The last Ride of Hairlip Green

The Ride

As they rode back toward town, the air had grown colder, and the once-clear sky was now heavy with a low, brooding mist. The steady clip-clop of hooves filled the silence between them. Green, Belle, and Neil moved in a loose formation, the weight of the day settling heavily over them. Neil, who had been eyeing Green from the corner of his vision, finally couldn't stand the silence any longer.
"Green, what the hell is going on with you?" Neil's voice was blunt, cutting through the quiet. "You ain't been yourself since we left Durango. You're staring at that damned river like it holds all the answers, but I ain't seeing it. What's eatin' at you?"
Green didn't respond right away. His eyes remained forward, scanning the horizon with an intensity that made it seem like he was looking for something—anything—to focus on other than Neil's question. The wind whistled through the trees, but even the sharp gusts couldn't push the discomfort away.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Green finally muttered, his voice low, almost gruff.
Neil wasn't convinced. "Come on, Green. Don't pull that with me. Something's got you off. This whole mess with Montana, and now the army breathing down our necks? You think we're gonna just keep running?"
Green's jaw tightened, but he didn't look at Neil. He pushed his horse forward, a little faster, as if the motion would help him outrun the words building up inside him.
Belle, sensing the tension, slowed her horse and rode a little closer to Green. She hadn't spoken yet, but her presence was enough to make Green falter. There was something in the way she watched him, something gentle but unyielding, that made him want to tell her everything. But not now.
"Neil, maybe you should drop it," Belle said softly, her voice calm but firm. "Green's been through enough. We all have. Let's just get back to town, and we can figure it out later."
Neil glanced at Belle, his lips pressing into a thin line. He was about to argue but stopped himself when he saw how Green's shoulders stiffened. It was clear that this wasn't a conversation Green was ready to have. At least not yet.
The trio rode in silence for a while, the only sound the rhythmic thudding of hooves on the dirt road. Green's mind raced, torn between what he knew was coming and what he feared would happen if he didn't face it. A part of him wanted to turn back to the man he used to be—the lawman, the protector, the one who stood for something. But another part of him, the part that had spent too many years running, wanted to keep going.
He wasn't sure which one would win out.
As the trio rode into town, the soft crunch of hooves against the frozen earth echoed in the quiet morning. Green remained unusually quiet, his eyes distant, but Neil couldn't hold back any longer. The tension between them had been building for days, and it was time for answers. He pulled his horse alongside Green, his voice steady but insistent.
"Alright, Green, enough of this. You've been avoiding us long enough. What's going on? What's with the silence?" Neil's tone was pointed but not unkind. "You can't just keep running from your past. Not anymore."
Green's jaw tightened, and for a moment, Neil thought he wouldn't answer. But after a long pause, Green's voice broke through the silence, low and rough, like a man who hadn't spoken in years.
"I saw it, Neil. The town—the one that got burned to the ground. The one you heard about." Green swallowed hard, his eyes flicking toward the horizon. "I didn't see it happen, but I saw the aftermath. It was a massacre. But it wasn't the Indians like they say. No... it was the army. They did it. They torched the place. Left nothing but ash and charred bones behind."
Belle, who had been riding quietly behind them, leaned forward, listening intently. Green's words hit her like a cold wind. She knew Green had his demons, but this was different. This was a new kind of darkness.
Green continued, his voice growing more urgent, as if the words were fighting to escape. "I was out riding—just a few days after it happened. Stumbled across the town by accident. I had no idea what had really gone down. But when I saw it, I knew. I knew right then the army had left that place in ruins. Burned it all down. People were gone. The houses were nothing but shells. It wasn't right."
Neil's eyes narrowed, taking in the weight of Green's words. He had always known Green carried a burden, but this... this was bigger than anything he had expected. He could see the guilt in Green's eyes, the shame that weighed him down.
"Why didn't you do something?" Neil asked, his voice quieter now, a hint of understanding creeping in. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
Green didn't answer at first. His eyes drifted toward the distant mountains, as if searching for some kind of answer in the barren landscape. Finally, he spoke, his voice raw with emotion.
"I didn't know what to do, Neil. By the time I got there, it was already over. I couldn't stop it. I thought about going after them, confronting them, but... I didn't. I just kept riding. I should've done something. But I didn't. And now, here we are."
Belle, who had been listening carefully, spoke up gently. "You didn't cause it, Green. It wasn't your fault. But that doesn't mean you can't make things right. We can make things right. Together."
Green's gaze softened as he looked over at her, his lips twitching into the faintest of smiles. The weight he had been carrying for so long felt a little lighter, just knowing that Belle and Neil were still with him. He couldn't change what had happened, but maybe—just maybe—he could do something to stop it from happening again.
Neil, sensing the change in Green's demeanor, spoke up with quiet resolve. "We deal with this. Together. No more running. We find the truth and make sure no one else pays the price for what happened."
Green nodded, his resolve hardening. The road ahead was uncertain, but he knew one thing for sure—he wasn't alone in this anymore. And he wasn't going to let the army get away with what they had done.
