Chapter Text
Zanka sat up slowly in his tent, yawning. The air was sticky hot, and he desperately hoped there was at least a breeze out or he’d surely melt to death today.
He wasn’t really in any rush to get up, but he could hear his companions already bustling around outside his tent, and he could smell coffee and bacon ready for him out there. Still, before he left his tent he rummaged through his bag and grabbed a fresh change of clothes.
None of his companions had packed extra clothes. Most people didn’t on a cattle drive, it just wasn’t practical to be carrying around so much. They’d wear what they had the entire trip, then shed it and buy a new outfit when they got to Kansas. But Zanka couldn’t stand the feeling of wearing that dirty, dusty clothing, so he had packed 2 outfits (plus the clothes he had left the ranch wearing) for the two-week long trip.
He quickly put his bag together and rolled his bedroll up before exiting his tent. He lugged his bag and bedroll over to where they had tied the horses for the night, grabbing two apples from a sack on the way.
“Hey, Lovely.” He smiled when he saw her. His horse, Lovely, was a beautiful brown Arabian. Zanka took pride in taking amazing care of her. She had a beautiful shiny coat and a glossy black mane. He had brushed her down las night before retiring to bed, making sure she wasn’t still dusty from yesterday’s journey.
Lovely neighed in response. Zanka situated his bedroll and bag behind the saddle, and gave her one of the apples. She seemed extremely pleased with it. The other apple was tucked into the saddlebag, so she could have a snack for later.
Zanka patted her as she ate. He took in his surroundings then, seeing what was going on around camp that morning.
Their young new handler, Rudo, was running around nearby getting the horses ready for the day’s walk. He was a curious kid, a few years younger than Zanka himself. About half a year ago, the kid had shown up out of the blue to ask Arkha for a job. He had promised to prove himself, and he definitely had. He would happily do any task. Some of the lazier ranch hands took advantage of this early on, getting Rudo to do crappy jobs like clean horse shit out of the stables then taking credit for the work, but Enjin had shut that down extremely fast.
Speaking of Enjin…
“Hey, Zanka! You hungry? Long ride ahead of us today! I’ve got some coffee here, and some eggs and bacon. Come on!”
Zanka turned to where he was waving. He had probably woken up earlier than everybody else, because he already had his full outfit on. He was wearing a dusty red button-up shirt and his signature duster. He already had his hat on, too, and was chewing on a stalk of wheat. He had two cups of coffee in his hand, one being held out to Zanka in offering.
Riyo was sitting next to him on the log. She was wearing a simple collared shirt and pants held up by suspenders. It wasn’t a very typical outfit for a girl, but Zanka didn’t think he’d ever seen her wear a skirt, anyways. Nobody really cared. When it came to doing her job, she was amazing at keeping the cows in line and a crackshot with a gun in a pinch. Her hair was tied into a single braid, and her hat was sitting next to her on the log. Currently, she was inhaling the bacon and eggs Enjin had made.
“I’m just gonna take down my tent first,” Zanka called back to Enjin.
The other man waved his hand. “Nah, Gris has it!”
Zanka looked back over to where his tent was, and sure enough, the blond guy was already breaking down his tent for him. Gris was also fully dressed, save for his hat. Dang, Zanka really needed to start waking up earlier. Everyone was ready except for him.
“Thank you, Gris,” he said.
“I put the rest of yer clothes on that rock,” Gris responded, nodding towards a rock where Zanka’s stuff, was, indeed.
Zanka quickly put on his vest, duster, and pistol belt, and grabbed his hat before sitting down by the fire with Enjin and Riyo. Rudo was seemingly finished with the horses, because he came to sit down and grab a plate of food as well.
“Dang kid, yer coffee’s probably freezing now,” Enjin joked, handing Zanka the cup.
“Sorry,” Zanka muttered. Usually he’d have some snarky comeback, but he really had slept in a bit too much, and he felt bad about it. All the horses were already ready, and camp had basically fully been taken down with no help from him. He silently vowed to wake up much earlier tomorrow to help. He scarfed down his breakfast and coffee to make up for lost time.
“We should try to get through this part of the journey as quickly as possible,” Riyo spoke up, wiping her mouth from the food she had finished just before. “We’re fixin’ to go through Raider territory today.”
Rudo frowned. “D’ya really think they’ll hit us? We aren’t even transporting that many cattle.”
“That just means we don’t have as many people protecting the herd,” Riyo responded, settling a hand on the gun in her belt holster.
