Vol. 6 - Chapter 4: Pueblo de Hawikuh (Town of Hawikuh)

Part 1 –Hawikuh Hotel.

The car passes through two large rocks that form a door. Uriel and Johanna pass through the door but feel something strange as they passed through the doors.

"What was that?" Uriel asks Johanna who also feels strange; they see a small blue light as they pass.

It´s been 12 hours since the trip to New Mexico. Uriel and Johanna arrive on a small town called Hawikuh. Hawikuh is also the name of a large portion of land in the Northwestern part of New Mexico. The territory has many plateaus around, with large portions of grass, some cactuses, and many bushes. The land has a large lake with blue crystal water. In the hills, there are thousands of cattle roaming free in the land.

The town of Hawikuh has many small buildings, many houses, but large ranches that cover the entire land; however there are not many people in sight making. There are only some children running and playing with toy guns. The buildings look really old just like the old times.

The sun was coming down, Johanna and Uriel arrive to the hotel they were spending the night. Johanna comes out of the car and stretches saying:

"Well that was long trip, but we are finally here."

Uriel with a serious face comes out of the car as well. One of the kids bumps into Uriel while running:

"Sorry Mister, I did not see where I was running."

"Don´t worry, just keep playing." Uriel replies with a smile. The two kids arrive making gun noises:

"PIU, PIU WE GOT YOU NOW COYOTE"

"YOU WILL NEVER CATCH ME, BECAUSE I AM COYOTE BILL." The kid says as he runs playing with the other two. Uriel wonders who that "Coyote Bill" was. Johanna whispers in Uriel´s ear:

"Come on lover boy, we need to check in." Uriel reacts of surprise, Johanna begins to laugh at Uriel, and he only frowns at her. Both of them enter the hotel, the receptionist smiles and says; "Bienvenidos!" (Welcome)

"Hi, I have a reservation for Gomez?" Johanna says to the receptionist. The receptionist looks at her computer and replies: "Oh yes, Ms. Gomez we have you room ready."

The receptionist was giving the details to Johanna. Uriel looks at the door and gets distracted, he looks that across the street there is a small girl beneath a light post. The girl had blonde hair with curls, green eyes, and white skin; she was wearing a green dress with long sleeves. She was crying beneath the light. Uriel begins to walk to the door, however a truck passes by and the moment the truck passes, the girl vanished.

Uriel was shocked to see what happen. Johanna holds his shoulder asking: "Uriel did something happened?"

Uriel looks at Johanna with a worried face and says; "No, everything is fine."

As they go up to their room because of how old this town was, they could hear the sounds of the stairs. Johanna opens the door of the room. Uriel gets shocked screaming:

"Wait, what is the meaning of this?"

"Well, it´s our room, you thought we were going to get separate, well think again, you´re mine during this trip." Johanna replies with a seductive voice. The room was for both of them and it had two beds together. Uriel blushes and sighs with his eyes closes:

"Well, at least we have separate beds."

Night falls in Hawikuh, the roads are empty, and there is no person on sight, only the lights. Uriel looks out the window and begins to think aloud;"This is strange; how come there is no one outside, even the cars and animals disappeared, it is almost a ghost town."

"Well the receptionist told me to stay inside in the night or else the "Coyote" would hunt me down." Johanna says in the bathroom while she is showering. Uriel begins to think if that "Coyote" would be the same as the one the kids were playing a short while ago?"

"Well, will figure that in the morning when we investigate, for now let´s go to sleep." Johanna says as she comes out the bathroom. Uriel turns around agreeing with her, he suddenly panics to see that Johanna in only her underwear.

"Wait, where are your pajamas?" Uriel screams covering his eyes. Johanna laughs and replies: "These are my pajamas; I sleep like this because it is more comfortable."

She begins walk into her bed like a cat imitating them. Uriel´s face gets redder. Johanna with a seductive tone speaks to Uriel slowly:

"Want to share a bed tonight?"

"N-N-No that´s okay, I´m pretty tired that I'm going to sleep, goodnight." Uriel replies to Johanna and with great speed turns off the light and gets into his bed.

"Aww you´re no fun." Johanna says with a sad face. She gets into her bed to sleep; Uriel with his face even redder tries to sleep as well.

(BADUMP, BADUMP, BADUMP)

It´s been two hours and Uriel has not shut his eyes. He begins to think:

"Sleep right away huh, I can´t concentrate"

"Hey are you awake?" Johanna asks Uriel. He turns around to reply and panics to see Johanna in his bed.

"Wait when did you get here?" Uriel says in a shaky voice, Johanna hugs him and replies:

"The moment you were distracted."

"W-W-Wait please stop this isn´t right." Uriel panics. Johanna teases him saying:

"Aww what´s wrong, you´re afraid I might end up waking up your friend down there."

Uriel opens his eyes wider. Johanna laughs at him and let´s go saying; "I understand, you are not ready for that yet, you're probably waiting for your moment with Marjorie am I right?"

