Great and Terrible Things

I walked back toward the business part of town at a quicker pace, worried for the old man. It didn't bode well that he wasn't at Hattie's or the hotel, but that didn't mean I rushed down the street, an easy target.

The noise from the town's only saloon on an otherwise deserted and silent street made it pretty obvious where Alby and his men were. I stopped two buildings down so that I could slip out of sight if someone came out. My guess was that he was working on fogging the minds of the saner men among them. I grimaced at the thought. Drunk men were easily led to do stupid things, like shooting up Twisted River at Alby's behest.

I was watching the front door so intently that I'd almost missed the sound of someone sneaking up on me. Almost. I spun and drew in one motion and found myself facing William, not fifteen feet away. The old man wasn't particularly startled by my action, but that didn't mean he was happy by it.

"Getting old. There was a day I could touch a man on his shoulder before he noticed," he grumped. I shook my head as I put my Peacemaker back in its holster.

"Funny, I was just thinking that I must slipping to let someone get within fifteen feet of me and not notice." That made the old man smile, if only briefly. I saw that he was empty handed.

"Dang fool marshal and his deputies caught me coming back from Nettie's with all three rifles and confiscated them, at gun point mind you." William was clearly none too pleased about it. "I saw them lock them in the jail with just about every other firearm not owned by one of Murphy's men before they skedaddled out of town."

"Mr. Townsend supposedly tracked down the town council and complained about what happened at the hotel. They ordered that all guns be confiscated within the town limits."

"Not a bad idea if the man who was responsible wasn't owned by Murphy." William was shaking his head.

"Or had a backbone. How did a man like that become marshal?"

"I see you've met, and yet you still have your revolver?" William didn't bother answering my question before asking his own. I guess it didn't matter in the long run.

"He didn't have his deputies with him. I told him I'd give him the gun after he collected Alby's."

"I'm sure that went over well," the old man snorted, obviously picture in the confrontation.

"He told me he'd be back with his deputies to collect them," I replied, splitting my attention between him and the entrance to the saloon. "That's when I decided to take a walk around town and see what was up. I was also thought it was past due to check up on you."

"After the marshal took the rifles and left town I decided it made more sense to track down Alby and his men to see if we needed to be concerned." Now we were both watching the saloon. "It don't look good."

"That's what I figured," I sighed.

"Alby's been on the edge ever since he arrived. This afternoon looks to have finally pushed him over the edge, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. They'll be bloodshed before the days out. Mark my words." William suddenly looked his age, but only for a moment. "Sure wish I still had my Spenser."

"I wouldn't mine my Winchester either," I said, slapping the old man on the back. "We can't do much here. We might as well get back to the hotel. Alby will most like wait until it's dark to come at us."

"I expect he's still waiting on some of his men, not that he doesn't have plenty with him already. I guess we should...wait, who's that coming down the street?" William was squinting. There was a handful of men walking toward the saloon. They were coming from the other direction.

"I think that's Mr. Townsend in front." I frowned as I took in the four men behind the hotel owner. "I don't know the others, but there's an awful lot of gray hair in that lot. None of them are carrying guns."

"Old fools so damn full of themselves that they'd go to the saloon to confront Alby in the mood he's in weaponless? Must be the town council."

"Maybe they think the marshal disarmed the Murphys as well?" It didn't sound plausible to me having met the man, but going in there otherwise was dangerous as hell, possibly even suicidal. Maybe they couldn't see how deep the sickness in Alby went, but they had to know he wasn't right in the head. "We'd better stop them."

"Danged fools!" William grumped, but then stepped out into the open. I followed him. The men were moving toward the saloon at a decent clip, but we would have been able to stop them before they got there. Unfortunately, that's when Alby and a handful of his men chose to leave the saloon. He was laughing with one who had an impressive waxed handlebar mustache when he noticed the townsfolk.

