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Chapter 1

15th of May, 1880

Green River Valley, Colorado

The buzz of flies became more intense with every step of Ned’s horse, but it was the stench that alerted him to the presence of vultures before he could even hear their grunts and hisses The cool iven him a chill before, but now shivers crawled up his back like dozens of spiders with legs of ice

His mount made a couple ed the brown bulk of a stagecoach Tipped to its side like a drunkard after one tooseveral feet away, it presented a sorry sight, but Ned clenched his jahen he didn’t see any dead horses Itelse, and he could only hope they were feasting on a dead mountain lion

No such luck

He sped up with his heart rising in his throat despite his whole body telling him to turn away, because the stench co buzz spoke of death He pulled his bandana over his nose and rode toward the carnage

A ed fro their naked heads over his torso, Ned couldn’t see e had been torn by bullets and in the e—scattered and torn open as if soh each and every piece

Above Ned, the trees hu fresh air, but the stench of death was i the vultures a freeat least that these people had been newcomers, not anyone he knew

“Shoo!” he yelled at the birds and swung at theun Whoever had done this would be far away by now, but it still unnerved him that bandits lurked so close to his home

The vultures grunted at hi order and reluctantly flew a few feet away to await the rest of their ust of dirt and flies Ned’s way in an act of defiance, but all the hairs on Ned’s body bristled when thehand and moaned

Ned dropped to his knees by the stranger’s side, but the elderly man’s face had already been pecked at, and his eye sockets were minced meat sprinkled with insects The birds had torn his clothes and nipped at the tender flesh between his legs too This poorto coer that he wasn’t alone

The shotgun burned Ned’s hand, because unless soht suffer for hours, but Ned couldn’t find it in hiums that barely held any teeth moved in a plea for help

Ned sweated under his shirt, powerless in the face of such impossible choices, but the fast thu up in time to spot a rider who approached at top speed He tensed and let go of the un, but his shoulders fell when he recognized the sheriff

“Mother, havedohen he realized what happened Ned olden hite s on its rear, would have been easy for the sheriff to recognize from afar

“Looks like it happened hours ago,” Ned said, but flinched in surprise when the old ain, blindly grabbing his suspender The button attaching the strap to the front of Ned’s pants snapped under the pressure, but before he could have said another word of coun and shot the suffering man dead

The rocky hills of the valley carried the sharp sound of death, but as stiff as the s he’d been too squea

“Poor souls,” Pattison said, resting his hands on his hips as he took in the carnage With a round face and a bit of a pot belly hanging above his belt, he didn’t appear dangerous, but the Beaver Springs sheriff had escorted many an outlaw to the end of a hemp rope and had proved himself brave in the war For him, the life he’d just taken was only one of hundreds He was athe trigger on anything that could talk back to him