His Peace by Suzy

“You missed her, Chris! She was just the star in your eyes. The light of any gloomy day, and had the body of an arch angel. I stayed up all night just listening to her soft whispers as she slept in my arms. Chris, you just missed her!” Buck galled the hollow in Chris’s ears as they walked down the stretch of the town. “The softest skin and smoothest hips any man had ever felt against their rugged hands. This woman for sure would turn you into a lover not a hater in a split ear second.”

Chris swayed his arms at his sides as Buck walked beside him. Chris couldn’t help but smile and laugh from the inside at his companion of more than twelve years about his ways of women and thinking. It had been a normal routine in his everyday life for Buck to come up with some humorous tale about a woman he had just met a few short hours ago and not to Chris’s surprise, Buck would have already had that young piece of pie in bed with him from the result of his sweet talking personality.

“If only, Chris, if only.” Buck said finished with lungs full of fresh air from the morning breeze. As they continued to walk down the town lot, passing each building by without so much as a glare to make sure things were as they were suppose to look during business hours. They walked in silence against the desert heat wind with Chris in his occasional black attire and Buck— only in his baby blue button down shirt, his hat, his gun in the holster around his waist, and the pants were enough to keep him cool on that blazing summer day.

Earlier that day, Josiah told them he knew there was going to be a storm coming from the formation of the clouds above town, but until Buck felt that first drop of rain on his skin, he planned to let loose for the time being and wear fewer clothes that would be appropriate.

They walked in silence on their way to the Clarion to seek Mary Travis and Billy for company. Chris had promised to take Billy out of Mary’s hands for a few hours while she finished the final editing on the paper before prints came out the following day to publish and release to the public.

How Buck came to be at Chris’s side was when they accidentally ran into each other when Buck stumbled out of his hotel room half dressed. His eyes filled with ecstasy, his body language tired, but his feet rustling to keep cool from the heated sand. He asked Chris where he was off to that early and he told him so he decided to get dress right in front of the locals and headed off with him.

A few buildings shy from Mary’s office building, Chris and Buck were startled to a halt in front of Homer’s Bank where there was bustling and fighting going on just inside. Buck crooked his head to look at Chris who was too busy taking in a glare through the small windows.

“Chris, you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Buck asked, moving closer to the closed bank doors.

“I might be thinkin’ worse, Bucklin.” Chris whispered as he ordered Buck to stay out of the sight of the windows and move to the other side of the door as he guarded on the opposite side.

Buck took his gun out of its holster and held the butt close to his heart, ready to take aim and shoot for anything wrong he saw happening within doors. He took a look at his gunslinger friend across the ways and watched him as he was too curious to see what was going on.

Then in all too quickly, the six foot bank robber carrying two leather sacks in each arm with a pistol in his left hand came walking out backwards, not paying much mind to the town behind him. Chris and Buck’s eyes lit up when they saw he was alone, and they took action immediately.

As Chris reached to snatch the gun out of the robber’s hand, Buck planned to knock the man out with the butt of his gun but not quick enough when they saw another man walk out of the bank, and aimed to shoot Buck, but Chris intervened and smacked the guy’s arm down holding the gun and the gun fell to the wooden floorboards. Then another man came out of the bank holding up his rifle and another leather sack full of money under his armpit. He saw what was happening and grabbed his two partners in crime and threw them off the bank steps toward their horses close by. The robber with the rifle took aim at Buck, who appeared to be the one showing aggression, but Vin from across the town shot off his rifle and put that man down like a dog.

“Oh, Christ, McJade!” the dirty talking bank robber, Rowland, upon a white stallion shouted out his fighting words as he found his leader dead on the ground between Chris and Buck.

“You’re gonna die!” Loud Peters yelled as he placed his bottom on the other black and white horse beside McJade’s.

Ezra and J.D. came running out of the hotel where Vin stood out in the front with his fresh hit rifle in his hands.

“Chris!” J.D. yelled from across the town. “They still have the money!”

Loud Peters turned his horse and shot off his pistol at the young man who shouted and J.D. ducked to save his head. And with that last hit, knowing they were uncovered with the mishap of their boss being killed on the spot, Loud Peters and McJade hit their horses with their spurs and they raced out of the town still with the three thousand dollars in their possession.

Nathan ran his way to Chris and Buck in front of the bank and picked up the left two thousand dollars their leader had with him.

“Nathan, put that back in the bank.” Chris told him and without waiting for his reply he and Buck ran over to the stable to retrieve their horses.

