Cursed Bounty

by Besser, Rebecca

  Above him to the right, he heard a couple of pebbles tumble down the wall, and he stood and spun to look up at what might have knocked them down. Above him was a rider on a horse silhouetted by the last red rays of the setting sun. Something in the stance and carriage of the rider scared him to the very depths of his soul; he started backing away, drawing his gun, and shaking his head in denial.

  The rider didn’t move and just stared down at him.

  Sam took aim and unloaded all six shots into the man.

  The rider jerked with each shot, but didn’t cry out or fall off his horse like Sam expected. The horse didn’t even acknowledge the loud blasts or the strikes to its rider.

  Turning, he squealed and ran blindly into the canyon paved with jagged rocks and rutted trails of sand. In the fleetest of fear bogged thoughts, he wished he’d brought his horse instead of just wandering off on foot. But wishing didn’t make things happen, and running for his life was all he could do when bullets didn’t work.

  The rider’s horse whinnied and reared up, and Sam saw its shadow on the canyon wall beside him, larger than life. Then it disappeared and he heard its panting snorts close behind him.

  Chapter 9

  Sheriff Bob was watching the sun set from the boardwalk in front of the jail when he saw a familiar and welcome sight; he stood to greet Jeffery as he reined and dismounted.

  “It’s good to see you back already,” Bob said, shaking Jeffery’s hand. “Is the Governor sending soldiers to help with the search?” He noticed that Jeffery seemed. . .strange. “What happened? Is everything all right? Did you make it to the capitol to see the Governor?”

  Jeffery nodded. “I made it, yes’sa, and I talked to da Governor. He ain’t sending no soldiers though.”

  “Damn it!” Bob exclaimed, and clenched his fists at his sides. “How am I supposed to handle this situation without help?”

  “He sent help,” Jeffery said, turning to look off toward the horizon where the last rays of the sun were kissing the sand goodnight. “He sent. . .help.”

  “What do you mean?” Bob asked, watching Jeffery closely.

  “He sent a bounty hunter to track ‘em men down.”

  “One man?” Bob asked, and laughed mockingly. “How is one man going to make a bit of difference in miles and miles of canyons and dessert?”

  “He ain’t no man,” Jeffery looked directly into Bob’s eyes and the Sheriff could tell he was truly spooked.

  “He’s not a man?” Bob asked gently, watching Jeffery’s face; the large, dark man shook his head no.

  “He be a zombie.”

  “What’s a zombie?” Bob asked, frowning and wondering if the heat had gotten to Jeffery on his journey.

  “A zombie be a man who be brought back to life wit’ Voodoo, and controlled by da witch doctor who do it,” Jeffery said, dead serious.

  “Voodoo, huh?” Bob asked. “What’s that?”

  Jeffery shook his head in a “don’t you know anything” way and tried to explain.

  After Jeffery finished with his halted, pieced together explanation that left Bob scratching his head in confusion, they decided they’d better get the posse back together and go out and search for the man – or zombie according to Jeffery’s tale – who was out in the night, searching for the bandits.

  Chapter 10

  The rider landed on Sam’s back and knocked him to the ground with his weight as he leaped from the back of the horse.

  “Please, God, no!” Sam begged, and squealed like a pig as he tried to fight his way free of his attacker’s grip; he wasn’t expecting what came next.

  The rider laughed, and said in a dried, hoarse voice, “Not God, Houndtooth!”

  After speaking, Houndtooth sank his teeth into the side of Sam’s neck with a menacing hiss. As the blood hit his tongue and slid down his throat when he swallowed, he purred with contentment.

  Sam gurgled one last time, trying to cry out, before his final breath left him in a sigh; the moon, as it rose in the night sky, reflected off his lifeless eyes while Houndtooth drained every drop of body from his body. Sam was dead when the zombie bounty hunter cracked his skull on a rock and began feasting on his brain.

  ~

  “What was that?” Matt asked, taking his turn guarding the mouth of the cave. “Did ya hear a scream?” He glanced over at Dan.

