Where Death Likes to Ride

Below we present the complete text of “City of the Dead”, episode 2 of our new Weird Western serial; Where Death Likes to Ride. This is a brand new (unpublished) series (featuring Jim Wilkes, Annie Deems, Sally Turner, and Speeding Elk). If you would like to see these new stories advance from being drafts into polished publications then please consider supporting us by purchasing one or more of our previously published titles (they’re only $25.99 (AUD), great value for a whole night of entertainment for 6 – 8 people). Every sale directly funds the production of new stories.

Parental Guidance Recommended: May contain content some parents may feel is inappropriate for younger children

EPISODE #2 – CITY OF THE DEAD

by Philip Craig Robotham

Cover Illustration by Miyukiko

Unedited Draft

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Edition.

CC by-nc-nd 4.0

This play is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) International license. This play may not be commercially reproduced, performed, or sold. Non-commercial production, performance, and reproduction are allowed under this license so long as attribution is maintained. No derivative content or use is allowed. It can be freely shared in its current form (without change) under this license. If you would like to purchase one or more copies of this work (for your own personal non-commercial use, or to help financially support the author) then please return to https://www.weirdworlstudios.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Other works by this author can be found at the author’s website: https://weirdworldstudios.com or through select, online book retailers.

Serial #2: Where Death Wants to Ride

Jim Wilkes, former Sherriff of Liberty Gulch, wakes up to find he is dead, murdered by Mayor Dan Wilson, a skin-walker that has escaped from the spirit world. He, along with Annie Deemes, Sally Turner, and Speeding Elk, are now spirit walkers returned to the world of the living by the powerful magic of Speeding Elk’s tribe. They must band together to track down the mayor and put an end to his attempts to tear open the barrier between this world and the dark realm from which the thing inside him originates. In order to do this, they will need to find mounts willing to carry them, overcome the fear and distrust of the living, survive the challenges of a valley full of dinosaurs, and learn to use and control their new undead powers. Can they overcome these obstacles in time to thwart Wilson’s evil schemes? Tune in and thrill to the excitement of “Where Death Likes to Ride” and find out for yourself.

Episodes in the Host Your Own “Old Time Radio Drama” series are designed to provide a fun dinner party experience for 6–8 participants. Read along, taking on the role of one or more of the characters in the story, and listen as the exciting drama unfolds. This is the theater of the mind, where the special effects are only limited by your imagination, and your participation will build a memory that you’ll treasure for years to come.

CITY OF THE DEAD

CAST LIST

NARRATOR: The Narrator

JIM WILKES: Dead Sheriff of Liberty Gulch

ANNIE DEEMES: Dead Crack-Shot

SPEEDING ELK: Dead Indian

SALLY TURNER: Dead Gambler

SCENE 6: EXT – MARCHING THROUGH THICK BUSH – MORNING (SALLY, ANNIE, JIM, SPEEDING ELK)

