vanamation

“Suddenly, a man staggered through the saloon’s batwing doors. ‘There’s somethin’ out there,’ he said between gasps, ‘in the alley. I didn’t get a good look at it, but it riled up my horse. Nearly bucked me sky-high!’”

“The strange gambler slid her wager across the table toward Clare: a worn, creased map, hand-drawn and marked with an X. ‘That spot marks a secret silver mine,’ she told him. ‘Enjoy your winnings.’ But there was a glint in her one eye that unsettled his nerves in a way he hadn’t felt since the month prior.”

“Clare called for a shovel and a doctor, using the first to bury the slain beast while the latter tended to Wyatt’s wound. The doctor assured him he’d keep his arm, but Wyatt wasn’t listening; his ears were trained on the strange whispers coming from beneath the sand.”

“A month of peaceful nights passed without so much as a glimpse of any beast. But just when the posse had convinced themselves that the danger was long gone, it made its presence known by the light of the full moon.”

“By noon, news of the attack had reached cattle baron Amos Odell, who promptly hired an armed patrol to guard his herd at night. While Odell promised to ride among them and carry his own gun, Wyatt doubted the baron could draw with much speed or grace, given the rock candy clusters of gaudy rings adorning his fingers.”

“Cattle deaths weren’t unheard of, but it was the state of the steer–both pieces of it–that made Clare suppress a shiver. The head had been ripped from the body and thrown aside, splatters of dried blood mapping its arc across the ground. The horns were still intact, long, curved boughs bearing deep grooves carved by canine teeth.”

Yeehawgust day 2: Running With the Wolves!

Yeehawgust day 29: Pesky Varmints (some personal notes under the cut)