Ch 1

"Good morning Jimmy." Lou says as she gets up to check on the baby.

"Good morning my love. How did you sleep?"

"I slept okay. Got up once with Wyatt and Kiara. The baby slept all night."

"Who would of thought we would have three kids?" Jimmy asked.

"I'd have three more babies for you." Lou says.

"Well, it was fun making them babies. I can say that much." Jimmy says as he gets up and holds his baby boy.

"How are you little man?" He says looking down at Willam. "Today is the big day, Lou. The new stock should be here this afternoon. David and his crew are coming in to build a second barn over on the top pass. David should be here soon to start unloading the lumber."

"Good. We have been needing it for quite awhile. Hell, we need a barn for the horse ranch too." Lou says putting one hand on her hip.

"I'm going to talk with Buck about that today as well. We're going to ride out and meet the herd drives after we check on Logan an Ashley." Jimmy says slapping Lou on the backside with one hand. "Come on. Let's put this baby down an make a new one."

Lou laughed. "That is a new one Jimmy. Give me that baby. We don't have time for that. It's time for his morning feeding."

Jimmy dresses and walks out on the porch. The air is full spring time. The morning is cool with a nice breeze blowing. He heads down to the barn to get his horse and have a look at the new calves.

"Jimmy!" Buck yells across the pasture as he waves his hand.

"Morning Buck!" Jimmy yells back as he swings up in the saddle. He rides out to meet up with Buck.

"How are Rachel an the boys?"

"They're great brother. There must of been a hundred an fifty new calves born last night. Look at them. They're everywhere." Buck says.

"Looks like money to me." Jimmy says sitting back in his saddle.

"The herd should be close . I thought we would ride out to meet them half way." Buck says.

"Yep, sounds good to me. I told Lou that we were going to do just that. Let's go find Logan." Jimmy says.

They ride across the meadow to Logan's house. They find him on the porch with Ashley.

"Wow girl! You going to pop if you don't drop that baby soon." Buck says laughing.

"I'll be so glad when it comes. I was hoping the baby would come on Wyatt's birthday. But I think he will be eight before it's born."

"I never thought I'd be a daddy at twenty four years old." Logan says smiling as he rubs Ashley's belly.

"Hell boy, I'm surprised it took that long." Jimmy says laughing. "Don't worry Logan, the family is getting bigger by the year brother. We got your back."

"That, my friend, I know." Logan says pointing at Jimmy and Buck .

"Logan, we are riding out to meet the herd. You get the men an be ready this afternoon. I'm going to stop in town an look for a trapper to work for us. I been seeing a few more coyote tracks over on the new land pass the river. I think that would be a good place to house the older herd."

"Get your boys to start fencing in a section on the west side of the water." Buck says.

"How much you want to fence in?"

"Let's start with five thousand." Buck says. "We will see what that does for us. We can put around three thousand head in there and see. That would be a good start. I want you to go talk to Mr. Mark at the land office. See if we can get the other side of the old valley. I talked with the Brunson family a few weeks ago and they said they would sell it to us cheap. He asked like he was in a hurry to leave town. That's fifteen thousand acres that we could use."

"I'll do it today before lunch." Logan replies.

"Good. Get the boys to cut the cows. Let's get them over to the tall grass that's fenced in. We should be able to hold around five thousand heifers in there." Jimmy tells Logan.

"Ashley, I think Rachel is coming over to get you in a few."

"Okay, Buck." she said as she waddled back in the house.

"See ya later." Logan says waving at Jimmy and Buck.

"Jimmy, did you think eight years ago that we would own over twenty thousand head of cattle and forty thousand acres of land?"

Jimmy shakes his head as he looks at Buck.

"Man, I never would of dreamed it brother. How about the four hundred horses that Rachel an Lou own. Hey, by the way, what you think about building a new barn on the horse land?"

"That sounds good to me." Replies Buck.

"Let's go talk to David. He should be here by now with a load of lumber. I'm getting him to build a second barn over on the table top land." Jimmy says.

They ride over to the find David pulling in the gate with a wagon full of lumber with three more wagons behind him. Two with lumber and one full of carpenters.

"Morning, Mr. Jimmy, Mr. Buck. How y'all doing today?"

"We are doing great on this fine day David. I want you to get with Lou an Rachel later today after lunch." Jimmy informs him. "They want a barn built for the horses. Just build it the way they want. You know if it ain't built the way they want, then me an Buck would take the blame. So get with them later on, please." All three men laugh and wave goodbye.

