Sunset (by Questfan)

Chapter Five

Adam watched as Hoss poked at the fire and added a few more pieces of wood to keep it going. He lay stretched out on his bedroll and he noted that nobody had said more than three words in a row since they had eaten supper. It seemed that each of them were too busy listening to their own thoughts and doubts and conversation seemed superfluous. His father had pulled his blanket over his shoulder some time before, yet Adam knew he wasn’t asleep. The rigid set of his shoulders betrayed him and Adam knew exactly what his father was doing. As he stared blindly at the rockface of the small overhang they had camped under, Ben was wondering where his youngest son was and if he was safe or cold, wet and hungry. Adam knew with certainty that was what his father was thinking because the same thought was going through his own head. He was absolutely certain that Hoss’ sudden need to tend the fire had little to do with the fire and more to do with needing to keep his hands busy and his wayward thoughts under control.

Adam rolled onto his back and threaded his fingers together behind his head. The steady beat of the rain did nothing to ease his thoughts and he found his mind drifting. Ever since his pa had spoken about the first time he’d killed a man, the memory had taunted him. He’d seen his fair share of gunplay and had backed his father and older ranch hands many times, but he was almost twenty-one the first time he knew for certain that a bullet of his had actually done more than wound a man. The finality of it had been so confronting and he had second-guessed himself for weeks afterward, questioning if he could have done something differently. In their travels across the country, Adam had learned early how to handle a gun as his father had taught him out of necessity, but there had always been others such as the wagon train master and other men to take the brunt of any problems. As a youth, he had usually been in the second line of defence, alongside the women who could shoot. As they had carved out their own stake in the new Nevada territory there had been times where Adam had stood shoulder to shoulder with his father when squatters or others had come along. He couldn’t tell if it was more by good luck than anything else, but his father could usually talk his way out of most confrontations and even when he couldn’t, there were always others like Roy Coffee to stand beside him.

By the time Hoss was the same age, there wasn’t the same need and he had been older before he’d been entrusted with learning to handle a weapon. Joe had desperately wanted to learn from a young age to keep pace with his brothers and once their father had finally agreed, he’d proven a natural, despite being left handed. That only seemed to worry Ben even more and Adam almost smiled as he remembered Joe’s pride in hitting every target that his older brothers set up for him, including the ones they tossed into the air. Their father would have had a fit if he’d known that small detail and Joe had been more than willing to keep the secret between the three of them. For some reason he could not define, Adam had felt a sense of urgency that Joe did need to know how to defend himself in spite of his father’s assurances that they were no longer traveling through wild country and Joe needed no such thing. As he stared at the cold rock over his head, Adam wondered if he had helped his brother or put him in the very situation his father had wanted to avoid. If he hadn’t given Joe the confidence to handle a gun so well, would he have shot dead Stan Hamilton? Would his sixteen year old brother be safely asleep in his own bed where he should be instead of God only knew where? The question chewed at his insides with such ferocity that he found his hand stretched over his chest. As he tried to calm his heart rate once again, he recalled Becky’s words and knew that if Joe hadn’t pulled that trigger, they could quite likely be burying the two youngsters instead. As the rain grew heavier and his mind once again focused on it, he closed his eyes and tried to drown out the images that flooded his mind. Ugly pictures of his brother lying facedown somewhere in a puddle of muddy water would haunt his dreams as he finally gave in to his fatigue.

Somewhere not too far behind them, two men sat holed up in damp hollow under a dead tree. Their fire sputtered as rain blew in across it and the lukewarm canned beans for supper did nothing to improve either man’s state of mind. It had been a simple matter to follow three riders across the land as none of them were making any effort to cover their tracks. The rain would possibly cause a few problems the next day, but neither man would quit until they had achieved their goal.

“You sure you know where they’re camped tonight?”

“I told you already, I seen where they pulled up inside a nice little rock overhang, outta this damn rain. They won’t be going nowhere ’til first light.”

“Then don’t sleep in!”

The younger of the two brothers rolled over and pulled his slicker a little higher up around his neck before pushing his hat as far down as he could. His muttered words were lost inside the depths of his hat, but his brother had a fair idea what curse had just been thrown his way.


