As he gets close to the town, Edlic Jiza begins to laugh. William grows irritated, but ignores him for now. Then as he can finally see people’s faces, he notices women’s faces going red and an older man starts running to him with a large blanket.

“What’s going on?” William asks nervously.

“You’re fucking naked! I never thought about it this whole time!” Edlic Jiza laughs hysterically.

William looks down, and becomes red with embarrassment when he realizes his predicament. He awkwardly covers his groin way too late as the blanket is thrown over him.

“What the hell happened to you? Were you robbed?” the old man asks with great concern.

“Uhh, yeah. I couldn’t tell who they were though, they had masks.” William says nervously.

The old man begins lightly pulling William toward a building. It’s painted white and has two stories. Painted across the front of it is a red cross.

“Are you the local doctor?” William asks nervously.

“Yes, call me Doctor Thompson. Let’s just get you inside, I’ll get you some clothes and water.” Doctor Thompson says with quick concern.

The Doctor gets them inside. They quickly walk through a simple waiting room with patients staring at William as he passes.

“Sorry, got robbed.” William says awkwardly.

“Bet it was that damn Black Devil. Was there a black guy leading ‘em?” one patient asks annoyedly.

“Uhhh…” William says awkwardly.

The Doctor glares briefly at the patient before pushing William forward.

“Ignore them, no need for fucking questions till you have some damn pants on.” Doctor Thompson says angrily.

They enter the patient’s room. It’s simple and mostly unpainted. There’s counters along the corner to the left of the door. Sitting on it are medical tools. In the middle of the room is a thin green leather chair. And in a cabinet to the back is a stockpile of medicine.

“Go ahead and sit down. I’m going to give you a quick checkup.” Doctor Thompson says with quick firmness.

The Doctor sticks the popsicle stick in his mouth, looks in his ears, up his nose, and then touches his strange arm.

“Is this some kind of prosthetic?” Doctor Thompson asks calmly.

“Uhhh, something like that.” William says nervously.

The Doctor eyes William suspiciously, then smacks the arm with a reflex hammer, a simple rubber triangle on a stick. William’s fingers move about reflexively, giving away there’s something more to it.

“I think you need to see the priest.” Doctor Thompson says nervously.

William shakes his head firmly no.

“I’m fine in that department doc. Trust me, the Lord knows what’s going on.” William says firmly.

Edlic Jiza chuckles quietly in the back of William’s mind.

The Doctor eyes the arm nervously, then sighs. He reaches into a cabinet’s drawer, and pulls out a canteen. He hands it to William.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Drink up. It’s water. You need it. I’m diagnosing you with exhaustion. You’ve clearly been through a lot. I’m gonna get you some clothes, and try to figure out somewhere for you to stay.” Doctor Thompson says calmly.

The Doctor briefly leaves to go up to his room on the second for clothes. He finds William an old gray button up, blue jeans, and brown boots. He comes back down and gives them to William.

“Get dressed, then you’re gonna be in my room upstairs for a while. I have to deal with these patients before I can continue helping you.” Doctor Thompson says calmly.

William nods, and is pulling the pants on before the Doctor leaves the room. When he’s done, he goes up as he was told.

He remains up there for two hours and so. In that time, the heat of Edlic Jiza’s rage distracts him from everything. He can’t even read a book he finds lying around without the pain making the words blur.

When the Doctor’s done, he returns to his room with a white cowboy hat on.

“Come on, we’ve got people to beg to help you.” Doctor Thompson says dryly.

William gets up, and follows after the Doctor. They walk out, and across the street. Then they pass a bar, go through an alley of sorts, and reach the other street. Here, it seems there are more homes.

The Doctor leads them to a light red, two story house. Sitting on a white bench outside is an older man in blue jean overalls with a brown shirt and black boots. He’s smoking a cigarette with a beer bottle down by his feet.

The man lazily waves to the Doctor. The Doctor smiles and stops a few feet before him.

“Hey Dan, how’s the coal mines?” Doctor Thompson asks warmly.

“Fucking dark and shitty, that’s how it is. How’s your work?” Dan says warmly.

“It’s good, it’s good. Hey, this here issss-” Doctor Thompson says warmly.

He elbows William. William gets the hint.