MUSIC: OPENING THEME – LET IT FINISH
NARRATOR: Raised from death by a local Indian tribe, Sheriff Jim Wilkes finds himself the final member of a team of four undead, recruited to hunt down the possessed form of Mayor Dan Wilson, mass murderer. The first order of business for the new team has been the finding of mounts able to carry their undead frames without fear. To this end they have been taken to a hidden valley containing “thunder lizards”. In order to get through the night, our heroes have been introduced to a new ability – the ability to sink into the soft earth and await the new dawn.
SOUND: (WALLA) BIRDSONG INDICATING MORNING – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
SOUND: FOUR MAGICAL CHIMES (UNEVEN) AS CHARACTERS RESURFACE FROM THEIR UNDERGROUND REST.
SALLY: I sure hope we don’t gotta do that again. The ability to slide into the ground for the night is impressive in theory, but I cain’t remember ever being so bored.
ANNIE: Must’ve been a total torment for you… having to keep your mouth shut for so long like that.
SALLY: (THREATENING) Maybe you wanta step into some o them bushes and discuss this a little.
JIM: Easy ladies. No need to get riled quite so early in the day. There’ll be plenty of time for petty squabbling as the sun rises.
SPEEDING ELK: This way. Into the trees.
JIM: What? No Coffee?
SPEEDING ELK: Hmmpf!
JIM: I just knew I was gonna hate this trip.
SOUND: (WALLA) TRUDGING FOOTSTEPS – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
JIM: Are the creatures we’re huntin’ nocturnal, Speeding Elk? (BEAT) I mean do they sleep during the day?
SPEEDING ELK: No.
JIM: (BEAT) Are you going to tell me anything else about them?
SPEEDING ELK: No.
JIM: Alright, I won’t press you. What about these other abilities you say we’ve got. Can you tell me about them?
SPEEDING ELK: Some. But I need to concentrate on the trail signs now. Our prey is not far.
JIM: Funny how we caint hear em no more?
SPEEDING ELK: At night they mark their territory with noise. During the day they hunt.
JIM: Alright, I’ll leave you to guide us.
SPEEDING ELK: Good!
ANNIE: (SARCASTIC) Wordy feller, ain’t he?
JIM: As compares with the likes of Sally? I dare say.
ANNIE: Speaking of… what do you make of her?
SALLY: You know I can hear y’all back here, don’t ya?
ANNIE: (AMUSED) I do now.
JIM: Well, for one thing she’s got damn fine hearing.
SOUND: SCREECHING ROARING SOUND – LET IT FINISH.
SPEEDING ELK: Quiet.
SALLY: Why? You think they can hear us?
SPEEDING ELK: Perhaps. One of them has found something and stopped. Perhaps it has found our trail, perhaps another of its own kind. We must wait and see.
JIM: Guns out folks and be ready.
SOUND: GUNS BEING COCKED IN READINESS – LET IT FINISH.
JIM: It seems pretty qui…
SOUND: ROARS, HIGH PITCHED SQUAWK, MORE ROARS AND HUGE RUNNING FEET INTO DISTANCE: LET IT FINISH.
JIM: Sounds like it found something else to chase down. Should we go after it?
SPEEDING ELK: No. Too large for our needs. We want to find some of the smaller beasts.
JIM: OK then.
MUSIC: (BRIDGE) TIME PASSING SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 7: EXT – APPROACHING SOME RUINS – MID MORNING (JIM, SPEEDING ELK, SALLY, ANNIE)

