Two days outside Sidewinder his horse stepped into a gopher hole and busted the right fetlock. Much as it pained him, he’d been obliged to put a bullet in its head.
He’d left the horse lying there without cutting off any of the haunch to take with him. He couldn’t bring himself to butcher such a faithful animal. It seemed wrong. Now he regretted his scruples. This barren country was an endless vista of rock and scrub. Not a critter to be seen.
There was nothing to do but cinch his belt tight across his empty belly and trudge onward.
And just where might he be going and why?
Wow. Powerful scene.
So much captured so eloquently.
There wil probably be a McD’s around the corner – there usually is!
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There’s no room for sentimentality in the wilderness, is there? I hope that he has water with him; it’s quite a lot more urgent than food.
“he’d been obliged to put a bullet in its head” I think this set the tone and scene beautifully. Really nice take on the prompt.
This is very well done. I do wonder, though, how he got into the situation of still being two days away from presumably where he wanted to be and was without food.
Well told so far. Did he make it or didn’t he— that is the question. 🙂
Geez, bad luck! Hope he makes it because that would be a terrible end. Well done. :o)
You have portrayed the tight bond between horse and man. To think of using the horse for meat was something he just couldn’t tolerate. This man deserves to find help. Great story.
I was hooked from the beginning. Well done.
Wow! This was fantastic, DDM. Loved it better than the crappy Dark Tower movie.