I must apologize for being a bit late with this chapter. Also I have realized that Winchesters hadn't been invented since the 1870's so I also apologize for that. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 4

June 7th, 1869

I could feel the heat emanating from the fire as the house burned. Tears streaked down my cheek though I didn't know why. For some reason I was ten years old again. The ground under my bare feet was dirt and near me were corn stalks. In front of me was a burning house and near the house was a burning barn. There were men in front of the house.

I was in a little ditch hiding behind some shrubbery. My shirt was tattered and my blue overalls had a rip in the left pant leg at the knee. Next to me was my fourteen year old brother, Dan. His right cheek was bleeding and he had a pistol in one hand. He had on a brown wide brimmed hat and pair of brown pants. His eyes darted around widely as a scared look filled them.

A woman's scream was heard from inside the burning house. I whipped my head towards the house. I knew that scream; it was my mother's scream.

"No," I yelled as I tried to rush forward.

"Don't," Dan said, catching me and pulling me back. "Don't try to save Mom or Pa, they'd kill us too." He said this with the deepest regret in his voice.

"Who," I asked, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Then I heard the crack of a gunshot and the dirt in front of Dan and I flew up. The men were shooting at us.

"Come on," Dan said. "Let's get to Rigby's house. Maybe they can give us shelter."

I nodded and then stood up. Both of us ran from the burning buildings into the dark night. Then I heard a spine chilling voice behind us shout into the night,

"You can't hide from me! I will hunt every last person in this family down and kill them! Ya hear me?! I will kill you!"

Suddenly another gunshot was heard and I felt something sharp hit my back, painfully go through my body, and exit out of my body right under my chest.

I woke up with a start in my motel room bed. I looked around dazed and a bit confused. Sand colored walls, a brown drawer next to my bed, hard mattress with a brick like pillow and a stiff blanket. At first I had no idea where I was. I sat up and swung my boots onto the floor. I saw that before I had gotten in bead I must have taken off my shirt, vest, and hat because I still had my pants, holster and pistol, and boots on.

Suddenly I remembered yesterday, the train, the girl, and the jerk at the bar. Remembering it all so suddenly gave me a bit of a headache. I stood up and clumsily stumbled into the bathroom were I washed my face off with some water and looked in the mirror. I stared at the face I saw in the mirror; clad with blue feathers and a beak. I shook my head a couple of times to get all the water off my face and to clear my mind.

Then I remembered my dream and my hand instinctively felt the scar that bullet had left. In the mirror my reflection copied my movements. I shivered at the memory.

My brother had carried me to Rigby's house and when he was sure that I would be alright, he left. He had left a note that said he would hunt down and kill the men that murdered our parents. Dan wanted me to stay safe so he didn't bring me. I didn't see him again until five years later at my aunt's funeral. I was only able to get a glance at him before he left. I didn't even get to talk to him. I have not seen him since.

"What do I do now?" I asked the bird in the mirror.

Out of the blue my stomach growled.

'Well I guess I better get some food,' I thought as I left the bathroom.

I got on my red shirt when I started to smell an odor. I sniffed the air then I sniffed my shirt. Almost immediately I made a scrunched up face. The odor was originating from the shirt.

"Gotta get some new clothes too," I muttered as I fastened my gun belt around my waste. I had tucked in half of my shirt so the other half covered up my gun.

I noticed that Rigby was still asleep and decided not to wake him. I grabbed my hat and put it on while I walked out the door. Down in the lobby I said a brief hello to the guy behind the desk and walked out into the humid air. Almost immediately I started sweating.

Across from the motel was a white church and next to it on the right were a couple of stores. One of them was selling tobacco and other sorts of random things. The store next to it, named Harvy's Guns, sold guns, gun belts, and ammunition. The last store on the row was called Duck's Clothes.

'Good,' I thought as I walked over to the last store.

I walked inside and saw the counter at the back of a square room. There were a couple of chairs in the middle of the room with a couple of clothes racks place randomly throughout the store. Behind the desk a white duck was talking with a tall blue jay whose back was to me.

The blue jay was wearing a long brown overcoat which didn't allow me to see much of what he was wearing but I was able to see he had on black boots. One of his hands was bandaged with cloth that must have been white at one time, but was now more of a light tan color. Smoke from a cigarette he was smoking drifted into the air above him. The collar of his overcoat was turned up so I couldn't see the back of his head. Some of the feathers in the back of his head had grown long and barely touched the top of his overcoat collar.

