Sheriff Poole & The Mech Gang Read Free Page A

checks
its load.
    “Where do you want me?” he asks.
    “Stick close to Mason. And go easy on your
ammo. These bullets take a while to make.”
    “But—”
    “All you need to remember is that we want to
keep those damned creatures far enough back that their lasers can’t
reach us, but close enough for the sheriff to make his shot.”
    I don’t expect him to do much, but a man
needs to be made to feel useful. We don’t really need him. By now
we’ve got this down to a fine art. I fetch my rifle and take a
stand beside the Linden Kid.
    The Mech Gang starts to lay down fire,
choosing their shots carefully.
    “Come on,” the sheriff mutters, gaze fixed on
the approaching aircraft.
    The lead one’s almost close enough to fire on
one of the outbuildings when the sheriff takes his shot. The
buffalo rifle booms like a clap of thunder and the craft explodes
in a flare of bright light. Then it winks out and there’s nothing
left in its place except for a cloud of fine dust. The other two
craft veer off, right and left, before they circle back for another
run. Now they’re coming at us from both sides.
    The sheriff doesn’t even check his shot. He
breaks the rifle open and expels the spent shell. Reaching into his
pocket, he gets another round, inserts it and snaps the rifle shut
again. He’s so fast that it almost seems he has the stock back
against his shoulder before the echo of his first shot dies
away.
    “East,” he says, indicating the target he’s
chosen.
    I turn west and fire at the incoming craft on
my side. It’s too far away for me to do any damage, but it shoots
straight up into the sky to escape all the same. Behind me I hear
the boom of the buffalo rifle again, followed by another explosion
as the second craft bites the dust.
    You’d think they’d learn by now. You’d think
the surviving ship would beat a retreat. But here it comes,
dropping straight down from the starry sky directly above us. The
buffalo rifle booms a third time and the last craft explodes. A
fine dust drifts down from the sky.
    “Don’t breathe that crap!” I warn Tommy. “Or
let it get in your eyes.”
    Mason and I are already pulling up bandanas
to cover our noses and mouths. We shut our eyes. Both the Mech Gang
and the sheriff are holding their fire. I feel the weird tingle as
the dust settles upon us and brush it away. It’s only dangerous in
the first few moments after the ship explodes. After that it might
as well be corn flour.
    I open my eyes and look around. The Mech Gang
are still scanning the sky for danger, but the sheriff has lowered
his buffalo rifle.
    “We got all three!” Tommy says.
    The sheriff nods.
    “I counted four over the canyon,” Mason
says.
    I play back in my head the light show we saw
above the canyon earlier and realize she’s right. We all study the
sky, waiting for that last ship to appear.
    The minutes tick by.
    “So what exactly are we blowing up here?”
Tommy asks.
    “I’m not really sure,” the sheriff tells him.
“Back where I’m from, all we know for sure is that they’re some
kind of gas-based life form. They can’t hold a solid shape for
long. Long enough to cause some damage—“ He gives me a glance.
“—but then they just come apart. I don’t even think we’re killing
them. We’re just returning them to another state. Sooner or later
they reform and they come back.
    “Used to be, I thought they were looking to
use me for a more permanent vehicle, but now I think they’re just
pissed off and want to finish me off.”
    The rest of us keep scanning for that fourth
ship, but Tommy can’t take his gaze from the sheriff.
    “So you’re real,” he says. “I mean, you’re
like a real person except you’re made of metal and clockwork,
right?”
    “I don’t understand the question.”
    “Well, no offense, but I just took you for
something somebody made.”
    “Somebody did make me.”
    Tommy nods. “Well, yeah. But you still think
and feel like a human being. You