Make My World Go Black

Chapter Two

"So we're talking about the same Jack Horne. The Jack Horne. The legend Jack Horne." Goodnight asked for confirmation.

Matilda found herself and her new band of misfits resting underneath the shade of an old shack, just off a creek and a trading post town, if by town; she means only two to three buildings standing there by the flowing creek. She had to admit, she was impressed with Sam Chisolm, as he appeared to know every great outlaw and legend in every state. She remembered hearing stories of Jack Horne as a kid, and she could've sworn that he died years ago.

"Legend? Legend, my ass."

"Yeah, he might've killed 300 Crow, but he ain't never met the Pigeon brothers before."

Matilda snorts in amusement, perched up on top of an old and rotting fencepost that was built guarding the porch to the shack. She was swinging her legs into the air out of boredom, Vasquez leaning over and resting against his knee beside her, frowning as usual with a cigar in his mouth.

"And you saying that's Jack Horne's rifle?" Sam was definitely smiling out of amusement.

One of the Pigeon brothers held said weapon out for them to see, the initials JH carved on the end of it. His brother spoke while pointing to the gun, "It was Jack Horne's rifle. And there's an Army fort want to pay $1,000 for proof of death," he pauses when his brother roughed up his arm to shut him up, finishing quietly while lowering his head, "Rifle'll do."

"You have no body?" Faraday asked flatly from where he sat at the foot of the stairs leading up to the shack.

"Well, you see, Len here smashed a boulder over his head. Fell off a cliff." One brother smirked smugly.

"Snuck up on him, huh?" Goodnight asked sarcastically, leaning against one of the porch railings.

"Just what the hell are you trying to imply-?!" The one Pigeon brother grunts in pain just as the blade of an ax embedded itself into his chest out of nowhere. As he's falling to his knees, all the other cowboys perked up in shock, turning their bodies to see a huge burly man stomping down the hillside, pursuing the last brother with red in his eyes. The brother fires the old man's rifle, only to miss and trip and fall on his own feet. He tries crawling back to get away from the old man, who has now picked up his gun.

"Oh, my Lord," Matilda muttered as the burly man slams the butt of his rifle against the last brother's head, making Chisolm wince while watching. The man they assumed was Jack Horne stood over the slumped over body, and with all his might and anger, brought his leg up and stomped it over the now dead man's face. Faraday blinks and looks away with a grim expression.

"The Pigeon Brothers weren't famous very long." Goody comments, making Vasquez chuckle darkly.

Jack Horne retrieves his stolen hat and looks to the odd group of westerners, acting quickly to defending himself, "These two ungodly creatures! Broke a rock on my head. Robbed me of my possessions. I trailed 'em for two days."

"Guess they got what they deserved, Mr. Horne," Sam replied calmly as Jack kept crouching down to regain what little possessions he had left from the dead robber brothers, "My name is Sam Chisolm. We met about six years ago up in Cheyenne?"

Horne looks up at him for a moment, then leans down to dig out the bloody ax embedded inside one brother's body, ignoring Chisolm all together, "Now, I got a right by the Lord and by the law, to take back what belongs to me. Are we in agreement?"

He glares at the rest of the group, all of them exchanging glances, shrugs, and mutters of an agreement, before Goodnight speaks for all of them and lets out a meek, "Yeah."