I couldn't hear what was said between them, but Mr. Townsend's hands were flying as he led the council in confronting Alby and his men. Murphy said something in response that wasn't taken well by the townsfolk. One of the grey-haired men snapped angrily. I couldn't hear what he said, but whatever it was, they were his last words.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when Alby drew his Scofields and fired, but I was just the same. He was as fast as his reputation said as he gunned down the unarmed man. Mr. Townsend might have been a fool for confronting Alby, but he was a brave one. He launched himself at the younger man. They tumbled to the ground.

The man with the waxed mustache pulled his gun and shot another councilman. I drew my Peacemaker and started firing without making a conscious decision. He was the first to go down and was quickly followed by the next man reaching for his gun.

There were a lot more of Alby's men than me, but most were still in the saloon. Still, the only thing that saved me in those first few moments was that the ones outside had their back to me. Yeah, that meant that the two I killed never saw it coming, but they'd drawn first and killed unarmed men. I had no issue with shooting men like that in the back. I was a soldier, not a hero.

Truth be told, I only had two regrets. First, that I had to stop at two because that's when the ones in the saloon stopped coming out and the men outside dove for cover. I could have taken out a few more even still, but I only had a six shooter with five chambers loaded when I started. That meant I only had three rounds left. I needed to conserve some bullets for William's and my escape.

And second, I couldn't get a clear shot on Alby because of Mr. Townsend. The man was already dead, but Murphy was using his body as a shield. I might have used my last three bullets if he's been in the open.

The last two councilmen turned and ran when I started shooting. They quickly disappeared around the corner and behind the nearest building. If they were smart they wouldn't stop until they were locked in their own homes, rifles at the ready. Alby and his men were too focused on me to chase them for the moment, but they had to go after them eventually. They couldn't leave any witnesses.

On the other hand, at least I'd given the councilmen a chance. I smiled to myself despite the situation. It did an old soldier's heart some good when he could help a couple of civilians. Of course, that didn't mean I planned on sacrificing myself and William now that they were out of sight.

"Time to go," I said as bullets started flying in our direction.

"You think?" the old man snorted as we turned and made our way toward down the street, taking cover as we went. We were limited by how quickly William could move with his limp, but we still made the best time we could.

"We need to make it to the hotel. Alby will go after everyone involved in what happened today. That means, Billy, Clementine, Miles and Abigail are in danger. We can't leave them behind, just in case." I was keeping an eye behind us as we made our way. William grunted in agreement, but his next words said otherwise.

"He's crazy if he thinks he can kill everyone involved and get away with it. It wasn't just us and my family in the hotel this afternoon. There were others who witnessed it all. Not to mention the two councilmen who you just saved and probably even some of the people in the saloon. Not everyone inside works for Alby. He has to know it's impossible by now."

"He should, but that young man is mad as a hatter, so who knows?" It didn't take Alby and his men long to chase us. I spotted the first of them coming down the street toward us. "Or maybe he figures if he kills enough of us the rest will be too scared to step forward." That made more sense, but I just didn't see it happening. Not with who he'd already killed, much less if he started shooting women and children like William's family.

The time for talking was done. Alby's men were getting too close and I saw a barrel of a shotgun pointed in our direction. I fired my Peacemaker twice more, keeping them at bay. One slug downed the shotgun holder. It didn't stop the rest from shooting at us, but it did slow their progress down the street some and I assumed make their aim poorer since thy continued to miss us, at least until we were at the last stretch. That's when William took a bullet in the shoulder. He went down, but didn't stay there. Still, I had to half drag him up onto the hotel's front porch.

I fired my last shot about two feet away from the entrance because I didn't have a choice. They had grown too close once more. Besides, it was the first clear shot I got at Alby, or at least it was before some damned fool stepped in front of him at the last moment and died in his place.

I was using one of the columns beside the hotel entrance for cover for William and me as I continued to point my now empty gun at the men with Alby. The one's out in the open went for cover of their own.

"He's empty! Kill him!" Alby was disentangling himself from the dead man as he demanded that his men attack. I noticed that despite his words he was careful not to come out into open himself.

"No! He's got one more round!" another man cried, earning a derisive look from Alby.