SOUND: (WALLA) OCCASIONAL BIRD SONG, TRUDGING FEET – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
JIM: Hey Speeding Elk, what’s that up ahead? Walls?
SPEEDING ELK: Why do you keep asking me? I told you I’ve travelled little in this country.
JIM: Er… Right… Let’s get a closer look.
SALLY: Wow, these are really big.
ANNIE: Uh-huh.
SALLY: No really. I don’t think I’ve ever seen walls this size before. What do you think they were meant to keep out?
SOUND: DISTANT ROAR – LET IT FINISH.
SALLY: (EMBARASSED) Oh! Yeah! I forgot.
ANNIE: C’mon, genius. Let’s follow ‘em along for a ways.
JIM: Up ahead it looks like the wall’s been breached.
ANNIE: What do you think did it? One of those monsters.
JIM: The breach is big enough, but no, I don’t think even one of the big Lizards could tear through a stone wall that thick. I think this was the result of cannon fire.
ANNIE: Cannon fire? Here?
JIM: Yep. And fairly heavy cannon at that.
ANNIE: But how’d anyone get cannon in here? And this bush is thick. Who’d have brought it all this way?
SOUND: STOP FEET TRUDGING.
SOUND: CRUNCH OF FOOT THROUGH SOMETHING BRITTLE – LET IT FINISH.
JIM: I think that mystery is pretty easily solved.
ANNIE: Oh?
JIM: I just stepped in this here fellow’s rib cage. I’d say he’s been dead a long time. Mebbe two hundred years. That helmet he’s wearing is part of the uniform of a spanish conquistador.
ANNIE: Well, I’ll be. I didn’t think the Spanish ever came this far north.
JIM: Neither did I, but Torquemada sent expeditions all over in search of gold. I guess it’s at least possible some of them came North for a look see.
SALLY: Did you say gold?
JIM: Now, don’t go getting your hopes up. The chances are that if there was any gold here, the Spanish found it… or lost it.
SALLY: Can we at least take a look?
ANNIE: This ain’t a treasure hunting expedition. I suggest you set on that greed for a bit until we get beyond the reach o’ temptation.
SALLY: Listen to you! Officiate at one funeral service and you think that qualifies you to preach at people. (BEAT) Besides, I ain’t shy about bein’ greedy. A gambler’s got to have a weakness for shiny things or she wouldn’t be a gambler.
ANNIE: Well, you ain’t a gambler no more.
SALLY: Says who? This whole trip ain’t nothing but a high stakes poker game. A bunch of dead folks trying to take down a monster. The odds ain’t better than a gamble that we’ll succeed.
ANNIE: So why are you here then, if it’s all so hopeless?
SALLY: Haven’t you been listening. I just done told you I’m a gambler. I live for these sorts of games, and I’m really good at figuring the odds and tipping them in my favor. You should be glad to have me! At least I’ve got a talent that will come in handy. What do you contribute miss high and mighty?
ANNIE: (DECEPTIVELY MILD) Not so much I guess. A right hook that can flatten a mule and the ability to pip an Ace at two hundred and fifty yards.
SALLY: (SHOCKED) I don’t believe it. Ain’t no-one can make a shot like that.
ANNIE: Are you calling me a liar?
JIM: Okay. Okay. Enough of that. We don’t need any more bickering just now. We don’t seem to have a lot of choice regarding where we go. If we’re going to get much further in we’re going to have to go through the breach. For all we know this wall could go for miles.
SPEEDING ELK: Maybe. Maybe not. But I agree. This is a good place to enter.
JIM: Alright. Let’s go.
SOUND: CLAMBERING OVER ROCKS, SOME BROKEN MASONRY FALLING ETC.
JIM: Here we are, inside.
ANNIE: Good grief it’s beautiful.
SALLY: And ruinous.
RUNNING ELK: There are many buildings. It is a very old city. Very old.
ANNIE: They’re beautiful.
SALLY: Yes, but look at the state of them. They’ve been torn apart. When the Spaniards came they must have let the Lizards in as well.
ANNIE: Oh, how awful!
SALLY: I wouldn’t have taken you fer so sentimental?
ANNIE: But there was once an entire city here. Men, women, children. Now it’s empty. They’re all gone. That wall must have stood for centuries, maybe even a thousand years or longer. Look at the carvings on those buildings. The people who lived here had art and culture. But now, because greedy men came along in search of gold, this place is an abandoned ruin!
JIM: Don’t be too hasty Annie. I’m not saying you’re wrong but we don’t really know what happened here yet (if we ever will). And the city may not be as abandoned as it looks.
(BEAT) I think it would be best to head for that tall structure in the center. The one that looks like a triangle.
ANNIE: (FIRMLY) Pyramid.
JIM: What?
ANNIE: That building in the center? It’s called a pyramid.
JIM: Right. Anyways, I think we should be able to get a view over most of the ruin from up there. Keep your eyes open and let’s go.
MUSIC: NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 8: EXT – ATOP THE PYRAMID – LATER (SALLY, JIM, ANNIE, SPEEDING ELK)

