What Would You Do?

What would you do when the man who killed your father is laying next to you on his bed. That was the one thing that Bill was pondering. He had killed the previous six men of the Devious Seven, taking a bullet to the leg in the previous duel with Hugo Essen, the German. Bill bleeding from the left leg and resting his pistol on the right, he just kept staring at Drew ‘Lucky Brown’ Davis, waiting for him to open his eyes. He had spent the last three hours doing this, sneaking past the members of the Davis family, wondering if they knew about his father’s misdemeanors. Bill grew his eyes above the bed of his fathers killer and saw a family portrait of the killers family. He didn’t seem to different Bill’s. a mother and a father, two daughters and their youngest, a son with blonde hair. Bill remembered the time when he was a child and be would play Backgammon with his father, he never could truly understand the game, even at the age of 45. But the memories only brought back anger and vengeance for Bill. He hated those memories because they brought him sadness to add to them. he was twelve years old when the Devious seven came to his house and took his families lives away from them. he didn’t see his mother of sisters die, but he did see his father being shot. “Look at me son!” spoke his father through his memories. “Everything is going to be okay, my Bill!” spoke his father as he was pinned to the ground by Drew Davis knee. “No its not!” Stuttered Drew with the bullet from his black pistol to cut the conversation short. Bill could still see his fathers blood. It was as red as his very own blood that was now smearing his pants. The pain hurt, but not as much as the memories.

He remembered holding his family in his hands. He never even got to say goodbye. Bill almost fell of his chair, thinking he was going back to sleep, but he steadied himself when he heard Drew stutter in his sleep. Drew then thought of the first two members of the Devious Seven in a sleep of their own. Ryan ‘Shivers’ Silver shivered in his sleep as Bill plunged his knife into his chest, ‘”Just like Dracula!” Bill remembered saying at the time he killed Ryan. The second member that Bill slew was Bob ‘The Scot’ Higgins, he too was asleep but this time there was a bullet that ended his life. That was the first time that Bill had blood sprayed over his face.

Bill went to wipe the blood away from his face only then remembering he was in the present day. Bill once again opened his eyes and saw that Drew had unknowing turned his body to face him. In this moment was when Bill picked up his pistol and was ready to end his fathers killers life. He clocked back the pistol and was ready to pull the trigger when a light from a candle could be seen from the other room. Bill rose to his feet with ease and silence, he had been practicing his way of movements the past 30 years so no one could hear him. Bill made his way over to the bedroom door. He open the door only slightly to see who was holding the candle. “Mummy!” spoke the child towards his mother. “Jimmy, just take slow sips.” Said the mother as she began feeding her child a cup of water from the sink. Even though they were both downstairs, Bill could see the mother and son clearly. “Will Papa get better?” asked Jimmy after he took a giant gulp of water. “Only if he stays in bed my sweet.” The mother told his son. “Everything is going to be alright!” The mother finished saying to her son, with a pat on the back.

“Judy.” Drew whispered in his sleep. Bill closed the door once more and walked back over to his chair. Once he sat back down it was almost if Drew heard him. He couldn’t see him as his eyes began to open, but when Drew fully regained his image of the room, he saw Bill sitting there, pointing his pistol right at his head. “You awake.” Bill whispered trying not be loud enough for the rest of the house to hear him but just about loud enough for Drew to hear him. For a moment or two, Drew was thrown back by the man in his room, but eventually Drew calmed himself and sat up on his bed, with his skinny and sweaty back leaning against his bedrest. “I knew you would come,” Drew said. “I didn’t know who you would be or when you would. But I knew that someone would come.” Drew said with his voice still stuttering. All these years later, his father’s killer still couldn’t control his stutter. “Do you know who I am?” Bill asked him still pointing his pistol at the man in his bed. “No!” Drew forcefully spoke as he made sure that Bill knew he was nothing to him, almost immediately. “Do you know why I came?2 Bill said as he asked another question but this time, he was sure that he was going to get an answer from Drew. “I took someone close to you away.” Drew said as he began to well up, not for himself but the lives that he had took in the past. “Judging by your expression and not knowing who I am, you have killed more then you fare share.” Bill said as leaned even more forward towards his father’s killer, but Drew did not move. “Do you remember your time with the Devious seven?” Bill asked with hatred in his voice.

