by Greg Dragon
Becky hesitated, unwilling to leave her grandfather. She watched him approach the stranger, until the woman looked at her. The pure hunger in the woman’s eyes sent her blood pumping and she tripped over her own feet as she scrambled into the house and out through the back door. Her grandfather shouted at the woman and fired his gun until he ran out of shells.
The young girl reached the small shed that served as a barn just as a man rounded the corner of one of the houses further down. Several fences separated them and she tried to hide behind them, but he spotted her anyway. Her horse was dancing and snorting in the pen, but he came over to her as she opened the gate. She grabbed a handful of mane and swung herself up onto Lightning’s back.
The man was still climbing over the fences as she raced off toward town. The last things she saw were his pale gray skin and hungry eyes.
***
Connor stood on the walkway in front of the jailhouse. He was exhausted from little sleep and a lot of work, not to mention the death of his best friend, but he had to get the patrols set before the light disappeared completely. He would not leave his town unprotected from the new danger that lurked in the shadows. He would not let Doc Whitman’s death be in vain.
“Robert, you and Neil will take first watch on the east. Jasper, Abby, you got the west. The train station will mark the end of each of your patrols. Cora and I will take over for Jasper and Abby around midnight. Wicks and Jones for Robert and Neil. I want all lanterns lit and blazing. Make it look like daylight.” He laid out the patrol schedule for the next day and sent the volunteers on their way.
The butcher and the saloon owner climbed onto their horses and trotted off.
Jasper made to get on his horse, but Connor stopped him. “Jasper, hold up a second. I need to talk to you.”
The young man turned around to face the sheriff. “Something wrong, Connor?”
Connor pulled a dented piece of metal from his pocket. He ran his thumb over the engraving on the front. He had already cleaned off the blood and it shone as brightly as it could. “Yeah. It seems I’m in need of a new deputy.” He raised his eyes to Jasper. “Care to take on the job?”
Jasper’s jaw worked as he stared at the man. “Really? You want me to take over for Amos?”
“Absolutely. You can handle it. You’re a good man, and you deserve it.”
Abby patted Jasper on the shoulder as she grinned beside him. “Do it. For Hannah.”
His hand shook as he reached out and took the badge from Connor. “Okay. Thanks, sheriff.” He pinned the badge to his jacket and tipped his hat to Connor.
The young man sat straight and tall as he and Abby trotted their horses out to start their patrols. Connor watched them go, then slumped down onto a bench in front of the jail and rested his head in his hands.
“You need sleep.” Cora sat down beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. He leaned against her and sighed.
“I need to end this is what I need.” He took a deep breath and shoved himself to his feet. He was just walking into the jail when he heard someone call to him from down the road.
“Sheriff!” A horse came racing down the middle of town at full speed and slid to a halt in front of him. “Sheriff, Robert Zane said I could find you here. My house. My grandpa. Please, you have to help.” Becky Xavier panted hard and tears streamed down her cheeks.
Connor pulled his gun. “What’s wrong, Becky? You been attacked?”
Her pigtails bobbed as she nodded frantically.
“People?” His stomach plummeted into his feet.
“Yes. They were... gray.”
The sheriff’s lips pressed tightly together and his heart hammered in his chest. He removed his hat and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. “Well, shit. How many?”
“Dozens. Hundreds!” She was shaking so hard, she could no longer hang onto the horse.
Cora helped her down. “I’m going to take her to the hotel, Connor. She’ll be safe there.” The sheriff nodded and Cora led the sobbing girl away.
Connor gritted his teeth and stared down the street, searching for some sign, thinking about a plan of action. Then he squared his shoulders and stomped up to the saloon. A large bell hung on the porch near the door. It had never been rung before for any reason, but it was loud and could be heard across the entire town. Connor reached up and wrapped his hand around the heavy string. He put all his strength into it and beat the clapper firmly against the bell. Its peal vibrated in his skull and he tucked one ear against his shoulder, but he kept on ringing.