SOUND: (WALLA) WIND, OCCASIONAL BIRD NOISE. ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
SALLY: It’s blowing a gale up on this thing, ain’t it?
JIM: It’s quite a blast all right. The tree cover must keep most of it off us down on the ground.
ANNIE: How high do you think this thing is?
JIM: I cain’t rightly say. There are some buildings back East that are supposed to reach as high as six or seven stories. This “pyramid” might be half as high again.
ANNIE: I wonder who built it.
SPEEDING ELK: Ummacheros. The first people. The people from whom all others came.
SALLY: You don’t s’pose this here’s the garden of Eden do you?
ANNIE: Unlikely. For one thing it’s the wrong side of the world and, while this city’s old, I doubt it’s that old.
SALLY: Damn, I’d ‘ve liked to get a look at the apple tree that caused all that trouble.
ANNIE: Even if it was an actual apple tree, I’d say it’s been dead and gone a very long time.
JIM: Looks like we’re almost at the top. Watch out though. Some of the plants growing over this section are a mite slippery.
SALLY: Whooeee. Now ain’t that a sight? You can see almost all the way to… (BEAT) Hey, what’s that, just over there?
JIM: Hmmm?
SALLY: Is that bones under them vines?
ANNIE: And over there, is that a table?
SPEEDING ELK: This is a sacred place. The Ummacheros made sacrifice here. They prayed to the sun and used weapons of gold.
ANNIE: How is it you know this, Speeding Elk. You said you’ve never been here before.
SPEEDING ELK: My grandfather told me the story as it was told by his grandfather. The Ummacheros were the first people, before the great spirit came and showed my people how to live. My people came from the Ummacheros, but when my people left them and followed the great spirit to the plains, the great spirit rewarded us with buffalo and the first people grew jealous. They would raid my people for slaves and it was said they would sacrifice my people upon a table on a mountain they had made with their hands. Then the metal hats came. Though they were known to slaughter entire communities, they passed us by and came to the valley. After this the Ummacheros raided us no more.
ANNIE: Is that the whole story? Did the metal hats, the Spaniards, ever come back.
SPEEDING ELK: If they did, the tale is not told among my people.
JIM: Well, I’m guessing you’re right about this being their man-made mountain of sacrifice. (BEAT) Hey Speeding Elk, do your people ever wear gold?
SPEEDING ELK: My people value buffalo, not rocks.
JIM: Then I’ll make you a further guess. When the spanish came here with their cannons they took the Ummacheros by surprise. This skeleton over here is carrying a solid gold blood stained dagger and wearing gold ornaments. I’d say he died where he fell more or less.
ANNIE: The spanish did this?
JIM: Well, I’m pretty sure the spanish breached the wall, and I’m also fairly certain these… priests maybe? … were killed by powder and shot – there’s a hole in the front o’ this one’s skull.
ANNIE: But?
JIM: But, they’ve still got all their gold. If the spanish had overcome them then I’d expect the bodies to have been looted.
ANNIE: Maybe they didn’t get the chance.
JIM: What do you mean?
ANNIE: Well, there are some spanish skeletons over here. This one’s missing his bottom half.
SALLY: Ewww!
ANNIE: If I was to make a guess, I’d say the Spanish let them lizards through the breach after ’em and mostly got turned into lunch.
JIM: That makes a certain kind of sense… at least until we find something more definite.
SALLY: Well, I’m having me some o’ that gold.
SOUND: RUSTLING FOLLOWED BY MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
SALLY: Hey, would you get a load of this?
ANNIE: I swear, Sally, if you’ve gone and…
SALLY: You ain’t the boss of me! And besides I think I may have found something important.
JIM: All right, what is it?
SALLY: See this gold necklace, there’s a few of these here priests as have got one just like it.
JIM: All the ones that’ve been shot in the head, probably the leaders.
SALLY: Yeah well. Touch this here blue stone that’s hanging from it.
SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
ANNIE: It’s vibrating… almost humming.
JIM: And it’s starting to glow.
ANNIE: (ABRUPTLY) Ugh! I sure hope I ain’t gonna catch something from touching it.
SALLY: Well, if you’ve caught something I doubt it’s from this?
ANNIE: (DANGEROUSLY) What are you suggesting?
SALLY: (SWEETLY) Me? Why nothing at all. Just speculating is all.
ANNIE: Well keep your speculating to the pursuit of gold.
SALLY: Heh!
SPEEDING ELK: Here on the table. Look at these carvings.
JIM: Grab those necklaces Sally. I don’t know what they are, but I don’t want to leave them behind. (BEAT) What is it Speeding Elk?
SPEEDING ELK: Look at the pictures. They show men riding on the backs of the great lizards.
JIM: Well, I’ll be damned. At least that tells us it can be done.
SPEEDING ELK: Look at the chests of the men, these lines coming out.
JIM: Like a sun in the middle of their chests.
SPEEDING ELK: Like those blue glowing stones maybe?
JIM: I didn’t think of that. I wonder if there’s a connection between the stones and the dinosaurs?
ANNIE: You know Jim, you can see pretty much the layout of the whole city from up here?
JIM: Yeah?
ANNIE: Well, assuming they had the population to people it fully, that’s an awful lot of people to have been killed off by the Spaniards even with the unexpected assistance of the Lizards.
JIM: And?
ANNIE: Well, where is everybody? I’d have thought some of them had to survive.
SPEEDING ELK: There is a gate in the wall on the opposite side of the city. It appears to have been thrown down.
ANNIE: Perhaps some people escaped that way… but why hasn’t anyone returned? I mean, I know the dinosaurs are dangerous, but there don’t seem to be that many of them. Sure we’ve heard a few, but we’ve been actively hunting them and haven’t come across more’n a handful.
JIM: Annie, we don’t really have much to go on here. We’re just making guesses. For all we know, the entire population were wiped out at once. Maybe there weren’t all that many of them to begin with.
SOUND: FADE IN HISSING OF MANY SNAKES – UP, ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
SALLY: Or maybe the city got taken over by giant snakes and they was never able to return.
JIM: Damn they’re coming out of every crack and crevice. That one’s as big around as my leg?
SPEEDING ELK: Run or fight?
JIM: (BEAT)
SPEEDING ELK: (MORE URGENT) Run or fight?
SOUND: HISSING GETS CLOSER – FADE UP
JIM: There’s too many of em. Run. Definitely run.
SALLY: (FROM A DISTANCE) You don’t have to tell me twice. Last one to the gate’s snake food!
MUSIC: (BRIDGE) ADVENTUROUS SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 9: EXT – THE JUNGLE BEYOND THE CITY – LATER (JIM, ANNIE, SALLY, SPEEDING ELK)

