How to read:
text in cursive means Faron's wolf is speaking. (This won't be relevant until far later in the story, but do keep it in mind!)
Bold letters means that the text is being written into Faron's journal, or it's an authors note.
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Authors note: this is my first book, so please come with any feedback you may have! I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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"It was just supposed to be a normal bank heist!"
I yell to Johnny as I reload my revolver.
"How the hell was I supposed to know the bank owner was married to the sheriff!" Johnny yells back as he shoots a random shot out from the barrels we were hiding behind.
"We're screwed if we don't pull something royal right now, Johnny!"
Suddenly, an ear-shattering explosion went off right outside the bank.
I cover behind the barrel, shielding myself from the shrapnel.
"Damn, good thing these barrels were here to stop the shrapnel, eh Johnny?"
"Johnny?"
Suddenly I woke up, drenched in sweat. I breathe out a sigh of relief.
"Good morning." Johnny called from his bunk in our cabin.
"Morning." I call back. "I had one hell of a nightmare today; I tell you what."
"Oh?" Johnny got out of bed and put on some shoes. "What happened?"
I turn my head to face him. "Well, I had a premonition of sorts. The bank raid we're doing tomorrow. I don't know. Something about it turning into a shitstorm." The memory of my dream already beginning to fade away.
"Well, so long as we stick together, I'm sure everything will be fine. Besides, you're talking to the fastest gun in the west." Johnny mockingly does a few finger spins with his revolver.
"Hey, no guns in the dorm room, jerk." I grab the gun and flip out the cylinder, checking for any bullets.
It was empty, to my relief.
"At least you aren't sleeping with a loaded gun." I sigh and flip my legs on the outside of the bunk.
Me and Johnny are sitting around the campfire of our camp, when suddenly Dutch comes riding in on horseback. He looks around frantically before grabbing the repeater from his back. "Hey Dutch!" Johnny yells.
Dutch nods and goes to take something out of his horse's satchel.
"Did you find it?" I ask before eating another spoonful of stew.
"Ayuh." Dutch answers boldly.
After some more fiddling around in the satchel he finally finds what he was looking for and shows us the thingamajig.
"What in gods... What the heck is that?" Johnny questioned.
Dutch shrugs and walks into our hut before slamming the door.
"I wonder why he's being so secretive." Johnny narrows his eyes at the door before finishing his bowl of stew.
"To each their own my friend." I give a little laugh.
Johnny agreed to teach me how to handle a bow yesterday, as I had shown him how to handle a gun. Of course, I only showed him the basics. Wouldn't want my reputation as the fastest gun in the west to be spoiled by some newbie. Over the years, I must say he has improved a lot though.
Still, no man in the west could ever reach my prowess. I was special in one regard. For as long as I can remember, I've been able to focus on specific parts of an enemy's anatomy and figure out exactly where to shoot to kill a man with one bullet. It doesn't matter if you're wearing armor, my sight can always tell if there is a crack in it and pick up on any minute flaw. One shot, one kill. Every time.
Hope my sight can help me shoot a bow though.
After riding for a little while with Johnny, we come to a small clearing in the forest. We hitch our horses.
"This is the spot." Johnny remarks, before touching the ground with two fingers and smelling it. "Can you smell that? A deer came through here not long ago."
Johnny points to some subtle tracks in the dirt, and puts a finger on his mouth, signaling me to remain silent. "Faron. Take my bow." I nod and grab his bow.
"Hands off your firearm unless you're in grave danger. We don't want to scare off all the game in this area."
After some time walking and following the tracks, they suddenly stop at a cliff edge. "The poor animal must have fallen off the edge." Johnny remarks.
I look off the side of the cliff, and we spot two wolves feasting on the carcass of a deer.
Johnny points two fingers up in the air. I nod at him and put the bow over my shoulder. I pull out my revolver, just in case. Suddenly, I hear Johnny scream behind me and I quickly turn around.
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Nothing.
"Johnny!" I yell out into the woods.
Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my shin.
Instinctively, I look down at where the pain is coming from. Time seems to slow down, as I see one of the wolves from earlier gnawing on my shin.
I note some points of weakness. Eyes, top of the skull and heart were all optimal targets.
I fire my gun.
The wolf drops dead immediately.
Shit. That was close. I holster my gun again and pry the jaws of the wolf off my leg.
But what happened to Johnny?
I've been looking for Johnny for a long time now, following the blood trail with a limp. I couldn't stop now. I look around, and find I've stepped into the clearing where we left our horses.
Johnny's horse is missing.
I sigh in relief, knowing he had gotten to his horse and rode off on it.
The only place he could have gone is our camp.
I decided to saddle up and finally wrap a bandage around my wounded shin. 'Shit, I hope we have some alcohol to disinfect this at the camp.' I thought to myself.
After saddling up, I give my horse a good scratch on the side of her head. "Who's a good girl?" Anita gives a small neigh in appreciation.
I decided to check my satchels for any alcohol I might have forgotten to stash at our camp.
Bingo!
Unfortunately, it was only 60% whiskey and not medical alcohol as I'd hoped. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers.
After applying a generous amount of alcohol to my wound, I decided to chug the rest of the bottle and began riding back toward camp.
When I finally got back to camp, all the blood drained from my face. I got off Anita and got to my knees.
The bodies of Dutch and Johnny both lying lifeless on the grass.
What... What happened?
Suddenly Johnny coughs up blood.
He's alive!
I rush over to Johnny and put a hand on his cheek. "hey buddy." he says with a sad tone in his voice.
I was ecstatic to see him breathing.
