Millions of billions of stars twinkled their way into view when the last rays of sunlight dissipated as the sun fell behind the horizon. A gunsmith bandit fondly looked up at the full moon. When he was a child his father would tell him stories of… it didn’t matter. He was tasked with guarding the Jolan archway he was leaning on. From what exactly, he didn’t know. The gunsmith bandit firmly believed that any party with the intent to rescue this small village wouldn’t use the only road in. Only an idiot would do that. It’s why he didn’t debate his assignment. Regardless, the people who hired them paid the gang handsomely, even if it was only half the promised gold so the gunsmith bandit had no issue leaving his gang behind if things got too messy.

He snickered to himself thinking about all the alcohol and whores he’d be able to buy for the next year or so. With all his gold, he wouldn’t need to go out for another job, unless of course the women look as good as they did in Jolan. He continued to fantasize then something far ahead of him caught the moonlight. Despite its size, the brown shape approached him faster than any person could.

“Oy! Don’t move!” The gunsmith bandit straightened up and placed a hand on his gold and silver belt buckle, while the other took six iron bullets from the belt wrapped around him like a sash.

The brown mass remained in motion.

The gunsmith bandit grunted, “fine.” Faster than the blink of an eye his belt buckle liquefied into something with the viscosity of honey. It seeped through his fingers and entered his veins only to come out of the outstretched hand that held the bullets. The metallic liquids marinated the bullets before quickly forming themselves into a silver and golden revolver.

The gunsmith bandit squeezed the trigger while he aimed at the shape, but it didn’t stop even with a bullet directly between its eyes.

Wait, eyes? The gunsmith bandits’ eyes widened when the realization of a monster in full gallop processed.

“Beast!” He shouted. The moment the word left his lips, a meaty palm larger than his head forcefully pressed itself onto the gunsmith bandits face. In a second, between the wide wooden pole and the large hand, the gunsmith bandit’s head acted like dough. His nose was the first to fracture, causing pieces of cartilage to puncture the veins in his nostrils. Blood flowed from his broken nose as the palm continued to effortlessly move through his skull. The pressure on his chin caused his jaw to dislocate before it began to shatter. The top of his head split open, leaking brain as its cavity compressed. Pieces of bone pierced his skin and jutted out from beneath his hair while his head continued to flatten. Though his eyes were more malleable than bone, they still popped when pressed into the pole.

His body slumped to the floor leaving behind much of its blood and most of its head on the pole.

From inside the nearest building, an inn, three bandits came out to see what the lookout had shouted about.

Over the corpse the monster hunched over. It was large, brown, and furry. Its torso vaguely resembled a person, though it had muscles in places people didn’t. Its long arms were lean but strong.

One of the bandits smithed his bracelet into a long bolt action rifle. Firing it into the sky it alerted the other Gunsmiths they were being attacked. Unfortunately for them it alerted the monster to their presence.

“Beast!”

The monster turned its snarling wolf-like head to look at the three. Its bloodied jagged teeth struck fear into the men, and terror when they saw large bites had been taken from their guard. They were unable to move. Only when the bandit closest to the monster found his back on the floor and his face lost somewhere among the teeth of the monster, did the other two move. The bandit with the rifle fired into the back of the monster. No visible response caused the bandit to fire again.

Swiftly, the monster swiped at the bandit with its claws, disemboweling him. He fell to his knees, then onto his face.

“Beast!” The remaining bandit yelled as he ran towards the saloon.

The monster snapped its head to watch the bandit burst into the saloon. Moments later bandits began to spill out from the saloon doors.

Using one of the legs as a handle, the monster threw the corpse of the disemboweled bandit at the group. Blood, stomach acid, and poorly digested food covered the knocked over bandits. A few screamed while others gagged. Some got to their feet and stepped over the others. Their respective jewelry became firearms and they began to fire.

The monster pounced towards them, knocking one over. It took the bandits arms in one hand and his legs in the other then lifted him. While he screamed in pain and begged for mercy the monster pulled the bandit’s limbs in opposite directions. The other bandits rushed past the monster, making their way to a few covered carriages across the road. Many more bandits spilled from the saloon, only to retreat when their companion’s arms were torn out of their sockets. Blood spilled from his exposed sockets, dripping onto his neck as he now hung upside down from the monster’s hand.

The monster, drenched in blood, rammed its body through the wooden frame of the saloon. Chunks of wood and shards of metal rained down on the bandits inside.

There was a stillness, for a moment, as the bandits looked upon the monster towering over them and casting its shadow out the new entrance. For a moment more the monster did nothing but watch the bandits with its wolf like eyes. Then, its pointed ear twitched as if it heard the bandit off to its side smith his gun.

The monster jumped at the bandit and bit down on the bandit’s bicep. Effortlessly the monster broke through muscle and bone, tearing off the bandit’s armed hand.

In shock, the bandit could do little more than gaze at his fresh wound. When the monster spit out the chewed up mangled remains of his arm the bandit proceeded to scream. The bandit saw smoke escape the monster’s mouth briefly, but he couldn’t have cared less. His screams of agony and terror were quickly drowned out by the many guns firing upon the monster.

The armless bandit retained the monsters attention. It placed its hands on his shoulders to hold him still enough for the monster to place its gaping maw around the bandits head. Clamping down, the monster pulled its head up, quickly silencing the tortured cries of the bandit as his head was torn from his body in a swift motion.

At this a few bandits tried to flee but were quickly filled with holes. From outside, countless bullets penetrated the wooden walls of the saloon. To the monster it was like getting hit with handfuls of salt, annoying. To the bandits it was like getting ripped to shreds but millions of stinging bees.

One of the few bandits that were still alive was grabbed by his arm and thrown into the direction of the gunfire. The monster left the living bandits to deal with whatever was outside.

The bandits that had managed to make their way to the carriages stood in large crates that had been stored in them. Though hundreds of bullets had been loaded into a belt feeder, hundreds more were still in a pile that reached half way up their calves. Three bandits had each smithed a Gatling gun. They fired at the saloon and continued to do so when the monster returned outside.

The monster sprinted towards one of the bandits. His gatling gun began to dry fire and he tried to smith it around the ammunition around his ankles, but he couldn’t do it quickly enough. Not that it would have mattered if he was fast enough. The monster reached out and wrapped its hand around the bandits neck, digging its claws deep into the flesh as it crushed the windpipe. As the bandit struggled for air the other two jumped out of the crate and ran into the desert. Using its teeth, the monster tore off the bandits face. It chewed vigorously as it watched the remaining bandits from the saloon flee into the desert, all running in different directions.

Some lights in several buildings had long since died. Occasionally, the monster would catch glimpses of bandits stealing looks through closed curtains. It let the bandit corpse fall from its hand only to meet it on the ground. The monster put its nose to the desert sand. Looking back at the windows the monster decided to take care of the bandits, and maybe their women if they were involved with the gang. Besides there was enough blood, sweat, piss, and shit left in Jolan that it would be easy to track the bandits’ scent through the cool desert air.

Something within the monster filled its mind with an uncontrollable urge. It stood tall on its legs and threw its head back. A long drown out howl pierced the night.