Apocalypse Then

by Al Lamanda

  “I don’t know, Marshal,” Red Foot said. “This is very strange.”

  Lane pointed to three large dark spots on the ground. “What’s that?”

  “Let’s go see,” Red Foot said.

  They rode down the hill and into the heart of the Crown Nation where remnants of the people littered the landscape. Some broken pottery, worn blankets, circular patterns in the ground from the Teepee’s and other items were the only evidence that three thousand plus people occupied this space.

  Lane dismounted. Close to the river, the three large dark spots were raised several feel off the ground. “Anybody ever see anything like that?” he said.

  The others dismounted and together they walked to the dark spots. As they got closer, Lane said, “Do you smell that? What is that?”

  “Stop,” Red Foot said.

  “What?” Lane said.

  “Stop. Wait here,” Red Foot said.

  Red Foot walked closer to the first dark spot. When he reached it, he sunk to his knees and bowed his head for a moment. Then he stood and looked at the ashes of the Crow that had been burned to remove all traces of their bodies.

  Lane and the others came up behind Red Foot.

  “What is this?” Lane said.

  “I’ve seen it before,” Red Foot said. “When consumption plagued the Sioux, they stacked the dead and burned the bodies to remove all traces of the sickness. Afterward they covered the remains with dirt to remove the stench.”

  “You mean these piles are remains of dead Crow?” Lane said.

  Red Foot looked at Lane. “Something hit these people hard,” he said. “Hard enough to make them burn their dead and leave.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Scripture said.

  “Leave to where?” Lane said.

  “North,” Red Foot said. “Away from the sickness probably.”

  “What sickness?” Lane said. “Wouldn’t we have heard of a sickness?”

  “I don’t think the Crow wants much to do with the white man at this point,” Red Foot said. “Whatever it is they’re keeping it to themselves.”

  Lane sighed and thought for a moment. “Can we follow them, maybe see where they went?”

  “They’re gone at least a month or more,” Red Foot said. “Crow Nation is a quarter the size of Rhode Island. Follow them to where?”

  “A month,” Poule said. “About how long Craig is missing now.”

  Lane looked at his deputy. “Hold your mud, boy. We don’t know any of this is connected.” Lane turned to Red Foot. “Can we make the Army outpost before dark?”

  “If we give the horses some rest and grain we can,” Red Foot said.

  “Then we might as well rest and feed us, too,” Lane said.

  Chapter 9

  Sands and Teal stood at the base of the hills and looked up at the rocks. Once past a certain point it was a sheer climb to the top, about 1500 feet high.

  “We can ride the horses halfway, then we walk,” Sands said. “I don’t want to risk a broken leg or thrown shoe on those rocks.”

  “Are you sure he climbed?” Teal said. “Maybe he went around?”

  “I’m sure,” Sands said. “Give the horses a few minutes rest.”

  “Us, too,” Teal said and took a seat on the side of the hill. He removed a tobacco pouch from his shirt pocket and rolled a cigarette.

  Sands sat beside Teal. “There’s something else.”

  Teal struck a match against a small rock and lit the cigarette. “What?”

  “Marshal Craig was followed,” Sands said.

  “Are you sure?” Teal said. “I didn’t see a second set of tracks.”

  “Twenty yards to the north, a second man followed,” Sands said. “His tracks lead to here. He’s injured and walks with a limp.”

  “A limp?” Teal said. “And he climbed this pile of rock?”

  “Appears so.”

  Teal turned and look up. “From five hundred feet it’s a sheer climb,” he said. “I’m not sure the horses can make it much less a wounded man with a limp.”

  “You may be right,” Sands said. “I can mark this spot and we can look for a softer grade to climb. Then we can use the marker to find his path if I don’t pick up his prints.”

  “Mark it with what?” Teal said.

  Sands stood up and walked to a small tree growing out of the side of the hill. He used his knife to cut off two branches, then went to his horse and dug a leather strip out of his saddle bag. With the leather, he fashioned a cross and stuck it in the ground.

  “Good enough,” Sands said. “Let’s go.”