Uriel panics and falls off the bed saying: "WHHHHHAAATTT?"

Johanna laughs at him; she puts a serious face and asks: "Uriel, do you love Marjorie?"

Uriel lowers his head, stands up and replies; "Yes, I love her."

"I see, and what do you feel about Katsumi?" Johanna asks Uriel, clueless as ever Uriel replies:

"Well, I like her, she is a good partner."

Johanna sighs with her eyes close and replies: "Ahh you are still a child, and what about me?"

Uriel looks at her and smiles saying: "I will give you that answer after we finish this mission." Johanna blushes, she begins to smile and kisses Uriel in the cheek saying: "GOOD NIGHT"

Uriel does not understand what happened. Johanna returns to her bed and Uriel gets into his.

In a small Plateau there is a small fire, a man dressed in a cowboy hat throws wood into the fire. He drinks from his cup and looks at a picture. The man smiles at the picture and remembers his deal with Darius.

Part 2- Graduation Night: Hawikuh Town

"I need you to hunt down a certain young man." Darius says to the man with the cowboy hat, and his face does not appear to be visible thanks to the shadow of the building.

"I will haunt him down, but it will cost you Darius: 1 Million" The man says to Darius, Darius takes out an envelope filled with money as throws it to the man saying:

"Here are 2 Million, I need to get rid of him, open the envelope and look at his picture."

The man opens the envelope and sees the picture of Uriel. He begins to smile saying: "Well, well if it isn´t Juan´s apprentice."

"That´s right, he is the new Charro Negro, I know that he will be difficult that is why I´m giving you double. He will arrive in this town in a few days, finish the job and I will give you more." Darius replies disappearing in the portal.

In the present day, the man opens a bottle of liquor and begins to drink heavily:

"So then, I need to hunt a young man, and he is El Charro Negro above all. I swear I will hunt you in the name of Sundance "Coyote" Bill"

The man throws what is left of the liquor into the fire revealing his face; he has a black eye patch, white beard and a brown eye. The man laughs out loud waking up the little girl who was sleeping in the tent. The little girl is the same Uriel saw. She begins to walk asking:

"Great Grandpa, is everything alright?"

"Yes my dear continue to sleep, because tomorrow will be a busy day." Coyote replies patting her head, she nods in sign of agreement, and returns to sleep.

Uriel and Johanna sleep as the night passes and dawn breaks, the rooster begins to sing meaning the morning of a new day.

Part 3 –Morning in the town.

Uriel goes for a walk as he stretches; the moment he turns around, he sees a familiar face walking pass by him reading a book.

"Raul, what are you doing here?"

Raul looks up and replies; "Hey teacher, I did not know you would be here." Uriel is surprised to see his former student in that town. Johanna comes out the hotel wearing jeans, and a shirt. Raul is surprise to see Johanna and asks:

"Nurse, what are you doing here?" Johanna grabs Uriel´s arm and replies:

"We are here for our honeymoon."

Uriel blushes and Raul looks angry with Uriel as he tries to say: "W-W-Wait, she´s just kidding right nurse?"

"Don´t be so rude Uriel, after all we had fun last night" Uriel is shocked to hear and screams; "It´s a misunderstanding, stop saying that." Raul looks clueless as Johanna laughs.

After explaining to Raul about their studies about the culture, they decide to go eat breakfast at a restaurant. In the restaurant, the three are eating as Raul explains:

"The truth is I came here to study the vegetation that grows in this part of New Mexico as part of my thesis to enter the university."

"I see, and what kind of plants are you investigating?" Johanna asks Raul, he opens the book and shows a strange that has light blue color petals. Raul continues to explain: "These are called "Eternal Life", they grow in a lake near this town, and the lake is name "Zuni" as part of the Zuni tribe that lived there a long time ago. The Zuni- Cibola were natives who used these plants to cure their injured. It is said that the Eternal Life could cure every disease, I am here to try and figure that out."

"I see, but why have I not heard of those plants?" Johanna asks Raul, he touches his glasses and says; "Because this plant is officially extinct, but my professor told me that there might be a chance to see them."

"Now that is impressive Raul, we will be exploring the place as well; if you want we can search together." Uriel suggest with a smile. Raul finishes his breakfast and stands up replying: "No thank you, I like to work alone, and for that I will decline your offer, anyways I better get going, before I go, I must warn you of two things."

Uriel has a sad face, Johanna laughs at him. Uriel lifts his head and asks:

"What two things?"

"The first is the time door you past when you got here, they say that this place connects times, however I don't know what that means. The second is the howl of the Coyote, people in this town panic when the coyote howls, that is what my professor told me."

Uriel and Johanna recall having passed the huge pillar of rock that looks similar to the door. Uriel also remembers the word "Coyote" from the kids who were playing and the warning from the receptionist. At the top of a building, a man stands there observing Uriel and cleaning his gun thinking: "It's time to hunt."