Twenty fiveIn the end, Hanson grew bored stomping around the empty house, put his revolver against Clifton's head, shielded his face from the inevitable spray of blood and blew the suffering man's brains out. Hanson saw it as an act of kindness, so didn't trouble himself by lingering on the event for too long. Gathering together the bags of money he'd found, he went outside, struggling through the snow, and tied them to the back of the mule sheltering in the lean-to stable. Glancing towards the sky, he pondered on his decision to leave, weighing up the alternatives. He knew there were none. There was no food remaining in the house, with very little wood to keep the fire burning. Within a few days he would die, frozen solid next to Clifton's corpse. Damn this world and everything in it, he