  Sands and Teal rode around the hill to a softer embankment with fewer rocks. They rode about seven hundred feet, dismounted and walked the horses to the top. The climb took about two hours.

  Leaving the horses to rest, Teal and Sands backtracked along the ridge where Teal searched for the cross with binoculars.

  “Footprints,” Sands said

  Teal searched below with the binoculars and spotted the cross.

  “And a second set not twenty feet to the right,” Sands said.

  “Let’s get the horses and follow,” Teal said.

  They followed the trail a mile to a soft hill that overlooked a cabin.

  “No smoke in the chimney or horses in sight,” Teal said. “I think it’s an abandoned lineman’s shack.”

  They cautiously rode down the hill and dismounted in front of the cabin.

  “Door’s open,” Teal said, drawing his Colt pistol. “Why’s it so dark inside?”

  Sands drew his pistol and a match from his pocket. They walked to the open cabin door and Sands struck the match against the doorframe. A lantern hung on a nail on the wall. Sands lit the lantern to illuminate the cabin interior.

  “Windows are boarded up,” Sands said.

  “It’s not abandoned,” Teal said. “It’s too well stocked.”

  Sands holstered his revolver and walked outside. Teal followed.

  “Now what?” Teal said.

  Sands looked at the footprints in the dirt and followed them around to the side of the cabin. Teal came around with him and the two men stared at the ground at the hundreds of footprints in the dirt.

  “Craig?” Teal said.

  “Got to be,” Sands said.

  Littered on the ground were pants, shirt, gun belt and holster, boots, socks, underwear. Teal picked up the shirt. It was covered in blood. Pinned to the pocket was Craig’s US Marshal badge.

  A few yards away, Sands picked up Craig’s Colt revolver and checked the shells. “Wasn’t recently fired,” he said. “At least not here.”

  Teal looked at the ladder against the side of the cabin. He climbed the ladder and stood on the roof. “Couple of cans of fruit,” he said.

  “Why go on the roof when there’s a perfectly good cabin?” Sands said.

  “I don’t know,” Teal said. “But he had a reason.”

  “Be dark in a few hours,” Sands said. “Best wait here for Lane and the others.”

  Teal walked to the other end of the roof to look around. He saw nothing out of place or even remotely dangerous. He returned to the ladder and was about to step down when he saw four men and a woman emerge from the woods directly behind Sands.

  Teal was momentarily shocked and frozen in place by their ghoulish appearance. Greenish skin tones, blood everywhere, they walked slowly toward Sands as if they were in some kind of trance.

  “Max!” Teal yelled down to Sands. “Behind you!”

  Sands spun around. “What in the…hey you people, are you staying in this cabin?” he said.

  The woman was lightest and quickest. She took Sands completely off guard when she rushed forward, opened her mouth and growled loudly. He raised his left arm just in time to shield his face and her teeth clamped down hard on the flesh of his forearm.

  Sands screamed as her sharp teeth pierced his shirt and bit into his flesh almost to the bone. With his right hand, he punched her in the head several times, but like a wild d
og, she held on and bit deeper, tearing away at the muscle.

  On the cabin roof, Teal drew his Colt and cocked the hammer. Below him, the four men were rushing toward Sands with open mouths, snarling like wild animals. Teal shot one in the chest and the .45 caliber bullet didn’t seem to faze him in the least. He fired several more shots, hitting shoulder, arm and chest again and it still kept coming.

  “Max!” Teal yelled.

  “What?” Sands said as he pulled his Colt and shot the woman in the head.

  The woman let go then, fell to the ground and twitched a bit before she went still.

  The four men were almost upon him and Sands emptied his Colt into them and they kept coming.

  “The roof!” Teal yelled.

  Sands turned and stepped onto the ladder. He climbed four rungs when a hand grabbed his leg. He yanked free and another hand grabbed his ankle.

  Teal fired two shots into the ghouls face and he fell away.

  Sands scampered up the ladder and stood beside Teal, who was reloading his Colt. “You’re bleeding,” Teal said.

  “Fucking bitch bit me clear to the bone,” Sands said.

  A head appeared above the roofline. It snarled and showed teeth and just as it stepped up, Teal shot it in the chest. It paused for a moment, then placed one foot onto the roof and Teal shot it in the head and it went over and down.

