The Wyatt family was rotten to the core. Thieves and murderers with little to no conscience. At least, that is what the majority of good, hard-working folk thought. As for the truth? Well, the truth is *most* of them were murdering thieves with little to no conscious.

  It starts with the hangman’s noose. “Malachi Wyatt! I, the Sheriff of Harrisburg County, in the God blessed Republic of Texas, hereby sentence you to death by way of noose!” The Sheriff’s voice echoed out amongst the growing city of Houston.

  Onlookers came from far and wide to watch the father of the twelve Wyatt siblings die. He had been on his murderous rampage from Pennsylvania to Texas, and now his reign was coming to a close.

  There was a thump, but no snap as the trap door let out from under the man’s feet. His final thoughts were a mystery, but by the look on his face just before the drop, it wasn’t likely to be remorse.

  The crowd gasped as Malachi struggled. His face growing purple and his eyes going red. He didn’t make so much as a sound as his body swung for nearly ten minutes. After his body had become completely lifeless, the Sheriff fired off two shots: one to the dead man’s heart and one right between the eyes.

  Those with a strong enough stomach to watch that hanging held their heads down low at the man’s passing. Each one of them thanking their Lord above that this man was dead. But one dead man does not a gang break, as some might say.

  The eldest son, Harmond Wyatt, spurred on by his younger brother James Wyatt, took up their father’s mantle with reckless abandon. They moved from town to town as their own little army. Drinking, gambling, losing and shooting. The law, understaffed and out numbered left them alone, unless *they* started shooting. After leaving Texas, they made their way north, up through dodge city, past Cheyanne and into Montana.

  There they looked to make a new name for themselves, but word of their deeds followed them along like a buzzard. Not to mention those hot tempers of theirs always poking up. One brutal winter after arriving in western Montana saw the gang make their way through Utah and down into Arizona. There, they found themselves in a bit of a pickle.

  Flagstaff at the time was small, and the railway had only just entered the city. Bad timing for the Wyatt siblings. The train would make any brave bounty hunter rich if they could snag even one of the notorious gang members. Word of their deeds all those years ago, after the hanging of their father, burned throughout the west. All the way out to California and as far south as Mexico city. It didn’t matter where they went, everyone knew their faces.

  Harmond’s plan was simple: keep moving south. He wanted to reach Tucson by the start of next winter. Being November by the time they reached Flagstaff, it wasn’t looking too good for his plans.

  In a saloon near the edge of town, the Wyatt family found themselves drunk, having a good time. One sibling in particular was in the best of moods. That would be Eleanor Wyatt. The only girl in the group. She was in the middle of the bunch as far as age goes. Her daddy treated her like a princess and even after his death, the rest of the family could see her do no wrong. Though she was prone to butt heads with the siblings, it was James who always managed to piss her off.

  In this saloon, on this night, her good mood would save the life of one particular house dealer. It wasn’t his fault. The game is a game of chance. He could if he wanted to cheat in such a way to win, but that wasn’t the goal tonight.

  He sat there shaking in his fifty-dollar boots and his well tailored gray suit. His glasses gleamed off the electric bulbs they had just installed. Sweat dripped from his balding head as he fiddled with his mustache. In front of him were four players. Three brothers and one Eleanor Wyatt. What had the dealer shaking in his boots? He was winning.

  They say there is such a thing as a dead man’s hand, but in the Wyatt’s case, losing, especially when overly drunk and overly free with their wallets was a dead mans night. So the man did his best to cheat in their favor, helping them to win as much as possible. Habit, however, is a damn hard thing to break. Fear makes a man flinch and forgetful. So, as the Wyatt’s went all in, the house accidentally won.

  “Cheat!” One brother hollered. “The man cheated!”

  The brothers threw back their chairs and grabbed their guns, pointing the barrels right at the house’s man. It would be best to say the man was a bit cowardly, but with three guns trained on him by shaky drunken hands, who would blame him?

