Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Now Playing: The Silent Child
New to These Parts? To Start the Story From the Beginning, click

Episode Seven of The Silent Child

Episode Six concluded with:

Both men suddenly went silent, stunned by what they saw.
“Looks like smoke,” Rance said.
        “Yep. Right where the Thompson ranch should be.”
             Dehner and the sheriff spurred their horses into a fast gallop. The ears of Dehner’s bay went back and his mane began a wild dance. Landscape whizzed by. As their horses ate up the ground, the men could see a large ranch house being consumed by fire. 


Episode Seven

Dehner focused on the horror in front of him, and the detective repeated a mistake he had made only hours before. He ignored the large rocks surrounding the mountain to his left. Once again, the mistake was dangerous.
            The pop of rifle shots mixed with the crackling sounds of fire. The two riders reined off toward a large boulder in front of the corral, beside the burning house. They dismounted, pulled rifles from their saddle boots, and let both horses run.
            “They’ll head for water,” the sheriff yelled. We’ll find ‘em.”
            The two men took cover behind the boulder and looked toward the mountains. “Any idea of how many of ‘em there are or where they are?” Bolger asked as his eyes searched the mountainous area.
            “No. And we’ve got no time to think about it. Cover me, I’m going inside the house.”
            “Are you sure there’s people in there?”
            “Probably are. And they may be alive. Why else would someone be firing at us?”
            Clint nodded his head as the detective crouched into a jackknife position and ran toward the house. Gunfire ignited again. Some people didn’t want their deadly plans interrupted. One shot shattered a front window of the house. Dehner kept moving toward the angry clouds of smoke that flowed from an open front door.
            Dehner held his breath and plowed through the gray billows to be confronted by a red death which was gorging on the back wall of the house and spreading fast to the ceiling. Suddenly, the fire seemed to be coming at him like a wild animal that had just picked up the scent of a new victim.
            Two bodies lay on the floor, a man and a woman. Dehner lifted the woman’s body, placed her over his shoulder and ran back to the doorway. He held his breath again and charged into the streaming smoke.
            Gunshots greeted him as he ran off the porch and onto the yard of the ranch house. Dehner hastily placed the body down then dropped to the ground himself. From the corner of his eye, he could see an explosive flash which cut the night like a monstrous lightning bolt. A massive fireworks display of red then covered the sky as the roof of the house collapsed. 
            The detective glanced backward at the rampaging fire. The man he had left in the house was beyond rescue.

Tomorrow: Episode Eight of The Silent Child