Las Nuevas Aztecas

Samuel, hardened by his previous experience with the Shine family, led the men into the mine. As they breached the entrance, he lit up his lantern. 'Hell on a horse...' he muttered, as the true horror of the image appeared in front of them. 'Where'd they get all that paint...' No one needed to answer, the pale corpses lined up along the ground told the tale. Above them, the words Las Nuevas Aztecas were inscribed by the score, and around them many images depicting ritual slaughter of man, woman and child, much similar to that of the old Aztecs. The corpses, cut with surgical precision, had been bled to provide the volume of fluid necessary to construct the vile tableau.

Mortified by the sight, Sam retreated from the mine. At that moment, more blasts could be heard, too loud to be gunfire, must be dynamite. By the volume and the echo, they must originate from only a few miles to the South West.

At that moment, the calamity of the situation escalated, as gunfire could be heard closer, just outside. Samuel scrambled back into the mine, 'Dangnammit! Some fool's shooting at us!'

'Gentlemen, reveal yourselves!' Came a voice from outside. Peering out it became clear that there were around ten men outside, on horseback, all armed. They weren't however the culprits. They had never met before, but the Doctor recognised the man in the middle as Jeremiah Corbyn, the infamous Sheriff of El Paso.

'Hold your fire Goddammit,' yelled Samuel, 'I'm a U.S. Marshall!'

"I wouldn't be too hasty, Corbyn, if that even is your name," Doc Murray replied, safe in the lee of the mine entrance, "We've got a US Marshall in here, there will be questions if you shoot."

Sweat began to pour as his head throbbed. The revolver was warm in his hand.

" There's no law against coca in the US. I'm as entitled to my leaves as you are your guns. There's no warrant for my arrest. Once the Federal Government hears you murdered a white man, you'll lose your badge."

"Why don't we just draw a line under this? We'll each go about our business."

"I'm investigating the disappearances under the auspices of the Office of Us Marshalls, you clot!" Doc Murray bellowed a return, "As for that warrant, do you have evidence? A judge to sign it? No reasonable mayor would defend you, I've heard stories about your crew. Nothing better than brigands yourselves, executing the defenceless!"

"I'm not the cause of the vanishings, and I can prove it."

"GOD... FFfff... Damn you, I never said that I'M the Marshall! He's here with... You know what? Never mind! Come on in!"

Doc Murray positioned himself, and took careful aim at the entrance.

As Corbyn entered the mine, his mind had already moved onto the possibility of searching it further. As such, and hindered by the dark, he didn't spot the Doctor pull his Smith and Wesson. In a split second, Corbyn saw his life flash before his eyes, only for that sense of imminent death to evaporate under the realisation that Murray had missed. The relief was momentary however, as Corbyn was thrown forward by a huge blast, knocking him unconcious.

A second blast caused the mine to errupt with light, temporarily dazing the rest of the JD crew, who had also been taken unawares by the first dynamite explosion. As their vision recovered, they looked up to realise that the Doctor, a prospector skilled with the use of explosives had managed to open up an escape route and flee the mine.