A Tale Of The West (Part 3/3)

Chapter 16: Prison
June 15th

“It’s not pickles, its cucumbers!” he bellowed and I couldn’t understand anything past what he had just said because it had become a drunken mishmash of words. I tuned him out and began pacing around the cell. I couldn’t think straight, too many things had happened; Henry’s dead, his kids are dead, Allgood is dead, Emreys is dead, Ross isn’t, we’re in jail, we’re gonna hang, it was too much to grip. “Scuse me fellas but I have to go out for a moment, don’t run away on me will ya?” said Slade and he left the building. “What the hell are we going to do?” I asked. “There’s nothing we can do now” said Avery in submittal, “we can’t get out of here.” “Not now, but tomorrow maybe” I said. “We’ll figure something out” I said. I was content to not do much for the rest of the night except eat the pork that Slade had given us. Night time approached and Ross came in to relieve Slade of his post. “Hey Marty, how’s your eye?” I asked him. He looked at me. “I mean I stomped on it pretty hard, can you still see or is it just useless now?” I continued. He turned away but he was still listening. “How does that feel, you’re a big man Ross, I’m not, doesn’t look like that fight came out the way it should” I told him. He did nothing. I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out the badge. “Got your badge too, looks like I’m deputy now” I said. I pinned it on my shirt. He got up finally and walked over to the cell. He held out his hand. I looked at it. “Yes?” I asked. He closed his fist and opened it a few times. “The badge” he said. “Come and get it” I said back. “No, hand it over now” he ordered. I put it back in my pocket. “Ain’t gonna work Ballard, either you give it to me now or I pull it off your swinging carcass tomorrow” he said. “Tomorrow it is” I said and I sat down on the wall bench. Damn, he’s not gonna come in here. I pulled it out of my pocket again and pressed it against the wall. I started to pull it slowly, making a loud grinding noise. This got Ross’ attention and he quickly turned his head back to me. I pulled it back and forth, scratching it more and more and Ross came up to the cell. “Stop it now” he said sternly. I stared at him and continued. He pulled his jacket aside and reached into his holster. “I don’t think Byron would like it if he found out you killed me before I got to hang” I said and he dropped his grip on the gun. “I also don’t think he’d like it if he found your badge scratched to shit because you couldn’t get it back from little old me” I said. He walked back to the table and pulled off the ring of keys. I watched him and he stood in front of my cell. “You took my eye Ballard, now I’m going to take yours.” He unlocked the door and stepped in the cell and I was scared to hell. He was just as big as he always was but now he was more pissed off and I had little elsewhere to run, maybe I should have thought this plan out more. He pulled the door shut behind him and relocked it, swinging the keys on his finger. “Only one of us is coming out of here alive” he said and he put the key in his pocket. I glanced to the side. Carson, Avery and Carter were all at the sides of the cells, hands gripped around the bars, glaring at us. Crazy Ray was tugging on his beard whilst staring at the wall humming some incomprehensible tune which I could only assume was supposed to be a song. Ross was getting closer and closer and I was running out of wall to back up against. Before I knew it he was standing in front of me, pulling back his arm to unleash a tremendous punch. He was big but I was quick. I pulled back my leg and drove my boot into his groin as hard as I could. He went down and shook the building when he fell. I bent down and pulled the lone key, keyring and six-shooter from his quivering form amidst many cheers from my partners, and Crazy Ray was humming louder to keep up. I unlocked the door and locked it behind me, throwing the key outside. I spent about 5 minutes going through all the keys until I found the one that unlocked Carson and Carter’s cell. I got lucky and Avery’s cell unlocked on the first key. “Is my time up?” asked Crazy Ray. “Why not?” I replied and let him go too. “Wait Ray, here” I said and he stopped and turned to me. “Give ‘em hell” I said and I gave him Ross’ six-shooter. He wandered out and we unlocked the locker and took our possessions back which consisted of our weapons and money. “Wait” I said as we were about to leave. “Just wait a minute” I said and they stopped. “They robbed that train for a reason” I said. “For a reason I intend to find out” I continued. “To be honest Jack, I just wanna get out of here and go back to Texas, I can’t deal with Byron anymore and this is our chance” admitted Avery. “We’ve got our moment of freedom and I think we should use it to keep us free” he finished. “We can’t let him get away with all he’s done!” I argued. “He killed Ken!” I persisted. “He did and he also killed the Marshall’s, life isn’t fair and he’s going to get away with what he did because he’s going to kill us too if we don’t get out of here” said Avery. “Not if we find whatever was in the train that he took” I said. Avery looked unmoved. “How’s about this Jim, if we find what he had, we will show the Oreison mayor and he will arrest Byron, if not, we leave this state, deal?” I offered. “I’m with you” said Carter and Carson. “All right, let’s do this” said Avery.