“Vin!” Chris shouted as he galloped out of the stable with Buck following him. “Go for the look out to make sure no one else was with them. Me and Buck will get the rest of the money back.”

“So much for a peaceful day, huh?” Ezra laughed.

Chris and Buck turned their horses around and rode past Billy standing out in front of the Clarion.

“I’m sorry, Billy.” Chris apologized. “Tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow I’ll take you finishin’.”

“We both will, little man.” Buck said.

Mary walked out of the Clarion then and put her hands on her son’s shoulders. “Be careful then, Chris, and you, Buck. Just be careful.”

Chris found the softness in Mary’s blue eyes and told her everything will be all right and she didn’t need to worry over something so easy to bring back to justice and be done with in the blink of an eye. He didn’t tell her that physically but they’d known each other long enough to know what the other was thinking.

He tipped his hat to both mother and boy and went on his way with Buck to capture the thieves.

To Mary’s regret and gut feeling, she couldn’t tell Chris that she loved him and she couldn’t express nor did she know that that was the last look he’d give her and ray of hope he’d send her way again.

While Chris and Buck rode off to the save day as a twosome, the other members of the seven didn’t understand why Chris didn’t offer for them to come along. Chris wanted only Buck to be at his side at that time and needed the other five to stay in town for protection in case any other robber tried to pull anything while their leader was gone. But Chris told them that he would send for them if it need be and if he and Buck didn’t come home the following morning to gather the posse and ride to search for them.

As they rode hard and long, heading in the same direction the robbers came from and following the horse tracks in the fair dirt and mildew glass of the early morning, they were easy to track and Buck thought this was going to be a piece of cake and he could get home quick as they arrived.

The horse tracks ended in the Town of Liza and time had shifted into late afternoon and just as Josiah mentioned earlier, the clouds clashed above their heads and before Buck knew it, he was soaking wet from rain.

“I hate it when Josiah’s right.” Buck mumbled to himself as he and Chris maintained their horses to a steady walk into the small, dainty Town of Liza.

“Something ain’t right.” Chris whispered to Buck.

Together, the two gunslingers looked about the town with curiosity running their veins. Not a soul in sight, that was weird, and not so much as a few drunks in the saloon on the opposite end of town.

“Where’s everyone at?” Buck asked as low as he could to make sure no one could hear him if they were listening.

“Maybe they knew we were comin’. They made everyone hide.” Chris said, keeping his hands steady on his horse’s ropes. He made his eyes visible and clear through the rain at every corner of town to make sure no one tried to pull anything on them. It had only been a few short hours when the killings happened in Four Corners, and the robbery, therefore he knew that the town that held the robbers captive were waiting for him and Buck the whole time.

“Be ready, Buck, for anything.” Chris alerted his friend when he didn’t move his head to look at him. He knew he could trust Buck with his life, but at the moment he couldn’t trust himself to so much as look at him without making the wrong move to trigger off a string of bullets.

Then that soon pearl of bullets lit off when Buck wasn’t looking and he nearly got himself killed in a split second. He ducked behind his horse when the first bullet flew past his head, gazing his cheekbone. He screamed then shot off his gun next, finding a man behind a wooden barrel, lying in the wet mud.

“Buck, you all right?!” Chris shouted as he took a shot at a man in an upper window of the town’s hotel.

“I’m okay!” Buck yelled before taking another aim at the man by the barrel. Without watchfulness, a man ran out of the hardware store in the middle of the town holding a rifle and took aim at Chris’s horse.

“Chris!” Buck shouted, but it was too late when Chris flew off his horse backwards when Pony was shot. His horse lost his balance and fell sideward and just about pinned Chris in the mud, but he quickly moved out of the way before the horse took a hard fall, splashing mud all over him.

“Chris, get out of the way!” Buck ordered for his friend to do.

Chris gripped his pistol in his hand tighter and went into hiding in an alley between two buildings. He leaned against one building and reloaded his gun. He looked around the lot to see where all the bullets were coming from.

Then all of a sudden a pair of man’s hands holding the length of a brown metallic rifle came over Chris’s eyes to his surprise and the rifle’s body came forward to his neck, strangling him. He didn’t have much time to look at the man holding the rifle to his neck, but he did manage to make himself and the man visible for the town to take a notice to.

With struggling hands and muscles beginning to weaken, Chris managed with strength he had to punch the gut of the strangler with his elbow and that released the pressure off his neck. He slipped underneath the man’s grasp and took the rifle from his hands, slippery from the hard rain pouring down. He smacked the man in the face with the butt of the rifle and he went down from the first strike, but not quite when he knocked Chris’s breath out right out of him when the disgusting killer grabbed his ankle and forced him to fall on his backside. Chris kicked his foot away from the robber, recognizing him as Loud Peters, and with that banged in a couple of his teeth.

