After escaping en route to their appointment with the gallows, eight condemned men led by Javier Rodriguez blazed a trail of destruction.

Wherever they went, the Gallows Gang left behind swinging bodies as a reminder of the fate they had avoided.

Four men set out to bring them to justice, but the prison guard Shackleton Frost and Marshal Kurt McLynn both blamed the other for the prisoners having escaped. All they could agree on is that they didn't trust Nathaniel McBain. Wrongly condemned himself, the Gallows Gang held the key to proving Nathaniel's innocence. None of them knew what demons drove the enigmatic man known only as The Preacher.

Can this mismatched group put aside their personal feuds for long enough to end the Gallows Gang's reign of terror?

'Take the knife,' Mitch Cartwright said, 'before the guards see it.'

Nathaniel McBain considered the sharpened length of metal wrapped in cloth, which was lying at the bottom of the water-bucket. Temptation made his heart beat faster and his fingers twitch, but he shook his head.

'I get out in five days,' he said. 'I'd be a fool to join you.'

'You'll get out in five minutes if you join us.'

'I know, but give it to Ramsey. He's got another seven years.' Nathaniel held Mitch's gaze for a moment. 'And good luck.'

Mitch nodded then moved on down the line to Ramsey Carr, who wasted no time in thrusting his hands into the bucket and scooping out a handful of water to drink.

He drank slowly with his head bowed, watching the nearest prison guard, who wasn't paying the process of watering the prisoners too much attention. So he scooped out a second handful to splash on his face, but this time he drew out the makeshift knife.

While Mitch moved on to Turner Jackson, the third man in their small detail, Ramsey wrapped a large hand around the knife then clutched the bunched hand to his chest, sighing with relief. He'd waited for years to get his hands on a weapon and now his future was in his own hands again, his contented expression said.

So far the breakout from Beaver Ridge jail was going as planned.

Last month Hiram Deeds, the head guard in the quarry--and also the least trustworthy guard--had been bribed to look the other way when a hole had been blasted out to give the prisoners access to a new rock seam.

Mitch Cartwright had purloined two sticks of dynamite, but not for long. Something that dangerous going missing had been noticed within minutes and it had taken only another ten minutes to locate the missing sticks, but Mitch hadn't been disappointed.

The dynamite hadn't been his target.

The sticks had been stored in a box that had a metal rim around the edges and it was the metal that he had wanted. So while the guards were frantically searching for the dynamite he'd broken up the box and distributed it amongst the prisoners.

Then the work had begun. Working late at night, slowly and secretly, the pieces had been shaped then sharpened. Using bare hands and having only the stone walls to scrape against it had taken a month to get them into the right shape but finally a dozen sharp knives had resulted.

Now, what was planned to be the largest ever breakout from Beaver Ridge jail was approaching its crucial final stage in the quarry, the nearest point in the jail to the outside world. Mitch had distributed the knives during a break in the daily grind of rock-breaking, and now the distraction was about to start.

'You not coming, then?' Ramsey said, making his way over to Nathaniel now that the short break was over.

'No,' Nathaniel said as they turned away to face the heap of rocks on which they'd been working. 'Like I've been saying. Once I get out of here I'll make sure I never end up in a place like this again. I'll just stay back when it happens.'

Ramsey nodded. 'And you, Turner?'

Turner didn't meet Ramsey's eye as he shuffled round to head back to the rock-face, making Ramsey grunt his question again. This time Turner did look at him, but he shook his head.

'I ain't going either,' he murmured.

Ramsey looked around. No guard was close enough to hear them as the prisoners dispersed to their positions at the slowest pace that wouldn't invite retribution, as if everything was normal.

'But you've got life,' Ramsey said, his eyes opening wide with astonishment. 'This is your only hope of tasting freedom again.'

'It ain't. I've been working on Hiram Deeds, telling him a tale about a hidden stash of gold I have on the outside. He says he'll get me out of here. I reckon I'll take my chances with him.'

Ramsey's eyes opened even wider before he shot an amused glance at Nathaniel, who registered his bemusement with a low whistle. Hiram Deeds was less reliable with his promises than the average prisoner was.

'I wouldn't believe anything he says,' Nathaniel said. 'That man is--'

'Move along there,' the strident voice of their guard demanded from behind them. 'Your free time is over. Get back to work.'

The three men moved towards their rock hammers ready to begin the process of converting large rocks into small rocks, but they moved slowly, waiting...

A loud oath-filled shout went up from the other side of the quarry.

The three men turned, their quick motions making them appear shocked. Up the slope on the other side of the quarry two prisoners Casey Dawson and Swift Tate were pushing each other while shouting taunts.

Fights were common and often the guards let them run their course, figuring that working off steam did everyone some good, and sure enough nobody moved to break them up.

Swift and Casey grabbed each other and after a brief skirmish the larger prisoner Casey grounded Swift with a flailing punch to the nose. Then he proceeded to kick him viciously and repeatedly in the ribs, making him rise with every blow.

'That's enough,' their guard said after the fourth blow, advancing on them.

Seemingly appeased Casey delivered one last kick then turned on his heel and made his way back to his position, but the fallen Swift hadn't had enough. He rolled to his knees, rubbed his bruised ribs, then ran for his rock hammer.