Joe lay on his back and listened to the rain falling onto the old tin roof. He could make out where several holes allowed water through and he’d shifted back a little further to avoid one particularly persistent stream of water. The sound of thunder had rolled away some hours before, but he was no closer to falling asleep. Tiny’s discovery of part of his secret made him feel unsettled and he wondered just what the big man would do tomorrow. Would his apparent concern turn to anger once he put some more pieces together? Would he go to the sheriff and ask the wrong questions, bringing the weight of the law down on his head? It was well into the early hours of the morning before Joe’s body overrode his mind and he fell into a restless sleep.


As Annie poured her husband a second cup of coffee and dropped it on the hearth beside him, she watched as he pulled on his boots. She slowly turned and pushed the curtain aside and glanced at the weather outside. The storm from the night before had blown itself out and had left behind a steady drizzle of rain. The first hint of sun was rising over the rooftops and she turned back to where Tiny was pulling on his slicker.

“There’s a plate warming in the oven.”

“You really expect he’s still gonna be there?”

“You don’t?”

Tiny dropped his empty cup on the table and reached for a cloth to wrap up the plate. He hoped he was wrong, but he’d seen that look before. The frightened boy who had tried to stare him down the night before looked like a rabbit caught in a snare. He clenched his fists at the memory of the web of bruising down the boy’s side and back. Despite his claim that he’d fallen off his horse, they both knew it was a lie. Somebody had laid into the boy and it was fairly obvious he was running from whoever that was. Tiny had mulled over his angry thoughts with his wife for the better part of two hours and come up with nothing. Something the boy had said suddenly dropped into his memory and Tiny turned to stare at Annie. He said there was no family waiting for him. His ma was dead or gone. His pa could also be dead if he was reading between the lines correctly. So where was he running to? Nothing was adding up. He sighed as he picked up the plate and kissed his wife on the cheek.

“I hope he’s still there.”

The laneway from his home to the livery was only a short distance and his long legs covered it easily. As the sun struggled to push through the drizzle, he felt the weather perfectly matched his mood.


The trio of faces shimmered before him and seemed to merge together into one terrifying black mass. As he crawled backwards in the mud, away from the threats and venom, he saw the shadow moving towards him. His voice died in his throat and he felt hands grasping at his arms. He tried to fight them off, but they gripped tighter. He heard someone calling his name and he tried to turn towards the voice.

“Pa!”

“Easy now, boy. I ain’t gonna hurt ya.”

“Pa!” Joe screamed as the arms pulled him upright and he threw a wild fist at his attacker.

Tiny wrapped both arms around the boy and held on until he shook himself fully awake. He could feel Joe’s heart pounding against his own chest as he struggled to draw breath.

“Easy now. You’re alright.”

Joe found himself enveloped and for the briefest moment he thought Hoss had found him. Relief competed with fear as he tried to simply breathe. As light filtered through the door and he took note of his surrounds, it all came rushing back and he realised the arms that held him were not his brother’s. Tiny slowly unwound his arms and allowed Joe to settle back against the straw. He dropped his gaze to the floor and tried to cover over the sheer terror that had held him captive only minutes before.

You’re all alone.

They’re all dead.

The ugly words from his dream caught in his throat and he struggled to breathe. The Hamilton brothers had caught up with his family and taken their revenge before hunting him down like some kind of animal. Words wafted over his head and it was another few minutes before he realised that Tiny was speaking to him. He shifted in the straw and tried to stand up, but his legs betrayed him.

“That was some dream you was havin’.”

Colour was beginning to seep back into his face and Joe nodded as Tiny handed him a canteen of water. He allowed himself a long, slow drink and hoped that his hands had stopped shaking by the time he passed it back.

“Thanks.”

“Wanna tell me what that was all about?’ Tiny crouched in the straw in front of him as Joe vehemently shook his head.

“No!” If he recounted even one minute of it, he was afraid it would somehow come to life and the horrific images would become truth.

You’re all alone.

They’re all dead.

Joe shook himself once again and forced himself to stand up. “I’m fine.”

“Oh yeah, fine as frog hair.”

Joe flinched as the familiar phrase that would have made him laugh became a taunt to his fearful thoughts. Would he ever hear either of his brothers make the tired joke again?

“I need to get moving.” Joe pushed away from the outstretched hand and made his way towards his horse’s stall.

