by McCabe, R. J
The thing, which had been Joel, began to look around before seemingly sniffing the air. After doing this for a minute or so he began to move, awkwardly at first but then faster.
‘He’s on the move. Trent, Go and round up the men, we need to follow him.’
Jack looked towards the big Apache and the man did not react to Jack’s words. He was staring at Joel with a look of sheer disbelief on his face. ‘Trent goddammit!’ Jack said.
Trent snapped out of his trance and nodded at Jack. ‘Okay’ was all he said and he turned his horse and rode towards the rest of the men.
‘Can you fuckin' believe what you are seein' here Sheriff?' asked Jack.
‘Well, I guess you have to Jack, it’s right there. But that doesn't change the fact it’s some seriously diabolical shit.’
‘Yep, you got that right’ Jack said looking back towards Joel. ‘But we are part of it now and we have to play that part.’
‘That we are and that we do’ replied Bill. ‘Though that makes it no less fucked up.’
The sound of hooves approached and soon the rest of the men had joined them. They all slowed as they reached Jack and the Sheriff.
‘Right’ Jack said. ‘It’s fuckin' crazy but my son has just clawed his way out of the ground and is on the move. I just saw it with my own eyes.’
The men began to mutter and mumble.
Jack raised his hands before speaking ‘I know this is some freaky shit boys and I know some of you, if not all of you, must be shittin' your pants, but if you turn and run then you weaken us, and that makes it more likely for us to fail. If that happens then these things will continue to multiply until there is nowhere for anyone to hide, so even if you leave now, the chances are you will be in this situation again down the line only you might find yourself alone, maybe fightin' to keeps these things out of your home. It doesn't have to come to that as we have a chance to stamp this shit out right now, tonight. Anyone who thinks they don't have the coconuts for this can leave now.’
No one in the group reacted.
‘Right in that case we are gonna follow my boy as I believe he is gonna take us to his killer or killers so we need to ride slow and steady and until I speak again and that’s all you need to know. So lets ride.’
Jack winked at Bill and began follow Joel, riding slow to make sure he wouldn't catch up with his son.
26
The men had been following Joel for around three hours and as his speed had increased so had theirs to keep up with him. Bill thought on a few occasions that surely Joel had heard them but if he had, then he wasn’t interested. The undead Blackwater man seemed focused on something else and hadn’t bothered even once to look back.
‘Look at that.’ Ken said pointing into the distance.
Bill could see what looked like a town with buildings lit up and that was the place Joel seemed to be heading for. Bill thought for a terrible moment he had lost his bearings and what he could see was Sundown. He was filled with the dread that the whole plan had backfired.
‘Apaches’ Jack said, a wide smile on his taught face.
Bill looked again into the distance towards the lights but this time he could make out no buildings but tents, lots of tents. It was the Apache village.
‘So far so good Sheriff’ Jack said. ‘Things are goin' exactly as planned. Don’t you just fuckin' love it when that happens?’
‘Well, sure seems that way, lets just hope it continues’ Bill replied. An odd feeling of tightness building in his stomach.
‘Get ready boys.’ Jack called back to the posse of men. ‘We got a village of savages ahead of us and once we get down there the shit really is gonna hit the britches.’
Some of the men looked scared at the sight of the village, others looked excited. Jack seemed to lean more towards the latter, his eyes gleaming. He continued to ride and the men continued to follow.
The Apache camp was now only around half an hours ride from where the men sat, their horses bought to a standstill. As they looked down on the settlement it looked much bigger than many of them had imagined. They could make out the shape of Joel, now leaping over rocks and moving cat like towards the place and it would only be ten minutes or so before he breached the village boundaries. Jack turned his horse and sat facing the men.
