6.2
An old west tale... in space.
That’s right, Billy, he’d been playing cards with him a moment ago, before the shooting and the dying.
The CE, it was right there, get your legs moving.
They moved, sluggishly, but they moved.
Sheriff Hardback was taking Hemingway’s gun from him. It was expensive, clean, he could see its shine from here.
The Sheriff slowly slapped handcuffs on him, speaking into his ear the whole time.
Handcuffs on Doc Hemingway? Not on the man Anderson had known.
He found himself in front of the CE, heard the roar as it turned on, saw himself get on, felt its bounce as it adjusted to his weight.
Hemingway and the Sheriff passed in front of him. Hemingway looked him right in the eye.
“Oscar.”
He turned away from those eyes, explosions enveloped his Mek, the Imperium kept coming and Doc kept killing them.
He saw the Colonel, heard him yelling at him through his viewcom.
“Stay with me, Anderson!!! I’ve got you soldier, stay with me!!!”
Doc and the Beast kept killing, they never looked back.
He pulled back on the handle and the CE took off. Doc Hemingway vanished behind him. He kept gunning it until Cadaveras itself fell way behind him.
The red hills that surrounded the town met him, surrounded him. Dawn Bugs buzzed away from him. He almost hit a pack of Skitters. They screeched furiously at him as he flew past them.
Did he remember his rifle?