THE DUST AND THE DARK PLACES
PART ONE: RECAP

Summer, 1883. Jasper Bennett walks across the large and barren expanse of the Mojave Desert. He is alone and afraid, his clothes sopping wet, and as the sun sets across the wasteland he seeks safety underneath an isolated and solitary mesquite tree. He hides amongst the branches until the sun sets, and then, when he is shrouded in complete darkness, he steps out and builds himself a small fire.

The flickering flame of the campfire attracts a wandering horse that is also lost in the desert. Jasper hides from the horse at first, but upon seeing that the man riding it is wounded and unresponsive, he decides to make himself known.

Jasper confides in the horse that he has seen the rider before. He ponders leaving the rider to die for a moment, but then he changes his mind and decides to stay and treat the young man’s wounds. First, however, he changes out of his wet clothes and muddies his face. He then returns to the young man and sews shut the bullet wound in his shoulder, ultimately saving his life. 

The young man, Benjamin Dance, comes around a short while later. Despite his wounds, he is eager to leave the campsite and head towards the town of Stonewater. He tells Jasper that he wants to regroup with a woman called Molly Stevens so that they can continue their goal of finding and killing the notorious outlaw known as Howling Jack Holloway, the leader of the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders. Jasper tells Benjamin that he cannot leave the campfire as they are surrounded by darkness, and that without the warmth of the fire he would succumb to the elements. Benjamin reluctantly accepts that he would die if he left the mesquite tree and agrees to sit down. Jasper states that they both need to stay awake all night so that Benjamin does not fall foul to his injuries, and to achieve this he asks Benjamin to tell him the story of how he ended up wandering alone in the Mojave Desert on this night. Jasper then says that in exchange he will tell Benjamin his own story. Benjamin is hesitant to talk at first, but he soon finds himself opening up to Jasper.

Summer, 1877. Benjamin’s teenage years are filled with poverty, neglect, and tragedy. His mother, Abigale, passed away from typhoid when he was thirteen, and while he and his brother, James, mourned her passing, their father, Robert, found comfort in strong liquor and the arms of an ex-prostitute. The scarcity of food and money forces James to leave the family home in Hopesprings in search of some wealth so that he can support himself and Benjamin.

Benjamin spends the summer days with his two closest friends, Chuck ‘Chick’ Austin and Audrey Kennedy, the latter of which he has a childhood crush on. He finds that they are courageous and brave whereas he is shy and reserved, and a chance encounter with a lawman fleeing the nearby town of Orchard compounds his feelings of inferiority. He longs for the day that James will return to Hopesprings so that they can all leave their hometown and begin their travels in search of a better life.

James returns to Hopesprings suddenly in the fall. He is reluctant to share his reasons for returning and becomes elusive about the subject whenever Benjamin questions him about it. All he tells Benjamin is that Orchard is ruled by a violent gang of outlaws called the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders. Benjamin is concerned for his brother’s safety, but James reassures him that this gang does not have any grievances with him. They pack up their things from the river and begin to head home. On the approach to their shabby red house, they find that their father is being threatened by some men over a gambling debt he has racked up in the nearby town of Orchard. 

Benjamin, haunted by his past failings to protect his friends and inspired by the courage of dime novel heroes he has read so much about, is spurred into action. He ignores his brother’s pleas to flee and instead breaks cover, confronting the outlaws outside his family home. His bravado crumbles in the face of such danger, and he is immediately ridiculed by a man called Samael Mott. Benjamin realizes that these people are part of the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders.

James intervenes, but to Benjamin’s surprise Samael recognizes him. James reveals that he has not been working on a ranch as he had promised Benjamin, but has instead been fighting alongside a group of lawmen in an attempt to remove the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders from Orchard. James manages to trick Samael into letting him into the house, but when he is inside he grabs a lever-action rifle and shoots two Black Outlaw Riders dead. Two other members of the Devilfall Bastard Six, Gustavo Ruiz and Sarah Ruiz, attempt to defuse the situation, but they cannot stop Samael from overpowering James and beating him into a bloody pulp. 