The duck spotted me and whispered something to the blue jay. The blue bird turned his head slightly to get a good look at me, then quickly paid the duck, turned, and left with his head down. I watched him leave curiously, then decided it was nothing and went up to the counter.

"How may I help you?" the duck asked. He had on a black cap, a black vest over a white shirt, and black pants.

"Um, yes, I am looking for a new shirt, preferably a blue shirt. Oh yeah, and a good hat. This one has a couple of holes in it," I said, pointing to the tan hat on my head.

"Alright sir, I think I might know just what you need."

With that the duck left the counter and walked through his store. As he started searching through some shirts he said,

"The hats are near the front of the store if ya wanna look at 'em."

I nodded and walked to the hat rack in the front of the store. I looked through them until I found one that I liked. It had a brownish sandy color with a bill that circled all the way around. It was floppy and loose, not stiff like the one I had at the moment.

"I found a good shirt for ya." I heard the duck say.

"Good," I replied as I grabbed the hat off the rack and took it with me to the counter.

"Here," the duck said handing me a dark blue button up shirt.

"Thanks," I said. I tried it on in a room in the back of the store and it fit pretty well.

I came out with the blue shirt still on and paid for it and the hat. On the way out I tossed the red shirt and the riddled hat. Then I walked toward the bar I had been to the night before. It was located near the end of the row of shops and houses. I had learned last night during a conversation with a drunken man that at night the place was a bar and in the morning it was a diner. As I was walking in I took the time to look up at the name of the place. Josey's Diner was what it read.

Inside the diner there were shadows that seemed to envelope the back half of the place. The sunshine from the windows was the only source of light in the place, making it a little hard to see.

Upon walking in, I noticed that the same blue jay I saw in the clothes store was sitting in a booth, sipping some coffee from a tin mug. He was looking out the window. I noticed a scar that ran horizontally down his face over his left eye. He had thin black hair over his beak and a small, upside down triangular goatee above his chin. I decided to take a seat at a stool near the entrance, so he wouldn't see me. I had the strangest feeling that I knew the man. He looked to be a few years older than me.

Margaret appeared in front of me out of nowhere in her uniform. She actually startled me a bit.

"May I take your order sir?"

I stared at her for a second, remembering last night, then said smoothly,

"You can call me Mordecai. And I'll have a coffee with sugar and some grits. Thanks."

She nodded and was about to leave when she whispered,

"Thanks again, for last night. I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything," I said kindly. "It was the right thing for me to do."

She left then. I took another peek at the mysterious blue jay again who was still sipping his coffee. When Margaret came back with the coffee I thanked her then asked,

"Who is that blue jay over there?"

"No one really knows his name, he was just a drifter who wandered into town one day a couple months ago and decided not to leave. He got a couple of people worrying the first week, but he never did anything against the law so the people stopped. He's actually starting a ranch just outside of town. Raising cattle, I think. He doesn't talk much. In fact, the longest I've ever hear him talk is when he orders his breakfast, which is usually black coffee with no sugar and some grits. Anyway, why'd you ask?"

"Just…curious," I answered, which was true.

"Okay. Your coffee will be out in a minute." With that she left. My eyes trailed after her for a second, then I shifted my gaze back to the blue bird sitting at the booth. His shirt under his coat was tan and musty looking and he wore brown overalls.

I studied him for a minute and was about to sip my coffee when the doors to the diner burst open and for men walked in. I was able to see that three of them were law men, the badges on the black coat were very noticeable and I could tell that they were proud of the job.

They all had on a black vest with black pants and a white shirt. One man had a mustache that ran from under his nose to connect with an inch long beard that jutted out from his chin. Another man had horrible looking sideburns and some randomly placed facial hair under his nose and lower lip. The last man was completely clean shaven and looked to be about two or three years older than the other two law men. I guessed that he was probably the sheriff's second in command or something like that.

The fourth man remained a mystery to me. He had on a gray bowl had and a matching gray suit. He had on a white button up shirt under the jacket and a golden chain for a watch that might have been in his jacket. The man's entire upper lip was covered by a thick brown mustache that curled up at the ends.

They were obviously looking for someone and I prayed that it wasn't me. They scanned the bar until the one with the sideburns looked in my direction and whispered something to the others. Then they started walking my way.

'Crap,' I thought.

They were walking right towards me.

Glad you enjoyed it and if you didn't, too bad. I'll try to write the next chapter soon and until then, bye. Leave a review in the comments section below.