Chapter 17: Break and Enter
June 15th

I peered around the doorframe. It looked pretty dead and silent except for Crazy Ray who was soon out of sight. “I don’t think it’s a good idea if we all go in a group” said Carter. “Here’s a plan” he said. “I’ll go down the west side, Jim go down the east, Jack go down the center and Bailey, take a horse, go around town and go into Byron’s house through the back” said Carter. He was a better strategist then me anyway so I let him take the lead. We all agreed. I didn’t feel like everyone who might come outside should recognize me so I took off my jacket and hung it on the hitching post. I tucked my shirt in and pulled my hat down low. I made sure to have my hands near my revolvers should the situation occur. I walked right through the center of town, seeing a few drunkards near the bar and Vic Rooker through his window, he was sweeping up his store and doing some late night renovations. The only person we really had to worry about seeing was Slade as Byron was probably sleeping and Ross was still in the jail, still, doesn’t hurt to play it safe. A moustached man walked out of a building in front of me. He was wearing red suspenders over a white shirt and wore a very clean cowboy hat. I recognised him almost immediately; it was Burris Meyers, another bounty hunter. “Hey” he yelled to me. I ignored him and continued. “Hey!” he shouted again, louder. I had to respond before he woke the town up. “What the hell do you want?” I barked, I figure the more unfriendly I am the more likely he is to leave me alone. “You’re Jack Ballard” he said. Uh-oh. “No, I’m not” I replied curtly. Another man came out of the building behind him. Meyers nudged him and whispered into his ear. The other man nodded. I turned to walk over to them. I stood in front of them, hat over my eyes so they couldn’t see my face clearly. The second man reached over and pulled my hat up by the brim. Quick as a flash I uppercut him and sent him flying to the ground. Meyers reached into his belt for his weapon so I grabbed his hand and tossed the gun across the road, if he shoots that he’s going to wake up everyone. I punched him in the chin and sent him flying backwards onto his ass. The second man stood up and pulled a short knife out of his boot and swung it at me. It hit me in the chest and ripped a long horizontal slit in my shirt. I kicked him in the hand and his knife flew near Meyers who was slowly getting to his feet. I whipped my pistol out and smacked him in the side of his head and knocked him sideways into Meyers who fell over again and the second man then fell over him and landed on his head. He wasn’t going to get up, he broke his neck. I picked up the knife and held it to Meyers’ throat. “Don’t say anything or you’re dead” I warned him. He gulped but kept his mouth shut. Now what was I going to do? If I let him go he would tell everyone but I didn’t want to kill him either. I pulled him up by his collar and walked him back to the sheriff’s office. I picked the keys off the desk, tossed him in Carson and Carter’s old cell and knocked him out by punching him in the back of the head. I quickly went back on my path to Byron’s house. I made the rest of the trip with no hindrances whatsoever. I didn’t however see Carson, Carter or Avery at Byron’s house. I even walked around and saw no one. I peered through a random window. I spotted a decorated chair and a fancily embroidered tapestry in front of a lavish fireplace; I presume it’s the living room. I slid the window to the side and climbed in. The house was dark and empty and very quiet, too quiet. I drew my guns already and cocked the hammers, preparing for anything. The stairs were in the next room and I walked up them as slowly and quietly as I could, alert as a cat in a dog house. I made it to the top of the stairs and saw the first door on the left open a crack and a beam of light lighting the floor. “I think you’re lying Mr Carter, I think he’ll be here any second” said Byron’s voice, I think it’s Byron, I can’t really see him. “Well then shouldn’t you be waiting for him?” replied Carter’s voice. “No, I’ve got men outside on the lookout for him, they