Chapter 22

“You still owe me those sweets.”

Horse wasn’t the type to talk much when we were running. I don’t know if it was because it just wasn’t easy to do or if he liked the ride as much as I did. When your horse is intelligent and can speak, it’s appreciated when they let you have the quiet moments that you can enjoy.

That’s why I knew that my current course of action had Horse scared. He hadn’t shut up since I had left Bear and Coot. I was beginning to think that he really didn’t like getting shot.

“Aberdine, huh?” he went on. “There are a lot of cops in Aberdine. I’d say at least as many as in Saint Emile, and that’s three times the size of Aberdine. Is there any reason that we’re headed to Aberdine and not one of the other, less policed, cities?”

My lips curled into a smile. I liked torturing the poor animal. “Because it has so many cops and perfect rooftops for taking cover.”

“Are you going to start a raid by yourself?” Horse asked. It was surprising because he knew the gist of my plan and that hadn’t been part of it at all.

“You know I’m not,” I called him out. “What kind of question is that?”

“I get the basic idea,” he said, “but that idea is pretty stupid, so I figured you were probably doing more than one stupid thing, and it crossed my mind that the Colossals couldn’t start a raid in Easter if one had already been started for them in Aberdine.”

I actually hadn’t known that but it made sense. If they could hit every town at the same time, then it wouldn’t matter if they lost because the experience and pay could be multiplied by the number of people in your gang. Then I remembered what the manual had said.

“Only gang leaders can start raids, so that’s not happening.”” We were entering Aberdine as the sun was coming up from the same cemetery where Coot had lost his head. The road curved down the hill and by the courthouse.

“Oh my,” Horse’s voice went up an octave and he started huffing in and out. “You’re going right toward the police. Yup, that’s what you’re doing. Shit.”

I tugged the reins and directed him toward the three guys who best fit the description of what I had in my mind as a ‘constable.’ They had blue uniforms on with round hats that flared at the bottom. It looked like something from a period piece in Europe.

“Howdy.” I tipped my hat to them as I pulled on the reins to stop Horse.

“No, no, no, no,” Horse was whispering. I patted him on the neck and was only mildly hopeful that these men couldn’t understand him as Joan could.

“Hello ma’am,” the front most one replied with a nod of his head. He had a thick mustache. “How can we help you today?”

“Are you familiar with the gang the Colossal Paynes?” I asked.

All of their eyes went wide. “Why, miss? Are they planning a raid?”

I shook my head and pushed down my feelings. Only a few days ago, I had been concerned with the killing of anybody, now here I was, about to make a very ruthless decision.

For a good cause, I reminded myself.

“Yes, but not here.” I nodded back the way that I had come. “Easter is looking to get hit this morning. That’s where you’ll be able to find them.”

“Find them, miss?” Mustache asked. “As much as we feel for the plight of Easter, we have no current reason to go after the Colossal Paynes at this moment.”

“Not yet,” I said. Then I pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit it with my mind, and tossed it at their feet.

“Shit, damn, shit,” Horse just took off without me prompting him.

Unfortunately for me, he took off toward the water and away from the buildings. I drew my pistol and swung off, hitting the brick streets harder than I meant to and tumbling a bit. Righting myself, I drew my Bolt Action Rifle and sprinted toward the nearest ladder on the side of a building that I could find.

My wanted level was flashing at the top of my HUD. I got to the ladder and did a quick spin to see who was running up on me. My minimap was flashing red in the direction that we had blown up the constables, but no one was visible yet. I raised the rifle and took in the surroundings.

A woman who looked closer to my earthly age came around the corner of the building and froze when she saw me.

I gave a quick wave and gulped.

“Hi,” I said. “Oh, and I’m really sorry about this.”

Auto-aim, tug up, blam.

I blew off her bonnet with an unfortunate hole through her face.

My stomach lurched, and I realized that while death wasn’t a permanent fixture here, that these people would remember me. I would be the terror of Aberdine.

Well, Aberdine had a defensive force. Easter didn’t.

I shot a guy running toward the sheriff’s office, which turned out to be the building I was standing in front of. Then I shot a woman who looked a lot like Jane Seymour as she tried to ride her wagon out of town.

This was good, but it wasn’t good enough.

I climbed the ladder. The roof was flat and the buildings were close enough that I could jump from rooftop to rooftop if I needed to.