SOUND: WALLA – LOTS OF HISSING AND A GROUP OF PEOPLE CRASHING THROUGH UNDERGROWTH – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
JIM: (PANTING) Keep running.
ANNIE: (PANTING) Why don’t they stop?
JIM: (PANTING Do I know? Run!
SALLY: (PANTING) I… I’m not fast enough
JIM: (PANTING)You will or you’ll die. At least you don’t get tired no more. Where’s Speeding Elk?
ANNIE: (PANTING) He’s ahead of us… way faster.
SALLY: (PANTING) Figures… I knew we couldn’t trust…
SPEEDING ELK: This way. There is a river ahead.
JIM: (PANTING) You’re back. How do you know they can’t swim?
SPEEDING ELK: I don’t.
SALLY: (PANTING) Damn, he’s gone again.
JIM: Shut up and run!
SOUND: FADE IN RUNNING WATER.
JIM: Quick! Get across.
SOUND: SPLASHING OF HEROES THROUGH RIVER
SALLY: (ALMOST CRYING) Aargh! I’m soaked through.
ANNIE: (PANTING) Stop whining! We’re all soaked.
SOUND: FADE HISSING DOWN AND SUSTAIN.
JIM: (PANTING) They’ve stopped at the water. Thank goodness.
SOUND: HISSING – ESTABLISH AND FADE OUT.
ANNIE: (PANTING) They’re turning away. They’re giving up the pursuit and leaving.
SALLY: (PANTING) And I thought we was gonners for sure.
JIM: Well not quite. But I don’t know how we would have outrun them if we’d had to keep running soaking wet. The extra weight would probably have done for us.
ANNIE: Well at least we know why no-one is living in the city anymore. Where’s Speeding Elk?
SPEEDING ELK: I am here.
SALLY: You’re dry as a bone and not even winded. How’d you manage that?
SPEEDING ELK: I went under the river.
JIM: Under it?
SPEEDING ELK: Mmmm. Through the dirt.
JIM: The dirt? Damn it why didn’t we think of that? Hell, we coulda been safe from them snakes over a mile ago.
SALLY: You mean we didn’t have to run all this way? We coulda just slid down into the dirt and been safe?
JIM: I guess so.
SALLY: But why didn’t anyone say anything?
JIM: I didn’t think of it.
SALLY: Annie?
ANNIE: Me either.
SALLY: Well? What about you Speeding Elk? You taught us that little trick.
SPEEDING ELK: I forgot.
SALLY: You forgot? Well if that don’t beat all.
SPEEDING ELK: Do you still have the medicine?
SALLY: Medicine? Oh, you mean the necklaces? Yeah, here they are.
SPEEDING ELK: Everyone put them on.
JIM: Are you sure they’re safe?
SPEEDING ELK: No. Put them on anyway.
SALLY: Who died and made you chief, chief?
SPEEDING ELK: Do as I say. These stones matter.
JIM: Do as he says, Sally. I think he’s right. There’s something about these stones… and Speeding Elk is way more sensitive to this stuff than any of the rest of us.
SALLY: Yeah? Well if my face turns blue and my head falls off I’m blaming you.
JIM: (AMUSED) Fair enough. Here goes.
SOUND: FOUR MAGICAL CHIMES (SLIGHTLY OVERLAPPING)
JIM: Whoah. Well if that light’s anything to go by, they’re working.
ANNIE: Yeah, but are they gonna help or hinder us? I don’t much feel like being a giant walking target with this thing blazing away.
SALLY: Hang on. The light’s starting to fade. Are the stones running out of juice.
ANNIE: It doesn’t feel like it. Mine’s still humming.