People poured out of their houses in droves. Men and women alike carried weapons of all sorts, ranging from shotguns and pistols to kitchen knives and brooms. The bell meant trouble of the worst sort and they were ready to take on whatever would come. The crowd gathered up in front of the saloon and hushed each other so the sheriff could speak.
“There’s an army coming,” Connor said as soon as they were quiet. “An army of the dead. I want a perimeter all around this town. Make it heavy to the east. That’s where they’re coming from. But don’t leave any area unguarded. None of those things gets through, you hear me? None of them. And no one gets bitten. Do whatever you have to to take them down, but do not get bit. Aim for the head. Body shots don’t work.” He paused and scanned the crowd. Men, women, and children, not fighters. “Don’t get bit,” he repeated before he dismissed them.
He was never one for speeches and he knew the townsfolk would do everything in their power to protect Lonesome Ridge, their home. They would protect it to the death. Cora joined him on the porch as he sent the crowd off. She had a rifle in her hands and a hard look on her face.
“We’ll go out to the edge of town and set up on a roof,” he told her. He would have preferred she cower in the hotel with the other non-combatants, but he knew Cora. She would never hide from a threat such as this. She would be on the front lines, and he wanted her beside him
“Where do you want us?” Jasper and Hannah walked up to Connor, hand in hand. Jasper had a pistol on each hip and Hannah carried a slew of knives she had scavenged from the doctor’s kitchen, tucked into her belt.
The sheriff examined them for a moment before he said, “Protect the hotel.”
Jasper gave him a small smile and a nod before leading Hannah away.
Cora and Connor grabbed extra ammunition from the jailhouse, then climbed a ladder in the back of the saloon. They walked along the connected roofs to the east end of the center of town where the main force of defenders set up. Together, they knelt down, rested their barrels on the edge, and waited in silence.
***
Charity called the group together once the houses were cleared out. “Summer, Walton, and David will lead you in. This town will be ours before the sun is up. Everyone must be killed or turned, understand? No one gets away, no one stays human.”
She didn’t know that someone had already ruined her plan. The man who had spotted the girl never mentioned her. He was turned under Little Bear’s rules and he knew the consequence of letting someone get away was death.
Jeremiah walked up to Charity as the group began shuffling toward Lonesome Ridge. “Are we just gonna hang back? Let the grunts do all the work?”
She smiled at him. “Of course. Queens and kings do not do battle. They send their minions to do it for them. Let them weaken the townspeople, then we will head in and clean them out.”
He returned her smile, but deep inside, his fear for Jasper was growing.
***
The sun was gone by the time the horde reached the edge of town. Torches had been lit, but Connor feared it wouldn’t be enough. He pulled everyone back so that the outer houses were left empty. Anyone who couldn’t fight was clustered into a few buildings in the middle of town that were heavily guarded. The best shooters were located on rooftops and in second story windows to give them the best vantage points possible.
Connor glanced at Cora. In the moonlight, her skin looked paler than usual and she had a sheen of s
weat on her forehead. “You all right?” A nagging feeling began to develop in the pit of his stomach.
She gave him her most winning smile. “Of course, little brother. Why wouldn’t I be? We’re about to face people who were raised from the dead and want to eat our faces off. I’m doing just swell.” She stuck out her tongue at him before she let a laugh tinkle out over the rooftops.
“All right, all right,” he said as he held up his hands. “Point taken.” He grinned back at her, but the nagging feeling continued to grow.
***
Before they reached the edge of town, Summer gathered a smaller group of the undead and led them through the dark around the perimeter. Walton and David kept shuffling right down the middle of the road, thinking only of the feast that lay before them, unaware of the trap the townsfolk had laid.
***
“Here they come,” Connor shouted to those down below as the first wave of undead came into view.
He aimed his rifle at a blond haired man and waited for them to come into range. Cora did the same, picking a Confederate soldier that reminded her too much of her dead husband.
