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The Bounty Hunter Chronicles:
Billy Gaff & The Cranston Brothers
By: Michael Mulhollon
In the beginning, the machines tried to annihilate the human race by creating a nuclear holocaust and then exterminate the human survivors. Except, they did not get past the nuclear fire. When the missiles fired and struck all their targets the machines did not just brought the human race close to being an endangered species, but also themselves. The nuclear holocaust did not just destroy cities but also destroyed factories and industrial centers that built or would build machines that would exterminate the human race. This blunder allowed the humans time to reorganize and hunt down the machines that brought them to the brink and destroy them before they have a chance to rebuild and exterminate the human race. The machines, though, are able to quickly overcome this problem and keep themselves from being destroyed by masking themselves and their new creations as cyborgs.
Mankind’s existence again came into question as families and neighbors began doubting themselves and others and people started hurting or killing each other. People tried forming groups that could identify and hunt down these cyborgs and their hidden bases known as Hunters. The machines rebuilding efforts were then destroyed and changed their objective from annihilating the human race to survival and during this time, civilization was built like the old west as cities did not have towering skyscrapers and are smaller (in size) and they, towns and villages are more spread out. The machines then counter the Hunters efforts with better cyborgs that made them even more human that the Hunters could not make positive identifications themselves.
People began to fear the machines will again attempt to rebuild and annihilate the human race and turn to something that went against their own beliefs but had no choice. Building machines. To avoid endangering themselves again, contracts were created to selective organizations to build various, limited models (either cyborg or robots) to hunt down and whip out the machines that tried to exterminate the human race. These organizations built these machines and programmed that if they want to continue their existence, they have to follow the posted bounties and collect credits to pay for lounging, sustenance and/or repairs. When introduced, these machines became more ruthless and effective than their Hunter comrades and these new bred of machine hunters became known (with disdain) as Bounty Hunters.
The man in the black long coat and wide brimmed hat sat at the bar in a quiet 1800s like western town as people went about their business. A balding, middle aged, bar man approached him and asked, “Need something stranger?” The dark man pulled out a Wanted bill, sat it flat on the bar, facing the bar man as the bar man looked for a few moments and spoke to the dark man, “Sorry. Didn't see th…” Suddenly the swinging doors to the bar swung open and three, rowdy, stubbled faced, dirty men stumbled in, with two of them flopping in the seats around a round table at the left side of the bar while the other man approached the bar table and yelled, “Bartender! Three bottles of your finest whiskey!” The bar man turned his back to him and looked under the cabinets while the stranger looked at the dark, covered man sitting on the bar stool next to him, with his wide hat casting a shadow that covered his face. The stranger snorted as he smiled and asked, “Why the cloak and dagger bum? Someone stole your missy?” The stubbled face stranger laughed (showing his yellow teeth) while his two friends heard and laughed as well when a bar maid walked by. One of the men grabbed her and she yelped as she was yanked to sit on the man s lap and wrapped both his arms around her waist to keep her from leaving as he looked at her and said, “Kiss me sugar bums!” He made kissing noises as she yelped at him to let her go. The stranger at the bar laughed but turned his attention away from his buddies harassing the bar maid and asked again, “Well?” The man in black did not look at the stranger, let alone move, and the stranger began to look irritated and spoke firmly, “Listen here bum. If you are deaf and mute then your place is not here. So you better answer me bum.” There was a light tapping sound but the stranger did not turn his attention from the dark man’s shadowed face and this time the stranger looked angry and he stated, “Hey, crap stain!” The stranger’s friends stopped laughing and one of them let the bar maid go, as she ran away from their table, as they saw and heard their friend’s angry voice. The tapping sound continued, and the stranger finally began to notice and saw the dark man was tapping his left forefinger on a wore paper bill. The stranger took a couple of steps closer and saw it was a Wanted poster and he looked around the dark man’s tapping finger and the stranger stood completely still and wide eyed.