“William Taylor sir.” he says calmly.

“No need to be formal, we’re the same age.” Dan says quickly.

The Doctor smiles sheepishly.

“We have a favor to ask of ya. You see-” Doctor Thompson says awkwardly.

“Oh this the guy who came into town naked? I heard he got robbed already. If you’re looking for a place to stay William, I can cover ya. I could even get ya a job in the mines if ya want.” Dan says warmly.

William smiles and nods.

“It’s much appreciated, friend. I’m not sure if I’ll take you up on that offer, I don’t even begin to know how long I’ll be in this town.” William says warmly.

“Ah shit, you’re gonna need money for a horse at least man. Unless you’re gonna scrounge up a gun somehow and do some bounty hunting.” Dan says calmly.

Edlic Jiza chuckles with eager bloodlust. William shakes his head in a futile attempt to ignore him.

“Regardless, he isn’t doing anything for at least three days. He’s been through hell to get here. Blisters and cuts on his hands and feet. You were traveling like that for days, right?” Doctor Thompson says calmly.

William scratches the back of his head.

“Not days, more like just one whole day and a morning.” William says calmly.

“God damn, one day in the desert completely naked. You’re lucky to be alive.” Dan says amusedly.

William sighs and looks down at the ground, tired of his life.

“Yep, real fucking lucky.” he says with quiet bitterness.

“Anyway, I’ve got a guest room on the second floor. I’ll show it to ya in a bit.” Dan says warmly.

William smiles and looks back up.

“Yes, that’d be great.” William says nicely.

----------------------------------------

Hours later, in the middle of the night. William tries to sleep, but Edlic Jiza boils as the sinners of this town are out in full force tonight. He can sense the exact locations of the two bars in town. He can see brief flashes of the bastards in this town drinking and laughing.

“We should be burning them alive.” Edlic Jiza growls angrily.

William does his best to keep his mind clear so he doesn’t encourage Edlic Jiza’s rage. But he can’t help but be angry at Edlic Jiza. And this creates a bitter loop in their minds where psychic waves of rage crash against one another, creating loud clashes akin to them both screaming incoherently with rage.

“William, listen. Just go to a bar, and shoot it the fuck up.” Edlic Jiza orders angrily.

“Let me sleep.” William says firmly.

William feels burning fingers pry his eyes open. He’s face to face with Edlic Jiza’s tumbleweed form. His eye burns white hot with righteous rage.

William sighs.

“I’ve gotten used to this too fast. You’re just filled with rage to the point of madness.” he says tiredly.

William feels Edlic Jiza begin to override his will and force him up from bed.

“Edlic, please. We are being just as bad as them if we just kill willy nilly.” William argues weakly.

William stands up and marches to the door. The flames burn tightly around his body. It makes William open the door and march out the house.

Then they spot them. Two drunken men on horseback heading out of town. And they were thick with sin. A thick crimson cloud covered their bodies in Edlic Jiza’s eyes. William saw two drunken fools bantering.

“Mannnnn, that woman was giving me that look again.” Thug 1 drawls with drunken joy.

“She was a hooker, Jim. She looks at everybody like that.” Thug 2 says annoyedly.

“Shutttt up. You’re just mad nobody wanted to suck your dick cause of your syphilis.” Thug 1 drawls angrily.

“Fuck you Jim! I’ll kill your ass right now.” Thug 2 snaps angrily.

Thug 2 pulls out a revolver and points it at Thug 1. Thug 1 draws his own revolver. And Edlic Jiza creates his own revolver.

“We shouldn’t kill them in town.” William whispers nervously.

“Shut up before-” Edlic Jiza threatens angrily.

Before he could finish, a third thug gallops past William, still on Dan’s porch.

“Calm your shit down! If you’re gonna kill each other, do it in the desert! We don’t need trouble in town!” Thug 3 orders firmly.

The three thugs argue amongst one another. And each word infuriates Edlic Jiza. Each word makes William burn with more pain as he restrains Edlic Jiza from killing them all in the street.

A minute passes, and they begin heading to the desert. William begins walking after them. Another minute passes, and Edlic Jiza forces him to jog. Then the flames fill William with energy, and he sprints ahead. His speed quickly goes beyond a horse’s gallop.