[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Crooked Stories Theatre, every week we bring you strange and quirky tales, stories with a small twist and odd setting, a unique character.
[SPEAKER_01]: It could be a drama, a light horror, a sitcom, really any kind of story, as long as it's just a bit crooked.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today we bring you part four of our eight-part supernatural western drama, Devils Do.
[SPEAKER_04]: Previously on Devils do Walt, Walt wake up Holy hell Did you see that Bring it on asshole Then allow me to play my first cards Rachel You said she was dead
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we present Devils do episode four.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're at that easy.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel slowly drew the cover of some her sweat-drenched body.
[SPEAKER_02]: She'd been sick for weeks, though both Solomon and Nathan had held out hope for her recovery.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, even they had to admit, the fever was in control.
[SPEAKER_02]: It wouldn't be long.
[SPEAKER_02]: Solomon stepped from the shadows.
[SPEAKER_06]: Where is he?
[SPEAKER_03]: He went to fetch a doctor.
[SPEAKER_03]: He should be back soon.
[SPEAKER_06]: It won't make a difference.
[SPEAKER_03]: Don't say that.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's going to be right back.
[SPEAKER_06]: Go.
[SPEAKER_06]: Stop him.
[SPEAKER_03]: You'll die alone, Rachel.
[SPEAKER_06]: He's, I don't want him here.
[SPEAKER_03]: Rachel, he deserves...
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't want him here.
[SPEAKER_06]: A child shouldn't watch their parent die.
[SPEAKER_03]: Before I go up, I want you to know.
[SPEAKER_03]: I did the best I could.
[SPEAKER_05]: I never questioned.
[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't enough, I know.
[SPEAKER_05]: Not nearly.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was true.
[SPEAKER_02]: Solomon hadn't been a good stepfather.
[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, by all accounts, he'd been a very poor one.
[SPEAKER_02]: Even before her stepmother passed, the drinking and the violence hung over the house.
[SPEAKER_02]: Once she was gone, it all made Rachel remember her real father.
[SPEAKER_02]: She thought of the last time she saw him, standing behind the wagon, gunned to his head.
[SPEAKER_02]: The man pulling the trigger.
[SPEAKER_02]: The way her father's lifeless body hung so oddly in the air.
[SPEAKER_02]: She remembered the feeling of the man picking her up, carrying her away.
[SPEAKER_02]: She'd fought, but she was only four.
[SPEAKER_02]: Its doubtful man even felt the fury of her tiny fist.
[SPEAKER_02]: Her mind drifted to the first time she heard his name.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was like a curse word to her, then, and every day after.
[SPEAKER_02]: What?
[SPEAKER_02]: She hated the man, hated what he had done.
[SPEAKER_02]: When years later, Walt finally handed her to Solomon, It was a relief, though, no improvement to her situation.
[SPEAKER_02]: She shook off the memories.
[SPEAKER_02]: She felt a darkness to send.
[SPEAKER_02]: At first, she thought it was death's arrival.
[SPEAKER_02]: She had no experience dying.
[SPEAKER_02]: And therefore, no expectations, though she had hoped for a lighter touch.
[SPEAKER_02]: She opened her eyes to a new presence in the room.
[SPEAKER_02]: The preacher stood over her.
[SPEAKER_04]: I was near, since a need within.
[SPEAKER_04]: I didn't hear you come in.
[SPEAKER_04]: You invited me.
[SPEAKER_04]: child.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't remember.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm here now.
[SPEAKER_04]: I bring comfort.
[SPEAKER_04]: Peace.
[SPEAKER_04]: If you're open to it.
[SPEAKER_06]: It's a bit late for peace, pressure.
[SPEAKER_06]: Not yet?
[SPEAKER_04]: Though, it will be soon.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't need you to pray for me if that's what you think.
[SPEAKER_05]: Would you rather...
[SPEAKER_04]: I pray for the peace who killed your father?
[SPEAKER_04]: Who gave you away?
[SPEAKER_04]: Tost, really?
[SPEAKER_04]: Like a rotten piece of meat?
[SPEAKER_06]: Who are you?
[SPEAKER_06]: Did you know my father?
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm a friend.
[SPEAKER_04]: The one who can deliver you.
[SPEAKER_04]: You're going to that.
[SPEAKER_04]: It is written.
[SPEAKER_04]: Your heart is angry, black.
[SPEAKER_04]: I can help you cast away your demons to release the darkness.
[SPEAKER_05]: How?
[SPEAKER_04]: Give it to me.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't understand.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, but you do.
[SPEAKER_05]: Tent.
[SPEAKER_05]: I can't.
[SPEAKER_05]: I...
[SPEAKER_05]: I can't.
[SPEAKER_05]: You deserve it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Revenge!
[SPEAKER_04]: It's the only way.
[SPEAKER_02]: Where is it?
[SPEAKER_02]: It was only seconds after acceptance, and she was gone.
[SPEAKER_02]: Several months passed before Rachel awoke.
[SPEAKER_02]: She found herself stumbling across the plains, dirt in her mouth, or ears, dirt from head to toe, from memory was faulty, but her goal was clear, fine walk, and kill him.
[SPEAKER_02]: took her several days but eventually she stumbled upon a ranch where she definitely stole a horse and a rifle.
[SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't something she would have normally done.
