by Al Lamanda
A few seconds of silence passed.
Lane and Poule looked at each other.
The ghouls reached the door and scratched at the heavy oak.
Poule sighed openly with relief. “What the fuck was that about, Marshal?” he said.
“Payback,” Lane said.
Chapter twenty six
“Looks like they’re giving up,” Red Foot said.
Lane glanced out the balcony window. “For tonight, maybe.”
Sporting a large red welt where Lane hit him earlier, Joseph said, “My father and brother?”
“Gone,” Lane said. “I’m sorry.”
“Robert’s dead?” Joseph said.
“He became one of them,” Lane said. “I shot him.”
“You shot him?” Joseph said. “My brother?”
“The Marshal had no choice,” Poule said. “I was down there with him. Your brother was one of them. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Maybe he could have been saved?” Joseph said.
Little Sky stepped forward. “They can’t be saved,” she said. “I couldn’t save my husband. I couldn’t save my two children. Your brother couldn’t be saved.”
Maura came out of the secret room. “She is right, Joseph. I had to shoot my own husband to protect my son.”
All eyes were on Maura. “My son’s fever is high enough to kill a full grown man,” she said. “I doubt he will ever wake up my son again. Mr. Anderson, it was your brother that bit my son and inflicted him.”
“We don’t know that,” Joseph said.
“Yes we do,” Maura said. “And when the time comes my son is no longer my son, I am asking you to be the one to end his life.”
“I can’t do that,” Joseph said.
“You can and you will,” Maura said. “Or I will certainly kill you.”
The balcony was silent for several long seconds.
“Did you just…?” Joseph said.
Maura grabbed her Colt from the pocket of her skirt, cocked it and held it just inches from Joseph’s face.
“I did,” Maura said. “And you will.”
Lane turned away from the window, placed a hand on the barrel of Maura’s revolver and gently lowered it to her side. “Mrs. McCain, there’s been enough killing for one night, don’t you think?” he said.
Maura de-cocked the revolver and replaced it into her pocket.
“So what now, Marshal?” Red Foot said.
“Let’s try to get some sleep,” Lane said. “We’ll see how things look in the morning.”
“I’m up,” Red Foot said. “I’ll take watch for an hour or so.”
“Wake me up in two hours to relieve you,” Lane said.
Lane slept for about and hour forty five minutes and woke up on his own and decided to relieve Red Foot at the windows. He put on his holster, grabbed his Winchester and closed the door to the secret room on the way out.
“Coffee’s fresh,” Red Foot said.
“I could use it,” Lane said. He filled a cup and joined Red Foot at the center window.
“The horses have scattered,” Red Foot said.
Lane nodded and pulled out his pouch and rolling paper. “Probably on the prairie eating sweet grass by now,” he said.
“We ain’t going nowhere without them.”
Lane rolled a cigarette, gave it to Red Foot and rolled another. He struck a match on the stone wall and lit his and then Red Foot’s. “I don’t know that we’re going anywhere soon, anyhow.”
“What do you mean?”
“You heard the preacher say Lewiston was overrun with them,” Lane said. “You saw that Army patrol get eaten alive because they were out of ammunition. We don’t know if every other town within a hundred miles is in the same fix we are. We’re safe here for the moment. We have a town full of food, firewood and fresh water. We can wait it out a while and see what happens. The Army is bound to be on search parties. My guess is by now they’re killing every one of them they can find.”
Red Foot nodded, took a sip of coffee, inhaled on his cigarette. “Do you suppose there’s something to what Little Sky said about the water, the rock that fell from the sky?” he said.
“They’re called meteorites and they fall to Earth all the time,” Lane said.
“Fall from where?”
“Space,” Lane said. “Above the sky. That’s all I know about it. I read a story once in a newspaper about what they call a meteor shower. Most folks call them shooting stars.”
“I seen them,” Red Foot said. “Mostly in the summer.”
Lane nodded. “Every cowboy on the trail has seen them. I suppose it’s the same with most Indian tribes.”
Red Foot looked out the window. “Be light in ninety minutes or so.”
“Why don’t you grab some sleep?”
“I will,” Red Foot said. “What do we know each other, eleven or twelve years?”
“Around that.”
“Do you know how I got the name Red Foot?”
“Can’t say as I do.”
“I was a boy of maybe ten or eleven,” Red Foot said. “Sioux Nation in Wyoming and thirty years ago we were a powerful people. This one afternoon I and my father were hunting mule deer and came across a patrol of soldiers. This was a time when the soldiers carried black powder Hawken rifles and one Sioux Warrior could fire six arrows to one lead ball.”
“I remember the Hawken,” Lane said. “I carried one in the war. It was a fine weapon.”
“That afternoon, my father and I watched as the soldiers took a bath in a stream that came off the mountains,” Red Foot said. “I snuck up and stole a pair of solder boots. I wore them proudly for weeks, never taking them off. They got wet and when the leather became too tight I removed them and the dye had turned the skin of my feet red. My father laughed for days and gave me the name Red Foot. Isn’t that something?”
