Trapped

Trapped.



It is hard to scare a man who was not afraid of dying. A man whose whole life had been taken from him and he no longer had anything to live for. Taken by the same men who now had him trapped in this little cabin, waiting for him to make a mistake so that they could make their move. This man was no killer, he was just a farmer with a small spread not to far from here. Who came home from a trip to town to find his wife and only son murdered, his place ransacked and his horses stolen.

He was not afraid of dying, he had lost everything that he lived for.

“Hey stranger,” he heard a voice call from somewhere outside, “we are gonna get you, it's just a matter of time. Might as well come out now and get it over with.”

“I may die here today, but I am gonna kill as many of you scumbags as I can before I go,” he shouted back.

He waited for a response, but he heard nothing. Probably getting into place to make another move on him. He was pretty well protected from outside shots and they knew this so were holding their fire for now. There were port holes at different spots throughout the cabin, built into it as security measures for the past tenant, he ran into it as he was getting away. From the looks of the inside though, it looked like it was abandoned long ago. Lucky for him, he thought.

He had acted in the heat of passion from seeing his dead wife and son and had not really thought his plan out very well. He just tracked them from the hoof prints that left his place and found them around a fire late in the night. Most of the bad men were drunk or well on their way so some were easy to take down. He sat on the back of his horse with his Winchester repeating rifle and took shots at the silhouettes he could see. He saw four go down before the rest of them got to their feet. He took off on his horse while they were mounting theirs, hoping to put a little distance and time between him and them.

He just happened to see the cabin that was set back in the woods as he rode by. He knew it offered the best protection around and he dismounted and went in. They knew where he was when they saw his horse outside of the cabin. He heard the commotion they were making and knew that they were there. He also knew that there was only ten of them from the shadows he saw around their campfire, he knew he had killed four in his surprise attack. That left only six.

He could hear men talking outside. “Alright, light the torch.” Then he could hear the sounds of flames crackling.

Now he knew they were going to smoke him out, throw the torch on top of the wooden cabin and it would burn till eventually he would have to leave or succumb to smoke inhalation. Thinking quick he took off his outer shirt and ripped it into pieces to cover his face, Maybe it would help him stay in a little longer. Then he looked through the port hole watching as they came out to get close enough to throw the torch. As he saw the first man step out he squeezed off a round from his rifle and saw the man go down before he could throw the torch. After the shot rang out he heard a thud on the roof. He should have known they had more than one man throwing torches.
“You son-of-a-bitch, you killed John, now you done made this personal.” one of other voices said. Now he knew one of their names. He also made a mental note, five were left. Five to one odds were bad and he knew it. Maybe though he could even the odds a little more. He just had to get out of this cabin before it burned to the ground. He looked through the darkness trying to find someway to do that without being seen.

“It won't be long now, mister” the voice who seemed to be in charge said,“your gonna have to come out soon and then I am gonna kill you myself.”

“You have killed five of my men, and we don't even know what we did to you,” the man said.

“You killed my wife and kid about ten miles back, then you stole my horses,” the man in the cabin said, “you would have to figure that I would come for you,”

The leader shouted back, “that bitch wife of yours said they was alone, and that you had been dead in the ground for a year. I guess she figured we wouldn't mess with a widow. She found out different I guess.”

These words made his blood boil, and the smoke was starting to surround him. He had no choice, he was gonna have to make a break for it and soon. He was going from one port hole to another to see what he could see. The morning light was just starting so he could now see more than he could in the dark of the night. He noticed a little ditch off to the right of the cabin door. This would put him in front of the men he was after. He thought he could make it without being seen since they were in the back of the cabin.

He checked his rifle and made sure that it was fully loaded, hard to do with the smoke stinging his eyes. He kicked the door open and ran as fast as he could hidden from his pursuers by the smoke that the fire was producing. He once again had the element of surprise, They were still waiting for him to come out. So he made his way as quite as he could closer to them. The fire from the cabin now raged out of control, they would figure out soon that he was out, or figure him for dead.

“You guys get ready he will have to be coming out soon. Y’all shoot at anything that you see moving,” the leader said to his men, “ I want that SOB dead.”

“Boss maybe he's not coming out.” another man said.

“Why would you say that,” the leader asked.

“Maybe he thought it would be better to burn than to be shot full of holes.”

“Jim you are dumber than a box a roc-,” the leader never got to finish his sentence. The front of his face disappeared in blood and brain matter right in front of his men. A bullet entered the back of his head from the man they were trying to kill.

“Now there is only four of you and your leader is dead,” He shouted to the men who were still in shock from seeing their leaders face disappear.

The element of surprised had helped him get close enough to them, and coupled with the fact that they were busy in their own conversation. He was able to get close and see the men as they were talking. He drew a bead on the leaders head and fired his shot. He was glad that the many years of farming and hunting his own food had taught him to use that rifle and not to miss. Now he was watching as the men were wondering what to do. They could not see him but he could see them. He stood up so he would be able to lever the rifle easier. He jacked the first shell into the chamber and fired. Three more times he did this as fast as he could. Watching a man die with each shot.

He wasn't scared to die, in fact he kind of wished that he had. Now he will have to live with the memories of his wife and child who he will never see again. He will also have to live with the fact that he had killed ten men in less than 4 hours, though he didn't think he would lose much sleep over it. Still the memories that would haunt him would keep him trapped in his brain like they kept him trapped in that cabin.

He watched as the last wall of the cabin fell in on itself. Then turned and rode away back to his place. Unsure of if he could start over again.