Blood & Dust (Lonesome Ridge Book 2) (3 page)

The man finally relented and handed the weapon over. The others watched him slink away.

“Anyone else have a problem with riding with a woman?” Connor turned his gaze from the man’s back to the rest of the group. Not a one spoke up. “Good.” He walked over to Abby and held up the shotgun. “Think you can handle this?”

She dipped her head quickly and took the weapon from him. “Yes.”

The rest of the group mounted up in silence.

“Head out,” Connor called and kicked his horse into gear. The rest followed behind him, a pack of hunters ready for a fight.

CHAPTER 3

Charity Banks and Jeremiah Gaines lounged on a bed of soft grass underneath a thick canopy of leaves. Around them, a dozen men and women milled in the sun-speckled shade.

“So, where you wanna head to?” Jeremiah asked the woman beside him as he tore a chunk of flesh from a small arm he held. He secretly hoped it wasn’t a child’s arm, but pickings had been slim after the small horde of undead finished ravaging the few survivors and the party of locals who had come to investigate the train wreck. Only one of the undead was from that group of men. The rest were from the survivors of the train or the small group of houses they hit afterward.

“Hmm.” Charity shifted so her head rested on his stomach and he absently stroked her blond hair with his bloody fingers. “I would love to take over New York City someday. Show David’s mother a thing or two.”

Jeremiah laughed. “Not sure we have enough for that right about now.”

Charity shrugged, but she tensed under his touch. “So? We will eventually. I’m not going to give up just because of one little defeat.”

Jeremiah chewed and swallowed. “No, I don’t ‘spect you would. But we gotta figger out what we’re gonna do in the meantime. How we gonna get enough.”

Charity was silent. Jeremiah didn’t know quite how to take that, but he’d been around enough women to know to keep his mouth shut while she worked things out.

The sun was almost set when she finally spoke again. “How about California?” she asked as she pushed herself to her feet.

“Callyfernya? Why you wanna go there?” Jeremiah shoved himself up onto his elbows and looked up at her. Charity’s face seemed less ashen in the rapidly fading light and he could almost pretend she was normal.

The young woman’s lips pulled into a tight frown as she thought for a few more moments. “Well, it’s a lot less populated than any place back east, but it’s still a thriving area. New settlers arrive every day looking for gold, so there will be a fresh supply for awhile. At least long enough to build up a decent army. Then we can work our way back to New York. Plus, I hear it’s beautiful out there. California seems like the perfect place to start our new kingdom, don’t you think?”

Jeremiah cocked his head to the side and tapped his chin. “Hmm, yeah, I reckon you might be right. Less crowded, far away from the long arm o’ the law back east, but lotsa land and lotsa potential.” He rolled over and climbed to his feet before following her out of the grove. “Wagon trains still head out that way, too. Lots of ‘em. My pa use ta talk about how he was thinkin’ a joinin’ one back when he was a youngun. I guess these fellas, the Donners or somethin’, they came through a town pa was visitin’, talkin’ bout their plans and such. Pa said it was mighty temptin’, but he decided to stay where he was. Good thing, too. We heard rumor that those folks didn’t fair so well. Gone an’ ate each other or somethin’.” He frowned a moment before grinning at Charity. “Sounds like our kinda people.”

She gave him a small grin in return. They reached the edge of the trees and stopped to look across the plain laid out before them. The sun was hovering just below the horizon, low enough to keep from burning them, but still bright enough to give them plenty of light. Not that they needed it. They seemed to see nearly as well at night as they did during the day.

“We’d have to cross the mountains,” Jeremiah said as he glanced sideways at her. “Might be difficult. Could be real dangerous. Could take awhile, too.”

Charity smiled at him. “My darling Jeremiah, we’re already dead. We have all the time in the world.”

He grinned back at her. “That we do, my dear Charity. That we do.”

The other undead began shuffling out of the grove behind them to join the pair.

“I wish we could have saved more,” Charity sighed as she looked at the ragged group around her. The few undead from the house they hit after were all women, something Charity was less than thrilled about.

“Only one woulda been worth savin’ was that guy missin’ both ‘is legs.”

Charity just shrugged. They had already argued about it enough. The man had been smart, like her and Jeremiah, sure enough. But his legs were crushed beyond use. However, despite his handicap, he was trying to direct the undead from his position, and they were starting to listen. Charity argued that he would slow them down, that he would become a liability. Jeremiah suspected that the truth might be a bit different, more selfish. The man without the legs had been smart. He would have been an asset, at least to begin with. But he also could have challenged her and made any others with a modicum of intelligence question her. She tolerated him, Jeremiah, and she didn’t seem to mind the blood-thirsty native woman they had been teamed up with before, but he couldn’t see her getting along well with too many others that might question her leadership or make her look less than pristine in front of the other undead, not that most of them cared anyway. They just wanted a meal and to hurt someone. But Charity was dead set on creating herself a little kingdom of the creatures, and Jeremiah wasn’t sure exactly what kind of undead that would allow. He was beginning to suspect it might be more like a cattle ranch than a kingdom. Jeremiah had no desire to be top dog and Charity knew that. That’s why they got along so well. She lead, he followed, and it worked for both of them. But could she handle anyone who made her question her motives, or second guess her decisions? Only time would tell.

“Ready?” Charity nudged him in the ribs and bobbed her head toward the horizon.

He gave her a toothy brown grin and bowed at the waist. “Lead the way, my queen.”

Her own grin was white and perfect, despite the constant intake of blood. She tipped her head slightly as she squared her shoulders and strode out of the trees with her entourage in tow.

“Callyfernya won’t know what hit ‘em,” Jeremiah mumbled as he followed behind.

CHAPTER 4

“Wait,” Abby called from near the back of the group. “Please.”

