The momentum of Cassidy's swing threw her backwards onto the base of the platform. She rolled off her back and flipped her hair out of her face, seeing the mortified faces of the crowd.
She heaved and coughed, the dry air filling her lungs. Her bound hands rubbed at her throat as she said, "Hey, you got two out of three, that's gotta count for something, right?"
The town marshals were already running through the crowd of people, their trademark black cowboy hats poked out from the crowd like sand sharks trailing a fresh kill.
Cass kicked the rickety backboard of the gallows, and it fell with a woody thud as she crashed on top of it.
Her legs were already going as soon as she hit the ground, and she ran into the shop nearest the gallows. Bullets rang out as she dove into the shop's ornate double saloon doors.
Cass's eyes darted around, and every muscle in her body was taut as she stood. Gun still at the ready, she looked around at the store she was in. Little glass-blown knick-knacks adorned the counters and walls, and each had a price next to it.
There was an older woman at the counter who had nearly jumped out of her skin when Cass barreled through the door, but now stood motionless. The woman's hands were under the counter, moving slowly as if reaching for something.
"Hands where I can see 'em, less you want a third eyehole in the center of your forehead!" Cass yelled, gun aimed straight for her forehead as promised.
"I-i don't want no trouble, missy i-" A bullet blasted through the window to Cass's left, and she ducked to shield from the glass. As if on cue, the old woman grabbed the shotgun under her counter and hesitantly aimed it at Cass.
Before the old woman could blast her to hell, Cass was already halfway through saying, "I really didn't want to shoot you!" In an instant, Truth~Teller blasted a shot right between the woman's eyes, painting the wall behind her, and she fell to the floor with a sickening slam.
Five shots rang through the front doorway in response to Cass's blast. The wood of the doors shattered and splintered as she dove over the wooden shop counter.
Her heart was beating out of her chest, and her lungs were working overtime as she tried to catch her breath. She looked over at the still-warm corpse of the woman that was leaking blood and brain matter onto the floor.
'Dammit, I needed to ask her where the nearest bar was.' She cursed to herself.
She held her gun in both hands across her chest as she tried to steady her breath. A gruff voice, the town marshal called out from just beyond the doorway.
"Miss, you best surrender and come out quietly now". The mere idea of her giving up her weapon was so utterly ludicrous to her that a slight grin tugged at her lips. She looked down at her wrist where her brand sat.
The reddish-orange mix of crossing lines would sometimes call to her in moments like this. Almost like a soft whisper in the back of her mind when her nerves were running high.
This time, however, it sat quietly as a mouse.
She spat on the floor and replied to the marshal, "Any chance of lil ol' me getting a fair trial?" Her words hung in the air as still as the corpse lay out beside her.
"Tell you what, you come out with your back to the door and your hands up and I'll see what I can do."
She shook her head and let out a sigh at the obvious lie. She knew there were only two ways she was leaving this store.
Either gunning down everyone in her way, or on a corpse cart with her head blown through.
Sweat beaded down her brow as she contemplated the marshal's deal. She knew walking to that doorway would be the last thing she'd do. She quickly looked deeper into the shop's rickety brown interior for anything that could help her.
She stumbled past the body of the old woman and peeked around the corner behind the counter. There she found a dusty window decorated with knick-knacks.
"Alright, missy, the good people of Silver Creek would like to go about their day, as would I". She looked behind her, gun already raised.
"I'm gonna give ya till the count of five to come out peacefully, or we're coming in by force". She unsummoned her pistol and rushed to the window, trying and failing to budge it open.
"One!"
'Damn thing looks like it ain't been opened in decades, ' She thought. She tried to see through the discolored and dust-coated window.
"Two!"
Even with her half-fae eyes, she could barely make out the image of a few valley snakes tied to a post outside the bar on the shop's right. She smiled a wicked grin at the sight of them.
"Three!"
'If I can just get onto one of those-' She thought.
"Four!"
She summoned Truth~Teller into her right palm, lifted it to the glass. She steadied herself, calmed her nerves, and said, "That marshal is lying about giving me a trial".
"Five!
As the truth left her lips, her gun sprang to life. Blasting a shot so powerful right through the window that her hand hurt. Shattered glass sliced her shoulder as she jumped through the window and ran towards the snakes.
There were three of them tied to a large wooden post, and she jumped atop the largest one in the middle. Its white and yellow speckled coat of scales had called to her. She figured its albino coat had made him an outcast just like her, and that it wouldn't miss its old master.
Some valley snakes were picky about their riders and were loyal to their owners. Luckily for Cass, this snake held no such loyalty. The large herbivorous snake bucked its head as she untied its reins.
The snake didn't seem to be in a rush to get going, its jaw unhinged in a feral yawn. Cass's eyes flicked up to the open window.
The sound of boots marching through the shop trailed to the shattered glass of the window.
She hopped on the snake, into the black saddle atop it, and cracked its reins. It responded with a loud hiss, and it coiled in preparation to launch into a slither.
A gruff voice yelled out from the shop window, "There she is!" Accompanied by the metallic sound of a revolver's hammer cocking back.
Before she could raise her own in response, the snake launched off from the post down the dusty dirt road. She heaved at the reins, trying to direct the snake in the direction of her and Heath's hideout outside the town's border.
The snake cut through the town's alleys and sidewinded through the streets. The beast seemed to be trying to find its way out of the city with no regard to her direction. eventually they made it to the edge of town, the gallows, and marshals far behind them. The snakes nerves calmed as it gave in to its rider's demands, and she rode the snake out of town in the direction of her and Heath's hideout.
Back in the center of town, a silver haired man in a black marshal's outfit sat outside one of the bars closest to the gallows. While the entire incident unfolded, he never once took his eyes off the noose where she hung.
He paid no mind to the minor scuffle or the unhappy crowd. He just sat there and nursed his whisky till the brand on his wrist burned a bright red. He flipped over his wrist, and a display popped up in front of his face.
[Cassidy Valthane: +500 Bounty Points. Total Bounty: 300,550 Points]
The man lowered his wrist, and the display followed. His eyes were now placed on the saloon that sat across the dirt road. Heath had just stumbled through the doors and squinted over at the gallows. Upon seeing one of the nooses empty, he quickly went from drunk to drunk and panicked.
Heath gathered up the few things he had at the bar and walked back outside to leave. The black hatted man leaned back in his chair and finished his whisky in one greedy gulp. He raised his wrist again.
[Heath Callahan: +100 Bounty Points. Total Bounty: 4,500 Points]
The man put a few bills under his cup to pay for his drink and stood up, his eyes trailing Heath's lumbering figure.
"Looks like the hunt's still on after all..."