Gunfighter of Remnant

Chapter XIX

Emerald's POV:

I didn't look back as I walked down the street where I saw Mercury standing out on the front porch of an old hotel here in town. "What took you so long?" I glared at him and replied, "Creepy ass old man kept me." "You got scared from an old man?" He asked smirking. I stopped at the front door and turned to face him. "Coming from the retard that had a gun pointed at him in less than 20 minutes after entering this desolate town!" His smirk dropped which made me smile as we went in. "You're paying for the rooms." I mentioned walking towards the pictures hanging on the wall. "Why me!?" I didn't look at him staring at another portrait showing seven dead men sitting in open coffins with the a similar figure in the back walking away from the place where the picture was taken holding several bags before i responded, "I pad a hundred lien to save your sorry, metallic ass. You pay!" He ranged the bell which brought out an old woman with a wooden pipe between her lips before pulling it out and asked, "Whatcha need mister?" She asked hoarsely. "We need two rooms please." She nodded and grabbed two keys behind her and handed them to him saying, "Eighty lien son." He pulled his wallet out and handed her the cash before walking away. I walked the opposite way and asked the woman, "Do you know who that man in that picture there is?" I asked pointing to tone with the seven dead men in open coffins. She took a step out from behind the front desk and squinted at it before looking at me. "Can't tell you much really. That man there is the one responsible for the lack of criminals in this town." "Lack of?" Mercury interjected. "Yep! He came in one day and left a week later leaving behind twenty or so bodies from a small gang here. "That's not much." I looked at Mercury and mouthed to him to shut the hell up before the lady continued. "That picture in your hand was the last person he caught missy." "Hmm?" I replied looking back her. She gently took my picture and pointed to a old wooden post sticking out at the center of the intersection in town's main road. "He hung him right there nearly thirty years ago. No crime had ever been committed since minus the local bar fights." She handed me the picture and walked back into her room she left before I took my key from Mercury and went up stairs. "What's gotten you all stir crazy?" I looked at Mercury in front of my room and said, "Are you always this damn annoying? One of us is actually trying to do our job thank you very much. Good night!" I slammed my door and sat in my new bed and stared at the picture wondering why no one here knows this guy's name. "What did you do to keep your name a secret?" I asked myself before going to bed. The next morning as I got up I took note of the room I was sleeping in. It's window overlooked the main road where the last man was hanged. Upon closer inspection I saw some holes that were barely covered and took notice of their angle of approach, they were bullet holes. I looked at them all and concluded they came from the window and went back to looking out it. I could almost visualize what might have happened here, someone was hiding in here while someone from down there, by the bar took some shots up here. Who though? The gunfighter? Another gunman? I kept asking myself until someone interrupted my thoughts by knocking on the door. I opened it to see a horrid sight in front of me, Mercury. "What's up?" He asked. "Come here." He followed me in and I pointed out all the bullet holes littering the walls near the window. "Your point?" I stared at him in disbelief. "What do you mean my point!? You're telling me that this doesn't show that something happened in this town like the lady said!?" He chuckled and replied, "I think that old man scared the living shit out of you." He kept laughing which made me hit him right smack on the back of his and stormed off to go outside. Once I got out front I noticed something, the streets were still empty. "Where is everyone?" I asked to myself. "Where's who?" Mercury asked coming up behind me. I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose and pointed to the empty street. "Where's everyone Mercury? The kids? Other people in general? There's no one here!" I was about to lose it until Mercury said, "You have a point there." He looked around as he walked into the street and came to the same conclusion as me. Why isn't there anyone around? It's a weekend for crying out loud! We both focused our attention when we heard someone walk into the bar from last night. "Someone has to know something here." Mercury pointed out which got me agreeing with him sadly. We both started to make our way to the bar while looking at the town. No one outside, no one walking around, no one smoking anywhere. What did we stumble into? As we came to the bar's entrance we heard several voices talking in there and I stopped to look at Mercury. "So who's in the bar?" He shrugged and cautiously started to walk over to the front deck surrounding the face of the building. I followed behind him with my hands near my guns behind me as we moved up there. We both froze when the chattering stopped and both mercury and I peeked in. "You gonna draw them guns lady or have a seat?" I froze when they asked me, ignoring Mercury all together. "Wha-" "The man from yesterday turned around in his in front of the bar and stared right at me. As I looked at all the other people sitting in the place, I noticed all their guns, they were all old revolvers similar to the gunfighter's. "I have a question I want to ask." I said trying to keep them from shooting Mercury and I from getting riddled with bullets. "Shoot." He replied. "Who are you people? There's not a single person roaming around, no kids, no random civilians, nothing!" He chuckled while everyone started to laugh at me, getting me really pissed. Mercury finally spoke up and said, "You old fuckers listen now! We just want some answers and we're not leaving until you cough it up! Where is everyone in this town and who is this damn gunfighter?" Everyone stopped laughing and stared straight at him with their hands under a paper, hidden away under their coats, under the table, I knew right there from stories I've read that they had guns cocked and ready to unload. "You wanna know why there's no one here?" We both turned to a man standing behind us with a pair of cards in his hat, arms crossed over his chest as he stood there.