[SPEAKER_06]: Welcome to Crooked Stories Theatre, where each week we bring you strange and quirky tales, stories with a small twist and odd setting, a unique character.
[SPEAKER_06]: 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_06]: Today we're excited to bring you part 6 of our 8 part supernatural western drama Devils Do.
[SPEAKER_03]: Previously on Devil's Do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It won't make a difference.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'll ask again.
[SPEAKER_04]: Are you ready to dance with the devil?
[SPEAKER_03]: Sir!
[SPEAKER_03]: Wake up!
[SPEAKER_03]: You said she was dead!
[SPEAKER_06]: And now we present Devil's Do episode 6.
[SPEAKER_06]: Sunrise.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm stepping back, you're the man of the house now.
[SPEAKER_02]: The words hit young Nathan Hard, so hard that even five years later, he was still trying to live up to them.
[SPEAKER_02]: In truth, Solomon had never really been the man of the house in any real way.
[SPEAKER_02]: He provided little in the way of security, comfort or even stability, still.
[SPEAKER_02]: To a 13-year-old's ears, his step-grandpa's words were a powerful statement of his responsibility, and Nathan had tried to live up to them.
[SPEAKER_02]: So now, with his mother, Dine and front of him, Nathan had only one thought, SAVE
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going for the doctor.
[SPEAKER_03]: You should stay.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hold her hand.
[SPEAKER_03]: No, you stay.
[SPEAKER_03]: And do nothing like always.
[SPEAKER_03]: If I ride hard, I can be backed by sunrise tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you'll let me borrow your horse at least.
[SPEAKER_02]: You do what you have to do.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan did ride hard.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when the doctor refused to come with him, dismissing the boy with a turt.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's nothing to be done.
[SPEAKER_02]: He jumped on the horse and wrote even harder to get back.
[SPEAKER_02]: The horse saw the man first standing in the middle of their path arms out almost welcoming Please clear the way move.
[SPEAKER_02]: She's gone No, how would you move out of my way Nathan kicked the horse He had written very far when once again the man appeared in front of him
[SPEAKER_02]: The hour has passed.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan bought to steady the horse.
[SPEAKER_02]: He looked back.
[SPEAKER_02]: There was no way the man could have passed him on the trail.
[SPEAKER_02]: He didn't even harder.
[SPEAKER_02]: The words.
[SPEAKER_02]: He knew they were true.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your mother loved you.
[SPEAKER_03]: She... Oh, no, no, no, no, no!
[SPEAKER_02]: The young man slipped from his perch, crumbled to the ground.
[SPEAKER_02]: The Greek washed over him.
[SPEAKER_03]: I could have, she, the doctor, he wouldn't, he should have tried harder.
[SPEAKER_04]: Volk is not you, Mr. Man.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's not fair, yes, be angry.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let it free.
[SPEAKER_02]: The preacher slipped a small gun in the Nathan's hands, a gift for his pain.
[SPEAKER_02]: Your mother was wronged by this ugly world.
[SPEAKER_04]: If she would have left, she deserved.
[SPEAKER_04]: She.
[SPEAKER_04]: She loved me.
[SPEAKER_04]: She did so love you.
[SPEAKER_04]: And how did the world repay her with a cold heart hand, a dark cabin and barren land?
[SPEAKER_04]: She deserved better.
[SPEAKER_04]: If only he hadn't taken it all.
[SPEAKER_04]: And now he laughs while he takes someone else's money.
[SPEAKER_04]: Someone else's life in a dirty, sin-feet saloon in Emporia.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan looked at the gun in his hand, and with that, the preacher was gone.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan waited outside the impure of Saloon.
[SPEAKER_02]: He'd long ago heard the ugly details of Walt murdering his grandfather, but until Solomon had filled him in, he knew none of the details about Walt and the poker game.
[SPEAKER_02]: How Rachel had come to Solomon and his wife.
[SPEAKER_02]: The story only fueled his rage.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan's heart jumped when Walt exited the saloon.
[SPEAKER_02]: The young man slid in behind him and pointed the pistol at the back of Walt's head.
[SPEAKER_02]: He knew instantly that he wouldn't be able to pull the trigger.
[SPEAKER_02]: Not yet.
[SPEAKER_02]: He slid the pistol into his pocket, just in time for Walt to turn around.
[SPEAKER_02]: You following me?
