Apocalypse Then

by Al Lamanda

  A dozen soldiers, plus the six runners reported to Sergeant Floyd.

  “Go!” Floyd commanded.

  Eighteen soldiers removed their Colt pistols from their flap holsters and as a group walked among the fallen ghouls and shot any of them in the head that were still alive.

  Red Foot looked at Major Kessler. “You’ve done this before,” Red Foot remarked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Kessler replied.

  Chapter Forty Two

  Maura and Lane read the text book on surgery, carefully studying the sketches and diagrams of various procedures. After several hours of study, Maura decided she was ready to remove the bullet from Scripture’s abdomen.

  Lane and Teal carried Scripture’s cot from the secret room to the balcony to take advantage of the added light. While Teal held the book for Maura to read and Little Sky assisted with bandages, whisky and instruments, Lane boiled pots of water on the woodstove to sterilize the instruments.

  Maura rinsed her hands in Rye whiskey, then poured some over the wound. Little Sky wiped the wound to clear away dried blood and stood by with clean gauze.

  “Marshal, the scalpels,” Maura said.

  Lane fished the instruments out of a boiling pot of water with long tweezers and set them on a linen covered tray and carried it to Maura.

  Maura picked up the scalpel, took a look at the book, took a deep breath and made a small upward incision in the bullet hole. Little Sky immediately wiped up new blood with gauze.

  Scripture moaned softly.

  “Lucy, a bit more ether,” Maura said.

  Little Sky poured some ether onto gauze and covered Scripture’s nose with it until Scripture went still again.

  “Thank you,” Maura said.

  Maura made three more cuts, east, west and south of thee first one. Little Sky wiped blood and poured whiskey over the cuts to cleanse them and keep the open wound clear for Maura.

  “Marshal, may I have the tweezers and the long rod?” Maura said.

  Lane removed the tweezers and rod from the boiling water, set them on a tray and took them to Maura.

  After a quick study of the diagrams in the book, Maura held the wound open with the rod and guided the tweezers into the bullet hole and felt for the .45 caliber round.

  “The book says to make sure not to leave any fragments of the bullet behind,” Maura said. “Or the patient could die from infection later on after the wound heals.”

  The tweezers locked onto the bullet and she slowly withdrew it from Scripture’s abdomen.

  It was flattened from the impact of the door and entering Scripture’s flesh, but in one piece.

  There was a collective sigh.

  “Lucy, soak some gauze with whiskey and place it on the hole until the bleeding stops,” Maura said. She turned to Teal. “Where’s that page on stitching?”

  When Lane opened his eyes from a late afternoon nap, Scripture was sleeping peacefully in the next cot over inside the secret room.

  Lane stood up and felt Scripture’s face and his skin was cool to the touch. His fever had broken.

  Lane put on his boots, strapped on his holster and went into the balcony, leaving the door to the secret room open. Little Sky was at a window.

  “The coffee is a fresh pot,” Little Sky said.

  Lane filled a cup. “Mrs. McCain and my deputy?” he said.

  “She is taking a bath,” Little Sky said. “He is watching the street.”

  Lane pulled out his pocket watch. “Three hours of daylight left. If you want to take a bath and wash off some of that blood go on. I’ll come down and watch the street with my deputy.”

  Little Sky nodded to the secret room. “And him?”

  “I’ll relieve Teal and he can watch him for a while.”

  Little Sky touched the bloody sleeves of her dress. “I suppose some soap and water wouldn’t hurt.”

  Lane touched up his cup, grabbed a Winchester off the wall and nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Lane was standing in front of the church with his coffee and a cigarette when Maura came out of the breezeway of small home wearing a robe and bedroom slippers.

  “Mrs. McCain,” Lane said.

  “How is your deputy?” Maura said.

  “Cool to the touch and sleeping peacefully thanks to you,” Lane said.

  “Thanks to me he has a hole in his stomach,” Maura said.

  “Given the circumstances I doubt my deputy will hold it against you.”

  “Marshal Lane, would it be too un-lady like to ask you to roll a cigarette for me?”

