The Seven: Wanted Dead or Alive
Chapter 72: Introducing Suikotsu
Title: Introducing Suikotsu
Prompt and Word Count: Misleading-427
Characters: Suikotsu
Warnings: Violence
Summary: Part 72 of The Seven
Prompt Summary: The forth member of the band makes his appearance.
Late that night while the two of them were sleeping, completely unaware of what was going on outside of the house, a figure hid in the shadows; waiting for a prey he knew would soon be there. The man, whose soft eyes and calm voice could be misleading, cause others to put their guard down with a false sense of security, waited patiently with no other thought than that he would soon be victorious.
Just around the bend, a stagecoach was moving quickly, not wanting to remain in the area any longer than they had to. Too many men had already lost their lives traveling through this area and even with the extra guards, the stagecoach hands and driver were not feeling very protected. And with good reason too. The only place for miles around that offered any coverage was the tree line to their left; which offered far better protection to any ambush lying in wait than it did for them.
The driver would never know how right these thoughts were for the instant they rounded the bend, he took a shot to the chest. As he fell sideways off of the coach's roof and the horses started running out of control, the shadowed figure grabbed the second shotgun from the pile he had leaning up against the tree. A moment later, he had taken out one of the horseback riders. The gun dropped to his feet as he picked up another one and took out the other.
As quickly as he could fire a shot, he was dropping the gun and retrieving another until everyone but him was dead. Once he was sure there was no more movement below, he gathered up his guns and started making his way toward the unmanned stagecoach; whose horses were grazing a little ways away, no longer frightened by the noise.
Grabbing onto their reigns, he began leading them over to where he had hitched his own wagon and started transferring the supplies over. Releasing the horses free from the carriage, he scared them off before setting the stagecoach on fire. Climbing back up into his wagon, he headed back to his small, one room homestead and started putting the supplies in his barn; locking it up tight once he was finished.
Making his way inside, he was fast asleep the moment his head hit his pillow and slept throughout the night until the sun was beginning to rise. Heading back out into his yard, Suikotsu began humming softly to himself as he got to work in his garden.