Brother's Keeper (Justice, Montana)

[Roy Mullins]

"Heh."

Amused at Zeke's reaction, Roy was quiet for a few thoughtful seconds. Drowning in a river, eh? They were getting somewhere now, however slowly. His mount shifted its' stance, and the dogs each looked up to Roy in unison as if expecting an order.

"Seems t'me that the Mayor is forgetting his place. However dumb you is, you're still a Mullins. So start acting like one.

"Now. Tell me what he done so's I can fix it."

[Crawfish Mullins]

The sobs suddenly stopped, and as if catatonic, Crawfish began to account for his four missing days.

"It ain't Truss what done it. He don' turn me loose or so he say, and I jus' went on down a-ways, and then some chinamen done did it on me."

He flailed about wildly.

"They did some dirty cheat fightin' an' I got cold-cocked. Came to an' was in some barn or somethin'. Some chinamen here and there, hell I dunno they all look alike. They's somebody else too."

[Roy Mullins]

Roy sneered down at Crawfish.

"I don't care if a group of chinamen done it. Truss let it happen, and so as far as I'm concerned he done it."

That there was someone other than a chinaman was filed away for future thought. Right now, he was more concerned with immediate retribution.

Eyes going from Zeke, Roy let his gaze pan down over the town down below. Towards the edge was a familiar enough ranch house, and he gave a hmph. He knew the Mayor was already out in town, and that of course meant that dear Mrs. Truss was home by herself. Just her and the Mayor's two little girls.

"Already done sent McCall to a cell," he started thoughtfully, still mulling over the possibilities of what he would do, "... ain't enough to fix the wrong done, but it's a start."

[Crawfish Mullins]

Standing behind Roy's long shadow, Crawfish slowly started to develop something resembling a spine. He regained his wits, slowly, and rose to his feet, wiping his face on his sleeve. His demeanor turned as dour as his uncle.

"Bastards. Them sons-a-bitches. I ain't gon' take it no more."

[Roy Mullins]

Roy looked down at Crawfish, frowning in thought before spitting another stream of tobacco to the ground. The boy was nothing more than a spineless idiot, but he was still kin. Unfortunately.

"Course you ain't, you yellow nitwit.

"I figure McCall's already out of jail, so if you got more business with that whore, best take care of it."

Eyes going back down to the Mayor's house, Roy grinned maliciously.

"Me an' your Pa are gonna take care of the Mayor."

[Crawfish Mullins]

Crawfish cast his cruel eyes toward the town. He pulled his henry rifle from the effects that Roy had stowed on his saddle, and slung the lever forward.

"She's mine. Her an' that fella of hers. Good as dead!"

[Roy Mullins]

"He done left town, boy."

Pulling on the reigns, Roy gave a short whistle and the dogs surrounding him leapt to the feet. They swarmed around the legs of his horse as the animal backed away from the hill's crest. Turning around, he nudged his mount into a walk, taking him away from Crawfish.

"Ain't no one to stop you, but I ain't comin' for you if you get yourself caught this time."

[Crawfish Mullins]

"Ain't gon' need no help."

Emboldened, Crawfish was already on his way to town.

"Gon' do what I been aimin' to do 'for all this happened."

Andy McCall was gonna come to grips, and pay for everything she had comin' to him. And when she was took care of, it was that other fella's turn. This town was gonna burn.

[Shoney Mullins]

Shoney Mullins was back in Justice.

After having been run out of town years before, she found herself riding back in. Law hadn't seen her yet. None of her kin had seen her yet, though not a few minutes ago she'd seen that bastard uncle of hers, Roy Mullins and her mule brother Zeke up on a ridge that overlooked the town.

She stood beneath the awning of the bank, casually leaning against one of the deck posts. She'd already seen Truss, though the Mayor of Justice hadn't yet seen her. It was for the better. She wouldn't put herself in front of the man just yet. No, there were other matters that needed tending.

Zeke was making his way down into town, and Shoney watched with mild interest as he hefted that henry rifle of his. Roy'd gone back down the other side of the hill, but she'd deal with him at another time.

But Zeke.

Brother and sister had accounts to settle, whether he realized the time had come or not.

Shoney Mullins was back in Justice.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor decided to retire home for lunch, rather than to give the Flapjack his daily patronage. He had things on his mind, and he just needed a pinch of quiet, and some home cooking to sort him out. Then again, the town seemed to be in sleep mode today. The volume was already turned down to an eerie degree. Maybe it wasn't peace & quiet he was after, but maybe just bustle of a different sort then? He donned his hat and coat after settling affairs at his office, and stepped out onto the porch. He had two deputies standing about, waiting on him.

"Where's the Sheriff?"

The taller of the two deputies spoke.

"Out by the chinese shantytown. Got some nervous folks about."

His eyes narrowed at the immaculate blue sky. And it was a pretty day. Still, he could feel a gnawing in his gut. He returned his eyes to the deputies, glancing at each.

