"Where the hell are we?" Deacon asked with a frustrated voice. They have only been riding for a few hours and they were already stranded in a desert.
"Lost?" Terry said, trying to figure out exactly how this happened.
"Weren't you a Buffalo soldier?" Deacon asked. "I thought you knew how to navigate the land."
"I was mostly in forests. I have no experience in a desert. What about you Mr. cowboy?"
"Same." Deacon said. They were lost and now their rations were running out fast.
"Let's just keep heading upwards." Terry said as he wiped sweat off his forehead. "Maybe we will find a city, or at least water."
Deacon agreed and they both kept heading the same direction.
"Ugh, we're going to die." Deacon complained.
"Stop, you're annoying me." Terry said, faintly.
"Shouldn't your kind know how to survive the heat?" Deacon asked.
"Dumbass. I wasn't born over there. How should I know how they lived?" Terry said, angrily.
"Isn't it instinct?"
"We are not animals!" Terry yelled. "Honestly you're either a huge bigot or an idiot, or both."
Terry looked up and saw some vultures circling around them.
"Those damn birds think we are an easy meal." Terry said.
Deacon looked up and then opened fire at them in a split second. The vulture corpses plopped down on the ground.
"There's dinner." Deacon said casually. He then went to pick up the corpses.
"You seriously expect me to eat that?" Terry said with a disgusted face.
Deacon just rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll eat yours."
Terry swallowed hard. "Let's just get this over with."
They both made camp and a fire. Deacon slowly roasted the vultures until they were a good brown color. They actually looked edible. How they tasted, was a different story.
"This, this was a bad idea." Deacon said as he could barely keep the vulture down. It tasted very gamy but rotten as well. Probably due to their diet.
"oh-no." Terry ordered. "You made me eat this, so we are gonna finish all of it."
"I know." Deacon said. "This is probably the only food we are going to get til we finally reach civilization."
After forcing down their vulture meal, they got ready for a restless sleep.
They were awoken early the next morning by the sound of cannon fire.
"What the hell?" Terry said, rubbing his eyes. When he finally gained his vision, he noticed Deacon was putting on his coat and strapping his holsters in a hurry.
"Let's go Ruff-head." Deacon rushed. "We're heading toward that sound."
Terry looked confused. "Shouldn't we be heading away from cannon fire?"
"Where there's cannons, there's people." Deacon said as he saddled his horse. "We are getting out of this God-forsaken desert."
Before Terry even started getting ready, Deacon was already far gone.
"Gah! Wait for me Dumbass!" Terry yelled. He threw his clothes on and raced to Deacon.
When Terry finally caught up, Deacon and his horse were kneeling over a river in a savannah and slurping up as much water as possible.
Terry tried his best to not look as pathetic, but the thirst was so strong that he ended up doing the same.
Koom!
The sound of a cannon went off again. It was coming from behind the trees, into the forest.
Deacon and Terry raced through the trees. The sound of gunfire was now accompanying the cannons. After ten minutes, the firing ceased. The two saw something that stopped them dead in their tracks. A burnt corpse. Terry got off his horse to investigate. He turned it over and noticed some beaded jewelry that had not been burnt.
"What is it?" Deacon asked.
"This dead person was a Pedbony. A native tribe."
"Oh, so a Rosie." Deacon said.
Terry looked annoyed. "This was a human being, can you have a little respect for the dead?"
"But, what'd I say?"
Bang! Another gunshot rang.
"We better go see what's going on." Deacon said. "Just a little more Ginny." He told his horse before he spurred it, and then raced toward the sound.
When they finally reached a more open space, they saw something that horrified them. There were Pedbony corpses piled on top of each other and Union soldiers were setting them on fire. Huts were ablaze. Living tribesmen were being dragged out and shot.
"Don't leave any alive!" one of the soldier ordered. The General wants to make sure they don't get in the way of our expedition."
"Hey Lieutenant! Look what we done found." somebody off in the distance said.
The soldier in charge looked and saw two of his men dragging a female Pedbony by her braids.
"She's a pretty forest fruit ain't she?" one of the soldiers dragging her said with a vicious smile.
"Just put a bullet in her head." The Lieutenant said. "We are in a hurry."
"Aww come on. We been away from our wives for so long, can't we have a little fun with her?"
"Fine but hurry." The Lieutenant said.
The two soldiers laughed wickedly. That’s when the Pedbony woman scratched one of them.
"Ack! This dumb bitch! The soldier said. He then raised his hand to smack her. By the time his arm reached her face, he noticed his hand was gone.
The soldier fell backwards in shock. Not before his entire head jerked sideways, and he fell dead. The other soldier looked to his left and saw Terry aiming right at him.
Before he could react, he was knocked backward by a horse. Deacon was on top of his horse, Ginny, and he had his pistol aimed right at him.
Bang!
The Pedbony women looked up at Deacon in fear.
"Don't worry Rosy. We're here to help." He said, as Terry rode up next to him.
The woman just stared at the two for a good minute, and then she ran off. Terry rode after her.
Deacon was about to follow when about a dozen union soldiers surrounded him. All pointing their muskets at him.
Terry heard several gunshots behind him. He looked back at where he left Deacon and just shrugged.
"He's probably fine." Terry thought.
He finally caught up with the woman. When she saw Terry, she tried to run faster but ended up tripping. Terry stopped and tried to help her, but she started screaming and defending herself.
"Stop!" He said. "I'm here to- gah," She was scratching and kicking. "I'M HERE TO HELP!" He yelled in Pedbony.
When she heard him, she stopped struggling. She just stared at him for a good minute, and then burst into tears. She buried her face into his chest and wept.
"It's ok." Terry said in Pedbony. "We're here to help."
Deacon rode up right next to them. Terry looked up and saw that his pistols were smoking. He didn't even have a scratch on him.
"Is she ok?" Deacon asked.
"Her entire race was subsequently wiped out, what do you think?"
The woman looked at Deacon with fear. She tried hiding her face behind Terry.
"Why won't the Rosy talk to me?" Deacon asked.
"Maybe it's because you keep calling her 'Rosy'!" Terry yelled.
Deacon just got off his horse and looked at her. "Who did this?" he asked.
Terry started to translate, when the woman spoke up.
"I know what he said." She told Terry, in English. "My people call him, Stonewall."
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