Correction: when I needed to.

It was a game, which was easy for me to forget sometimes. So, when a posse of ten marshalls rode into town, my first thought was wondering how they had known to come so quickly.

Right, the wanted level. I was just a beacon of trouble. That was good.

I ducked behind the lip of the roof and squatted. One eye watched the minimap to see if anyone was going to climb the ladder, while the other took aim at the posse.

I took out two of them before they dove behind cover. An idea crossed my mind to place a stick of dynamite at the base of the ladder. The idea would be that they would step over it when they climbed the ladder and not see it. I would use the time to get some space, jumping the rooftops and then shoot it at a distance.

I loved that idea, but wanted to keep my dynamite, so instead I pulled out my flammable moonshine. I crouch-walked to the ladder and poured it all over where the roof touched the ladder. It didn’t take much, and I still had 82% of my moonshine when I put it back into my inventory.

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The break in my shooting gave them all a false level of confidence and they rushed the ladder. That had been my hope but I wasn’t betting on it. Risking it, I stood and ran.

Bullets hit the roof around my feet. That was when I noticed people across the street on the other rooftops. They had been moving into position during my moonshine plan. That was a problem. Going to the roof had only been a good plan when no one else was doing it.

It didn’t matter. At this point, I just needed to kill a few more people and then get out of here.

Running across the rooftop, I slung the rifle over my shoulder and switched to one of my Farmer’s Pistols. I fired blindly in their direction, letting auto-aim do its thing, but not expecting much. I was rewarded with a few hits but no kills.

When I got to the edge of the roof, I didn’t slow down. I leaped into the air and crossed the two foot gap, landing on the next roof and continuing forward. When I landed on the third roof, I spun around and looked back at the ladder I had gassed. Two men were already on the roof of the Sheriff’s office, and one more was just getting off the ladder.

My Bolt Action Rifle was back in my hands and I took aim. Auto-aim made me hit one of them, which wasn’t what I wanted at all. I had to push against the pull of the programmed assistance to get the wet space just under the ladder.

Bang.

Whoosh.

A flash of humanity washed over me with guilt and disgust as I watched the three men writhe and scream in agony before dying.

I was fucking horrible.

Whatever. I didn’t have time for that.

Turning back, I saw that a group of men had climbed up the building where I was headed. I was pinned between them and the fire.

Bullets whizzed by my head with a few of them hitting me in the chest. Joan’s stew did the trick, and I saw my health flash from yellow back to white but otherwise not change.

I turned back toward the fire and ran. When I came to the gap between the buildings, I looked down, hoped Eve was watching, and jumped.

The space between the buildings was a few feet, and the fall was more than thirty feet. It would have killed me, except there were wires between the buildings.

Aberdine had electricity.

It would be nice to say that I pulled an Aladdin and hooked a wire, pressed my feet to the wall, the wire snapped, and I slid gracefully down to the ground.

It would also be a lie.

I tried to grab the first wire, it hit my forearm and I spun. Control was entirely lost after that point. I hit another wire, a window sill, an open door that should have broken my back, and then the ground.

My health had dropped by half, but I was alive.

Red teardrops were moving toward me from all directions, but none were near me yet. I grabbed a piece of jerky from my bag and took two large bites before putting it back.

The minimap showed that the alley behind the buildings was wide open, for now. I whistled and ran to it.

Horse’s icon was still by the water, but he began moving my way. I ran in his direction, which took me back toward the Sheriff’s office. While I ran, I switched guns again. This time I pulled my double-barreled shotgun from my back and didn’t even try aiming. The alley was thin and the law officers coming around the corner had to do so in single-file.

Two shots, two dead, reload.

A bullet to the back of my right shoulder spun me around and I tripped over my own feet. It hurt, which meant I didn’t need to look at my health to know that it had almost taken me out. At the far end of the alley, the law was coming that way too. I fired and reloaded before deciding the shotgun was too slow and switching back to both pistols.

Horse plowed through the police on my end of the alley. They didn’t even seem to notice him. He knocked them over and I struggled to my feet. He was taking off and already at the cemetery before I was fully in the saddle.

“Eat something, you dumb woman,” he barked at me.

“Have you been shot yet?” I asked.

“Not for lack of trying,” was his answer.

“Then shut up and ride,” I laughed and tore into another piece of jerky.