  “Now, now.” Eleanor soothed, “Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw.” Her smooth, slurring voice was gentle and refrained. “Perhaps, just this once, the house may be kind enough to let you boys take your losses back.”

  She looked the man right in his watery eyes. Her narrowed features were like that of a viper’s. Maybe that’s why they called her Rattlesnake Ellie. Well, anyway, the long story short is that the house’s man agreed, and the night was rolling along without a hitch otherwise. Ellie’s good mood was cause for much celebration. A few more rounds of drinks later, Harmond returned to the bar.

  “Let’s round up.” Harmond shouted.

  The bar clamored around as they drunkenly stumbled towards the exit. On their way out, one brother stepped out of their way to shoulder one of the other patrons. He laughed just before he did it. But he wasn’t laughing as the stranger knocked him to the floor. The brother started screaming and shouting, but the stranger just stood in place, looking the brother straight in his eyes.

  Well, that threw the family into a tizzy. Not Ellie, though. She looked at this handsome stranger with his rugged features and bright eyes and she felt intrigue. Her heart didn’t jump. It certainly wasn’t love at first sight, but her good mood pushed ever onward. Even as the crowd of her brothers rallied around the man. It wasn’t Ellie to stop that raging mob, but Harmond.

  “Quit your bitching and pick yourself up.” Harmond’s rage left no room for arguing. “You are to leave that man alone and get back on to camp right fucking now!”

  Begrudgingly, the brother stood and swayed. He kept his eyes locked on the stranger’s. The stranger slowly lifted his drink, chugging it down without breaking the eye contact.

  “I’ll find you!” The brother shouted at the stranger.

  Harmond’s hand reached across the brother. Harmond grabbed him and threw him out the door. He landed hard and rolled a few times. Harmond gave the downed brother a swift kick in his ass, which prompted him to stand.

  The streets were empty, only lit by the pale light of the waxing moon and the few nice new electric bulbs that this saloon had. Harmond grabbed his brother and lifted him onto the tips of his toes with just his right hand. He grabbed his brother’s face with his left hand. Boy, was Harmond a large and strong man, ruthless as could be no doubt about it.

  “You so much as breath on that man and I’ll snap you like a damn twig, you twit!” Harmond turned to Ellie and shouted. “Get them back home, you hear?”

  Ellie mocked a salute, then turned to admire the stranger once more. He was a tall and bulky fellow, though not as tall as her brother, but he had the look of confidence about him. Ellie liked that.

  “What’s that man to you, and where are you going that you can't herd this band of cattle?” Ellie called after her brother, who was walking away from the scene.

  “Jericho Barns is the man’s name, Marshal Jericho Barns.” Harmond stated as a matter of fact. “As for me, I am takin Buster, Lester and James, We have a little something to do, we will be back by dawn. I’ll see you then.”

  Ellie didn’t argue or fight, she looked that Jericho Barns up and down; she smiled at him and gave a little wink, before she walked out into the street. “Alright you damn fools, let’s get a move on.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The gang drank a bit more once they got to their little camp. That brother, who Harmond had slapped around, was steaming. Hooting and hollering about how unfair it all was and how that man didn’t deserve to be let go. He suggested to the brother’s that they should go out and find the man’s place.

  Ellie, in her good mood, wanted to see Jericho again. She knew she could control this band. She would let them get a few licks in and introduce herself. He would be grateful, and she could enjoy her curiosity about the man. Harmond never let her enjoy the company of a man before, and maybe tonight she could at least talk to one without her brother’s iron eyes.

  One thing led to another, as it does when you’re drunk, and someone told the gang where Jericho’s cattle ranch was. So, laughing and stumbling out of town, the inebriated family marched to their own “quiet” tune, confident they were going to get the drop on Marshal Jericho Barns.

  §

  That family of miscreants, now eight in all, went stumbling through the night. They followed the road on out of town, hardly knowing which way they were going. The pale light of the moon was a sorry guide, and no one in their drunken group had thought to bring a light.

