... I believe he has retired for he evening, Sir..."

Buddy's face went to pale again, as though he actually had contracted the fever after all. 'Commander Geoffrey Jericho'... 'retired'... Jericho... retired... his mind was spinning around those words, and he blanked out everything else the nurse might have been rambling on about.

A moment later, Buddy snapped back to the present situation, and stumbled back, crashing a serving cart full of food and medical supplies to the floor.

"OK! OK!" the nurse cried. "I will go summon the Commander! Relax, Mister Polk..." she raced hurriedly from the room, speaking a few terse words to the guards outside before leaving to wake Commander Jericho.

It was too soon... Buddy was not ready for this, not yet... he needed more time... but, time was run out!!

-GULP!-

Luis slid off his horse's saddle outfit and bridle, trusting him enough to stay close by the camp. Then he took the long rifle he had stolen from a dead soldier's body and went out in search of game. Before long, he caught a large hare and brought it back to camp. Gritting his teeth, he skinned part of the animal and began choking down the raw meat. It was disgusting at first, but he started to get used to it after a while.

When he was finished, he buried the animal's remains well outside the camp, rolled out his bed, and went to sleep. He kept the rifle under his arm.

Leo had collapsed to the floor after seeing the picture on the back of the letter. He didn't know exactly what it meant, but it was triggering off some memories deep in his mind that weren't ready to be released yet. He lay, curled up behind the inn. The letter was scrunched up in his hand. He needed to figure this out, he needed to either get to Sanders or to one of the bandits. He threw down the letter and looked around.

Catori looked at uddy. Seeing his expression at the name of Commander Jericho, she braced herself for anything. She knew all to well that look. They were in for it.

"What do you want, Commander?" asked Vic as she darted to the other side of the room. "It better be something worth talking about. I don't take to standing around for no reason. So what is it?" She asked as she became very scared.

"What I want don't require much standing around... no STANDING around at all, I reckon, pretty lady..." the Army chief slurred, swaggering forward to the woman's bedside, unhitching his belt around his waist. "You're a Sanders... that cocky somb!tch hick town deputy is your kin.. his damn fool bumbling screwed me out of my vengeance, so now it's payback time..."

His breeches dropped around his knees, revealing that the man was not wearing any underwear! and he shuffled toward Victoria, leering and laughing lustfully.

"I promise, this will only hurt for a moment..." he moved closer, forcing Vic back into a corner, and kept coming closer and closer...

*********************************************

Hick-town Deputy Steve Sanders was ecstatic. He now had men in place within the US Army regimen, men from Bingham's Buffalo Security Force, mercenaries, on his payroll. When the rest of the local Blue Bandana Boys arrived and made trouble, Sanders could move his Army troops in and maintain the chaos, while the real Army attempted to bring order... the Army would be discredited as bumbling idiots and driven from town, and Sanders and his mercenaries would have free-reign to take the law into their own hands. He would take the Marshall's job, surpassing the position of his father in the small backwater village, he would be like a God here, especially once he'd rid the region of Buddy Reno and his renegades...

It was all coming together, all he needed now was the right bait...

"I'm sorry, Father..." he smiled, practicing the impending speech he would have to give to the sheriff when he saw him again. "Victoria joined up with her savage half-breed mutt of a sister, and went crazy... and, like all rabid mutts, she had to be put down... death was quick, she did not suffer..."

It was a good lie, he thought, for there would be lots of pain and suffering with this murder, not so quick and easy as the blacksmith was felled, he laughed again to himself, then rolled over in his bed and went to sleep....

That night, it started to rain at dusk, and didn't let up all night long. By midnight, it was torrential downpour, stranding Luis and Greg in a field of mud and muck. It was awful, cold, wet dirty, nasty... and they were stuck out in it, in the middle of the open prairie, no trees or caves, and wouldn't risk being caught by going back to town...

As the sun started to peak above the horizon, Greg and Luis realized with some small satisfaction that they were not the only ones stuck out in the storm all night. From their hilltop positions spread far across the valley from each other, both men spotted a covered wagon with 4 horses hitched, stuck up to the axles in the mire. Now, both men knew that most folk in the area could hardly afford a one- or two-horse-wagon, so whoever was at the helm of the 4-horse carriage they must be pretty important, or well-to-do, probably thought they could cross the valley and get to Abilene before the storm set in, but came up just a few miles short...

Leo headed around to the front of the inn. He got a room and went upstairs. He had already retrieved the sadle of his dead horse and was beginning to get cleaned off (wash, shave etc.) He wanted to be at his best for what he had planned.

Back in town, 2 young lovers were sneaking around the Army auction stable and holding pen, flirting and giggling and fantasizing about which horses they would tak as their own to start their life together... when the storm hit. The lovers grab up their lantern and made a break for the nearest building, the stable inside the fence of the military garrison compound. Once they were safe and dry, they soon became amorous again, taking a roll in the hay, while the gentle rains came down.

Lightning signaled the start of the torential downpour, and the thunder clap spooked the stabled horses, one of which reared up, making a ruckus, shifting the hay, toppling the lover's lamp... in moments, the place was ablaze!!

Guards summoned soldiers and some few civilians still out on the street during the quarantine curfew and storm, and some fast work along with the heavy rains quickly doused the flames. The young lovers were scorched slightly, burns on their hands and faces, were scalded and scolded and brought into the Army garrison medical center for treatment for their wounds...

*what's this got to do with anything?.... you'll see...

Originally posted by Tela
Catori looked at uddy. Seeing his expression at the name of Commander Jericho, she braced herself for anything. She knew all to well that look. They were in for it.

Victoria grabbed a shotgun from her pocket. "You step toward me once moer your dog meat!" she said raising it toward him.