‘As soon as I give the order, we are gonna ride down on that camp and into a dangerous fuckin' situation boys. Once you get in there, you are gonna have Apaches tryin' to kill you stone dead and you're are also gonna have the undead trying to chew on ya and turn you into whatever the fuck they are. You need to be on guard and kill anyone or anythin' that fits into those two categories. What you will not be doin' is cuttin' down any women or children. Not unless they have been turned, cause in that case you are gonna be doin' em a favour. However, if I see or hear about anyone who’s been on a needless killing spree, then I'll hang you by your prick and cut your eyes out of your head so the vultures can take a shit in the holes. This ain’t no slaughterin' mission, this is about a cure and revenge and no women or children in that camp never did nothin' to me or you. When you are aimin' at the monsters you gotta shoot em in the head, splatter their brains as it’s the only way to finish the bastards. My other advice to you is if you get bitten by one of those things, then put a bullet in your own head as you will be better off. If not you are gonna either get your brains blown out by us or spend the rest of eternity shufflin' round at night not knowin' your ass from your elbow. That’s all I'm gonna say. Now lets…’ Jack was interrupted by a voice in the crowd of men.
‘Someones comin'’ said a man from the rear of the group.
All of the men turned to see three torches coming up behind them and the light was enough to show they were traveling on horseback and all three were wearing stetson’s. Almost every man in the group drew their weapon and pointed it in the direction of the oncoming figures.
The three riders finally reached the group and the man at the front waved his hands when he saw how many guns were aimed towards them.
‘Hey, hold on there boys, we come as friends.’
‘Who are you?’ asked Bill.
Before the men could answer Ken spoke. ‘I know who they are, these men are the Hamilton boys.’
Bill felt rage instantly build within him even though he had never met the men before.
‘What the fuck are you followin' us for?’ Bill asked, his pistol still pointed at the man in front.
‘We just been followin' you to see what was goin' on, see if we could help out in any way. Anyhow, who might you be?’ the man asked looking at Bill.
‘I’m Bill James the sheriff of Sundown. Turns out they needed a new one since some piece of shit murdered the last one they had.’
A laugh came from one of the three men. The man at the front turned and told him to shush. He looked back at Bill and smiled a gold toothed smile.
‘I head about that, a cryin' shame the way he went. Even blew his goddam cock off so I heard.’ The man’s face was trying to show a look of concern but it seemed to masking a different look, Bill couldn't quite figure out what.
‘If you ask me’ Bill said, ‘I’ve looked into it and I reckon that we are looking for one or more queers and not the givin' type. No, I'm talkin' bout men who like to take it in the rear end.’
The smirk on the man’s face faded and then reappeared as a smile, this time a little more forced than before. ‘Is that so and I guess you’d know a lot about that then, you seemin' the expert and all. Takes one to know one. That’s my theory!’
Bill thought on that for a moment before pointing to the rear end of Wrath.
‘You know what that is?’ he asked the man.
‘It’s fuckin' horses ass’ replied the man.
Bill nodded. ‘Seems I can’t argue with your theory then.’
The man’s expression turned to one of anger. ‘Why you f…’
‘Now, now boys’ Jack Blackwater interrupted. ‘We got somethin' serious goin' on here so we don’t have
time to be sat here measurin' dicks. Now you can either join us on our little mission, or you can get the fuck out of here as you are holdin' us up.
The gold toothed man eyed the group, his eyes lingering a little on the Samurai . He looked at Bill once more before turning his attention back to Jack. ‘Looks to me like you boys are goin' to kill some Apaches.’
‘Somethin' like that’ Jack said wearing a smile of his own.
‘Then count us in, I'm always up for some Indian killin'!’ He smiled a big smile and the two men behind him laughed.
‘Well,’ Jack said. ‘In that case keep quiet and just do as we do and let me make this crystal clear to you boys just like I said to these men here. When we get down there, all hell is likely to be breakin' loose but the only people who we are after are the Apaches who attack us, and any strange folks you see with white eyes. I ain’t got time to explain that to you but you see any folks with white eyes lookin' like they wanna take a bite out of you then you put a bullet in their head. I don’t want any harm comin', to any women or children. For your own sake, if you get out of there alive, don’t let me find out you've gone against what I just said.’
