I turned my attention back to the devils running down the road. Their sloppy retreat stirred up a cloud of dust. I presumed that they were on their way home. It was around dinnertime by the looks of the sun’s low position in the sky. Their poor mamas likely slaved all afternoon to feed their evil little bellies.

I thanked the Lord for my good fortune in remaining childless, despite my busy time at the saloon. I no longer had anyone to answer to and no one to care for. I was truly free, yet there I was risking it all over again.

Up ahead, the three boys separated. Disappointed, I decided to follow the tall one. He seemed to be the leader of their pack, judging by his countenance. He was the one who kicked me the hardest, if I remembered correctly, and I was pretty sure he had also been the one to knock me out cold with my own pistol.

I kept my mount at a slow enough pace to not arouse suspicion from him just yet. I felt strangely powerful with the role reversal. I was the predator chasing the prey this time. I was about to teach him a lesson that he would never forget.

He veered off the road, glancing once over his shoulder before running across a field. I caught sight of the trail of smoke emerging from a little house in the distance. He was nearly home.

I urged my horse into a gallop. Hearing my approach, the boy stopped and spun around. He held his hands up in surrender; I caught the terror in his wide blue eyes as I pulled on the reins to stop my horse.

“It’s you!” he cried. “What the hell?”

“Surprised I’m alive?”

“I-I…”

“Not so nice being the helpless one now, is it?”

He visibly trembled.

I smirked, glancing quickly at his family’s farm. Perhaps I would get that pack animal earlier than I had planned.

“I should kill you, but all I want in return for the pain that you caused me is one of your horses.”

“But-”

“I will shoot you if you don’t move along and fetch me what I need. Go and get one of your horses. Come on!”

He nodded and turned on his heel toward the barn close to his house. My stomach fluttered as I followed him to the large stable on his family’s property. I hoped that they were all inside eating dinner, oblivious to the plight of their sick kid. If that was not the case, I would have to flee.

“I’ll, er, be just a second,” he said, glancing at me over his shoulder.

“Hurry now! If you try to run away and tell your family, just remember that I’m a good shot.”

After a few minutes, he led a beautiful bay mare out from the stable.

“She’s my Papa’s horse. Three years old and already broken in. Our best.”

I yanked the reins from his hand.

“Tell me, do you feel any remorse for what you did to me that night? Anything at all?”

He stared at me. 

I bit down on my chapped lips as I saw the wickedness in his gaze. I had to swallow down my rage before I lost my mind and killed him. I stared at him until his cold glare wavered and he realized his predicament.

“You might want to do something better with your time. You know, before someone repays you an eye for an eye. Anyone else would have killed you for what you did.”

He nodded.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“I almost lost my leg, you know. I should shoot you for that. After all, you beat me to a pulp all because I protected a little boy.”

Though my voice remained level, my hands shook.

He stared at his feet.

“My folks already lost two of my older brothers to pneumonia last fall. Please don’t shoot me.”

“Shame you didn’t die in their place.”

His face contorted in unmasked rage, but he held his tongue.

My finger rested on the trigger of my shotgun and I threw him a warning look. He would live if I shot him through the shoulder, but he’d still experience some of the agony he inflicted on me. He raised his chin and I removed my finger from the trigger.

I bashed him in the chest with the stock of my rifle. He fell back into to the dirt with a yelp.

“Take that, you little shit!” I yelled.

I rode away, leading the bay mare along with me. I laughed and shuddered simultaneously. He was probably going to rally his friends and try to catch me again. 

Being followed into the night gave me a strange sense of purpose, but it was time that I stopped having to run for my life every time I chose to go into a town.

I did not want to be prey any longer.

…. to be continued in my novel The Broken & The Foolish

You can buy this book on Amazon! ❤

If you love Westerns, I’ve got a whole series available. Check it out here!