“Now don’t you be mentioning god, I don’t quite think he would take kindly of
Toomswood folk throwin his name around in vain,” Jones says back.
“Jones, I knew you were up to no good but this…this is inhuman! Look at that! What did you do to those men?!” Dugan exclaims.
“Well, to be honest, it was mainly my
men…apparently they gotta lust of blood and, well flesh, if I am correct. Yep, you should have seen Jackson. By golly he was ripping that poor boy to shreds. Before I knew it, he had an arm in his mouth and he was chewing on that thing like a dog to a bone,” Jones laughs again.
“You’re sick, your hear me?! Sick!” Dugan yells at him. “I got you now, you bastard!” “You got me? Is that so? How in the hell you figure that Dugan?” Jones asks him. “Oh, cause of what I’ve done? I don’t rightly give a shit anymore and you know what? Your voice annoys me.” Jones then shoots Sheriff Dugan three times with his fast acting dexterity as he collapses against the wall. “Now you see what you’ve gone and made me do? Here’s the thing Sheriff. You can’t stop me or my men. There’s a storm coming in here, you hear? I’m going to claim this whole town and what’s rightfully mine.” Dugan tries to get up but falls.
“Jones…you…you’re not going to do any of this…”Dugan says in pain. “Well Sheriff I don’t know if you can say that since you won’t be around much longer to find out. Oh, by the way, I don’t want you coming back undead, or maybe I do, but I’ll leave that to my men to handle.” It is then that the three dead men in the jail cell get up and slowly adjust before their eyes meet Henry Dugan.
“I got another six hours of creating me some undead soldiers and here’s my newest members. Now boys, after you’re done taking care of the Sheriff here meet me over at the saloon,” Jones says and again laughs. Jones then walks out of the jail, leaving the three bloodthirsty men with Dugan. Henry Dugan, like any man in such a situation, would have loved to enjoy the final moments of his life in peace but he would soon find out that this was not possible.
Over at Mason’s Ranch Emerson and Clive continue to try to convince Mason and his men to join them in the fight against Javier. “Well you know I’m more a farmer than a fighter but hell nobody loves this town more than I do so you can count me in as well,” Mason says to them. “Alright, well Mason you and your eight men just did us justice by agreeing to fight. Now do you know where else we can get people?” Emerson asks.
“Well haven’t most the towns folk agreed to fight?” Mason asks back. “Most of them yes but the outsiders have turned us down. Only fifty from town have agreed and three from out of town. We are running out of options,” he says. “We’re about to head over to the other side of Edgeville.”
“Well you guys go on ahead and I’ll convince the rest of the town to fight. I’ll bring my shovel plow along too, I’ll make some more use out of it rather then the usual preparing the grass soddies that’s for sure!” Mason says. “Alright, well good luck Mason. Maybe you can reach them better then we can.”
Emerson and Clive make their way back to the center of town as people are gathered around the jail. They go over to ask what all the commotion is about when someone tells them. “Sheriff Dugan was attacked along with three other men but then those three men got up and killed him!”
“Mr. Shaw, it’s awful in there, it’s just awful. I went in because I needed to talk to the Sheriff and oh god!” the man says, unable to console himself. Emerson steps into the doorway but he’s stopped.
“Emerson don’t go in there…it’s not a pretty site at all,” another person says to him. “No, I have to. I have to see what we are up against and I need to see Henry.” “Well…that’s just it…” But before the man can say anything else, Emerson makes his way into the office and to the jail. As he stops at the cells, he looks in and his jaw drops in horror. He doesn’t see a body…what he sees are the body parts of what appears to be Henry Dugan scattered all over the jail. Near the cell door lies mangled arms and legs while on the bed lies bones. Those are the only parts that are recognizable.
Emerson turns away and puts his hand to his mouth. As he looks over to Henry’s desk, he sees a head laying there with its mouth open however it is not Henry Dugan’s.