should suffice, and after all,” answered Byron,“ don’t think I’ll leave you here alone.” I hope Carter will be all right, but I’ve gotta find whatever was in the train. I tiptoed past the room and caught a glimpse of Carter and the back of Mayor Byron. I checked every room until I came to a particularly fancy room with a glossy, chestnut desk with many papers scattered about. There was a hat and coat rack, a window, this was Byron’s office. I pulled open all the drawers and moved everything aside. I turned to leave when I tripped on the corner of a carpet. My heart froze as I tumbled to the ground. I landed but managed to keep it relatively quiet using my hands to cushion my fall. I lay there, waiting for the sound of footsteps when I saw a small crack of light under a dresser. I pushed myself up slowly and walked over to the already searched dresser. I pushed it aside and pushed the wall behind it, which turned to the left and allowed me into some sort of secret room. There were paintings, jewels, valuable papers and information and a briefcase. “A briefcase Jack, that’s all you need to know” echoed in my head and I quickly grabbed the case. This is what I need. I left the secret room, turned the revolving wall back and pushed the dresser in its place. I crept out of the room and as I walked past the door, caught another glimpse of Carter and Byron. I pulled a lamp off a hall table and walked to the threshold. Byron continued to taunt Carter and when he came close enough to the doorframe, I smashed the back of his head with the lamp as hard as I could. It shattered and fell down with Byron. “C’mon Tom, let’s get out of here, we got what we need” I said and we ran out of the building, Carter thanking me along the way. We reached the front of the building and saw Avery standing outside. “Sorry guys, I was being harassed by a few of Byron’s hired hands and I only just got through now” he explained. “Don’t worry about it, just head back to the camp and I’ll be there in a moment” I told them. They took off to the sheriff’s office to get some horses and I walked back in the house. I grabbed a piece of paper and a writing utensil from an end table beside the door and sat down to write a note.

Chapter 18: My Note
June 15th

To Mayor Byron, whatever your first name may be

I will not reveal to you who the writer of this note may be because I am sure you know who it is and I do not wish a prison break to be added to my list of “crimes and atrocities” If you do indeed decide to display this to the general public to accuse me of said crime. I am honestly very fatigued of this tiresome game of cat and mouse where I am always the mouse. I despise looking over my shoulder at every corner, especially recently, for your goons and cronies. I don’t want to continue on sleeping with one eye open as my late friend had, it is not the way a man should live his life. I know neither of us will stop until the other is dead or permanently incapacitated and I do not want to see more of my friends die at your hands, I want this to end. I propose a duel, a final battle if you will where this will be settled once and for all where only one of us will emerge victorious and ultimately alive. I know human life is of little important to you so you will soon know the reason I have for you wanting to find me. After my late night jailbreak I did collect valuable information and documents relating to your train robbery, including the briefcase which belonged to a Mr Wallace Westover and its contents. I will expose you for who you are if you do not show up where I want you to. I will say the only reason I haven’t exposed you yet is because I do not want you to face jail time, I want you to die. You will have to find me to retrieve Mr Westover’s briefcase and I, knowing its contents, am sure you will promptly meet me to do exactly that. Being said, I will expect you to show up, I want you to show up alone but I know you will not and neither will I so expect a fight. You will show up at the place where we last met at noon sharp, I will not wait, although I don’t want you to face jail time, I will make you if you do not appear. This is it, prepare yourself.