“Yeah, it is,” Lane agreed.
“I have scouted for the Army for many years,” Red Foot said. “I have seen many battles. I think that we will lose this one.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
Two hours after sunrise, Lane left Teal and Scripture on lookout while he and the others went downstairs to open the church doors.
Armed with their Winchester’s, Lane, Poule, Joseph and Red Foot walked out and stood on the steps of the church. Maura and Little Sky stayed inside the church and waited.
“It’s a ghost town,” Poule said.
“No sign of the horses,” Joseph said.
“All that shooting last night are you surprised?” Lane said.
“They can’t be more than a mile or two at most,” Red Foot said. “I can track them without too much trouble.”
“On foot on the open prairie with who knows how many of them are out there?” Lane said. “You really want to do that, Charlie?”
“Good point,” Red Foot said.
“Come on, let’s have a look around,” Lane said.
They searched every building in the town and found not one ghoul anywhere except for the dead.
“Poule, Teal, grab some lantern oil from the general store,” Lane said. “We’ll gather up the bodies and do what Little Sky suggested.”
In all they stacked twenty one ghouls and the remains of the six soldiers and the preacher on the edge of town and used the lantern oil to set fire to them.
They watched the blaze from the church steps.
No one said a word.
There was nothing to say.
The stench of burning flesh said it all.
On the way back to the church, Lane found the preacher’s bible. He left it on the altar inside the church.
Teal and Poule kept diligent watch from the church steps while supplies were gathered up from the general store, sundries shop and gunsmith store. Shotguns were added along with cases of shells and ammunition for the Winchesters and Colt revolvers.
Maura and Little Sky prepared lunch in the church kitchen and while the group ate behind locked church doors, their
situation was discussed.
“Charlie, you know Montana better than I do, where is the nearest telegraph station?” Lane said.
“Keogh,” Red Foot said. “If it’s up and running. Lines could be down by now. We’ll need the horses to make Keogh to find out.”
“All of us or just you?” Joseph said.
“What’s that mean?” Red Foot said.
“How do we know if you get on a horse you won’t just keep riding?” Joseph said.
“Mr. Anderson, I’d stay on Charlie’s good side if I were you,” Lane said. “Mine, too.”
“Why don’t we try to get all the horses?” Teal said. “If we ride as a group to Keogh we stand a better chance of making it.”
“I agree with that,” Joseph said.
“I think I do as well,” Scripture said.
“Not that I disagree, but think it through,” Lane said. “It’s five days to Keogh. That’s five nights in open country with God knows how many of them out there. And if we do make it to Keogh we have no guarantee it’s any better than here. It could be worse. We just don’t know. We do know what we have here which is a fortress of a church they can’t breech and enough food and water to last a month or longer while one of us rides to Keogh to scout things out.”
“It makes sense when you put it that way,” Teal said.
“I agree,” Poule said.
Scripture nodded. “Makes sense to me, too, Marshal.”
“Okay, it makes sense, so who rides?” Joseph said.
“I think you know the answer to that, Mr. Anderson,” Lane said.
“When do you want me to leave?” Red Foot said.
“When can you get a horse?” Lane said.
“Late this afternoon if I start out after lunch,” Red Foot said. “Maybe I can find more than one. They don’t seem to bother animals so we can keep them in the livery.”
“I’d feel better if I went with you,” Lane said.
“Marshal, there is something none of us is talking about that needs to be addressed,” Maura said.
Lane sighed. “Your son and Max Sands,” he said. “Yes, I know.”
“My son is in some kind of coma and we don’t know the condition of Mr. Sands,” Maura said.
“Your son is just a boy,” Lane said. “I suggest we restrain him or isolate him until we know more about this sickness. We’ll check on Max as soon as we go downstairs.”
Little Sky felt Seth’s forehead. “He will awaken soon,” she said and looked at Maura. “And never be your son again.”
“We could put him in the jail,” Maura said. “He won’t be able to get out and the others won’t be able to get in.”
“And feed him what when he wakes up?” Joseph said. “You saw what they did to those soldiers and the preacher.”
“The only alternative is for you to do what I asked, Mr. Anderson,” Maura said.
Lane, Red Foot and Teal entered the hotel room with Colt’s cocked and ready. The revolvers weren’t needed. The room was empty.
“He must have woke up last night and wandered off with the others,” Lane said.
“He’s one of them now,” Teal said.
“Max was a good man, a good scout,” Red Foot said.
“The first one of us that sees him puts him down,” Lane said. “We owe him that much for being a good friend.”
“Amen,” Red Foot said.
“Charlie, if you’re ready let’s go get some horses,” Lane said.
Joseph carried Seth in his arms from the church to the jail. Maura and Little sky went with him and after placing the boy on a cot, Joseph locked the iron door with the massive key.
“There’s another key on the desk that locks the office door,” Joseph said.
“I’ll take them both,” Maura said.
Joseph nodded and gave Maura both keys.
“Six hours of daylight left,” Maura said. “Little Sky, why don’t we boil some water for hot baths? God knows I could use one.”
