The dream began the same way it always did – Alain was down the street, just a short walk away, when the house went up in flames. He’d been asleep in his dream, and it had been the stench of smoke that had awoken him, same as it always was. He knew what was happening the moment his eyes cracked open, but that had never stopped him before, and it wouldn’t stop him now.

The sixteen-year-old Alain climbed out of bed, then exited his uncle’s house, looking for him. He found his uncle gathered outside, along with a crowd of townspeople, all of them staring at the smoke on the horizon as it curled upwards into the air.

“I’m sorry, son,” his uncle told him, same as he always did. “We’ve already had some people go looking through the wreck, but we couldn’t find any trace of your parents. In fact, the only thing we found was this.”

His uncle offered him a small wooden box, and Alain opened it to find a single Colt Single Action Army staring back at him, complete with a leather holster and cartridge belt. He stared at his uncle in surprise, and his uncle furrowed his brow before letting out a sigh.

“It was the only thing untouched by the fire,” he said. “No idea how it managed to escape. But your Pa always did say he wanted you to have it when you came of age, and… well… I guess you’re of age now.”

Alain stared at the gun, unmoving and unflinching. After a few moments, his vision began to blur, and his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

The dream ended just as he fell to his knees, finally unable to keep his emotions from overwhelming him.

–

When Alain woke up the next morning, it was to the worst headache of his life. He sat up in his bedroll, a low, pained moan escaping him as he clutched at his temples.

“Fuck…” he breathed through gritted teeth.

It was funny – he’d certainly had a lot to drink the night before, but he’d been more drunk in the past, and it hadn’t hit him quite as hard as it had now. Part of him suspected that something else had gone on, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what had happened past sitting down at the fire and talking with Sable and Az for a bit.

The side of his neck suddenly started to itch really bad, and Alain brought a hand up to frantically scratch at it. He was surprised to find two small puncture wounds there.

“What the hell…?” he breathed. “Did an insect bite me or something…?”

That was the only explanation he could think of, because nothing else really made sense. After all, what other creature could have bitten him if not an insect?

Groggily, Alain rose to his feet and grabbed his shotgun, then slung it over his shoulder as he stepped outside. Az and Sable were already waiting for him, seated next to the few remaining embers of the fire. It might have just been him seeing things, but Alain could have sworn that it looked like neither of them had slept very much the night before. Then again, that was none of his business.

“Morning…” he greeted softly as he took a seat at the fire next to them. “Sleep well?”

“Something like that,” Sable muttered.

Alain turned towards her, and his brow furrowed when he saw a brownish-red stain on the collar of her dress. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“You’ve got red on you.”

Hurriedly, Sable brought a hand up to cover the stain. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

“No, I just saw it-”

“It’s my mistake,” Az interjected. “Cut myself shaving this morning. Got a little bit on her dress by mistake.”

“That doesn’t make any-”

“When shall we set off?” Sable asked, impatient. “I am growing tired of the wilderness.”

“Well, it’s going to be a bit longer,” Alain volunteered. “We’ve still got a few days before we make it to Los Banos. It should be pretty uneventful, but days are still days, unfortunately. So you might as well get used to it.”

Sable let out an annoyed moan. “This was a mistake. I’m roasting in this sun.”

“Don’t you mean in the heat?”

“No.”

“My lady, if I may offer a suggestion?” Az said. “Perhaps Alain could allow you to borrow his hat – keep the sun off of you.”

Alain shrugged. “I mean, hell, you’re the ones paying with the diamond. You want my Stetson, you can have it for now. Just make sure to give it back before we part ways.”

He pulled his hat off her and placed it on her head. The faded brown leather looked very out-of-place when taken in conjunction with her creamy white Victorian-era dress, but it had the desired effect – Sable instantly let out a satisfied sigh, drawing the hat tighter around herself.

“Your queen-to-be thanks you,” she said.

Alain rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Let’s just get moving, shall we?”

Sable and Az nodded, and the three of them set off further into the wilds.

