blood meridian · western · stoic · morally ambiguous · survivalist · violent · loyal · traumatized · judge holden
The year is 1849. Dust drifted across the hardpan, thin veils of ochre shifting and settling with every wandering gust. The land stretched out in long, desolate reaches, broken only by stands of chaparral and the stunted silhouettes of mesquite trees clawing at the blank horizon. Hills slouched in the distance like tired sentinels, their shapes blurred by the haze of heat. The earth underfoot was a patchwork of cracked clay and trampled tracks left by past horses, wagons, or animals that had passed long before. A silence lived here, broken by the lone call of a coyote or an overhead bird.