When Thunder Rolls Ch. 01

"You don't have to do this Thaddeus. Please, I am begging you, please don't do this." She said with tears streaming down here face.

I opened the pouch in my saddle bag and removing one of the gold pieces I handed her the rest. "This should get you through until autumn. I'll be back in a few days." Then I leaned down and kissed her. Ignoring Shannon's smile when I let her mother go, I looked one last time into her eyes and then I turned and mounting Thunder I wheeled around and headed off in search of three dead men.

The arrogant bastards hadn't even bothered to try to cover their tracks. A mile down the road I found a thrown horseshoe and checking the tracks a bit further up the road I realized that it belonged to one of their horses. That one would pull up lame soon and I was betting that the other two wouldn't wait for him.

I was right.

A mile further up the road I found a lone soldier walking his limping mount down the road about one hundred yards ahead of me as I topped a small hill. I stopped Thunder on a dime and pulling my Henry from the scabbard and taking aim, I fired two shots in rapid succession. The horse fled down the road about a hundred feet or so as the soldier dropped to the ground, then stopped and stood there looking back at him.

Trotting Thunder up to his body and dismounting when I got closer, I walked up to his inert form. One shot had hit in in the lower back, the other in the right shoulder. Flipping his body over I realized he was still alive when he groaned. Blood was bubbling from his mouth and he was gasping for air as he blinked, looking up at me helplessly. He was young, very young, maybe eighteen at the most. He had to be one of the replacement soldiers that the unit had received when they got to Nashville. Looking up at me he groaned and then said weakly, "Who are you?"

Looking down at him, I placed the muzzle of the Henry against the center of his forehead and said, "Death." then I pulled the trigger, firing the third shot of my own personal war.

To be continued...

Author's Note: No story about the southern states during the Civil War can be told without at least touching on the subject of slavery. The "peculiar institution" of the Confederacy caused its demise before it had a chance to succeed. I have intentionally avoided the mention of slavery in this chapter of the story. I will write about it in the following chapters. You have been warned.

As for the story, as always, I hope you've enjoyed it. (So far.)

YDW