[SPEAKER_02]: But Rachel realized, once you decide to kill a man, stealing comes a bit easier.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel's senses were stronger, she discovered, her skin tingled against the cool air.
[SPEAKER_02]: She could smell the animals in hiding as she rode past.
[SPEAKER_02]: She even fell a certain height into awareness, almost an intuition.
[SPEAKER_02]: She knew where to go, and how quickly she had to get there.
[SPEAKER_02]: She was still human, in a sense, which is why, as she wrote into great bend, she didn't notice the young man messing with his horse outside the church.
[SPEAKER_02]: She did consider the smell of roast beef, walked in from the town's main restaurant, but it was a bath she was after, so she headed for the hotel.
[SPEAKER_06]: Can I pay in skins?
[SPEAKER_02]: Smart enough to hunt her way into town, she tossed several rabbit hides onto the counter.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mercantile across a whale by him, but I need cash.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's when she heard the voice.
[SPEAKER_02]: His voice.
[SPEAKER_07]: Rachel?
[SPEAKER_02]: She ran to the window and watched his wall ran up and down the street, a frenzyed search for her.
[SPEAKER_02]: He disappeared from her view for a moment.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then came flashing past on horseback, as he tore out a town to the south.
[SPEAKER_02]: She started for the door.
[SPEAKER_02]: This?
[SPEAKER_02]: Your-your-your-pelt!
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel hurried back to grab the pelts, missing the young writer that's torn past the window on his way out of town.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel hurried outside.
[SPEAKER_02]: The town was a buzz as she fought to untie her horse and mound her.
[SPEAKER_02]: She turned her horse to the south and headed out of town, certain of Walt's destination and determined to corner him there.
[SPEAKER_02]: Ragerly kept her distance as she followed.
[SPEAKER_02]: Walt, she knew, but a writer had been tracking him, and it wasn't in her plans to kill two people.
[SPEAKER_02]: She watched over the ridge as the young writer approach Walt's camp.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel caught her breath at what she heard.
[SPEAKER_08]: Oh, did right there announce yourself.
[SPEAKER_08]: It's me, Nathan.
[SPEAKER_08]: Didn't think I'd catch up with you?
[SPEAKER_08]: You rat slow.
[SPEAKER_08]: Where are you?
[SPEAKER_02]: When she saw Wall grab his pistol and began loading, she scrambled to her horse for her own gun.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel crawled at the top of the ridge and sighted the rifle.
[SPEAKER_02]: Walt would never even feel it.
[SPEAKER_02]: All she had to do was pull the trigger.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know about you, but I'm hungry.
[SPEAKER_02]: She hesitated at the thaw, lowering her gun.
[SPEAKER_02]: She watched as Walt made repeated attempts to shoot a rabbit.
[SPEAKER_02]: Walt had a bullet but still very hungry, prepared to throw his gun at the still uningered rabbit.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel raised a rifle and pulled the trigger.
[SPEAKER_02]: The rabbit dropped from the hit, she quickly ducked back, then I had not gone as she intended, and it was no longer in her plans to kill Walt here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Not until she understood exactly what was going on.
[SPEAKER_02]: Still, she could hear the two men arguing below.
[SPEAKER_07]: weird dad.
[SPEAKER_07]: I don't think so, sir.
[SPEAKER_07]: If they can hit a rabbit from that distance, they sure is hell can hit us.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, exactly.
[SPEAKER_07]: But...
[SPEAKER_07]: They didn't.
[SPEAKER_02]: She peaked back over the ridge and watched, as the young writer cautiously grabbed the rabbit and began preparing the meal, walt, stared in her direction.
[SPEAKER_02]: She stood and returned his gaze.
[SPEAKER_02]: What do you recognize her?
[SPEAKER_02]: She watched him wave.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a meagged gesture, almost gentle, but it didn't change her resolve.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel mounted up.
[SPEAKER_02]: She knew his destination, and she intended to get there first.
[SPEAKER_02]: Rachel hid in the woods over looking at the cabin.
[SPEAKER_02]: Anything that was going to happen was going to happen here.
[SPEAKER_02]: She wasn't expecting company, at least not this company.
[SPEAKER_04]: His presence changes nothing of our deal.
[SPEAKER_02]: The preacher approach from the growing fall.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm trying to understand.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, understand this.
[SPEAKER_04]: Your time.
[SPEAKER_04]: Dwindles.
[SPEAKER_04]: Your opportunity is... Fall away.
[SPEAKER_04]: I will have mine.
[SPEAKER_04]: Wake up, son of a bitch!
[SPEAKER_02]: The preacher disappeared as Rachel swung to watch the action outside the cabin.
[SPEAKER_02]: She saw Walt push inside.
[SPEAKER_02]: She watched his Nathan reach for the pistol in his boot.
[SPEAKER_06]: No!
[SPEAKER_02]: She grabbed the rifle, drew it up, targeting the cabin doorway.
[SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't long before Walt again, filled her sights.
[SPEAKER_08]: Next time, on Devils Do.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, he hurts, he hurts real bad, well, I know, just try to hang on.
[SPEAKER_03]: Just don't seem right taking that poor girl all over the place.
[SPEAKER_03]: Do it.
[SPEAKER_07]: We'll be judged by this moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's dead, well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Episode five, sins of the Father.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.