[SPEAKER_02]: No.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: He had to think fast.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's just that I hear you're the best, and I was really hoping to ride with you to learn how you operate.
[SPEAKER_05]: Best.
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, you got the line bar down, that's for sure.
[SPEAKER_05]: Though we prefer the term, Bluffin.
[SPEAKER_03]: Please?
[SPEAKER_05]: No thanks.
[SPEAKER_02]: With that, Walt turned for the hotel.
[SPEAKER_02]: It took Nathan three days and four approaches to where the old man down.
[SPEAKER_05]: Fine, but keep up, keep quiet, and keep yourself fed.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was several days later, in Ellsworth, when Nathan found himself sitting at the table, out of money, out of the game, and staring at the man who had started him on this journey.
[SPEAKER_04]: Such a productive table.
[SPEAKER_05]: Hmm, sorry to say, the young man's dry.
[SPEAKER_05]: That one there, though, he's flush.
[SPEAKER_02]: The preacher smiled at Nathan, almost a wink, before he worked Marvin and walled over.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan wouldn't breathe easy, until they were finally outside.
[SPEAKER_05]: You know what that coach was going for, got robbed?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, sir.
[SPEAKER_05]: Good.
[SPEAKER_05]: You take this ring and give it back to that fella and his wife.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan had his assignment and he liked the idea of returning the couple's ring, confusing as it was in regards to his own personal mission.
[SPEAKER_02]: The preacher, though, weighed heavy on his mind.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan had only written a few minutes before he turned back to town.
[SPEAKER_02]: The young man watched from around the corner of the saloon, as Walt laid out his plan to Marvin and Durk.
[SPEAKER_05]: At preacher, convert in the town's guilt into money.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a shake down, plain and simple, but it's a good one.
[SPEAKER_05]: Very lucrative.
[SPEAKER_05]: I need you boys to help me nip that big bag of shame, he carries.
[UNKNOWN]: Shame?
[SPEAKER_04]: Money, you idiot.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a bag of money.
[SPEAKER_05]: We split it three ways.
[SPEAKER_05]: You up for it?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, shoot.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we're up for it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan's discomfort grew.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was naive, but he was learning fast.
[SPEAKER_02]: There was something about the preacher.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan knew the man was scheming.
[SPEAKER_02]: Convenient as it was to his own feelings, but he still couldn't explain the reappearance on the road.
[SPEAKER_02]: If it was a parlor trick, a con man's gambit, it was convincing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan tracked wall across the prairie as he old man rode after Marvin and Dirk.
[SPEAKER_02]: He stayed back until Walt crossed the ridge to check on the two bodies.
[SPEAKER_02]: He watched, as Walt got bitten by the snake, winceing with every strike.
[SPEAKER_02]: But when the snake transformed, when the preacher appeared, Nathan's mind swirled with fear.
[SPEAKER_02]: It was real.
[SPEAKER_02]: There was no doubt, but how?
[SPEAKER_02]: He waited for the preacher to ride away, then, conflicted, he raced down the hill.
[SPEAKER_02]: He still wanted Walt dead, but the last thing he wanted right now was to be alone.
[SPEAKER_03]: Walt, Walt, wake up!
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, holy hell!
[SPEAKER_05]: Did you see that?
[SPEAKER_05]: Did you?
[SPEAKER_03]: I saw everything.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm not crazy.
[SPEAKER_05]: That damn snake wanted to kill me.
[SPEAKER_05]: Like it was personal or something.
[SPEAKER_05]: The snake?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_05]: The snake.
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, you think we're talking about here.
[SPEAKER_05]: Damn thing bitten me, at least five times.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan considered telling Walt about what he'd seen, but to what end, he pondered it all as they wrote in silence toward the next town.
[SPEAKER_02]: What had he seen?
[SPEAKER_02]: Why was the preacher targeting Walt?
[SPEAKER_02]: Was there a devil?
[SPEAKER_02]: A god?
[SPEAKER_02]: He only broke the silence briefly.
[SPEAKER_03]: Why didn't you rob him?
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you know him?
[SPEAKER_03]: The preacher?
[SPEAKER_05]: No him.
[SPEAKER_05]: No.
[SPEAKER_05]: Just know his kind.
[SPEAKER_05]: Gambling, well, some people say it's a sin.
[SPEAKER_05]: Maybe, I don't know about those kinds of things.
[SPEAKER_05]: Straight, taking the people's money.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, that ain't right.
