Day 84 - The Kid

 The Kid 

Matthew Ryan Fischer 

 

“You did good, kid…”

The Cowboy had gotten old. Aged in every way. Slower. Poor vision. Bad instincts. He lost his gut. Made mistakes. The Kid couldn’t remember the last time he saw The Cowboy take a shot. He relied on his grit and gruff and expected his name and reputation to precede him. That might be okay for intimidation, but it was shit in a fight.

The Cowboy got old. And then he took a bullet or two. The last ones he would ever take.

“You did good, kid…”

The last words The Cowboy ever said. The still rung true. They still hurt to think about. They still echoed in The Kid’s ears. He would have traded just about anything to have never heard it said.

The Cowboy thought he was saying it straight to The Kid. Little did he know, but he was saying it to his assassin. By the time The Kid got there, it was too late. The Cowboy was a breath away from death. He struggled to say something, but the Kid knew, he didn’t need to hear it. But he could imagine.

The Gunman and The Grifter and Lawman all swore up and down that The Cowboy would be avenged. The Kid knew them all well, had fought with them and others. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t care. Avenge, revenge, justice, payback – they were all just words. Words men told each other so they could act tough and act like they weren’t afraid of death. The Kid had faced death and would do so again. He knew they would all die. He didn’t need words and he didn’t need to keep a cycle of death going. He lost his friend and words weren’t going to bring him back.

Someone had woken a sleeping giant. The Cowboy and The Kid had been on the trail. The trail was still there, a job to be done. The Kid didn’t have time to waste tracking Dom or Dom’s men. The Men in Suits were conspiring and their plans would proceed unimpeded. Unless someone did something about it. The Kid knew that was more important than chasing blood feuds. Dom’s brother had been a problem, but it wasted time to go after him and it got The Cowboy killed. The Kid would keep his focus. He would get the job done. He had last words to live up to.