Sincerely,
The Headhunter

Chapter 19: Tying Up Loose Ends
June 15th-June 16th

I came to the camp and was standing around the fire with Carter and Avery. “What’d you do?” asked Carter. “Left a note for Byron” I answered. “What did it say?” pressed Carter. I explained my note to them, beginning to end. “You don’t have to join me in the fight but to be honest, I do expect you to” I said. “Of course I’ll help” confirmed Avery. “I will too, but why didn’t you just kill Byron in his house?” asked Carter. Because I’m not like that, I won’t sneak up on someone and slit his throat, no matter how horrible he may be, I fight an honest fight. “I don’t know, didn’t seem right” I said. Carter nodded slowly. “Hey Jack, where’s Bailey?” asked Avery. Well shit, in all the confusion I forgot all about her. “I don’t know, she wasn’t with you I take it?” I asked. They shook their heads. “Well we can’t go back into town now, Byron’ll be up at any moment and he’ll have the whole town on alert” said Carter. Right. “We’ll just have to hope she’ll come back, and we need to get some sleep for our showdown tomorrow, it’s gonna be a big ‘un” I said. We retreated into the desert in case Byron decided to show in the night and lay down amidst the sand. I hope Carson will be okay even though I’m pretty sure she won’t. She may be a fighter but if she’s like me and ran into a few greedy hunters, I don’t think she’d be able to take them down, she just doesn’t have the physical ability. Let’s just hope.
I’m a young man and I’ve spent a little less than half of my life running from Byron and felt so much misery and hurt from him. I want him dead and I won’t settle for anything less than me killing him or him killing me, either way he’ll be out of my life. I honestly wonder who’s going to come out of this fight alive but only time will tell and I hope my friends are as good gunfighters as I think they are because we’re going to need all the help we can get. I woke up bright and early and shook Avery and Carter awake. To my great and pleasant surprise, there was Carson sitting there on a log near Avery. “You made it!” I shouted gleefully. “Sure did Jack, takes more than a few greedy bounty hunters to take me down” she said. What do you know, I was wrong. I explained to her our situation and she said she couldn’t be happier I made the ultimatum. “It’s about time this happened, I’m glad you made the decision for all of us” she said. “We’ve still got some time, I think we should visit Belle and tell her about the family” I suggested. “I know it’s gonna be tough but we have to do it, she needs to know” I said. They agreed and we walked to the Marshall’s which took a good chunk of time without the horses. As soon as we crested the hill to the farm, Belle came out. She was looking very distressed and worried and she ran to meet us in the center of the field. “Where’s Henry?” she asked. Carter grabbed her by the shoulders. “Do you know about Byron?” he asked her softly. “Yes, he took the kids and threatened them and Henry and I’m sorry for what he did to you but what happened to them?” she pleaded. Carter took a deep breath. “He did as Byron told him to, but that didn’t stop him from doing what he threatened” said Carter, “he killed them” Belle’s crying changed from hysteria to sadness and Carter pulled her in. “I’m really sorry to leave you now Belle but we have to” said Carter and he explained our upcoming events, a condensed version. “If we live Belle, we’ll bring Henry and the kids back here but if we don’t come back by this afternoon, you might need to get us if you know what I mean” said Carter. We waited until she stopped crying and we had to leave. “Wait a second guys, can I get you to do something for me?” I asked them. I didn’t wait for an answer. “Can you head to the canyon and put aside the Marshalls, I have to attend to some business in Oreison” I said. “Sure Jack” said Avery and they left across the field in the direction of the canyon. I went into the barn and grabbed a horse. I got on bareback and took off to Oreison. I passed the three on the way and tipped my hat but otherwise did nothing. I arrived and was immediately apprehended by two officials, one of them I recognized as Cortez, the official from the train. They claimed that they were going to arrest me. “I’ve been called here for a chat with Mayor Ricard and as such, I have temporary immunity from your laws, so if you could just escort me to his office that’d be fantastic” I lied. They didn’t believe me but they decided that it would be a better idea to take me to Ricard anyway, worst that would happen