  They were laughing and hooting as they made their way into the night. Somehow, against all odds, they spied the house of Jericho Barns. They hid behind boulders as they watched the man through his windows. The brothers were all snickering and still drinking. But they thought themselves as clever as foxes looking on over at the man.

  Rattlesnake Ellie was hardly paying any mind to her drunken family. She was focused on wondering what that man’s house looked like, how his bed felt. Not that she wanted to sleep with the man, mind you. Just that she was curious.

  They waited impatiently as Jericho’s lantern moved through the house and up to his second story. It stayed on for a while before going out entirely. Thinking the man to be drunk, and unlikely to notice them because of how well they snuck to his house, the family clobbered over to the front door. Half way there, One brother got the funny idea to collect some of Jericho’s cattle, and let the others run off.

  Rattlesnake Ellie laughed at the idea. It would be hilarious to watch the man sweat over his lost cows. It would take him a while, she thought, but he’d manage to round em up with a few days of hard work. So, four of the siblings went to the cattle, and the others went to the front door.

  Ellie couldn’t care less about what was happening with the cattle. Her focus was on the man himself. They dumbly fiddled with the door, getting it open. They were shushing each other and laughing the entire way through.

  They entered the main room of the house. To their right was a small parlor that was scarcely decorated. and to the right was a dining room that had but two chairs and a small table that sat under the largest window. A wooden plate with a wooden cup stacked upside-down was all that lay on the table. There were a few wooden furniture pieces scattered, but nothing so fancy as to warrant attention.

  The Marshal’s home was almost utterly bare. The Kitchen sported a nice butcher’s block and a real life Ice chest. That got the brothers giggling. they opened up the steel contraption and inside were a few small slabs of beef.

  Ellie hardly paid attention as the three brothers pulled the beef out and stoke a fire in the small stove next to the washbasin. She instead sauntered through the house, admiring the workmanship of every detail. She had never lived in a house before and she loved to see all the different ways people lived.

  She liked to pretend as she wandered through a house that it was hers. She would sometimes imagine a tall man in boots and a hat would walk through the doors and excitedly greet her as his wife. He would be dusty from the trail, and she would have made him a pot of coffee, dinner ready to eat.

  As she trudged up the stairs, she heard her brothers crashing downstairs. Those damn fools were gonna wake poor Mr. Barns from his sleep. She opened one door at a time to find generic rooms that were practically empty, save for a bed.

  At the end of the hallway upstairs, she went through the last door. It opened up into a large, but still modest, room. First thing she saw as she tiptoed into the room was a small table with a lantern and a single chair. He had an open trunk on the table. Inside were a few personal effects and a small box of jewelry. Ellie palmed the jewels and looked around the rest of the room.

  There was his bed, which was made nice and neat. Ellie had failed to notice that in her search, she had yet to find Jericho Barns. She sat on the bed. It was certainly more comfortable than she was used to. But still less comfortable than what she expected.

  She drug herself down the stairs when her stomach dropped. A single gunshot had rung into the night. She hurried down the stairs, nearly jumping the whole way down. She got to the kitchen to find her three brothers standing around, looking at an open kitchen door.

  “Dont just stand there, dimwits, go see!” Ellie hissed.

  The first brother started rushing towards the door. Ellie’s heart near jumped out of her throat as she heard the crunching sound her brother’s face made as a shovel collided with it. The sound of metal still ringing as the brother lay twitching and jerking on the ground.

  Ellie had fallen backwards, and her two remaining brothers stepped back in fear. Ellie pulled her gun and shot five times at the door frame. Her brothers picked her up and made their way to the front door. They called for their other brothers, but no response came.

  As they made their way into the front of the house and out the wide open front door. Ellie’s four other brothers had been lined together on the ground in front of her. The two brothers dropped Ellie and ran as quickly as they could back to town. Ellie stumbled a bit, scared about what to do.

