Swift Mercy Johns - Death of a Gunslinger

By John J. Law

Simon Michael Johns kept walking straight ahead through the small town's main road. He did not look around him, but merely kept his gaze straight ahead. 
The small and sleepy town did not look any different from the other towns that Simon drifted through. As the gunslinger "Swift Mercy" Johns, he had seen his fair share of gun battles, and had drifted through many towns in his travels. After a while, they all looked the same to him. The buildings and establishments were all old and decrepit, the horses and people all tired and nameless and faceless. Sometimes Simon felt as if he were wandering through an endless tableau of madness and violence that had become his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.C. Hulsey Books
• Release date: Dec 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223882657

Book preview

One: The Men in Dark Hats

Simon Michael Johns kept walking straight ahead through the small town's main road. He did not look around him, but merely kept his gaze straight ahead.

The small and sleepy town did not look any different from the other towns that Simon drifted through. As the gunslinger Swift Mercy Johns, he had seen his fair share of gun battles, and had drifted through many towns in his travels. After a while, they all looked the same to him. The buildings and establishments were all old and decrepit, the horses and people all tired and nameless and faceless. Sometimes Simon felt as if he were wandering through an endless tableau of madness and violence that had become his life.

Simon Michael Johns saw the four men approaching him. They were of stocky build and looked quite intimidating. Simon glanced the men over, and one look was all it took for him to realize that these men were trouble. Simon already knew that these men were bad news the moment he saw them. Instincts long honed by several gunfights had taught him never to trust any man at once. Better than that, the same instincts had taught him to observe the little nuances in a man's movement. His posture, his walk or the way a man stared at you were all small but instant signals of the man's intentions. Simon had learned to trust these instincts through the years. It was these same instincts that had saved him in many gunfights and earned him the moniker of Swift Mercy Johns. Now, these same instincts were telling him that these men approaching him were nothing but trouble.

The four men continued to approach Simon in a slow and deliberate manner. They did not rush and moved with purpose and clarity. Even before they spoke, Simon could tell that these men only wanted one thing, and that was to see him dead. The men approached Simon, but there was something about the men, something different, yet also familiar. Simon couldn't place what it was, at least not immediately.

When the men got closer to him, Simon finally realized what it was.

I recognize you damn varmints! he said.

The men didn't say anything but merely stood in front of Simon, their eyes gleaming through their large, dark hats that obscured their faces. Simon immediately recognized the dark hats. They were a callback, a reminder of a painful day in his life that he simply wanted to erase and expunge, to no avail.

You're... you're the Biggs boys! The ones that killed Ma and Pa when I was a boy! But... but the two others... you're...

It's us, Johns. Timothy and Ethan Trenton. You killed us, shot us in cold blood. one of the men said.

Ethan finally recognized the four men as the Biggs and Trenton boys. He also realized this was impossible and crazy. All four men had met their maker so long ago. The