Connor pulled the men to a stop and spun his horse around. “Need a rest?”

“No, I just…” She let her voice trail off as she steered her horse to a nearby stream. There had been no rain in the last two weeks and the ground was hard and cracked near the water’s edge. Dark stains were visible in the dirt.

“Wait here,” Connor commanded Jasper and the others. He walked his horse over to where Abby had slid to the ground. She knelt beside the slow-moving creek and Connor crouched beside her.

“This is where we stopped,” she said in a voice so low no one else could hear. “This is where I knew Wyatt wasn’t going to be okay.” Her fingers reached out, but stopped just before they touched the dried blood.

Connor put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “Come on,” he coaxed. “We need to reach the farm before sundown.” He didn’t need to explain why. None of them wanted to fight those things in the dark.

She nodded and rose to her feet. He helped her onto the horse and the group started moving again. Jasper led this time and Connor hung back, keeping a close eye on the young woman beside him. Her skin had started to lose some of its color and the closer they got to the Crawford farm, the harder her face got.

When the farm came into view, Connor called them to a halt once more and they all dismounted. As they tied their horses to a nearby clump of trees, he pulled Abby aside. “You sure you want to do this?”

She swallowed. “I…” Abby cleared her throat and tried again. This time, she raised her head and looked Connor directly in the eye. “I have to. This is my home, no one else’s. I have to make sure.”

He nodded and squeezed her shoulder again. “All right. Stay with me then. Keep your gun up.” He turned to the men. “We do this smart and slow, got it? I don’t want any mistakes. We all stick together. No one gets bit, no one dies. Hear me?”

They all nodded or grumbled assent and every single one of the triple-checked their weapon of choice. Connor pulled his Peacemakers out. “Jasper, you watch left, Nel and Bates, you watch the horses. No mistakes,” he repeated before walking down the road. Abby was right beside him. She had the shotgun in her right hand and the barrel was balanced on the stump of her left arm. She had cut the bottom of her dress off so that it was well away from the ground. The look on her face was all business.

“Eyes sharp,” Connor said as they drew close to the farm. His voice was soft and low. He brought his gun up and aimed it toward the barn. “Clear out the barn first, then the house. Shoot anything that moves. And I mean anything.” He shot another look at Abby. She glanced up at him, but her only response was to point her shotgun at the barn.

The wind was working in their favor and blew their sent away from the door that stood ajar. All the same, they could hear the growls inside as they approached. One of the men, Nathan, stumbled and swore behind Connor.

“Button it,” the sheriff hissed.

“Stepped on a rock,” the man grumbled back, but he cowed his head and snapped his lips shut.

“Stay back,” Connor whispered to Abby as he beckoned Jasper forward. The sheriff and his deputy inched toward the door and Connor nudged it with his pistol.

The door creaked open. The growls inside disappeared briefly as the creatures all shifted their heads in the direction of the posse. The light from the windows cast shadows that obscured much of the interior, but movement was still visible nearby. Connor pointed his gun and fired. Once, twice. Jasper had thrown the door open wide as soon as Connor started shooting. He brought his own gun up and aimed carefully. The noise and sudden burst of light drew the undead from their corners. They stumbled out into the last bits of burning sun to snarl and snap at the fresh meat. Connor fired until his gun was empty, then he threw open the other side of the double door and stepped out of the way. The rest of the men picked off the undead and left a pile of bodies just inside the barn.

“How many?” Connor asked as the shooting tapered off.

Jasper fired a bullet into the skull of a man that was twitching on the ground. “Seven,” he replied after counting.

Connor turned his back on Abby and lowered his voice. “Any family?”

Jasper followed Connor’s lead and turned as well. “Abe, in the corner. He’s the first one you took out.”

The sheriff nodded. “’Kay. Try not to let her see.” He reloaded his guns. “Nathan, Moses, Patrick, watch this door. Nothing comes out, and I mean nothing. You see one of us coming through there, shoot us. Got it?”

The three men exchanged doubtful looks, but they nodded.

Connor gave them a hard stare before turning to the last man. “Tripper, you’re with us. Let’s go.”

“Where we goin’?” the man asked as he trotted along behind Connor, Jasper, and Abby.

“Gotta clear the other side of the barn.” The sheriff paused and looked in a window that was low enough to the ground to see into. “No movement. Let’s keep going.”

He rounded the barn and prepared to open the other doors. No growling or movement could be heard inside.

“Maybe we got’em all,” Tripper whispered.

Connor glanced at him, but didn’t respond. He was positive they didn’t. There were still too many bodies missing and the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach said there were more undead here than seven.

“Ready?” he mouthed to the group. They all nodded. He swung the door open and leveled his gun at the interior of the barn. Not a sound could be heard. It was unnaturally quiet.

The four of them crept inside, keeping their guns up and their mouths shut. They used the light from the windows and doors to check the corners and inside the little room just inside the door.

“Anything?” Jasper whispered as he stood next to Connor as they popped more bullets into their guns.

“Nothing. Not even a body. This place was on fire, clearly, but someone put it out. That ain’t right. Those things wouldn’t do that, not that I’ve seen, anyway. Something’s off here.”

Tripper came out of the room with a lantern that was sooty and blackened but usable. “We could use this.” He struck a match and held the lantern up. Shadows danced before it, illuminating just enough of the barn to make it even creepier than before. “You hear that?”

The four of them paused and listened. It was silent, deadly silent. “No,” Connor said. “What’d you hear?”

The man shrugged. “I dunno. It came from over there. Coulda been a rat or somethin’. I’ll check it out.” He strode forward with the lantern held high in one hand and his gun in the other.

“No,” Connor hissed at him. “Get back here.”

The man waved the hand that held the gun at Connor. “Watch my back,” he said and tossed Abby a wink.