  “I think I know why he was on the fucking roof,” Sands said.

  “Reload,” Teal said.

  With blood streaming down his left arm, Sands reloaded his Colt. Then he and Teal stood, waiting, cocked revolvers at the ready.

  A head appeared and they shot it in the face and it disappeared.

  “Three plus the woman,” Teal said. “That leaves one.

  A head appeared above the roof line and Sands shot it between the eyes and it disappeared from view. “And that makes zero,” Sands said.

  “Reload your empties,” Teal said.

  Sands and Teal replaced their spent rounds with fresh ones, then they peered over the edge of the roof at the five dead bodies.

  “Anymore?” Teal said.

  “I don’t see any,” Sands said.

  “Cover me,” Teal said.

  Teal holstered his Colt and climbed down the ladder. As soon as he touched ground, he withdrew the Colt and cocked the hammer.

  Sands came down next, drew his Colt and they stood for a moment, scanning the woods.

  “Let’s get that arm bandaged,” Teal said.

  “You got any whiskey?” Sands said.

  “No. Let’s check the cabin.”

  On the way into the cabin, they paused at their horses to remove Winchester rifles, all extra ammunition and the extra revolvers in their saddlebags. They left the door open and lit two additional lanterns, placing one on the table.

  “I’ll look around for some whiskey,” Teal said.

  While Teal searched cabinets and shelves, Sands ripped off the sleeve covering his left arm. “Oh, Jesus Christ,” he said. “That bitch.”

  “Found some moonshine,” Teal said.

  “Got an extra shirt in my saddlebags,” Sands said.

  Teal went out to get the shirt, paused at the horses to look around, grabbed the shirt and returned to Sands.

  Sands opened the jug of moonshine and poured the whiskey directly onto the deep bite to sterilize it. “The bleeding won’t stop,” he said. “Best make a fire in that woodstove.”

  “Keep pressure on it,” Teal said as he went to the woodstove and picked up kindling from the storage bin.

  Sands wrapped the torn sleeve around the bite and held it in place. “What the hell is happening here?” he said. “That woman bit me like she was…hungry.”

  Teal got the fire going and added a few logs. He pulled his knife and added it to the fire, leaving the handle exposed.

  “Best take a few pulls on the jug,” Teal suggested.

  Sands removed his right hand from the bite and took several long swallows from the jug. “Craig’s clothes,” he said. “You don’t suppose those…things…?”

  Teal turned to look at Sands. “What? Ate him? Is that what you’re saying, they ate him?”

  Sands took another hit from the jug. “How’s that fire?”

  Teal picked up a stick of kindling, then pulled out the red hot knife. “Ready.”

  Sands nodded.

  Teal walked to the table and held out the stick. “Bite on this,” he said.

  Sands took the stick and placed it between his teeth. He grabbed the table with his right hand and nodded to Teal.

  Teal poured moonshine over the bite, wiped it with Sand’s torn sleeve, then pressed the searing hot knife onto the deep bite mark. Sands gripped the table hard as he bit down on the stick.

  After a few seconds, Teal removed the knife and inspected the cauterized skin. “Looks good,” he said.

  Sands spit out the stick and picked up the moonshine jug. “Fucking bitch,” he said and took a long swallow.

  “Go easy on that now,” Teal said. “I saw some coffee and a pot on the shelf. I’ll make us some.”

  Teal went to the pump next to a cast iron sink and after a half dozen cranks on the handle, water started to flow. He filled the blued coffee pot with water and coffee and set it on the woodstove to percolate.

  “Can you roll a cigarette for me,” Sands said. “My arm is so sore I can barely lift it off the table.”

  Teal sat at the table and rolled a cigarette. “We should wait here a while for the Marshal and the others,” Teal said as he tucked the rolled smoke between Sands’ lips.

  “I’d just as soon ride away from this place,” Sands said.

  Teal struck a match across the wood table and lit the smoke. “I don’t see a choice,” he said. “I don’t think you can do much riding with that arm. Besides, we don’t have much daylight left. A few hours at best.”

