Blood & Dust (Lonesome Ridge Book 2) (13 page)

“Over here,” Abby called when the door banged shut behind him. He found her kneeling in the dirt next to a section of fence a ways away from the horses. The ground was soaked with blood and the fence was covered in splatters. Bits of flesh were visible in the grass around the area.

“Think they ate here?” Abby asked as she stood up. Her hand hovered near her mouth, but she managed to keep her gag reflex in check.

Connor shook his head. “Dunno. They had someone tied up, though.” He pointed to some smears on the wood and a piece of bloody rope on the other side of the fence. “See these? They had someone tied here, sure as shit. I saw this before, a while back when that man had his daughters tied up in the barn. Remember that?”

Abby nodded and turned a little bit greener. It was huge gossip in town at the time. Some local had gone crazy and killed his wife. He tied his two daughters up in the barn and cut little pieces out of them each day. His son fled into town to get the sheriff. It ended in a shootout with the man dead and the deputy at the time wounded.

“Torture?” Abby asked.

“Could be. Dunno why though. Turnin’ someone into one of those things is torture enough, I’d think.”

A shattering pop sounded behind them and they both spun with their weapons up. The windows were blowing out as the flames took the house. Abby shot Connor a glance and raised her eyebrows. He just shrugged. They watched the house burn in silence for a few minutes longer.

“Blood’s fairly fresh,” Connor said as the fire reached the roof. “We should get moving.”

The sun was barely breaking over the horizon as they followed the trail of blood and footprints.

“It’s like they’re not even trying to hide,” Abby said. Their horses trotted along, none the wiser about the dangers they chased. “Like they don’t even fear being caught.”

“They likely have no clue they’re even being followed,” Connor observed. “Probably don’t care, even if they do. You saw them. They ain’t all that bright.”

Abby’s mouth twitched into a deeper frown. “The one that bit me was. She wasn’t like the rest. She was… sane. At least somewhat, anyway.”

Connor pressed his lips together for a moment. “Yeah, well, let’s hope they’re not all like her. I don’t much like the thought of those things being able to outsmart us. We have enough trouble with ‘em as it is.”

The trail they were following stopped in a muddle of footprints within view of a town. Smoke drifted up in several places and shots could be heard on the wind.

“So much for them not being smart,” Abby said.

“That may not be them,” Connor said, but he felt the same way Abby looked. Unconvinced and terrified. “Let’s go.”

They headed toward the town, keeping their eyes peeled and their guns at the ready. Screaming cries and the occasional gunshot echoed across the landscape. The place was in utter chaos. Buildings burned and the flames were rapidly spreading from one house to another. The living grappled with the undead in the middle of the streets. Even as they watched, a man stumbled out of a burning house, his clothes on fire. A woman ran up to him, crying, and slapped at his body as she tried to put out the flames. He reached out and grabbed her. Her cries stuttered to a halt as he yanked her close and removed her ear with his teeth before she could even think to scream.

Connor aimed his Peacemaker and put bullets in both their brains. No one around them even noticed.

Connor and Abby rode through the town, picking off undead as they went, until they came across a woman in the middle of the street. She sat on the ground, rocking a child in her arms. Her husband knelt behind her with his hands resting on her shoulders. She sobbed audibly as she rocked.

Connor stopped in front of them and dismounted. “What happened here?” he asked the husband.

The man stepped away from his wife and walked over to Connor. “They came in the middle of the night, like... I don’t even know. They weren’t like anything I have ever seen. They were…” His face crinkled up in disgust and confusion. “They looked dead. That’s not possible, is it? Dead people don’t walk. Dead people don’t talk.”

Connor didn’t answer his question. “What else can you tell me?”

The other man shook his head and his eyes cleared a bit. A sheen of sweat sat on his forehead and his skin looked a bit pale in the morning light. “The man who led the attack on us was a character. He had long scraggly hair and his teeth were brown. He didn’t act like the others, though. He was, I dunno, smart? He didn’t just attack like the others did. He talked, gave directions, told the others what to do. He tried to save my daughter. At least, I think he did.” The man’s face wrinkled with confusion.

