Mars

The wind was increasing.

Wyatt watched as it blew red sand across the surface of what had been New Austin, coating the rubble with its rust like palette. He sat, perched on the remains of a Tucker ’96 Shadow ATV, smoking a cigarette and waiting for the end.

All those years of terra-forming, then the growth pains of setting up a new community, all for nothing. Soon, the old atmosphere would return and all life here would once more be extinct.

Almost all life.

It would continue of course, just like it had for ages untold. If only we had known that before we came to this barren world. If only we had known that all the legends had sprung from here, so very close to our home.

All the legends, the myths, the stories of ancient evils. All true, every last god forsaken one of them.

He pulled the gun from his holster, a silly but functional replica of the six shooters they used to carry in the old west, on Earth. New Austin had been a bit of an affectation, really. A designer colony, for those who wanted to live the pioneering lifestyle of ancient America.

What pioneer ever had to face this reality?

Wyatt considered ending his own life, all it would take was a single bullet. But he had five left and it seemed like a waste not to use them. They wouldn’t do any good, bullets had already been tried. But still, it would bring him some small bit of satisfaction before his time was done.

As long as it got there before the atmosphere turned….