The sky darkened suddenly. Enormous thunderheads formed above the desert plane. Behind him Jeb could hear Betsy muttering what sounded like a strange incantation in another language. Jeb hoped that she knew some magic because they were going to need it. The bandits charging them had lost three to Jeb's rifle so far, but that hadn't phased them. There were still about five of them riding, and that would be enough to cut Jeb and Betsy to pieces once the distance was closed to where pistols would be affective. But the sky kept growing darker and darker, at a rate that Jeb hadn't seen since he was a child growing up on his parents homestead and a great twister had dropped from the sky and carved the land with winds so strong they threw straw into trees. If the sky darkening was the magic Betsy was working on behind him, Jeb hoped there was some kind of payoff that would kill the bandits. Otherwise they were going to end up getting gunned down in the desert by a bunch of two bit criminals.
“Get ready!” Betsy screamed.
Before Jeb could ask her what he was supposed to be getting ready for the sky thundered like it was tearing apart. Hail started to rain down on them, some of it in chunks as big as small rocks. Jeb's horse reared up and circled, spooked by the sudden change in atmospheric pressure and the appearance of ice raining from the sky. Jeb had seen weather like this before, and knew what was next.
“Is there going to be a twister?” Jeb screamed.
Betsy didn't answer, instead digging her nails into Jeb as she tightened her grip on him. The sun's rays were no longer making it through the darkened sky. Jeb was about to drop the reins and dismount, thinking it better to stand still than ride blind, when lightening started to drop from the sky. Jagged electricity cracked as thunder ruckled, lighting up the desert in brief moments of brilliance that turned to blackness just as quickly as they'd come. Jeff raised his rifle in the direction of the bandits and waited for the next time the sky would light the world. He didn't have to wait long, as another bolt dropped and split a tree. With a deft flick of his wrist Jeb moved the sights over one of the bandits and squeezed the trigger. Jeb couldn't see if his bullet connected until the sky lit again, and when it did the bandit was laying on the ground by his horse.
“I got one!” Jeb screamed into the gale force winds whipping across the desert, bringing sand, rock and other debris with it. “Did you see that! I got one!”
Betsy clutched Jeb for dear life. She wasn't too sure about the sheriff. He seemed like a solid gunfighter but at the same time a strangeness had filled his voice. He sounded manic, like he was coming unhinged in the firefight. Betsy had seen it before, when men cracked in the heat of battle and started to act loopy. She hoped that wasn't happening to Jeb now, because the real punch of the spell she'd just uttered was about to fall from the sky.
Jeb let out a war whoop and charged the bandits, a smile on his face. This was what Jeb lived for, these moments of exhilaration that knit violence together. He felt more alive riding his horse across that desert plane under a sky black as soot. The feeling flowed through his veins like a drug. Jeb slammed his spurs into his horses side as he urged it forward toward the road and the four or so bandits that had stopped moving. They kept wheeling their horses about, looking at the sky and then down at Jeb like he was crazy to want to continue the fight. At this point they seemed like they'd had enough, like they wanted to call it a wash or a draw or something else that meant both sides won or lost. They just wanted to go home. Jeb knew this was the time to press the fight. Now was the time to advance against a foe whose heart was no longer in the fight. He fired his rifle as he road toward them, and when that ran dry he threw it back in its scabbard and drew his pistol.
“Come on!” Jeb screamed. “Come on and give it to me! I thought you guys were bad men! I thought you bandits were the real deal!” The rest of his words got swept away by the wind, snatched out of his mouth and sent tumbling across the desert like weeds uprooted.
Jeb closed with bandits, fanning the hammer on his pistol so that his shots came in rapid succession. Pop, pop, pop, pop. Two more of the bandits dropped from their horses and lay on the ground very still. The rest of the remaining bandits wheeled their horses away and took flight. Jeb didn't leave the road, content to call the route a victory.
“That's right!” Jeb shouted. “You don't forget the day you crossed paths with me! You cowards!”
Jeb wheeled his horse around to look back the way he'd come and his mouth dropped open. Behind them another group of bandits was advancing across the plane. They must have been the group that had been in the tunnels.
“Oh, I see they've found their courage and have come to avenge their friends!” Jeb said.
Jeb slammed his pistol back in his holster and drew the rifle once more. He loaded it as quickly as possible, then racked a round into the chamber.
“Don't worry boys,” Jeb said. “Don't you worry. It'll be like when I when I fought thirty Indians at the same time. The battle of Los Hills is still sung about to this day!”
Jeb charged, firing his rifle as he helped the bandits close the few score of yards between them. The sky crackled like grease on a skillet. More hail fell, along with rain. Lightening strobed across the sky, sometimes bending down to split a tree or bust a rock in half. The group of bandits charging them spread out into a line, about thirty across. Jeb didn't shy away though, not once.
“What are you doing?” Betsy yelled into his ear. “We need to run! Don't you understand? We need to get out here.”
Jeb wasn't listening though. His rifle moved down the line from bandit to bandit, making one or two drop to the ground and roll, clutching at their chests. The line broke before it made it to Jeb. Instead of riding into a snarl of bandits Jeb reined in his horse and briefly retreated before turning to resume fire on the bandits in disarray.
“Thought you were tough guys, did you!? Thought it would be as easy as that. Just charge him and he'll either die or run. But what if that doesn’t work?” Jeb screamed. “What if I don't die and I don't run? What then?”
Jeb's headed twisted as something reached down out of the sky. A twister. One so big it made Jeb's mouth drop open. He'd seen one before back at his parent's homestead but not like this. This one was huge, a monster, as wide as barn where it touched the ground. Jeb blanched as he looked at it.
“Holy shit!” Jeb hollered. “Holy shit that's a big one. We've got to get out of here!”