“He what?” Connor glanced back at Abby as his stomach sank. She just shrugged.

“I heard him say ‘no kids’, or something, and when the one guy grabbed my daughter, he grabbed the guy. He told him to let her go, but he didn’t, not in time. Then when my wife had her, the leader guy took her away and looked at her body. He said ‘she’s not bit’, like that was important or something. Then they left.”

Connor nodded and took a step forward, lowering his voice before he spoke again. “And you?” he asked. “Were you bit?”

The man stepped back toward his wife and reached out behind him for her. She ignored him and continued to sob. “What? What does that matter? Why?” His eyes rolled a bit and he ran his hand across his forehead to remove some of the sweat.

Connor stared at the man a moment before bobbing his head to the side. “Come over here with me a moment.”

The man’s eyes danced between him and Abby, but he eventually followed Connor’s lead. They stepped off to the side to leave his wife still crying in the street.

“Listen,” Connor started. He kept his voice low, so the women wouldn’t hear. “If you’ve been bit, your time is done, finished. Once you get bit, that’s it. There’s no going back. Not unless it’s an arm or a leg or something that can be chopped off, and only then if you do it right away, soon as it happens. Wait too long, and cuttin’ it off is no good.” He looked at Abby a moment. “See that girl over there? She lost her arm to these things. Her little sister had to cut it off in the middle of the fight, even as others were being bit. It was the only way to save her, see? Now, where were you bit?”

The other man’s nostrils flared, but he pulled his shirt collar back to reveal the missing flesh near his collar bone.

Connor shook his head. “That’s a bad break,” he said. He put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “You’ll die soon. Then you’ll turn into one of those things and come back. Probably kill your wife, or turn her into one of those things, too. Then you’ll kill anyone you can get your hands on. That guy did your daughter a favor, making sure she didn’t turn. You’re not so lucky.”

“What do I do?” the man whispered. Tears rolled down his face and mingled with the sweat.

Connor pulled out his other pistol and checked it to make sure it was fully loaded. “Only one thing you can do.” He handed the gun to the man as the knot in his stomach hardened. He was telling someone to kill themselves. This was a fate he wouldn’t have wished on anyone, not even Jed Gaines.

The man’s hands shook as he took the weapon. His eyes pleaded with Connor, but there was nothing else to be done. He was dead no matter which path he chose. He walked over to his wife and kissed her on top of the head. “I love you,” he said. She continued to cry and rock their child. She didn’t bother to look up.

Connor turned away and locked eyes with Abby. They couldn’t leave the man alone, but they could give him a sense of privacy. They both jumped as the shot rang out. The woman screamed and dropped the body of her child as her husband collapsed behind her.

“Morton!” She threw herself onto him and shook him as hard as she could. “No! Oh God, no!”

Connor walked over and picked up the gun that lay beside his body. “I’m sorry for your losses, ma’am,” he said and tipped his hat to her. It was worthless and weak, but it was all he could offer. He wiped the blood from his gun and tucked it away. Then he looked at Abby and nodded back toward the rest of the town. “We have work to do,” he said. They both raised their weapons and went to take care of the rest of the undead.

CHAPTER 19

Jeremiah’s head buzzed. Miles behind them lay a burning town filled with dead, and probably at least a few undead. Somewhere in all that was a mother, sobbing, holding her only child, a child whose death was at least partially his fault.

“That was amazing,” Charity oozed as she walked along beside him in a dreamy state. “Did you see it? Oh, the death, the destruction, the chaos. Screams everywhere.” She practically glowed with the excitement of the attack.

