The sun sat in the sky looking over the town of Appleseed. The citizens of the town walked joyfully through the muddy street. Children ran around the nearby field kicking a football around for fun. The parents watched them play and had their own conversations about things they enjoyed. Men came riding in on horses and jumped off quickly to head inside the bar, they would later come out and find that they can't walk straight and therefore would not be able to ride their horses until after they slept the alcohol off. The local farm was holding a festival called the "Appleseed Farm Festival" which allowed the residents to walk into the farm and play games, buy things and ride some animals such as pigs and sheep. People have complained about the amount of animal cruelty in the festival but the owners of the farm say it is all in good fun. Sheriff Ross walked through the farm and smiled at the waving residents. He sometimes waved back but when the attractive women greeted him, he would respond with a slightly flirtatious wink. Sheriff Ross walked over to one of the owners of the farm. Dwight Comstock. Comstock lived in Appleseed all his life, his mother and father moved there during the Civil War. Dwight was an old man but was not weak at all. He is a family man, he has six sons and three daughters. If anyone messed with them on any level, Dwight would find them and teach them a lesson. He was overweight but had an arm on him. He was the Appleseed horseshoe champion and he was proud of it. "Jimmy!" Dwight said to Sheriff Ross, "How you doin'? How's Gordon? I don't see you guys much." Sheriff Ross laughed and patted him on the back, "It's good to see you man. I'm good, Gordon's good and I haven't seen you much either!" Said Ross. The two men walked through the festival, greeting people as they did so.
"So, what have you been up to lately?" Asked Dwight.
"Just doin' my job. Arrestin' people, savin' people, you know how it is." Said Sheriff Ross.
"Yes I do. A friend of mine is a police officer up in Grande Fortuna. He caught two guys tryin' to rob a store. He didn't find them though, they ran off into a swamp."
"Yeah it's not as excitin' here then it is up there. Caught a fella beatin' on some woman a few days ago. It was messy but not at all excitin'."
"Well isn't there supposed to be this guy that has a really high price on his head or somethin'? Elliot somethin' or other?"
"Wyatt Ellery. Yeah, he hasn't been caught yet. Although $5,000 is enough to attract everyone so he won't be a problem for much longer. But come on Dwight, I want this to be a day of fun. Let's go play some horseshoe!" The two men laughed as they ran towards the games area. Children were attempting to get apples out of barrels with their mouths and men were shoo-ting cans off of barrels with their guns. The festival was loud, almost deafening but it didn't stop everyone having fun though.
Ross and Comstock went over to the horseshoe area and paid the fare. The two men got three horseshoes each and Ross went first. Ross cleared his mind and stared at the post. He had to get the horseshoe around the post, if it missed or hit the post, he lost. Ross breathed in and out before throwing his first horseshoe. It flew high up in the air and was coming to a landing. It missed the post from a large distance and hit a man on the head. "Sorry!" Shouted Ross. Dwight and his friends were howling with laughter, making Sheriff Ross feel embarrassed. "Try again Jimmy!" Shouted Dwight. Ross steadied himself before trying again with the second horseshoe. He cracked his knuckles and threw the horse-shoe. The second horseshoe swiftly moved towards the post before hitting it slightly and cost Sheriff Ross a point. He could hear the men in the background laughing at him, making him more embarrassed. "One more." Ross mumbled. Ross then moved his head in different ways, which made a small cracking sound. Ross pushed up his sleeves with an arm jerk and looked directly at the post. He breathed deeply and quickly threw the last horseshoe. Time slowed down for Ross as a result of being both embarrassed and nervous, but he knew that this one could do it. The horseshoe descended and moved closer and closer towards the post. Ross felt a rush of adrenaline as the horseshoe tightly wrapped itself around the post. He did it. "Yes!" Shouted Ross as he jumped into the air. "I did it Dwight!" He called out.
Dwight clapped and shook his head. "Nice one Jimmy boy, now let the champion handle this." Said Dwight as he picked up the last horseshoe and handed it to Ross. Dwight then pulled out his horseshoes and positioned himself, getting ready for his moment. Dwight was over confident and there-fore wasn't nervous or even intimidated by his peers. Dwight suddenly threw his first horse-shoe and then his second and then his third. The three horseshoes flew in the air majestically and hit each other as they moved closer to the post. Both Ross and Comstock looked directly at the flying horseshoes as they all wrapped around the post simultaneously. Dwight laughed happily and clapped his hands together. "That's why I'm the goddamn champion Ross!" Said Dwight in a moment fuelled by energetic joy. Ross laughed and started clapping at his friend's victory. "Good job Dwight, you done well." Said Sheriff Ross. The two men laughed more and began to walk through the rest of the festival. "Ya know what? Let's go get a drink, all of us!" Said Dwight. Ross looked at Dwight's friends and then looked back at Dwight who was already pulling out money for the bar. "Sure, why not?" Said Ross. Dwight smiled as he waved to his friends, signalling for them to follow him. The large group of men laughed their way towards the bar and stayed in the drunken building until nightfall.
