To the beginning of the story in Z-Grade Movies
They led us to a cave entrance that had a jumble of mining equipment, horses, and men. Most of the men were in shackles and chains.
He waited just behind one of carts filled with rocks. He reached up and grabbed a rock and looked at it while he was hidden. It had sparks of other colors in it, and he shook his head. He whispered, “Can’t tell if it is gold, but they are working those fellas hard.”
I nodded, my eye having been caught by his horse being taken to one of the carts, a harness going over the slightly skittish beast to make him pull the weight. The band across his chest was where the clean place had been that morning. “They used your horse last night.”
There was a scowl. “This is just wrong. Those men don’t look like prisoners. They must have been kidnapped like I almost was.”
There was a small bell and a man in a better coat and a bowler came out of the cave. There was some low talk, and then we could hear, “He needs this shipment. Get it going.”
We watched as several of the carts were wrapped up to cover the ore rock, horses hitched up, and some boxes strapped to the sides. As the carts headed out, a jostle started something, one of the boxes projecting light and a small amount of smoke coming out of it. They stopped the cart and stopped the light show before moving on.
“Pause.”
I did and he was able to slowly move around the area a bit. We talked about the light show covering up the ore going through the city at night. We talked about how to get the prisoners out of their chains. And then, I saw a ‘are you still watching?’ pop up and knew we had to restart things. He was back in position and I continued the video.
He snuck up on the one guard that was left, knocking him to the ground. He wrapped rope around his arms and legs, stuffing a bandana into his mouth. The keys were used to unlock the prisoners, some bolting into the night. Several of then headed into the cave, more men coming out, including another guard being dragged behind them.
So, scene of prisoners catching up to the ore carts. Scene of small firefight. Scene of the Sheriff coming out of his jail and looking between the two groups. Sheriff sides with My Guy. Fight, fight, fight, My Guy wins.
The Sun is coming up as the prisoners are talking to the Sheriff, the Sheriff apologizing for having to go with the Bad Guys. Whatever. Change of heart stuff doesn’t impress me. My Main Guy unhitches his horse and brushes the dirt from it. He doesn’t have his saddle, but that doesn’t matter. The townspeople start coming out, amazed at what they are seeing. More apologies.
The Sheriff came up to My Guy and started talking. “I knew something was different about you. We have been under that gang for months. I-“ He looked down to the ground, embarrassed. “They said take the money or die, so I took the money.” He held out his hand.
I thought he was going to let the Sheriff just hang. He didn’t, but it was a perfunctory shake before he just tipped his hat and started walking out of town, the bridle of the horse in his hand.
Sweep of music, walking into the sun… And a great smile on his face. He turned and said over his shoulder, “See you next time.”
I sat there for a while even after the credits stopped.
Next time?
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