To Cut Him Down

Chapter 1: What Started It All

Elijah Vel Vega as Lee Van Cleef ^

Dust clouds rose above from behind the old wagon as it rolled on steadily. The cloudless sky let the unrelenting sun beat down on the heat wearied travellers below. Everyday was the same; wake up at the break of dawn, eat a quick meal, and drive on. At noon they would take a break to avoid the sun at the peek of its heat, then continue until night fall. They would repeat this pattern until they died from starvation, indian or outlaw attacks, or actually made it to their destination, which was highly unlikely.

Everything was going as usual, until a certain group of people decided to end it there. It was not an indian attack, instead, it was something much worse. A gang of outlaws that no Texas ranger, sheriff, or man had the sand to go against, for they would be killed on the spot from the leader himself, or one of his many members. Each and every one of them drank whiskey on a daily basis, and when drunk, they would start fights for absolutely no reason but their own pleasure. And today, they just so happened to be drunk as skunks, all except Elijah Vel Vega, the leader. Elijah Vel Vega was the cruelest, most ruthless man in North America, and wanted for many cases of murder, rustling, and bank robberies.

Unfortunately, on the wagon train they just so happened to target, was a family of four and a trail driver with a family back home. For the driver, this trip would have been his last before he retired to live out his days with the woman he loved and his four year old daughter. As for the family, they would invest their remaining money on a small farm where they would raise horses and sell them. They brought along a black stallion with a fiery spirit and a gentle grey mare, along with a few others to breed in the future. But Elijah Vel Vega had other plans. To steal the small herd of horses, sell them for a hefty price and kill any witnesses.

Elijah Vel Vega shot his gun into the air a single time, and it was enough for his men to know to attack. They spread in all directions around the wagon, shooting anything that stood and making themselves a harder target for the travellers. The trail driver pulled out a sawed off shotgun and began shooting anyone that got in his range of fire. The mother in the wagon held onto her baby girl and told her son get down and away from the gunfire. But the young boy grabbed his pa's spare rifle and began to shoot at the attackers. His pa was using his two revolvers to gun down the enemy as well. Then all of a sudden, the wagon came to a jolting stop. Someone had killed one of the ox pulling the wagon along. The trail driver was shot in the lungs by some scrawny outlaw, and his pa fell down dead with a shot straight to the heart by none other than Elijah Vel Vega himself. The boy watched in terror as his hero, his father and one true friend was gunned down in front of his very eyes. Everything around him was as if in slow mo as his father fell from the black stallion he rode, and Elijah Vel Vega advanced towards the wagon. His now widowed ma ran out of the wagon with his baby sister named Kimmy, and fell down beside her dead husband. She began to cry and yell at the evil and cruel man that killed him. Elijah Vel Vega just stared at her with a stoic expression as he raised his gun into the air, shooting the boy's mother and sister with one shot, heading straight through the babies head, and into his mother's chest.

The boy was too horrified to utter a sound as he watched this, and the man commanded his men to round up the herd and leave. Elijah Vel Vega didn't want to waste time, for he had elsewhere to be, and the wagon most likely had nothing they would need. Gold or silver probably wasn't being shipped in such a small wagon, and all he wanted was the herd. The stallion his father rode had ran off in the gunfire, so the men gathered the rest of the herd and took off, not one wondering what could be stored in the wagon, and that, was the gang's biggest mistake yet.

The boy sat and cried. Mourning for his family's deaths, and the trail driver he seemed to have a strong relationship with as friends. Soon, the boy realized that he would need to smarten up if he wanted to survive and kill the damned outlaw that murdered his family in cold blood. He knew that if he went to the law, they wouldn't go after him, for they would be too afraid, or in a way, smart, to go and get themselves killed.

The black stallion walked on, until he finally came to his senses and was lonely. There was nothing except dirt and dust out here. He couldn't even smell water, and he knew no one could help him except from where he came from. He turned around headed back to where he last seen his owner. By now, he didn't even remember why he left, and was just eager to get back to his master.

The stallion soon arrived at the wagon wreck, but he was startled by the smell. Blood and gunpowder were the main scents, but he knew a familiar presence from inside the wagon.

The boy inside the wagon heard hoof steps and stepped out of the wagon with his pa's extra colt 45. and rifle. He was surprised when he saw the stallion sitting there all tacked up and even with a canteen hanging off the saddle horn. The boy knew then, that the stallion was his way out of the dry desert. He whistled and the stallion trotted over. He grabbed a map of the country, the pair of Colt 45.s and rifle, ammo, a picture of him and his family, food, and as much water as he could carry. He packed his possessions into the saddle bags and tacked the horse temporarily to the hard ground. He turned to where his parents had fallen.

His pa was sprawled out on the dirt with his ma laid over him. Kimmy, his baby sister, was between his ma and pa, lifeless. The boy, sadly, was unsuccessful at finding the kind old trail driver. The boy trudged over to the wagon, grabbed a spare shovel, and began to dig three graves for his family. 

It took almost an hour before the boy actually finished digging the graves. He broke off some boards from the old wooden floor of the wagon and some nails stored in the back in case of emergencies to make three grave stone crosses. On each, he wrote the name, the year they were born to the year they died, and what they were to him. 

The boy dropped the shovel on the ground and slumped to his horse whose name was Rev. He took a single gulp of water and poured some water in his hat for Rev to drink. The horse drank greedily, and soon finished what was in the hat. He mounted the horse and rode off as the night began to fall.