Emerson makes his way out of the office and back into the crowd. “Look folks, I know some of you don’t wanna fight and I don’t blame you after seeing what’s in there. I just know that if we wanna stop Javier and his men, it’s gonna take all of us to do so,” Emerson says.
“I sure don’t wanna die but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sit around and be killed by them. I’m going out fighting!” someone yells from the crowd.
“Me too!”
“Me three!” The whole crowd is exclaiming their will to fight into the mix. “I just want all of you to be aware of what you’re getting yourselves into. If you don’t want any part of this war then pack your bags up and go into Edgeville where it’s safe,” Emerson says.
“We’re with you, Mr. Shaw. We are with you until the end!” a man says. “Alright well here is the deal. Ladies and children are to leave the town within the hour. If you’re wounded and are willing to fight, I appreciate your pride but we cannot take those already hurt. You gotta go into Edgeville with the woman and children. If you’re drunk, I suggest you lay off the bottle for a while cause we need everyone alert.” People laugh at this statement. “Everyone get ready to go either out of town or to fight. We’ll all meet back here in a couple of hours. In the mean time, where is Jones?” Emerson asks.
“I heard he was going back over to Elmsworth Cemetery. Didn’t say why though, just laughed,” someone says.
“He must be going there to get more dead people out of the ground,” Emerson says with a sigh. “Clive how many people would you say we have right now?”
“I have no idea. We got a lot more than eighteen now. If I had to guess, I’d say a good half of the townsmen,” Clive says back. Soon everyone goes to their homes to prepare as Emerson and Clive try to come up with some kind of strategy for the seemingly inevitable war. As they talk, a man with medium length wavy blond hair and a black brim hat, brown coat, denim pants and tan boots rides into town on his horse.
“Are you Emerson Shaw?” the man asks. “Yeah, what can I do for you?”
“My name is Alonzo Boone. I’m a bounty hunter from Edgeville. I heard you’re looking to put a stop to Javier Jones. I thought you might like my help.”
Emerson looks the man over, getting an odd feeling in his gut, but makes nothing of it. “What’s your beef with Jones?” Emerson asks him. “You kidding me? He’s a wanted man in Mexico and the good word of that travels. Like I said, I’m a bounty hunter so I’m looking to cash in and claim the prize.”
“Well, you realize it’s not just Jones we’re up against right?” he asks. “Jones is killing people and turning them into undead soldiers and soon he’ll have a whole army.”
“Well I’ll be damned,” Boone says. “I was just looking to kill Jones but I didn’t hear anything about him getting more people but it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other, you can count me in. I enjoy a good fight just as much as the next person.”
“Good cause we can use all the people we can get. I’m sending those who can’t fight out of town and over to yours,” Emerson says.
“Yeah, it’s quite safe in Edgeville so they should be good,” Boone says back. “So tell me Alonzo, you always been a bounty hunter?” Emerson asks him. Before Boone can answer, shots are fired further into town.
“That must be Jones, starting his spree of killing. Maybe we can stop him before he gets more people,” Emerson says.
“Not with just us three. There’s no way.” Clive adds. “Well let’s at least go check it out and see what the shot was and let’s see what Jones is up to.” They get on their horses and Alonzo Boone tags along as they get to where the shots were fired. They are surprised to notice Jones is not there. Two dead bodies lay five feet apart from each other
.
“Just a duel gone wrong,” Clive says as he shakes his head. “We told everyone to leave. Why were these two fighting at a time like this? I didn’t expect everyone to listen but I didn’t expect more bloodshed, especially two innocent guys just dueling it out over god knows what,” Emerson says.
“I’ll let Harris the undertaker know so he can come for the bodies. We can’t rightly be leaving bodies out for Jones to make into more soldiers. We gotta head into Edgeville to see if we can get some more people. Alonzo you wanna come with us?” Emerson asks.
“Yeah, why not? I know the people there so maybe I can help convince them to join in on the fight,” he says. Emerson, Clive and Alonzo all leave town and head to the other side of Edgeville and begin asking the towns people to join the fight.
