Chapter Text
Streaks of golden light fall across a man on his horse, his dog running alongside them.
“Aye, get on then!” he called to a sheep getting out of line.
The dog hops over and nips at the sheep's heel; a good dog he is.
Once the sheep are all rounded up, the man huffs and turns his horse back towards the farmhouse.
It's already been a long day, and it’s still only morning; looks like rain’s trying to come in too, what luck.
Suddenly his dog’s head swivels and he runs off towards the brush, barking up a storm
“Damn it, Gus! Get yer ass back here!"
Outta be after those damn coyotes again.
The man turns and rides after Gus.
“Get back here ya damn dog!”
Out of the brush comes a yelp, but it don’t sound like no animal.
When the man catches up, he finds Gus harassing someone he ain’t never seen before: rattish, small, and filthy as all hell.
The boy turns his head up at the man; the hint of a fearful eye can just be seen under his large hat and overgrown hair.
“Boy, what are you doing out here?”
The boy frantically looks about and bolts into the woods.
“Hey!”
Gus chases after the boy once again.
“God damn it all!”
The man slips off his horse and follows as well.
Thud
He comes up on the boy, picking himself up from the dirt where Gus clearly laid him out, knocking his hat and sack to the ground beside him.
The boy’s head is haloed by a rat's nest of brown hair.
His face was almost pretty, or it probably would be without all the grime.
His eyes are more scared than the stock on the slaughter.
“Gus, get yer ass off of him”
Barking at the boy one last time, the dog scampers back to the man.
The boy cowers back slightly as the rancher offers a hand.
It is not taken; the boy pushes himself up on his own, wincing as he does.
He must have cut up his hands in the fall.
“What are you running from, boy?”
Shaking his head and stepping back, the boy rasps out,
“N-nothing, sir, swear it. Just…” he glances at the dog pacing around the horse, “startled.”
“Startled, huh?” he scoffs. “You outta tell me your intentions out here right now.”
The smaller hastily shakes his head again,
“Nothing, I swear! Just walking through,” he picks his hat up off the ground, still flinching at his hands, “I’ll leave, I’ll leave right now, sir.”
The man shakes his head and sighs.
“Gus sure did a number on ya, huh?”
Shrugging, the boy wipes his hands on his pants, then hisses as he immediately regrets it.
“Give 'em here, boy,” he steps forward, “let me take a look.”
The boy hesitates, but carefully offers his hands.
Taking them in his own, he sees they are scraped up, dirt and rocks in there, but not too bad all things considered.
He takes this chance to get a better look at the boy himself too: he's thin, the large clothes fall very loosely over his form, his face is again in shadow from his hat, but from what can be seen, the boy does have eyes, deep and tired. He’s short too, probably ain’t got enough food to grow up right.
“You outta get this cleaned up”
“Right, sure, I can clean them.”
He tries to take his hands back, but the older keeps hold.
“Can ya, son? With what?”
The boy glances away.
Letting his hands go, he waves for the boy to follow as he walks towards the edge of the forest.
“Come on then.”
Hesitating a few beats, the boy does.
The rancher collects his horse and hops back on, keeping an eye on Gus and the boy walking along with them as they head towards the house.
For a few seconds it's silent besides the sheep in the distance, till the man glances back once more.
“Never got your name, boy.”
Blinking up, startled a tad, he clears his horse throat,
“Uh, Colt, er, Colton Shelly.”
The man glances back at his hesitation, but does not comment.
“Colt works just fine; call me Wyatt.”
Colt just nods as they approach the house, Wyatt tying up the horse.
He holds the door open for the boy,
“Well come on then, let's get ya cleaned up.”