Upon entering the camp, I was met with surprise. Not only was that their reaction, but mine too. Everyone was packing up and preparing to leave.

Rolo gave me a half-smile when he noticed me, motioning for me to join him next to a fire, sitting down on a log and patting beside him.

“Victoria, would you mind getting this girl a bowl of stew?” he asked one of the older women walking by, who promptly returned his smile without an answer.

“Did this location get compromised?” I asked.

“Nope,” he said. “We’re all packing up and mostly going our separate ways.”

“Why?”

“Kuros disbanded the gang, and didn’t want anyone to waste time in heading home. A lot of the people here aren’t really known to the law, and never committed a crime in their lives. If they disappear and throw away their bandana, no one would ever be the wiser. Most people ain’t really fighters, and a lot of them don’t even own a gun. He just didn’t want to see them drawn into a bloodbath for no reason. Surely you understand that.”

I sighed, but the same lady returned and handed me a bowl of stew before I could speak.

“Beef?” I asked.

Rolo nodded. “Yep. Jim, the dairy farmer just on the other side of that ravine, lost a couple of dairy cows the other night. We paid them for the carcass and butchered them as best we could. Just to help them out a bit. Normally we eat whatever game we can hunt nearby. There’s plenty.”

“That seems unusual. Normally the wildlife ecosystem is very limited due to Adversity Management also having to act as wildlife conservation. Here, it seems like it’s been active for a long time.”

I took several bites of my stew, reminding myself not to allow us to get too far off topic.

“The barrier here lets animals through, but not people. The citizens here even learned to exploit this, training animals to go outside the barrier and return. Obviously, as soon as PanTech realized they were doing it, they put a stop to it. Probably why they also didn’t expand this barrier’s design to other zones.”

I nodded, scooping up the last few bites of my stew and sitting the empty bowl on the ground beside me.

“Look, it’s a fascinating topic, but you can probably guess I didn’t come here to talk about PanTech’s experiments.”

“Kuros got himself in over his head, didn’t he?”

“He’s set to hang tomorrow,” I said. “No kind of trial or anything.”

“We used to have trials here,” he said, hissing through his teeth. “This never was the best of places, but now…”

“Rolo, look…” I said, sighing. This wasn’t going to be easy, but I’d have no choice but to make these kinds of tough decisions going forward. “The sheriff isn’t your biggest problem. The virus released when PanTech collapsed is quite literally going to be the end of humanity. While it’s spreading slower than I thought, it’s still almost guaranteed to be in every zone. You’ve probably noticed more people dying, more sick.”

Rolo frowned. “No, I guess with all the extra hangings going on it was hard to notice. Now that you mentioned it, there’s been a lot more deaths from everything lately. Guess the virus was competing with the sheriff. So it’s that bad? You sure?”

“The ‘cure’ is the first thing I pitched to the sheriff when I arrived. It causes complete sterilization, but he’s so paranoid he wouldn’t even consider it. Without his approval… or if we can’t get him out of the way… I’m going to have to move on to the next zone. This is the third one I’ve visited so far, and based on what I’ve seen I can’t continue to waste any unnecessary time.”

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“Understandable, but I never said we weren’t going to do anything,” Rolo said with a grin.

“Oh? What’s the plan, then?”

“Well, I guess that’s not set in stone anymore. We’re going to have to figure out how to be in two places at once. Let’s call over the new boss and see what he thinks about it.”

“New boss?” I asked, hoping he didn’t mean who I thought he meant.

Rolo stood up, looking around before waving and shouting. “Hey Clarence, come on over here! Got a situation needs your attention.”

Clarence marched over, an unusual pep in his step, sitting across from us on another log. He looked like a completely different person. There was a focus in his eyes that made it feels as though he’d been kidnapped and replaced with a body double. The difference was drastic.

“Lay it on me,” he said.

“Idiot Kuros is scheduled to hang tomorrow at…” Rolo looked to me.

“Noon,” I said. “And it doesn’t end there. He’s forming a posse and intends to hunt the rest of the known members down, I assume the day after. They’ll be too busy celebrating tomorrow.”