  “Not at all,” Lane said. “Pease sit.”

  Maura took a seat on the steps while Lane rolled a cigarette, gave it to her and struck a match.

  “My husband smoked a pipe,” Maura said. “Have you ever?”

  “Can’t say as I have,” Lane said.

  Maura inhaled on the cigarette and gazed down the empty Main Street of Big Sky. “Mr. Red Foot, do you think he made it to Fort Keogh?” she said.

  “He made it,” Lane said.

  “Say that he didn’t,” Maura said. “We have one wagon, three horses and a wounded man who will have to ride in back. I assume you will ride the third horse, but where will you take us?”

  “Wyoming,” Lane said. “To Harding. Maybe this sickness hasn’t spread that far south yet.”

  “Yet?”

  “If Charlie isn’t back in three days we’ll load up the wagon with supplies and head south to Wyoming,” Lane said.

  Maura stood up. “I better check on Mr. Scripture.”

  Lane dropped the four barriers into place securing the heavy church doors. He struck a match and lit several lanterns to illuminate the interior of the church. He took stock of supplies best carried in the wagon. Canned goods, flour, coffee, beans, jerked meats, ammunition and flares.

  Once his list was complete, Lane sat in a pew and looked at the altar. The gold crucifix and tall candle holders, statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on the walls behind the altar, the fine white linen covering the pulpit, it all seemed surreal given the present set of circumstances.

  Wearing a blue dress from the Sundries Store, Little Sky came down the stairs from the balcony and sat next to Lane.

  “We made a fine supper of stew,” Little Sky said. “And baked biscuits with gravy. We should eat while it’s still hot.”

  Lane nodded while still looking at the altar.

  “Are you a believer?” Little Sky said.

  Lane looked at Little Sky. “I used to be,” he said.

  Chapter Forty Three

  Seated in folding chairs, Major Kessler, Sergeant Floyd and Red Foot drank after dinner coffee around a campfire. Not having the luxury of folding chairs, the men ate from seated positions on the ground around a dozen additional campfires.

  “How far would you say we are to Big Sky, Charlie?” Kessler said.

  “Four hours if we push hard,” Red Foot said.

  “What do you advise?” Kessler said.

  “The full moon will be up in two hours,” Red Foot said. “I know the way and we can travel easily in such light.”

  “Sergeant, pass the word,” Kessler said. “We’ll move out in three hours. Tell the men to grab quick naps. We’ll be covering some ground.”

  “Yes, sir,” Floyd said.

  “This road is well traveled,” Kessler said to Red Foot.

  “It’s the main road into Big Sky,” Red Foot said. “Freighters wore the grass down to dirt so it’s easy to follow by moonlight.”

  “How far do you figure?” Kessler said.

  “If this were normal times we’d see lights from town in about twenty minutes,” Red Foot said. “If this were normal times.”

  And just then a gunshot echoed in the distance.

  Chapter Forty Four

  Earlier in the afternoon, Lane shaved and took a hot bath. He dressed in black trail clothes he selected from the Sundries Store, including a new hat with a silver band. Before leaving the store, he loaded up on fresh t
obacco pouches, paper and as a treat, some peppermint sticks. If they were forced to vacate town come morning he wanted to have as much fresh supplies as they could carry.

  Teal went out hunting the prairie behind the church and bagged a large wild turkey and Maura and Little Sky spent the afternoon preparing it for supper. Using canned apples, the women baked a large pie for dessert.

  The atmosphere at the dinner table was somber. No one spoke of leaving the safety of Big Sky come morning, but the thought of it hung over them like a dark silent cloud.

  Sick of eating in bed, Lane and Teal helped Scripture to the table where, weak as he was, he ate like a starving wolf.

  Over coffee and apple pie, Lane finally breeched the topic that was on everybody’s mind. “Does anybody disagree or have another opinion on tomorrow if Charlie doesn’t return?” he said.

  “Marshal, I do what you say do and go where you say go, you know that,” Scripture said. “But, if you’re asking what I think, I’d like to wait a few days to get stronger so I can be of some use on the trip.”

  Lane nodded. “Anybody else?”

