Bark and Bite 5

[WP] 11:11 pm. Winter. A dog trainer can't understand why their most well-behaved dog is acting so anxious and panicked. Over and over, the dog slaps its paws on a string of Pet Speech Buttons: "NO/OUTSIDE/BAD/AFRAID", and does everything it can to keep you from approaching the front door...

*****

The confidence in their speech, the mocking look in their eyes, all of these things infuriated me, but I could do nothing about it at the moment. One wrong move could land me in a freshly dug grave by the end of the week. So I had to stay quiet and put up with all the nonsense they were saying, at least until I found a reasonable loophole to exploit.

"That was very smart - and fast - of you, Craig. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, joining the dots, and then figuring out that there was something different, and special, about this part of your barn. I don't know whether it means anything to you, but I consider that to be very, very commendable. You know, I told my partner here while he was almost unconscious due to your gas yesterday-"

"You were the one on the horse?"

That earned me a punch to the side of the jaw, and I felt one of my upper teeth become loose.

"Manners, Craig. Manners. Discipline. You can't just do whatever you want, and speak on impulse like you're an animal, especially in the situation you're in. You're lucky I'm in control of my temper, or else I'd have pumped one or two bullets into your frame."

I was dealing with a certified lunatic. I sighed - this was not how I wanted to spend my day, and yet there seemed to be no way of escaping this. I was forced to dance with this madman for the time being, at least until I found a way to overpower them.

His partner just looked on, laughing and maintaining his attention on the chest of gold. "Wealth. Just, look at this beauty and tell me you don't see wealth man. Staring at us right in the face. It was within our grasp yesterday, and now it's in our palms."

He was out of sorts, and there was only one thing I could say about him if I were asked to make a remark. A greedy little b*stard. That was all he was.

The other man, the one who hit me and the one who seemed to be in charge, sat down on one of the benches in the barn and whistled. "Would you just take a look at this place? Nothing like it in all the towns around here. Nothing as big as this. Generational wealth is one heck of a thing. And luckily, y'all are blessed with people who can manage this wealth responsibly, so you stay on top, and live lives of affluence. What then stops you from letting go of this chest, so that me and my pal here can start our generational wealth journey, hmm?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you've come here and attacked me viciously. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the treasure is just not yours, you have to work for wealth you son of a-"

"Ah ah ah," he said, cocking the gun. Emotions are going haywire, but let's remember who has the upper hand here before we go off into tirades now, okay? I don't want to have to kill you, although I'm not adverse to the idea of doing it if you leave me no choice."

I calmed down once again, knowing that I had been driven into a corner. All's fair in love and war, or so they said.

"This treasure may have been hidden here by thieves. May have been seized from the original owners of this land, the Red Indians or whatever. However it came by, there's a high chance it wasn't legal, or fair. You didn't work for it - it was gifted to you. And the same goes for this situation. We're collecting it the same way your ancestors did that - just because they could."

I scoffed. "Do you really think that you'll get out of here alive? With all the fuss happening within the town? I could just raise an alarm as soon as you leave, and then you'll be gunned down before you can even leave the town. What good will that be then?"

The men looked at each other and laughed.

"It's funny how you think you're going to be left alive. Of course we expected that you'd try to pull something like that, which is why you must-"

My chance came then. Mid-giggle, looking at each other, not expecting that I had holstered a second Gunnar my back. Before they could turn, I pulled and fired, hitting the leader sqaurelt in the right shoulder and sending him back. The pistol packed a lethal punch.

I turned to the other man and fired twice, hitting him in the belly before he could move. I stood and walked over to them. "I don't lose, I'm afraid. Not money, not this treasure, none of that. I'm the only winner here, so get that into your skulls," I said before leaving the barn and firing five times into the air. It was better if I ensured that the Sheriff came, without having to go call him. Bone of these men were in any state to move, but I wasn't one to take chances.

"Checkmate," I though, laughing as I imagine what I would do with all that gold.

*****

THE END.