"Lee, someone is coming. Lee, wake up!" a hushed voice whispered over to Lee, who began to stir awake. It was private Bryce, who had been asleep next to her.
She groaned loudly as she felt her body, sore from her sleeping position, which was sitting with her arms chained up to a wall. As her eyes opened, and her surroundings seemed unfamiliar, she began to panic. But as her vision cleared, the memories of the night before began to flood into her head. Those damn 'recruits' had barged into the Buffalo Soldier's lodging in the middle of the night, throwing wild accusations about some bank robbery. Witnesses had reported seeing "men with black skin" charge into the bank and demand the money, even shooting and killing a clerk before retreating back to the fort. Moss himself then announced that he found the bag of money among their belongings. The whole fiasco, to Lee, reeked of an obvious setup.
Lee had successfully rallied the buffalo soldiers to arm and defend themselves, but Booker had ordered them to stand down.
"These are obviously false accusations, and we will beat them. The right way." he had said at the time. And then proceeded to let himself, and the rest of the Buffalo Soldiers, get arrested and thrown into the brig.
Lee watched as Bandanawicz, now masked and no longer impersonating a Ranger, walked in with Knick and Smokey, who were now dressed in uniform.
"Captain Bandanawicz." Booker yelled firmly. "How long do you plan on having us here detained without trial?"
At this point Lee could only roll her eyes. As angry as she was at Moss and these assholes that put her in chains, she couldn't help but be angry at Booker the most.
"Don't worry, good Major, not for much longer. We've decided to just go ahead and hang ya."
"What?" Booker asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
"All of ya's"
With those words, the Buffalo Soldiers were in an uproar.
"We are entitled to a trial of our peers with all the evidence laid out plainly." Booker demanded.
"That's so much work for a bunch of guilty roughheads." Bandanawicz taunted.
The Buffalo Soldiers again began to dissent. Many of them cursed at Bandanawicz, some prayed for their salvation, but Lee was silent. She could only stare daggers at Booker.
"Major Booker, are we gonna die?" Bryce asked as he struggled against his chains.
"You can't do this. We are soldiers of the Union! They will not stand for this injustice."
"Hah, the Union?" Bandanawicz mocked as he morphed his fingers into a long bandana rope and wrapped them around Booker's neck. Smokey and Knick snickered loudly. "The union," he continued, "Doesn't give a shit about any of us. Especially not you roughheads." Bandanawicz pulled booker closer and stared him down. "Nobody is going to shed a tear for some criminal roughheads, and that's all you are to everyone right now." He then loosened his grip as Booker's face was starting to lose color. "Oh, I mustn't get ahead of myself. Have to keep decorum and all." He said as Booker's body fell to the ground.
Lee couldn't even feel sorry for him. She couldn't even feel sorry for herself. She could've fought. They all could've fought and won and figured the rest out later. But no, they had to be the ones to follow the rules.
"Why did I bother listening to you?" Lee exploded. Unable to contain herself anymore. "I knew something was up. I should've followed my gut. But no, we had to do things the right way. You cared more about your status then you did the obvious threat staring us in the face."
"Lee, come on, that's not fair." Bryce tried to interject.
"No! Fuck that! We are about to go out so fucking pitifully and for what? Huh? For fucking what? What did you think was gonna happen exactly, Booker? That Grant would smash through the doors and save us? We could've saved our goddamn selves!"
Smack!
Lee's face recoiled as Bandanawicz extended his arms into bandanas and backhanded her across the face.
"Wow, Major Booker, I didn't know you allowed such blatant insubordination." Bandanawicz teased. He then turned his attention to her. "Tell you what, Captain Lee, as your punishment, why don't you go first? That way, all your men can watch."
Lee's heart sank to the floor but she refused to give Bandanawicz the satisfaction of seeing it on her face. "Do your worst." she said toughly.
"Oh, I have chills." Bandanawicz mocked. "Let's go."
Lee, as well as the other Buffalo soldiers were then all wrangled up at gunpoint and bound together. Their hands, feet, and necks connected to a chain on the ground that Bandanawicz used to lead them all to their destination, the gallows. Lee harkened back to stories her mother had told her about arriving to the Union as a slave. Her mother never forgot how heavy the chains first felt on her back and how her body almost refused to continue on because she knew what awaited her in the plantations. "I hope you never have to go through that." Her mother would tell her.
"I'm sorry mom." Lee whispered to herself as she held back tears. These assholes were not about to see her cry.
As they neared the steps of the gallows, it was then Lee understood what her mother meant. These chains suddenly felt like they weighed a million pounds. And her feet almost refused to move forward, like they each had a will of their own and neither were ready for what was coming.
"Up you go, roughhead." a soldier said with an evil grin as he led her up the stairs where a noose was waiting for her.
Lee refused to take another step, so some soldiers had to grab her and drag her over. She squirmed and screamed and fought with her entire might all while Moss watched and laughed with his men. Eventually they were able to get the noose around her neck and the soldiers backed off the platform.
The soldiers began to drum the beat of the traitor to signal the beginning of the executions as the rhythm attracted onlookers who gathered in the square to watch.
"Captain Ivelisse Enfield." Moss began. Obnoxiously throwing his voice into the crowd. "You are charged with robbery and treason against the fair city of Fort Tuskegee!"
"This is fucking bullshit!" she yelled out. Foaming at the mouth in frustration and anger. Her heart pounding out of her chest as she thrashed about. Her mind feeling like it was splitting in two.
"For your crimes, I hereby sentence you to death! Any last words?"
Lee could feel all the color leave her body. Her mind began spinning. Was this the end? Is she really going to go out like this? Even if the truth were to come out later about this, that thought couldn't even bring her solace. Some good it'd do her dead ass anyway. Frantically her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for anyone that could possibly stop this, save her. But there was no one. They were just people. Unremarkable and powerless. With one final breath, she managed to get a few last words out.
"I… I don't deserve this." She cried out. Tears fighting to escape from her eyes. Her voice cracking painfully from the grief. She closed her eyes and the tears broke through, staining her cheeks. All she could do was accept her fate now. She decided to give the world one last glance before exiting it.
That's when she saw the wide brown eyes of a certain cowboy.