"He's a soldier. A man like him would leave a chamber empty to make sure there were no misfires." He wasn't wrong. Frankly, I thought any man who wore a gun would be a damn fool to fill all six chambers and take the chance of the weapon going off accidently unless he knew he was about to use it.

Maybe I should have loaded the last chamber when I started scouting the town, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting what happened, particularly not in broad daylight. I figured that whatever Alby chose to do would happen after dark. That was still a few hours away, but whatever plan Alby had obviously fell apart when Mr. Townsend and the town council confronted him.

"I'm putting my last bullet in the stomach of the first man I see!" Dying from a gut shot was slow and painful. Even if doc Jenson was able to patch them up before they bled out, infection would most likely set it and kill them anyway. No one wanted to die that way.

I'd already proven that I generally hit what I aimed out. I put down four of their friends, two of them on the run. They had no reason to doubt what I was saying. Well, except for Alby's claim that I was out of bullets.

"Take him!" Alby's cry all but echoed down the empty street. Despite the confidence in Murphy's voice, he didn't lead the way. I guess he figured it would be better for one of his men to prove him right, just in case. The problem was that none of them wanted to be the first one out into the open either. Alby clearly wasn't happy about that. He started threatening those closest to him.

It was one of those moments where time seemed to freeze. The kind that never lasted long. Any second now Alby would badger one his men into chancing stepping out into the open and taking a shot at us. Once that happened the others would quickly follow suit and gun William and me down.

My only choice was to make a move for the hotel door, but the odds were slim to none that either of us would survive that since it was exactly what Alby and his men were waiting for. I had my Peacemaker in one hand and was dragging William with the other, but I doubt I could get the door open before they attacked even if I had a free hand. Still, it's not like I had a choice.

I was just about to make the attempt when the hotel door opened and Robert came out, shotgun in hand. The sergeant major was an intimidating presence that would give men far braver than the ones with Alby reason to pause.

I guess the marshal hadn't been man enough to take the weapon away from Robert, even with his deputies. Either that or the man hadn't known the former cavalryman was carrying it under his coat. In either case, I was never so happy to see the shotgun in the hands of the ebony skinned man.

"We don't want any trouble. We've got women and children in here," Robert called out, not bothering to hide his anger. "And just in case any of you are thinking about doing something stupid after we get inside, I'm going to shoot the first person who comes in through that door with this here scattergun. There won't be much left for Doc Jenson to put back together afterward."

Abigail came out right behind Mr. Washington and helped me get William inside. The man was one tough old bird. He was already fighting to stand despite his obvious pain. I didn't see what happened outside once I passed into the hotel, but Robert fired the shotgun and someone cried out. I think it was more in fear than pain. Robert was inside a moment later barring the hotel door. I looked around and saw that the windows were already shuddered and locked.

"I already sent everyone who could be moved out through the back door when I heard the gunshots coming this way," the sergeant major said in a matter of fact tone. "The only people left are in this room or with Miles."

"Clementine and Billy?" I asked, fearing for them more than I cared to admit.

"Billy is safe," Abigail answered, tending to her uncle's shoulder. "He went with Robert' s wife and son, but Clementine won't leave Miles side." I was happy to hear that Billy was gone and concerned about the teenager, but not surprised. Clementine was a stubborn one. I liked that about her. I just hoped it didn't get her hurt or worse.

I was sorely tempted to ask Abigail why she was still here instead of with her son, but I already knew the answer. She wasn't the type to flee to safety and leave her cousin and uncle in danger. It wasn't smart, but I understood.

"You people in there. Send out Mosey and maybe I'll let you all live." The voice was clearly Alby's. I guess he picked up my name somewhere around town. It's not like I'd kept it a secret. "He killed my men and has to pay!"

I could feel Robert's eyes on me, taking in the news. I doubt he was surprised, but that didn't mean he was happy about what he'd learned. The fact that men had died meant the odds of this ended without more bloodshed went from low to damn near impossible.