[SPEAKER_05]: They call it ill-gotten games.
[SPEAKER_05]: Couldn't allow him to keep that.
[SPEAKER_02]: The answer just added to Nathan's confusion.
[SPEAKER_02]: His world was growing more gray with every passing moment.
[SPEAKER_02]: When the church came into view, Nathan couldn't get there fast enough.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when he saw the preacher, the snake of a man inside, he retreated, even faster.
[SPEAKER_02]: His day had only grown more strange with the incident with the rabbit.
[SPEAKER_02]: What did it mean?
[SPEAKER_02]: He decided he would never know.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now he found himself writing on familiar trails as even more questions raised.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why, for instance, did they seem to be writing to his step-grandfather's cabin?
[SPEAKER_02]: Why had Walt been calling out his mother's name as he ran through the streets?
[SPEAKER_02]: Did you see her?
[SPEAKER_02]: Walt had asked.
[SPEAKER_02]: What could that possibly mean?
[SPEAKER_02]: The big question grew loudest, was he prepared to do what he came to do?
[SPEAKER_02]: Could he kill Walt?
[SPEAKER_02]: They arrived in the middle of the night.
[SPEAKER_02]: But Walt was determined.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here, hold the reins.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't expect will be here long.
[SPEAKER_02]: Walt was in a hurry.
[SPEAKER_02]: And Nathan's mind was spinning.
[SPEAKER_02]: He ignored Walt's request and followed the old man to the porch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wake up, you son of a bitch.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan stayed out of sight.
[SPEAKER_02]: Best he could.
[SPEAKER_00]: You said she was dead.
[SPEAKER_02]: The words for the confused Nathan, but they hit him hard.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hold on, they were clear, clear, confirmation.
[SPEAKER_02]: While, new Solomon, while the new his mother, in that moment, Nathan became convinced it was all true.
[SPEAKER_02]: He drew the pistol from his boot.
[SPEAKER_02]: He could do it.
[SPEAKER_02]: He would do it.
[SPEAKER_02]: As Walt's footsteps near the cabin entrance, Nathan lifted the pistol.
[SPEAKER_02]: Walt stormed from the cabin.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan's steady-dissame.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just as he ready to pull the trigger, while turn, and see Nathan's gun, he'd done.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan, wait, wait!
[SPEAKER_02]: The bullet from Nathan's gun shatter the door frame, just as the bullet from Rachel's cock-walt's chiefs.
[SPEAKER_02]: Off balance already, the shot knocked Walt backwards into the cabin.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan, unsure of the source of the second shot, left inside after him.
[SPEAKER_03]: Help me bar the door!
[SPEAKER_03]: The shot!
[SPEAKER_03]: Where'd it come from?
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_03]: Someone's been following us.
[SPEAKER_03]: We might be able to make it up to back.
[SPEAKER_03]: Can't just go out the back.
[SPEAKER_03]: We don't know how many of them there are.
[SPEAKER_05]: How inhale did you get tangled up with him?
[SPEAKER_02]: The two men glanced at wall.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now slumped against the far wall, had news hands.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan stormed to him.
[SPEAKER_02]: True his pistol.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait.
[SPEAKER_03]: We didn't do it!
[SPEAKER_03]: She would be alive if not for him.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan pressed the pistol against walls for head.
[SPEAKER_03]: I want to know why.
[SPEAKER_03]: Why?
[SPEAKER_03]: Why did you abandon my mother?
[SPEAKER_02]: What?
[SPEAKER_02]: Your...move... Oh... Of course.
[SPEAKER_02]: The truth?
[SPEAKER_02]: It walled hard.
[SPEAKER_02]: Even as he fought to shake the ringing from his head, the room spun.
[SPEAKER_02]: The lights burned.
[SPEAKER_02]: Still he knew enough.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was coherent enough to realize.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was about to die.
[SPEAKER_02]: A calm washed over him.
[SPEAKER_02]: To die here?
[SPEAKER_02]: At this young man's hand?
[SPEAKER_02]: It felt right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next on Devil's Do.
[SPEAKER_05]: You saw her dead?
[SPEAKER_05]: We might be surrounded.
[SPEAKER_05]: No, man, let's say we visit that grave you dug.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold there, I will shoot you.
[SPEAKER_04]: No, this.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm prepared to burn this cabin down if it'll make you come out.
[SPEAKER_06]: Episode 7, The Collection.