Back in Toomswood, Javier Jones and his men sit on top of the hill of Elmsworth cemetery awaiting the rest of the soldier’s Javier was promised by Helmsfeld. As the hours pass, midnight approaches.
“Well boys, any minute we’re gonna have ourselves a whole bunch of civil wars finest soldiers here at our disposal. Oh, I’m excited!” Jones says. “Aren’t you guys excited?” His men just grunt and moan eerily in low pitched voices.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Jones laughs. It is then that about fifty feet from where they stand, a gray mist becomes a bright yellow light and shadows emerge from the light and it becomes clear. Out of the clearing mist, a march of men in gray uniforms make their way toward Jones. They are dressed in civil war gear and carry muskets and rifles and seem to show no emotion on their faces. They appear as they were last seen on earth with wounds,
lacerations and blood on some parts of their uniform and body.
“Oh wow, will ya look at that! That’s a thing of beauty,” Jones says. “I wonder if General Lee or any other confederate Generals are gonna be coming! Oh, that would make my night!” Jones says in excitement. Before he knows it, there they are. More than two hundred and fifty men stand before Jones awaiting his command. Jones walks down the line to look at them.
“Excellent. All these confederate soldiers at my disposal,” Jones smiles wickedly. As he continues further down the line he stops and laughs uncontrollably. “Well I’ll be! You out did yourself, Mr. Helmsfeld! You really did,” Jones says to himself as he finally gets the man’s name right when he isn’t there.
Jones stops at one man who has stars on his uniform signifying he was a general. Jones laughs before talking to the man.
“Well sir, let me just say it is a true honor to have you fight along side me and I hope you’re as bad ass in this war as you were for us all those years ago in the Civil War.” Jones joyfully starts skipping, before realizing what an idiot he must look like.
“Again, it is a true honor and I can’t wait to see you fighting, Mr. Stonewall Jackson sir.”
Chapter 8 The Showdown
Hell had arrived in the late hours of the night. Chaos erupted with fires all over town and shooting in every direction, as bullets flew into anything they could penetrate. Everything was a target, whether it was a barrel, windows, wood, or even people. The thunderous stampede of boots marched heavily through the dirt roads of the town along with either a shot being fired or a loud yell being made soon after.
It seemed as though no one was safe from the rifle and pistol fire and the display at hand. Everywhere you looked there was something unsettling happening and as of right now it seemed like Javier and his men had a clear advantage. They took the townspeople off guard and were doing everything they could to unleash an utter onslaught of mayhem upon them. The town would need to think fast and try to put a stop to them before things get even more out of hand.
As Javier and his many men of the undead had begun their wreaking of havoc upon the town.
Everyone in town was either running out of their homes or running through the roads. No one was putting up a fight because, well, there wasn’t time to prepare. They all had planned to come together later on but later came early and Javier had begun his fury before they were ready. It was because of his early reign that women and children were still in the process of packing and trying to leave.
“Son of a bitch!” Clive yells to Emerson. “I don’t know what the hell we were thinking in not staying together for the night but then again, I didn’t think the bastard would just start lighting the town on fire! This place is already starting to look like hell, we may have a massacre on our hands! “We gotta get the women and children out of here first. They are our key priority. I don’t care what it takes, just get them out!” Emerson says. Emerson and Clive began running around, making rounds to any women or child in sight and getting them to safety.
“We got very few safe havens right now, Em. You got any ideas?” Clive asks him. “Captain Wallace said he lined up four wagons over near the back of the station. Get everyone over there and have whoever you can get them out of here,” Emerson says back to him. It is then that a man runs past Emerson engulfed in flames, screaming. He falls to the ground but the fire has already done its damage. When he falls, he dies leaving a crisp body on the dirt road.
“Clive this is only the beginning! I don’t see any of them soldiers or Javier here yet. He must have sent his regular people and he’s coming in soon with reinforcements,” Emerson says. “Yeah I noticed. I see Bones’ buddy, Joey Morrey though. He must be the leader of this first regime,” Clive says back.