"Yes sir will do."

Buck and Jimmy ride over to the stable to look at the horses. They walk in to find the keepers working hard.

"Good morning . Morning Mr. Buck."

"Y'all are doing a fine job fellas." Buck says.

"Thanks boss."

Jimmy and Buck leave to meet the herders as they head this way.

Logan walks in to Mark's office and sets down.

"Hey Mr. Mark, how you doing today?"

"I'm great Logan. What can I do for you?"

"Buck wanted me to come over an check on the land he talked to you about, the Brunson's land."

"Oh yes. I got the papers worked up. Just sign right here. Jimmy an Buck have to sign as well. Take the papers to them an bring them back."

"Yes sir. I'll see you tomorrow." Logan signs and walks out. He heads over to check on a wagon that's getting worked on then heads back to the ranch.

Logan gets back. He sees Rachel and Lou sitting on the porch with Ashley.

"Morning y'all." He says riding up.

"Where you been boy?" Ashley asked laughing.

"I was in town getting the papers for the Brunson land."

"Oh yeah, they sold out?" Lou asked. "Let's ride over an look at it."

"That's fine with me. Let's go." Logan says.

They ride the five or so miles down the road to the new land.

"I tell you one thing, Lou. I saw the Brunson family in town a few weeks back. They just don't set right with me. He acted shady like they were up to no good."

"I never saw them before." Lou says looking over to Logan.

"I'm glad they left. The old man was off in the head to me . He always seemed like he was being watched."

They walk their horse through the front gate and up to the house.

"See, it don't look that bad Logan. I think with some new paint, this place will look great." Says Lou dismounting. "Let's go look at the barn."

They tie their horses to the front porch and walk over to the old barn. The door creaks and cracks as Logan swings it open. It's cold and dark inside the damp barn.

"No, this one has to go." Lou says walking in the door.

"What is that smell?" Lou asked.

"I don't know but holy hell it's strong."

They walk deeper in the barn. There's chains hanging from the rafters.

"Look at the dirt pulled up in here Lou."

"This place is creeping me out" Lou says. "Let's get out of here an see what's in the other barn."

They walk over and open the door. They look in. There were knives and saws hanging from the walls. Nasty looking saws like they were used and not ever washed off.

"Lou, there's hair hanging off this saw. Look." Logan grabs for the saw.

"Stop!" Lou yells. "Don't mess with it Logan!"

Lou steps back and falls though the floor.

"Lou! Lou! Are you ok?!" He yells.

Logan scrambles around to find a way down in the black pit.

"Lou! I'm coming!" He says as he looks down but can't see anything.

Logan slides a rope down in the hole and starts going in. He looks up. I must be ten feet down he thinks.

"Lou?'' Logan hears an echo... Lou, Lou, Lou. The echo came back. He slides five more feet down. His feet hit the dirt in the pitch black dark. The ground feels wet to his touch as he tries to feel for something, someone, anything in pitch black. He can't see his hands in front his face.

"Lou!" he screamed. There was no answer. He tries desperately to find the wall, inching his way forward. He hears a whisper Logan stops.

"Hello? Lou? Is that you?" There was no answer. His heart is pounding. He can hear water dripping. He turns to see the little bit of light coming from the hole fading away. He sees a shadow flash on the edge of the dim light.

"Lou!" He hears nothing but the echo of his own voice. There's someone down here. Logan pulls his gun.

"Damnit Lou! Where are you?!" He screams. Only the echo of his own voice finding his ears.

"Lou? Can you hear me?!" He yells out in desperation. He feels lost and lonely. Fear takes over him. Logan starts hyperventilating. This can't be happening. Logan stops. There's something walking in the wet ground. He hears the water squishing from under its feet. He hears the whispers again. He can hear faster foot steps. It stops.

"Lou, please are you there?" His heart is beating out of his chest. Logan's mind is racing. His baby. Ashley. Jimmy. He screams as he feels the cold touch of dead fingers wrap around his face. He fired his gun. The gun shots echo in his ears. The flash of light revealed that he was not alone down there. The flash lights up the face of a demon. There's two bodies in the darkness. He feels his arm getting chopped with something hard. He unwillingly lets go of his pistol. The grip around his face is getting tighter. The stench fills his nose. He is being dragged backwards. Logan screams and fights to get free of his captors. It was useless. He was outnumbered. He feels his whole body going numb. Logan is dragged off in the stillness of the dark.