  Dan shrugged and yawned.

  “Maybe i’ was a mountain lion or somet’ing. . .”

  “That weren’t no mountain lion – I’ve heard them before,” Matt said. “That sounded like a man screaming in fear.”

  “Maybe Sam go’ ‘imself in trouble,” Dan said, shrugging and yawning again. “He shoulda stayed put ‘ere with us, where i’ be safe, instead o’ goin’ off half-cocked into da dessert.”

  “Ya thin’ we should go see what it was?” Matt asked.

  “Ya can i’ ya want, but I’s goin’ ta stay righ’ ‘ere an’ ge’ some sleep.”

  Dan laid down on his bedroll, which he’d spread out after his watch was over, and closed his eyes.

  Matt didn’t hear anything else, so he dismissed it from his mind. He wondered about Sam and where he was, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help his friend if he’d gotten himself shot or worse. Matt also knew if he went out into the dark, he could get himself killed and he wasn’t willing to risk that for anyone.

  Chapter 11

  Sheriff Bob, Deputy Madison, and Jeffery rode out of town into the night. No one else was willing to go with them since it was already dark – they thought the three men were crazy for even wanting to try and search the dangerous canyons in the pitch blackness. Most of the comments they’d received were jeers about them breaking their necks or breaking their horses’ legs. Nonetheless, the men knew something had to be done, even if it was farfetched.

  Jeffery was on a fresh horse, and since he knew the general direction Houndtooth had gone, led the way. They rode at a steady, but swift pace and were soon in the middle of nowhere with no idea where to go.

  The moon was high and full, and lit the dessert landscape well – they could see for miles in every direction from the rise there were on. There was no sign of movement anywhere.

  Chapter 12

  Matt heard a rustling at the mouth of the cave a little while after he’d heard the scream and Dan had gone to sleep; he sat quietly and listened, holding his rifle across his lap. A man’s frame stood at the mouth of the cave, and he had to squint just to see it in the darkness.

  “Sam?” he whispered, hoping it was his friend; he knew someone was there, but it was hard to tell the height or the build of the person with such low visibility.

  There was no response to his whispered query.

  “Damn it, Sam, if that’s ya, quit playin’ around!”

  Still there was no answer.

  Matt began to get worried.

  “Who be ya?” he asked, bringing the gun to his shoulder and preparing to fire. “Ya better tell me who ya be, or I’m gonna blow ya away!”

  “Houndtooth,” the man said with a hiss.

  “Not Sam,” Matt muttered, and prepared to shoot now that he was sure he wasn’t killing his friend.

  When he pulled the trigger, Matt saw the horror coming toward him in the momentary flash of fire from the barrel as the bullet flew out: a tall, strong looking man who had blood dripping from his face, and whose eyes were glowing with an evil light – a red light.

  The impact of the bullet nearly knocked Houndtooth off his feet, and he stumbled back a few steps, but miraculously stayed standing; he walked forward again, heading toward Matt.

  ~

  The three man posse was discussing their search plan when a gunshot rang out in the distance. They fell silent and listened, hoping to hear something else that would confirm the direction the noise had come from.

  “That came from the east, didn’t it?” Madison asked, inclining his head ever so slightly to listen for any possible sound.

  “I think you’re right,�
�� Bob said, and nodded. “Let’s head over to Deep Gulch Canyon and see if that’s where it came from. There are a couple fairly deep caves there – they might be holed up in one and had an argument or something.”

  “Could be da zombie found ‘em,” Jeffery added in the flat voice of reason.

  Bob shook his head, still trying to wrap his mind around the concept of Voodoo and the evil, walking, undead beings that could be created by it; he wouldn’t really believe it could be done until he saw it with his own eyes.

  They headed east, with Bob in the lead.

  ~

  “What the hell be ya?” Matt growled, standing and clicking his lever action rifle to load another round into the chamber, ejecting the spent case, which fell to the stone floor with a jingle as it bounced. “Why didn’t that kill ya?”

  He fired again, with the same results. He was so focused on Houndtooth that he didn’t notice that Bill and Dan were now awake.

