The Gunfigher 1.5 of 1.5

5.

Mack grabbed the mine lamp and rushed in. The rest followed him close behind. The tunnel at that stretch was clear and it was easy to run on. Of the six of them, only four held the lights, but they had all armed their rifles. Their run ended at the end of the tunnel which opened up to a deep crevasse in the flooring. Where there was once a wooden bridge with rails, was then a wide gap of ten feet with a drop of unseen depth.

Mack stepped over but he sidestepped to prevent himself toppling over. Painted Horse was next but he saw the gap as a challenge. He took up speed on his last two steps and leapt up high with his legs scissoring away for the extra length. He landed on the other side with two feet of safety margin, but not Wesley who was next jumped and managed to grab the other ledge. The Winchester he was carrying dropped down with a series of hard knocks. Others had stopped like Mack but they were alarmed at Wesley predicament.

"Doc, hang in there." Gannon shouted out. The Sheriff immediately then went on his knees and reached out his rifle, but the warrior had moved faster. He reached out and pulled at the doctor's jacket. He heaved the doctor out with a big pull with his muscles.

"Healer, you need to cut down on the steaks." Painted Horse heaved his words in between recovering breaths. Wesley who had crawled the wall and leaned on it. He was nodding in between his wheeze of air. The rest had sat on the other side resting from the incident.

"Guess he jumped across and then ran on from there." Gannon asked no one and expect no one to reply. Mack was looking around for signs of the creature and then he saw the stains on the wall. He was to shout a warning but it was the doctor who felt it first. The sting tail end of the creature had pierced the chest of the doctor from the rear. The creature never left the tunnel; it had camouflaged into the stone wall. It had clung the wall like a lizard but unseen by the naked eyes. Doctor Wesley wanted to expressed his view but the voice of his was beyond words. Only his eyes betrayed his words. He wanted to asked for help. His first since he become a doctor; one in his profession offer help and never asked for any.

Gannon was the first to woke up from the slumber they were in. He fired the Henry at the stone wall, but the creature had moved. It had moved downwards and Gannon had shot all his sixteen bullets. He reached for the pistol but the creature had disappeared again.

"Where is the varmint?" Gannon shouted while he held onto his pistol. Mack had stood by him with the Sharps with Kate leaning on his leg with her Winchester loaded. Gabe had dropped his rifle and drew on his pistol.

"Painted Horse, tell me where is the varmint?" Gannon shouted out.

"Varmint? Oh, Dark One....gone down the wall of stone." Painted Horse had crawled himself into the other tunnel and hid there. He was chanting the hymns learned when he was young with the Shaman. Mack who had recover his thinking then called out.

"We need to follow it." Mack recalled to had seen some ropes in the earlier cavern. He ran back for it and then fashioned a rope to abseil down. The rope was long and soon it was time to climb down. Mack did not asked for volunteers; he grabbed the lamp and left the Sharps to Kate.

Mack descended some distance before he saw the next tunnel It was build on the same side of his ledge. It was big enough for the creature and he had intended to get in. He holler his finding to the others and then climbed into the tunnel. He waited there for the others, except for Kate. She had gone back to seek the Major.

"Mack, your rifle." Gannon passed the Sharps to the gunfighter. Gabe had climbed down without his. Painted Horse hollered from above.

"Is there no spirit there?"

 

Nobody replied to him. They were already walking into the lower tunnel. They found it descending and soon it came to an underground river in a narrow long cavern. There the creature lay there waiting for them. The creature was hurt and may be dying but it was not moving. The three cowboys spread out to faced the creature which was next to the river bank. Painted Horse rushed in and then stopped. He looked to the creature and sank to his knees. He begin to chant the same hymn he had done earlier.

"Stop it!" Mack told the warrior. He leveled the Sharps and aimed at the creature head. He was to pulled the trigger when in his mind was the voice.

"I begged to speak." Mack looked to the others. They all heard it too. But there was no new person in the cavern. Or they were wrong. A boat appeared on the river. There was a boatman on it.

"I am Charon. I have come to take the creature back to its rightful place." The boat moored at the river bank and the creature got up slowly to board the boat. The boat soon pulled off and sailed back where it came from. It was then the scene changed.

Mack saw then was not a river, but a section of the cavern which narrowed down to tight corner. There was a farm of mushrooms grown there. There was no sting tail creature there, but a frail looking old man with this hair flowing freely to his back was dressed in the native clothes of the land.

"I am Ashron. I am the keeper of the land. You are the invader of the sacred land. I am bound to protect it." The frail man looked up to Mack. "If you forced my hand, I would kill you."

Mack pulled the trigger on the Sharps at the old man. The bullet it at the chest and the old man was flung back to the wall. It was not the old man anymore but the creature again. This time it shrieked out loud and coiled up it body like a serpent. Just as it coiled up, the creature lashed out its body again to the full length with the tail raised upright. Mack pulled the trigger twice to shoot at the creature; his shots hit the steel hard head twice. The creature lurched forward but it stopped short to drop dead. Its head piece was bleeding the greenish liquid from the wounds.  