–

As Alain had predicted, the rest of the trip was uneventful. There were no more instances of drinking to excess, mainly because he’d run out of whiskey after the first night, but that was both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because it meant no more hangovers, and a curse because it meant no more alcohol. Combined with his lack of cigarettes and the fact that he was walking for miles every day, and Alain was quickly growing frustrated with this job, not helped by the company he was keeping.

Still, the diamond at the end would be worth it. So he endured regardless.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Eventually, however, they reached the outskirts of Los Banos, as indicated by a weathered wooden sign posted at a set of crossroads.

“You are now entering the town of Los Banos,” Alain read as they approached the sign. “Population: 231. I’m surprised – I figured there’d be far less of them. The sign does seem like it’s missing a tagline, though.”

“What would that be?” Az asked.

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Alain looked off into the horizon, squinting to see if he could get a better look. Sure enough, he was able to make out the distant shapes of wooden buildings looming just on the horizon. “Geez, this place is backwater. You two sure you want to stay here?”

“Positive,” Sable chimed in. “My empire has to start somewhere, and where better than here?”

“If you say so,” Alain ventured. “Come on, let’s get there already. My feet are killing me.”

The three of them started walking again, and soon enough, they’d entered the town. Los Banos was as small as he’d expected it to be, though a bit more densely populated than anticipated. It looked like most of the people there were just passing through, however, if the lineup of carriages and horses were any indication.

“Wonder what’s going on here,” Alain commented as they passed by a crowd of people.

“Perhaps we should find out,” Az ventured.

“You and Sable can certainly do that if you like. For now, this is where my journey with you ends.”

“You mean to leave us?” Sable asked, surprised.

Alain nodded. “The job was to take you both to Los Banos. You’re both now in Los Banos. Therefore, the job is complete. Unless you wanted to hire me for something else?”

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Great. Then I’ll be taking my payment.”

For a moment, Sable looked as though she wanted to argue, but held herself back. Instead, she snapped her fingers, and Az handed him the small box. Alain cracked it open enough to confirm the diamond was there, then swiftly pocketed it.

“My hat, too,” he said.

Sable puffed out her cheeks in frustration, but did as she was told, plucking the Stetson off her head and offering it to him. Alain placed it back on his own head, then adjusted it back to its proper orientation. Then, he tipped it towards both of them.

“Pleasure doing business with you both,” he said.

Then he turned and left them standing there in the center of town while he went off on his own.

–

Of course, the problem with being paid in jewels was that they weren’t worth anything until they were converted to a usable currency. So while he currently had a valuable diamond on his person, it was next to worthless when it came to actually buying things with it. So until he found a jeweler who was willing to give him a good price for it, he was stuck living off his pocket change.

That was no reason to despair, however, nor was it a reason to refrain from celebrating. In the end, the job had been easy enough, despite Sable and Az’s eccentricities, and he’d been paid with something that would likely sustain him for many months while he found more work somewhere else. Alain figured that was cause enough to treat himself to something nice.

And so, shortly after parting ways with Az and Sable, he’d found himself in a saloon, seated at the bar.

“No long guns on your person inside the bar,” the bartender said.

Alain was unperturbed. He shrugged off his Ithaca, then offered it to the man. The bartender broke the shotgun open, plucked the two shells out, and offered them to Alain; he pocketed them and watched as the bartender placed his shotgun in a weapon rack behind the bar, along with several other rifles and shotguns. Once that was done, the man came over to him.

“What’ll it be, stranger?” he asked.

“Just a beer,” Alain said, sliding a few coins over to him. “And if you’ve got steak and eggs, I’ll take a plate of that as well.”

“Beer, steak, and eggs,” the barman said as he pocketed the money. “Breakfast of champions. What’s the occasion?”

“Job went well,” Alain grunted. “Don’t need much more of an occasion than that.”

“Amen to that. Hold tight, I’ll get your food going real quick.”

The barman disappeared into the back for a moment. While he was gone, Alain took the opportunity to look around the saloon. There were only a few other patrons there, which seemed out-of-the-ordinary to him, given how densely-populated the town was for something its size.

The bartender came back a short while later, a frothing mug in his hand. He slid it over to Alain.