Drew now knew that he and his family was now in serious danger. He still didn’t know who Bill was and who he killed that was close to him. But Drew’s time in the Devious Seven brought multiple daggers to his soul. He had killed many men and women in his time with those men. But he left them to their own horrors in 1867, two years after the war. But as he now found out, the horrors always come back to haunt you. “Yes I remember. Please don’t harm my family!” Drew said as he tried to plead with Bill.

Bill did not speak, he only watched the man who killed his father drivel in fear, which he was loving. “At least give me you name?” Drew said as he place his hand on his chest. “My name is Bill ‘The Frank’ Eaton!”. That gave Drew all the answers he needed and he knew that something terrible was going to happen to him or his family. “Your…your… your related to The Frank!” Drew said as he tried to find his words. “His name was Abraham Eaton and he was a good man!” Bill forcefully spoke as he rose from his chair, nearly penetrating his silence. “And you killed him, just like I wanted to kill you!” Bill told Drew.

Drew closed his eyes, waiting for the end to come. “But first, I am going to tell you story of your fallen brothers.” Bill said as he sat back into his chair. With the blood still gushing out his leg, Bill began to tell a story. “I spent years training in the army to kill and when the war ended, I went back to start my hunt for revenge, and I didn’t need to wait long for my first two kills.”. “Ryan and Bob. That was you?” Drew asked as the memories of his dead gang members came flooding back into his mind. “Yes it was!” Bill said with a smile. “The next three I spent hunting. Leo was an easy kill, I shot him in his left eye seven times, for each member of your gang.”.

The terror kept on turning and turning for Drew, he tried to use his eyes to search for a weapon to use, but of course Bill had saw that nothing could be used as a weapon. “Samwell ‘The Little man’ Flanders was a tough one, he was fast for a short man, I swear he broke one of my ribs,” Bill said with a chuckle at the end. “But I got him back with an axe to the back!”. Drew for a moment or two started think of maybe calling out for help. But who would come, his wife, his children, if the man in front of him really did kill his former gang members, who knows what he would have done to his family. “Next to kill was Paul ‘The Giant’ Smith, despite his height he wasn’t good with his gun, it only took two shots to kill him, both in his mouth.” Bill said as he began to play his pistol.

“What about Tobias?” asked Drew as he tried anything to ease the tension in the room. “Well Tobias, no wander your called him the Tiger.” Bill said as he showed Drew the blood that was coming from his leg. “Tobias was the hardest to kill as he never ceased being who he was.”.

Drew then realized what Bill was implying. Bill was implying that apart from Tobias, everyone else in the gang had changed their ways since the war. They had gone on to have families and lived better lives. They lived in the real world and real worlds. They didn’t continue with their killing ways, Drew including. But that didn’t matter to Bill, he wanted vengeance for what those men did to his family.

“Tobias shot me as soon as he saw me, he recognized my face through my father!”. Drew than did something that came from his soul, a few words that came from his younger years when he was in the gang. “Your father was a killer. Just like me. Just like the gang. Just like you!” Drew spat out but not with fury or loudness,, only with anger and peace. This however didn’t throw off Bill, as he knew who his father was. “I know my father killed two innocents. I know he killed that couple for a few bags of silver…” Bill said as he began to freeze after he spoke those words. “Then why did you come here?” Drew asked not remembering the rest of the day that The Frank died. “My father may have been The Frank murderer, but sisters and mother, they were not!” Bill said, very quietly. So quiet in fact that not even a mouse could hear him, but Drew could. “You only remembered by father, just like the others. Tobias only remembered when I told him to his face, just before I slit his throat with his own blade.” Bill spoke with a spit of blood leaving his lips after the words. Drew had nothing to say, Bill was right, he couldn’t remember killing his mother and sisters, he couldn’t remember half of the people he killed. That was a problem for Drew. “I have killed every member of your gang. I have killed Ryan, Bob, Leo, Samwell, Paul and Tobias. Leaving only you!” Bill said as he tried to remember the day he swore revenge on the devious seven. The day his uncle taught him how to shoot a pistol. “My uncle taught me how to shoot, and he taught me how to kill. I killed my first dear when I was 12. I killed it on my own. I skinned it on my own. And I ate it on my own, thinking of only you and the rest!” Bill said with anger boiling in his eyes, which seemed have to light up the room.

