And this is how Josh got his horse. Just a fun idea to play around with! Hope you all enjoy it! :D
He's going to die today, that much is certain. It's just a matter of when and where and what method. Honestly he wishes they would just get on with it already; the wait is boring and if he's going to be killed he'd rather they just do it and be done with it.
His dumb luck had finally run out five days earlier in a little town called Robertson when he shot the owner of a ranch and stole his horse. To be fair, the man had it coming; he was crooked as the day is long and had every intention of cheating Josh out of the money he owed him once the job he hired him for was finished. Not only that but he was abusive to his horses and that was something Josh just couldn't allow.
He had taken a page out of Tom's book and became a transient worker, bouncing from one town to the next and working just long enough to make his cut. He used the skills he'd learned from Tom as well as a few others he'd picked up along the way and all-in-all made a pretty decent living at what he did.
One skill Tom hadn't taught him in all their years together (and one that probably had the old man spinning in his grave daily) was the art of hustling. Tom may have taught him how to gamble but Josh taught himself how to hustle. He learned early on that underestimation was often the best advantage when it came to some situations and he'd mastered the art of deception and trickery in saloons across the country.
See, it was never about the end game, it was all about the setup. A successful setup ensured a much greater payout in the end and Josh had become something of an expert at that.
And because he was an expert in the art of a setup, it wasn't too hard to figure out that his employer was doing just that. The man, a weasley little snake by the name of James Stanton, had hired him on his second day in town. The job was straight-forward and simple, clearing a section of land for cattle and livestock and building a perimeter fence to keep them from wandering off. Stanton told him the job shouldn't take longer than about two weeks and he was willing to pay him $10 per week for the work put in.
It was a good job with decent pay and Josh had agreed to it without too many questions. That is until he realized that Stanton was a conniving rat who wasn't planning on paying him anything once the job was done. He planned to hire him for free labor and then boot him out the door once he got what he needed. In all likelihood, he probably thought Josh was just a traveling idiot who landed in town and was stupid enough to say yes to the first job that came along.
Josh is man enough to admit that part of it was, indeed, his fault; there were no contracts or paperwork he signed that he could use when it came to fighting his word against Stanton's. That was something Tom had stressed in every job they took: requesting/forcing their employer to sign something that ensured payment upon completion of the job in question. It was backup against the very situation Josh found himself in now, a way to use the employer's word against his actions if it ever came down to it. Too bad Josh didn't remember that part until it was too late to back out.
It wasn't the end of the world though, just a bit of challenge. Stanton was sleazy and underhanded but Josh could be just as ruthless. He wasn't one to let himself be played and Stanton made the grave mistake of thinking he could outsmart him. Stanton thought he was just a dumb hick so Josh played that part for everything it was worth.
Stanton was as slimy as they came but he was loaded and loved bragging about his success. A smarter man probably would have kept his level of wealth more private but Stanton wasn't a smarter man and he didn't mind rubbing his money and prosperity in the face of his "dumb" hired hand. He held the deed to a silver mine a few hours north and was reaping the benefits of it once every few weeks. Between the actual silver extracted from the mine and the bank notes he got for it, he was incredibly well off and would continue to be that way so long as the mine didn't run dry.
Josh bit his tongue and bided this time, continuing to play his role as the dumb hick while he finished the job and listening carefully to figure out where Stanton kept his riches on the property. It didn't take long for him to figure out there was a false bottom in one of the drawers in Stanton's desk that hid several dozen banknotes he was too stupid/stubborn to take to the bank. He thought the money was safer in his hands than anywhere else and was determined to keep it there. And Josh was just as determined to steal it.
The last day of the job came and ended about as badly as Josh expected it to, with Stanton kicking him off the property with not a cent to his name. Josh pretended to be properly furious and outraged and vowed to fight Stanton for what for what he owed him. Stanton just laughed and slammed the door, convinced he'd duped yet another dumb drifter into working for him.
That was fine; he didn't know Josh had every intention of coming back and robbing him blind later that night while Stanton was away at a town meeting.
It wasn't the most honest line of work, sure, and both Tom and his mama probably would have had quite a lot to say about it but he reasoned it was a matter of justice and fairness (he doubts he's the only one who's been screwed over by Stanton) so it didn't weigh on his conscience too much. He was going to get what was owed to him and there wasn't anything that was going to stop that.
To be perfectly honest, he probably would have just taken the money and gone on his way if it hadn't been for the horse.
He bided his time for the rest of the afternoon, coming back later that day when he knew Stanton would be gone and the house would be empty. Gaining access to the house without being seen meant cutting around the side of the barn and back toward the stables. Josh had only ever been back in the stables a handful of times to get more supplies for the fence but he always noticed the horses seemed extra fidgety and wary of humans. He didn't think too much of it at the time, convincing himself that it was just their reaction to a new face in their territory. That belief shifted rather dramatically when he came across the pen set up near the stables.