  “I think I agree with Scripture on that,” Teal said. “Having him stronger for the trip is a good thing for all of us. A few days won’t matter much one way or the other.”

  “Little Sky?” Lane said.

  “We have enough food to last for months and I would not like to leave such a brave man as Red Foot behind if he shows up a day after we leave,” Little Sky said.

  “Mrs. McCain?” Lane said.

  “We do have food for months, but it isn’t indefinite,” Maura said. “And what I have noticed is that every morning more and more of them stay behind. It will come a day when none of them leave. I say we give Mr. Scripture a bit more time to recover and if Mr. Red Foot hasn’t returned then we go while we still can.”

  “Forty eight hours, can we all agree on that?” Lane said.

  “I’ll be ready by then,” Scripture said. “With food like this I’ll have my strength back in no time.”

  “I’ll take the first and last watch,” Lane said. “Teal, come morning, after we clean out the stragglers we’ll load the wagon and keep it hidden behind the church ready to go. Mrs. McCain, is there anymore of this apple pie?”

  Chapter Forty Five

  Poule saw the faint outline of Big Sky in the light of the full moon and that gave him the added strength to keep running.

  The horde of ghouls behind him gained ground as he weakened, but the sight of Big Sky so close fueled him to push harder or drop dead trying.

  Late that first night his horse caught a hoof in a prairie dog hole twenty miles out and broke his leg. It was his fault for pushing the horse to exhaustion. He couldn’t risk a shot at night so he used his knife to put the horse down and end its suffering.

  He gathered supplies and headed back rather than push on toward Wyoming. Harding was too far to walk and his chances of making Big Sky was far greater than not. He walked for two days, sleeping in trees to avoid detection, traveling slow during daylight to stay hidden.

  His mistake was forgetting what Lane said about the ghouls following the setting sun and he walked right into a traveling pack of them headed toward Big Sky. Once they sniffed him out there was no getting rid of the sons a bitches.

  He didn’t have enough ammunition to kill them all and even if he did they would swarm him like bees and simply overpower him while he reloaded.

  No, his only hope was to stay ahead of them and reach Big Sky and hope Lane was in a forgiving mood and took him back into the church.

  Five hundred yards separated Poule and the snarling horde of ghouls. Enough of a distance to allow him to safely enter the church without endangering anyone else.

  So he pushed harder, felt the fire in his lungs and legs burn like never before, reached the fringe of Big Sky and turned onto Main Street.

  Where a dozen or more ghouls had already gathered.

  Chapter Forty Six

  Maura volunteered to take second shift. About thirty minutes into her watch a small gathering of ghouls wandered onto Main Street and milled about aimlessly. As moonlight bathed their faces, she used binoculars to check them out. She didn’t recognize a one of them, which meant they were new additions to the fold.

  They were quiet though and stood around without purpose in the middle of the street like the lost souls that they were.

  Maura set the binoculars on the ledge and walked to the coffee pot on the woodstove and filled a cup. She took a sip of the hot, bitter liquid and felt the heat rise up in her stomach.

  Funny but she had yet to cry for her son. Not yet thirty five years old, a widow and childless she knew when the danger was passed she would never be the same again.

  Never be whole again.

  What could possibly fill the void of losing her husband and watching her son being shot to save him a lifetime of agony?

  But for now…

  Outside the window the ghouls suddenly started chirping loudly. Her first thought was the others had arrived, but a moment later shots rang out from the streets.

  Poule raced down the center of Main Street directly into the path of a dozen or more ghouls. He drew his Colt, cocked the hammer and shot one in the face. The others immediately converged upon him and he shot two more, then turned and ran toward the hotel.

  “Lane!” Poule screamed. “Marshal Lane, its Deputy Poule.”

  Poule jumped over a water trough to the wood sidewalk and raced along the planks to the hotel. A dozen, maybe twice that many came from the other end of the street, cutting him off.

  Poule shot three ghouls in the face, turned and ran into the middle of the street. “Lane!” he screamed. “For God’s sake, help me!”

  “Can you handle a rifle and cover us from the windows?” Lane said to Scripture.

