Shoot-out

After we had walked for some minutes, we reached a plain with a piece of a leftover fence in quite some distance from the trail. The sheriff walked towards the fence and placed some old cans onto it, which he had taken from the bag he had taken from his office. Then he returned to me, took the newly bought revolver and filled it with six bullets. Six shots later he had cleared the fence off the cans.

“It’s easy if they don’t shoot back.”, he claimed with a grin.

“Obviously.”, I replied thinking if I could pull off to even hit one of them.

He placed the box of ammunition on the ground and walked towards the fence to place the cans on it another time.

“You can recharge already. You’re next.”

Him not watching over me for a moment gave me the chance to at least hide my clumsy attempts of recharging the revolver. I fumbled around a little until the magazine finally sprang open. Now I could empty the magazine from the leftover cartridges and fill in some new bullets.

After I was done doing so, he was already on his way back.

“You managed?”, he asked like he was just as surprised as I was that I actually managed it.

“Sure.”

“This model makes shooting almost too easy. Just aim and pull the trigger.”, he explained.

I nodded and lifted my right hand, which was holding the gun.

The gun was now pointed at the can to the right. My plan was to shoot them down right to left, just like the sheriff had done it.

Ok. Aiming while looking over the top of the weapon, remember recoil., I thought to myself. Forgetting or underestimating the recoil was usually the most comedic mistake beginners made in movies. To make everybody believe that I had shot a gun at least once in my life, I had to at least avoid this one.

When I thought that I was just correctly pointing at the can, I lowered the gun just a little.

This should do it., I thought and then pulled the trigger.

The recoil yanked up my arm, but I had been prepared. I put all my strength into keeping my arm steady. Like this I at least avoided smashing the thing into my face after having claimed to have been pretty good at shooting once.

Apparently my first shot hadn’t been too bad. It wasn’t a direct hit but the bullet had at least slightly grazed the can. It tumbled on the fence and then fell down.

“Well, not bad.”, he said and patted me on the shoulder. “I will head back already. Don’t think that you need me at the moment. Be back before noon. The sun out here gets you melting.”

He left. I continued to learn how to shot on my own. My knowledge which I had gained from the games I had played earlier in my life gave me a little headstart, but shooting for real was an entirely different thing. These games had taught me to aim or what recharging looked like, but shooting for real was more than just pulling the trigger. It actually required more muscles than I had expected. Also it was loud as hell. But getting shot was less desirable. So I continued to ruin my ears.

By the time noon came, I had probably blown out a small fortune in bullets but I had improved my aim. Most shots were still grazes, but this was already more than I could have expected in the beginning. Sometimes I even hit the cans in a way, that actually left holes inside of them.

All in all it was a rather successful training session.

I went to pick up the cans and the box of ammunition and then started my way back towards the town. I never had any special interests in weapons but I still felt happy about my success. Little did I know how urgently I had to improve my skills at that time.

When I came into range of hearing, I realized that there was the sound of gunfire coming out of the town. I fastened my pace, trying to stay out of sight as I approached the town. After I had reached the foremost building, I put down the box of ammunition and took a look around the corner.

The main road was empty. The windows and doors were all closed shut and for a moment there was no sound at all. Then again, another shot. Where from?

I couldn’t see anybody. Neither any form of attacker nor the sheriff himself.

What now? I definitely couldn’t leave my cover without being seen and shot at myself.

I took a look at the parts of my surroundings I could see without having to leave my current position. Would it be possible to walk on the backside of the houses without being seen? It would be a little too easy to just assume nobody would cover the back of the buildings, but then again maybe nobody thought about it. If the attackers would just concentrate on the enemy at hand, they would suspect that only the sheriff was fighting against them.

I filled my belt with as many bullets as possible and then pushed the box under the walkway that was built in front of the house I used as cover, just so nobody would see it if the attackers came here during the fight. I wouldn’t be able to carry the box for now.

The shooting continued. There was nobody to be seen. Where were they? Inside the houses? Then I thought to have seen one person leaving cover for a short moment to shoot from behind a barrel.

Or had I mistaken? I needed to change my position urgently. I couldn’t just leave the sheriff alone.

I turned around and walked towards the back of the houses. There was nobody there just for the moment but walking behind the houses would require me to check basically three directions: the alleys between the houses, the place I came from and the direction I was going to. Technically this was a very bad idea. But did I have any other choice?

I carefully walked behind the first two houses, between the second and third house, there came the first alley. The alley itself seemed empty but from here I could clearly see somebody sitting behind a barrel. He had tied a red neck cloth in front of his face. All in all he looked like the worst possible cliché of a bandit one could imagine. He was busy recharging, so I quickly switched sides of the alley and hid behind the next two houses. The sheriff must have taken cover inside his office. Otherwise the position of the bandit wouldn’t make any sense. I had another idea of where to get an overview. The Shop we had visited earlier also had an entrance on the backside. Of course my whole plan was based on the assumption that somebody would open the door, but in case it wouldn’t work, I would just pass the town entirely and then attack the bandits from the back, hopefully creating an opening for the sheriff.

The door was locked but Elizabeth had to be still inside. I knocked lightly on the door. Just in case the necessity would arise I also had my gun prepared. There was a second knocking, this time from the inside against the small window next to the door.

I carefully peaked inside before I showed my face. The door slowly swung open and I went inside, taking care to close it behind me again. Elizabeth sat behind the counter, taking cover from potential shots fired into her direction.

“What happened?”, I whispered between the shots.

“The usual.”, she said, almost sounding a little too casual about it.

“So this happens rather often here?”, I asked her.

She didn’t seem to think it would be worth to answer the question.

“How many?”

“Six, but I think one of them isn't going to survive the night.”, she nodded towards the main street.

I carefully raised my head and took a look. From this point of view I could see four bandits, one of them laying on his back, breathing heavily, blood was spread across his dirty shirt somewhere around his stomach area.

“Ah yes doesn’t look good for him. Directly into the stomach. He might be happy if it’s over soon.”, I acknowledged.

Elizabeth looked at me.

“You know medicine?”, she asked.

“No but I know what a fatal wound looks like.”

I took another look at the street.

“Can I ask you for a favor?”

She nodded.

“I’m going to sneak around the town until I took position behind them. I will then shoot their friend over there. Take this as your sign to start shooting at them as well. They won’t see you coming. You should be able to get one or even two of them. Be careful about the recoil.”

“I know how to use a shotgun.”, she replied.

“Well then I at least don’t have to worry about you.”