Chapter 1A Chapter by CLCurrieThe Duke brothers made the last mistake of their lives.To: Sabrina, thank
you for always putting up with me hiding in my office to write. Brad, for giving me
the idea of coming back to this world. My father for picking
up comic books and showing me the old heroes. “Put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” -
Ephesians 6:11 “I am the righteous hand of God, -
Poor Man's Poison ‘Hell’s Comin’ With Me’ Chapter 1 “Where the Hell is Charles?” Joseph Duke cursed, rubbing his
dirty hands beside the dying fire in the two-room cabin. The shack was once
used for hunters who came out here during the winter months looking for a good buck
to eat, but now, this place was used only by the Duke brothers as they hid most
of their moonshine under the place. The steel wasn’t too far from the shack,
barely holding itself together in the bitter wind of the mountains, even if
they didn’t need to hide their moonshine anymore. Prohibition had died at the
beginning of the year, putting some of the moonshiners out of business. Moonshine
was still outlawed, but alcohol was flowing freely while the chill of the
coming night was leaking into the weak cabin walls. Joseph huffed, jumping to
his large feet and spinning around to his two brothers. Kin
Duke was the smallest out of the little pack of thieves, killers, and rapists.
No sin on this earth was beneath them, trying out at least once in their bitter
lives. Kin wasn’t only short and ugly like a dumb dog, with one eye going wild
and no hair on his sun-spotted head, but he was strong like a bull. He stared
hard at the closed door, growling a little like the mad dog locked in him. He
might be small, dumb, and downright cruel to anyone outside their backward
family, but he listened well to Joseph when it came to most things like what he
wanted to do to the girl tied up in the other room. “No,”
Joseph hissed, pointing at his brother. “We aren’t touching her, got me?” Kin
growled, turning his gaze away from the door. He picked up the knife on the
table, sticking it into some meat they had cooked when they first got to the
cabin with the lovely girl. She was screaming and crying, making it harder to
keep Kin under control. Joseph
had to kick him a few times in the side to stop him from touching the little
lady. Their job was simple: find the girl, get her somewhere safe, and wait for
the Arkansas boys to pick her up. It was an easy job, and Joseph needed an easy
job. The law
was about to come down on them. He might have to get his brothers out of North
Carolina for a while to make sure things calm down. Charles had gotten a bit
too drunk one night, killing a few out-of-towners. One of those men was good
friends with the law man in this part. It was
not good, but he could get them somewhere safe with the pay day coming from
this easy job. “Damn
it,” Joseph roared, “where is Charles with the firewood? It’s cold.” Kin
kept his head low, chewing on the black meat. None of them cooked anything
worth a damn which was the reason they all missed mother. Pa had picked her up
somewhere down south in the depths of the swamps, making her give birth to
them. She cooked and cleaned for them while teaching them the ways of a woman,
as Pa taught them what it meant to be a man. He kept ma chained up all the
time. She also had a collar on. “Mute,”
Joseph said, making the giant of the man across from Kin turn to him. Jim, ‘the
Mute’ Duke, was the tallest of the brothers, to the point where he had to duck
to get into rooms and had long arms with massive hands. The hands of a man who
could crush the skulls of his foes as Joseph had seen him do it a few times
before. It was a nasty sight and neat as well. Jim
wasn’t always mute. Joseph remembered when Jim could sing. Jim loved singing
old-timey sheet music with their Pa before he got mad at the boy one day.
Joseph couldn’t recall what Jim had done. Maybe, it was singing to ma without
Pa watching. Or maybe it was when Jim stole a chicken from the farm down the
road. Joseph
couldn’t remember, but one day, Pa got the rage in him and the drink, hitting
Jim in the head with an iron bar. After that, Jim never sang again or spoke; it
was the only time Joseph saw his old man cry. The law
got Pa. The law seemed to get everyone. “Go get
Charles, that dumbass,” Joseph said, and Jim raced for the door, but right when
he reached for the handle, they heard heavy boots on the other side. Joseph
turned toward the door, about to start shouting at Charles, when a shotgun
blast kicked it in. The buckshot nailed Jim right in the chest, throwing him
backward, dead as the broken door on the floor with a mighty man stepping in.
He wore all black with a cowboy hat and a pastor's collar around his thick neck,
carrying a smoking shotgun. Joseph hissed at the man with a
square jaw and heroic gaze, but he wasn’t any kind of holy man Joseph had seen before
in his wicked life. The
giant tossed the head of Charles onto Jim’s dying body while Joseph dashed for
his pistol, and Kin raced at the stranger with his knife. The
shotgun blew Kin’s head off, throwing his body onto the table and shattering the
old thing. Joseph
grabbed his pistol, spinning it around to point at the massive man, only to
find a Bowie knife being pushed into his stomach. The pistol went off with a scream,
crashing into the floor as Joseph was being lifted off his boots. The
stranger growled right into Joseph’s dying face. He saw the scars all over the
stranger’s face as he narrowed his eyes to Joseph’s agony. “Who,
who are you?” © 2024 CLCurrie |
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Added on June 29, 2024 Last Updated on July 6, 2024 Tags: #adventurestory #steampunk #hist AuthorCLCurrieHarrisburg, NCAboutI am a storyteller who comes from a long line of storytellers. I literally trace my heritage back to some Bards (poets and storytellers) of England. My family, in the tradition of our heritage, would .. more..Writing
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