Twenty eight
Red Foot tracked the horses a mile west of Big Sky where they had turned north for another half mile. Horses were a herding animal and where the leader went the rest followed. Rarely did a horse in a pack break off and stray on its own.
His entire life Red Foot trapped, trained and rode horses and he still had no idea how they as a group selected a leader to follow, but they always did. After turning north, the leader of the small herd led them to a field of sweet grass nestled between two large and winding rolling hills.
They climbed the east hill that overlooked the field where the horses grazed a hundred and fifty feet below.
“I know this valley,” Red Foot said. “Come winter it fills with snow. It’s a good place to trap bear. Come spring it’s a muddy field. In early summer it’s a field of yellow wild flowers.”
“Right now it’s a field of horses,” Lane said. “And we have to pick us some.”
“They’re probably still spooked,” Red Foot said. “I see mine in the rear of the pack. Let me get hold of him first and maybe we can get them to play follow the leader.”
Red Foot started down the hill and immediately the horses spooked a bit, but didn’t run. He paused to allow the horses to resettle and stared at his horse for a while until the pack relaxed enough to return to grazing.
Then Red Foot continued down the hill until he reached flat ground a hundred feet from his horse.
“I know you,” Red Foot said softly to his horse. “Do you know me?”
Red Foot’s horse snorted as he looked at Red Foot.
“Sure you do,” Red Foot said and walked closer to his horse.
On top of the hill Lane cradled his Winchester and watched as Red Foot slowly advanced to his horse.
A noise came from around the bend between the two hills. Lane turned to follow the noise. He walked several hundred feet to where the turn was sharpest and stopped dead in his tracks.
A thousand, maybe more ghouls had congregated in the valley between the two hills. They were a mixture of whites, Indians and soldiers and they weren’t moving in any particular hurry.
Lane turned and looked back at Red Foot. The scout was on his horse, patting its neck. He had Lane’s horse by the reins. He looked up for Lane, didn’t see him and turned his horse around, spotted Lane and waved.
Lane motioned for Red Foot to stay there and started descending the hill on an angle toward Red Foot.
Red Foot galloped and met him half way with Lane’s horse in tow. Lane grabbed his reins and mounted his horse in one quick motion.
“Charlie, less than three hundred feet around that bend in a thousand or more of them,” Lane said.
Red Foot stared at Lane.
“Let’s try to herd as many of the horses back as possible,” Lane said. “And not tell the others about this.”
Lane and Red Foot ran their horses at the small herd and guided them toward the exit of the valley. As they turned south they rode directly into the path of another large group of wandering ghouls.
“The hill,” Lane said.
Lane and Red Foot raced their horses up the rise to the east with several horses following them. On flat ground they rode hard for a half mile and then slowed to a trot.
“Give them a break, Charlie,” Lane said and turned in the saddle to count the horses still following them.
There were four.
“Are they following us?” Red Foot said. “The ghouls I mean.”
“Doesn’t appear so,” Lane said.
“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” Red Foot said.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Maura and Little Cloud entered the small house connected to the church by a breezeway. Although the church was large and ornate, the home provided for the preacher was small and simple.
Yet comfortable.
The bathtub was located in a private room off the kitchen. It required four large pots of boiling water and four pots of cool water to fill the tub. When Maura lowered herself into the h
ot water it occurred to her that it was her first bath in nearly two weeks. She removed the paper off a new bar of soap and scrubbed her body clean, then washed her hair until it squeaked when she ran her fingers through it.
She pulled the stopper and the water drained out of the tub through a hose that ran from the tub into a hole in the floor where the water spilled outside the house in the backyard.
When the tub was empty, Maura sat there and closed her eyes. A sudden heaviness washed over her and she didn’t realize that she was crying until Little Sky was in the room with towels and a robe.
Maura did her best to gain control. “Thank you,” she said as she slipped into the robe. “I don’t know what happened.”
“I understand how you feel,” Little Sky said. “I lost all my own, too.”
“A mother should never outlive her child,” Maura said.
“Like the Virgin Mary and Jesus,” Little Sky said.
Wrapping a towel around her hair, Maura paused and looked at Little Sky.
“The missionaries taught us the Bible in English,” Little Sky said. “I have read much of it. It’s a good book.”
Maura nodded. “Let’s fill the tub so you can take a bath,” she said. “Then I’ll start supper. I suppose the men are hungry by now.”
From the front steps of the church, Poule and Teal kept vigilant watch on the streets. Above them in the balcony, Scripture also kept lookout on the horizon.
“I smell bread baking,” Poule said.
“Mrs. McCain,” Teal said.
Poule pulled out his pocket watch. “Think they’ll make it back before dark?”
Teal nodded. “With or without horses.”
Joseph suddenly appeared on the steps. “Mrs. McCain asked me to get some clean china from the hotel,” he said.
“I’ll go with you,” Poule said.
“Ain’t a one of them in sight,” Joseph said. “And I got my hand gun. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
“Alright, but hurry,” Poule said.
“Bet on it,” Joseph said.