‘Sure thing, only hostiles and white eyed fucker’s on the menu today. You can count on us.’Replied the man.
Jack nodded before riding back to the front of the group and looked down towards the village. He could see Joel was now only feet away from the camp. Bill rode up behind Jack before speaking
‘Why the hell are you lettin' those assholes ride down with us, they can’t be trusted.’
Jack raised a hand. ‘I know, I know and I don’t like it either but we need all the men we can get and those Hamilton boys are vicious. Right now Sheriff we need all the vicious we can get too.’
‘They killed the last Sheriff.’ Bill said through gritted teeth.
‘Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Those questions can be asked afterwards but right now we need the manpower.’
Bill wasn’t happy with it, not one bit but he had no real choice in the matter. He decided to let it go.
‘Okay boys’ said Jack ‘This is it. Lets go and end this shit!’ and with those simple words, the men began the descent towards the Apache village.
27
As the group of men reached the boundary screams and shouts were already coming from inside the village. One of the tents on the far side seemed to be alight.
‘Look’s like my boy has already started causin' some trouble.’ Jack said, the wide smile once again on his face. As he spoke an Apache came running towards them. The man was screaming and holding an axe high above his head. It was only when he got around feet away from them Bill could see the Apache’s eyes were pure white. The man’s face was a mask of pure rage and he seemed to be running straight at Jack who was at the front of the group. Jack looked at the man and then turned towards the others.
‘Here comes the welcome party.’ Jack said smiling and took his gun from his belt, aimed it, and put a bullet right into the man’s forehead.
The Apache was stopped dead in his tracks and then fell flat onto his back.
‘Lets go boys.’ Jack shouted. ‘Oh and Trent’ he added before pointing to his victim ‘Make sure to take that crazies head off so we know he ain’t gettin' back up again.’
Trent nodded and removed the huge blade from his back, jumped down from his horse and approached the body on the floor. He raised the knife and just as the body started to show twitches of movement, Trent bought the blade down so hard that it sliced clean through the neck but then became embedded in the ground beneath the body. The rest of group began to ride on into the escalating chaos. Once Trent had managed to pull his blade free, he mounted his horse and followed the others.
Jack came to a standstill and looked around. Apaches were fighting, running, screaming and the fires in the village were spreading.
‘We are gonna spread out’ shouted Jack. ‘I want you to kill as many of those things as you can and if any Apaches give you shit, blow them a new asshole. Bill you okay to come with me?’
‘Sure thing’ replied Bill ‘Where we goin’ nice?’
‘To end this crap’ Jack replied. ‘Ken, you go take four or five men and go that way. The rest of you just go in which ever way you damn well please, except for you Johnson’ He said pointing to a wiry long haired man. ‘You come with us.’
Just as those words left Jack’s mouth an arrow came out of nowhere and struck Johnson in his left eye socket. He slumped forward and then fell off his horse.
‘It seems they know we are here’ said Jack. ‘Okay, Johnson won’t be comin' with us Bill, he’s staying here, let’s go.’
Jack turned his horse and began to ride, an arrow narrowly missed his head and instead hit another member of the group in the shoulder. The man looked at his wound and let out a huge cry of pain.
‘Shut you squawkin'’ shouted the gold toothed Ed Hamilton. ‘It’s only a shoulder wound, nothin' to moan about.’
As he spoke another arrow flew through the air hitting the same man in the neck this time. He let out a gargle before falling off his horse.
‘Ooh, now that’s somethin' to moan about.’ Ed Hamilton said watching the man fall to the ground. ‘Son’s of bitches,’ he then shouted before firing a couple of shots in the attackers direction. ‘We are fuckin' sittin' ducks here, we need to move. Let’s go kill some savages.’