  Sands inhaled on the cigarette and blew smoke out through his nose. “What do you think happened?” he said. “To those people, I mean.”

  “Before we shot them all in the head?” Teal said.

  Sands grinned. “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know,” Teal said. “Sickness, maybe? Some kind of fever. Who knows.”

  On the woodstove, the coffee started to boil over. Teal went to the pot and filled two blued mugs and carried them to the table. “There’s some sugar and condensed canned milk on the shelf,” he said. “I like the milk, myself.”

  “Just the sugar’s fine,” Sands said.

  Teal went to the shelves beside the water pump and found a can opener. He punched two holes in the can, turned around and dropped the can to the floor when he saw a man crawling through the door.

  “Max!” Teal said, loudly.

  Sands turned and looked at the man crawling into the cabin. The man’s legs were gone at the knee. His face was a hideous green mask of decay. His left eye hung out of the socket by the optic nerve, dangling as he dragged his body along. His right eye focused on Sands and he snarled.

  “My God,” Sands said.

  Teal drew his Colt, cocked the hammer and walked to the ghoul of a man. The ghoul raised his head, exposed his teeth and growled.

  Teal noticed an ax and sledgehammer against the wall. He de-cocked the Colt, holstered it and fetched the hammer. It weighed about twenty pounds. The ghoul reached for Teal and Teal swung the hammer high in the air and crushed the Ghoul’s skull with one powerful swing.

  “How was that fucking thing alive?” Sands screamed. “Huh, how?”

  Teal stared at the dead ghoul. “I don’t know,” he said. “But, I’m taking him out of here.”

  Sands pulled on the moonshine jug as he watched Teal grabbed the ghoul’s arms and pulled him outside and to the right side of the cabin. Teal was gone twenty seconds or so before he ran back into the cabin and grabbed his Winchester.

  “What?” Sands said.

  “Can you shoot?” Teal said as he cocked the lever of the Winchester.

  Sands jumped
up, pulling his Colt as he did so and ran to the open door. A dozen or more ghouls were converging on the cabin, some lumbering along on broken legs or one foot.

  “Where’d they come from?” Sands said.

  “The woods where the others came out,” Teal said.

  “Aim for their heads,” Sands said.

  Teal shot a ghoul in the head and he dropped like a stone and the others stepped over him as if he weren’t there.

  Panicked, the two horses ran off to the left of the cabin.

  Teal cocked the lever again and blew out the brains of a female ghoul. The others just stepped over her.

  Sands fired his six rounds and took down four ghouls. Teal handed Sands his Colt and he took out three more. Teal finished off the rest with the Winchester.

  “Do you see the horses?” Sands said.

  Teal poked his head out the door. “No, but they couldn’t have gone far.”

  “Let’s make a run for it,” Sands said.

  Teal looked at the crowd of ghouls emerging from the woods. “I don’t think so,” he said.

  “Shit,” Sands said. “Close the door.”

  Teal slammed the door shut. There were two sets of anchors, top and bottom for wood planks. Against the wall were two wood bars and he set them in place, securing the door with an almost airtight fit.

  “That’s why the windows are all boarded up,” Sands said.

  “Reload,” Teal said.

  Sands sat at the table and opened a box of shells. With his left arm stiff and hurting, he could barely empty his revolver. Teal took the revolver, dumped the six empty shells and quickly reloaded it.

  “How many do you think is out there?” Sands said.

  “Couple a dozen, maybe,” Teal said and started reloading his Winchester.

  Outside the cabin, the ghouls started scratching against the door and boarded windows.

  Teal and Sands looked at the door.

  “It will hold them out,” Teal said.

  Sands looked at Teal. “Yeah, and us in,” he said.

  Chapter 10

  About a mile and a half from the Army outpost, the left rear wheel on the wagon cracked and split open.

  Maura and Seth jumped down to inspect the damage.

  “Can we fix it, Ma?” Seth said.

  Maura got under the wagon where the spare wheel hung suspended from a large screw. “In the front of the wagon, the bridge and grease pot, bring them down,” she said. “And you father’s tool box. We have a lot of work to do to fix this.”