Mack lowered his rifle but the rest was holding onto it.

"Its dead." Mack told them.

"Yes, its. Only an outsider could do it." Mack looked to the Sheriff. He was no more the Sheriff he met. He was then a seven feet blueish figure. So was Gabe. Mack looked to the warrior who was still chanting his hymn.

"Painted Horse, he was not of us. He was of the locals who lived here before us. He was stubborn not to be assimilated neither to be killed. We spared him to be with us. On certain occasions, we inoculated him the scenario to served us voluntary. He was a good subject."

"Who are you? Why the masquerade?" Mack spoke out.

"We are an outcast of your world. We landed here by mistake. We had to survived as it was our instinct. We took over the town, and the surrounding land. Until you came to pursue Gabe. We had send Gabe to the other lands but his over enthusiasm made him seen by one too many. He brought you here."

"We delayed the gunfight and while your stay, we worked on your memory. We had to placed an implant in you in case you become intolerable. During your stay, we implanted in false memory; Kate, and the bullet near your heart. You shot Gabe and changed our plan. Then the young fool of our own had to fight with Richie. With Richie death, I thought I could distract you to come here. Then we would had you killed with no one knowing our secret."

"Ms Smith assumption was a bad distraction. Your insistence to come here earlier had made us change our plans. Wesley was to be discarded later but with his arrival here, the Elder had to over react over him. You did us the favor of removing the recalcitrant Elder."

Mack smiled. He liked to be the useful one.

“Wesley spoke too much on your weakness. He was becoming more of the doctor he had imitated. But I knew beforehand. I knew Sharps kill better. Your Henry was to wound it; it was never meant to kill. You knew your caliber but I am the Gunfighter.”

Mack pulled the trigger on his Sharps and blew the blueish one that imitated Gabe.

"I know my guns." Then Mack turned to looked at the other. 

"Gannon or whatever your name was , I did not injured Gabe for a reason. I could had killed him in the fight. I needed to wound him so that I could see if he was human too. When he recovered so fast from a shoulder wound, I had my doubts too." Mack explained to the blueish leader. "Ms. Smith was here not by coincidence. She came here to startle all of you. To make all of you panic and forced you to show your true colors."

"Am I not right, Ms Smith?" Mack shouted out. The clicks of the numerous rifles announced their firepower. The blueish leader looked around him and saw Major Sharpe climbed out of hiding. He had with him his guards. They were carrying a square box on their back with the hose attached to what may had been identified later as a nozzle. It was a crude form of a flame thrower. They had climbed down while the cowboys then were distracted.

Major Sharpe without hesitation had released a streak of flame at the mushrooms. He burned all of it and then covered his nose. Mack did the same with his using the bandanna on his neck.

"Your plant caused halo genic effects on us; something which we had learned. That had to go first."

The blueish leader shrieked out on seeing their main crop destroyed. It fed on those mushrooms to maintain its aura and image distortion. It then looked at Mack.

"Youwouldpayforit...." The leader cried out in its telepathic voice, but the vocals are getting distorted.

"Don't get worked up. We had some of our food to mixed in yours. During your arrest, we served you food laced with our own medicine. It would kill you from inside."

"No!" The blueish leader shrieked out. It felt then the pain that coursing through its frame. It then fell onto its knees and then dropped face down. Mack walked towards the blueish leader and shot it with the Sharps into its head.

"Must you hasten their demise?" Ms Smith walked up to the gunfighter. "Always quick on the draw. It High Noon and then no laid back afternoon....."

 

"We lived by the gun. A dying death cheats us of the reward." Mack replied to  the disappointed lady. He went to the rope and climbed out. He saw the warrior sitting there on the open yard. He was sitting there looking at nothing and spoke nothing.

"Gunfighter, tell me how did you know?" Painted Horse looked at the gunfighter.

"We been hunting them for over three years. I discovered them then when I stumbled on their hideout. I killed the first group, but they told me they were here for some time. Then I hunted the others too. It was last year, I had to kill the Vice President." Mack explained himself. "For my effort, I was given a task force to hunt these abominations. That was the fourth group. There are more out there. They like to hide out at mines."

"These are not ....varmints. They are the Dark Ones." Painted Horses told him. "The Old Ones told me to assist you. You may need one who can see the Dark Ones for themselves."

"Your real name, warrior?" Mack asked.

"Kemo Sabe." The warrior replied. "I would called you Tonto. It means the good brother."

“What does Kemo Sabe means?” Mach was curious.

“How would I know? I made it up. Well, its better than Painted Horse. Many thought I was sired by one.”

“Uh, I would prefer the Gunfighter or Lone Ranger? Sounded more ....” Mack proposed.

“Pale man gone loony. Have you seen the Ranger that rode alone? If it was, it was when he behind the castus tree on his own fantasy ride.” The warrior gyrate his hips to explain his words.

It was then Ms Smith walked up.

"Do you have a name for me?" They all looked at the lady who held the brolly.

"Willing Squaw would suit you. Much of the ‘mare’ in you." Kemo Sabe replied. "I guessed its better than Hi Ho Silver."