text: > hide behind the market stall
  Okay, you're now taking cover behind the market stall.
  
  "Hermano," Raoul pleads, "there's no bad blood between us. Leave town while you still can."
  
  > Wait
  Time passes...
  
  "Last chance, hermano," Raoul says, his hands slowly moving towards the many weapons he carries. "Get out of here!"
  
  > wait awhile
  Time passes...
  
  In a flash, Raoul has drawn a pair of six shooters. He fires both in a rapid blur, a hail of bullets disintegrating the market stall.
  
  > hide behind the cart
  Okay, you're now taking cover behind the cart.
  
  Raoul's six shooters click empty. He tosses them aside and pulls a lever-action rifle from over his shoulder. He loads and fires the gun with inhuman efficiency, his hands a blur. The high-calibre bullets utterly destroy the cart you're taking cover behind.
  
  > hide behind the fence
  Okay, you're now taking cover behind the wooden fence.
  
  Raoul tosses the rifle aside and pulls a sawn-off shotgun from a thigh holster. He aims at you and fires both barrels. The wooden fence you're taking cover behind explodes in a shower of splinters.
  
  > hide behind the table
  Okay, you're now taking cover behind the restaurant table.
  
  Raoul tosses the sawn-off shotgun aside and pulls an antique machine pistol from the back of his belt. He fires indiscriminately, blowing apart the restaurant table in a series of shattering bullet strikes.
  
  > hide behind the tree
  Okay, you're now taking cover behind the sickly tree.
  
  Raoul drops the machine pistol to the ground and grabs a small laser gun from his bandolier. He directs a beam of lethal blue light right at you, causing the sickly tree to spontaneously combust in a puff of smoke.
  
  > hide
  Raoul has destroyed all the cover in this location.
  
  Raoul throws down the laser gun and pulls a derringer from his boot. He looks at the tiny gun for a second and then shrugs. "That's all folks!" he says, before bolting down a narrow alley and disappearing from view.
  
  > Reload
  (your six shooter)
  It's already fully loaded.
  
  > F.
  The eclectic buildings of the town crowd round this open space, leaving a circle of bare, trodden dirt, featureless except for the towering wooden gallows at its centre.
  
  Elias stands on the gallows, the noose around his neck.
  
  The rotund execution bot sits by the gallows, its single metallic arm gripping the lever that works the trapdoor.
  
  Sheriff Clayton stands in your way.
  
  "Mute," the sheriff says. "Just in time."
  
  > shoot sheriff
  You shoot the sheriff, the bullet tearing right through his chest explosively. He lets out a yelp of pain and staggers briefly, before regaining his footing.
  
  "Damn you, Mute!" the sheriff screams, "you want shooting? I'll give you shooting!"
  
  Clayton whirls round, draws his six shooter and takes aim at Elias.
  
  > shoot the noose
  You put a bullet right through the rope dangling from the gallows.
  The noose falls slack around Elias' neck.
  
  The sheriff fires, his bullet striking Elias right through the heart. The man you love looks at you, one hand held out into the blood gushing from his body. The light leaves his eyes in a matter of seconds and he collapses onto the gallows.
  
  No! You let your gun fall from your hands.
  
  > shoot the noose
  You put a bullet right through the rope dangling from the gallows.
  The noose falls slack around Elias' neck.
  
  "Damn you, Mute!" the sheriff screams, "you want shooting? I'll give you shooting!"
  
  Clayton whirls round, draws his six shooter and takes aim at Elias.
  
  > Shoot gun
  Which gun do you mean, the six shooter, or your six shooter?
  
  > shoot the lever
  The bullet ricochets off the lever, jerking it backwards. The trapdoor beneath Elias' feet drops away. With a short yell, Elias plummets downwards and disappears.
  
  The sheriff fires, his bullet passing through thin air.
  
  > point to the sherrif
  You point at Sheriff Clayton.
  
  The sheriff stamps his foot in the dust. "Quit it, Mute, I'm talking now!"
  
  The sheriff turns to face you. "You piece of crap," he splutters, "I should have done this a long a time ago."
  
