CHAPTER I

ARMADILLO, NEW AUSTIN, MAY 30TH 1900

The whole place was like a ghost town. Hardly a soul in sight. Armadillo was an isolated little place out in the wide boiling expanse of New Austin. It boasted many small buildings including a General Store, U.S Marshalls office, Saloon and even a Train Station. All were hardly used, if at all. Armadillo was still a community-to-be. At this point, the only people who inhabited it were passers-by, coming through on their journeys elsewhere, usually to stop by at the Saloon for a drink and some food before continuing on. It was quiet, with sand and dirt blowing through the air down the whole main street between the lines of buildings, with even a tumbleweed making its bumpy way down at one point.

This is how Vic Noble expected and ultimately found Armadillo as he trotted into town on the back of his pearl-white horse, April. She was a good old girl, fast and fearless. April was Vic's escape plan if he ever needed to quickly make tracks.

Vic was a U.S Lawman and had been since he'd become 18-years old. Now, seventeen years into the job, he was still as good at it now as he was then, if not more so. Albeit with his own personal methods. He was a sight to behold as he arrived in Armadillo after venturing for a day all the way from his home community of Tumbleweed out further west.

Vic sported long black hair which was pomaded back, with a thick moustache and an equally as thick bulk of hair just under his lower lip. He never wore a hat, even if the weather was scorching, like it was that morning. His style was that of a dark blue shirt underneath a black velvet waistcoat, proudly showing his pointy U.S Marshall badge over his heart. The metal piece was silver and hot to the touch thanks to the sun. Vic would definitely not need to flash it to anyone as its gleam could be seen for a mile.

The job that morning for Noble was to find and arrest a man who had tried to kidnap a small child who lived in Tumbleweed. He'd came through and tried to lasso her up a few days back, but was chased off by the angry locals. Fortunately he was a known villain and was sighted heading to Armadillo the day before. Now Vic Noble was the man sent to find him. Very unfortunate for the raider, indeed.

Vic hitched his horse outside of the Train Station and took a glance around the area. Nobody was there. He could only hear the small sound of a piano playing inside the saloon which stood on the corner of the street just opposite the station. Thankfully no innocents were around for when this got ugly, which Vic knew it would. The U.S lawman calmly made his way towards the saloon and the shade just outside it's shutters, one palm gently resting on the butt of one of his LeMat Revolvers. Vic always had two of them, both shiny silver engraved with carvings of art. He trusted them more than most people.

Vic sniffed and could smell the booze and crappy food from outside the shutters as he peaked in before actually entering. Just as he did, the barman stopped laughing, as did the two sole customers at one of the circular tables and even the old bearded man on the piano stopped playing. They were wide eyed at the sight of the U.S lawman, surely the first of that kind they'd seen in Armadillo for quite some time.

"Morning, boys." Vic smiled with no sincerity.

Not one of the four men responded. They just awkwardly looked at one another, wondering what the fuck they were going to do.

"Say, one of you fella's a guy named Hal Tanner?" Noble asked, fully knowing which one he was looking for.

Hal Tanner himself was one of the two men drinking. He sat there frozen. Tanner was a horrible looking man, skinny, balding, about three teeth to his mouth and a pale left eye. You could not mistake who he was, Vic was just enjoying himself at this point.

"No one here by that name, mister. Maybe you ought to just get, huh?" Said the Barman, polishing one of his hardly used glasses.

"Nobody here by that name, huh?" Vic asked, thumbs hooked to his belt, slowly walking further in, "It's funny you say that, 'cause recently a man came through Tumbleweed. A man with a... dingy left eye."

Tanner sipped at his beer with his head down, his nose almost drinking too.

"So thin that if he turned sideways you'd miss him... With the only teeth left in his mouth being the ones nobody could knock out."

Everyone was still quiet, not daring to make a move as Vic slowly and calmly pulled one of the wooden chairs of the table out and sat down just next to Tanner, staring at him with a wide eyed smirk. The old man at the piano looked at the barman who gave him back a face of bewilderment. Eventually the old fella called it quits, stood up from his seat and awkwardly jogged to the shutters and out of the saloon fast. Vic made sure to wait patiently before continuing on.

"Had a... taste for young ones, so I hear." Vic's voice then lowered.

Tanner turned his bald head and ugly face up to Noble, looking at him with his one able eye.

"Morning, Tanner. How goes it?" Vic smiled. No sincerity.

