Posted by Ross "Beyond Tomorrow" U.S. Marshal Jim Crown was tired. Truth be told, he had never felt so exhausted. It was a weariness that ran through every fiber of his being. The lawman had been following a trail of dead bodies for days...for far too long. The killings had started back in Cimarron, IT. The last victims he'd encountered were a ranch family, somewhere near Waxahatchie, Texas. The cold-blooded killer he was tracking had shot every living soul on the place, including the family's dog. The bodies were still warm. Knowing he was closing in on his quarry, Crown hadn't taken the time to bury anybody. Preventing more dead bodies took precedent. He'd just placed blankets over the lifeless forms and ridden on. The Marshal followed a fresh set of hoofprints south, for several miles. The lush, open prairie gradually gave way to barren, boulder-strewn wasteland. Building thunderclouds overhead had turned mid-day into twilight. Sure enough, it began to pour. Jim hauled his horse in and dismounted, to get a clearer—and quite possibly last—look at the killer's tracks. Over the low rumble of thunder, a shot rang out. Less than an instant later, the crouching lawman heard a bullet buzz by his left ear. Seeing as how he was so exposed, Crown leapt back into his saddle and began high-tailing it towards the nearest cover. Just as Jim was barreling his way over to an outcrop of big boulders, a bolt of lightning flashed directly above him...and his fleeing, now terrified, horse. The smell of sulfur burnt his nostrils and the resounding ‘crack’ of thunder was so close, and so incredibly loud, that it left the lawman deafened. The momentarily dazed Marshal had the strange sensation of falling…falling forward. Crown had closed his eyes, in an attempt to stem the dizziness. He gave his whoozy head a few shakes and quickly re-opened them. The lawman blinked the raindrops from his lashes and looked around in complete confusion. There were hazy blue skies and an unbelievably bright sun overhead. His horse was now kicking up clouds of dust…and he was about forty feet from crashing into some kind of strange…fencing? Crown gave his spinning head a few more shakes and began reigning his rapidly moving mount in. 'What the hell just happened?' --To Be Continued— :)Ross
on 6/24/2007, 10:34 am
69.21.48.43
Cimarron Strip is the registered trademark of Stuart Whitman, Inc.
The Cimarron Strip characters are being borrowed strictly for fun and not for fortune. ;)
By Ross
Message Thread:
« Back to thread