In his favourite chair under the stairs in the rear of the saloon, 3Gun sat brooding about the recent events and some of the strange comments that had come out about the horse race, the chocohol source and the remarks made by Highride Ali... especially the remarks by Highride Ali. He tipped his chair back and took in his surroundings; the men at the bar, slump shouldered and nursing drinks. The tired smiles on the women trying to encourage the consumption of more. Hunter, calmly wiping his rag over the spills and stains, always aware of the saloon's action. His thoughts returned to Ali. What could she possibly know about Busted Gulch that he didn't? And about him as well? He practically built the town after the gold ran out. It was a poser.

He stood lazily and went to the bar for another double vodka and lime and returned to his seat. A lot had happened over the past month or so. Ever since that Reaper fella appeared things started changing, he thought, recounting the events. BillyBobPete's prisoner, Junkyard, died mysteriously and right after BillyBob had a confrontation with Ruechari then skedaddled for the hills. Ruechari lost her father, DamagedGoods and according to rumours, because nobody saw her afterwards, Lean's brother died too. They all just disappeared.

He swallowed some of his drink and watched some cowboys arguing at the poker table. Rough looking hombres, fresh off the trail and spending their hard won wages on women and drink. The game wasn't friendly, that was for sure. One player in particular was complaining louder and louder after every hand. 3Gun sipped his drink and let his thoughts return to the things that were bothering him. There was the rumour that O'Boyle had returned to his outlaw ways and had secretly met someone in town, a mystery person that nobody ever saw. Some said it was Spent Shell. Right after that, Doc Vale made his move to take over Busted Gulch. Strange, 3Gun thought, that he seemed to have some kind of control over the men he sent after him. Spent Shell was one of them, along with Ronald the bartender and Tri Gun, an unknown gunslinger. Then the fight took place, and he had killed all three. Took a round in the shoulder and luckily Lean had showed up and tended to him. Right after the fight, Doc Vale made for the hills. Same direction as BillyBobPete, and those that saw him go said there was another rider with him.

The argument at the poker table got louder and when the complaining cowboy jumped up, drawing his gun, Hunter came swiftly from behind the bar and capped him with the small bat he always kept handy. The cowboy dropped like a half sack of flour and never woke as Hunter dragged him through the doors and onto the street. Peso Rollins, the old piano player, started the piano roll and sat at the keyboard like he was playing. Some of the girls came to the table and soon the fuss was over and the drinks were plentiful once more.

3Gun drifted back into his musings and thought about Highride Ali again. She had hinted at knowing something about him and the town and after pounding his brain almost to death, the only thing he could think of was in the steel box he kept under his bed in the hotel. It hadn't been opened in years and he wondered if it might hold a clue he new nothing about...or had missed completely. He tossed back his drink and left the saloon, stepping over the unconscious cowboy and crossing the street to the hotel. He pulled the box from under the bed and stared at the streaks in the dust that had gathered; someone had been at it.

Digging the old key out of his vest pocket he opened the box. Right on top was the deed Lean's brother was supposed to have dreamed about in one of his cocopop hazes. 3Gun stared at the paper. Was Highride the one who opened his box and put this in? He lifted it out and another folded single sheet fell out. It was brittle and turning beige and on opening it little bits crumbled away. He carefully flattened it on the lid of the box and strained to read the faded writing. His lips moved silently as he struggled with the words lost in the creases and holes in the page. When he finished, he sat very still, his mind reeling with the implications of what he thought he had read.

Ruechari's name was there in connection with the KitKats and some kind of magic power. It mentioned a war and the The Reaper and something about,'abnormals'. He tried to read again but only bits and pieces were legible. Long Leg Liz and Valentin, whatever that was. Maybe another name. One frightening surprise was the mention of a man, Hellzing, and something about cocopop addiction and dying at the DamagedGoods burial mound. Lean's brother? Was there some kind of unnatural behaviour? The KitKat's were always carrying on about spirits and demons.

He had heard other stories from rural farmers and ranchers about the strange goings on some distance into the hills. Strange noises and sightings of ghost riders and swarms of birds. Livestock being slaughtered, and it was said that it was not by anything ever seen or heard of. Now here, on this page was a story that seemed to describe those superstitions as fact, and scarier still, he knew a few of the people mentioned.

3Gun carefully folded the page back up and placed it in the box. Lean would never be able to handle learning her brother might be alive somehow. he opened up the deed and read the complicated wording. It was originally registered to a government allotted number and subsequently transferred to 3Gun. It was signed by some government official and then at the bottom, in a shaky scrawl, the name Winston 'Quick Draw' Gyro. It was true what Lean's brother said, his pa did own the town originally... and his pa had given it to him. If this was Ali's secret, why would she think that it was a threat?

He put the deed back on top and locked the box. Instead of under the bed, he placed it high on top of the wardrobe and pushed it right to the back. The sky was darkening as heavy clouds moved in from the south, casting a further cloak of doom over 3Gun. He pushed the stiff curtains aside and stared out the window at the hills in the distance, wondering just what kind of terror roamed that land. Was that what Ali had hinted at, that whatever was out there might not stay in those hills........ that it might find it's way to Busted Gulch?