Disclaimer: Do not own Young Riders or the characters.
"Buck you better come look at this." Lou called from the open doorway at the back of the barn.
His eyes lifted and met the small rider's, her face held a look of anguish, anger, and maybe even a little bit of pity. Buck had no desire to get pity from anyone but especially not Lou. Letting out a sigh Buck dropped his ruined tack on a bale of hay, he'd see if he could salvage some it later, before walking over to Lou.
"What is it Lou?" Buck asked as he stepped out of the barn.
"Come on, I'll show you." Lou replied leading the way to the bunkhouse. Once there she didn't have to point out what she wanted him to see. There painted on the side of the bunkhouse was a message. A message meant for him.
"Either the injun gets out of Sweetwater or the next time it won't just be the horse and tack we hurt."
Buck felt like shouting to the skies about the unfairness of his life. Why should it matter if he was here, why should his friends suffer because of him? Why?
"I don't know about you but I'm getting sick of this." Jimmy stated a scowl on his face.
"What I don't understand is how they keep doing this without any of us knowing it until the next morning." Kid said tilting his head to the side in confusion.
"Simple Kid, they wait until Buck is away on a run, I think whoever is doing this must know our schedule and waits for Buck to be gone on a long run." Lou pointed out.
"I should just leave, so these things quit happening. Next time it could be one of you that gets hurt." Buck stated sadly looking over at his makeshift family. He couldn't fathom anything happening to any of them because of him.
"No Buck, you can't leave." Ike signed, looking at his best friend that might as well be his brother.
"Ike if any of you were hurt because of me, I'd never be able to forgive myself." Buck said meeting his brother's green eyes.
"Buck you should report this to Sam, whoever is doing this is not just threatening you but all of us, they are vandalizing Pony Express property too." Lou said.
"Ain't no need to report it to Sam, I already done that the first time this happened, but unless we catch who's doing it, there's not much Sam can do." Teaspoon said walking up at that moment.
"But how are we supposed to do that Teaspoon? They never come around unless Buck ain't here and the rest of us sleep through it." Cody asked.
"Simple Cody, we make them think Buck is gone. Since they seem to come around when Buck makes his run to Laramie every week, I'm going to send one of you instead but leave Buck's name on the schedule. If they really are going according to the schedule we should be able to stop this." Teaspoon said.
"Who's going to go instead of Buck?" Kid asked.
"You are Kid." Teaspoon replied.
"Now I know we could always just set a trap for whoever is doing this but I think a bit of a lesson might be more in order for them and I think by the time we are done with them, they just might turn themselves in." Teaspoon said a mischievous grin spreading over his face.
The riders all looked at each other and smiled. "What do you have in mind Teaspoon?" Jimmy asked.
"Alright this is what we are going to do." Teaspoon said as he proceeded to lay the game plan out for the riders. And if this plan of Teaspoon's worked they would never have problems like this again.
A few days later two riders sat overlooking the station. They were making sure that the Kiowa breed was gone on his weekly run to Laramie.
"Are ya sure he's gone Bud?" Vester Hall asked turning to his companion.
"Sure I'm sure Vester; he always leaves for Laramie on Tuesdays." Bud Fisher replied not even looking at the younger man.
"Well then how come only that painted mare is gone? I ain't never seen no one but that Kid fella ride her." Vester pointed out.
"I'm telling ya he's gone, you worry too much." Bud said getting slightly annoyed. "Come on, we'll come back after they go to bed. We's going have to be careful cause the moon is really full tonight."
The two riders turned their horses back towards Sweetwater unaware that they themselves were being watched. After they had ridden out of sight Buck stepped out from his place in the barn where he had a perfect view of the two horsemen. He hadn't been close enough to tell who they were but he knew they were the ones responsible for the things happening at the station. Buck walked across the yard and into the bunkhouse where the rest of the riders waited.
"They were just on the hill near the station making sure I was gone. I think it's safe to say, we can expect them tonight." Buck said looking around at his friends grinning.
"Well then let's get started." Teaspoon said clapping his hands and rubbing them together chuckling gleefully.
Bud and Vester rode out to the express station shortly after two in the morning; they stopped their horses just on the outskirts and tied them to the brush before sneaking closer. "I gotta funny feeling bout this Bud, something ain't right." Vester whispered as they got closer.
