Moe Jedd: Ending... Soul Harvesters.

 

They made their way down along the winding rocky trail being ever so careful as to not kick up a lot of dust, thereby attracting the unwanted attention of the three Harvesters, they were not yet in position to face them on ground of their own choosing. The riders off in the distance were moving slowly to the western Desolation Sands they were closing distance, but it was slow-going, they stayed the paced steadily making up ground until they were on the valley floor directly behind them. once they were out in the open, all that it would take is for one of the Harvesters to turn back in their direction, thus picking up their scent and coming at them head on. only now there were only two, one had trailed off somewhere, the one Moe Jedd was guessing was Slackjaw Hatton, He and Preacher both decided to pull rein behind a small group of Cactus to check their weapons. Moe made sure both army colts were loaded, while Preacher busied himself with reloading his own. They picked up on the trail and paced them to the west until the rider on the left slowed to a stop and began to turn his animal back in their direction.

Moe and Preacher both slowed to a stop studying his movements very carefully soon the other Harvester followed suit and turned to face them, Moe Jedd motioned him back toward the rocks up and behind them, he figured that Slackjaw used a dust cloud for cover to double back and to get in behind them, and if they could get above them, they might have a shot at not only the two in front but if they were lucky enough, they might actually catch Slackjaw trying to out flank them to their right, they broke loose and rode hard and fast back up onto the rocky peak when they moved up over the top of the peak, Moe Jedd leapt from the saddle pulling the sharps free, he mounted the rear sight carefully and then slid in the first cartridge. Preacher loaded his Winchester and watched the rocks off to their right flank to ensure that Slackjaw wouldn't be sneaking up on them. Moe Jedd raised the barrel of the Sharps and waited for the first rider to close within his range. the wind began to pick up and shift to the western direction, but it would be at Moe Jedd's back when the first rider closed to within 500 yards Moe Jedd shot the animal beneath it in the head, it keeled over to the left and quickly turned to dust. One of the Harvester's was now on foot. 

Moe Jedd quickly reloaded the Sharps and returned his attention to the Harvester that was now on foot. He slowly pulled the hammer back on the rifle, he drew in a deep breath through his nose and held it until he had a clear shot. He lined up the sight onto what he thought was the skull of the Harvester. When he squeezed the trigger and saw it fall over backwards, but when it turned to dust, Moe Knew his shot was true. He reloaded and set his sights on the second animal, again controlling his breathing he squeezed the trigger and his next shot tore through the animal's skull, dropping it instantly, the 2nd Harvester tried to hurry up the side of the hill while Moe Jedd hid patiently, watching it from behind cover, when it came within range he abruptly stood and fired both Army colts taking its head off. Slackjaw wherever he was, was now alone. Moe turned to join Preacher he knelt down beside him his eyes carefully studying the landscape, dust billows began to rise behind them as the hellish form of Slackjaw Hatton appeared over the peak to the left with guns blazing, his first shot struck the ground by preachers feet the 2nd went through his shoulder. Moe pulled him behind two large rocks.

"MOE!! JEEEEDDDD! Yooouu Musssst DIE!!"

Moe looked down at Preacher.

"For a dead guy, he sounds kinda angry!"

"Hey Slack! why don't come over here and get me, you piece of rotting shit!" Moe yelled back.

"You... Lefffft... Me... To... Diiieee." He hissed.   

"You shouldn't have tried to rob a bank in a town with twelve deputies... You Dumb sonofabitch!"

He fired four shots at the rocks that Preacher and Moe were using for cover. Moe, pausing to listen, counted Slackjaws footsteps as he drew closer. He came out from behind the side of the rocks where the Harvester was approaching, as he jumped out from behind the rock and surprised, SlackJaw turned toward Moe Jedd and fired early and struck him in the side, Moe didn't break stride and came at him low, he hit him full force and knocking him off of his feet and backwards down the into the rocks. SlackJaw tried to recover, but when he raised his gun, Moe was standing defiantly above him with both colts drawn.  

"The Devil's.... Waiting... for you, Moe." 

"Yeah?"

Moe looked down at him.

"Not so easy to kill a man when he's lookin you in the eye, is it Slack? And that ol Devil that sent you? You tell him to come here and do it himself next time."

Moe fired both Colts and emptied both barrels into SlackJaw Hatton's skull, he stood and watched quietly as the body slowly turned to dust. 

"That was for Cobb, asshole."

After they discovered that both bullets had gone all the way through both of their wounds, Moe Jedd and Preacher Built a small fire in the rocks and took turns cauterizing each other's wounds with fire. They sat with their backs against the rocks and rested as they chewed on the last of some jerky that Moe had left from O'Malleys. After resting, they caught up with their horses who, eating dry desert grass at the bottom of the peak, they both saddled up. Preacher turned to look at him.

"You know Moe Jedd? You're pretty good at killing these damn things." He smiled. 

Moe turned in his saddle to face him.

"Preacher? How many of them damn smelly ol things do you reckon are still out there?"

Preacher thought about it for a moment and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't rightly know Moe Jedd, Hundreds? Maybe thousands?"

Moe took in a deep breath, and his picked up the reins and looked back over at Preacher.

"Well Preacher... They ain't gonna kill themselves, So I reckon we'd best be getting to it then."

Preacher nodded.

"Reckon so Moe Jedd."

They turned and began to ride to the Northeast, they decided to head back to O'Malleys in Bullwark. They were going to be needing supplies soon... Lots of supplies...  

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