Crawling on his arms and legs, Chris managed to seize his pistol that flew out of his hand when he was being strangled and kill Loud Peters at his feet. He managed to stand up again and found Buck struggling to take care of the rest of the killers shooting at him.

“Buck, take cover!” Chris yelled then ran to the livery to retrieve another horse. He jumped his way onto the closest one to the stable doors and shot out with more courage than he thought he had in the middle of the flying bullets.

“Buck, get out of here!” Chris shouted again when he saw Buck didn’t move when he told him to earlier. For a second, Chris thought to just to leave the town right then but knew he couldn’t because they were that close to get the three thousand dollars and ride back into town without another mention of this town.

Chris forced his horse to take cover behind a wagon, but that feeling of protection didn’t last long when he saw Buck was still out in the open to bring down the thieves in the town and Chris had no choice but to uncover himself and ride out with him.

Then he saw the man lying down by the barrel get up and stand when Buck didn’t take an interest in him anymore with his shooting. Chris saw the man coming at Buck with his gun held up high and he shouted for Buck to get down, but it wasn’t loud enough. Chris came running out from behind the wagon toward the man behind the barrel and knocked him down hard in the mud. Then Chris was shot in the shoulder from his actions from a high gun shooter from the hotel window.

Buck shouted for Chris to see if he was okay before he took aim to kill down the man in the window.

“We walked right into a goddamn ambush!” Buck shouted as Chris turned the horse he stole toward Buck. Buck lifted his hand with the pistol and shot down another man in the far distance stumbling out of the saloon.

“Get the money, Buck, and get the hell out of here!” Chris ordered Buck to do.

The dirty man by the barrel Chris knocked down with his horse during the ride by regained conscious and sat up in the mud with the rain pouring down on him hard. He lifted his weak arm and aimed his pistol right at Chris as he backed Buck up when he went into the bank to retrieve the stolen money. Every raindrop sounded like a click of a gun and Chris looked in every direction to keep clear him and Buck’s life on the line being the only two hired gunslingers around.

The man by the barrel sat all the way up making himself visible enough for Chris to catch him. At the same time, both men aimed their guns at each other, hesitating to shoot the first bullet. Chris didn’t know whether the man was already injured so he took his time to kill the man. When Buck came out of the bank hooting and hollering, and running his way to his horse so they could leave the town, the man with the gun took aim at Buck but Chris stopped him and shot him straight through the heart. The man still had his finger on the trigger as he fell back dead, imprinting his body in the mud.

But it wasn’t until he fell back dead that the man’s finger on the trigger released and shot out the last bullet of the pistol right into Chris’s open chest, then his hand fell down with the pistol next to his leg.

Buck didn’t take notice to Chris’s sudden fatal bullet wound and Chris didn’t make himself noticeable as he didn’t scream or cry out from it.

“Let’s get out of here, Chris!” Buck shouted as he held the three thousand dollars tight to his chest as he led Chris out of the town before anyone else thought to take out their gun to have their fun.

Once Chris and Buck were out of gun range from the Town of Liza, with the rain still pouring hard on their bare backs, Buck informed Chris they were going to take a detour to avoid any other bullets flying just in case. He led them through a forest full of thick, tall, bushy trees where the rain became harder and heavier when the rain droplets dripped from the branches.

Chris, behind Buck, was quiet as a mouse as usual, but he had his head down and he was holding his chest tighter and tighter as the journey back to Four Corners increased further away.

Moments passed and Buck decided to turn around on his horse to look at Chris behind him. When he called out his name, Chris didn’t respond. When he called out his name a second time, Chris bobbed his head up and looked at his friend.

“You okay, stud?” Buck asked, fear filling his eyes when he saw the strain in Chris’s face.

Chris didn’t say anything but when he started to lean off his horse, the body language alone caused Buck to stop both horses to a halt and he jumped off his horse to catch Chris before he collapsed in the mud on the trail.

“Oh hell, Chris!” Buck panicked as he picked his friend up to his feet and pulled his bloody hand away to see the severe blood wound in his chest, below his heart.

In complete fright, Buck hauled Chris to a thick tree trunk and sat him up to keep comfortable.