A shot fired, but none of the creatures fell.
“Wait until they’re closer,” Connor shouted as the undead started to run at the townsfolk. “Hold... Now!”
Shots rang out across the quiet town. The majority of the first line of undead staggered and collapsed on the ground. Those behind them stumbled over the fallen corpses of their comrades and hesitated in the middle of the street. They weren’t used to such an onslaught. They weren’t used to real battle.
Their confusion gave the townsfolk time to reload and they were firing again as the column began to advance. Several of the creatures were smart enough to break away from the group and head for the safety of the houses, but a large number of them just kept moving up the middle of the street like beasts going to the slaughter. All but a few of them were dispatched before they were anywhere near the center of town.
***
Hannah jogged down the street to the hotel, but she didn’t stop there. A small guard line had been set up further down the street, led by the newly deputized Jasper and Abigail. Hannah slipped in beside him.
“What are you doing here?” Jasper asked as he grabbed her hand. “Get back to the jailhouse. You’ll be safe there.”
Hannah clenched her jaw and turned to face him. “No, Jasper. This is my home, too. I’m going to protect it.”
Abby ran over and grabbed Hannah’s arm. “I’m not losing you, too,” she spat. She gave her sister a little shove in the direction of the hotel. “Go back. Now.”
“No.” Hannah’s voice was quiet, but firm as she jerked away from her sister. She pulled her knives from her belt and held them at the ready. “I’m not going to hide like a scared little child.”
Abby’s face was red with anger as she spun on Jasper. “This is your fault. She’s only here because of you. You protect her.” She poked him in the chest with a finger.
He set his shoulders and looked down at his accuser. “Hannah’s not a baby anymore, Abby. I’m pretty sure she can defend herself.”
Abby poked him again. “If she dies, I’m coming after you. I don’t care if you are the new deputy. She’s everything to me and I lose her, it’s your fault.”
Jasper opened his mouth to respond, but his was cut off as a group of undead came swarming out from in between the buildings toward the crowd of people.
“Shoot them,” Jasper yelled. “Aim for the heads. Don’t let them bite you.”
Abby raised her gun and aimed at the center of the swarm. She took down a man in the front of the group and was looking for a new target when a black haired Indian woman broke away and leapt at her. The shotgun barked once, but the woman didn’t even slow. She threw herself at Abby with teeth and claws bared. Hannah screamed behind Jasper and he pulled his gun, but he couldn’t get a clear shot without hitting Abby. Abby managed to roll over so she was on top and she wrapped her hands around the woman’s neck. The Indian woman tore at her with her nails and tried to bite her, but Abby held tight.
***
Charity and Jeremiah climbed down from the carriage outside of town. They heard the repeated barks of rifles, shotguns, and pistols. Charity glared down the street and propped her hands on her hips.
“Don’t sound good,” he said.
“No, it doesn’t. That’s what I get for trusting others to do the job I should have done.” She pressed her lips together. “Let’s head around, attack them from behind.”
“’Kay.” He fidgeted with his hat as he followed her out and around the houses.
They walked along in the darkness of the shadows behind the train station. The train Jeremiah was going to rob sat on the tracks. People were sitting in the passenger cars, silent and still, but with their face pressed to the glass, trying to catch a glimpse of the carnage in the streets. The engineer was in the locomotive, working frantically to get the fire going.
More shots rang out from the far end of town, but the noise was dwindling. Jeremiah and Charity broke into a trot, expecting to see the humans overrun. They came upon a fierce battle between the undead and the townsfolk.
***
Abby gripped the woman’s neck tightly, but not tight enough. She had never killed anyone and her will to survive was less fierce than the woman’s will to eat. With a warrior cry, the other woman kicked and threw Abby off balance. Abby flew over her and smashed into a set of steps. The Indian leapt on top of her just as Abby threw her arm up to protect herself. The woman’s teeth sank into the bare skin of her forearm and tore a chunk free.