Casey heard him rise and turned to see his opponent charging at him with the hammer raised high above his head ready to deliver a pulverizing blow.

He threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the descending hammer, which crashed into the ground, sending rock slithers scything in all directions. Then, with another aggrieved grunt, Swift raised the hammer again.

By now the fight had got everyone's attention.

'Get him!' one prisoner shouted.

'Casey stole from me too,' another shouted. 'Crush him!'

Within seconds the quarry was alive with motion as the prisoners scurried towards the fight.

Nathaniel stayed back as did Turner, and Ramsey took advantage of their desire to keep out of this by staying with them so he could remain close to their guard.

Around the quarry the guards shot glances towards the quarry rim where Hiram Deeds sat in his imperious position, asking whether they should step in or let Swift and Casey settle their differences. But with Swift wielding a ten-pound hammer, even a man like Hiram had an easy decision to make.

'Enough!' he roared, his voice echoing.

That demand didn't deter the prisoners from milling in and so he fired into the air. The prisoners ignored him, instead forming a circle around Swift and Casey and urging Swift to bury the hammer in Casey's head.

Inside the circle Swift advanced on Casey with measured intent and so Hiram shouted out for five guards to break up the circle and separate the two fighting prisoners, pointing at the men he'd selected to do the task.

One of those men was the guard looking after Nathaniel's group and so after muttering a quick order to the nearest guard to take over the duty of looking after them, he moved off.

'Wait,' Turner said, stepping forward.

'Be quiet,' the guard muttered, not breaking his stride.

'But you've got to. I promised Hiram.'

While Nathaniel and Ramsey shot surprised looks at him then at each other, wondering if this was part of the plan, the guard turned.

'Promised him what?'

'That I'd keep him informed.' Turner looked up towards Hiram, then shot an ashamed glance at Nathaniel and Ramsey. 'This fight ain't what it seems. It's a--'

Turner didn't get to complete what was clearly going to be a foolhardy attempt to curry favour with Hiram Deeds by selling everyone out, because Ramsey let out a great roar then charged at him. He wrapped a large arm around his waist and carried him back several paces.

Nathaniel had resolved to avoid getting involved, but Turner's duplicity had enraged him too. He joined Ramsey in wrestling Turner to the ground. While Ramsey slapped a hand over his mouth, Nathaniel pinned him down.

But the damage had already been done.

'The fight's a trap!' the guard shouted.

Around the quarry everyone froze. None of the guards were close to the prisoners, as they needed to be when the prisoners revealed their hidden knives. With the element of surprise gone, the circle broke up and the prisoners ran towards their nearest targets.

In response the alerted guards backed away while the armed ones drew their guns.

Ramsey released his grip of Turner's head, aiming to run at the guard who had alerted everyone, but Turner threw out a hand and grabbed his arm, dragging him down.

As a hubbub of shouting and gunfire rose around him Nathaniel struggled to keep Turner held down, but with him wriggling madly, all three men went sprawling, their frantic motion sending them tumbling down the side of the quarry. They rolled over each other, coming to an entangled halt twenty feet further down the slope.

Nathaniel lay for a moment, winded, then raised himself to see that the attempted breakout had ended almost before it had got started.

Several guards were lying on their backs clutching stab wounds, and he counted the bodies of at least three shot prisoners. Most of the other prisoners were kneeling with their hands on their heads. The few free ones with brandished knives were nowhere near their target guards and were being shouted at to drop their weapons or be shot.

A guard was making his way purposefully towards them and so Nathaniel pre-empted his demand by kneeling and putting his hands on his head. He looked at Ramsey to see if he'd done the same, but only the double-crossing Turner was sitting up and he was staring down at Ramsey.

Nathaniel followed his gaze to see that Ramsey was lying on his back with his eyes glazed and lifeless, his neck arched backwards, baring his bloody throat. The knife that he'd waited for so long to get his hands on stuck upwards from his jugular, blood pooling up around it.

'Step away from him,' the guard said.

'It was an accident,' Turner said.

'Sure was,' Nathaniel said.

The guard sneered with disbelief as he looked at Nathaniel.

'I saw what happened and that weren't no accident.' He snorted. 'And to think you only had five days before you got freedom. Now, you've got about five days before you get the gallows.'

I played around for a while with jail breakout stories, but that didn't feel right as I felt sure that a spell in jail would make McBain change his ways and resolve to go straight. So I stopped thinking about McBain with the result that he ended up wallowing in jail in my real time for several years until the time was right for him to end his sentence. And when that time came I decided the original story idea would now work.

So a prison breakout does happen in McBain's jail, except it happens on his final day of his jail term. McBain doesn't want to escape, something that puts him in conflict with the other prisoners and ultimately leads to him being on the run having escaped when he didn't really want to. Clearly he faces a difficult journey, and with the theme being one of redemption it felt right that he should escape with a sidekick who represents redemption, a religious man who speaks only in Biblical quotes. I had some fun with this character as trying to source dialogue in which every single line he utters is one from the Bible was a challenge, but which resulted in a character who was as enigmatic as his utterances. I hope McBain will return again one day.