  He aims his six shooter at you and fires again and again, hitting you square in the chest with bullet after bullet. You remain standing for a few seconds, unsure what's happening, and then the world begins to fade away.
  
  > point to Elias
  You point at Elias.
  
  The sheriff stamps his foot in the dust. "Quit it, Mute, I'm talking now!"
  
  "I'm sorry about trying to kill you the way I did," the sheriff continues.
  
  > wait
  Time passes...
  
  "I thought it'd be quick and painless. I didn't anticipate you wandering the wastelands half-naked, nurturing a vendetta - no, not even a vendetta, a petty grudge against me."
  
  > wait
  Time passes...
  
  The sheriff looks around at the shuttered buildings, as if grandstanding to a huge audience. "I mean, come on Mute, you think I'm the bad guy here?"
  
  > Nod
  You nod your head.
  
  "Of course you do," the sheriff sneers.
  
  The sheriff points at you accusingly. "You're the one shooting your way through the town, killing the only men and women who stand between its people and the marauders, the mutants and the savages!"
  
  > shake head
  You shake your head.
  
  "You're damn right I'm not," the sheriff responds.
  
  The sheriff points at you accusingly. "You're the one shooting your way through the town, killing the only men and women who stand between its people and the marauders, the mutants and the savages!"
  
  > Wait
  Time passes...
  
  "By the Gods, I know they were a motley crew of vagabonds, but as long as they were in my posse they were on the side of the Law!"
  
  > Wait
  Time passes...
  
  The sheriff fixes his steely eyes on you. "And whose side are you on, Mute? Your own?"
  
  > point to Elias
  You point at Elias.
  
  The sheriff stamps his foot in the dust. "Quit it, Mute, I'm talking now!"
  
  He aims an accusing finger at Elias. "What about his?"
  
  > Nod
  You nod your head.
  
  "As long as you're not on the side of the Law," the sheriff hisses, "I don't owe you anything. Because I will always see that the Law is obeyed."
  
  > wait
  Time passes...
  
  "Or better than obeyed... feared."
  
  > Wait
  Time passes...
  
  The sheriff rests his hands on his hips. "Well, Mute, it's your move."
  
  > shoot the noose
  You put a bullet right through the rope dangling from the gallows.
  The noose falls slack around Elias' neck.
  
  "Damn you, Mute!" the sheriff screams, "you want shooting? I'll give you shooting!"
  
  Clayton whirls round, draws his six shooter and takes aim at Elias.
  
  > shoot the lever
  The bullet ricochets off the lever, jerking it backwards. The trapdoor beneath Elias' feet drops away. With a short yell, Elias plummets downwards and disappears.
  
  The sheriff fires, his bullet passing through thin air.
  
  > shoot sheriff
  You shoot the sheriff, the bullet tearing right through his chest explosively. He lets out a yelp of pain and staggers briefly, before regaining his footing.
  
  The sheriff turns to face you. "You piece of crap," he splutters, "I should have done this a long a time ago."
  
  He aims his six shooter at you and fires. Still reeling from his gunshot wound, the sheriff misses by a hair's breadth, the bullet whipping past your bare arm.
  
  > shoot sheriff
  You send a second bullet ripping through the sheriff's body. He clutches his heart, blood gushing freely from his chest. "You've killed me, Mute, but that ain't enough to stop me!"
  
  The sheriff fires, but his hands are shaking and his knees seem weak. The shot goes wide.
  
  > shoot sheriff
  You blast sheriff Clayton again. He falls to his hands and knees, struggling to keep his gun trained on you. "Long as you're dead," he rasps, blood dripping down his chin, "I can rest easy in the hereafter!"
  
  The sheriff fires, discharging his gun impotently into the dirt.
  
  > shoot sheriff
  You shoot the sheriff for the fourth time. He arches his back, squealing in agony, teeth bared, and then falls forward: finally dead.
  
  > Reload
  (your six shooter)
  You quickly empty the spent casings from your six shooter and replace them with live bullets.
  
  The execution bot surveys the scene with its optical sensors and begins to trundle away discreetly.