"You come from Tumbleweed?" Tanner asked, his high raspy voice nothing but an irritation to ears.

"That's right. And that little girl you tried to tie up... I know her. I know her folks."

Tanner just swallowed very hard and tried to clear his throat.

"She's around six years old, Tanner. I guess you knew that... And I'm willing to guess you weren't gonna drag her off to go fishing, am I right?"

Tanner did not reply. He couldn't. The words had dropped right out of his scrawny ass. At this point the bartender realised trouble was imminent, which he didn't want.

"A'ight, I want you out of here! Whatever accusations you making against my customers, you can come back and do it later, but you do it outside of my saloon!" The barman shouted, his finger jabbing at Vic.

"You'd be harbouring a fugitive, Mr. Bartender! Which would make you next on my list!" Vic shouted out.

The lawman then heard the hammer of a gun being clicked back. Tanner's fellow thug on the other side of the table had pulled out a Cattleman Revolver and aimed it at Vic.

"Then you can add me to your list, sir." The other scrawny man smirked, his brown set of teeth on show.

Vic chuckled at him, "You holster that little kiddies toy right now, boy."

The thug growled, "I don't think I will... So I'm gonna count to three."

Sharply, in the blink of Tanner's right eye, Vic had his left LeMat equipped, cocked and aimed right at the thug's head.

"No, I'm gonna count to three." Vic snarled, the smirk now gone.

Tanner's one working eye darted between Vic and his buddy. The raiding criminal didn't want to move in case he got shot on his way out. Instead he sat, shaking, hoping his friend would be faster with the trigger than the lawman and he'd still be a free man.

"One..." The thug sneered.

"Two!" Vic shouted, continuing it for him.

The man behind the bar then dropped the glass, cowered and blocked his ears waiting for the gunshots. Just as the glass hit the floor, it shattered loudly, taking the attention of both Tanner and his pal.

Vic then pulled the trigger in his left hand and blew a hole through the thug's forehead, sending the corpse and it's pieces of skull, meat and blood down onto the dark wooden deck.

Tanner jumped out of his seat in shock and instinctively drew his own Cattleman Revolver, aiming it straight at Vic's face. Unfortunately for the child-kidnapper however, Vic had long already drawn his second LeMat with his right hand and shot a grave hole right into Tanner's neck. Blood began spitting and pouring at the same time from the dark red fleshy hole as Tanner dropped the revolver and tried to stop the flow with his hands.

Vic sat and stared at the raider as he stumbled around, fell, got back up, fell again, tried to keep going, waddling towards the saloon shutters. Tanner's hands and baggy clothes were drenched in his own blood fast. He finally lost his strength just as he reached the shutters and fell straight through them, landing flat on the entrance deck, as dead as they come.

Job done, Vic thought.

"Oh shit... Oh fucking hell..." The bartender whimpered to himself, looking at the blood trail all over his floor.

Vic holstered both of his LeMat's, stood up from the table and brushed himself down. He'd come to Armadillo on the order to bring Hal Tanner to justice, and as far as Noble was concerned, he'd done just that. Now that he was done, he just had to head back to Tumbleweed with Tanner's body as proof.

"Sorry about the mess, fella." Vic muttered, laying $15 dollars down on the bar.

The bartender was still in shock and awe, sweating and shaking as Vic left the bar and was yet again engulfed by the powerful sun above.

Vic remained cool despite the heat, picked up Tanner's drenched corpse out of the huge puddle of blood and hoisted him over his shoulder. His lasso was still on April's saddle, which he would use to keep the body in place for the journey back. April never cared about what Vic would stow on top of her, whether it be the corpses of humans, animals or even live captives tied up and trying to escape. She would never bolt.

"Good girl." Vic smiled and patted the white beauty on her neck and fed her an Oatcake.

With Tanner's body harnessed in, Vic climbed back onto April and took a cigarette out of his pocket along with his box of matches. He lit his first smoke of the day, almost as a celebration for another successful job and took a long drag. It felt damn good.

"Alright, let's go girl." Vic told April, kicking his leg and getting the horse to start moving.

Feeling the wind hit him as the horse ran cooled his face and body right down. It was a glorious feeling. Noble was pleased the job had been done, although he was sure Sheriff Freeman back in Tumbleweed wouldn't be very pleased with the means. But that didn't matter to Vic. The lawman had simply rid the world of another piece of rotten filth. He just wondered which he would need to hunt down next.