The gunslinger walked outside, never taking his eyes off me.
Barely surprised rage seethed from his body as he clenched and unclenched his
fists. I tried to remain calm as walked out with him, nice and slow and my hand
never far away from my Peacemaker.

We kept going until we left the bar and were in the middle
of the street. No one bothered us or got in between us as we walked. A good
crowd followed us out of the saloon and lined up on the street though.

Carla was probably watching from somewhere but I had no time
to spare a glance to find even so tall a sight as her. I had eyes only for my
opponent, a man named Roscoe whom I had only met a few hours ago at the card
table. He had been free with his money and heavy with his drinking. The
combination had made me a lot of money in the past few hours. Then he had
accused me of cheating. I was willing to let the insult pass but he had
demanded that we throw down. So here we were out in the middle of the street
with me wondering just how fast this gunfighter really was. If his shooting was
as bad as his card playing I might live to see morning. If not, well… Carla
would have to find a new traveling companion.

We studied each other for a moment, each considering his
odds. Then Roscoe went for his gun. I drew and fired and saw my shot hit.
Roscoe fired too and the shot went wide. Out of the periphery of my vision I
saw a spectator gasp and sink to the ground. Damn. I hated it when innocents
were harmed.

I ambled over to where Roscoe was lying on the ground in a pool
of his own blood. He was still alive. Shot through the belly. A painful wound
but not a fast killing one by any stretch. His revolver was in the street where
he had dropped it, now several feet out of his reach, though he stretched
mightily for it as he let out gasps of agony. As I came upon him he gritted his
teeth and stared at me with all the venom that any man has had for another.

“Finish it dude!” he said. When I did nothing he added.
“Finish it or the Devil take ya’!

 We both know this is the end. Have the
gumption to make it quick.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” I told him. “She is.”

Carla stepped over the General Store and into the main
street, taking obvious care that she did not crush an innocent in the dark.
There was a gasp from the crowd as she lowered her hand to where my opponent
lay in the dust and scooped him up. He let out an agonized cry as she did this.
Then she had him to her mouth and was slipping him inside. With an intake of
breath she sucked his kicking legs, still protruding from her lips, into her
mouth. A moment later she swallowed and by the light of the moon a bulge
sliding down her throat was visible. Scattered applause from the crowd could be
heard.

“Needed a bath to be honest,” she said frankly.

Several cries of pain came from the roadside and I turned my
attention there to see what was up. The spectator who had been hit by Roscoe’s
bullet was still writhing in pain. The local sheriff and surgeon were with him.

“He’s been shot through the liver and by the way he’s
coughing up so much blood, the round turned around and went through his lung. I
don’t see an exit wound so he’s still got the bullet in him. I have no way of
knowing where it is. His chances of living are zero,” he pronounced solemnly.

“Then my friend would be obliged for the extra food,” I said
to the men.

“No!” said a woman, running up. “He’s my husband and he gets
a proper Christian burial. He should lie down in the Earth with his kin.”

“Now Martha,” said the Sheriff. “You know that any giantess
may consume anyone not long for the world or sentenced to die. It’s the law of
the whole territory.”

“You can’t deny him last rights. Where is Reverend
Breakridge?” she sobbed.

The reverend turned out to be easy to find since he had been
watching the whole commotion. He was slightly drunk himself but rattled off
last rights as though it were a practiced thing. Carla loomed over the
proceedings like a beautiful Valkarie, waiting to carry the injured man to
Valhalla.

When the sermon was finished, Carla addressed the man in a
soothing voice. “Thank you very much for filling my belly friend. I know you
didn’t plan on it but I will remember and appreciate the sacrifice you are
about to make.”

Everyone agreed that these were downright kind words from
the beautiful woman. Everyone except the widow to be who had to be led away for
her own good before she did herself an injury.

Gently, almost reverently, Carla picked up the bloodied man
and in one swift motion, swallowed him whole. She was kneeling down in the
street as she did this so we got a good look at the man as he disappeared into
the darkness of her mouth. Then her lips came together and in one swift motion
that was timed with a flick of her head, she gulped him down. Now the bulge
moving down her throat was obvious.

It had been three weeks since we had left Dust City. Since
then Carla had only eaten the two volunteers that had come with us from there.
We expected three prisoners from the local jail tomorrow who had been accused
of being horse thieves but it didn’t mean that Carla didn’t miss a steady diet
of tiny men. Heaven knew that she never missed an opportunity to remind me
while we were on the trail.

“I should have saved those two nice young men for longer,”
she would say. “They were so tender and tasty. It’s so rare that bandits taste
that way. That delicious Lee was so yummy, you have no idea Mal. And what a
treat when I ate Thaddeus. He was so spirited in my belly. He must have
struggled for five whole minutes. I really need to get to a big city with more
volunteers.”

Those two boys had become Carla’s dinner our second and
third night after leaving Dust City. Generally Carla didn’t remember the names
of whom she ate but the two young men had gained some measure of immortality in
her memory partially for being so enjoyable and partially because they were the
last two men she had eaten up until now.

Carla was obviously enjoying the sensation of having humans
in her belly again. She rubbed her stomach to more applause, despite the fact
that two of the local townsfolk were within and only one disserved to be.

“Feel better Carla?” I asked.

“Not in the least Mal. Granted things worked out for us- you
with surviving the gunfight and me with a couple tasty men in my belly but you
know how I hate it when you duel! My heart was in my throat the whole time.
Imagine if you were shot instead of him.”

“Then I imagine I’d be in your belly right now in his
place.” I joked.

“Don’t even joke about that Malcom. You know perfectly well
that I have no intention of eating you.”

“Even if I had been bleeding to death?” I asked, genuinely
surprised.

“Well,” she considered. “That isn’t the point.”

I snickered.

“There is Nothing funny about this mister,” said Carla in
her businesslike tone of voice. “I told you not to do any dueling. When I do
the fighting then I eat and you stay alive. Everybody wins.”

“Except for the guys you eat,” I pointed out.

“Well yes. Except him.”

“It wasn’t my choice anyway. The man was itching for a fight
and would have drawn on me if I didn’t agree to take things outside. I didn’t
have time to call for you. But everything worked out in the end. I won the duel
and you got two meals out of it.”

Carla smiled at that. “Yes, things did go my way didn’t
they?”

She picked me up and I stared at her beautiful face. Her
gigantic lips gave me a kiss on the whole of my chest. Beautiful, soft lips. It
was hard to imagine anyone cringing away from them in fear like Roscoe had done
only a few moments ago. Of course, he was not being kissed at the time but being
eaten alive.

“Okay you little ball of fire,” said Carla. “Time for bed. I
want you on my belly tonight. Tomorrow I have the three prisoners for breakfast
and then we move on to find that other giantess.”

We stopped by the local jail on the way out of town. Carla
let me down to speak into the barred window.

When the three men inside were up and staring out at Carla
she smiled down at them.

“I just wanted to remind you boys that tomorrow at this time
you’ll be in my stomach,” she told them with an evil grin. She lifted her shirt
and rubbed her bare belly as she smiled at them. “Sweet dreams. See you
tomorrow.”

Then we left for the outskirts of town where she lay down
and we went to sleep.