is that he said no and they took me to jail. We arrived at the town hall and I saw Ricard for the first time in my life. He stared at me, one eyebrow raised. “I’m here for the meeting Mayor, the meeting about Mayor Byron” I said to him, winking. He got the hint but took all my guns and kept his close by in case I tried any funny business. “You’re the fella who killed Diego aren’t you?” he said. I nodded. “You’ve got some brass ones to come in here and say you have a meeting with me, what’s stopping me from blowing your head off right now?” he asked. “I’ll tell you why Ricard” I started. “I didn’t kill Diego, it was one of Byron’s men, you don’t have to believe me but what I will tell you is this, I didn’t rob the train either and I have proof Byron did it” I said and I tapped my briefcase. “What’s in it?” he asked curiously. “Sorry sir, for my eyes only, or yours later maybe” I started. He looked confused. “I have arranged a certain occasion where I will meet face to face with Byron, I will spare you the details by saying only one of us will live, I just want to make sure that if he lives, you can prosecute him with this” I said and I held the case up. “You don’t need to see what’s in it right now, believe me, if you get it you’ll get a conviction” I assured him. “Why don’t you just show me now and you could save yourself the chance of risking your life?” asked Ricard. “Because Mayor, I want him dead and that’s why I’m not turning to any authorities” I said. He still looked somewhat frazzled. “I will simplify this” I tried. “Me and Byron will fight, if I win and he dies, forgot I was ever even here” I started. “If I lose however, which is a big possibility, make sure you use this case to get him jailed, if he doesn’t die I at least want him behind bars, I will leave a piece of paper in my inside left jacket pocket so that if I do die, make sure you take the paper off my corpse, it will lead you to the case” I said. “If you’re so sure you’re going to lose, then why are you doing it?” he asked. “My reasons Mayor and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t inquire anymore” I said. I stood there, hoping for a positive response. He stood up, walked around his desk and stood in front of me, looking into my eyes. He grabbed my hand and shook it vigoursly. “Make sure that bastard suffers and I’ll do what I can to get him jailed if you can’t” he said and we both smiled and I was happy for a brief moment before remembering what I was going into. He handed me back my gun and escorted me personally out of Oreison. “Best of luck” he said and he watched me ride out into field.


Chapter 20: The Final Showdown
June 16th

It was right before noon when I arrived in the canyon. Carson and Avery were standing in the middle. There was a lone tree to the right and a giant boulder to the left. “Carson, tree, Avery, boulder” I ordered. They went and I hid in a small depression in cliff wall. “Carter?” I called. “Shutup!” hissed Avery. There was the noise of feet stomping and I spotted the entrance to the canyon filling up with people. I watched them stream in, there was about twenty to thirty of them, Byron in the lead, Slade to his left and Ross to his right. I also spotted Meyers. “Keep your eyes peeled boys, they’re round here somewhere” said Byron. “Remember the reward for their heads” he reminded. There was a loud echo and a man fell off his horse, leaving a red splat on the man behind him. They all jumped off their horses and I wondered who the hell shot that. “Where are they?” asked a panicky man. “I don’t know, move forward and shoot!” ordered Slade, “get back boss.” Byron backed up and turned his horse sideways to give him some cover. We waited until the line crossed over where the tree and rock were and we all shot at them. I hit two with my pistols, Carson had lobbed a piece of lit dynamite and Avery’s shotgun tore apart none other than Meyers. We quickly rotated around our hiding points and I took off to hide behind the rock, followed my Avery. The dynamite exploded and killed more than five of the people.