"Listen, Faron, I need... *cough* I need to tell you something. Dutch... He was a traitor. He was planning on selling the doc's invention. I stopped him."
"Save it, we need to treat your wounds first!" I pull him up from the ground, making Johnny groan loudly in pain. "Easy there, He... *cough* He got me good."
We decided to reschedule the bank raid.
It's been two days since Johnny killed Dutch. I didn't even bother burying the body.
I look down on the doctor's invention, thinking back on the madman. His words still sting like a needle in my head.
"Bring me the quantum flipper and I can finally make my dream become reality!"
I looked over on Johnny sleeping on the bed. He looked peaceful. He's been sleeping ever since I got those bandages on him.
He was lucky the bullets didn't hit any vital organs. Fortunately, two bullets were stopped by his ribcage, and the last one was a millimeter from hitting his kidney. If Dutch had aimed just a tad lower... I shudder at the thought.
My own wound, the wolf bite, had begun to itch horribly. I will have to get that checked out. Unfortunately, the only place to do that would be the hospital in Strawberry. Too bad a checkup there costs around 100 dollars, not counting the actual treatment. I would need to get some serious cash if I was to afford that.
After caressing Johnny's bandages for a while, I decided to go visit the doctor. Whatever that madman had planned was probably nothing good and I knew it. Still, my best friend almost lost his life trying to recover this weird contraption. I might as well see where this road ends.
Before leaving the hut, I rigged up a shotgun trap in case anyone tried to enter the hut while I was gone. No chance in hell I'd let anyone get to Johnny while I was gone.
I quickly take a once-over on the gear I'm bringing. Valentine isn't that far, so I packed lightly. Of course, I brought my 6-shooters. I also brought a little bag of nuts for the road, my bowie knife, some sugar cubes for Anita, a water skin, and lastly the crazy doctor's contraption.
I once again looked at the weird mess of metal, copper and what looked like veins carrying some liquid around inside. Whatever this thing was, I didn't want to know. All I knew was that the doctor had put an immense bounty on it.
I scratched Anita affectionately behind her ears before we took off toward valentine.
Sometime later I noticed something shiny lying beside the road, and I quickly pulled on the reins. I got off Anita and gave her a sugar cube before walking over toward the ominous glittering. I pushed some shrubs out of the way, and I found a single golden bullet lying on the ground. The casing had the engraving "Billy Williams" on it.
The bullet was huge, almost looking like an elongated maxim-machinegun round. I could barely get my hand around it. I decided to remove the projectile from the round and siphon the gunpowder out from the huge bullet. Never know when you need a bag of gunpowder.
I stashed the projectile and casing before glancing at my two guns imagining how big a revolver would have to be to fire such a huge round. I shook my head and got up on Anita's back again. I tied the bag of gunpowder to my waist.
The ride to valentine was peaceful. I didn't encounter anything out of the ordinary on my way there, except for that mysterious golden bullet. I had Anita wait at the town stall, but being the cautious man I am, I brought the gold pieces I had found along with me. I didn't want some random stall boy to steal my gold.
After some fiddling with the map, I sighed in realization as I'd managed to bring the wrong map. I looked up at the various signs that were hanging outside the houses, and finally saw what I was looking for. "Inventor hut" The sign claimed boldly. I immediately knew this was the place.
After adjusting my hat to look presentable, I knocked on the door of the establishment. I heard a lot of fumbling on the other side of the door before it was opened, and I was greeted by the wrinkly face of the doctor.
"So, we meet again!" The old man exclaimed and ushered me inside. I nodded hello and stepped inside the hut. "Did you find the quantum flipper as I asked?" doc asked.
"Yup." I said boldly, pulling the thing out of my satchel before sitting down.
"Wonderful! Splendid! May I have it?" The doctor looked at me and tapped his hand on the table.
"Payment first, old man." I put the weird contraption on the table before me, outside his reach.
"Of course, where are my manners. Here you go." The doctor scattered over to a briefcase he had sitting beside the couch and opened it. "200 dollars, it's all yours my friend."
I flinched a little hearing the unbelievable amount of money he was offering. "Are you really sure this thing is worth that much?" I asked the rambling old man before pushing it within his reach.
"Completely positive." The doctor quickly answered and snatched the 'Quantum flipper' off the table.
I shrugged and grabbed the briefcase. It certainly looked like 200. I had faith in the old man and decided to count it later.
"Now. If you are in the market for more money, I could use... an assistant."
My eyebrow immediately raised at the notion of more money.
"Continue."
"150 dollars." The doctor exclaimed.
Once again, I was taken aback by the sheer amount of money this fool had. Although, I still needed it. Every penny counts.
"What's the gig?"
The doctor instructed me to enter this big, metal tube-looking machine.
"Now, I don't rightly know exactly what will happen to you when I turn the machine on, but if my theories are correct, you should be transported to... Another time. An earlier point in time, to be precise."
"I heard you the first time, doc. Are you sure about this? I mean, I don't want to be stuck in the past."
The doctor shrugged. "Well, if everything goes to plan, it should be a one-day trip. If you don't return here after that time, well... I've done tests before with smaller animals like squirrels and they returned completely fine after a day had passed, I don't see why you should be any different."
I took a deep breath and looked right into the doc's eyes.
"All right, fire it up then."
Sometimes I question myself. Sometimes I wonder just how far I'm willing to go to earn a buck. I mean, for all the dumb stuff I've been through, this one really takes the cake. Going back in time? Finding ancient scrolls? It all sounded like a fever dream.
Little did I know my life was going to change drastically from this one choice.