Stand and Fight

No. Texas didn’t have it in her to run. Not here, not now. She was the Sheriff, dammit, and if she was made to scarper by a bunch of no-good, law-breaking, bath-refusing bandits then what kind of pillar of authority was she? Texas didn’t need backup, nor did she even really need a plan. All she required was her trusty six-shooter, and a good line of sight.

Of course, getting those together would be the hard part. The moment Texas began to raise herself from behind her impromptu cover, there was a hail of gunfire and a whizz that sailed so close to her ear that her hat span a full circle on her head.

“C’mon Texas,” came the grunting mockery of Jane, although Texas had to concede that without eyes on the pig it could quite easily have been Jesse. “You just gonna hide over there all day? It ain’t much sporting of you.”

“Yeah, get on out here, Sheriff!” came the cry of what was probably Jesse but might well have been Jane. “My ass is feeling awfully itchy and I could do with a good scratching post!”

Texas’ stomach turned at the hideous threat. The two pigs easily outsized Texas three times over, and most of that mass ended up in their huge asses. Defeat was not about to be an option, Texas could swear that.

Rather than fight for an opportunity, Texas decided that she would create one herself. She strained her ears, listening for the sound of bullets being clicked into rifles and the shuffling of feet on the fine pine flooring. She let her instincts take over and fired her gun at the lamp hanging on the wall.

PING!

The bullet hit the metal at just the angle that she had been hoping. There was a whine, like a cat in the night, and the impact of the bullet ricocheting in exactly the direction she had hoped. It all culminated as a cry of alarm as the bullet careened into the stock of a bandit’s rifle and knocked it from their hands.

Which was exactly the opportunity that Texas had been hoping for.

She threw herself from the counter, so fast the other bandits weren’t done staring at their comrades sudden disarmament. Quicker than the bullet she had fired, Texas analysed the situation. Eight bandits in total, including the one she’d disarmed. Five bullets in her revolver. No more than a single heartbeat left to make a snap decision. She raised her gun and readied to fire, sure that she would make the right choices here and now.