Edge: Ten Grand

Edge leapt to his feet, going into a turn to bring him to face the door, saw Ramon and Manuel looking down at the screaming girl.  The younger man’s gun had followed the direction of his eyes so Edge shot Manuel first, the bullet entering his throat, gushing a fountain of bright red blood down upon the girl.  Ramon squeezed the trigger of his revolver as a reflex action to the explosion of Edge’s gun.  His shot ended the scream of Maria by blasting away her jaw and as Ramon snapped up the Tranter and his eyes Edge’s Colt spoke again. The bullet caught the handsome young man squarely between the eyes and a curtain of blood bathed his face as he fell with his uncle across the writhing body of the naked girl.  The lamp fell from his lifeless fingers and sprayed the three of them with oil which immediately burst into flames. The screams and shouts which accompanied the thud of footfalls along the corridor were suddenly drowned by the shriek of utter horror and agonized pain as flames enveloped the flesh of the injured girl. 

Edge looked down into the hole, the leaping flames providing ample light for him to see the contents of the rotted box. There was a gaping hole in one side and there was a sole five dollar bill left intact to show the fortune it had once held.  For the remainder had been reduced to chewed-up shreds of white and green, lining the box to provide a soft nest for six tiny white rats which cowered from the light while their ugly black mother stared upwards with blinded eyes and bared teeth. 

“You dirty rats,” Edge snarled and emptied his revolver into the nest, hurled the exhausted weapon in after the shells.

Shouts from the blazing doorway drew Edge’s attention and he unholstered the other Colt, fired in a rage through the leaping flames, heard a scream and saw the fat madam tumble into the room, blood spouting from her stomach, her clothes burning ferociously. He ignored her pleas for aid and turned to the boarded-up window, kicked once to shatter the glass, three times more to rip away the boards. Then he dived through the opening head first, leapt into the saddle of the white stallion and leaned forward to unhitch the reins.

He galloped fast towards the south, then swung west, finally north to take him in a wide sweep around the town.  It was easy to keep track of his direction for he was able to take as his bearing the leaping flames of the El Serpiente bordello as the fire took hold of the entire building.  He cast one final look over his shoulder, then heeled his mount into an even faster gallop northwards.

“Guess there’s some real hot whores in the old town tonight,” he muttered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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