Wild West - Chapter 3 - Part 8 - 5 minute freewrite challenge

The guards formed a square around the horses – two at the front and two at the back – and soon after the giant gates began to open slowly. Through the growing crack between the door, Tom and James first made out two additional guards at the other side, then four, then eight, and finally seventeen, eight to each side of the gate and one sitting next to a fireplace – supposedly their superior, judging by his posture and the silver accesories on his uniform as opposed to the others who wore all black.

The gunslingers quickly assessed the situation and concluded that the man at the fireplace was in charge of the ground unit, and the speaker on the watchtower in charge of the gates.

Nobody moved until the gates were completely open and came to a halt, then the guard who priorly spoke to them from the watchtower signalled to move, and the four guards surrounding them started marching forward with Magnum and Jaguar following suit.

They were escorted about 50 feet away from the gates, then stopped and waited for the gate to close in full. The guard in the odd uniform approached them and signalled the four guards to go back to their position. Tom and James – always observant of their surroundings – knew they needed to pay special attention to their abnormal salute. Instead of raising their open right palms to their head like the military they knew, the guards each formed a fist with their right hand and slammed it against their chest and left.