Jeremiah gave her a small smile. He felt it, too. The thrill of the slaughter was impossible to escape. It was in his blood, in his bones. It coursed through him and urged him on. But underneath it all, underneath the blood lust and the hunger for flesh, buried beyond that killer instinct, sat something else, something he clung to, something he didn’t ever want to lose. In the pit of his stomach, right in the midst of all the blood and gore that he had just devoured, floated a big, fat knot of guilt. A knot that was growing steadily heavier with each and every attack. He felt the knot and pulled it closer to his heart, never wanting to let it go.

“Where’s Norma? Norma!” Charity spun around as she walked to search the pack of undead behind them. Their numbers had increased by a handful after the attack and they had only lost one of their own— the old man who burned in the flames.

“Norma,” Charity shouted again. All of the fear she had harbored when Jeremiah first met her, all the worry of being hunted and caught, all the concern of being found seemed to diminish with each attack. It faded into memory as she grew bolder, more confident, more controlling.

Norma finally appeared from the back of the horde and Jeremiah caught the look in Charity’s eyes as she turned forward again. They were still the same dull gray of all the rest of the undead, but behind them was something else, something scary. He had seen that look before in another woman’s eyes, the day his entire life had changed.

“Finally,” Charity said as she hooked her arm through that of the younger woman. “You did well today, for the most part. I have hopes for you, Norma darling. High hopes indeed. But there are a few things we need to work on first.”

Jeremiah drifted away from the women and let himself be shuffled toward the back of the group. The sun was up, but Charity was flying high on the excitement of the attack and refused to let them stop. She pushed on, keeping the group to the trees as best she could, or in the shade of the mountains when it was available. When the sun was at its highest and most dangerous, she finally let them take refuge in a small copse of trees. The undead huddled under the branches, even as the heat sapped their energy.

“We’re almost there,” Charity said as she walked up beside Jeremiah. “They’re so close, but still so far away.”

Jeremiah stared up at the mountains as they towered overhead. “Yup. From what Pa said, should be a pass not too far up that way.” He nodded his head to indicate the direction they had been heading. “Shouldn’t be long now.”

“Good.” Charity’s face lit up and her eyes began to glow with that strange but terrible light again. “Do you think there will be a town up there? Maybe a city we can hit or something? I would like to boost our numbers a bit more before we go into the mountains. I doubt we’ll encounter many people along our trip to the other side and I’d like to strengthen our army if we can.” Her lips twisted into a smile. “Maybe have a little fun before we go. It would be so wonderful to leave my mark on this side of the world, you know? Don’t you think so, too, Jeremiah?”

He glanced over at her as she stared with a far away gaze at the mountains before them. Part of him wanted to tell her to tone it down, that she was risking way too much for a little thrill. But another part of him, the bigger part, wanted to stay on her good side, to keep her happy until they could get out of there. The sooner they were in California and the sooner they put the mountains between them and Jasper, the better. That was his only goal, his only reason for continuing on. If Charity got mad at him, if she changed her mind about building a kingdom in California for any reason and decided to build her kingdom here instead, who knew what she would do?

“Sure,” he said with a grin. “Pa said there was a town near the base of the trail. That was years ago, though, so it shoulda grown up by now, what with all the people travelin’ through and whatnot. Should be a buncha people there.”

“It’s not a good idea.”

Both Charity and Jeremiah spun toward the voice of the girl who came up behind them.

Charity cocked her hip and crossed her arms. “And why not?” She raised her eyebrows at Norma. Jeremiah saw the dare sitting on her face and took a step back.

“It’s too dangerous,” the younger woman said.

Jeremiah wanted to applaud her and shake her hand as she spoke, but he just pressed his lips together and locked his tongue between his teeth. Always best to stay out a fight between two undead ladies, he thought.

“You told me what happened in Lonesome Ridge,” Norma went on. “How they basically destroyed your entire army despite your big plans, how you had to leave everyone behind. It was a bigger army than this, too, by a lot.” She waved her hand at the undead around them. It was true. They barely had half the people they had back then.