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Colt the Armadillo
Issue #6
by Tom Zjaba
With the threat of the Eliminator gone, life in the old west slowly returns to
normal. Or as normal as can be expected. The people return to the town and
prepare for burial of the dead. And while this is going on, Colt and Peggy Sue
are staying at the local tavern. They are staying in separate rooms, something
that Peggy Sue insisted on. While Colt has tried to capture her heart and has
told her how they are responsible for the armadillo race, Peggy Sue has been
anything but receptive. One morning Colt wakes up to find Peggy Sue's room
empty. He looks around the room and notices that everything is gone. Nothing is
left in the room, except for a note that is sitting on the bed. As Colt picks up
the note, it reads "Dear Colt, I am truly thankful for all you have done for me.
I do appreciate how you saved my life and gave me my freedom. But I have been a
prisoner most of my life. I have never had a chance to be free. I want to take
this opportunity to see the world and to live. Please do not come looking for
me. I will find you when I am ready. Love, Peggy Sue." Colt is stunned by the
letter. He knew she was acting strange, but he figured it was just the shock of
all the events that have transpired. He completely forgot how she was locked in
a cage when he found her. He remembers how he fought for her freedom. His
feelings of shock quickly turn to pity. He is not upset with her for leaving, he
is more upset with himself for not being more understanding.
Deciding it was best if he let her go and find herself, Colt also figures it is
a good chance for him to explore more of the old west. He has spent too much
time in a small area. He has longed to go to California and figures this is a
good time to go. So he begins to pack up his belongings and heads down to
unhitch Algebra and head further west. As he unties Algebra, some local
townsfolk's come over and start talking with Colt. "Where you headed Colt?" an
older gentlemen asks. Colt climbs aboard Algebra and says "Time for me to head
out. I am thinking of visiting California." A young lady smiles at him and gives
him a basket with food as she says "We will miss you. Please be careful." Colt
tips his hat to her and rides off through the town. He heads out into the
wilderness with Algebra and a few days supplies. The townsfolk's were giving him
everything he wanted in thanks for stopping the Eliminator, but without Peggy
Sue it just wasn't the same. Part of him wants to go looking for her and talk
with her. But the other part realizes the worst thing he could do was go after
her. While he does fear for her safety, he has to let her go. He rides off into
the hills and heads west.
It is a dark night in the hills and Colt is sitting by the fire. He is cooking a
quail that he shot and thinking. He forgot how relaxing it was to just sit by a
fire and cook some food. He looks up at the stars overhead and smiles at the sky
full of twinkling stars. He listens to the sounds of the night. He hears a
coyote howling in the distance. After all the stuff he has been through, it is
nice to just relax by a crackling fire on a chilly night. As he sits there, he
hears the sound of footsteps. They are faint at first, but get stronger as they
get closer. He reaches for his pistol and aims it into the darkness. After a few
seconds, a man steps out of the darkness. He is a tall man with a cowboy hat
pulled over one eye. He is packing some pistols and has an unlit cigarette in
his mouth. "Mind if I sit by the fire and warm these bones?" he says in slow
almost menacing voice. "Sure, take a seat." Colt says. He then says "The name's
Colt, what's yours?" The man pulls out a flask and takes a small swig. He then
puts the cigarette near the fire and lights it. He takes a deep puff of the
cigarette and blows the smoke out the side of his mouth. "Don't have a name." he
says as he takes another drag from the cigarette. "What do people call you?"
Colt asks with a skeptical look on his face. "They call me the Man With No
Name." Colt turns over his quail and starts cooking the other side. "What did
you mom call you?" He looks up at Colt and says "She didn't." Colt gives him a
strange look as he says "Ok. So what brings you out here, mister nobody?" Mister
Nobody spits into the fire as he says "I am hunting some outlaws." Colt pulls
his quail out of the fire and blows on it to cool it off. "So you're a bounty
hunter? We have something in common." Mister Nobody looks at him and says "We
both bring the law to a lawless land." Colt gives him another odd look. "That's
one way to look at it." Colt then takes a bite out of his quail.
The next day, Colt is saddling up Algebra as Mister Nobody watches. As Colt
climbs aboard Algebra, Mister Nobody speaks up "Which way ya headed?" he says as
he pulls his hat down to hide his eyes. "I'm headed west to California." Colt
says. "Mind some company?" Mr. Nobody asks. Colt laughs and says "You will have
a hard time keeping up with me on foot." Mr. Nobody then whistles real loud. In
a few seconds, the sound of hooves can be heard. Soon, a horse runs up to him
and stops. He climbs aboard it and says "Let's go." Colt just shakes his head.
As the ride over the plains, they see a herd of buffalo moving past them. There
are a few dozen buffalo in the herd. The buffalo are nervous like something is
spooking them. "Wonder what is spooking the buffalo?" he says out loud, not
really expecting an answer. "Probably those bandits over there." Mr. Nobody
says. "Bandits? What bandits?" Colt says with an alarmed sound in his voice. Mr.
Nobody points to the hill as they see a group of men riding over the hill. As
they see Colt and Mr. Nobody, they start shooting their guns. The buffalo get
spooked and start to run off. Colt rides Algebra off to the side, to get away
from the stampeding buffalo. He sees a tree and heads towards it. He knows the
buffalo won't run into a tree and he should be pretty safe behind it. Mr. Nobody
on the other hand, rides towards the bandits. He goes right through the herd,
dodging the buffalo. Once he is past them, he starts shooting at the bandits and
after hitting a few of them, the rest ride off. He chases them to the top of the
hill before he stops and lets them ride off. Once he is sure they are gone, he
rides back down towards Colt, who is now coming over. The buffalo are gone and
it is safe to come back out. "Are you nuts?" Colt says to Mr. Nobody. "The law
must be upheld." is all that he says. "But you could have been killed." Colt
says to Mr. Nobody who is obviously nuts. "I have the power of justice on my
side and nothing can stop me." he says as he puts his guns away. Before he does,
Colt notices his guns have white handles on them. This is a color that Colt is
not used to seeing on the handles of a gun. They are usually black or brown. But
everything else is odd on the man, so he does not question it.
