The boiler of the weathered steam boat gave off another hiss. It wasn't going to be soon before it gave out entirely and took the whole ship with it. Colton, ran to his father's aid, holding out against as many mercenaries as he could with only enough munitions to satisfy a short game hunt. The savages climbed onto the boat in large numbers, but they carried nothing much more brutal than busted wheel guns and hatchets. It was just like shooting quail.
The steamer let out another teeth-hurting groan. It was on the verge of finally giving out, but it did no more than scream for the time being. Colton and his father, Ned, were pinned behind the boxes of cargo as the renegades piled on from every flank. The two mountain men had each other's backs, but what remained of their bullets were nothing more spent casings rolling along the shot up boards of the pilot deck.
"I gotta find Sadie," Ned said to his son, ducking from the barrage of bullets that peppered the cargo.
"It's too late; Preacher killed her. The son of a bitch was leading the ambush." Colton replied, as he tried his best to shoot down the mercenaries with what little he had left.
Ned grew a look of despair, and simply fell to his haunches, beside Colton. The son didn't complain, and continued firing his gun at anything that approached.
The old man put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Son, listen close, cause there ain't much time," a stray shot splintered a small hole in his cover as he spoke. "I've done my best to raise ya right, and all y'r life I've been lyin' to ya."
The boiler let out a large burst, sending many of the approaching attackers flying off the railing, almost entirely disemboweled and dismembered. The blast caused the two to duck further behind the cargo, but Colton continued to jolt up and shoot between short lapses of time.
"The boilers are gonna blow!" Ned said, grabbing Colton by the arm. "Quick, take this," the old mountain man pulled out a metal coin, sporting the emblem of barroom merrymaking, and placed it in his son's hand. "That's a token to the Alhambra, the cat house in Dodge City. Go there and ask for Jenny."
Colton wasn't happy with where this was leading. "I ain't leavin' ya, pa!" he yelled, dropping another renegade with his pistol.
"God dammit, that's what I'm tryin' to tell ya; I ain't y'r father! Now go!" Ned said, pushing Colton off the railing of the steam boat. Colton could barely grunt before hitting the water with a large splash.
Aboard the steamer, Ned got only a few shots off before his Ferguson was empty, and his ammo belt held no backup. He gripped the rifle by the barrel and put as much weight into clubbing the approaching mercenaries as he could.
"Pa!" Colton yelled from the freezing water. "Pa!"
The boilers gave only one final groan before the bottom deck of the ship was obliterated, followed by the entire pilot's deck.
"Jump!" Colton tried to yell, but his mind knew he was too late. The whole deck was strewn into a blazing furry of wood and shrapnel, sending debris flying in every direction. Colton could only scream "no" as the tin sign of the steamer flew towards him, and only left him the name "Morning Star" to remember before he was knocked cold.
***
Colton could feel grass biting at his neck. It made him want to scratch, but he felt much too exhausted. He almost needed to will himself awake, but his body just refused all rationale. He just lay there, fully awake, but too unmotivated to get up. It was when he felt a kick at his side that he began to finally regain control over his body. He felt something press up against his chest, and from there, his instincts finally kicked in. Colton pounced whatever was approaching him and pinned it against the ground.
"Woah, hold on there!" whatever it was shouted. "I didn't mean no harm, now."
Colton could soon fully visualize what he was pinning down and he was not happy with it. What he had pinned down was an orange pony. Not just 'horse hair' orange, but seriously damn orange. Like, 'paint' orange. Her eyes were huge and green, and we're talking 'emerald' green. And she talked, too. Nothing about her even resembled a real, regular horse. It had to be the most out of place thing he'd ever seen.
Ironically, it was then that he realized the horse was in perfect concord with the environment that surrounded her. Colton got up to his legs and felt like he was going to faint. All he did, though, was fall onto his bottom and feel quite dizzy.
"Mister, are you alright?" The orange pony asked, quite bewildered. "Or... you are a mister, right?" She asked, legitimately confused by the mountain man's gender.
"My father," Colton said, barely managing his words. "Where's Ned?"
The orange pony blinked a few times. "When I came here, I found you like this. Wasn't anybody else. Sorry," she said in response.
Colton just about ignored her all together. When in doubt, ignore the taking, colorful horse.
"No, no, this is all wrong. There was an ambush up the river. I was there," the mountain man said, almost panicked.
"Uh... river?" The pony asked. "We're in the Everfree Forest. There's no rivers around here for miles. Were you maybe talkin' about Froggy Bottom Bay?"
Colton got up from where he sat and pondered his surrounding. Everything was completely different. "Everfree?" He asked. "No, no, we're in Missouri. There's no way I could've drifted anywhere else," the mountain man was almost angry at himself for talking to the hallucination.
"Missouri?" The horse queried. "Y'r not from around here, are ya?"
Colton slapped his hand against his face and fully realized that he still looked the exact same way he did when he was last conscious.
"Uh... mister? If you don't mind me askin'... what are you, exactly?"