Benjamin and his family are hog-tied and told to wait for the arrival of Howling Jack Holloway (also known as the Two-Faced Reaper), who Samael says will decide on the family’s fate. Benjamin is petrified by Howling Jack’s cold and detached demeanor and the scars across one side of his face, and he is perturbed by the way that Howling Jack tries to hide underneath a wide-brimmed black hat. Samael repeatedly tries to inflame the situation and encourages Howling Jack to kill the entire family, leaving Benjamin with no other choice but to plead for mercy. James, however, is defiant in his disgust for the Devilfall Bastard Six and he refuses to beg for his life. After some deliberation, Howling Jack orders Samael to execute James and he then kills Benjamin’s father and step-mother. Benjamin is spared, despite Samael’s protests, and is left alone, surrounded by the bodies of his family. 

Campfire: Hatred. In the first interval, Benjamin reveals to Jasper that he is plagued by guilt over his failure to save his family. He vowed to himself that he would be guided by his hatred of the Devilfall Bastard Six (in particular Howling Jack and Samael) and states that he promised himself on that day that he would return to Orchard to avenge his family. Jasper expresses concern over Benjamin’s attitude but, in the absence of finding anything comforting to say, he offers nothing more than to change Benjamin’s bloodied bandages. After a short break, Jasper pledges to Benjamin that by the end of this long night he will try to make him see that there is more to life than hatred.

Spring, 1881. Benjamin and his friends have spent the past four years training in the vast desert around Cavern Ranch (located in Death Valley, Nevada). The rancher’s son, William Garett, has mentored Benjamin on how to shoot rifles and revolvers, while Chick and Audrey (who have since become a couple) have taught him all of the home-grown survival skills that they used to practice while at Hopesprings. Benjamin, despite the support of his three friends, has grown into a cold, bitter, and dispassionate young man, and he is consistently haunted by the encounter he had with the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders.

Benjamin manages to climb the highest cliffs around Cavern Ranch and he shoots the figure of a sandman that he had built in the desert. The sandman, he admits to himself, is a representation of his obsession with killing the men who ruined his life. It is a sign of the monster he feels resides inside of him; the one he nurtures with his overwhelming hatred of Howling Jack Holloway and Samael Mott. His objectives and training complete, Benjamin decides to leave Cavern Ranch and go back to Orchard to face the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders.

Before Benjamin leaves, he decides to confront William about the whereabouts of his brother’s rifle. William had been claiming that he was trying to fix the broken stock; however he now admits to Benjamin that the rifle has already in fact been repaired. Benjamin gets angry at William’s deceit at first, but he soon relents, realizing that William only lied to try and stop him leaving the ranch unprepared. William asks Benjamin to consider staying, claiming that he is amidst people who regard him as family, but Benjamin declines. They depart on good terms, promising to see each other again, but they both secretly admit that they do not think that they ever will.

That night, atop of an overlook above Cavern Ranch, Benjamin wonders how to tell Chick that he does not want either him or Audrey to come to Orchard with him. Chick makes things easier for Benjamin by revealing that Audrey is pregnant and that neither of them intends to leave the ranch. Benjamin is delighted for his friends, but even that is not enough to make him change his mind. He says goodbye to Chick and descends the slopes, heading towards the stables to collect his horse. He does not say goodbye to Audrey as he feels far too disconnected from the love that he once held for her. 

Benjamin and his horse, Marilyn, make the long trek to Orchard, arriving at its moonlit outskirts at the dead of night. A toothless old man offers to show Benjamin to the Louisiana; the three-story saloon where the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders base themselves. When they arrive outside the saloon, Benjamin is greeted by an intimidating swarm of people and feels his courage flee him once again. Instead of attacking the place head-on as he had planned, he seeks refuge in the Deadwood Saloon directly opposite. Here he meets a scheming barkeep called Verne King and a courageous young woman called Molly Stevens. He soon discovers that Molly also has the same goal in mind of killing both Samael Mott and Howling Jack Holloway. 

Verne tells Benjamin that the Black Outlaw Riders have split into two factions during some time in the last four years. Samael heads up this group which still resides in the Louisiana, whereas Howling Jack and his men have fled Orchard and are traveling around somewhere unknown. During this time, Samael has turned into an incompetent and chaotic alcoholic and is trapped in a tense stalemate with another member of the Devilfall Bastard Six, Tony Hannigan. Verne decides to exploit this rift, and together the three of them hatch a plan to pull Samael away from the Louisiana. 

