by Hunter Shea
“The spirits in that chest were contained within it at great physical, spiritual and emotional expense. These were not pleasant people when they were alive. They are downright malevolent in death. For your sake, and ours, it’s best we keep them imprisoned where they can do no harm.”
A week ago, I would have shot him midway through his little story. Now, here I was, listening and assigning a percentage, albeit small, to the possibility that he was telling the truth. Selma’s percentages must have been lower than my own because she said, “Do you really expect us to believe you?”
Angus looked down at the chest. He said, “Do you really think a man and a woman could fit inside it?”
It seemed we had come to a bit of an impasse.
The next move, the next word, would set the course for better or for worse. I didn’t mind being the one to do it.
Chapter Thirty-One
“He’s right about that,” I said. Teta looked at me as if he thought I’d lost my mind. “Look at it. You could just about fit a grown raccoon in there, not much else. That still doesn’t explain what we’re hearing.”
Matthias sighed, exasperated. “I just told you what’s in the chest.”
I raised the gun so it was level with his face. “You told me a humdinger of a cock-and-bull story, is what you did. You wouldn’t mind if we tied you and Angus up for a spell until we figure things out, would you?”
Angus clenched and unclenched his fists. This was not going to be easy. “Selma, get the rope from my saddle.”
She reluctantly put down the rifle and ran to get the rope. When she came back, I handed my knife to her and asked her to cut it into sections so I could bind their wrists.
“If you’ll turn around with your hands at your back, I’d be very appreciative.”
A look of warning passed from Matthias to Angus and the hulk turned. His wrists were about the width of my calves. “Cut one extra long piece,” I said to Selma.
Teta and Selma kept their guns trained on our newfound friends while I tied them up and led them back to the house. Matthias’s face cringed when he crossed the threshold.
“Is something dead in here? I don’t mind going along with you, but I have my limits. I don’t want to be locked in a charnel house.”
“Was dead,” I said, poking him in the back with my pistol to move him inside. “We cleaned it out last night.”
Angus toed a bit of skull. “Not clean enough.”
“It’ll do for now,” I said. “Besides, it’s the only place in the whole damn town that won’t come crashing down on your heads.”
Matthias turned to face me before I shut the door. “Please promise me one thing.”
I wasn’t in the mood for making any promises, but I also wanted him and Angus tucked away so I could think. “If it’s within reason.”
“Whatever you do, don’t open that chest. The contents and this place will make for a very unfortunate combination.”
I let a moment pass, and saw the desperate honesty in his eyes. Whatever was in there, he believed it was bad.
“Fine. We’ll bring you some water in a bit. Just sit tight and relax. If either of you try to go out the door or window, we’ll put you down. Understand?”
Matthias nodded. “We’re not men of violence. You’ll get no problems from us.”
I kicked the door closed before he could say anything else. The man made my head hurt.
Selma handed me a cup of water and I removed my hat, tilting it over my head. It was cool and should have felt good, but it only increased the sharp pain in my temples.
Teta was sprawled out on his back with his head against his saddle. “Now there are five blind mice.”
I tapped the bottom of his boots and said, “Help me move that chest over here.”
It had no handles so we had to dig our fingers underneath it to get a passable grip. I was wrong earlier. It weighed more than a hundred pounds. We crab-walked it near the fire pit, both of us grunting from the effort.
“Angus carried this like it was nothing,” I said, huffing.
“With one arm,” Teta added. “If I have to shoot him, I’m making sure it’s from a distance.”
Through all of our jostling, whatever was within the chest remained silent. I was tempted to blow the lock off, but I had made a promise. A dark part of me was also concerned about what Matthias had said. It appeared I was out of my depth as well as my mind.
“What do you think is really in there?” Selma said. She was on a knee, running her hands over the top of the chest. “You don’t think it could be spirits?”
“Who ever heard of such a thing?” I said. “Matthias seems more like a con man than a right reverend.”
“In my country, there are men who can capture souls and lock them away,” Teta said. “For a price. It’s the ultimate curse, to be denied proper rest even in death.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “You ever see it for yourself?”
“No, but my mother did. One of her cousins married a terrible man. He abused her day and night. She wore her shame in shadows, rarely coming out during the day. One day, she’d had enough. She went to family and friends to beg for money so she could visit the witch doctor. To do something like this is very expensive, you see. My mother said her cousin’s husband died in his sleep a week later, and that the witch doctor lured his soul into a bottle that he sealed and threw into the ocean.”
It would have made a hell of a late night campfire story. Even during the day, my arms prickled a bit with goose bumps.
“So you believe Matthias?”
Teta shrugged. “I don’t know. If my mother was here, she would. And I never doubted my madre.”
Selma nudged the chest with her boot. When nothing happened, she gave it a little kick. Still nothing. She hit it hard with the heel of her boot but the moaning was done for the moment.
