West of Innsmouth: A Cthulhu Western by Hideyuki Kikuchi

Author:Hideyuki Kikuchi [Kikuchi, Hideyuki]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: ninja, Cthulhu, Western, Mythos, Lovecraft
ISBN: 9784909473134
Publisher: Kurodahan Press
Published: 2021-05-19T16:00:00+00:00

Ghost Town Shootout

— 1 —

Twelve quiet days passed. Once, we stopped by a small town along the way to get water and victuals. There wasn't a word of rumor about us—the Marsh ranch, the McArrons, any of it.

We were still in the badlands, but our goal for the time being was Las Vegas, down in New Mexico territory. It was a base for mountain men, gamblers, and outlaws on their way to get their share of the silver mines just discovered in southern Arizona. It seemed a likely place to catch up with Ned Montillagate.

“Where exactly are we?” Paula asked. The sun was still high in the brilliant blue sky above rocky hills running north and south.

“We should hit Black Geese in another hour or so. We'll stay there tonight,” I said.

“I hope they have a nice hotel,” she said.

I shook my head at the longing note in Paula's voice. “There's a hotel. It used to be nice.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“Seven, eight years ago this area was full of gold miners. Somebody struck a seam of gold, and a town sprang up overnight. Just fit to burst in a few days. But the seam played out in a single year, and not six months later, people just up and left. They all went in search of another seam, another claim. Now, Black Geese is a ghost town.”

“Are there any natives?” Shinobi suddenly asked.

“Yeah, there's a Kiowa reservation not too far. Why?”

“Which way is the town?” he went on, ignoring my question.

I thought about it a bit, then pointed to the southwest.

“I can see smoke signals that direction,” he said.

“What?”

Me and Paula both looked that way, straining to catch a glimpse, but we couldn't see anything.

“There's one long column... No, two. Four short, then one long straight. Then four short, and one long. Two more short, and then a break, then two more.”

“Those are Kiowa signals, sure enough. 'White soldiers here. Approach quiet,' it means,” I said. “Then that last one... 'Kill.'”

“But I thought the natives on the reservations were all pacified?” Paula said.

I could only shake my head at her. She was thinking too much like a white person.

“They lived as they wanted on their own lands for hundreds of years, then one day some white men come along and drive them to some God forsaken badlands with no buffalo and dead soil and say, 'you live here now!' If you want to pacify someone after that, you'd have to cut his balls right off.”

“Mr. Shooter! Language!”

“Beg your pardon, Ma'am. But whatever the case, whoever's sending up these signals is still human, as is whoever is receiving them. Not our business. Still not anyone we want to run into, though,” I said.

“Won't the cavalry help?” Paula asked.

“No, thank you. The soldiers that get sent out here are as bad a bunch as you'd ever like to meet. Worse than any natives, by a damn sight.”

“Should we take another trail?” Shinobi asked.

“We'd have to backtrack a good thirty miles. How far are these smoke signals?”

“About thirty miles ahead,” he said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.