Becoming The Outlaw

Chapter 1

The day is long, and the summer heat gruesome. Harsh rays of sunshine bare down like hot coals on the Arizona prairies. Dozens of cattle are peacefully grazing the hillsides. There is no breeze or cloud cover to relieve the aching sun.

"Damnit, its hot as hellfire out here. Bring me some water, boy!" A tall dark haired man with a big beard shouts.

I walk over to the poorly built tent, a large barrel of water resting in its shade. Taking out a large wooden ladle, I pour the water into a dirty tin cup. I hand it to the big man. "Barrels half empty," I comment. He shakes his head disapprovingly, but drinks the water in two big gulps.

He hands me back the cup, "fetch the horses, it's just about midday." We have five patrols boss requires us to make in a day; one in the early morning long before dawn, one after breakfast, one at noon, one in the evening, and one late in the night. Of course we always have help, but Tom, Cole, and Chase are on rest back at the main encampment. This patrol would be left to me and Darren Maverick, the big man.

I toss the cup in the barrel of water and put on my hat. Our horses are grazing only a couple yards from our little setup. Well, technically the big boss owns them, but their ours to use so long as were doing his work. A big bay stud and slightly smaller gray roan are our mounts. I take them both by the halter and walk them over to be tied and tacked up. Of course Mav had me saddle the bay for him. He's a lazy old fella, but his experience and relation to the boss makes it easy for him to get away with it, not that anyone's going to say anything to begin with.

We mount up and ride through the large dispersed herd of cattle. They're mainly free-roaming and the property is huge, so our tasks while patrolling rarely require the roundup of strays. But thief's and rustlers aren't uncommon about ranches like this.

Our job is to survey the territory, make sure the cattle have plenty of grass and water, ensure their safety from predators and rustlers, and basically just heavily guard them. This isn't regular routine though, it only lasts for about two weeks leading up to the big drive down to Phoenix. But until then, you'd better not slack.

About twenty minutes in to our usual rounds, I was surprised to see Mav jumping of his horse in a hurry. He quickly waved for me to dismount as well. We were on the top of a ridge overlooking a dry creek bed. It was almost like a ravine with another ridge guarding the other side, but it wasn't narrow and in most places not very steep.

I left the horses and followed Mav to see what he'd witnessed. "Do you see that?" He pointed to something, it was wriggling in the dirt and half blocked from view by a large cluster of rock. It looked to be... a man? We watched for a few moments before deciding to further investigate. We quietly made our way down the slope and towards the pillars of stone and the odd figure.

It was a bit of a walk from the horses, but we didn't want to make ourselves known just yet. Right before we got into the mans line of sight, Mav stuck his broad arm out in front of my chest, a signal to stop, but truth be told he just about winded me in the process.

"What the hell is this bastard doing?" He whispered in confusion. I wrinkled my eyebrows, trying to pear over his tall shoulder. I could hardly see when suddenly Mav pranced out from behind the rock and in front of the man.