Benjamin and Molly successfully lure Samael away from the Louisiana and go to confront him at an abandoned cattle yard. Before Benjamin confronts Samael, however, Verne tells him that he should let Molly take the man’s life, claiming that she is experienced in such matters and that the guilt in killing a person will do terrible things to someone like Benjamin. Benjamin ignores Verne’s warning and decides to take Samael on in a vicious fistfight.

Samael manages to best Benjamin and places a boot on the young man’s throat. He starts to revel in the fact that he can watch the young man slowly suffocate. Molly, despite her promises to not help Benjamin, intervenes, and she slams an ax so deep inside Samael’s shoulder that it smashes through his collarbone. Samael falls onto his knees, his face whitening as the life ebbs away from him, but before he dies Molly encourages Benjamin to shoot him dead. Benjamin takes his brother’s rifle and shoots Samael straight through the heart. 

Benjamin crumbles. The complex rush of emotions is too much for him to handle. He breaks down into tears and falls next to Samael’s lifeless body. He starts to scream.

​

Campfire: Revenge. In the second interval, Jasper tells Benjamin that he should have heeded Verne’s warning. He claims that Benjamin cried over Samael’s body because he cannot handle the mental toll it takes to murder someone. Benjamin strongly disagrees, but after some small pressure he relents, and he states that he did not feel any better having murdered Samael. In fact, he goes on to say that if anything his life felt a little bit darker after he took a man’s life.

Jasper claims that Benjamin is confused: he knows that revenge will not fill the void he feels from his family’s murder, and yet he is determined to kill Howling Jack in an attempt to feel whole again. Jasper says that Benjamin is so blinded by vengeance that he cannot see what he truly wants in life. He makes a second promise to Benjamin and states that by the end of the night he will have caged the monster that dwells inside of him and controls his fractured mind. 

Benjamin describes how he waited for Howling Jack to return to Orchard but never did. A second civil war broke out between the Black Outlaw Riders, leading to Tony’s death and also the death of every Black Outlaw Rider in the Louisiana. Jasper is more interested in the downfall of these two men than Benjamin had expected him to be, but Jasper is elusive as to why that is. Benjamin does not press it any further.

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Summer, 1883. Benjamin’s third story begins days before he arrives at Jasper’s campfire. Benjamin and Molly have spent the past two years traveling with a band of lawmen and bounty hunters led by a decorated military hero who is now aligned to the U.S. Marshal’s Office. Marshal Moseley has set up camp at Evil’s Tusk after reports suggested that Howling Jack and the last of the Devilfall Bastard Six and the Black Outlaw Riders are hiding out nearby. Benjamin and Molly discuss Howling Jack’s desperation after he was involved in robbing a relay station in a town called Deliverance.

During this time, Benjamin and Molly have developed a very close and intimate relationship. Their feelings are, however, unspoken. and they are unwilling to open up to each other and say what they truly want in life. They are both fixated on what they claim to want: the murder of Howling Jack. 

Benjamin is surprised one morning when William turns up at Evil’s Tusk with news of Howling Jack’s whereabouts. The Marshal prepares a small army of bounty hunters and lawmen to attack the Lost Hope Chapel in the northern Mojave Desert, cutting short Benjamin and William’s reunion. 

William is worried that he may have set his friend up to fight in a battle where he would most probably die, so he decides to exploit the unspoken love between Benjamin and Molly in an attempt to get them to reconsider. He confronts Molly and tries to get her to confess her love for Benjamin, but she is defiant and sees through William’s manipulations. Benjamin overhears the conversation and he realizes that he does not want Molly to put herself in harm’s way. When he tries to convince Molly to stay at Evil’s Tusk, Molly reacts badly and says that Howling Jack’s death comes first and that her relationship with Benjamin will always be secondary. Benjamin agrees, but he finds himself doubting what truly matters to him anymore.

William accepts that he has failed to change both Benjamin and Molly’s minds. He shares one final drink with Benjamin, but in doing so he tries to muddy the waters once more by claiming that the Marshal is a liar and a coward and that he is withholding information from his men. He then goes to leave Benjamin, but before he does he tells him that should he and Molly survive the battle then they should head to the town of Stonewater. He will be waiting for them there. 

