Luckily for Dwayne and the recruits, the vouchers Moss gave them actually worked. Everyone was able to find lodging and so the recruits decided to have a little bar crawl to celebrate surviving their brush with death. They invited Deacon to join them as their guest of honor, but he declined. "I don't drink." He replied coldly.
Dwayne didn't want to get too chummy with the recruits, and felt guilty leaving Deacon alone, so he decided to stay with him. The two then decided to have a bite at a local saloon, unwinding from their busy day.
While the recruits were in good spirits, the rest of the town of Fort Tuskegee seemed to be low energy. Everyone had their heads down and a somber look on their faces.
"Why's everyone so down?" Deacon asked the bartended who was silently washing dishes.
"Oh, well. Turns out the Buffalo Soldiers are a bunch of thieves?"
"Huh?" Dwayne asked. Overhearing the conversation.
"Yeah. They robbed our bank, even killed a clerk. Those roughheads really betrayed us."
"My goodness, that's horrible." Dwayne said. "That explains the mix up with the recruits." he took a sip of his beer.
"They robbed their own bank?" Deacon asked. Raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't make much sense."
"You better watch your mouth, boy." The bartender threatened.
"Deacon, don't be rude. Someone died." Dwayne rebuked. But the thought did seem strange to him.
"What, I'm just saying." Deacon said innocently.
"Well, I guess we just have to wait for the Rangers to clean this mess up. It's out of our hands now." Dwayne said as he finished his beer.
A few moments later, Deacon and Dwayne could hear the sounds of the drums playing from the gallows.
"That's the beat of the traitor." Dwayne said, recognizing the rhythm.
"Their hanging em already? That was awfully fast." the bartender commented.
Soon the entire bar had emptied out as the patrons all walked outside to witness the hanging. Dwayne and Deacon followed suit.
The pair watched as the condemned were dragged out to the public. The Rangers seemed to make a spectacle of the situation. The townsfolk started booing and getting rowdy, making it harder to see, prompting Deacon to want to get a closer look.
"Captain Ivelisse Enfield." Major Moss announced. "You are charged with robbery and treason against the fair city of Fort Tuskegee!"
"This is fucking bullshit!" Lee yelled as she foamed at the mouth and thrashed about.
"Sheesh, she's a wild one isn't she?" Dwayne asked Deacon, who was already pushing through the crowd to get closer. "Goddamn it. Wait up, Deacon."
"For your crimes, I hereby sentence you to death! Any last words?"
Deacon finally made it to the front of the crowd, with Dwayne close behind him. He didn't say anything as he watched closely and listened intently.
"I… Don't deserve this!"
Dwayne couldn't be exactly sure, but he could've sworn that he saw Deacon and this woman lock eyes. It was then that Deacon reached for his lasso.
"Uh, Deacon. What are you doing?"
"Ready!" Moss yelled to the soldier manning the lever. "Pull!"
With that order, the lever was pulled, and the platform under Lee gave way. Lee closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting for gravity to either begin to suffocate her, or break her neck. Before the rope could fully extend, a second rope wrapped around the same wooden beam supporting the noose. Lee could only choke and watch as the wooden beam began to bend and creak.
"Hold on." Deacon yelled confidently as the crowd of onlookers started fleeing from the scene, not wanting to be associated with him whatsoever. As he twisted the lasso into his hands and pulled as hard as he could, the wooden beam collaped under itself and caused the entire structure to crumble down.
Lee landed on her feet, with the noose still attached. She quickly rushed to pull the rope out of her neck. The chains binding her causing her to struggle long enough for the Rangers to pick their jaws up from the floor and recover from the spectacle.
"Don't just stand there!" Moss ordered. "Open fire!"
The Rangers aimed their guns at Lee, but a lasso then wrapped around her waist and puled her right into Deacon's arms.
"Who the-?"
"Lets get out of here!" Deacon yelled, scrambling away with Lee as bullets whizzed past him.
"Deacon! What the hell did you do?" Dwayne yelled as he ran after the pair, bullets whizzing past him as well.
"Who the hell are you guys?" Lee yelled herself. Starting to struggle in Deacon's arms.
"Deacon Wynter." the cowboy said cheerfully as he noticed the manacles on her wrist. "Lemme help ya with that." Lee watched as Deacon bent the metal manacles open as easily as opening a jar of pickles.
Lee could only stare dumbfoundedly at her savior. "Why, why did you do that?"
"What do you mean?" Deacon answered, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow. "You said you didnt deserve that. I believed you. Ain't that a good enough reason?"
"Deacon!" Dwayne yelled. Feeling extremely guilty for what he was about to do, but had no other choice. Dwayne pulled out his revolver and pointed it at the two. "I can't just let you get away with that. You freed a prisoner of the Rangers and prevented an official execution. I have no other choice."
"Put me down!" Lee yelled angrily. "Right now!"
Deacon moved slowly, so as not to make a wrong move while having a gun poited at him. He let Lee down, who casually walked up to Dwayne."
"What are you gonna do? Shoot me?" she asked fearlessly as she confidently got closer.
"I-I donnt want to. But I have a duty as a Union Ranger to-"
Before he coud finish, Lee winded her leg back and planted her boots right into Dwayne's groin, neutralizing him immediately. Dwayne could only drop his revolver as he collapsed to his knees. Lee catching the gun before it hit the ground.
"Never point a gun at someone, unless you intend to actually use it. That's Ranger rule number one, White boy." Lee said angrily as she flipped the revolver into her holster.
"Sorry Dwayne." Deacon said regretfully as he then turned to Lee, and the two fled, getting off the main road and ducking into an alley.
Before long, a squad of Rangers had caught up. They halted when they saw Dwayne and called for him.
"You. Where did they go?" The apparent squad leader yelled as Dwayne wiped the tears from his eyes,
"They went that way." Dwayne guiltily admitted as he got back up to his feet and pointed in their general direction. "I couldn't stop them."
It was then that Dwayne's face went pale as he saw who these "Rangers" were. among this platoon was none other then Smokey and Knick, now in full Ranger regalia. the only difference was a bandana neckerchief around all their necks. They all gave an evil smirk as they pointed their guns at Dwayne.
"This wasn't a military execution." Dwayne thought to himself suddenly realized. "This was some kind of coup, and we were in the middle of it the entire time."
"Can't leave any loose ends." The squad leader said as he raised his hand to give the order to fire.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Six shots, six kills, all headshots as each ranger fell lifeless one by one before any of them could pull their own triggers. Dwayne got up from the fetal position and turned around to find Lee standing several feet away, her now empty revolver smoking from the barrel.
"Ugh, why did you make me save him?" Lee asked as she rolled her eyes.
"Aww come on, Dwayne's a good guy." Deacon said with a wide toothy smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.