Bud looked around, the station seemed almost too quiet; it was then that the moon came out from behind a cloud shining brightly on the station yard. The two trouble makers gasped in horror as they saw bodies strewn all over the yard. The woman Emma who ran the station was nowhere to be seen, they could only hope she was safe, they'd hate for her to have been hurt.
"That bloody savage did this." Bud hissed as he neared the fallen body of the old man that was in charge of the boys. He was stretched out on his side, a gun in his hand. They could see the pool of blood forming underneath him from the arrow stuck in his back.
A few feet away was the one known as 'Wild Bill', his colts nowhere to be seen. "Guess he weren't as wild as that breed." Vester said nodding his head towards Hickok.
"I reckon not." Bud replied.
It was then that a pain filled scream filled the air. The two looked around frantically and caught sight of something that turned their stomachs inside out. Buck was leaning over the body of the smallest rider; his knife looked like it was pressed to the boys head. When he raised his hand back up, he held a scalp dripping with blood. With scalp in hand Buck snuck off into the shadows never looking their way.
"I don't think he knows we're here." Vester whispered to his companion.
"That be a good thing, else we end up like that boy." Bud replied.
They went to leave but the sound of the bunkhouse door crashing open caused them to spin around their faces as white as ghosts. Cody staggered from the bunkhouse door, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead.
"Help, ya got to help me. He's gone crazy. Please ya have to help me." Cody called out as he staggered closer to the two.
When he was only five feet away, Buck appeared in the shadows his knife flying from his hand. Cody fell onto his face, the hilt of a knife all that was visible sticking out of his back, the blood seeping out around the wound. The two men looked back at Buck, his face covered in war paint and smeared with the blood of the riders. Those same riders the men thought were his friends.
Buck let out a warrior cry just as Ike ran from the shadows and proceeded to fight Buck. Bud and Vester took that opportunity to run for their lives. When they got to where they had tied their horses they discovered that they were gone. They had to run all the way back to Sweetwater on foot.
Sam Cain was sitting at his desk with his feet propped up, his hat hung low over his eyes. He hated working the night shift but thought it only fair that he work some of them too, especially when he had a prisoner. Most nights he could just lock up and go on back to his room at the boarding house, but when a cell was occupied he stayed. He had just fallen asleep again after making his rounds when the door of his office was thrown open. Sam was on his feet in a second, gun in hand looking at the two men panting about to collapse in his door.
"Vester? Bud? What in tarnation are ya doing?" Sam asked putting his gun back in its holster.
"Marshal, ya got to come with us. That injun out at the express station just killed them all!" Bud cried out after he caught his breath.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"That injun that works at the express station just up and went crazy and murdered all of them." Vester said his face still pale.
"Now why on earth would I believe that Buck Cross would suddenly go crazy and kill everybody, those boys are his friends." Sam said. This wasn't the first time that these two had been in making claims against Buck, though this is the first time they accused him of murder.
"I'm telling ya Marshal, we's done saw him do it!" Bud exclaimed.
"And when exactly did you see him do this?" Sam asked.
"Just now, we just came from there." Vester said.
"And what were you doing out at the station this time of night?" Sam asked.
"Trying to scare that bloody savage off!" Bud cried.
"So let me get this straight, you went out to the station to try and scare Buck away. I take it ya'll are the ones responsible for the vandalism and theft at the station and the threats Buck has been receiving?" Sam asked.
"Yes … but we were right, that injun ain't safe to be around. Now come on Marshal, ya can't just sit here. He could be getting away or coming here to kill everybody." Vester stated pulling on Sam's arm.
"You two sure you ain't been at the saloon too long?" Sam asked walking out the door after the two men.
"We ain't been nowhere near the saloon Marshal." Bud said.
"Alright, well let's go check this out. Where are your horses?" Sam asked noticing that only his horse was tied up outside.
"They were missing; we had to run the whole way back here on foot." Vester said.
"Run over to the livery and get a couple, tell JD that I'll take care of the fee in the morning." Sam said.
A half hour later the three were on their way back to the station.
Sam Cain and the two trouble makers rode into the station yard not long after sun up. Sam scanned the yard but nothing seemed amiss to him. "What did he do with the bodies?" Vester asked.
