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 Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:07 pm
Post-Apoc AU 5/10; In Which Harland duels to the death, again.
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:19 pm
A dustweed rolled across the empty town. Harland Leander Belle had his hands poised over invisible pistols. He faced a woman in a leather coat, her hands similarly posed.
There was a long pause, a long, stressful pause. Finally, he started to laugh.
"Just kiddin', Deputee," Harland said, striding towards her and holding a hand out to shake hers in greeting. The woman didn't move, she spat into the dust and grimaced at him, then drew on him.
He held up his hands, "Whoah! Whoah, what's goin' on?" he asked, more than a little surprised and uncomfortable.
Just kidding, she said, but didn't holster her pistol.
A shot was fired behind him.
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Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 11:51 am
After countless successful attempts killing criminals or bringing them to justice, it was finally his turn to lose. Harland had survived a very poor shooting attempt weeks before, but now he was not so lucky. He felt the first bullet rip through his shoulder from behind, and the next tore through his back and through his stomach. Harland collapsed, clutching at his skin to try to hold the blood back into his body to no avail. It made the dirt sticky under him.
He'd brought law to a lawless world after the world dried up, and water became a precious resource that few could afford. He had done his best.
But not everyone wanted law. Not everyone wanted the weak to be protected from those who had power to take what they wanted. This was the end of Harland Leander Belle.
The deputee stood over him, and Harland couldn't see her face. It was blocked out by the sun, blinding him as he lay dying.
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Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 12:05 pm
Just when he thought he was already dead, Harland opened his eyes to see the Deputee handing a bag of cash to the person who had shot him.
"We look forward to doing business with you in the future," the person accepting the cash said. Harland's killer. The Deputee agreed, and smiled at him. Harland could make out that much, or figured he could.
The Deputee bent down over Harland's body, thinking he was dead by now, and pried at his Sheriff's badge with her slender fingers. Harland summoned his last ghost of strength to grip her collar and pull her towards him. He pulled out the pistol he kept in its shoulder holster, and fired into the Deputee's stomach.
"The devil take you," Harland whispered, coughing blood at the Deputee as his arms went limp and he slipped, finally, into true death.
Sun baked his skin as he lay there, and after he had died, the coroner came by to sort it all out. They needed a new Sheriff, they needed a new deputee, and corruption was about to set in. No matter how much Harland had wanted to be the hero, all his dreams had come to nothing.
Come to the sun searing the land and the cowboy's skin covered in dirt and sand. He'd be buried somewhere, under a wooden cross that marked his grave.
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