From out the darkly feral Texas evening flowed a hollow call, like a vinyl recording from an old world, accompanied by conspicuously rhythmic thumps,<br/>like a crude drumbeat amidst the scattered, dust-encrusted pebbles.<br/><br/>"♫ Oh danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling.<br/>Hmm-hmm hmm-hmm, The summer's gone, and all the roses falling. ♫"<br/><br/>The mangy ears of a dog perked up, agitated it moved from its vigil on the porch, as the upsetting element came into view it started to snarl and bark viciously<br/>with a full maw of bared teeth, as if trying to rip chunks out of the very air.<br/>It cautiously and menacingly moved in on the advancing figure, soon it was just meters away.<br/>A loud bullet went through the skull of the dog and silenced it in the blink of an eye.<br/><br/>A faint rectangle of light expanded as the door to the weather-beaten farmhouse flung open, revealing a male figure in rough overalls, with a bushy, unkempt beard.<br/>He now hurried towards the racket, planted his gaze on the ground, on the canine in the pool of crimson that grew with its body as center.<br/><br/>"Kenny! Shit!"<br/><br/>"Old boy had caught a nasty case of hydrophobia, i had to put him down don't you know. Regrettable when a beloved family member is snatched away."<br/>Replied the metallic man, in a cheery, empathetic yet unmistakably inhuman tone.<br/><br/>The unnatural sight shook the man up. It was in the shape of a man, not roughly, but in the way a detailed tin soldier is.<br/>The features were sculpted rather than crude and blocky, and the thing wore an elaborate and fancy attire the likes of which surely could not be found outside Houston.<br/><br/>"What in the hells are yew!? Git away from mah damn house ya damn machine!"<br/><br/>The man raised his twin barrels but his resolve wavered for a brief moment while the automaton mechanically raised its right arm in response.<br/><br/>The bullet impacted into the forehead of the man, who fell heavily forwards on top of the slaughtered animal.<br/>A shadow swept by on Finklejocks left flank, carrying a strangled whimper or cry, but he paid it little mind, and continued towards the quaint house.<br/><br/>"Three little maids from school are we. Pert as a school-girl well can be. Filled to the brim with girlish..."<br/><br/>The thunder of two shotgun barrels roared forth from about five meters behind Finklejock's back.<br/>An instant later the round hail slammed against the metallic chassis with a sharp, ear-slicing cacophony and sparks flashing like imp's teeth.<br/>Finklejock planted his right foot forcefully into the dirt mid-step to counterbalance the force.<br/><br/>"Blast! Anarchist ambush!" The unwieldy metal frame turned around little by little.<br/>The content-looking, mustached and monocled mask faced the terrified woman whose visage in turn seemed to drain of its color with every passing second.<br/>She feverishly turned the pockets of her late husband inside out, hoping for her fingers to pass over two more shells.<br/><br/><br/><br/>A muffled bang.<br/><br/><br/><br/>The floorboards creaked as the figure invited itself.<br/>"Hmm, it has a sort of rural charm i suppose. Oh!"<br/>Finklejock carefully restored to an upright position a chair that seemed to have been roughly disturbed just recently.<br/>He moved his doll-jointed fingers to his face as if to reposition his optical lens monocle and fixed his gaze on the little one that scurried across the room in a wide circle,<br/>like a weasel desperately trapped in a corner.<br/><br/>"Ooh, you needn't be afraid of me, i'm no highwayman, cross my heart. Your father invited me over for tea. Uhm... Are you all alone here? Where are your parents then?"<br/>He turned clumsily, attempting to keep up with the little creature that now made an unimpeded dash towards the half open door, abandoning her only possession in sheer terror.<br/>In pursuit he burst through the opening into the cool desert air.<br/><br/>"Little miss forgot her Teddy! Don't run off! The woods aren't safe! There's bound to be wolves and bandits about! Little miss!"<br/>Finklejock impotently extended the worn teddy towards the darkness that closed around the petite body.<br/><br/>"How dreadful."<br/>The automaton exclaimed. It halted, processed for a brief moment.<br/>"Can't have a little girl running around in the wilderness all on her own, i have to follow her, yes, no other recourse."<br/><br/>He began his tireless march anew, into the uncharted darkness that had swallowed the girl, the rough ground crunching under the heavy footfalls.<br/><br/>"♫...It's you, It's you, must go, and I must bide... ♫"<br/><br/><br/><br/>The ghostly tune melded with the night.