I belong to a small writer's group in Sioux Falls. We call ourselves VisionScribe. When we get together we pull slips of paper from a Zip Lock bag with a prompt on it. The following is a result of one of those sessions and the prompt: "Risk it All".

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Frank stood on a large boulder half way up the hillside. He slowly took in the sights from all directions. It was a windless day by South Dakota standards. That meant a small breeze would kick up trail dust in the Black Hills. He was looking for that tell-tale sign to be able to follow his prey from a distance.

 As he sought the signs of the forest, Frank thought how nice it would be to be sitting on the veranda of his mountain cabin in Spearfish Canyon with a glass of Balvenie in one hand and an Arturo Fuente Double-Chateau in the other. Stefan had other ideas for the use of Frank’s time when he called from Sioux Falls. It was a call Frank could not and would not ignore. Stefan told him that Gerald Samson was in his area. Stefan informed Frank the Gerald was just outside Hill City. With that knowledge, Frank simmered and planned to risk it all to “bring this villain in dead or alive”. 

Frank smiled when he thought about that. He wasn’t too far from Deadwood where many lawmen took those as words to live by; unfortunately may of those law dogs were the ones to end up dead. Frank planned better than that. He knew he had to flush Gerald out into the wilderness and away from the arsenal he was known to keep. 

When approaching the old rundown Gerald was occupying, Frank made enough noise to scare a black bear away. Gerald ran. Frank’s best friend and partner taught him how to track anything in the woods and the animal he found easiest to tracks was human.