  None of them could hear anything, since the loud blast of the rifle in the small cave had rendered them temporarily deaf.

  Houndtooth kept coming, even after the other two men joined in the shooting.

  ~

  “We’re definitely heading in the right direction,” Madison said, hearing the volley of shots echo through the canyon as they reached the precipice. “I think we need to head that way.” He pointed down the deep ravine to where the shots were coming from.

  Sheriff Bob drew his pistol, nodded his head, and spurred his horse in the direction indicated. While he rode, he kept his eyes peeled for a safe path down to the canyon floor, and when he saw one, he took it.

  Jeffery and Madison followed Bob with blind faith, also readying their firearms for battle.

  Chapter 13

  Matt was the first to run out of rounds, and he fumbled to reload. He wasn’t fast enough though, because when the bullets stopped flying, Houndtooth darted right to him. His fingers were shaking as he tried to shove more bullets into his gun, but they jerked and he dropped the rifle and rounds when freezing cold hands gripped his shoulders and sharp teeth clamped down on his neck.

  He screamed, but no one heard him – they were still deaf from the gunfire.

  In less than a minute, his body went limp.

  Bill and Dan were reloaded and started to fire where they thought the man was, but soon found out they’d assumed wrong when their bullets ricocheted off the stone walls and penetrated their flesh.

  Both men fell as they were wounded by their own shots: one in the leg, the other in the abdomen.

  ~

  “Why are they shooting so much?” Madison yelled, verbalizing what was in his mind as he tried to process what could be causing so many gunshots to be necessary.

  Neither of the other men answered him, but he hadn’t really expected them to.

  They were getting closer to the origin of the gunshots and spied horses standing next to the canyon wall a quarter of a mile ahead of them; the animals were spooked and yanking their heads back and rearing, trying to get loose from where they were tied. All of the horses, but one. One of the horses stood calm with its head held high, staring forward. It showed no indication of fear.

  Bob reined his horse to a stop and the others did the same.

  “Houndtooth’s horse,” Jeffery said, motioning to the strange, calm beast.

  The Sheriff nodded, but otherwise stayed silent to listen.

  Once they were still, they could hear the sounds of men screaming over the whinnying of the distressed horses.

  “There has to be a cave right there,” Madison said, saying what they were all thinking.

  Chapter 14

  Bill – lying on the cold stone floor, holding his leg and panting – was the next to fall victim to Houndtooth, whose eyes were now glowing brightly in the pitch black confines of the cave.

  “Please, please, don’t,” he begged as he tried to drag himself backward; he felt his lips moving, but couldn’t hear what he’d said, so he was unsure if he’d spoken at all. He kept repeating himself because he wasn’t sure he’d actually spoken.

  His words fell on uncaring ears.

  Houndtooth jumped on top of Bill, and quick as a starving lion, bit into his jugular and drank deeply of the warm blood that flowed from the wound.

  Bill’s body spasmed violently as he bled to death, and he reached out and gripped Dan’s wrist. His grasp soon went slack and that’s when Dan started to cry like a baby, because he knew he was alone and there was nothing he could do to save himself.

  ~

  “We can’t just sit here!” Madison exclaimed when they continued to sit there waiting. “We’ve got to go see what’s going on!”

  “It’s dark,” Bob said, his eye trained intensely on the horses – where he assumed the mouth of the cave was, “so unless you’ve got a torch hidden in your pocket, I think we’ll wait until whoever is in there comes out of the cave so we can see them in the moonlight.”

  Madison sat silent after that, realizing it would be foolish to rush in at that very moment; the darkness was more than just their enemy, it could very well be their death if they made one wrong choice.

  “He be killin’ ‘em,” Jeffery said. “What be stoppin’ him from killin’ us too?”

  “We don’t know that, Jeffery,” Bob said calmly. “They could be killing each other, and if that’s the case, they’re saving me a lot of time.”

  “He be in dar, all right. . .” Jeffery said, pointing at the strange beast again.

