Cometh the Reaper

By Mike Casto

Arizona Territory, 1872: When the entire populace of Antelope Junction goes missing, a former Indian fighter is forced to team up with a Yavapai medicine man. Can these uneasy allies rescue the townsfolk from an extra-dimensional entity the likes of which neither has seen before?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Mar 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781619504042

Mike Casto

Mike Casto is “The Wandering Guru.” He travels the nation, and sometimes abroad, like Kwai Chang Caine, teaching martial arts, writing, and helping people when and where he can. His wife of 17+ years, Margaret Westlake, is, fortunately for both of them, very supportive of his endeavors and their nomadic lifestyle.

Book preview

Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Judgment Day in Antelope Junction

About the Author

Cometh the Reaper

by

Mike Casto

All rights reserved

Copyright © July 17, 2018, Mike Casto

Cover Art Copyright © 2018, Cat Scully; https://www.catherinescully.com

Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-404-2

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: September 24, 2018

Dedication

To dad, your love for westerns had more effect on me than you ever knew.

Chapter One

On May 24, 1872, Randal Lape rode into Antelope Junction, spent the night with a whore named Thelma, and continued on his way to Phoenix the next morning. A week later, he returned to find the prostitute gone, along with everyone else. The deserted town felt wrong, and it troubled him so much he passed on quickly, disturbing nothing, and rode on to Prescott.

Upon his arrival, Lape rode directly to the Marshal’s office. With hat in hand, the little ferret-faced man told the marshal his story.

Dickason, in his fourteenth year as U. S. Marshal, watched the man with a world-weary and skeptical expression.

He ran his fingers through his thinning gray hair and wondered when his pants had gotten so tight. His gaze kept drifting to the dime novel he’d been reading before this interruption.

Deputy Wade Hazen, though, listened with rapt attention. When Lape had departed, Hazen turned to Dickason. Marshal, I gotta go to the Junction. My brother lives there and, if somethin’s happened to him, I need to find out what.

The marshal grunted as he mentally cursed the younger man’s thick brown hair and lean frame. You’ll do it from your own pocket then. I don’t have the budget to send anyone down there official, especially to pursue a tall tale.

Ain’t that what the Marshal is for?

Yeah. On paper. Tell you what, you petition those tightwad bastards in the legislature for more funding. Their rejection’ll hit you so fast and hard you’ll think you been kicked by a mule.

Well… I reckon I gotta go. Burt’s my only livin’ kin.

I don’t know that I can spare you ’round here.

Wade’s brows furrowed. Most days, all I do is get you coffee.

Never underestimate the value of coffee. It’s the magic juice that gets all this paperwork done and filed.

I think you’re joshin’ me. The younger man grinned at his boss.

You ain’t half as stupid as you look. Now git. Go see about your brother. I’ll hold the fort here.

The deputy unpinned his star from his shirt and set it on the desk. If I’m not official, I won’t need this.

The marshal gave the badge a thoughtful look. Tell you what. You keep that star, ride down to the Junction, see what’s what. If it turns out Lape is full of shit, like I expect, then you visit with your brother and come back. We’ll call it a vacation, and you won’t get paid for the time. On the other hand, if Lape’s story carries some water, then you investigate, and I’ll pay you your regular wages when you get back.

What if I run into trouble?

Ain’t you the hero of Adobe Walls? Saved Kit Carson’s life and all? I saw you in action myself when we rousted the Paine gang from the Granite Dells. I think you can handle yourself pretty well.

"Sure. Against Earthly threats, but this sounds downright spooky. Like something the Injuns would call bad medicine. I don’t know how good my six guns’ll be against somethin’ like that. Hazen lifted his hand and shook it, as if palsied, and said, Don’t even know if I can hold my pistol, scared as I am."

The marshal cocked an eyebrow at his deputy. Now who’s joshin’? With a sigh, he continued, If it takes more steel than you got then, in a few weeks, I’ll figure you for dead and mark the Junction as off limits on all the maps.