Joey Morrey looked very different from the last time he was seen by anyone. His skin had become gaunt and pale. His normal brown hair had strips of dry blood in it along with a faded gray look to it. His face looked as though his nose had been punched in two or three times and his clothes were torn and ripped. Worse than that, he smelled like any decomposing body would…like death and decay. Some of the men were on horseback but most were on foot. There were even a few undead women.
They were the saloon girls that Javier and his men fancied and made passes at every night. These women however, were no longer beauties to look at, well at least not to the living. They look as though they had been ravaged by death himself for whom after he was done with them left them not only scorned but scarred. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but this would be an
understatement to say the least.
Oh, such beauty had deteriorated in these women. Clive runs over to the back of the station along with about twenty women and children and tells them to get into the first wagon.
“Go straight into Edgeville. Do not make any stops, do you hear me?” Clive says to the man operating the wagon. He nods in approval and makes his way out of town. The undead men take a few shots at the wagon but do not injure anyone as the wagon rides off into the night.
“One down three to go Em!” Clive yells to Emerson. Emerson hears him but doesn’t respond back as he is fighting face to face with an undead man.
“Uhh…I’m…going…to...kill...you...Shaw,” the man groans to him. Emerson punches him in the face but the man just grabs his head and cracks it back into position. Emerson runs away from the man and over to Clive.
“Okay well, we have a way to get everyone to safety but how the hell do we kill these things?” he asks Clive. “Well that guy told Javier that after so many hours, they couldn’t die. It’s been a day and a half… you think a simple bullet will put em down now?” he asks back.
“From our pistols? Maybe if we shoot them in the head but then again I don’t know, but maybe a shotgun would do a lot more damage,” Emerson says back.
“That could work but I doubt there’s enough shotguns in town for everyone. Well, we’ll have to do with what we got as long as we aim for the heads and we can make our way over to the gun shop if possible. I know there’s a good amount in there.”
Clive nods and then goes back to go get the next group of women and children together to bring to the station. Meanwhile, Javier sits at the top of the hill with his undead civil war soldiers going over the final plans of attack. While he is talking to his men, it
is unclear as to whether or not they understand him. If they don’t then Javier is merely up on a hill of a cemetery talking to himself.
“Alright men, soon we’re gonna be having us a hell of a time!” he says to the men who just seem to grunt and groan, raising their rifles into the air. Back in town, just as people have begun to defend themselves, most of the undead have retreated. Clive makes sure Joey Morrey is not one of them. He holds the barrel of a shotgun to Morrey’s head and threatens to pull it. “Death may not seem like a big thing to you right now but I know how much you look up to Javier and I know it would upset you if you weren’t fighting alongside him,” Clive says to him, not sure if he understands.
“You...wont...do…it...you…coward,” Joey says back. Clive grips the gun firmly before asking Joey, “What’s Javier got in store for us, hmm? I know you know Joey. You follow him around like crud to a boot.”
“Death…to...all...death...to…all,” is all he says. Clive is then hit in the back of the head by someone and falls to the ground unconscious.
“Don’t…kill…him...tie…him…up…and hide...him,” Joey says to the man.
“Boss…wants…to…lure…Emer…son…out.”
They drag Clive out of the open and tie him up, leaving his body behind a building near the alley. Joey and the man then begin to make their way back up the hill but before they do, the man’s head is blown off and explodes into pieces.
“Now that’s what I call a bulls eye! Captain Wallace,” yells.
“Where’s Clive?” Emerson asks him and everyone else.
“Clive! Clive!” Emerson begins yelling for his friend but he does not come. “Captain, go get Joey and see what you can get out of him. Maybe he took Clive somewhere.” Wallace fires his shotgun as a bullet pierces Joey and his left arm falls off.
A Bloody Bloody Mess In The Wild Wild West Page 6