Leaving Epitaph: The Sons of Daniel Shaye

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“Thomas?”

They’d ridden in silence for a while, and Thomas knew that something was going on in his brother’s head. The question would have come sooner or later.

“Yes, Matthew?”

“Are you really gonna kill Ethan Langer when we catch up to him?” Matthew asked.

“Yes, I am, Matthew.”

“What if he surrenders?”

“I’ll still kill him.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Thomas said. “He killed Ma, Matthew.”

“I know, but…it don’t seem right.”

“Don’t worry,” Thomas said, “you won’t have to do it. I can do it myself.”

They rode a few more miles in silence, but Thomas knew his brother wasn’t finished.

“Thomas?”

“Yes?”

“How did you feel the other night?”

“When, Matthew?”

“When we were…killin’ all those men.”

“Matthew,” Thomas said, “all those men were also tryin’ to kill us, remember?”

“I know that.”

“I felt good,” Thomas said. “I felt relaxed, in control…you really want to know the truth?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“For a while I felt like nothin’ could hurt me that night. It was weird. And when it was all over, I felt more alive than ever.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“I just felt scared the whole time,” Matthew said. “Before, during, and after. I didn’t like it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with bein’ scared, Matthew,” Thomas said. “You did just fine in that saloon, just fine.”

“I don’t feel like I did fine,” Matthew said.

“Matthew,” Thomas said, “we’ll be okay if you just do everythin’ I tell you, understand? Just what I tell you. Can you do that?”

“Sure I can do that.”

“Good,” Thomas said. He reached over and slapped his brother on the back. “Good.”

“How’s your side, Pa?” James asked.

“It’s fine.”

“You’re bleedin’.”

Shaye looked down at his injured side. He was still wearing the same bandage the doctor had patched him up with. He saw that some blood had seeped through his shirt.

“It’s just leakin’ a little,” Shaye said. “It’s nothin’ to worry about.”

“You ever been shot before, Pa?”

“Twice,” Shaye said. “You remember that time the Jelcoe boys came to town?”

“Oh yeah,” James said. “I was little, but I remember Ma patchin’ you up.”

“We didn’t have a doctor in town back then.”

“When was the other time?”

“Years ago,” Shaye said, “a lot of years ago.”

James decided to let it drop. He figured they’d made his pa talk about his past enough, as it was.

“How far behind are we, Pa?” he asked.

“Not far, James,” Shaye said. “We’ll catch up.”

“Think they know we’re after them?”

Shaye looked at James. “They’ve got to figure someone’s after them,” he said. “Don’t know if they know it’s us.”

“What would Aaron Langer think if he knew it was you?”

Shaye hesitated a moment, then said, “James, I think he’d think it was real interesting.”