Free DeadEarth: Mr. 44 Magnum by Michael Anthony Page A

kissed Delilah’s nose. “I’ve got a plan.”
    The door groaned again. Rikka, her older
sister, stood in the doorway looking around for her horse. He was a
flirtatious stallion, so she changed his stall daily. It was Lou’s
idea—to ‘keep the ladies from getting jealous’. Rikka always forgot
which mare she hooked him up with, but Shade remembered.
    “He’s here,” she said, nodding to the horse
next to hers.
    Rikka lifted her pant leg and kneeled to
remove the six inch blade from her ankle sheath. She gripped it so
the sharp steel extended from the bottom of her hand, then strode
purposefully towards her horse, Shadowless Night.
    “Whoa, wait,” Shade yelled, stepping in front
of her sister’s horse. He fidgeted behind her, seeming to sense the
rising tension. “What are you going to do?” she asked, though she
already knew the answer.
    Even though they were sisters—and born only
eleven months apart—Rikka and Shade were polar opposites in both
looks and disposition. Rikka was tall, long-haired, and had a
darker skin tone, while Shade had a caramel complexion, sported
shoulder length curly hair, and had a short stature. When it came
to temperament, Rikka was a black mamba. Short tempered and quick
to strike, she wasn’t afraid to break a knuckle on someone’s
face—even if that someone was her sister.
    As the protective personality in her family,
Shade unwittingly spent most of her life at the focal point of
Rikka’s verbal and physical aggression. Their dad always joked that
Rikka was the sword and Shade was the shield, and if they ever set
aside their differences, they’d be an unstoppable pair. Fat chance
of that happening, but it didn’t stop Shade from trying to reason
with her.
    “What Dad wants us to do.” Rikka attempted to
brush past Shade but she held her ground, grabbing her sister by
the wrist wielding the knife.
    “You don’t know that.”
    “Get out of my way, Shade. I’m really not in
the mood for this,” Rikka warned.
    Shadowless Night put his head out over the
stable gate and nudged the younger sister, as if begging for her
protection. Shade gritted her teeth as she stared into her sister’s
eyes. For a moment, she could have sworn she saw a glimmer of
hesitance, but a blink later and they transformed into a cold, hard
brown. That’s when she knew Rikka couldn’t be reasoned with. If
Shade was going to save Shadowless Night, she would have to do it
by force.
    Without a moment’s thought, she balled her
fist and swung at her sister. Rikka snatched her wrist out of
Shade’s hand, careful not to cut either of them with the knife, and
sidestepped, easily dodging the blow. With a quick left hook, Rikka
struck her sister just under the ribcage, delivering an
unrestrained liver punch. Shade tried to take a step back and jab
with her left hand, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. Pain
reverberated inside of her as her legs gave out and she crumpled to
the ground. In the back of her mind, she knew what was happening,
but her limb’s unresponsiveness scared the shit out of her. She
would have panicked if it didn’t feel like she had just been run
through with a sword.
    “Long goodbyes just hurt more,” Rikka said,
stepping over her sister to get to the horse.
    Shade closed her eyes as sounds of the dying
steed filled the barn. Shadowless Night thrashed about in his
stall, his hooves knocking against the wood door and walls as he
struggled to remain upright despite his weakening body. Then the
sounds started again. Shade didn’t have to look back to know what
Rikka had done Delilah. She tried to neigh, but only an awful
gurgling sound escaped the gash in her throat as a waterfall of
blood collided with the ground.
    The warm liquid oozed under the stall doors
and pooled on Shade’s back as her sister stepped around her.
    “Consider it a favor,” she said. Rikka waited
a beat. Shade thought she would say more, but her sister left
without another word.
    She laid there for a long