“Food’ll be out in a bit,” he said.

Alain tipped his hat towards the man, then took a sip from his bear. As he went to put the glass down, he winced, his neck having suddenly started to itch. He began to frantically scratch it, much to the barman’s amusement.

“Bug bite?” the bartender asked.

“Must be,” Alain replied. “Never had one this bad, though.”

“Let me see.”

Alain obliged, leaning in to show the man his neck. The bartender’s brow furrowed, and he brought a hand up to rub at his handlebar mustache in confusion.

“That’s like no bug bite I’ve ever seen,” he commented. “You might want to see Doc about that.”

“It’s fine,” Alain assured him. “Doesn’t hurt or anything, it just itches really bad sometimes. Happened a few nights ago, when I was out on the frontier.”

“The frontier, you say? You ever hear of the Chupacabra?”

“The what?”

“The Chupacabra,” the man repeated. “Old legend hailing from Mexico. Locals there say that it’s some kind of odd creature that kills goats and drinks their blood.”

“That’s a problem, then, because I’m neither dead nor a goat,” Alain pointed out. “So it must be bug bites.”

“Think what you want to think. All I’m saying is I’ve never seen bug bites that look like that.”

“What do they look like?”

“Two perfectly round puncture marks spaced a few inches apart. If those are bug bites, they’re just about the most damn perfect bug bites I’ve ever seen.”

“Well, I don’t know what they are, but I know what they aren’t, and that’s Chupacabra bites.”

“If you say so.”

Another man came out of the back, holding a steaming plate. He put it in front of Alain before returning, and Alain wasted no time in digging into his food with vigor.

“Just bringing it up because a lot of weird shit’s been happening out here recently,” the bartender said.

“Weird how?” Alain asked through a mouthful of steak and eggs.

That earned him a shrug. “Locals say something strange has been going on in the cemetery. Say they can hear a woman crying out there in the middle of the night. A few people have even sworn they’ve seen a pale-white apparition walking around there every now and again. Haven’t seen it myself, but the people who live out that way are pretty spooked. They think it’s a ghost.”

“They’re just seeing things,” Alain said dismissively. “Ghosts are about as real as Chupacabras are.”

“I wouldn’t be so confident if I were you,” the bartender warned. “Some of the locals were talking about bringing a priest down to do an exorcism. Now, I’m not Catholic, but if they’re that concerned, there might be a kernel of truth to what they’re saying.”

“There are so many wild tales around life in the frontier that you can’t believe any of them,” Alain said. “It’s all a bunch of shit, if you ask me. Bunch of superstitious morons trying to scare each other with ghost stories and old wives’ tales.”

The bartender held up his hands in surrender. “Don’t shoot the messenger, buddy. I just talk about what I hear.”

Alain finished his plate of food, then pushed it away. He turned to look out the nearby window, frowning when he saw a crowd of people dressed in fancy clothes walk by.

“Circus in town?” he asked.

The bartender shook his head. “Investors,” he explained. “New gold mine is going to be opening up soon. The mayor’s been heading into town, trying to drum up interest and attract some people who might want to throw some money at it in exchange for a return on their investment. Guess he’s had some success.”

“I’ll say,” Alain replied. “Little podunk town like this, getting all these rich people in it so suddenly? Must be causing quite a stir.”

“Ask me, I think it could do the town some good,” the barman said as he picked up a glass and began to polish it. “Los Banos could use an injection of cash. Help us grow the town. If the gold mine can help with that, then I’m all for it.”

“No complaints from me. I won’t be staying long enough for it to matter.”

“Looking for work?” Alain nodded, and the man said, “Could always volunteer to work in the mines.”

Alain shook his head. “Frontier life or bust for me. That’s all I know.”

“I feel you on that.” The bartender stuck his hand out. “Felix.”

“Alain,” he replied, shaking the man’s hand.

“Well, Alain, if I don’t see you again, it was good to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Alain finished his beer, then pushed his empty glass over to the man and tipped his hat towards him. “Be seeing you.”

With that, he turned and marched out of the saloon, looking for a place he could stay for the night.