"This isn't some damned Fort Sumter comin' down, stop looking so dour."

They always looked that way though. The problem now is that he was looking at a mirror of himself. Who was he to say anyway? The Sheriff knew that things were looking bad, and he had his boys out to make sure that wasn't going to happen.

He took a step off the porch, paused, and turned back around to go back in his office. His assistant rose when he came in, but Truss shooed him away.

"I'm not here."

He retreated to the back of his office, and to a dusty footlocker. After opening it and removing reams of folders and documents, he happened upon a hand carved walnut box. He looked at it with unblinking eyes, and carefully opened the lid, like he risked disturbing a vicious beast sleeping inside.

[Shoney Mullins]

He was getting closer, in his own world of idiot madness that from the look of things, he'd perfected in the years she'd been gone. Shoney narrowed her eyes a little, but otherwise didn't move an inch. No need to let him notice her just yet.

Folks it seemed could sense things, and she wondered if today was one of those days that they did. Not many seemed to be out, and those that were walked with their heads down and their destinations firmly in mind. Guess today wasn't a day for distractions. To her it wouldn't matter though. She'd step out if there were two people around or a hundred. The diminished number today only made noticing her a little easier.

Shoney watched as her brother came closer. He looked like a man possessed, with no ability to see around him, only in front. She guessed that that meant she'd have to put herself in his way.

Stepping away from the post, she came down the stairs with a loose gait, strolling to the center of the dusty road.

[Crawfish Mullins]

Crawfish didn't hardly see her till she was right upon him. Even then, he stood there for a moment with a dumb face, trying to make his brain parse the idea that his black sheep of a sister was standing in front of him as if she deserved to. He was torn for a few moments, part still trying to single-mindedly track down Andy McCall, and the other trying to deal with this distraction.

"What?''

It was about the most intelligent thing that Crawfish could find to croak, all things considered.

[Shoney Mullins]

Shoney glared at him, her face screwing into a look of contempt. It was infuriating that she shared blood with this cretin. Even when they were younger he took particular delight in tormenting her; until she started fighting back at least. Then he'd turn tail and run, only to return with Kip so's they could gang up on her. For a brief moment she wondered where Roy's red-headed spawn had got off to, but discarded the thought just as quickly.

Her voice was low and smooth, with a tense undercurrent.

"Thought you'd be happier to see me."

[Crawfish Mullins]

He screwed his hands around the wooden grips of his rifle as he gave a stained-tooth smile.

"Oh hoo boy you gon' catch some hell com' yer way when Ol' Roy knows you're in town."

He spat tobacco juice onto her boots.

[Shoney Mullins]

Disgusted, Shoney looked to her boots, but otherwise didn't move. She looked back to him from over the tops of her eyes.

"Roy'll know soon enough. S'you I'm talkin' to now though."

Almost too casually, she rested an arm on the but of her gun.

"Heard you got into it with some Chinamen. Pity they ain't killed you."

[Crawfish Mullins]

"Lucky you, they ain't done it."

The sound of a hammer drawing back on a henry rifle sounded like a thud in both of their ears. He glanced down at her hand, back up to her eyes. It hadn't yet been done yet, but the die had been cast. Something ugly was about to happen on a very public street, in the middle of the day.

The tensed up crows feet at Crawfish's eyes relaxed a bit, as the rifle butt moved up toward his shoulder.

[Shoney Mullins]

With a scowl, Shoney shifted her arm so that the palm of her hand rested on the handle of her revolver. It was a move to match his own.

The folks that were out had already seen the two, and most veered away to the nearest doorway to vacate the street. Probably a smart decision on everyone's part.

Shoney knew that her return would cause this, but she welcomed it with open arms. Her whole family would get theirs.

"You gonna shoot your little sister, Zeke?"

[Crawfish Mullins]

His eyes narrowed again.

"Ain't ne'er had one. You ain't no kin o' mine!"

He stepped away, which was the prelude to giving his henry rifle enough clearance for him to bring the barrel up to her chest and fire.

[Shoney Mullins]

His step back was met with a swift step forward, and Shoney shot out her arm to deflect the rifle barrel away. In the same motion, she came up with her other hand, catching the underside of his jaw with a fist that was surprisingly solid.

She'd toughened up considerably during her years away, and wasn't about to let her older brother settle things 'tween them with the decided advantage of a rifle barrel at her chest.

[Crawfish Mullins]

The haymaker as he was backpedaling left Crawfish up-ended, falling backwards as his rifle clattered to the ground. With the hammer back, the hair trigger slipped from the fall enough so that a shot rang out. If the town didn't know that something rotten was going down before, it sure did now.

Crawfish lay in the dirt for a split second, and wasn't sure whether to reach for the rifle on the ground or his revolver in his holster. One thing was for sure, he wasn't throwing punches with his kid sister anymore. This was a game of blood now.