The Wild Wild West

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Jonathen Andrews heard the gunshot while he was shaving, and nearly cut his own throat as he jumped. And up until then the day had shown such promise too.
"Bandits." he muttered.

Garbing his hat and revolver from the stand in his room he ran out of his house on the main road, mounted his horse and took of at a gallop towards the bank. What he saw when he arrived was a disaster. 5 men were stumbling out of the bank with heavy sacks. One of them had blood on his shirt, obviously the one who had fired the gun. Now he was a murderer as well as a robber. Andrews drew his gun and thumbed back the trigger.

"Now now boys, what do you think you're trying to pull in my town?" He shouted out.

 

When Albert ran out of the saloon, Samantha didn't hesitate much. She followed him, her little doctor bag still in hand, curious to see what was happening outside, and what was all the commotion about.

 

"@#$%! The sheriff!" Johnny swore, trying to balance the sack. He attempted his most charming smile.
"Morning, officer! Fancy seeing you here, heh."
To the sheriff's stoic expression, he continued.
"Look, I didn't want to harm no one! My idea was to get the loot and run out, but Max here," he pointed. "Had to go and...kill someone! Look, why don't you just let us go and we'll call this all a misunderstanding?"

As he talked, Pierce and Charles slowly moved towards him, and Johnny whispered "Hangman's Cave, boys."

Slowly, he reached under his cloak to feel for the stick of dynamite that Charles had given him for emergency situations.

 

Dave Balder was sitting in his office at the Town Hall when he heard the gun shot. Sighing he rose slowly and headed to the window to watch, seeing that the Sheriff was already at the scene. He turned around and walked to the wall and grabbed his rifle. Walking to the door he informed his secretary he would be back soon.

 

"A misunderstanding? Someone is dead, your Max over there is a murderer and you all seem to be attempting to escape with valuable items that 'aint yours."

Andrews raised his revolver and pointed it at the leader

"Now why don't you boys lay down your guns and put your hands above your heads? I don't want anyone else shot in a 'misunderstanding'. "

 

Johnny began to sweat; this was not working at all as intended. He glanced at the blank Max, and then back to the sheriff.
"Look, mate, I didn't kill anyone. As for the money, well, nobody's going to miss it anyway. Anyways, officer, this is just a misunderstanding and DRAW!" - as he shouted, he ducked as low as he can on his saddle, drew his revolver, and fired a few shots off at the horse, alongside Charles, who did the same. Then, Johnny turned the horse around and kicked it into a gallop; fumbling the dynamite from his cloak and trying desperately to find a match. Meanwhile, Pierce had grabbed one of the bags that Johnny had dropped; and rode off following him, while Charles, who had not yet mounted, decided to duck back into the bank, whereupon he grabbed another hostage and called "Come in and I'll shoot!".

 

At the sight of Max standout outside the bank, covered in blood, Albert had dashed back into the saloon. He was searching underneath a floorboard behind the bar, desperately feeling around in the darkness. Cursing loudly, he pulled a thick woolen sack out from the hole, and dumped it on the floor. Ripping it open, Albert stopped for a second to admire the gun he was looking at. He saw it often - He'd check it every couple of days, but the sight of it always made him smile. A shotgun, given to him all those years ago. He was snapped back to the present day by 3 gunshots from outside. Cursing again, he loaded the gun and stepped outside.

 

Dave walked calmly out of the Town Hall to see the bandits galloping away from the bank with bags of money. He raised his rifle and and fired at the horses they were riding.

 

Andrews horse went down with a bullet in the leg, throwing him off the saddle into the street. Cursing he scrambled to his feat and saw several of the bandits riding off. He fired off a few shots at them but maybe some hit maybe they didn't. Realising it was hopeless at this range he turned to the sound of the rifle fire.
"Mayor looks like there's one or two of 'em left in the bank and the ones that got away will either be heading for the train yard or the the desert. Can you cancel the train leaving today until we can search it?"
Not waiting for an answer he turned to the bank and started slowly walking towards it.
"Whoever is in there you've got three minuets to give yourselves up otherwise this ends badly for you. Only one door in that bank, with the windows to high to jump from. And the longer you take the more pissed of I'll be."

 

Spinning the long way round his bar stool, while grabbing his hat, made for the door. Will stopped just outside the saloon door, placing his hat back on his head and running his right hand across the edge of the brim of his hat for added effect. Realizing where the shots had come from, Will quickly made his way towards the bank.

 

"Oh crap, oh crap, dammit!" Charles muttered frantically as he ran to the back rooms of the bank, seeking desperately a better weapon than his piddly revolver. Finding nothing, he ran back to the front.
"Yeah, good luck with that, bastard!" he called out to the sheriff in reply, and tightened his grip on his hostage. Footsteps came from behind him, and before he could turn around, something heavy smacked him on the head and he fell over, unconcious.

*

"Argh!" a stray bullet from the mayor's blast tore into Johnny's arm. Instinctively, he raised his gun in retaliation, but the surging pain made him drop it. Grunting, he kicked the horse, and, with a sigh of relief noticed the train station on the horizon. The train tooted; it was leaving the station.
"Hurry, Pierce, hurry!" he yelled, as he turned his horse and aimed it towards the train, slowly moving away.
"Right, boss!"

