A few hours passed and the sky began to darken. I guided my horse towards a lone tree a few distance from the main road and dismounted.

“This place should do the trick, stay put Lucy.” I muttered to my horse before tying it to a branch of the tree.

I began pinching up a tent and gathered nearby sticks to use as fuel for the campfire. I grabbed a box of matches from my bag and began making a fire. The match ignited in my hand and I carefully placed it into a ball of cotton before placing sticks on top of it. The fire began becoming bigger and was enough to keep me warm.

I sighed a sigh of relief as the flame’s light bounces off my face as I sat down near it. My gaze was soon redirected to the big blue above me, seeing thousands and thousands of stars in the sky.

“Hmm, the sky is quite beautiful tonight.” I muttered to myself.

I pulled out an old photo that was folded from my pockets and inspected it. The picture displays a photo of a young lady, in her early 20s, blonde hair and blue eyes, freckles scattered across her nose as she sat down on a wooden stool smiling. There were also some written sentences on the other side of it.

;;

Always remember that I will always be with you.

Love,

Martha.

;;

I looked at the photo and silently smiled before folding it back into my pockets. My eyes were becoming heavier and heavier and I let out a loud yawn.

“I guess I should hit the hay. I’d get back on the road at dawn.” I muttered to myself.

I grabbed a few more things from my bag before lying down inside the camp, where I began wondering what my fiance was doing back home. My eyes began feeling heavier and heavier, until eventually I fell asleep.

…

…

…

Clop

Clop

Clop

The sound of hooves of several horses disturbed my sleep and I slowly opened my eyes. The sound was coming closer and closer. There, I realized I was in great danger. I rushed outside to look around and there my biggest fear came true.

“B-Bandits!” I muttered in a frightened tone.

I noticed that around 5 people who were on horses were rapidly approaching my location. I rushed towards my horse and began searching for my rifle. Once I found my rifle, I pulled it out and began reloading it.

“Fuck, fuck!” I said to myself as I tried to reload my rifle.

They were fast approaching and I continued to reload. In my panic, I dropped the bullet on the floor. That’s where I realized that I didn’t have enough time to load the weapon. I soon grabbed a sabre from my horse and stood my ground.

“Come get me you fuckers!” I screamed from the top of my lungs

Bullets were beginning to rain down on me but I stood my ground. One of the bandits came in with their horse and charged at me. I held my sword high and positioned myself to attack. Once he was in striking position, I swung my sword hard and hit his abdomen, causing him to be dismounted from the horse.

“Anyone else?” I screamed at them, challenging them to face me head on.

The four other riders stood in front of me. They were armed with rifles but they didn’t shoot. Two of them dismounted off their horses and approached me with their daggers in hand. I held my sword high and didn’t flinch as they came near me.

“Leave this place at once!” I told them sternly.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

They didn’t seem to be backing off but instead, they steadily approached me. They were speaking a foreign language that I didn’t know and felt confused by what they were saying. One of them soon ran at me and I began backing off. He swung his dagger but I managed to dodge his attacks. The attacker kept pressing his attack on me while I kept backing off to avoid his attacks. The attacker was beginning to tire out and tried to force a blow into me, but once his right hand was lowered down, I swung my sabre hard and it decapitated him. His body fell to the floor with sprays of blood covering my body. I was petrified, but also blood thirsty. I grabbed the head of the fallen man and lifted it to show the rest of them what I'm capable of.

“I'm holding one of your buddy’s heads here. Don’t challenge me if you don’t want to end up like him.” I told them.

The other bandit who had dismounted earlier was hesitant to attack me. My face was determined and the blood of the bandits were all over me. Then out of nowhere, I heard a gunshot and I felt a warming sensation coming out of my stomach area. I looked down and noticed blood coming out of my stomach and my face became blue. I looked towards the bandit on the horses and noticed the man holding up his gun, smoke still coming out of his barrel.

“M-Motherfucker…” I muttered slightly after feeling a bit dizzy.

With all my strength left, I held my sabre towards the horseman before kneeling to the floor and my vision turned to darkness.

…

…

…

“Not fair! Let me have a turn!”

“No way, this is my toy!”