“That rock and that tree!” shouted someone and bullets started flying everywhere. Some hit close, some went not even near. Avery held his gun above his head and jumped. He fired it at his peak height and peppered a few of the vanguard. A bullet then shot his hat right off his head in midjump. “Bartok, Wesley, flank the rock now!” screamed Slade. “Shoot again” I told Avery and he lifted the gun over his head and fired another shell into the flankers, hopefully. Bartok and Wesley darted around the corner and I knelt down and shot one of them in the chest with two bullets, dropping him like a stone. The other had time to aim his repeater rifle and he fired shell after shell at us location, I took one in the already injured left arm and Avery took one in the gut and one in the thigh before I managed to dispose of him with a single bullet between the eyes. “Pull through Jim, a gut shot won’t kill you, it’ll just hurt like hell” I reassured him. He nodded, he didn’t have time to be in pain, the adrenaline wouldn’t let him. I took a peek at Carson’s tree which was so bullet-riddled that I couldn’t even imagine how she was still alive, I guess it was because she was crouching. I heard a thunk and fired one of my guns straight up without aiming and a body soon fell on us. Avery pushed it off. “One, two NOW!” I said and we both rolled out on opposite sides. I rolled into an oncoming man who fell on me. I punched his throat as hard as I could and held his body up for cover as a human shield. He started shaking violently as shot after shot hit him and a vicious shot from a rifle blew a fair sized hole in his head. I used this hole for my pistol and fired my remaining rounds into the crowd, felling three men and two of the ones who were injured from Avery’s shotgun blast. I threw the man forward and leapt into a small depression in the sand. I felt a very hot sensation in my calf as a bullet tore through it and another bullet knocked up a small puff of sand where just moments later my head landed. I literally ripped off my jacket pocket and took two of the speed loaders out of the sand and shoved them in my chambers. I laid flat and crawled out of the hole, fast as I could, sand filling and cutting my calf wound but I didn’t have time to worry about that. Two men were shooting at me and the rest were shooting at a very injured Carson and Avery was out of my sight, presumably behind the rock where I couldn’t see. Not presumably, hopefully would be more accurate. I rolled sideways, and fired one shot from each pistol as I rolled. I hit one man the hip and he fell down screaming, and the other bullet missed it’s mark and flew into the sand. I backwards somersaulted back into the sand depression and stood up. The other man I had missed shot me in the ear and didn’t slow down his firing rate. I set off two more shots and they both hit the standing man. I reached out and grabbed the man’s gun and shot the injured one in the face, no sense wasting my ammo. It was down to Ross, Slade and only a few other men. Ross’ left wrist had an arrow sticking threw it and he was holding a knife in his other hand and advancing around the tree to Carson’s location who was holding another arrow in her hand. She was bleeding from her chest, her abdomen, her left arm, her right leg and from a wound on her neck which gave her a lot of breathing problems. Ross came around and thrust his knife into Carson’s stomach until it came through her back. In turn, Carson had jammed her arrow straight through Ross’ neck. Carson fell backwards onto the sand, dead before she hit the ground and Ross stood there, clutching his throat. A big echo sounded and a small red spray shot through Ross’ forehead accompanied by a large hole and he fell forward beside Carson, both as dead as dead can be. I very briefly pondered the origin of Ross’ headshot but didn’t have time. I had to check on Avery and finish off the last few of them. I ran to the rock and shot one more of the men. This alerted the last of them to my location as they had been ignoring me and they started turning to me. I leapt onto the rock and fired as many bullets as I had left, I had lost count. I only stopped when my hammers started clicking. Two men fell and one man remained shooting at me. A small piece of silver came flying at me and flew into my mouth. It came out of my right cheek and knocked me off the rock. I got to my knees and heard a deafening blast as Avery discharged his shotgun right near my ear and shredded my shooter’s stomach into pieces. Slade stood there solo, pistol aimed at Avery, finger on the trigger and motionless. I was out of ammo, I assume Avery was or he would have unloaded into Slade. Avery and Slade stared at each other coldly and for the first time in my life I saw a smile graze Slade’s lips. “This is it Jim, between you and me” he said. His statement was followed closely by two simultaneous clicks and nanoseconds later, a discharge of bullets. Luckily for Avery, his shotgun’s kickback knocked him off step and Slade’s bullet only hit Avery in his left shoulder. Unluckily for Slade, his revolver had no kickback and Avery’s