The next day they rode into a small town. There were a dozen people walking
around the street and really did not pay any attention to them as they rode by.
Colt saw the local saloon and headed over there. Mr. Nobody followed him. They
both watered their horses and then tied them up outside the saloon. As Colt
walked in, he saw a group of men playing cards in the corner, a few men at the
bar and a few women of ill repute talking to the men. Colt walked over to the
bar and sat down. Mr. Nobody followed him and also sat down. Colt motioned for
the bartender to come over. "What can I get you?" he asked as he was wiping off
a glass. "Give me a shot of your best whiskey." Colt says as he makes eye
contact with the bartender. He then looks over at Mr. Nobody and asks him "How
about you?" Mr. Nobody gives him a stare and says "I will have the same." The
bartender grabs a bottle of the shelf and pours two shots for the guys. Colt
throws some money on the bar and says "Keep them coming." He then swallows it in
one shot and puts the glass back down. Mr. Nobody does the same. The bartender
pours each of them another shot. Colt does the same thing and once again Mr.
Nobody follows suit. Colt then waits for one more shot and takes it over to the
poker table. The men move over and make a seat for him. Mr. Nobody gets his
glass of whiskey and slowly follows Colt. Not being a drinker, he is feeling the
effects and tries not to show it. He plops down at a table next to them and
watches. Colt then swallows the last shot and prepares to play. While he is not
a big drinker, he found a few shots loosened him up and made him a better poker
player or so he thought. The cards were dealt and the poker began. After an hour
of playing, Colt found himself on the losing end. He was not losing badly but he
was not getting the breaks he expected. But little did he know that Mr. Nobody
was watching and noticed one of the men cheating. So when the guy went to pull a
card out of his shirt, he noticed it and pulled out his gun and shot the man in
the hand. Everyone jumped and started to run. The man screamed out from pain.
Colt looked at Mr. Nobody and said "What's wrong with you?" He smiled and said
"The man was cheating. I had to right the wrong." Colt gathered up his money and
started to make a beeline out of the saloon. As before, Mr. Nobody followed him.
Colt quickly turned around and said "Quit following me. I don't want to be
anywhere near you when the posse comes." He stopped and had a stunned look on
his face. He did not know what to do as he watched Colt get on Algebra and ride
off. Should he go after him or stay here? Before he had time to figure it out,
the sheriff and a group of men came around the corner. "There he is. The man
that shot Clem." He turned to see the gang of men walking towards him with their
guns out. He knew he had to get out of here. So he jumped on his horse and rode
out of town, dodging the bullets which were flying at him. One of them put a
hole in his hat. Luckily they were not on horseback, so he was able to quickly
lose them.
That night, Colt was once again by a fire. This time he was cooking a rabbit. As
he sat there and cooked it, a person moved towards the fire. This time he pulled
out his gun and aimed it at the person. Out of the darkness came Mr. Nobody with
his hands raised. "May I warm myself by your fire?" he said as he slowly walked
closer. "No, now get out of here before you lead that posse over here." Colt
says as he aims the gun right at his head. "I lost them back in town." he said
with a smile on his face. "And did you cover your tracks?" Colt asks even if he
knows the answer. "Well, no." he said with the smug smile now wiped off his
face. "Then trust me, you didn't lose them." he said as he now stood up. "Go
ahead and enjoy the fire. I will go and cover your tracks for you." Colt says as
he packs up his stuff and puts it on Algebra. "Bring some more wood for the fire
too." Mr. Nobody says as Colt rides away. As he continues cooking the rabbit, he
thinks to himself "I think he went the wrong way to cover my tracks. I will let
him know when he comes back.
A few hours later, he is still sitting by the fire. It is burning down and he is
huddled up. He is thinking to himself "Sure taking a long time to cover my
tracks." Then he hears the sound of horses and jumps up. He looks to see Colt
coming to the fire. But instead of Colt, he sees a bunch of men on horseback
riding at him. It does not take long to realize they are the men from the town
and they are coming for him. Before he can get on his horse, one of the men
shoot his gun towards his horse. The horse gets scared and runs off. He tries to
run but they soon overcome him and knock him to the ground. They then jump down
and tie him up as he screams "You cannot stop the law." But they soon have him
tied and gagged and take him away to town. As they are heading away from the
fire, they come across Colt who is waiting for them. One of them hands him a bag
with some money and says "Thanks for leading us to him. Here's your reward."
Colt takes the money and rides away. The man gives Colt a mean look as he is
being carted off. Colt smiles as he rides away. He figures he will never see the
lunatic again.
The next day in town, they have the guy in jail. He is sitting there thinking to
himself how he is going to get even with Colt. He begins to devise a plan to
escape and hunt down Colt. That night while everyone is sleeping, he reaches
down into his boot and pulls out a small tool. He then uses it to pick the lock
on the jail door and slowly walks out of the cell. He then goes over and gets
his white guns and holster out of desk drawer where the sheriff left them. He
holds the gun up and smiles at the it. On the white handle is the words "The
Law." He looks at the gun and says in a slow and menacing voice "Time to take
the law into my own hands." He then laughs as he walks out of the prison.
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