The Hamilton boys rode together seemingly shooting at whatever moved. Ken watched them go and was seething at having to be so close to them. He knew in his heart it was those boys who had killed the sheriff, evidence or not. He gestured for the men to follow him and they rode through the village to try and put and end to the nightmare.
Jack rode with Bill close behind. A couple of Apaches approached their horses and Jack blasted them before they could do any harm. Many of them seemed to be fighting with each other, it was obvious that the disease was spreading fast but neither Jack nor Bill had seen any sign of Joel.
‘There’ said Jack pointing. Bill looked to see a tent that was bigger than the others and outside of it were a selection of men seemingly keeping guard. Jack dismounted his horse and began to walk towards the tent. Bill didn’t know what the plan was now but followed nonetheless. He didn't want to leave his horse to be slaughtered or turned to one of those things, so he stayed in his saddle and continued to ride through the chaos after Jack.
Jack was shooting at whoever got near him. Bill then spotted a man dragging himself up from the ground, blood smeared over his shirtless torso and he saw that the eyes were pure white. Jack was in front of the creature and was not aware of it but the thing had seen Jack and began to make it’s way towards him, ignoring his own kind than ran by seemingly only interested in Jack. Bill called out but Jack didn’t hear. He called a second time but if Jack did hear he didn't react, he just continued to march on towards the large tent.
Bill thought for a second and then made his decision. He urged the Wrath to ride forward, building up speed as he went.
The drooling Apache was almost upon Jack and was so fixed on the man that he failed to see Bill riding upon him. Wrath hit the thing at almost full speed sending his body flying into the air before thudding onto the ground and even though this all took place no more than ten feet away from Jack, the man in black didn't flinch or even seem to notice. Bill was a little taken aback by this but he didn't have much time to ponder on it as the creature started to move.
Then suddenly, without command, Wrath made his way towards the undead Apache rearing up as he reached him. The hooves clipped the underside of the creatures jaw and it fell onto its back before, again without command, the horse began to trample on the downed figure, hooves cracking down onto the skull. One hoof after another smashed down onto the head until Bill heard a sickening sound which reminded him of the cracking of an egg. He didn't have to look down to know the creatures head had been caved in.
He turned and looked at Jack to see the man was now no more than fifteen
feet away from the tent. It occurred to Bill that the horse on which he sat was more capable of looking after itself than he had given it credit for and with that dismounted Wrath and ran after Jack.
28
Ken and the rest of the men hand their hands more than full with the mixture of the undead and the hostile Apaches. Bullets were being used but not to great effect as many of the men were scared out of their wits and were shooting in all directions, sometimes at nothing more than shadows. He had organised the men so that one man was looking in every direction. His way of thinking had been that nothing could sneak up on them unseen. They had lost four men since entering the camp, all to the arrows of the Apaches.
They shifted forward through the village which was now utter bedlam. Some of the Apaches paid them no mind, seemingly more concerned with other matters and many of them had led their women and children down to the horses, sending them away from the village. Ken was having trouble understanding his role in the nights events. He had thought he would be with Bill and the sheriff would tell him what was to be done, but the Sheriff had gone with Jack and now it was the deputy that was leading the majority of men through the camp. The Samurai and Trent were not with them and wasn’t sure at which point they had left the group.
Something caught Ken’s eye and he turned to see Ed Hamilton carrying a kicking Apache woman into a tent. The other two men followed, whooping and clapping. Following them were two small Apache children, neither one older than the age of five, Ken thought. The children were obviously scared and upset that their mother had been taken from them.
Ken felt panicked, he knew that some poor woman, Apache or not, was about to be raped at the hands of those evil bastards. They were meant to have been there helping the men put an end to all of the shit that had been going on but instead, were using it as an excuse to indulge in their sick activities. Ken tried to push the image of what those men would be doing from his head and concentrate on keeping the men with him alive.