 

Dave, seeing the bandits ridding off, quickly ran inside and grabbed the phone handset from his secretary's desk. One quick dialling later and he was talking to the station master.

"Fred, quick, you HAVE to stop the train, bandits are making off with money from the bank. We CANNOT let them escape!"

He slammed the handset down and ran back outside to his horse.

 

The shots took Samantha by surprise. She saw the commotion at the bank, men firing pistols, a horse collapsing...

Having enough common sense not to get in a middle of a fire fight, she waited on the street for Albert to come back, taking just a few steps forward towards the scene.

In her mind, she was mulling over her doctor supplies, wondering if she had something to help the poor horse... whose low cries made her skin crawl.

She hoped no people were injured.

 

Gabe Ortega glanced out the window of the train as it began to screech into momentum. He'd heard the gunshots like just about everyone else in town, but he hadn't scrabbled around like the other passengers looking to see what was going on. He knew full well what was happening and waited to see if his part in the robbery would be needed.

As he saw the station master rush past his window, he slipped out of his seat, walking swiftly toward the door. As soon as he was out he was running, pulling the bandana from his neck over his face as he moved toward the front of the engine. He reached it just as the station master had explained the situation. The driver was already heading for the brake when Gabe's revolver cracked off of the side of the station master's head. Gabe stepped over the station master's slumped body and cocked the revolver, which now pointed straight at the driver's nose.

"Best keep it running. I'd prefer it to be moving when the last of the passengers arrive."

 

Biting his teeth town in a manly attempt to ignore the pain, Johnny and Pierce rode up alongside the train with some difficulty.
"Gabe!" he yelled, as he rode past several windows, earning the annoyed gazes of several horrified looking aristorcrats "Gabe, dammit! Please tell me you're there!"

 

Gabe watched as the two remaining gang members rode alongside the train, beating their horses wildly to keep pace. He smiled to himself - there was more loot to be had. Another of Johnny's fool proof plans had turned out to be slightly less than flawless and that meant fewer hands in the pocket.

Gabe could barely hear Johnny shouting his name over the racket of the train but he just made it out. Another grin came over his face as he thought of what Johnny's face would look like if he accellerated. The urge was gone as soon as he thought of the loot. "Ah've always wanted t' do dis." Gabe said as he reached for the wire that controlled the whistle. He hauled it three times letting the last one go on a little longer than neccessary. "Hell yeah." He whispered before heading to the side of the engine. "Johnny!" Gabe shouted, "Johnny - haul ass!" Gabe turned back to the driver, keeping the revolver trained on him. "Ease it a little an' keep dis ol' lady steady."

 

Dave reached the station in time to see the train still powering on, and the Station Masters corpse covered in dust at the side of the track.

"Damn it, he was a good man!" Shouted Dave at the bandits ridding off after the train.

Sighing, Dave turned round and headed back to the bank.

 

The horses under them panted furiously, struggling to keep up the pace under the combined weight of loot and bandit.
"Johnny - haul ass!" he heard the call, and gave the horse one final kick. It gave a final boost of speed, and allowed them to become parallel to Gabe, looking out the window.
"Pierce! Loot!" he called.
"Righto, boss!" Pierce passed the bag to Johnny, who gripped it with both his hands and heaved it towards the train cab. It landed with a heavy thump near the driver's feet. With a few quick steps Gabe secured it, and kicked it to a safe corner behind him.
"Alright, here, I'm gonna do this thing!" Johnny yelled, and manouvered the horse as close to the train as he could. Leaning out his right arm, he grabbed a protuding pipe, near the doorway. As he gripped it, the horse slipped from under him, and the bullet wound sent a wave of pain through his arm - he reached out his left, grabbed the pipe, and managed to find a slippery foothold. He couldn't hold on for long. Dangling perilously, his palm growing slippery with sweat, he cried "Gabe! Help!"

 

No one ever called Samantha patient.

Even before Albert reappeared on the Saloon doors, she had given up on waiting and started pacing towards the bank.

The sheriff was pointing his gun at the door, but the fighting seemed over.

Sam looked around. Despite all the shooting, not a single person on the street appeared injured. There was blood, though. Small droplets in the dust.

"Is anyone injured?"

----------------------------------------

In the bank, Preston looked at the lifeless body of his partner in crime, then dropped the goldbar he used to knock the man out.

"Charles, you idiot. Of all the places, you had to lead me to a mousetrap." he muttered, half to himself.

Leaving the bag with the loot on the floor, he walked to the back of the bank. Maybe this mousetrap had a fault after all.

"Hope is the last to die." - he laughed to himself.

 

Gabe glanced back at the loot and then at Johnny after he heard the shout. He could let him slip - then he'd only have to share the loot with Pierce. Then again, they'd already lost two men and if there was a chase, they'd need all the help they could get. "Aw, hell," Gabe swore as he reached his hand over the side to haul Johnny heavily up to safety, "You 'n better 'member dis, Johnny!" Gabe turned to Pierce as he sprung from his saddle to bang against the cab, chipping a tooth in the process. "Dis train jumpin' business must be harder 'n it look."