Both Barrels of Monster Hunter Legends (Legends of the Monster Hunter Book 1)

by Josh Reynolds

  He found the hill above their meeting place and scrambled to the top to look over.

  His father wasn’t there.

  The boy scouted through the woods, looking to make sure he had the right spot, though he knew that he did. Then he sat down and waited, hoping to see his father walking toward him through the trees. It was not possible that he wouldn’t come…

  After waiting for some time, tears began to well up in the boy’s eyes. He tried to hold them back as he followed his own trail, returning to the wagon train, hoping that his father had made his own way back and would be there to greet the boy.

  But even as the wagons came into sight, he knew that it hadn’t happened. The Keeper stood at the edge of the woods, waiting for him. The thin man smiled in his cruel and poisonous way before mocking the question.

  “No blood?”

  The boy walked past him and went straight to his father’s wagon. He climbed in, pulled the flap shut behind him and buried himself between the chest and a barrel to wait.

  The change did not happen quickly, nor was it easy to watch. By lantern light, shadow played a role, and as some skin folded and new skin appeared, some was pale and some was covered in the wolf’s coat. Where before there was a beast, now there appeared an arm with a human hand. Then a shoulder was there, and then a man’s face.

  Watching it too closely, the mind was likely to become confused; there is always that dark place where there is no explanation for what the eyes are seeing but that the gut knows should not be happening.

  It took the better part of an hour.

  In the end, not all of the men were able to stomach the sight. Wallace had never come back. Bobby Myers left nearly as soon as the change began, but after some time returned to the dim-lit chamber to see a man lying in the dirt. Chained next to him was a wolf. The man breathed, but seemed unconscious. The wolf was dead, throat cut, body singed from the blast, and a hind leg ruined from a bullet.

  It took him a moment to speak.

  “It’s…it’s just like you said.”

  William was silent. Better to let the other man work it out for himself. After another moment, Bobby backed up a little and spoke in a constricted voice, “It’s dawn.”

  Without looking at him, William answered, “I know”.

  Bobby turned and left, and William knew that he had lost another.

  The man stirred. He moved slowly and did not struggle, and by the time his eyes were open and he was fully awake, it was obvious to William that he stared into the same eyes now that he had all night.

  The man moved to sit up, oblivious of the fact that he was unclothed and bound by heavy chains. Movement was almost impossible with the dead animal secured to him, and in the end he gave up and merely looked back at William with a dead stare.

  “It only works at night, doesn’t it?”

  The man nodded slowly.

  William pointed his rifle at the man’s healed knee, then slowly moved it to point at the wolf’s ruined leg.

  “That’s a good trick.”

  The man replied, “Part of the bargain.”

  William was surprised that the man spoke, and considered the calm, flat voice.

  “What bargain is that?”

  The man shifted uncomfortably in the chains and just stared at William for a moment. Then he spoke again in the same, uncaring tone.

  “You have more questions than that, and I can answer them.” He looked at the chains wrapped around, and then up to William. “But, we will need to come to some sort of an arrangement…”

  William snorted.

  “The arrangement is, you answer every damn thing I ask you, and if the other men have any questions, you’ll answer those too. Then, before dark, I’ll put a bullet in your head. If you don’t care for that arrangement, then we’ll just skip forward to the last part.”

  The man said nothing.

  “Are you the one that attacked this camp and killed the men’s families?”

  The man answered, “Yes.”

  The bluntness of it left William cold. He didn’t bother to look at Akiva, but only because he knew that the young man did not have a gun. The man surprised him again by continuing.

  “But if it is retribution that they want, they’ll need to kill you along with me.”

  “How is that exactly?”

  “The day you nailed Lassiter’s head to the side of that barn, you damned everyone around you. These men, this camp, it was all because you were riding in this direction. Had you been riding in another, these men would be with their families right now…”

  William’s throat caught. He could feel Akiva’s eyes turn on him.

  The man in chains kept his calm demeanor as he continued.

  “You rode in this direction because something calls to you, and you follow it. You’ve been following it for a while now, haven’t you? And after everything you’ve seen, where most men would run, you search for it out even harder. Isn’t that right?”

  William said nothing.

  “I’ll tell you something else—your girl is going to get more and more sick until she dies, and there won’t be anything you can do about it unless I tell you how to save her.”

  William started, shocked.

  He had left Sara and Fong behind so that he could ride to investigate the mining camp that had been attacked only nights before. Sara had been growing more and more ill, too sick to ride, and desperately needed rest.

  But the news of the attack was only two days old, and he had to know…

  He leveled the gun at the man’s head as rage leaked into his words “You tell me how to help her right now…”

  “No.” He looked at William through eyes that left no question of negotiation. “You can either shoot me in the head and learn nothing, or you can unchain me and then I’ll tell you how to help her.”

  William paused, caught off-guard…the man leant an edge to his voice.

