Chapter 18, Part Three

No Honor; Chapter 18, Part 3: Burn

This was too much. This was way, way too much. I felt like... the shit just didn't make sense.

Now lookit... I never found out who actually torched tha place. But c'mon, I know why they did it; it was all Carter. It was revenge. It was 'cause we took Rex away. 

It was spite, 'cause we was lookin' for Larson, and they didn't want it. It mighta also been an attempt on Carter's life. Or my life... Honestly, it coulda been aimed at me. I was thinkin' that some Morphine-freak got stupid, and forgot ta check for Shadow, before lightin' tha place up. I might be wrong...

It coulda been just because I was seen wit 'im.

Whatever the reason, the idiot done it had no fuckin' sense... Ta set my house afire was ta set the bar afire. Ta set the bar afire, was ta threaten ta burn down Fourth Street, and who knows how many lives.

I ran up ta third, and got buckets o' water, from tha stable well. While I was on my way, I seen others, with the same idea, runnin' with their buckets, towards tha blaze. If I had any chance o' savin' Fourth, I needed every single soul... Tha fire was big, tha water was far away, and I had a bar fulla alcohol, that was smokin'...

After my trip back I stopped, and shouted directions, as best I could. I wasn't concerned about tha house, tha house was gone. What we needed ta do, was stop tha fire from eatin' tha bar up, and spreadin' from there.

We wet tha ground, between the two buildin's, and we got ta work on the bar's east wall. After a while, I dunno how long, I was sure that tha fire, on the bar at least, was out. So, we got on, with workin' on tha house. While we was doin' that though, either the bar relit, or it was still on fire, and we didn't see it past tha smoke.

Even worse, it was lit up high, and tha ceilin' started smokin', on that side. I grabbed a few people and I begged 'em, ta go to tha carpenter's, and fetch us some ladders. Meanwhile, more people came, wit tubs o' water, from tha hotel. There was Jim Sheldon, and Mr. Stevens and Janice and Millie, who lived on Fourth as well. There was Mr. Butler, from the Bake-ry, and Gordon, and De La Rosa, and James the Butcher. There was that boy from tha hotel, and Dave, and Clifford... I even saw Norm.

They was all helpin', and I'm grateful to all of 'em fer that. During it all though, I noticed who wasn't there... Marco wasn't there. Rita wasn't there. In fact, not one Mexican came out ta help, and they supposed ta be runnin' tha place.

We worked well into the night. The ladders came, but they came a hair late. The roof of the bar collapsed in flames, and a good part of the east wall fell with it. Half of us there ran inta tha bar, ta douse the flames, the rest was on the house still.

And through all o' this, we're runnin back and forth, back and forth to tha stable, to reload. It was hectic, but we killed the bar fire completely. Tha house collapsed, but we was able to get that fire pretty good. I just made a few more trips to the stable, while tha house was still smokin', just to be sure.

Durin' one o' those trips, I saw Carter up on his horse, way off in the distance. At that time o' night, Shadow was just as black as Midnight was, and Carter's white skin shone brilliant. He did look like The Reaper then, or like a creature from a nightmare...  Some kinda monster.

Maybe he was my Reaper. Maybe he was sent ta lay waste ta my hopes, and my dreams, and my life here. Maybe he was sent ta destroy tha town. Maybe we was all failures, in tha eyes o' God, and He planned our punishment, from the heavens.

It was my fault he was here. If it wasn't for me, he never woulda survived 'is first night in town. I never woulda known about Roy. And Roy prob'ly never woulda said, what he done.

I knew Carter was watchin' me then. He was too far away fer me ta be sure, but I felt it. He lowered 'is head then, and turned, and rode away. At that time, I just felt betrayed; I kept wond'rin what I coulda done, so wrong, in awl my life, ta deserve him.

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@ChannelSeals