“Keep runnin’, ya mean?”

Joe spun on his heel to glare at the man following behind him. The sight of him was so reminiscent of Hoss that he almost stopped breathing.

“I ain’t running! I’ve got places to be.”

Tiny decided he had nothing to lose and he stepped forward again. “Listen, it ain’t no skin off my nose if you stay or go, but it seems to me there’s a whole bucketloada reasons for ya to stay another day or so and not one that I can see in favour of ya runnin’ outta here today.”

“You don’t know anything about me or what I should be doing.” The response could have sounded defiant, but it just sounded defeated.

“Well … that ain’t zactly true.”

Joe looked up in alarm. Had some kind of information or wanted poster shown up?

“I can see that you’re mighty sore and need a day or two to rest. It’s also rainin’ out there and it ain’t no fun in the saddle without a slicker, which I know ya don’t have. And that pretty little horse o’ yours could do with a rest after ya near rode him into the ground.”

Joe dropped his gaze as he considered the last point. He’d pushed hard and Cochise had given all he had, but he could not bear the thought of causing his horse to founder. Tiny knew he’d struck a nerve with his guess and he barely concealed a smile. The boy might not stop to think about himself, but his horse was a whole other deal.

“And one last thing.”

Joe slowly looked up when the sentence remained hanging. “What last thing?”

Tiny reached across to pick up the plate from the bench and pulled off the cloth. “My Annie gets mighty miffed when folks don’t eat her good cookin’. If you don’t want these eggs and biscuits, I’m just gonna have to eat them so she don’t get offended.” He patted at his ample waist as he talked. “And my Annie says I eat too much already. But I just don’t want ta end up puny.”

Joe laughed in spite of himself. The final comment sounded so much like Hoss that the laugh almost became a sob, but he slowly stepped forward and took the plate that was held out towards him.

“Well, I can’t offend Miss Annie, I guess.”

“Good choice! She might be only half my size, but she still scares me with that wooden spoona hers!” Tiny winked at him as he began to laugh and Joe smiled as he considered the absurdity of the giant man being scared of his wife.

Tiny leaned up against the railing as he watched the boy eat. “I been thinkin’. I got me a pile of work next door, what with bent horseshoes and other things to keep me goin’ all day. Whaddaya say to muckin’ out these stalls and earnin’ your keep in here today?”

Joe nodded enthusiastically as he finished off the last of the eggs. The idea of riding off into the rain held no appeal other than putting some more distance between him and the Hamilton brothers, but Tiny was right. Cochise needed a day to rest and truth be told, so did he. One day couldn’t hurt since nobody would see him tucked away inside the livery. He’d allow them both a day to rest before heading off again. He had no idea where he was going to go, but he knew he couldn’t stay put. The chill of the dream was still too real and he shivered in spite of himself.

The blacksmith pulled on his leather apron and began to head towards the door. He paused as he watched Joe gather up his blanket and fold it into a pile. He’d managed to keep the boy put for at least a day, but it wouldn’t be long before he tried to run again. He just hoped he’d get somewhere with pulling a little more information that would help before that happened. The boy had called for his pa in the middle of his torment. Was he still alive after all? He frowned as he began to gather an armload of wood for the forge and tried again to put the fragmented pieces together.

Throughout the rest of the day, he pounded away at heated metal and pushed it into shape, but his mind was elsewhere. If the town had a telegraph line, he’d have wired the sheriff over in Carson City, but he didn’t have that option. Somebody had to be looking for the boy. Somebody had to know what that brand was on his horse.


Hoss pulled his hat down and watched as water ran down across his chest and rolled down onto the ground. The slow drizzling rain was enough to be annoying, but the biggest problem was that it had washed away any kind of tracks. They were left completely at the mercy of guesswork and it had been a toss of the dice to decide which way to go. The three of them trawled along through the mud and rain as they made their way to Carson City. There were dozens of ranches in between and a hundred places Joe could have run to. With no firm leads to go on, Ben had elected to head for the larger town and send a wire to Roy Coffee, hoping and praying that Joe might have gone home.


“You damn fool! You’ve lost the trail!” If the two riders had been closer together, one of them might have found a fist in his face, but they were separated by a deep rut in the road that had filled with water.