“What happens now?” Drew said with already what was surely to come now. “I have waited for this moment for years. Since I was a little lad!” Bill said as he clocked back the pistol.

“I thought about nothing else but your agonizing stuttering!” Bill said as he rose from his chair. “And I have never stopped killing you with a pistol. The same one you used to kill my father!” Bill said as he pointed it towards the old man. Once again Drew close his eyes, waiting for the end. “But like the others, minus Tobias, I gave them a choice.” Bill said as he didn’t pull the trigger. “You take your life and prove you are a changed man or let me do it!” Bill said as he span the pistol around with his fingers. Drew opened his eyes and saw the pistol was ready for him to wield. “Take the pistol and make the choice, I will watch by this chair.” Bill said as he faced down his fathers killer. “Why?” Drew asked. “Because everyone deserves a choice. You didn’t give my father a choice but I am not you.”. Drew took his hand and pulled the pistol out of his hands and watched the bloodied man walked back to his chair. “You wont hurt my family?” he asked the Bill. “Like I said. I’m not you!” Bill told Drew as he sat back down with a slump.

No more words came from either of them, the room fell silent. This was the moment that had drawn them together, two killers were now about to decide each-others fate. Drew didn’t take any time to think as he had the pistol against his own head and was ready to pull the trigger. He gave one last look at Bill before he pulled the trigger and then….

Nothing. Nothing happened. The pistol was empty. “You’ve changed. That was a first!” Bill said was shocked at Drew’s actions. “What?” asked an out of breath Drew. “I gave you the choice to shoot yourself or shoot me. Most go for the latter, of course not knowing the pistol was empty.” Bill said as he was still stunned by Drew’s decision. Drew launched the weapon at the end of his bed. Bill rose from his chair and went to the end of the bed. “Ryan, Bob, Leo, Samwell and Paul al tried to shoot me with this gun, and it showed me that they hadn’t changed.” Bill said looking up to the ceiling with the gun in his hands. “The Look on their faces when they realized they had been tricked and they were about to be shot by my second gun, still makes me laugh.”.

Drew nearly choke on his fear that he had. “And what about Tobias?” he asked trying to make sense of the situation. “I told you; he never gave a chance to give him the choice.” Bill said as he limped over his way to Drew. Bill sat next to the old man, with Drew still in fear of him. “Usually at this point I would even kill them with my second pistol, an axe or my pocket knife. But like I said this is a first” Bill said gracefully. Bill pulled out his second pistol and his pocket knife, not looking at Drew.

Drew dared not speak another word, with Bill so close to him. “I wonder what my father would say. He would probably say everything is going to be alright. Or that rabbit stew will be ready once the sun goes down, that was my best meal as a kid,” Bill said as he began to reflect on old times. “He would also say a day can’t be wasted by sitting making dreams, you have get up from your straw-bed and make those dreams become real.” Bill said as he finished thinking about his father, with Drew still sitting there in the quiet. “My Sister would say to me, tare out his heart and make him watch for what he did to us. Make him suffer!” Bill forcefully spoke as grasped his second pistol and pocket knife with fury. Drew began to fall in a cold sweat.

“My uncle would say that my family deserved their revenge.” Bill said as he began to flick his pocket knife around in his hand. The cold sweat from Drew could now be seen Bill. “But if my mother was in this room right now, she would tell me not to be the man who I have so much eager to kill!”. All that could be heard now in the room was the gaunt breathing of Drew. Bill began to breath almost like Drew which did not calm the nerves of Drew. “What happens now?!” Drew asked again.

With a pistol in one hand and a pocket knife in the other, he gave Drew one final look and asked him a question.

“What would you do?”...