  She needed to get Harmond, he could fix this nightmare. So, with the last two brothers leading, she made chase after them. Another gunshot, and she watched the leading brother drop. Ellie screamed as she ran as fast as she could. Another pop and her last brother dropped to the ground. She made it past them both and almost off the property.

  Another pop and she felt her leg give out from under her. She was in pain, terrible pain, but she held her scream in and dragged herself away. Each bump made her want to scream as she dragged herself along. She could feel the grinding in her leg as her muscles tensed.

  Her brother’s filtered through her mind. She hoped she would make it out. Maybe they were all just injured, and at dawn, Harmond would get them back. She couldn’t see the road, she didn’t know which way the town was. The world just kept spinning for Rattlesnake Ellie.

  She dropped into a ravine and then climbed into the river. The frosty water numbed her already frigid bones. She hoped that if there were any chance she was being followed, the river would wash that evidence away. Her leg bumped against the river bottom and she cried out uncontrollably.

  Rattlesnake floated down stream a ways before drifting into a quiet and calm section of river. Dragging her wet and heavy body, she heaved onto the far bank, as far away from Barns as she could. With her brothers gone and being as lost as one could be, she resigned herself to lay flat on her back, looking upwards at the dimming stars. With a grunt, she rolled back over and lifted herself up. She hobbled eastward, hoping to make it back to Flagstaff.

  As the sun crested, and dawn drew near, she spotted a small cave entrance. Hauling herself along through the dirt, she made a trail, following her into the cave. It opened up into a small sandstone cavern. Light filtered in from the morning sun and she, exhausted as an overdriven mule, let her back rest against the opposite wall.

  The pain quieted down as she lay breathing heavily. She covered her face with muddy hands and cried. She felt something awfully sorry for herself. Her fists clenched, and she slammed them against the rocky floor. Her deeds didn’t cross her mind, nor did her life flash before her eyes. She simply watched and waited.

  Rattlesnake examined the wound. Dark blood had coagulated overtop of the seeping hole. Streaks of bright red were browning as they dried. The bleeding had stopped, but the sting had worsened. The leg twitched as she felt the intruder shift slightly from side to side. She flinched as her fingers explored the bloody pit in her flesh. She couldn’t bring herself to dig the bullet out.

  The sounds of dropping boots told her someone had followed. She steeled herself and raised her six shooter. She had but the one bullet left, and she would be damned if some stranger was going to kill her now. The silhouette of the pursuer came into view. Her finger squeezed, and the hammer swung, striking the igniter on the bullet’s case. Her arm braced for the kick, but she was left unsatisfied.

  Click!

  The river had soaked her cheap bullets, her last shot ruined. Her fate was far from sealed in her mind however, but before she could react, she felt a bite in her wrist. She looked to see the polished oak handle had exploded and was now everywhere. Her fingers hung uselessly from her mangled hand.

  She cried out and looked up dizzily as the figure came into focus. It was Marshal Jericho Barns who had followed her trail and was now in front of her. The glow emanating behind him made him look like an angel of death as he raised his smoking gun up.

  She admired the man for a moment. She could feel her sharp anger staring up at his remorseless face. Killing her poor brothers just over a bit of mischief. Now he had his gun raised against her. She had done nothing to deserve this moment. He was overreacting.

  Anger fled from her. The tenseness of her muscles left her as her head fell back against the wall. The marshal dropped his hand, letting his gun hang loosely. He strutted over to her, his face as still as stone. He crouched in front of her.

  His face was handsome, in a rugged way, but handsome none the less. His hair was dark with hints of light silvers and grey. His eyes were bright and blue. They were still and focused right on hers. His hands raised once more. The warm metal pressed against her skull right between her eyes.

  Tears streamed down her face. Limbs numb and unresponsive, she closed her eyes and took in a shaky breath. She didn’t want to die, she wanted to fight and push back against the man. Make him work for it, but she just couldn’t convince her body to work. She let her breath fall, emptying her overworked lungs.

  In an emotionless and chilling voice, he said. “This is farewell, Rattlesnake.”

  Bang.

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