  “I can,” Scripture.

  “Grab as many boxes of ammunition as you can carry,” Lane said to Teal. “Ladies, you stay on the steps and shoot every fucking thing that moves.”

  “Except us,” Teal said.

  “That’s right,” Lane said. “Except us.”

  “Aim for the head,” Lane said. He had two Winchester’s and dropped one at his feet.

  Next to him, Teal did the same.

  Together they opened fire on the crowd of ghouls closing in on Poule.

  Poule ran toward Lane, but his path was blocked by ghouls so he turned and jumped onto a water trough outside the jail. He turned to face a group of ghouls on the sidewalk, turned and faced another.

  Lane and Teal took careful aim and dropped enough ghouls on the sidewalk for Poule to jump back onto the street where more ghouls rushed to him.

  Lane emptied one Winchester, dropped it and picked up the second. Teal did the same and they killed as many ghouls as possible until the second Winchester’s were empty.

  “David!” Maura cried.

  Lane spun around and Maura handed him a loaded Winchester.

  “Thanks,” Lane said.

  Next to Maura, Little Sky handed Teal a loaded Winchester. He nodded and opened fire.

  Maura and Little Sky grabbed the four empty Winchesters and raced back to the church steps to reload them.

  In the street, the ghouls closed in on Poule.

  “Clear a path for him,” Lane said.

  Lane and Teal shot ghoul after ghoul, as did Scripture from the balcony, giving Poule some breathing room and he ran toward the church a hundred yards away. Poule made it twenty five yards before Lane and Teal were empty again.

  Lane and Teal spun around to drop the empty rifles and take two loaded ones from Maura.

  In the three seconds it took for Lane and Teal to spin and cock, a ghoul reached for Poule from the left and grabbed his shirt. Poule twisted free and in doing so smacked into the ghoul closing in on his right.

  Poule tripped and went down hard.

  Ghouls merged upon him.

  Teeth tore at the sleeves of his shirt. Hands ripped at his pants.

 
; Poule screamed.

  Lane and Teal fires shot after shot at the heads of the ghouls around Poule.

  Teeth tore at the exposed flesh of Poule’s left bicep. Muscle to the bone ripped off and Poule screamed in agony. Teeth dug into the soft flesh of his calf muscles, then his thighs and he felt himself being eaten alive.

  Ghouls ripped open his stomach and tore out his intestines and ate them like bloody raw sausage while Poule could do nothing but watch until they bit out his eyes.

  And then it was over.

  “He’s gone,” Lane said.

  A shot fired and Little Sky screamed from the church steps.

  Lane, Teal and Maura turned and a dozen or more ghouls came at Little Sky from the left and right. She shot a few in the head with the Winchester she was loading and then it was empty and she swung it like a club.

  Lane, Teal and Maura raced back to the church, but they were too late as the ghouls converged upon Little Sky. A hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backward and a second later the head of the ghoul all but exploded and the ghoul fell away.

  “Get in!” Scripture yelled. “Quick!”

  Little Sky raced up the steps and into the church as Scripture cocked the hammer of the shotgun and blew the face off a ghoul. Then he tossed the shotgun and grabbed his rifle and cocked the lever as a dozen ghouls raced up the steps and he disappeared into a sea of blood thirsty cannibals.

  Lane, Teal and Maura stopped fifty feet from the church. The ghouls were closing in quickly.

  “The jail,” Lane said.

  Lane and Teal emptied their Winchester’s blazing a path through the ghouls to the sidewalk. Tossing the rifle, Lane grabbed his twin Colt pistols and shot several ghouls climbing onto the sidewalk.

  “Run!” Lane yelled and shoved Maura.

  Lane turned and shot a ghoul behind him in the face.

  “Teal!” Lane yelled.

  His deputy was gone, buried under a pile of ghouls in the street. Lane could hear the flesh being torn from Teal’s body as they ate him alive.

  A hand grabbed Lane from behind. He spun and shot the ghoul in the face. Then he shot another and another, turned and raced along the sidewalk where Maura was quickly approaching the jail.