As I came down Main Street towards the center of town I heard screams and breaking glass inside O'Ryan's Hotel. I got to the window and looked in. I saw two masked men pulling and tugging on O'Ryan's daughter. She was half naked. The time for surrenders had passed. I spun through the open door and came up with my pistols cocked and aimed. I managed to put a bullet in both their foreheads. They dropped like flour sacks.
But I had made a mistake. In my haste to save the girl I did not notice the third outlaw. He was off to the side of the room with the girl's mother. "Allright hold it right there!" I heard him shout as I turned to face him. He had his pistol to the woman's head and was using her as a shield. "I'm getting out of here! You just let me go, or this bitch dies!" The woman and her daughter were both screaming. I noticed the body of O'Ryan lying in a pool of blood in the back of the room.
"Let her go mister." I said, trying to be as cool as I could. "Let her go, and I won't kill you right where you stand." He laughed. "You know who I am. You know I can do it. Now be smart and let her go." I saw the fear in his eyes.
"You wont shoot me?" His hands were trembling. " I got your word on that?"
"You got my word, just let go of her." He lowered his pistol and turned the woman loose. "Now drop it." I said, never lowering my gun. His pistol fell to the floor. "Kick it to me and get on your knees." He did as I asked and I holstered my pistol. "Alright then. Now where...."
His head exploded in a red wet mist that stuck to the wall behind him! I pulled my pistols and turned to see O'Ryan's wife standing in front of her daughter with a smoking shotgun in her hand! "You Son of a Bitch!" she screamed at him as I tore the gun from her hands. She looked at me just daring me to say one word of reproach to her.
I tuned and went for the door.
I made my way to Rosie's Saloon. I stepped inside the swinging doors and got shot at. Bullet almost took off my left ear. I spun to the floor and aimed the rifle where I thought the shot had come from.
"That's right you cowardly fucks! Step inside my bar again and I'll put a hole in you so big your own mother wont know you!" A familiar voice called from behind the bar. My eyes adjusted to the dark inside the bar and I saw the place was a mess. There were at least two bodies on the floor and a hell of alot of blood everywhere.
"Ruby?" I yelled. "Ruby? It's me, Snake. You all right darlin?"
"Snake?" I heard he say has she rose from behind the bar. "Oh, Snake!" I stood and she ran to me. She seemed to be wearing just rags. Her dress was torn something awful and she was holding it together. Her hair and face were blood covered. He hands and arms were bleeding. She fell into my arms crying. "Snake! Where the fuck have you been? They killed Gus! I tried to save him, but.." She began to sob hysterically. I looked down and saw Gus, her house manager. He had been gut shot. The other body I guessed had been one of the outlaws, but his face and chest was tore up something fierce and I don't think I woulda recognized him even if I knew him. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what happened here.
"It's alright Ruby. You're safe now girl." I tried to calm her down. "You're gonna be alright." I heard the doors creak open and I whirled around drawing my pistols. It was Shots.
"God damn Marshal" he said as he came inside. "I thought you was dead!" What the hell happened to the jail?" I sat Ruby down in a chair and grabbed a blanket from behind the bar to cover her up with. I gave her a whiskey bottle and she popped the cork and drank strait from it.
"They blew it up." I said turning to Shots. "Finger's is dead. And Holmes is gone. Have you seen him?"
"No." he replied. "We killed six of his men though. Two of the Circle M boys are dead as well."
"And John?" I asked.
"He's alive," he answered, "for now. But he's shot bad. I don't think he'll make it. Mitchellson and a few of his boys rode off chasing a group of Holmes' men who lit out when the shooting got too much for them. But I don't think Holmes was with them. Shit Marshal, you're hit!"
I had torn open my shirt and exposed the shot in my side. "Yeah, I got a few of the bastards though. Ruby, can I borrow some of that rye honey?"
She stood and grabbed my wrist."You ready?" She asked. I nodded and she tipped the bottle over my wound. It felt like liquid fire, but I knew I had to take it. I pulled the shirt off of the dead outlaw and made a makeshift bandage. Then I slipped my shirt back on.
"Shots, we need to sweep the town. Make sure none of these bastards are still here, hiding somewhere. Get some of the citizens to help pull the bodies off the street and get them down to the undertakers. I am sure the Doc is gonna need some help as well. Make sure he gets whatever it is he needs."
"Ok Marshal." He said, and suddenly we heard a pounding on a door from the back hallway.
"That's the girl's rooms." said Ruby."Oh God!" She leapt up and ran to the door, with Shots and I right behind her. She reached for the knob and tried to turn it. Shots grabbed her and pulled her back and I kicked open the door. There stood Lily and the rest of the girls unharmed. Lily jumped into Shot's arms has Ruby calmed the rest of them down. Apparently when he first heard the shots in the streets, Gus had locked the girls in the room to protect them. Smart man.
I sent Shots out and took a long pull from the whiskey bottle. Ruby and the girls were fine. I stepped back out into the street and searched for Holmes and any of his remaining men.
The streets were quiet. And empty. I was just about convinced that Holmes had fled. And then I heard my name being called. I followed the sound of it. As I came around the corner of the dry goods store I saw who was calling me. And my heart sank.
The man had his arms tied behind his back and had been beaten pretty bad. It was Johnny. As I got to him he fell on the street.
"Marshal," he croaked, his face full of bruises and cuts. "Marshal, it's Holmes."
"He's got Prissy!"
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