There was a single horse staked out in the center of the pen, the rope around its neck tight enough to cut into the skin. It was a stallion, a gorgeous red bay with broad shoulders and long, strong legs. The horse's head was down, nostrils flared and sides heaving. A thick sheen of sweat covered its back and legs, glistening in the hot afternoon sun.
The stake was driven deep into the ground, too far away for the horse to reach water or food, and there was no shade anywhere nearby meaning the hot Arizona sun was beating down right on top of him all day. The ribs were visible and there were welts and cuts covering its coat, a sure sign of a whip or a crop. Thinking back on it, Josh realizes he'd seen similar marks of abuse on the other horses in the stables. Apparently Stanton thought the best way to break his horses was through abuse and starvation and Josh had never been more disgusted.
Josh stared at the stallion for several long moments, debating on what he should do. He couldn't leave it here, not like this. The horse looked like it was only a few hours away from dropping dead in the pen and he couldn't live with himself if he did nothing.
Silver forgotten for the moment, Josh crept into the pen, moving slowly and cautiously toward the stallion. It eyed him warily, nostrils flaring and huffing in warning. He kept one hand up, showing he had nothing he could use as a weapon or for abuse, but the stallion remained wary. It stamped the ground restlessly as he got closer and tried to back away more than once.
It only took a second for Josh to get the rope loose from the stake but it was almost more than the horse could bear. The second it was free, the stallion bolted toward the back of the pen and tried to jump the fence. Josh was content enough to let it go, dropping the rope to the ground with disgust and turning back toward the house. Too bad Stanton was waiting on the other side of the fence with a pistol.
There was no exchange of words, no explanations, just a single shot and then a dead ranch owner. Josh was faster with his gun and he was also angry about the horse so Stanton never really stood a chance. The "dumb hick" surprised him and it cost him his life.
It should have ended there with Josh slipping out of town on the next train out but Stanton had friends and business associates who had come with him back to the house and they witnessed the whole thing. That's where Josh's dumb luck ran out and how he found himself tossed in a jail cell in Robertson, Arizona.
He was found guilty of the murder (because of course he was) and the next two days had been spent preparing the town square for an execution. There was a debate between a firing squad or a hanging and honestly he doesn't even care at this point if they'll just get on with it. Robertson apparently had about as much crime as they did measurable rainfall so the entire town was going to turn out for the execution and Josh was going to die as a spectacle. Perfect.
The wait ends on a Thursday morning. The sheriff comes to get him just before noon, jerking open the cell door and grabbing a fistful of his shirt. Stanton had been a personal friend of his so he was more than happy to see Josh punished to the full extent of the law.
He drags him out of the jail cell roughly, shoving him into the dry, dusty street. Josh staggers a few times but the sheriff never slows down, tugging him along like a disobedient dog. He drags him through the street and toward the makeshift gallows that's been constructed in the center of the town square.
A crowd has gathered around the gallows, men, women, and children, and they all watch with set jaws and judgemental eyes as he's dragged up to the stairs of the scaffold. A noose is already tied up, a preacher standing next to the hangman, and all that's left are the long steps up to the platform. Josh feels like he should be nervous or angry about it but honestly he's just annoyed. Being put on display for the entire town to see was not how he wanted to go out but that's exactly what's about to happen.
He's pushed up the stairs and positioned over the trapdoor in the platform. The sheriff announces his crimes to the crowd gathered around the gallows and they all hiss and spit at him like James Stanton had been a saint in their town. Josh resists the urge to roll his eyes.
The hangman offers him a hood but he shakes his head defiantly. If the townsfolk want to watch this unfold then he's going to make them endure every gory detail. He's witnessed hangings before and he knows how ugly they can get; he's going to make sure they watch.
The noose is slipped over his head and tightened and the preacher beside him gives him last rites. Josh takes a deep breath, lets it out as a sigh, and the trapdoor drops out from under him.
He expects the noose to tighten further and snap his neck the second the rope straightens. He expects it to choke the life out of him, cut off his oxygen and cause him to swing and dance at the end of the rope like a macabre puppet. He expects a lot of things but what he doesn't expect is for the rope to snap and drop him into a crumpled heap on the ground beneath the platform.
He lands with a heavy thud, the noose still looped around his neck but the rope frayed and tattered one end. He can see it from the corner of his eye and if he didn't know any better he'd almost think the rope had been chewed on by rats. He almost laughs at the irony of it but keeps it to himself.