“Maybe we heard wrong,” she said, her eyes glazed, staring at the mysterious chest.
“All of us?” I said. “Highly doubtful.”
Teta waved his sombrero at a cloud of gnats. “I’ll look in the window, see what they’re up to.”
I rested my hands on my hips and went from looking at the chest, to the house, to the hills. There’s got to be an answer somewhere in all of this. Think, Nat, think. Better come up with something soon because we’re running out of tobacco and whiskey. And with two more mouths to feed and no game in sight, food isn’t far behind. How long can we last on water alone? With the way our luck’s running, that well will dry up by morning.
Selma picked up some rocks and cradled them in her palm. She proceeded to throw them with surprising speed and accuracy at the wreck of a cabin across the street. The rocks popped and caromed off the rotted wood.
“What are we going to do with them?” she asked. Most women would be a ball of nerves and tears by now. Her courage made her even prettier. Was it wrong to feel that way about her when we were in such a state? I didn’t know and cared even less.
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they showed up today.”
I plucked a rock from her hand and fired it at the mercantile down the street. It pinged off the metal sign above the door. “I don’t think anything is a coincidence here. My question is what is it all leading up to?”
She glanced down at my gun and said, “You hoping it’s something you can settle with that?”
“It’s never failed me before.”
Teta came back to report that Matthias and Angus were sitting on the floor, staring at the walls. “I listened for a little and they weren’t even talking.”
“Do we keep them in there and sleep out here tonight?” I looked up at the unrelenting blue sky. There wasn’t a cloud for miles. “Doubt we need to worry about rain in the night.”
“Or we could switch places. It’s not
like they can go far,” Selma said. She had a point, and I’m sure she felt safer with four walls between us and whatever existed on the winds of Hecla.
“I don’t like the idea of leaving the whole place to their disposal. I’d feel better if they were locked up tight,” I said. Selma was crestfallen but she recovered quickly.
She said, “Does that mean I get to stand watch for a while?”
Teta was quick to put a damper on that idea. “Not alone. You can stand watch with me, if you want. Even with a gun, I think it’s best you leave that to Nat and me.”
She opened her mouth, I’m sure to put up a spirited counterargument, when she simply froze. Her eyes rolled up and up until she was practically staring straight into the sun.
There was no danger of her blinding herself.
Because the sun was disappearing, and not behind the clouds.
Chapter Thirty-Two
It couldn’t have been more than an hour or so past noon, but night was falling on Hecla, fast. It looked as if a can of tar had spilled across the pale-blue sky. Deep, black rivers of night etched across the horizon, swirling over the surface of the sun, swallowing it whole.
We plunged into a darkness as thick and impenetrable as the grave. There were no stars to offer flickering light, no moon, nothing but the most terrifying pitch I’d ever laid my eyes upon. I felt Selma grab hold of me but couldn’t see her at all.
“Nat, what’s happening?” she whispered.
“It’s not an eclipse,” I said, my voice hushed as well. We didn’t know what lurked in the sudden darkness and it was wise to keep as still and silent as possible.
“Jefe, you still have the matches?” Teta asked.
I fumbled in my pocket for the little matchsticks.
Matthias called out, “Would it be a bother if one of you told us what was going on out there?”
“Shut up!” Teta growled.
My fingers wrapped around a match and I struck it against the bottom of my boot. The tiny orb of orange light it gave off was just enough to make out Selma’s horrified face. Teta was a fuzzy outline.
“You remember if there’s any tinder nearby? I’ll light a fire if I can.”
“There might be some,” Selma said.
I heard her scrape around in the dirt, feeling her way around the fire pit, looking for kindling. I crouched and tried to offer what little light I had.
“If you give me another match, I’ll find my way into the house and get one of the lamps,” Teta said.
“And give Matthias and his grizzly a prime opportunity to brain you? We’ll make a fire out here.”
The tiny flame fizzled out as it reached my thumb and finger. My hands were so calloused I couldn’t feel it. We fell back into total darkness. This time, I was quicker getting another one lit.
“I think this should be enough,” Selma said.
I got on my knees and saw the small pile of twigs and dried saw grass she’d arranged.
Before I could touch the flame to it, a loud, tortured howl pierced the false night. I dropped the match and it blew out.
Two metallic clicks sounded ahead of me. Teta had his guns drawn.
My chest felt as if someone was sitting on it. We didn’t move, but I know we all wanted to run.
Reaching out, I found Selma’s hand and pulled her close.
Another cry, a mix of a growl and a man screaming at the top of his lungs, came from the opposite direction of the first.
Selma was breathing hard. Her nails dug into the flesh of my hand. “Sounds like that thing in the mine,” I said.
“Exactly like it,” Teta replied.
“What thing in the mine?” Selma said. Her voice trembled.
“Just a little something we heard and saw before your brother-in-law stumbled out of the shaft.”
When the third scream came, it sounded closer – and angrier.
