We are beginning to round the final curve…Nate only has a little bit more hell to raise.

The Buried Truth

"So that's what you told the Marshal's service?" Winona asked.

"Yep, just like he said. It seemed to be the easiest explanation." Raylan said sighing.

"And who is Eldon Everett?"

"He was a gentleman who was piggy-backed into a gravesite in the Lexington cemetery the night that Nate went wandering. He was a meth head, always into problems. Best guess is he stepped on some toes."

"And Seth is a scary guy in the middle of it all who happens to be your son's grandfather?"

"Yeah, a big reason that Nadine ran. They are a family involved in a lot of bad things. They shoot first and never ask questions and they bury bodies on top of bodies." Raylan said, the light bulb going off in his head. "Holy shit-Nathaniel get in here," he bellowed.

Nate had been watching TV in the other room but upon hearing his full name he quickly scooted to where his father was. "Yes sir?" he asked tentatively fearing he was in trouble for something he could no longer recall.

"Had you seen Seth before that day with Quarles?"

Nate hesitated and that told Raylan everything he needed to know. "When?" he asked brusquely.

"It was just for a second."

"When?" Raylan repeated.

"That night, down the street from the cemetery."

"Was he one of the men burying the body?"

Nate shrugged. "I can't say for sure, I saw him when they passed by in a car."

"Like hell you can't say, you told the police they didn't sound local, but you knew they did."

"I didn't even know who they were," Nate said.

"Look at me and do not lie!" Raylan warned.

Nate looked up at his father, his eyes struggling to maintain contact. "I heard them say something about this was what you got when you messed with a Campbell. But I honestly didn't know for sure we were related."

Raylan stood up and walked around in a circle. "Calm down Raylan," Winona said getting up. "It's over now."

"How can you be mad, if he had been in jail he wouldn't have been able to help you find me?" Nate reasoned.

"Well you said Eldon wasn't a very good guy," Winona added.

"He was a meth making scum whose arrogance most likely got him killed. He spent a lot of time in a western holler named Glasgow. I should have known right then the Campbell's were involved."

"Is that where they live?" Nate asked quietly.

Raylan scowled at his son. "I imagine he double-crossed them or just mouthed off and they killed him. I thought maybe a rival drug clan might have done it, but apparently not."

"So the Campbell's are drug dealers?" Nate asked.

"What? No, they deal in other atrocities. And don't you dare ask me," Raylan snapped.

"And his parents were buried in the backyard?" Winona asked recalling Raylan had yet to explain that.

"Yeah, they were good people. It looks like Quarles found the house, killed the Everett's and planted them in the backyard. Apparently they didn't want to sub-let. It just happened to come together into a plan that Seth could use. Sometimes it can be a small world."

She turned to Nate and softened her face as best she could. "Why did you have your gun with you that day?"

"I had a gut feeling."

"A gut feeling," she repeated.

"I knew Quarles was desperate. The first time I saw him he looked like he wanted to eat me, like I was dessert. That creepy feeling settled in my gut and when I found out he was on the run, I just couldn't shake it. I knew if I was found with a gun at school I would be expelled, but it just seemed like the right thing to do."

"And it was," Raylan whispered. "Thank God you went with your gut."

"While I waited for the bus, I debated about it. I stared at my bag forever, like it was going to tell me what to do. And then suddenly he was in the kitchen."

Winona turned her head as tears welled up. This boy had been in danger but was savvy enough to know how to defend himself from it. He had left a clue with Tommy, calling Quarles by name and had convinced the man he needed his bag with him; all the while not giving him any inclination of what he was up against. She looked at his stoic, defeated face and realized he had given up on life, at least the life of an average eleven year old and she couldn't hold her tears back.

"What's with the tears?" Raylan asked.

"How can you ask that?"

"Nate give us a minute," Raylan said. Nate hesitated, Winona's tears tugging at him as he knew they were for him.

"You are going to lose him Raylan. He can't continue to be a part of this violence and horror and just remain a normal child. My God, he was kidnapped, shot his captor, the second time he has shot a man by the way, watched his grandfather blow the man's brains out and then had to feed a bunch of lies to law enforcement. And that was only one day last week. How many people has he seen get shot and killed?"

Raylan began to count it out on his fingers. "It was rhetorical Raylan. That is the problem you don't think anything of it. Your father killed a man who he thought was you. My husband wanted us all dead, something that Nate knew but you didn't bother to tell me. And now, come to find out his grandfather is involved in some kind of crime syndicate and thinks nothing of blowing a man's brains out. This whole situation is beyond dysfunctional and it's going to either drive Nate away or kill him."

Raylan just stared off at the wall as it was now his turn to try not to cry. There was truth to what she said; Nate seemed to be slipping away from him, from everything; his eyes changing into reflections of the violence that surrounded him. He no longer questioned it, he merely accepted it.

Nate had heard every word from his position around the corner. She was right that nothing in his life was typical or ordinary. But he wasn't sure if he was fit for conventional. It just wasn't in his blood, not on the Givens side or the Campbell side. His parents love doomed him from the start; one can only run so far before they end up back where they started.