In addition to the wanted sign flashing in my HUD to show how wanted I was, there was a search radius of red on my map that showed their interest. When we left that, the wanted level began to flash.

I yanked on the reins and turned us around.

“What are you doing? They’ll kill us,” Horse protested.

“We need them to follow us, or this was a waste of time,” I shouted. We rode back into the red. The law was still getting onto their horses. I killed one with the rifle to remind them where I was and then waited for them to resume the chase. Then Horse turned around and continued our ‘escape.’

You have been invited to join the Pink Flamingos. Do you accept?

Shit, I thought. I can’t accept. Not yet. We weren’t ready yet.

D0C70RC007: Colossals were spotted about three miles outside of Easter. Are you close?

Sammy#0421: Just leaving Aberdine. I might be late.

I pulled out my stopwatch. Larry would respawn in fifteen minutes. I was still half an hour away from Easter.

Sammy#0421: How’s the town look? Are they ready?

Panda_Bear_Polka: As ready as they can be. They don’t have potions or food on them. Any damage they take will have to be fixed by us if they want to last.

Sammy#0421: You’re the healer. First priority is staying alive. Your second priority is to keep the townspeople alive.

D0C70RC007: I’m on the roof of the hotel. Bear is going to stay on the ground and use the buildings for cover. Where are you going to be?

Sammy#0421: No. Get on the ground now. Place dynamite, everything you’ve got, at each of the ends of town on the road. Hide them and keep them far enough from each other that they don’t set each other off. Move quickly and then get back on the roof. Do not set them off without my say so unless I’m dead.

“We need to move quicker,” I told Horse.

“Then next time pick up some horse stims,” he panted. “This is all you’re getting.”

It was dumb to even bring up. For this to work, I couldn’t move faster than the men chasing me. I had hoped that telling them the Colossals were headed to Easter would make this part unnecessary, but even in the manual it had said that the wanted level was only going to stay as long as they were searching for me.

Then an idea struck me.

I tugged the reins and went behind a crop of trees just off the road. My feet hit the grass and I dragged Horse into a crouch. Mostly for my own peace of mind than for any actual tactical advantage. During battles like these, the NPC’s didn’t seem to notice the horses.

“Yes, this is a great idea. They will definitely not lose you if you stand still on the path they are already traveling.”

“Shut up,” I elbowed him and pulled out my lasso. “I haven’t used this thing much. Anything that I need to know?”

Horse didn’t look at me as he answered. His attention was around the tree and staring at the stampede of lawmen headed our direction.

“Just aim and shoot, just like the guns. Same mechanic.” He mumbled something else, but I couldn’t quite make it out. It almost sounded like “Idiot,” and if I’d had the time, I would have smacked him.

We stayed like that for what seemed like forever. The time only stretched further knowing that Larry was moments away from starting the raid in Easter.

To my relief, and moreso, to Horse’s, the riders all went past us. As the last one was even with us, I stepped out from behind the trees and threw the lasso.

Auto-aim worked here, too and he was roped and tugged off of his horse faster than he could realize what was happening. I ran up to him and saw that my HUD was offering to bind him. I agreed and watched as my hands worked to tie him up. Then I scooped up his heavy ass and dropped him on the back of Horse.

I glanced at my stopwatch again and realized time was getting short.

Sammy#0421: I need an update. Where’s the Paynes right now?

Panda_Bear_Polka: They stopped about two miles outside of Easter. West of us. That path that runs through the break in the cliffs to the river. I don’t know why they stopped, but its buying you a little time.

Sammy#0421: I know it. How goes preparations?

D0C70RC007: Bombs set. People armed. I’m back on the roof. Bear is handing out food and bottles of whatever to the people at each end of town. He won’t listen to me. He’s giving away too much.

I checked my inventory and frowned. I only had a few pieces of meat left and the one tonic that Bear had given me earlier.

Sammy#0421: Coot, your priority will be to make sure he stays up. Bear, speak up if you are getting hit.

They both acknowledged the orders. They weren’t questioning any of my decisions and I was beginning to wonder what I had done to deserve such unwavering faith. It was probably more a fear of having the entire situation fall at their feet. At least they wouldn’t be to blame.

No. That was a negative way to look at it. We were a team. They were my friends. We were helping each other.

Now I just needed to get to that pass two miles west of Easter.