For disclaimer, see Chapter 1.

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As Jesse James was making his way through western Tennessee, he was moving closer and closer to the small town of Seven Hills. It was a town where everyone moved slowly, and no one really worried about anything. Everyone with the exception of 18-year old Cody Newman, that is. Cody was on a mission much like Jesse's. He sought to bring his father's killer to justice, and sought to finally let his weary body and mind have some peace.

Peace was not an option, however, until Cody served his father's murderer with either a bullet or a noose. The only problem Cody faced was finding him. He'd heard so much about the man who had not given his father a chance to surrender. He'd studied the man and read about him until he discovered weaknesses and gaps in the man's ability and methods. Finally, Cody was confident that he could bring the savage man to justice. To the justice he deserved.

Cody strode over to the town's old cemetery, where he often visited his father's grave. He bowed his head in silent reverence, and whispered a vow of vengeance. "I'll get 'im, pa, I'll get 'im. I swear it."

Cody placed his hat back on his head and strode forward to Johnson's Mercantile. He needed some corn for the chickens and a few other items to make it through the week. Something moved in the corner of his eye and he quickly glanced at the incoming rider heading his way. Cody thought that it was mighty late in the day for a straggler to be coming to Seven Hills. Supper had already been served at the hotel. Something in the rider's stance told him to stay put at the gate of the cemetery, that this was someone that should be familiar.

Cody quickly moved to kneel at a gravestone that allowed him full view of the street, but kept anyone on the street from taking notice of him. It was then that he realized who the man was. It was the outlaw Jesse James himself.

Cody was taken aback and felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him.

He whispered to himself, "They say, 'give me liberty or give me death,' Jesse James. But I ain't lettin' you get to Liberty before I give you death. You can count on that, you dirty outlaw. You killed my pa."

Jesse dismounted at the only boarding house in town, and tied his horse to the post out front. He thought it was poor placement for it to be right across from the cemetery. He could only think of one word: morbid.

He glanced around, trying not to look suspicious. Even though he was no longer wanted and no longer an outlaw, he never could shake the habit of scoping out every situation for possible attack or ambush. As he took in the whitewashed fences, and the tidy houses lining the street, he had a hard time believing that trouble would find him in a quaint town such as this one. In the same instant, he realized that therein lay the danger.

For some reason he could not determine, he felt something was amiss in the little town of Seven Hills. It was then that he heard the gate of the cemetery creak shut with a haunted house like quality. He turned abruptly, expecting to see an old man bearing flowers, or an old woman wiping away tears with a handkerchief.

The sight that met him however, was nothing of the sort. He felt a sense of dread as he took in the deepening shadows.

There was no one there. No one at all.