JIM: Yeah. Mine too. What do you think we should do now? Speeding Elk?
SPEEDING ELK: Go forward. We must find mounts or enter the final death.
SALLY: What? What’s he talking about now?
JIM: Something I forgot to mention earlier. We’re kind of on trial.
ANNIE: What do you mean “on trial”?
JIM: It’s my fault. When I first met Crow’s Shadow I’d been taken prisoner by Speeding Elk’s people. Crow’s Shadow intervened on my behalf but a trainee medicine man died. The chief took it hard and didn’t want to help us. Crow’s Shadow and the chief compromised and decided that if we return with some dinosaur mounts we’ll have proved ourselves. Fail and the life that sustains us will be withdrawn.
ANNIE: And you were gonna tell us all about this when?
JIM: It kind of slipped my mind in the midst of everything that’s been happening.
SOUND: FACE BEING SLAPPED – LET IT FINISH.
ANNIE: Jim Wilkes, you are a jackass!
JIM: (WRILY) I do believe you’ve made that observation before.
ANNIE: I believe so (BEAT) and I was right then as well.
(BEAT) If you have information that effects all of us, then you had best share it!
JIM: Well, you know it now. Sally seems to be handling it well enough.
SALLY: I just got one thing to say to you Mr Wilkes.
JIM: Yeah?
SOUND: SOUND OF FACE BEING SLAPPED – LET IT FINISH.
JIM: (WRILY) Technically speaking, you didn’t say anything.
SALLY: Are you looking for another one?
JIM: Er. No.
SALLY: Well, what do you say Annie? Shall we be heading on?
ANNIE: Why I do believe that would be a grand idea.
JIM: (MUTTERING) Well those two sure got cosy in a hurry.
SPEEDING ELK: All it took was you.
JIM: Alright. Laugh it up. You knew about it too you know?
SPEEDING ELK: Yes but they only hit you.
JIM: Aw, come on. We need to catch up before they get into more trouble.
ANNIE AND SALLY: (IN THE DISTANCE) What? Aaah!
SOUND: BUSHES RUSTLING – LET IT FINISH.
JIM: Damn it!
SOUND: RUNNING FEET THEN STOP – LET IT FINSH.
JIM: Where’d they go, they couldn’t have gotten very far ahead of us.
SPEEDING ELK: Don’t move.
JIM: What?
SOUND: BRANCH CRACK AND WHOOSH THROUGH RUSTLING BRUSH – LET IT FINISH.
JIM: Oh! (BEAT) Are you Okay, Speeding Elk?
SPEEDING ELK: I am in a net (BEAT) in a tree.
JIM: Yeah. Sorry about that. Any idea how to get us down?
SPEEDING ELK: I had a plan.
JIM: Oh? What was it?
SPEEDING ELK: Mostly it involved me being on the ground to cut you down.
JIM: Uh-huh. (BEAT) D’you think this is what happened to Annie and Sally?
SPEEDING ELK: Yes.
JIM: Can you see ‘em?
SPEEDING ELK: No.
SOUND: CREAKING OF A ROPE PULLY – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
JIM: Hey, we’re moving. They must have these nets on pullies of some kind.
SPEEDING ELK: They?
JIM: Yeah. I think we may have just found the survivors from the city.
SPEEDING ELK: Not good.
JIM: Why’s that?
SPEEDING ELK: Remember the altar of sacrifice on the “pyramid”.
JIM: Yeah?
SPEEDING ELK: Human sacrifice!
JIM: Great. Just great!
MUSIC: (BRIDGE) OMINOUS SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.
MUSIC: CLOSING THEME AND CREDITS