About that time the bunkhouse door opened and Emma walked out. "Morning Sam, who ya got there with ya?" Emma called out.
"Emma are the boys and Teaspoon around?" Sam asked.
"Sure are, everybody is inside eating breakfast; you're welcome to join us." Emma said before going back inside.
Sam turned to look at the two beside him, "Well come on then."
The three dismounted and walked into the bunkhouse. Both Vester and Bud looked like they had seen a ghost when they saw all the riders and Teaspoon sitting around the bunkhouse table eating their breakfast like nothing happened.
"It ain't possible! I know what I saw, they's was all dead. That savage killed them. We saw him throw his knife and kill him." Vester cried out pointing to Cody.
"Well now what's this all about Sam?" Teaspoon asked arching his eyebrow.
"Seems these two claim to have seen Buck murder all of you last night when they came out here to make good on the threatening message they left for Buck. They've already admitted to being the ones responsible for the other acts of vandalism, thefts, and threats." Sam said nodding towards the two men.
"Is that so … well then I reckon you should place them both under arrest. I know Russell, Majors, and Waddell will want to press charges for the damaged Express property." Teaspoon said.
"One of you boys want to help me get these pieces of scum back to town?" Sam asked looking at the boys.
"I'll help ya Sam." Cody said standing up after finishing his third helping.
Sam grinned knowing that whatever happened last night would be a good story and Cody was the best at story telling. "Thank ya Cody. Alright fellas let's go."
As soon as Sam and Cody had led the men outside and got them on their horses, the bunkhouse erupted into fits of laughter.
"Did ya see their faces?" Jimmy gasped out.
"They looked like they were going to be sick." Lou said snickering.
Buck just grinned and shook his head. "I reckon we won't be having any problems from them anymore."
"Once this story gets out, ain't nobody going to come around here at night. They'll swear that we are all ghosts." Teaspoon said among a fresh chorus of laughter.
After Sam had locked the two trouble makers into a cell he turned to Cody who was grinning like an idiot. "Alright now Cody, what really happened out there last night?"
"Well see we figured out that they were only coming around when Buck went on his run to Laramie. So we left Buck's name on the schedule but Kid took it. We knew we had to figure out who was doing those things or you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. But Teaspoon figured they needed a little lesson taught to them." Cody started.
"But you's were all dead, we saw it!" Vester cried out from the cell.
"No what you saw was us playing dead." Cody stated.
"The old man and that Hickok fella had arrows in their backs. We saw that injun throw his knife at you and it stick in your back. You fell not five feet from us. That scrawny one was scalped we saw it!" Bud exclaimed.
Sam was doing his best to keep from laughing. "Care to explain Cody?"
"Well the arrows were just the shafts; they didn't have heads on them. Emma is kinda mad about the holes she has to repair in Teaspoon and Jimmy's shirts from where we pushed them through the fabric." Cody said laughing.
"What about the blood, we saw it pooling under the old man?" Vester asked.
"Red paint. And the supposed knife to the back for me and the blood oozing out of the gash on my head. That blood was red paint too. And the knife was just the hilt of a broken knife. If ya had looked closer you would have seen where it was being held on with thread. What you saw was Buck looking like he threw his knife at me but really he dropped it behind his back." Cody explained his grin widening as Sam could no longer contain his chuckles.
"But what about that scrawny boy we saw scalp. How you gonna explain that one?" Bud asked.
"Well what you saw was Buck kneeling over Lou alright but what he was pressing his knife into was a potato there by Lou's head. The hair with the blood dripping from it was just some of the hair from Warrior's mane that ya'll cut off. We just dipped it into some of that red paint." Cody said breaking into laughter at the looks of astonishment on their faces.
Sam was practically rolling on the floor laughing at the prank the boys had played on the trouble makers. "Well I reckon that'll teach ya for making threats against those pony express boys."
"I can't believe it… we turned ourselves in over a prank." Bud muttered.
"I told ya I had a bad feeling about going there last night." Vester stated which earn another round of laughter from Sam and Cody.
"Ya wanna know what is really funny about all this Cody?" Sam asked once he got his laughter under control.
"What's that Sam?" Cody asked.
"Today is April first, April Fool's Day." Sam stated cracking up again.
"Best April Fool's joke ever." Cody replied joining Sam yet again.