The moon replaced the sun as the role of Appleseed's watcher. The festival had quietened down and now the bar was the loudest place. Men could be heard cackling as they drank the huge bottles of whiskey and women could be heard giggling from the upstairs area of the bar. Sheriff Ross came stumbling out with a beer in his hand. He struggled to walk as he came down the outside steps. "I'll see you around Dwight!" He shouted as he threw the beer onto the ground. Sheriff Ross walked over to the nearby field and began to walk across it. He could hear cows mooing and dogs barking, giving the field an animalistic ambience. He was making his way towards a small blue house that was next to a large apple tree. It was his home. Ross managed to walk all away across the field without falling flat on his face which was lucky considering he had drank a lot of beer. Sheriff Ross stuck his hands in his pockets and pulled out a packet of cigarettes which he then put back after realising that the pack was empty. "For Christ's sake…" He groaned. Ross walked over to the house's front door and opened it. The house was empty as always except for all of the furniture. Sheriff Ross didn't wait to run upstairs and jump into bed. He was going to attempt to sleep the beer off and clear his head which proved difficult as he struggled to get comfortable.
"Get comfortable." Said a voice. Ross jumped out of his skin and began to panic. The room was pitch black, Ross didn't have torch and the door was only slightly open which luminated only a quarter of the room. "Who is this? Get out!" Said Ross. There was a small clinking sound which was then followed by the sound of match scratching against a wall. There was a masked figure sitting on an armchair, holding a now lit up lantern. The figure placed the lantern on a small table which was located next to the chair and sat up. The figure was Talbot. Sheriff Ross had no idea who it was and was not inclined to find out. "Sheriff Jim Ross. I've been meaning to talk with you." Said Talbot. Ross was terrified, the figure looked serious. "Who are you?" Asked Ross. Talbot chuckled and then pulled out a golden revolver. He rested the revolver on his lap and pointed it at Sheriff Ross. "My name is Talbot." Said Talbot. "I'm here to ask you a few questions." Ross looked at Talbot and gulped. He had no idea what to do so he began to reach for his gun which was holstered on his belt. "Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you." Talbot told him as he clicked the gun by the hammer.
"What do you want from me?" Asked Sheriff Ross.
"I told you, I just want to ask you a few questions." Said Talbot.
"Like what?"
"It's okay, Ross. Don't be nervous."
"Oh yeah?"
"Be absolutely petrified. I want to know a couple of things and I want you to give me some information."
"What kind of information?"
"Where is Gordon Thompson?"
"He's up in his house a couple of miles from here. He lives with his wife and his son."
"What about that bounty you have going on? The five thousand dollar one. Tell me about that."
"Well a man named Wyatt Ellery is wanted for murder of Alberto Manfredi and two police officers. He's been wanted for a week and still nobody has caught him. I don't know where he is but we have a lot of bounty hunters lookin' for him. He is wanted dead or alive, that's all I know."
"And what about Sylvester Cornett? Where can I find him?"
"The oil man? I don't know, probably everywhere. He's a travellin' man. I heard he likes to play a lot of poker. So I suggest lookin' around for him in places like Grande Fortuna and Shallowberg. They have a history of poker games."
"It's funny. The amount of information people are willing to give out when looking in the eyes of death. It's incredibly demeaning to see a big tough lawman get himself outwitted by a man in a mask."
"Yeah like you haven't given out information under pressure?"
"I know, but I have to think about the outcome."
"And what's the outcome for this?"
Talbot pulled the trigger. The sheriff's drunken looks were all gone. A small red hole formed in his head and a small stream of blood came pouring out of it. Ross's body slid down onto it's back and looked up at the ceiling. Talbot stood up from the armchair and walked over to the body. He looked at the sheriff's corpse before shutting it's eyes and walking towards the door.
Talbot opened the bedroom door and walked out of the room, he then turned back to take one last look at the gruesome scene. A huge splatter of blood was on the back wall where Ross's head once lay and where the bullet pierced the material. The window was closed but the curtains were spread apart. The large grey moon looked down at the house which was now the resting place for Sheriff Ross's soul. Talbot then closed the door and walked down the stairs and moved towards the front door. Talbot then had an idea. He pulled out a bottle which had some sort of liquid inside of it. Talbot walked out of the house and aimed at the front door. Talbot looked at the building one last time before throwing the bottle at the Sheriff's house. The place was beginning to catch fire. The liquid inside of the bottle must have been containing something flammable.
Talbot watched as the house was quickly morphing into a flaming wreckage. It wasn't very subtle but it got rid of any evidence of the encounter including the Sheriff's death. Talbot now whistled for his horse to come running over. The horse was neighing on its way towards Talbot and came to a halt when he held out his hand. The sound of the fire crackling and the wood crumbling made Talbot feel satisfied and cleansed spiritually. "One less rat in the world." He mumbled before riding away from the house. The horse's hooves were clip-clopping as Talbot rode down the muddy field. He didn't look back because he needed to get out of there before anyone saw him. Talbot had no remorse for the people he killed whether it was for a bounty or for personal vengeance but he knew that he was only good for taking lives and taking money. It was if Talbot had no other purpose in life other than murder. And that became clear when one thing came to his mind, find the man named Sylvester Cornett and kill him.
End Of Part 2