As the trio rode closer to the outskirts of town, the wind grew colder, carrying with it the scent of snow and pine. The pale light of the morning sun began to cut through the frost-covered trees, casting long shadows across the dusty trail. Belle rode quietly beside Green, her hand occasionally brushing his, but neither of them spoke. The silence between them was comfortable, but Green could feel the weight of everything unsaid still hanging in the air.
Neil, sensing the tension, kept his distance, letting the two of them be. It was clear that something had shifted in Green, and the time to talk was now.
"Belle," Green began, his voice breaking the quiet hum of the cold wind. His voice was rough, as though it hadn't been used for this kind of conversation in a long time. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you. Something that's been haunting me for a while now. It's that dream I had."
Belle looked at him, her brow furrowing in concern, but she didn't interrupt. She knew this wasn't just some random thought. It was something deeper, something Green needed to say.
"I've been having it for days now, ever since we left Durango. It's the same one, over and over." Green paused, his eyes fixed on the path ahead, but he wasn't really looking at it. "It starts with a pale horse. And on that horse... there's a rider, pale as death itself. I don't know who they are. I can never see their face. But they're always just ahead of me, as if I'm supposed to follow them."
Belle remained quiet, letting him speak, feeling the weight of his words.
"The thing is," Green continued, his voice tight, "it's not just the horse or the rider that bothers me. It's the feeling I get when I wake up. Like something's calling me. Like I'm supposed to be... something different. I don't know what it is, Belle. But I can't shake it. I feel like I'm being pulled back into something I tried to outrun—a past I thought I buried."
Belle's gaze softened as she watched him, her heart heavy with understanding. She had known Green long enough to see when something was eating at him, even when he tried to bury it. She hadn't asked about his past, not directly. But she understood now, the way he struggled between what he had been and what he wanted to be.
"I've been running, Belle," Green said quietly, almost to himself. "From who I was. From the lawman, from the guilt. From everything. But this dream... it's like it's telling me I can't keep running anymore. I don't know if it's a warning or a sign. But I feel like the past is catching up with me."
Belle reached out, gently placing her hand on his arm, grounding him in the present. "Maybe it's not about running anymore, Green. Maybe it's about facing it. Maybe it's about doing the right thing for once, instead of turning your back."
Green looked at her, his eyes dark with the weight of his thoughts. "I don't know if I can be that man again, Belle. I don't know if I can go back to being the lawman, the one who enforces rules and orders. But I think... maybe I'm meant to be something else. Something better."
Belle nodded, her voice steady but filled with conviction. "You don't have to go back to who you were. But you can be something more. We all can."
Green took a deep breath, his chest tightening. For the first time in what felt like years, he allowed himself to believe that maybe there was a way forward—not just for him, but for all of them. Maybe this was what the dream had been trying to tell him. Maybe it was time to stop running.
As they reached the edge of town, Green turned to face Belle once more, a new sense of determination in his eyes.
"I think the dream means something, Belle. I think it's telling me it's time to make a choice. Time to stop being the ghost of who I was and start fighting for who I want to be."
As they neared the town's edge, the familiar sight of the saloon's crooked sign loomed ahead, the town itself almost frozen in time. The streets were quiet, but the sense of change hung thick in the air. The cold wind stung their faces, a reminder of the long road they had traveled and the one still ahead.
Neil glanced over at Green, his face hard but understanding, as if he, too, sensed the shift in the man beside him. It was as if Green had decided something, though he wasn't ready to put it into words just yet. It was more than the dream, more than the guilt that had clung to him like a shadow. There was a fire in him now, a spark of something that had been buried for far too long.
Belle, riding alongside him, felt the change, too. She didn't need Green to say anything more. She could see it in his eyes, that faint glimmer of hope—or maybe it was resolve—that hadn't been there before. She had always known there was more to him than the outlaw he had become. She hadn't given up on him, even when he had. And now, she could sense that he hadn't given up on himself either.
They reached the outskirts of town, the silence between them now less heavy than before. As they entered the town proper, the streets seemed to breathe again, alive with the distant sounds of a town coming back to life. But there was no escaping what waited ahead. The past would always have its hold on them, but the future was theirs to shape.
Green slowed his horse, glancing back at Neil and Belle, his voice quieter than it had been in days. "I don't know what happens next," he admitted, his words laced with uncertainty. "But I know I can't keep running."
Belle gave him a soft smile, her voice warm with the kind of understanding only a few could offer. "Then let's stop running together."
And for the first time in years, Green felt like maybe—just maybe—he was headed in the right direction.
The three of them rode on, the town waiting ahead, its quiet streets masking the storm of decisions, old ghosts, and a reckoning that would soon come to a head.
You're right. Starting the next chapter with Lyin's worsening condition can be tricky if the transition doesn't consider that he's already at the doctor's office in town. To avoid a gap in the story, you might consider bringing Neil, Belle, and Green back to the doctor's after their journey and catching up with the others. That way, you can naturally shift focus onto Lyin's condition as they reunite and check in on Montana.