Sedgwick County Ambush

SEDGWICK COUNTY AMBUSH

  The Davis Family Series: Book #1

  R.B. Nease

  Copyright © 2015

  R.B. Nease

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review, without permission in writing from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events, rather living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 9781310072307

  Dedication

  For Erin and the kids

  I love you all very much

  1

  A.J. didn’t remember the initial shock of the round hitting him or the violent fall backwards to the ground. What he did remember briefly was drawing his own Henry rifle to his shoulder and pulling the trigger, but the force that threw him backwards and to the ground was from a far more powerful source then the recoil of his own gun. All he could think about now is the excruciating pain in his left shoulder and the silhouette of the figure heading towards him.

  The shadowy figure approached in a hurry, however in his mind everything was now in slow motion because of either the shock he was in or because of the adrenaline rushing rapidly through his body. He turned his head to look at the source of the throbbing pain that was somehow more attention grabbing then the unknown figure heading towards him. The feeling of the pain he immediately knew was the worse he had ever felt and he realized the damage that was the cause of it was extreme when he couldn’t move his arm to even look at the results the round had left as it had smashed into what he thought was his shoulder.

  As the figure approached closer he quickly searched blindly with his right hand for the rifle it once held. Every motion he willed himself to make shot quick jabs of sharp pain throughout his entire body. He had never been known to just give up on a situation, however currently it was crossing his mind constantly with the growing amount of frustration over the ordeal.

  The figure that approached was within a dozen feet or so, but with the sun high in the sky behind it A.J. still couldn’t make out who was frantically heading towards him. He was just about to give in to the thought of dying when he felt the hard wood stock that belonged to the .44 Henry rifle he had just possessed moments earlier. One handed he felt his way to the lever action, and somehow almost as a second sense remembered the current cartridge that was seated in the breach had been fired previously. He let the weight of the rifle barrel drop the front end towards the ground and with a sudden jerk of his hand the lever action cycled another round quickly into the chamber ready for firing.

  As the person came closer into view A.J. realized it was a man carrying a rifle firmly grasped in his left hand and a long barreled revolver in his right. The man was yelling something at him, but in A.J.s current state of shock he couldn’t comprehend what was going on. “I’m not dying here today…,” A.J. mumbled to himself. Knowing he didn’t have any more time to waste on straightening out his thoughts he raised the rifle and tried leveling it through the pain at the incoming man. He felt his finger try and squeeze back on the trigger as quickly as he felt the entire gun knocked from his grip. The force from the man’s boot striking across the length of the barrel was more than he could fight against in his current condition.

  A.J. squinted his eyes tighter trying to adjust them as the man who now stood over him came well into view. The man wore a black Stetson hat that helped cover his facial features in a shadow at any distance further away than nine or ten feet. His corn cob pipe obviously wasn’t lit currently due to the lack of smoke coming from it. A.J. caught himself thinking it must be a habit to just have it in his mouth rather it was lit or not. The man glared at him as A.J. felt his vision and senses becoming clearer by the second. A.J. dropped his eyes to the weapons the man was holding. He noticed the rifle he was carrying had a longer barrel then the one A.J. carried. It appeared to be at least a half foot longer in length. The revolver A.J. quickly recognized as the popular Colt 1851 Navy which also had a longer barrel then the five inch one of the Schofield that he carried in his holster. As he felt the man’s eyes bearing down on him A.J. raised his vision back to the man’s face, as he did the man’s mouth opened slightly in a smile while still gripping the pipe with half his teeth. “How did we come to this big brother?” the man questioned in heartfelt disbelief.

  A.J. blinked his eyes a few times as the figure slowly lifted his head allowing his face to come into full view. A.J. could clearly see now it was his younger brother standing over him with his guns drawn to his sides. “Bub, is that you?” A.J. asked in disbelief. His younger brother’s smile closed tightly around the pipe that was firmly clinched between his teeth. Bub shook his head slowly side to side as he raised the muzzles of his firearms from pointing at the ground to both sides of A.J. “What…? Why are you doing this to me?” A.J. heard himself ask as Bubs guns leveled out at him. Bubs face contorted into anger, the last clear thing A.J. felt was the pain shoot from his sides then throughout his body until his brain could take no more, then just blackness.

  2