  “There isn’t medicine for what she’s got. There ain’t no doctor that can help her. She hardly sleeps, and if she does she wakes up screaming, I know. You don’t have much longer before she’ll die from sheer exhaustion.”

  William turned to Akiva, “Keep one chain around his ankle and take the rest off.”

  The young man hesitated. William offered his rifle to the young man.

  “Unless you want to take this and cover me while I do it—but you’d better be ready to shoot…”

  Akiva turned and walked to the man, knelt, and began undoing the chains. William knelt for his pack and removed a blanket, tossing it at the man.

  It wasn’t long before the man was sitting, blanket over him, looking back at William.

  “Thank you. I’ll need a little water. Then I’ll tell you how to help your girl.”

  William hung the strap of a water skin over the barrel of his rifle and pointed it at the man. The man took it, and drank deeply. When he was done, he replaced the stopper, laid the skin on the ground, and began.

  “You asked about the bargain…”

  Strain constricted William’s growl, “Tell me how to help the girl.”

  The man looked at him patiently.

  “I am.” He waited for William to calm, then spoke. “The bargain is made between man and spirit. It takes a while to explain that, and you have to do it to really understand it, but for the sake of time I’ll cut it short and say that only a few folks can hear the spirits. The spirits knows this, and when one finds someone who can sense it, it stays with that person. Then it becomes a matter of time before that person has to choose to let the spirit in, or to keep it out.”

  William’s face twisted into an ugly sneer.

  “You’re saying that she’s like you? An animal?”

  The man shook his head.

  “Not her. You.”

  Anger welled up deep within William and collided with a deeper truth, tearing through his gut and closing down his mind. It was all he could do to keep his feet. He spent a moment taking deep breaths, then whispered.


  “Akiva, go outside.”

  “Will you be…”

  “GO!”

  The young man turned and left.

  William let his rifle drop into the dirt and drew his pistol as he lowered himself onto his knees next to the man. He grabbed a handful of the man’s hair into his left fist and shoved the pistol underneath his chin.

  “I don’t care for your words or your games—I didn’t kill those men’s families—you did.

  But so help me God, I won’t think twice about killing you.”

  The man struggled to speak.

  “You know what I’m saying is true, you can feel it. So can she…”

  They locked stares. William’s finger tightened around the trigger, panic and denial sliding back and forth in his eyes.

  “The girl knows because she can hear the spirits too, and they are telling her what you are. She doesn’t understand it, doesn’t believe it because you’ve shown her kindness, but as she blocks them out, they come on stronger and make her sick…”

  “This is a load of shit…” William’s finger flexed.

  “No! I have nothing to gain by lying to you. You know it’s true, anyway, whether or not you choose to face it.”

  Tension left William’s hand and he slowly lowered the pistol. He let go of the man’s hair and sat back.

  The man slowly reached for the water and drank to clear his throat, never taking his eyes off of William. When he was done, he lowered the skin and spoke in the flattest voice yet.

  “I have a son, not much younger than the girl you rescued. He’s with a wagon train right now. I have until nightfall to make it back.” Emotion crept around the edges of his voice, “If I don’t, they’ll kill him.”

  Anger began to flood back into William…

  “What in the hell are you doing out here with a boy? What kind of man turns into animal with his son sleeping by…”

  “A man who doesn’t have a choice.”

  “Every man has a choice!”

  “No! Think it through—after what I just told you—did you choose that? There’s a spirit that wants you, and you have not one choice in the matter at all.”

  Anger burned in the man’s voice now.

  “The boy’s mother died after he was born and I was all he had. I’d made my living as cattle hand, but I couldn’t take him on a drive, and there was no one to care for him. I tried to hire out for odd jobs, tried to settle down, but the money was always short and we just got shuffled from place to place.” He paused, breathing heavy, his voice dropping.

  “When the spirit found me I fought it, but I got sick. Real sick. It was sometime after that that the Company found me. They brought money, fed my boy, taught me how to heal myself. When I was back on my feet, they had a job for me to do to pay them back.” His eyes shadowed with regret and pain. “Do what they wanted or the boy and I would die. There was never a choice for me in it, William Hesketh, and there ain’t one for you.”

  “You know my name…”

  The man paused, “We all know your name.”

  William blanched at that, more questions cascading through his mind. He tried to focus.

  “I don’t know yours.”

  The man smiled wistfully.

  “Sean Drymon. My son’s name is Kyle. Wish I could say it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  William nodded at that and considered his next question.

  “You mentioned the Company?”

  Sean considered that for a moment. “You know the Company I mean.”

  “Men like you…”

  “Some of them, yes.”

  “How many are there?”

  “A handful. I don’t know exactly. More than a few.”

  “And you all work for this company? What do they do? What do you do?”

  “I, and they, do whatever needs to be done…” He looked away.

  “Doing what?” William narrowed his eyes. “All I’ve seen of your work has been killing and torturing little girls.”

