Redemption

Prologue

The saloon door was kicked open. All heads inside the saloon quickly turned their heads to the entrance to see two men wielding rifles, scanning the room for their prey. The whole place went quiet. There was an eerie silence, as the men's boot's hit the floor. The out of rhythm clunks' of their boots hit the floor as they walked slowly into the establishment.

Stanley held his breath, not daring to make a sound. He knew who they were after. He knew what they craved and desired to kill. Him. Making one move would easily be heard around the place, due to the heavy silence.

"We know you're in here, Stanley!" exclaimed one of them. "Come out and show yourself. Let's do this like men!"

Stanley wasn't just afraid of them spotting him, he was also afraid of people pointing him out. He knew he stood no chance against these guys. Most of the people in the establishment knew Stanley because of the infamous deeds he committed in the past. The majority of the people inside the establishment hated him and boy, did he know it.

"I said come out!" screamed the first man, with a what could be described as an 'insane' look on his face. He shot his rifle into the air and almost immediately after there were screams.

Stanley knew he had no choice but to step out and face them. "Alright, you got me." said Stanley, stepping out into the middle of the establishment.

"I thought you'd never come out." said the second man, grinning.

"So, what are you going to do with a poor fellow like me?" Stanley asked, knowing the answer.

The men both grinned. "We're going to kill you Stanley, and do you know why?" said the first man, lighting up a Cuban cigar.

Stanley shook his head. "Nope" he lied.

"Think, Stanley, think. What could we possibly be after you for?" he said, blowing the smoke from his cigar.

"This?" Stanley said, pulling out his revolver. He aimed the revolver over at the men. Stanley switched the aim from one of them to the other. "Don't move."

"Holy ****!" shouted the first man, obviously not expecting this. "Fine. You wanna' play rough? Then lets do this!"

The men began to fire over in Stanley's direction, the bullets hitting the wall behind him, narrowly missing Stanley's head. Stanley made a run for it. He was expecting a showdown but obviously the men didn't have the patience. Stanley shot a few bullets back at the men, giving him time to escape. He then stepped into the back room. Finding the key already in the keyhole, he locked the door. Phew, that was close, thought Stanley. He then turned away from the door to find a table full of men, halfway through a poker game. They all glared at him with anger for interupting their game.

"Heh, Heh...Wrong time, wrong place, huh?" said Stanley nervously.

There was a thump at the door, which reminded him he needed to be on his way. Stanley quickly jogged past the men, bumping the table slightly making the cards in the middle of the table disperse. He didn't notice bumping the table, because as he attempted to climb out the window, he was grabbed and pulled back.

"What the heck?" said Stanley, shocked to see one of the men from the poker table assaulting him.

"You messed my lucky cards up, prick." he said in a deep voice, which seemed to intimidate Stanley.

The man swung a punch at Stanley but he cleverly ducked under it. The banging at the door was still echoing through the small room. Now, not only did Stanley have the men with guns after him, now he had a group full of poker-addicts. Stanley pushed the man off him, stepping back away to the wall. He attempted again to climb out the window, this time he did it faster. A hand did grab hold of him, but he managed to slam the window down onto it.

All he had to do now was escape the town. He looked back at the room, seeing there was nobody in there anymore, he guessed that they were coming after him. He guessed correctly. Stanley sprinted over to a random horse nearby, pulling himself up onto the Mustang's back, and digging his heels into the side of the horse, sending him and the horse galloping away into the distance.

He looked back and stuck up his middle finger, grinning.

"Yee-ha!" he exclaimed with joy. He rode off into the distance, hoping never to return to that wretched town again.