The townspeople gathered around the gallows are just as stunned and for several seconds no one moves. Josh uses that to his advantage and gets up and runs. His hands are still tied behind his back and it makes running ridiculously awkward but he gets by well enough. The crowd parts around him, still too astonished and confused to step in and stop him, and he breaks through them like a salmon swimming upstream.
Finally, the sheriff and his deputies seem to realize that their prisoner is, indeed, escaping and start firing after him. They're all terrible shots though, the bullets missing and bouncing off the walls of shops and houses, shattering glass and zipping past his head. He keeps running, ducking through alleys and behind buildings, dodging the men chasing after him and running as fast as he can.
He pauses for a split second behind the back wall of a bank and finds a rusty nail half-hammered into the wall. It takes a few seconds but he manages to work the nail through the already tattered ropes at his wrists, pulling them away and freeing his hands. He drops the rope to the ground and doubles back across the town, heading in the direction of the town jail.
It's a stupid plan, he realizes it even as he's running, but his guns are still sitting on the sheriff's desk and he'll be damned if he's going to leave them there. Tom left them in his care and he's not about to let someone else take them from him.
The jail looms in the distance and he dashes across the street toward the building. He can still hear the sheriff and his men chasing after him, searching the town for their wayward criminal, but, just like any good hustler, he's going to use their search to his advantage. Surely they wouldn't think to go back to the jailhouse to look for him, only an idiot would go back there. And, to be completely honest, Josh is a bit of an idiot and that's exactly where he goes.
His guns are still sitting on the shelf behind the sheriff's desk, gleaming and pretty like they always are. He snatches them off the shelf and grabs his belt and holster as well, slipping it on and ducking out the back door. He doesn't have any bullets but honestly he's not as concerned with that; he plans on skipping out of town the second he gets outside.
The clump of enraged citizens running toward the jailhouse make that plan a bit harder to accomplish, however. Josh curses and runs down an adjacent alley; apparently his little act of deception hadn't been as cunning as he's hoped.
He cuts between two more buildings, running toward the edge of town, but the sheriff and his men are close on his heels. He knows they'll catch him and gun him down in the street, it's only a matter of time, but he'll make them work for it. His stroke of luck will eventually run out and he'll meet his end with a bullet in the back-
There's a flash of movement at the end of the alley and he skids to a stop, staring in disbelief. There's a horse at the end of the alley, circling and fretting like it's been waiting for him impatiently. It's the same stallion Stanton had kept staked in the pen, he's sure of it. He's not sure what it's doing here, waiting for him, but he doesn't care.
Far be it from him to look a gift horse (literally) in the mouth so he keeps running and grabs onto it. The stallion breaks into a gallop the second he touches it, tearing off in a terrifying sprint away from town. Josh somehow manages to hang on, tangling his fingers in the stallion's mane and swinging himself up onto its back. The horse never slows down and the town and its enraged citizens disappear in the dust behind them.
He clings to the horse and lets out a heaving sigh as it continues to run. He doesn't know what to think about this, whether he should thank God or some other deity, but he's nearly giddy with relief. He slumps forward a bit and rests his forehead against the horse's neck, laughing long and hard as the animal gallops on. Eventually, the stallion begins to slow and drops into a careful trot once it's certain the danger is gone. They're out in the middle of the desert, no sign of civilization for miles around them, and the horse slows to a walk.
They travel along for about another quarter of a mile before coming across a creek bed. Josh slides off the horse and leads it over to the water, letting it drink and rest while he works at untying the noose around his neck. That was the closest he's ever come to kicking the bucket and he'd like to avoid a repeat experience anytime in the near future if possible.
He finally wrestles the rope off and tosses it into a bramble bush along the creek bed. The horse is still standing there, eyeing him carefully like it's waiting for him to get done before it starts walking again. He briefly considers letting it go, releasing it back into the wild, but they're 1-for-1 in saving each other now so he figures maybe it's a sign.
He stands and brushes a hand along the stallion's side, fingers brushing over a barely healed brand on its flank. It's a thick 'J', probably standing for for James Stanton, and Josh frowns angrily at it.
"You seem like more of a Jack to me," he tells the horse, thumb brushing over the brand one more time. "Wild Jack."
The stallion huffs, whether out of agreement or disdain, he's not sure, and swishes its tail. Josh takes it as a sign and pats the horse's side gently. "Jack it is."
The horse is patient and still as he swings himself back up onto its back and guides it away from the creek bed. The sun beginning to dip in the sky and the air is not quite as hot as it was earlier. Both Josh and Jack ride off with no destination in mind, heading north and content to stop in the next town they come across.
Two days later they stop in a little town called Amador City. Three days after that a man named Sam Chisholm walks into a crowded saloon to collect on a warrant.
Thanks for reading guys! :D