  Sean continued to look away. “Sometimes that’s what it is.” He looked back up. “The man that runs the outfit, De La Corte, is like I am…like we are.”

  William narrowed his eyes at that. Sean rebuked him.

  “Remember when I tell you that it’s not a choice. You will bend to the desires of the spirits, or you’ll die trying not to. There is no middle ground.”

  William shook his head, “So what does this De La Corte have to do with you keeping your word to me?”

  Sean held up a hand.

  “That’s the problem. The Company has begun to break down and factions are forming. De La Corte still has control, but the spirits whisper that he might not keep it for long. He needs more men, strong men. They have to be stronger than the ones that now oppose him. He has to rebuild a gang to fight off the one he already created. It’s why he wants you.”

  William blanched, “Why me?”

  Sean laughed at that.

  “You’ve killed his wolves without even making the change yourself. And you don’t run. You just keep fighting harder and keep hunting. De La Corte craves strength like that. He has very badly wanted you to join him for some time now…”

  A terrible thought entered into William’s mind and his hand reached again for the pistol…

  “He thinks I’ll join up and turn into some dirty monster?”

  Sean shook his head.

  “No. He thinks he’ll force you into doing what he wants. No choices, remember?”

  “So why did he send you after me last night? You didn’t come to have words.”

  “He didn’t. The men that want take over the company did, and they don’t give a damn whether I killed you, you killed me, or we both killed each other. It all works out for them.” He paused for a moment, “My days are numbered. The factions have begun killing each other off, and I am far from the strongest. All I want is to get my boy and run. If I don’t get out, my son and I are dead. But if we get away, maybe they’ll kill each other before they come after me. I’ve just been waiting for the chance.”

  “What about the spirits?”

  Sean nodded his head.

  “That’s been part of the problem. But there’s rumor of a place where people like us go and don’t change at all. It’s a place where the spirits can’t follow, and the madness cannot take hold. They say De La Corte himself spoke of it, somewhere in the deep south. As soon as I have my boy, I’m riding for Georgia.”

  William balked.

  “You’re riding for Georgia because of a rumor you heard? That doesn’t sound like good odds to me.”

  “I’m not going there because its good odds. I’m not going there because I believe the rumor. I’m going because it’s the only chance I got…” His voice dropped low, “And because something about it makes the spirit that rides me afraid. Nothing else does that. Nothing. So I figure there might be something to it. I also figure that whatever it is about the place that scares the spirit in me might do the same for the spirit that’s killing your girl.”

  William could see the fear in the man’s eyes. He wasn’t lying. William’s head spun with everything he had learned, and he was more lost than he had ever been.

  “They’ll know I’m alive as soon as dark falls. Soon as they do, they’ll kill my son and send others after us both. Help me get my son and I’ll feed your girl’s spirit until we can get to Georgia—it’ll leave her alone for a while if it gets the blood it wants.”

  “You’ll have to keep killing to do that.”

  Sean nodded.

  “There ain’t no way out of that for me. Not until we get to Georgia. But I can save her. And if we move fast, you might be able to save yourself—but it’s coming for you, make no mistake.”

  Somewhere inside, William could feel it. He had for while. He didn’t trust Sean, but he knew that parts of what the man said were true.

  William holstered his gun and reached for the chains.

  It was almost dusk when the
flap to the wagon was pushed open and the boy’s father climbed in.

  Joy rushed like a cold shock over the child’s stiff limbs; he hadn’t moved from his hiding place all day.

  His father held a quick finger to his lips, silencing the boy, then wrapped his arms around him and hugged him close. After a moment, he whispered.

  “When it gets dark, I want you to leave very quietly and go back to the place I showed you last night. A man will be waiting for you there. His name is William.”

  The boy shook his head…“The Keeper wants to kill you, you have to come…”

  Sean put a hand on Kyle’s cheek and smiled.

  “I’m coming, but I have to take care of a few things first. After we leave, we’re not coming back.”

  A smile spread over Kyle’s face, and was mirrored on his father’s. The man pulled the boy in close then and just held him.

  The moment it was full dark, the Keeper knew that Drymon had returned. A small thrill tingled through him as he climbed from his own wagon and made his way to the cook’s fire, where Drymon was eating and waiting. The other man looked up from his plate as soon as the Keeper came into view.

  “You have failed again, Sean, though it is interesting that you seem to have escaped your bonds. However did you manage such a feat?”

  Sean ignored the Keeper.

  “You’ve never been good at following orders, Sean. Fortunately, others are much better at completing the tasks that I give them.”

  Sean looked to the wolf cages, noticing too late that one of the three was missing.

  The Keeper smiled.

  “Surely you didn’t think that your failures would continue to be tolerated?”

  Sean’s mind raced. Kyle was out in the woods now, maybe even to Hesketh. But Hesketh wouldn’t know that another wolf had been called…

  “Your services will not be required this evening, Sean. I’ve sent Hector to take care of everything, and I am very confident that he will not fail. You may spend the evening with your son.”