Benjamin and Molly follow the Marshal and his men to the Lost Hope Chapel where they see Howling Jack standing in the upstairs window. They charge down at the church but become separated from one another. Benjamin is badly wounded after falling from his horse, and he just about manages to reach the church’s front doors. Inside he encounters Gustavo Ruiz, the man who was present at his brother’s murder. Gustavo is badly injured and near death, but as Benjamin hears Howling Jack and an unknown Black Outlaw Rider try to make their escape from the upstairs window, he opts to fight his way up the stairwell. 

Gustavo, however, blocks Benjamin’s path by surrendering to him. Benjamin asks Gustavo why he is still protecting Howling Jack. Gustavo responds by saying that he is not, and that he is instead trying to save the life of the last good person that he knows. Benjamin finds it hard to execute the dying man in cold blood, but eventually manages to shoot Gustavo twice in the chest. It is an action that, to him at least, marks his further decline into the inescapable life of violence that is consuming him. 

Benjamin sees the two men fleeing the church on horseback and draws Molly’s attention to them. Molly gives chase, but as Benjamin tries to descend from the rooftop Gustavo uses his last morsels of strength to tackle him from the window. Benjamin manages to easily overpower Gustavo and kills him with his own knife. Benjamin is too weak to pursue the two men, but he manages to climb onto a dead lawmen’s horse and follow Howling Jack and Molly towards the Colorado River. He slips into unconsciousness long before he is able to catch them.

Campfire: Interlude. In the final interval of Part One, Benjamin reveals that the next thing he remembers was waking up beside Jasper’s campfire. He does not know what happened to Molly or Howling Jack after they fled from the Lost Hope Chapel.

Jasper asks Benjamin to decide what he wants more: does he want Howling Jack to be dead or does he want Molly to be alive? Benjamin states that although Molly is important to him, his desire to see Howling Jack dead will always come first. 

Jasper accuses Benjamin of lying to him and lying to himself. He repeats that Benjamin knows what he truly wants in life and yet he allows the hatred and revenge to get in his way. Jasper states that he is worried about what effect the violence is having on Benjamin, claiming that it will lead him towards the path of madness. He reiterates the promises that he made to the young man in that he will help him let go of his hatred and cage the monster that wants nothing but revenge. Benjamin is skeptical of Jasper’s offer and states that he is happy in the darkness. He does not see how his redemption could ever be achieved.

Benjamin asks Jasper to tell him his story as they are still more than a few hours away from sunrise. Jasper is elusive at first, but he soon confesses that he is in fact the sixth member of the Devilfall Bastard Six. Furthermore, he was the Black Outlaw Rider that Benjamin saw riding away from the Lost Hope Chapel alongside Howling Jack. He reveals that he changed his clothes and muddied his face in order to disguise himself from Benjamin, should he have recognized him from the battle.

Benjamin is furious at the deception and states that he wants to kill Jasper. He is, however, unarmed, and he is too weak to carry out such a threat. Jasper reminds Benjamin that he saved his life when he could have let him die, and he asks Benjamin to hear him out before jumping to conclusions about whether or not he wants to kill him. After all, Jasper states, he is the only one that knows what happened between Howling Jack and Molly after they left the Lost Hope Chapel. 

Benjamin finds himself begrudgingly willing to listen to Jasper’s tale; claiming, however, that he only does so as he wants to hear about Howling Jack’s death rather than about Molly’s safety. Jasper takes his gun from his waistband and states that should he fail to change Benjamin’s perspective on this question by the end of the night then he will allow Benjamin to kill him. Benjamin will be forever lost amongst the hatred and the violence and will have strayed too far away from the path of redemption. If, however, he lets Jasper live, then he would have chosen love over hatred and he will be rewarded with the truth about Molly.

Jasper promises Benjamin that he will find a lot of parallels to his own life and the life of Howling Jack Holloway. Jasper’s story starts in the spring of 1869, fourteen years before the campfire and eight years before Benjamin’s story began in Hopesprings.

The location of Jasper’s story is Devilfall.