The predators have kept circling above the small caravan for hours, following them on their journey. From up high they recognize familiar shapes. The riders lead them to the place from where they came…
Below them, the cowboys, having spotted the silhouette of the town, rejoice but they are too tired to cheer loudly. They empty their flasks of water right away in the prospect to refill them soon. Just hours ago, they had cursed themselves for foolishly choosing the path through the desert without taking proper supplies with them. But now their anguish seems to have come to an end. They empty the remainders of their flasks in the prospect of refilling them soon before riding into the small group of houses, a small sign at the road labels “Cactus Town”
As the group of riders passes the first houses, they quickly notice the absence of residents. There are no people on the main street and no sounds can be heard from the houses. An uncomfortable feeling infests the group, but they shrug it off quickly. Clearly, a large group of armed riders would frighten the townspeople and they would have to act calmly to avoid being shot by a panic-stricken inhabitant. They agree to announce themselves at the sheriff’s, but first they would have to get water for their desiccated mounts. They quickly locate the drinking trough, tie the steeds to its railing and pump up enough water for all of their animals. The water smells earthy but the horses drink it reluctantly.

Dehydration is a serious danger for anyone journeying through the desert, men and animals alike. Even with so much as 3 % of their water volume lost, humans are severely impaired by the lack of water, causing them thirst, fatigue, dizziness and limpness, ever increasing with progressing dehydration until paralysis and death set in at a loss of about 12 %. With the body losing two and more gallons of water per day in a desert climate, the danger is obvious.
The cowboys have left their steeds behind and stroll through the town, trying not to look threatening as they search for an official to introduce them and their needs to. The ongoing silence starts to irritate them – wouldn’t someone have the courage to talk to them? They approach the Sheriff’s only to find the building locked and empty. Even after calling out for someone, nobody is coming out to greet the group. They decide to pay a visit to the local saloon, where someone had to be. The cowboys find the bar, announce themselves as peaceful visitors, then enter – only to find another empty lifeless building. The saloon is dark and quiet and completely vacated. Growing impatient, the group starts searching the saloon and the rest of the town for any signs of life, but they find nothing. But what they find alarms them more and more. There are the burial grounds behind the town, where they find several fresh graves. There is the grocery store that is completely broached, while the rest of the town is not. Also, there are two cow skeletons, lying just outside the town, already picked clean. The cowboys look above to the vultures and the vultures stare back.
Finally, the riders come to the well to at least refill their flasks before renewing their search. But as they draw up the first bucket of water, they notice a familiar earthy stench. Dipping their fingers into it, they carefully taste the water – and realise immediately what had happened. Head over heels they run to where they left their horses…

The Sevier Lake in Northern and Western Utah is part of the desert area of Utah and had once been a large water supply for the area. However, its endorheic nature – in combination with ever decreasing amount of condensation – has caused the lake to dry up more and more over the years. Its surface area became smaller, but that was not the problem: With more and more water evaporating, the salinity of the remaining water increased more and more. Good drinking water for humans should not contain more than one grams of salt per litre, two being barely tolerable. Horses and other animals can tolerate slightly more, up to ten grams per litre. Ocean water bears thirty-five grams of salt per litre, thus being undrinkable for men or animals.
Lake Sevier, when measured in 1872, showed amounts of 86 grams of salt per litre with the salinity still increasing with further evaporation. Its water, even in small amounts, would become toxic for anyone. Now this is no problem for the towns around, since their wells go down to the groundwater, which is very much drinkable. This was until later 1872, when Owens Valley earthquake in California struck – causing minor tremors in an area of several hundred miles – including Lake Sevier. The basing, containing the Lake cracked – causing the salty water to intrude into the streams of groundwater below, slowly increasing their salinity until they too became toxic. Any town with wells connected to that stream would quickly face a serious problem…

Hastily, the cowboys arrive at the trough, where they left there horses but they come too late. Their steeds overcame their nausea and ingested the foul water, even furthering their dehydration. Helplessly the cowboys stand there and watch as one after another of their mounts start to stagger, become agitated, then fall to the ground in convulsions. Grief-stricken, they lead the horses to separate places, hoping that at least some survive the night.
Why is seawater deadly? For humans and animals alike, a rapid intake of salt will not directly kill you of dehydration. Still, you consume large amounts of salt, that are passed through your organism. The kidneys, having only one way to rid the metabolism of excessive salt intake, increase urine production, further adding to dehydration while large quantities of the sodium remain in the body, intoxicating the blood. A rapid intake of so much as 40 grams would surely kill any human or animal – which is less than half a litres worth of groundwater intruded by Lake Sevier….

The sun rises again, shedding its light on the cowboys who kept watch by their horses for the full night – gathering all potential water sources in the town to keep their steeds alive. But as they check their condition in the morning, they find that half of the animals had expired already, with the others being unable to get up and – without further sources of hydration visible – surely doomed. Only one of the horses is able to get to its feet again and keep standing. The cowboys look at the lone survivor of the night, that would not support more than one of them on the way out of the desert. They look at each other and come to one conclusion. Sixteen times, cold steel chafes against leather as they draw their revolvers.


Note to self: Make shorter descriptions

The shootout begins now. Please submit your action until Tuesday, 7 PM Eastern.


Contestants
Lucky
Tom McFaerwain
Kantur
Moon Called
Alarra
DarkLightDragon
Bookman
Atreyu, the Masked Llama
weebl
Jamie Swiftbow (still known as Lord Herman)
Selrahc
B-Man
Deckmaster
Beta
Captain van der Decken
Altharis