“Chris?” Buck said when Chris’s eyes opened and shut like a fake baby doll. “Come on, stud, stay awake for me.” He never left Chris’s sight when he opened his eyes and let them to stay open. “You’re shot bad, Chris.” He begged the tears to stop coming together in his eyes.

Chris wanted to look at his gun wound but Buck wouldn’t let him. Instead, he leaned his head back against the tree and watched the rain fall, soaking his body. He scrunched his face to relieve pain his body was conflicting, but it was no use.

“Hey Buck—“ he grunted through short breathes. “Can ya have Ezra write my name on a tombstone for me? I hear his handwritin’s real nice.” For the first time, Chris allowed his tears to run free down his dirty cheeks.

Buck gathered his tears in a bunch and forced himself on his knees and grab Chris by the collar, “You are not gonna die, Chris! You can’t die, you know why—because I need you. I need you, Chris. You weren’t born to die like this! Maybe God up in heaven already has a nice spot picked out for you and it’s your time to go this day, this night, this new moon, but He forgot that there are people down here living who need you to stay and live for them. You’re not gonna let one bullet take away your pride, Chris Larabee. No you’re not!”

Buck didn’t know whether if it was the rage of some bullet taking the life of his longtime companion, or the mere fact that he was going to die no matter what he said. He already knew Chris wasn’t afraid of death. He more than anyone else welcomed it the moment he was born, the moment his wife and child were taken away, to the moment of his own life at stake. His door was always opened and welcomed death in every stage of his life. It was only a matter of time before death overwhelmed him and ended his suffering.

Buck couldn’t stand to let him go after all those years of knowing him. He wouldn’t let go without a fight, or a chance to really tell Chris how it was without him.

But Chris was different. He wasn’t the gunslinger Buck met some odd twelve years ago. He never wanted to get that man back who was full of life and enjoyment before the deaths of his family, and he never planned to change him to the way things were. He just didn’t want Chris to die out there in the cold, alone.

Buck released Chris’s collar and he gently leaned back against the tree trunk, knowing he wasn’t a doctor to heal the wounded man, and Nathan wouldn’t have been able to do anything either, even with his abilities, and Buck was ninety-nine percent sure Chris wouldn’t let Nathan touch him to heal him.

Chris scooted his body closer to the trunk to sit in a better upright form. Buck backed away so he could have his space to cry and let loose if need be to relieve the pain.

Chris opened his eyes, holding a hand over his chest wound, taking short breaths. He watched the pouring rain soak his boots and clothes and made a comment about how peaceful the rain was to him.

“Is the rain always this peaceful?” he asked Buck.

Buck looked at him with tears in his eyes, “Always, stud.”

“I don’t know why I never had the chance to sit and listen to it.”

“You’ll have plenty of chances, Chris, if we just get you back into town and have Nathan look at cha. You’ll have plenty of chances to listen to the rain. Now come on why we have time!” Buck stood but Chris pulled him down with his free hand.

“We don’t have time at all. This is it, Bucklin. This is it.”

“I’m not gonna just sit here and watch my best friend die in the goddamn rain!”

Chris ignored him and closed his eyes and swallowed then opened his eyes again. “Remember when I told you I couldn’t hear Adam calling my name anymore?”

Buck’s eyes widen, hoping Chris wouldn’t say what he was thinking.

Chris clutched his wound in his fist and smiled, “He’s calling me now.”

“Oh, Chris.” Buck bent his head down to his folded hands and cried, “I won’t let you go.”

Chris moved his eyes from watching the rain to his friend crying. “Buck?” Buck looked up from his hands with tears clouding his eyes.

“The devil’s come for me. Adam can see me. Sarah is waiting. Stop fighting for my life. You’re keeping me from them longer.” With Chris’s free hand, he reached up and grabbed one of Buck’s hands. “Please let me go.”

Buck didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know whether to believe Chris or not about what he could see, but then again, it wasn’t Buck who was dying and there’s no telling what the soon departed can see or not. And that was the last thing he wanted to keep Chris from— his family.

“I don’t know how.” Buck whispered finally, his eyes filling up with grief.

Chris’s harden eyes lightened up with a tiny smile on his lips. “Yes, you do.” He looked away then, still holding Buck’s hand, and watched the pouring rain before him.

Then Buck knew his friend would not or could not speak again. He kept his stare on Chris and waited for another word from him, but nothing. His heart dropped when Chris’s grasp loosened in his hand and he was forced to look down as he took Chris’s hand away from his and set it on the ground beside him. He glanced up at his old friend of twelve years and his eyes were open, but Buck saw no light there.

“You keep ridin’ okay, stud? You keep ridin’."