Clarence nodded.

“How we gonna be in two places at once, Rolo?” Clarence asked.

“Two places at once?” I glanced between them.

“Well, I was planning on hitting that gun store tomorrow and seeing what’s left worth taking. Since they’re still fighting to reopen it, I assume there’s at least something still in there on the shelves and in the back. PanTech is the true manufacturer of those weapons, so now they’re in limited supply. Even just a few guns in our hands instead of theirs is extremely valuable.”

“Why not just hit the gun store tonight?” I asked.

Clarence stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Well, we could, but it would come with some pretty serious drawbacks. Most of the deputies are part-time. On a normal day, just a few deputies is enough to handle whatever’s going on in the town. If he needs to call in more, it takes time. The more men, the further away they have to ride or run, and the longer it takes. At night, they seem to mobilize faster, and it’s a lot harder for us to navigate and get away. Easier to just do a quick heist during the day and ride.”

Rolo twirled one side of his large mustache. “Second problem also has a couple of layers to it. We go in before the execution, they may just execute him on the spot or worse, use him as a hostage and put us in a situation where we can’t avoid losing people. Better yet, the hanging is bound to be a spectacle. I know how long the sheriff’s wanted Kuros on that platform, and I know he’ll be eager to pull that lever himself. Whole town’s going to be watching. Odds are he knows there’s at least a remote possibility of a rescue, but I doubt he’d ever thing someone would hit a different target while something like this is going on.”

“So it’s both the worst and the best time to hit the gun store,” I said, stroking my invisible beard, getting an amused grin out of Clarence.

“I don’t reckon I’ve ever seen someone so cool under pressure, much less a lady,” he said.

“Unhealthy trauma response,” I said bluntly. This time Rolo was the one who grinned.

“I’ll be sincerely hoping that, when all of this is over, a good life is waiting for you, Taylor,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You said this is the third zone you’ve visited so far, and with all the things that happened at PanTech? You don’t just need a vacation. You need an early retirement.”

“Thanks, I doubt it’ll ever happen, even on the very, very, very remote chance I live to see this mission complete,” I said.

“So, what do you say?” Rolo said. “Think you can spare another day or two for a couple of misfit gunslingers and the few good men left willing to follow us into a fight?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I guess another day or two won’t hurt.”

Clarence laid his massive palm on my head, rubbing my hair.

“That’s the spirit! I bet you can shoot the antennas off a grasshopper with that thing,” he said, gesturing to my revolver on my hip.

“Don’t know, actually. Never shot it before. I suppose I’m pretty good with guns in general.”

“Let’s see it,” Rolo said. “Make sure the three of us are up to the task with a friendly competition. Won’t take long.”

I grinned. “I suppose that’s fair. If it’s a competition, what’s the wager?”

“I’ve got one fine bottle of whiskey left I don’t think I’ll need anymore,” Clarence said. “Expensive one. I was saving it for a special occasion, but I reckon it’s better I celebrate without it.”

Rolo nodded. “Ah, that fifty year old bottle you’re always bragging about? I’ll enjoy taking that off your hands. As for me… Hmmm… My hat.”

“Your wife made that hat for you, Rolo,” Clarence said.

“I’ve got more than one hat.”

They both looked to me. What could I even wager? I had nothing.

“Taylor?” Rolo said, tilting his head.

“My gun, when I’m ready to leave. It doesn’t really fit in at the other zones, and I have a PanTech issue blaster hidden outside the zone. It’s a more advanced version of the guns you carry here. May be able to use the same ammunition, or at least be modified to without much trouble. It’s double-action. You can fire it by just pulling the trigger. No need to cock the hammer.”

“Well I’ll be,” Clarence said, tilting his head as he looked at the gun in my belt.

Rolo was far less impressed. Since he’d been a PanTech employee once, no doubt he’d shot a blaster similar to the present standard issue, but it was still better than what he had here.

“We’re in agreement?” Rolo asked.

Clarence and I both nodded.

“To the targets then,” he said.