Ch 9
The sun rose to warm their faces the next morning. There was a chill in the air.
"Damn it feels good out here." Jimmy says to Buck.
"You got that right." Buck replies as he puts away his bedroll.
"Missouri is our next destination." Jimmy says to Buck.
"Wow never been there before." Buck answers.
"It's nice there, kinda cool weather for the most part. Me and Dad rode that way once on our way to back to Kansas." Jimmy says.
The boys find a trail off the river back around midday.
"Let's see where it goes." Buck said.
"Let's do it." Jimmy says.
They ride the trail til it came to a small crossroad. The old weathered sign said Missouri was to the right and Kentucky was to the left. Illinois was straight down the road.
"Let's eat some smoked fish as we ride." Buck said.
"We need to keep riding." Jimmy answered.
"Well I think we should turn East an ride to Kentucky."Jimmy says.
They make the turn and ride on, eating their smoked fish and washing it down with some bread and water.
"You ever seen the smokey mountains?" Jimmy asked.
"The smokey mountains? No, never seen them. The reservation was on flat land bro." Says Buck.
Jimmy looked at Buck an smiled, well we going to change that ol boy." Jimmy replies.
"Why are they called the smoky mountains Jimmy?" Asked Buck.
"Well Buck, the local indians that live there call the mountains Shaconage which means the place of blue smoke. There something to see now." Jimmy says as he looks over at Buck.
"Man I can't wait." Buck says with a child like smile on his face .
"I'm thinking there's going to be a good place to hide our cash. There's all kinds of caves in them mountains. There's also some crazy ass hillbilly's that call the mountains home! They don't take kindly to outsiders passing through on the land. They will be watching us before we even know they're out there." Jimmy tells him.
"Damn man." Buck says.
"Yeah, they won't bury us. They will eat on us for a few weeks."
"Holy shit man, what the hell." Buck says as Jimmy laughs.
"Don't worry we won't let that happen ole buddy ."Jimmy says looking at Buck .
"Well damn! Look, it's a ferry crossing the Mississippi River." Jimmy yells.
The boys ride up to find a nasty little river rat of a man.
"Hey men where y'all headed?"
Buck looks down.
"Where the fuck you think we are going?"
Jimmy laughs at Buck and looks at the skinny man.
"We want to go to the other fucking side dipshit." He pulled his gun and points it right in the man's face.
"Would you be having a problem with that dipshit?" Asked Buck as the man cowers down.
"No mister. Easy please. I'll take you across right away." The river rat says.
The boys ride up on the barge. They dismounted and stood by their horses as the nasty little shit pulled his rope.
The man looks at Jimmy and sees his guns. He gets a feeling that he knows Jimmy's kind. He looks over at Buck who was staring a hole in his face. He quickly looks away. The closer they got to the other bank, Buck sees him keep making this kinda hand wave like he was looking for someone.
"Hey fuck face! You got someone waiting over there? Do ya boy?" Buck pulls his pistol.
"Hey let them pass!" he screams at the top of his lungs, "Let them pass!"
"What the fuck?" Jimmy looks at Buck.
They mount up and bolt off the end of the barge in the water just feet from the bank.
"Kill them! Kill them bastards!" the boat man yelled pulling his rope harder and harder.
Jimmy and Buck hit the bank fast as
shots rang out.
"Their behind the trees!" Jimmy yells to Buck.
Buck and Jimmy split the tree to find two men hiding out . The boys kill the shit out of both of them. Jimmy looks back and sees the the river rat making his way to the middle of the river. He pulled his long gun from it's holster and takes aim. He pulled the hammer back and let one rip. Jimmy's well placed shot finds its mark right up the side of the boat man's head blowing his brains out. His body falls still. Buck laughs and dismounts slapping Jimmy on the back.
"Damn it man, that was a great shot ole boy."
They gathered the gun belt from the dead men and laced them on their saddles.
Buck looks at Jimmy smiling as they mount up .
"I'm liking this pistol Jimmy." Buck says.
"Hell it fits you just right Buck." Jimmy says, "Let's ride partner."
They made their way down the trail a few hours and came to a small town.
"Look over there Buck." Jimmy says as points to the east. "That's the foot hills."
"Looks like we about ten miles from the hills." Buck said.
"Yeah. Let's see what's in the town and we will set off tomayrrow." says Jimmy.
They ride in to the town. They make their way to the only store that looked open.
They walked in to find two old farts sitting in rocking chairs. They only had overalls on with no shoes.
"What the hell y'all need?" asked one of the men.
"Damn, it's like that?" Jimmy asked.
"Well how else should it be whipper
snapper." The old man snarled. "Your in my damm house uninvited."
"We're sorry. We thought this was a store." Jimmy explains.
"Well it is. It's my store but we don't sell to y'all's kind." he says.
"What the fuck you mean our kind?" Buck asked stepping forward.
"It's my damn store. Get the hell out." The old man said.
"You nasty little shit." Buck says.
Jimmy turns his head to see four men trying to take the boxes off his horse.
"Fuckers."
He runs to the door drawing his guns. Shots ring out. The window busted open.
Jimmy stands tall and takes aim firing two shots, dropping one man. Buck rushes to the window firing off wildly hitting two of the men. Jimmy kills the last man as he runs away just in time to get clobbered over the head with a club. Buck spins on a dime and blows one old man away splattering his brain on the wall. The other old man blasts off a round from his scatter gun missing Jimmy as he fell to the floor. Buck takes aim and wastes the old man with his last four rounds.
"Jimmy! Jimmy!" Buck called out, "You ok man?"
"What the fuck did he hit me with?" Jimmy asked.
"He got you good." Buck laughs.
Jimmy picked his hat up and stood looking at Buck who was laughing so hard he had tears running down his face. Jimmy could not help but laugh as Buck was holding what looked like a fucking cow leg bone.
"Man shit." Jimmy says, "That old fart about knocked my brains out."
Buck laughs even harder now, fully bent over dying.
"Come on shithead. Let's get what we need and get the hell out of here. Before more show up."
Buck gets himself half way under control and finds a satchel. He filled it with jerky. Jimmy grabbed the other satchel. He filled it with blankets and a few shirts. He grabs a can of smoking tabacco and a few packs of papers. They mount up and see five or six armed men running down the street at them.
"A hundred yards away or so Buck?" Jimmy asks as he pulled his long gun. Buck pulled his rifle and fires off! Jimmy and Buck fired until they killed them all.
When the smoke cleared they had killed seven men.
"Jimmy we were born to kill brother. " Buck says.
"Damn Buck, I'm getting better with this long gun. Yah!" Jimmy screamed as they bolt out of town never looking back.
Buck and Jimmy's coats were full of wind as they blew behind them riding off like two wild ass outlaws.