Hannah’s scream mingled with Abby’s. The younger woman pulled a knife from her belt and tossed it with deadly accuracy. It stuck between the Indian woman’s shoulder blades. The attacker spun from her prey, spraying droplets of blood everywhere as she turned to meet the new threat.
“Hannah, no!” Jasper made a grab for Hannah, but she gripped her knives firmly in her hands and stomped toward her sister’s attacker.
The woman smiled at her. Jasper froze. He knew that smile, that face. She was the one who attacked Jeremiah. He raised his pistol and fired.
At the same time, Hannah swung her arm forward.
The undead woman stumbled to the side as a bullet tore through her cheek and a knife sank into her shoulder. She blinked rapidly and tripped over bodies as she made for a gap between two houses. Jasper fired again, putting a bullet in the woman’s upper back, but she made the safety of the shadows and disappeared.
Hannah ran to Abby. She pulled her older sister off the steps and cradled her in her arms. Abby stared at her with glassy eyes as tears poured down her cheeks. “It hurts,” she whispered. “Oh God, Hannah, it hurts so bad. I don’t want to die. Please, not like Wyatt. Please.”
Hannah gripped Abby’s arm and looked at the wound. It was an inch above Abby’s wrist. “You won’t,” she promised as she pulled another knife from her belt. It was big, like one of those Robert Zane used in his shop. “But it’s going to hurt. Bite down on this.”
Hannah stuck the handle of a smaller knife between Abby’s teeth and laid Abby’s arm out on the steps. Then she placed her knee on the inside of Abby’s elbow to steady her. “Ready?”
Abby nodded. Hannah pulled her own arm back and brought the knife down hard.
Chapter 30
Charity and Jeremiah crept quietly into the small gap between two houses. The battle was raging on the other side of the buildings and they wanted to get a closer look before they jumped in. Jeremiah paused at the corner and peeked around as Charity came up beside him.
A young blond haired woman kneeled on the ground very near to them. Another woman lay on the ground in front of her, unconscious. The blond girl worked furiously as she bound a belt around the other girl’s stump of an arm. The rest of it lay several feet away, with a clear bite near the wrist.
“Oh, no. Poor Abby,” Jeremiah whispered. He hadn’t realized how difficult it would b
e to see people who he knew all his life suffering at the hands of these creatures he now called family.
Jasper knelt beside Abby, holding her free hand as he kept his pistol trained on the area around them.
Charity gripped Jeremiah’s arm. “Do you know them?” she whispered as she slipped her arm into his.
He leaned further out from cover. Their army was falling quickly to the townsfolk. While many of the living had been killed, nearly all of the undead were laying motionless on the ground. They were losing, badly. Jeremiah’s eyes locked on Jasper just as the young man looked up. Jasper’s eyes went wide and his pistol wavered as it pointed at his older brother. The younger Gaines boy reached over and pulled Hannah tightly to him.
“Yes,” Jeremiah murmured. “That’s my little brother.”
The train rumbled behind them as it began to pull out of the station at a slow crawl.
“Your little brother?” She stared at the young man as him and the girl next to him stared back at them in abject horror.
“Yeah,” he said. “Jasper. That’s Hannah, and her sister Abby. Your men killed the rest of their family. They’re all alone now. All they have is my brother.”
Charity glanced up at Jeremiah and then at the train tracks behind them. She tugged at his arm. “Come on. Let’s go.”
He jerked beside her as if he had been shot. “Yeah? You wanna just leave?”
She looked back at Jeremiah’s brother, then at all the dead lying in the street. She had known the whole thing was lost as soon as those first shots rang out on the other side of town. “Yes. We’ve lost. It’s time to go.”
He shrugged as he turned away from his brother’s accusing stare. “Okay. Where we gonna go?”
She nodded to the train behind them. “Away. Someplace else. We’ll start over. Somewhere where we don’t know anyone.”