The sound of children’s voices filled the air. There, my eyes opened slightly and I noticed that I wasn’t inside my camp.

“W-What the hell?” I muttered slightly.

I soon sat up from the floor and looked around. I noticed that I was inside a tent with old fashioned medical equipment surrounding me. The tent was a bit spacious and was big enough to fit a table inside.

“Damn, what hell happened? Where’s my stuff?” I asked myself.

I quickly checked my wounds and I noticed a white bandage has covered my entire stomach area. I touched it slightly and it hurts like hell.

“O-Ouch… Damn that hurts.” I muttered.

As I was touching my wounds, a little girl peaked her head inside the tent and saw me awake. She was surprised to see me, she smiled brightly before running out and yelled.

“Mommy! Mommy! The man is awake!” The little girl yelled.

I didn’t know what was going on and tried to stand up, but the wound was making it difficult. As I was struggling to stand up, a woman in her 30s rushed inside the tent and saw me trying to stand up.

“What are you trying to do? Are you trying to get hurt?” The women screamed at me.

I was a bit dumbfounded by her sudden outburst and immediately sat back down.

“Good, now stay there until I get some medicine for you.” She told me.

I stayed in my bed, following her orders but I was still confused on who she was. There, she came back with a bottle of medicine and kneeled beside me.

“Here ya go darling, open wide.” She said as she poured the medicine onto the spoon.

I looked at her, still dumbfounded by her friendly gesture.

“I-Its okay, I don’t need it.” I casually told her.

The lady looked at me with a stern look. Seemingly giving me a look of disapproval.

“Don’t you go against me, open wide before you die.” She told me.

I was surprised by her stubbornness and decided to reluctantly follow her orders. I closed my eyes and opened wide. The women soon fed me the medicine and it tasted bitter. I endured the bitterness and the women laughed at me.

“You sure do act like a kid for someone your age.” The lady said.

I felt a bit embarrassed by her comment but I decided to ask her a question.

“Hey Maam, where am I?” I muttered to her.

The woman looked at me, with a smile on her face.

“Why, you’re in my tent Son.” She said to me.

“I-I meant where in the hell am I?” I said with a slightly serious tone.

“Why, we’re in the home of the mountains, West Virginia.” The woman said with a smile.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling like a headache was arising. The woman was still kneeling beside me whilst smiling, there, I decided to ask her.

“W-Why am I here? Who are you people?” I asked her.

The woman looks at me with a slight annoyed look, seemingly offended by what I said.

“That’s a rude thing to say after we saved your goddamn life!” She said in a sassy tone.

I felt an instant regret forming and I began to apologise to her.

“S-Sorry, it’s just that I’m still confused about what has happened.” I told her.

The women looked at me, still having a look of discontent from my previous comment. But she answers me anyway.

“We found you lying face down on the ground next to a dead horse whilst bleeding out. We thought you were a goner but once I checked your pulse, it was still beating. We dragged your body onto the caravan and I began threatening ya. You should be thankful that we saved ya boy.” She told me.

My eyes widened when I heard that I could’ve lost my life, but the thought of my horse being killed by the bandits made me frustrated. I felt my blood boiling but I kept my cool. I soon kept my composure and looked up to the woman.

“I-I see. T-Thanks for saving me by the way.” I told her.

The woman nods slightly, seemingly accepting his thankfulness.

“It’s all in the day's work. You should rest and let your body heal. You wouldn’t want an infection right?” She sarcastically said.

I nodded slightly and she began making her way out of the tent. After she left, I breathed a long sigh. There, I searched for my belongings and it was nowhere to be found. I soon began panicking as I might have left the ring inside the backpack and tried to find it. I soon felt something inside my pockets and pulled it out. I breathed a sigh of relief seeing that it was the ring.

“Thank God I still have my ring with me. As long as I have this, I’ll be good.” I muttered to myself.

I looked around the tent for a few seconds and noticed it was already daytime. I slowly got up from the bed and made my way towards the exit and lifted the flap of the camp to reveal the scenery. Outside, there was a community of caravans that had parked beside the main road. The men were doing work, the women were chatting with each other, while the children played around the caravans. I rubbed my eyes seeing the community of people right outside my tent. After a few minutes, I gathered my courage and walked out of the tent.