Once Bitten: Twice Mad

Chapter Fourteen

Now all Ox had to do was find the tailor shop and get some clothes for he and Evangeline. Especially for her. She couldn't very well keep running around the country in a bloodstained nightdress and robe.

He saw the tailors across the street and embarked on a jerking, twitch path in that direction, glancing over at the saloon and seeing his sister and their three new friends up on the roof watching him. He fought the urge to wave, worrying that that sudden movement might alert the monsters, and simply continued on his way.

The door to the tailors shop was locked but Ox was strong. He turned the knob extra hard, pushed just a bit and the door popped open.

"Don't take another step, no sirreebob you better not!" an excited voice exclaimed from behind a mannequin. "Who you might be?" it added.

Ox frowned at the skinny man with wild hair and sat down the heavy sacks. "My name's Ox." He replied. "I need a change of clothes for myself and my sister."

"Well go on then... but do it quick! Quick. Quick. Quick. You broke my door. You did. You did." The man came around the mannequin and Ox bit back a laugh when he realized that the man was barely five feet tall. He was very skinny and his clothes were little more than tattered rags that hung off his thin frame. He had crazy eyes, that seemed to be looking in every direction at once and his face was covered in scratches. Ox figured he'd scratched himself since he was currently digging at his face with his dirty fingernails as he studied his broken door.

"Sorry about that, sir." Ox said politely as he quickly went about picking two simple dresses out for Evangeline. He hoped they would fit her good but either way they'd be better than what she had now. He wondered what she'd think about dresses that weren't covered in satin and lace. She probably wouldn't like them.

"That's okay, it is. A piece of wood and a nail will make it good as new!"

Ox had never in his life seen a man like this one and he found himself chuckling with amusement as the man bustled quickly from one side of the shop to the other, words leaving his mouth with every breath he took, though none of them were clear.

Ox stuffed the dresses into the sack and then blushed furiously as he shoved some underclothes in there as well. He grabbed some long johns, the only pair he could see that would fit him and then began to look through the pants. Sometimes being so big was just a lot of trouble.

"Where is your sister that you mentioned? You left her alone out in that mess? Bad bad brother!"

"No, she's over at the saloon with those nice folks there." Ox replied, grabbing a pair of pants from the bottom of a pile and holding them up to himself to see if they looked big enough.

"What?!" The skinny man exclaimed as he ran up to Ox and stared up at him with shocked and scared brown eyes. "No. No. No. You left her with those crazies? They are crazy crazy crazy. Might as well tell her goodbye you should! They love the women. Rut and sacrifice that's what they do!"

"Huh?" Ox asked as unease washed down his spine and he shoved the pants into the sack, along with a shirt that seemed large enough.

"The men will rut with her and then sacrifice her to the monsters! That's what they do. They are crazy crazy crazy. They believe if they sacrifice the living then the dead won't eat them." The skinny man waved his hands in the air. "Crazy I tell ya."

"Sacrifice?" Ox asked, his forehead screwing up tight as he racked his brain to understand what the man was saying and then it came to him and his blood froze. "They're going to kill my sister?!"

"Rut her first, yep. Yep. Then kill her. Hope ya said goodbye cuz she's gone like the good mayors face!" the skinny man cackled as he began to nail a piece of wood to the door to secure it closed.