CASTING SHEETS — MAJOR CHARACTERS

JIM WILKES: I was the Sheriff of Liberty Gulch. I’ve been a lawman fer a long time. Liberty was meant to be a change – a chance to relax after my time as a U.S. Marshall. It don’t look like I’ll be doing much relaxing though. The town has been destroyed. Its people are dead, and now, I’m undead and hell-bent on being revenged upon the thing that wears the face of Dan Wilson, the mayor of Liberty Gulch.

ANNIE DEEMES: I used to run the local store. I’m a woman alone in a tough town and I hold my own. A few months back I was shot and killed, but I’m still here, raised to a pseudo-life by the powerful magic of a local Indian tribe. I was murdered by the Mayor and I was then brought back by Crow’s Shadow to seek revenge upon the man that did it.

SPEEDING ELK: I am a tracker and hunter for my people. Murdered by white men, I have been brought back by Crow’s Shadow to serve my people in seeking their revenge upon the mayor of Liberty Gulch.

SALLY TURNER: I am a drifter and gambler. I’ve had to make a quick exit from many a town over the years, but, until recently, my luck kept me one step ahead of the game. I say “until recently” because my luck ran out in Liberty Gulch. I was murdered by the mayor and brought back by Crow’s Shadow to seek revenge upon the man that killed me.

CASTING SHEETS — MINOR CHARACTERS

NARRATOR: Hello, I am your narrator. I introduce the cold stormy nights on which our stories take place, the dark alleys, and darker personalities who inhabit the lonely city. It is my job to set the scene and establish the serious tone of suspense and intrigue that will carry the story forward. It is also my job to remind listeners of what came before in a calm, trustworthy voice and ensure that everyone is oriented to where we are and where we are going.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Craig Robotham grew up in a house full of books and has held numerous jobs as a teacher, computer programmer, graphic and web designer, an e-learning consultant and, most recently, writer. He currently lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and two sons. When he was younger and fitter he enjoyed martial arts, but in recent years his hobbies have tended towards more sedate fare (board games, movies, books, and role-playing games).

He is extremely grateful for the encouragement he receives from his biggest fans — his wife and two boys — all of whom read and enjoy his scripts and in general make his life worth living.

You can contact the author regarding performance rights (or simply to say hello) through his website: https://weirdworldstudios.com.

Don’t forget to check out the free sample portions of our titles at https://weirdworldstudios.com/product-category/our-products/.

This post and all its content is copyright © 2013 Philip Craig Robotham and has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This play cannot be reproduced, shared, or performed commercially without the written permission of the author. The production of derivative content, merchandise, or creative works and materials is expressly forbidden under this agreement. However you may share, reproduce, and perform this play freely so long as authorship is acknowledged, no money changes hands, and the play is not modified in any way.

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