  Bob shrugged. He still wasn’t sure about the voodoo/zombie stuff Jeffery had told him.

  Chapter 15

  The cave interior was glowing red from the brightness of Houndtooth’s eyes and Dan was scared shitless.

  “Ya a demon, ain’t ya?” he sobbed, not even trying to get away. “Ya was sen’ from Hell ta punish us, weren’t ya? I’s sorry fo’ everyt’ing. . . I’ so sorry!”

  Houndtooth’s glowing eyes traveled over Dan’s body, noticing the blood seeping from his stomach. He didn’t go for the throat like he had with the others – this time he grinned and gripped the wound with his hands, wiggling his fingers deep inside.

  Dan screamed and thrashed from the pain, and punched at the head of his tormentor.

  After his fingers were inside, Houndtooth jerked the flesh apart roughly multiple times, until there was a foot long gaping hole exposing Dan’s insides. Without hesitation, he buried his face in the bloody, slimy intestines and feasted like a dog.

  Dan’s screams intensified.

  ~

  Jeffery cringed and made the sign of the cross in front of himself when he heard the wails of terror and pain echo around him.

  “Da zombie. . .ain’t of dis world,” he babbled. “He be evil, evil I tells you! We gots to go – get outta here now, ‘fore he gets us too.”

  Bob wanted to tell Jeffery to calm down, but he couldn’t. The contents of his stomach were rolling and he was scared more than he’d ever been in his entire life. He wanted to run – it seemed like the best course of action.

  “Fall back,” he finally said. “We’ll go up on the prairie and wait there to see what happens.”

  Madison opened his mouth to argue, but found that his voice failed him; his hands were shaking from fear. He’d never in his life heard someone in that much pain crying out.

  They turned and rode their horses up the incline as soon as they found what looked like a safe spot; Bob and Jeffery made it up and out okay, but Madison’s horse just couldn’t make it.

  “We has gots to help him!” Jeffery yelled, dismounting and pulling a rope from his saddle bag. “Dat evil zombie will gets him!”

  Bob nodded and held out his hand for one end of the rope; he tied it securely around his saddle horn.

  “Leave the horse, Madison,” he yelled down into the canyon, “you need to get out of there fast!”

  Jeffery threw the length and other end down into the canyon for Madison to grab onto so they could pull him out.

  Chap
ter 16

  Once he’d lost enough blood, Dan was blessed with death and his screams stopped.

  Houndtooth continued eating, but after a couple of moments something outside caught his attention and he stopped; turning his head, he sniffed the air and then stood. He charged out of the cave and headed back the way he’d come. Voices danced on the breeze – raised voices – and they called to him like a newly opened flower to a bee.

  ~

  “Oh, my God!” Madison screamed as he dismounted and looked to his right to see what the strange red glow was.

  A little ways off in the distance stood a man drenched in blood, whose eyes were glowing so brightly that they could now all see clearly – even Jeffery and Sheriff Bob above.

  “It be da zombie-demon, Houndtooth,” Jeffery breathed in awed fear.

  “Hurry, boy, hurry!” Bob screamed.

  But Madison just wasn’t fast enough, and in his panicked state he kept tripping and falling. To make matters worse, when he did manage to make it to his feet, his cold, numb fingers wouldn’t grip the rope.

  Houndtooth charged forward and closed the distance in an instant. He grabbed a hold of Madison and darted in to bite.

  Madison swung his arms wide in defense, flipping over and throwing himself to the ground, onto his back, to break the evil creature’s hold; he stared up in fear at the zombie bounty hunter who stood over him.

  Houndtooth froze with his mouth open, looking down at the boy. He blinked a couple of times and his red eyes focused on the Deputy badge pinned to the young man’s leather vest, just peeking out of his open coat. He stood up straight, closed his mouth, turned, and walked away back toward the cave.

  Madison lay panting, not knowing what to do; he couldn’t believe he’d been attacked and almost killed.

  Jeffery and Bob were also speechless, and when Madison wrapped the rope around his wrist, they pulled him up.