shotgun had a wide range. It nailed him in his legs and he fell on the ground, immobile but still breathing, left leg hanging on by a few shreds. I put a few more bullets in my pistol, hobbled over to Slade and put it in his mouth. “I’ll see you in hell” laughed Slade and I pulled the trigger, spraying the sand underneath him with the back of his mouth. I looked at Avery who was in terrible condition. He had multiple chest shots and torso wounds; he wasn’t going to last much longer, he was dying. “Where’s Bailey?” he asked. “She’s fine, she’s just making sure they’re all dead” I lied to him. “Good, that’s good” he said and a stream of blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. “C’mon Jimmy, let’s get you up” I said and I pulled him up and put his arm around my shoulders. We started walking out when Byron stepped from around his horse. “Don’t underestimate the little guy, or in this case, the old man” he said. His pistol was drawn and aimed at us. “You fought a good fight Jack, a really good fight, I’ll give you what, that was quite an exciting watch” he said. “You’re sick” I said. How can someone get enjoyment off of people blowing each other’s limbs off? “Mr Avery, did you see that earlier, with Ms Carson?” he asked. “Huh?” asked Avery. “No?” asked Byron, “I’ll fill you in.” “One of my late deputies, Mr Ross, ran her through with his 10 inch knife” said Byron, laughing. Avery turned to me. “Is it true?” he asked. “No, he’s a lying asshole, don’t believe a word he says” I said, trying to comfort him. “No no Mr Avery, look right over there” urged Byron, pointing to the tree. Avery averted his eyes to the scene. There was Ross, lying there with two arrows and a bullet hole and Carson, with a 10 inch blade protruding from her back. “Was it you?” asked Avery, slightly disoriented, turning back to Byron. “Yes, yes it was” lied Byron, even though he had just said it was Ross. Avery believed him and in his rage, pulled himself from me, taking his backup pistol from his belt. I wanted to stop him but it was too late. I flicked my wrist up and fired a shot without aiming, hoping it would hit Byron. He had the upper hand but once again, I was quicker. My bullet semi hit its mark. Byron’s gun flew from his hand with my bullet lodged in the fore stock. What I saw worried me tremendously. More accurately, it was the absence of what I expected to see which worried. Byron didn’t seem worried that he was defenceless, he was still laughing. I soon saw why. There was a flash from the cliff far behind Byron. I saw the dark clothed forgotten figure of Robert Ridley lying flat on the top of the cliff and heard a thudding noise from Avery. A bullet went directly through his chest and landed in the sand behind him. Avery clutched his chest and fell to his knees. He looked at his bloodied hand. Another flash from Ridley and another bullet went through Avery’s heart and he fell onto his back, dead. “I guess you didn’t figure on my sharpshooter” said Byron. Another shot went off but I didn’t see the flash from Ridley, instead I saw Ridley’s figure roll all the way down the cliff and fall into the canyon. I turned around and saw Carter on top of the opposite cliff. Carter tipped his hat and walked off the cliff. . “Guess you didn’t figure on ours” I said. Byron’s sickening smile was replaced by a look of fear I’ve never seen on him. I began to close the distance between us, stepping around Avery’s body until I was looking Byron straight in the face. I grabbed him by his collar and pulled him in as close as I could. I pressed the still warm barrel of my pistol against his chest and he squeaked as I pulled back the hammer. “Nice guys finish last huh?” I asked. As I pulled the trigger the most satisfying feeling I would ever experience in my time on this earth flowed through me as Byron’s life ebbed away from his. I let go and he fell backwards in the sand, staring blankly at the sun. It was over. Byron, his men and the evil grip he had on the community was gone. I had avenged the death of all my friends and killed the man I hated most in the world. I walked back to the cliff depression I had uncovered and carried out Westover’s briefcase. Inside was a note explaining the location of Byron’s secret room of misdeeds. I closed Byron’s tightening hand around the handle of the briefcase and turned to face the canyon exit where Carter was awaiting, rifle slung over his shoulder. “What now Jack?” he asked. “I don’t know Tom, but what I do know is it’s time we left this place.” We walked through the desert, leaning on each for support. We were all we had left.