We had to take our chances and get in the house. I liked our odds against two men rather than what I thought was making those noises.
I lit another match, sick to my soul that it might illuminate one of those beasts standing right in front of us. Thankfully, whatever was out there was still in the distance.
“Follow me.”
Selma grabbed hold of Teta’s shirt, her other hand still in mine, and we formed a little train leading to the front door of the house. Before I opened it, I said, “Matthias, Angus, we’re coming in and we’re both armed and anxious. I need you to back away from the door and move over by the window.”
“We can’t see the window,” Matthias said.
“You’re not a dumb man. You remember where it is. Just keep scooting in that direction until you can’t move anymore.”
We heard them knocking about. Angus must have walked into the far wall because the whole house vibrated.
Something crashed down the street. It sounded a lot like one of the smaller cabins being kicked to splinters.
We had to get inside. I turned the knob and reached for my pistol. Matthias and Angus were vague shapes, but I could see they had done what I’d asked. I pulled Selma and Teta inside and slammed the door shut.
Before the match died out, I grabbed a hurricane lamp and lit it. Matthias and Angus eyed us curiously.
“Teta, look for something to wedge under the door. We need to keep it jammed.”
Teta took the lamp from my hands, scanned the scattered bits of wood he had brought over earlier and found a good-sized shard of timber. He buried it between the gap at the bottom of the door and the sill. Once that was secure, he found a couple more pieces and did the same all along the length of the door.
There was another loud growl and Selma gasped. Whatever it was, it wasn’t far from the house. In fact, it sounded like it was just outside the door.
The horses, which had been unnaturally calm through everything, suddenly went wild. They cried out and there was no mistaking the fear in their tone. They were tied up and helpless, which made them only slightly worse off than us.
“Maria!” Selma exclaimed.
“There’s nothing we can do for them now,” I said.
We all jumped when something heavy hit the side of the house. “What the hell?” Teta shouted, his guns trained on the door.
There was a sharp pop on the roof, followed by an unsteady tapping as if a rock was rolling down it, then slipping off.
Heavy footsteps prowled around the house. We listened to stout grunts and labored breathing. I felt as if every muscle in my body had turned to stone.
Whatever was out there was patrolling the house, throwing rocks every now and then to rattle our nerves. It was working.
“Mr. Blackburn, it might be a good idea to untie us,” Matthias said. I had almost forgotten he was inside with us.
My mouth wasn’t working and my brain couldn’t perform the necessary calculations for taking the risk of setting them free. I must have looked like a dim mute, standing there with my eyes popping out of my head and my mouth open wide enough to catch flies.
Matthias’s eyes flashed with anger. “Cut these fucking ropes off us now! I refuse to face whatever abomination we’ve stumbled into tied up like a prize hog!”
I’d never heard a man of the cloth cuss like that before. That was assuming he was what he claimed to be.
Selma dug her fingers into my arm.
I whipped out my knife and sawed Matthias free. It took a little longer to get Angus cut out because I’d used extra rope to tie him up. When he rose, his body blocked the entire window. He rubbed his wrists, unaffected by what was going on outside the frail house.
He was the biggest son of a bitch I’d ever come across.
The next inhuman holler ripped right through the gaps in the front wall.
Looking at Angus and hearing that scream made something click together in my mind. Whatever fear
that had taken hold of me was burned off by a burst of anger. Striding into Angus, I took him by surprise and pushed my gun past his teeth, hitting the roof of his mouth. He grunted and stumbled back a step.
“Call them off, big boy, or your reverend friend can spend the rest of the night cleaning you off the floor and walls.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
I had Angus’s full attention. When Matthias went to grab my arm, Teta snatched him by the back of his collar and yanked him back about two feet.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” Matthias wailed.
“The question is, what have the two of you been doing?”
I pushed my Colt as far as it could go until the big man gagged on it. I can’t say it didn’t give me a small sense of satisfaction. I kept my eyes on his hands, wary of what he could do with those ham hocks. I wasn’t about to let him take me by surprise.
The howling and the whooping and the hollering continued outside. The stone throwing had stopped, replaced by their hammering on the walls with their fists. Dust trickled down on our heads from the force of their blows.
“You can tell your friends the jig is up,” I said. If I could breathe fire, I would have burned Angus to a crisp. I was tired of being jerked around like a toy on a string. “What do you have, some brothers with growth disorders like yours dressing up like wild men to frighten us off? I don’t think you and Matthias showed up by coincidence. I think you were here to check up on us, and when you realized your little games hadn’t chased us off, you told your gang to step things up.”
Angus’s lips worked around the barrel of the gun. Nothing but a few grunts came out of his mouth.
“This is preposterous,” Matthias said. “How do you explain your inability to cross that barrier and the changing of the day into night? Think, Mr. Blackburn. I may be a reverend, but I don’t have the powers of Jesus to do such things.”