“And you can still find it, I s’pose!”

“I was followin’ you!”

“Well maybe you should quit followin’ me and go find your own way! Ain’t nobody twistin’ your arm to stay with me!”

Merv glared at his brother and spat to the side of his horse before responding again. “We got us a job to finish first. That snot-nosed brat looked down his nose at us when he refused us a job. Then he shot down our brother, in case you forgot! He’s gonna pay for that before we’re done. Now, we need to figure out where those three got to so’s we can find the brat.”

“Got any ideas where they mighta gone? This mud’s just swallowed up any kind of tracks and we can’t keep traipsin’ all over in the hope we find ’em.”

Merv stared at his brother for a moment before nodding. “I got an idea.” He urged his horse forward without having any real plan of where to head next. He just wouldn’t give his brother the satisfaction of thinking he wasn’t in control.

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Author: Questfan

27 thoughts on “Sunset (by Questfan)

  1. Third read of this story. Family and now another Family. So many emotions from all the characters.
    A wonderfully written story and great read.
    Thank you for another story.

    1. It’s always lovely to hear a reader came back to read a story again so I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it so much. I think it was my favourite one to write.

  2. This story was my favorite of yours that I’ve read so far! It reminded me of the stories I love when I was young – adventure, angst, emotion, but more importantly, the things we sometimes have to go through to mature and grow and learn. His journey was wrought with unfortunate circumstances- but he took each one with the honor and true heart of a Cartwright, and came out the other end a wiser and better man.

    1. Thank you so much for such a wonderful review. I think this was one of my favourites to write, especially as Tiny just wrote himself.

  3. Good story, except that Little Joe would be carrying a gun at 16 at that time and place. 16 was considered a man.

  4. I have really enjoyed your wonderful tale of Joe’s bravery. The interaction of Tiny and the brothers …. truly inspired. Thank you so much for sharing it .

    1. Thank you so much. I loved writing Tiny as he just came to life on the pages so I’m glad you enjoyed reading his story too.

  5. That was a great story!where our little Joe is real teenage hero saving a damsel in distress by killing villain !!?? than escaping to save his family from consequences of his brave act !!again getting injured almost fatally in attempt of saving big bro Adam !!SJS (poor Joe ????) was quite intimidating!!But all well that ends well type !!JPM ?????always great!!that last hoss & tiny arm fight scene was lovely !!I love both Tiny & Annie too !they were so cute & helping !!!predicting right things about Joe, helping him in his ordeal & than helping him to get his health after injury !!It was really difficult for Ben to cut through his own son ????bit he did It!!!all in all loved your story & way of storytelling too !!!

    1. Your reviews are always so enthusiastic and a joy to read. I loved writing Tiny and Annie just turned up, demanding my attention too. I’m glad you enjoyed the story so much.

    1. Thank you. I think Tiny is one of my favourite OCs that I have written and he needed Annie to keep him on the straight and narrow! I’m glad you liked them.

  6. Loved the story. The connections in this family are so strong. Tiny and Annie were perfect. Life long friends.

    1. Thank you. Tiny kind of wrote himself and Annie came along to keep him in line. Glad you enjoyed getting to meet them too.

  7. Nicely done, Questfan. Enjoyable story and enjoyable characters. Glad you’ve decided to post in our library!

  8. great story two different sets of brothers, one very loving set and the others well lets say not very nice. I really enjoyed the story .

  9. This was a great story that I couldn’t wait to get back to reading through-out my busy day! Joe was really lucky to find Tiny and Annie. I really loved the ending.

    1. Thank you. I hope you got to doing the things you needed to as well. I have found myself reading when I should be working! I’m glad you enjoyed the story.

    1. Thank you. I’m glad you liked them as I had fun writing them. I have an idea for a sequel story to this that isn’t ready to write yet, but hopefully soon.

  10. Wonderful story of brothers looking out for brothers, but we won’t speak of those other brothers who don’t know the meaning of compassion and love.

    I hope that Tiny and Annie will make guest appearances in your future stories; I like them. 🙂

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m happy to ignore those other brothers too. Tiny was a fun character to write who almost wrote himself and Annie showed up to keep him in line. I liked them both too and am sure they’ll crop up again somewhere.

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