Enjin nodded in agreement. “Everyone keep your eyes peeled today. We don’t need any of these cows gettin’ away from us.”
Just as Zanka was finishing his last gulp of bitter coffee, Gris appeared to the side. “Everything’s packed and the horses are ready,” He said. “We’re set to leave whenever.”
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
The breeze was picking up now, and the air was slightly more humid. They’d been on the trail for a few hours now. As always, Enjin was in the front, leading the herd of cattle. Gris brought up the rear, and Riyo and Zanka took either side.
Zanka looked over at her across the few rows of cows in between them, and she grinned back. Her black mare, Ripper seemed anxious about something, but she just reached down and patted her neck.
“When we get to Wichita, you’ve got to see a barber!” She called over to him. “Your hair is getting way too long.”
Zanka reached back and grabbed a stray lock of hair where it poked out from under his hat. He cracked a smile back at Riyo. “What if I want it long enough for a braid like yours?”
“You’ve definitely got enough for a ponytail, now,” She laughed.
They rode on for a little longer, making plans for what they wanted to do in Kansas before they had to ride back home. Rudo joined the conversation too, and every so often Enjin or Gris would catch some of the conversation and throw out suggestions like, “Oh no, we’re definitely not going to that saloon again,” or “I heard there’s a theater down there, that could be fun.”
As they went along, it started to drizzle. It was such a warm day , however, that Zanka welcomed the cooling rain happily.
During a particularly heated argument between the three of them over what hotel they’d be spending the night at, a shot rang out suddenly.
Instinctively, Zanka ducked down. He was sure he felt the bullet whizzing past. Rudo’s horse reared back, and Zanka feared he’d fall off. Thankfully he held on, trying to calm the horse.
Multiple figures emerged from a nearby treeline, approaching with alarming speed. More shots rang out, and the cattle were freaking out now, some breaking off and trying to get away from the noise. Zanka and Enjin tried to keep them in check.
On the other side of the cattle, Riyo already had her revolver out and was firing out shots. One hit one of the figures, but they kept advancing.
Zanka saw that there was three of them. One guy and two girls. Although it was daytime, they each had a lit lantern in their hands. A telltale sign of the raiders. Two of them were rounding up the cows that had gotten away in the commotion.
Riyo swore somewhere behind him, and he was pretty sure her gun had just jammed. Quickly, he got out his own, although he was a pretty lousy shot. Maybe he could scare them away. Enjin was trying to keep the cattle that hadn’t already been intercepted by the raiders in check. He didn’t know where Gris was, but assumed he was doing the same.
Zanka raised his gun, but before he could fire off a shot, one of the raiders was on him like a flash of lightning, slamming the butt of his own pistol into Zanka’s, making him drop it in pain and surprise.
It was the male raider, and he grinned at Zanka. He had long, dark dreadlocks and piercing eyes partially hidden by the wide brimmed hat on his head. “Ah ah ah,” the raider chided mockingly. He spoke louder, seemingly addressing all of them now. “These cows are ours now. Don’t bother trying to get them back. Go on your merry way, and nobody needs to get hurt.”
He turned his horse away, and the other two raiders did the same. It was creepily in-sync. They all took off, and the cows went with them, thundering away.
For a second, no one spoke, taking in what had just happened. Then, Zanka took off.
Enjin called for him to stop, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t let the cows get away like that.
He urged Lovely forward, chasing after the three raiders who had his cattle.
The guy who had made him drop his pistol glanced back and grinned again at the sight. He called something to his companions then split off from the group, disappearing into the treeline.
Zanka followed right after him.
He continued to see glimpses of the man through the trees, and followed him deeper into to forest. It actually got less dense as they continued on, and he could see his foe better. The other guy was laughing, his head thrown back and locs trailing behind him in the wind as he somehow seemed to effortlessly weave in between the trees.
Zanka wasn’t actually sure what he was planning to do when he caught up. His gun was still lying on the ground back in the plains. Maybe he could jump on the other man’s horse and strangle him. He felt hot with rage that he’d been beaten so easily back there, he needed to prove something.
He was considering his options when he realized that the other man was right in front of him now, getting closer by the second. He looked back at him, and that infuriating grin had been wiped off his face. It had been replaced by a look of genuine fear.
He realized too late that the reason he was getting closer so fast is because the other man had stopped suddenly. He didn’t have enough time to stop Lovely, though he tried, and they crashed.
Two seconds later, as they were tumbling off the cliff, Zanka realized why the man had stopped so suddenly. But it was too late now.