Chapter 12--Rewrite
(Billy and the Farrs Ride; Paul and Maxey Visit an Old Haunt; Bradford Cowers to the Literati)
Welcome, all Storytellers! I hope you enjoy this chapter, as we are hurtling toward the climax! Have an amazing week!
Chapter 1—Part One: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/michael-hatchers-unpublished-novel7
Chapter 1—Part Two: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-1b
Chapter 2: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-2
Chapter 3: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-3
Chapter 4: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-4
Chapter 5: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-five
Chapter 6: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-6
Chapter 7: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-7
Chapter 8: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-8
Chapter 9: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-9
Chapter 10: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-10
Chapter 11: https://hatcherfictionwriter.substack.com/p/rewrite-chapter-11
12.
Dark clouds stretched across the sky like a black-mesh net waiting to let balloons loose at a fancy party. Except this wasn’t some worthless bash, Billy thought; their purpose was serious and grim. And the net was just as likely to contain boulders, unleashed to crush them. No rescued Terry, just mass carnage.
Speeding down the highway with the wind rustling what little hair he had, Homer let out a high-pitched cackle. Stern and dour since Billy had come to know him, this sudden gleefulness startled the boy. Elmer followed suit and then glanced at Billy, sitting wide-eyed, hoping the old men hadn’t gone insane.
“Don’t worry, young man,” Elmer said. “We ain’t totally lost it. Not yet. It’s just that, we ain’t done this in a while. I guess we missed it more than we knew.”
“Yeah, I can see why you would,” Billy said. “My uncle on my mom’s side was a bounty hunter. Uncle Buster. Mama’s brother.”
He also got shot up going for men just like we’re going after—and he was a good thirty years younger than these two.
Billy looked up at the swirling, ebony clouds.
Gotta settle down, get these bad thoughts out of my head. We’re gonna win. Ain’t got no choice.
The wind blew fiercely, and sheets of rain slammed into the windshield.
Were those raindrops kinda like us? Running into something we got no idea of? Can we do this?
He cleared his throat.
“So, how long were y’all bounty hunters?”