"Alby gunned down an unarmed town councilman in cold blood." I didn't need to explain myself to anyone, but I wanted Robert, and more important, Abigail to understand what really happened. "Mr. Townsend tried to stop him and he died as well. One of Alby's men then shot another councilman. It was obvious they were going to kill the other two as well. That's when I took action."

Robert nodded in acceptance. Abigail expression didn't change. It hit me that I hadn't needed to explain myself to her. A warm sensation began to spread through my chest, but was interrupted by Alby yelling into the hotel again. Still, it was nice to know Abigail had so much faith in me.

"You don't all have to die tonight. Send out Mosey and the rest of you can live!"

"He's lying." Abigail sounded confident. "Alby's a monster. A man like him won't stop at killing just one of us. We all stood up to him today in one fashion or another and he can't abide that. Alby is going to kill all of us tonight if we let him."

Neither William or Robert argued with her. They obviously agreed and they all knew Murphy for a lot longer than me. Damn. I mean, it's not like I was planning on giving myself up to Alby and his cohorts, but still...

"He killed four of my men! Send him out or I'm going to kill every last one of you!"

"Three!" I called back. "I'm pretty sure the third one I shot will live." I was just stalling for time as my mind raced, trying to come up with a plan.

I was sure that by now Alby had send someone around back to keep us penned in even if we wanted to chance moving Miles. Besides, Alby would come after us if we tried to slip away, and we wouldn't get far with the teenaged boy and William in tow.

"No one gets away with hurting me or mine!"

"You men out there," I cried, knowing it was pointless to try and reason with Alby. "You killed three unarmed men. That's a hanging offense! If I were you, I'd be running for the hills. You need to be as far away as possible before the county sheriff arrives, and he will be coming soon, especially when he hears that two of the men you murdered were on the town council."

I was watching those in sight through a gap in the shutters of one of the windows. One or two looked uncomfortable, but most seemed unfazed by my words. I was guessing that the latter were the men Alby brought with him. Either that or they were too drunk to care. Possible both. The bottom line was that it quickly became obvious that there would be no talking them out of what was about to go down.

"Mosey, I'm calling you out! Come out and face me one on one!"

"Son, you've been reading too many western dime novels." I was removing the spent cartridges from my gun and reloading as I talked. This time I filled all six chambers. "Why would I come out there?"

"To face me like a man!" he snapped angrily. "Or are you a coward?"

"I've been called worse, for better reasons." I turned to William and Abigail and added more softly. "Get upstairs. Be ready to grab the others and run if this goes badly." They wouldn't get far if it came down to it, but sending them upstairs would keep them safer than being down here. Neither had a gun and they'd just be in the way.

"You're not going out there, are you?" Abigail's concern was heartwarming.

"Not in the way he wants, that's for sure." She swallowed and nodded, clearly more afraid for me than herself. I took her hand with my free one and squeezed it reassuringly before letting it go and gesturing toward the stairs.

Abigail tried to help her uncle, but William pushed her hands away and actually led her despite his gunshot wound. The stubborn old man was shaky on his feet, but he made it just the same. I was sure his niece or granddaughter would finish tending his wound as soon as he let them.

Abigail followed quietly, but there was nothing meek about the way she moved. I smiled when I noticed she was holding the knife once more, just in case. I really did have to find out where she hid it one of these days.

"Are you coming out or what?" Alby sounded pissed now. "Cause if not, then I'm going to burn the hotel down with you and everyone else in it!"

"Alby Murphy get a grip on yourself!" Robert cried, thankfully taking over the conversation. I needed to think. "You can't kill this many people and think you'll get away with it, even with the marshal bought and paid for by your uncle."

"Uncle Michael owns this town, lock, stock and barrel!" Alby called back, sounding way too confident. "And even if he didn't, my father owns a large chunk of the county. The sheriff does what he tells him to."

"Is that true?" I asked Robert in surprise.

"Doubt it," the dark-skinned former cavalryman frowned, deep in thought. "If it were, I expect Alby's father wouldn't have needed to send him away. Still, the young fool seems to think he's right, and since he already killed three, it's not like he's got much to lose."