Chapter Twenty-Seven:
May 1887
Colt's emotions were beginnings to wear on him and he knew damned well they were beginning to worry some of the others. Colt had always been the calm, cool and collected type. He had stared down the barrels of loaded guns held by trigger happy murderers and never flinched. He'd hidden deep in thorn bushes while posses of lawmen and angry townsfolk had ridden less than a foot past him, hooves thundering and angry voices calling out, searching for the man who had robbed their bank.
Sum it all up and Colt was not a man who became rattled easy. But Evangeline, her soft beauty and his attraction to it, had him plenty rattled.
He looked around at his group, his friends, as they rode along the tiny trail in the direction that Charlotte had suggested they go. Colt was fairly certain he knew where the small Franks River was and he thought he might have even seen this house they were going to once. As a matter of fact, Colt was fairly certain he had stolen a few things from Ox and Evangeline's Aunt Rachel and her now deceased husband.
That should make for a fairly interesting reunion if the woman recognized him. He wondered if she still carried that damned buffalo rifle she'd damn near killed him with all those years ago. He hadn't ever been so scared as he was to see that tiny red haired woman come out of that house waving that thing as he and his pals had ridden hard to get away and she'd sent a bullet straight at Colt that had come so damned close to his head, he'd felt the air off it blow against his cheek.
"Hey Colt...." Comanche rode up beside him and Colt turned to the indian.
"What is it?" he asked, scanning the woods around him for any sign of threat.
"We've been riding hard for hours, Colt. I think it is time for a break so everyone can stretch their legs and get something to eat." Colt glanced up at the sun and realized Comanche was right. They'd left out at just after dawn and it was now a little after noon. He nodded and then held up his hand and whistled to bring the group to a stop.
"We'll take a break. Thirty minutes." He called out. He was desperately hoping to make it to Rachel's before nightfall but if the house was where he remembered; he didn't think they would. It would more than likely be tomorrow around noon before they arrived; which meant that after this break they could ride a few more hours and then try to find a place to camp.
Colt watched as Silas helped Charlotte and Grace from the cart. Frankie and Evangeline had been riding together on the wagon they had taken from the home they'd stayed in. All day long the two had snapped at one another and driven Colt crazy. He had no idea what their problem with one another was but he was thinking of separating them when they started back out.
Colt didn't stay any longer than that. He was fairly sure he could hear running water so he clicked his tongue and urged his horse toward the sound, eager to have some time alone.
***
"Shit, Evie, I'm sorry!" Ox exclaimed as he helped her off the wagon and nearly dropped her. Ox hadn't meant to but Katherine had breezed past him and he'd caught her scent and his body went all twitchy whenever she did that!
"That's alright, Ox." Evangeline reassured him. "Do you want to go talk to her?"
Ox realized that his sister had followed his gaze and realized the cause of his sudden clumsiness. Of course she had! Evangeline knew him better than anybody. Ox kicked at the dirt and shook his head enthusiastically.
"No, I couldn't do that!"
"Why not?"
"Cuz I'm just the big dumb Ox. I couldn't never get a woman as pretty as her to waste her time on me."
"Ox, you are not dumb." Evangeline said with a smile. She rose up on her toes and could just barely manage to press a kiss to the bottom of his jaw. "You should talk to her. She might just want to talk to you too."
"But shit, Evie. All the women ever want from ol' Ox is a quick romp between the sheets and then it's 'don't' talk to us in public and we'll pretend we've never seen you. Can't have anybody knowing we bedded the dumb son of that Gilcrest man.'"
Temper flashed in his sister's green eyes and Ox winced. "Joshua Franklin Gilcrest!" she exclaimed, and Ox knew that every head around was going to be turning in their direction. "I won't stand to hear you speak nonsense like that around me! You are the single best man that I know. Kind, gentle, sweet and yet plenty able of defending those you love. Any woman should consider herself lucky to have you and you are the fool headed one for allowing those other women to treat you that way!"
"Shit, Evie...." Ox whispered as his cheeks flamed red and he glanced around to realize that yes indeed eyes were turned in their direction, including a set of brown speckled green ones that he'd really been hoping wouldn't notice the scolding his sister was dishing out. "Keep it down." He added.
Evangeline blushed as well and then tugged on her skirt. "Well perhaps if you'll stop saying fool headed things such as what you just said, I won't have to scold you."
"Yes, ma'am." Ox flashed her a grin that had always managed to soothe her temper and he realized it still had the desired effect.
"Now I need some privacy." Evangeline urged and Ox nodded.
"You have your gun?"
"Yes." Evangeline assured him, waving her hand.
"Don't go too far." Ox called out as she disappeared into the forest.
"I won't."
Ox sighed and then his eyes were once again drawn toward Katherine. She was so beautiful. Her hair was a deep golden color and her skin dark and tanned. Those eyes all green with brown flecks inside of them were the prettiest eyes that Ox had ever seen and when she smiled, (which wasn't very often), her face lit up like Christmastime.
Suddenly Ox's heart stopped beating when Katherine's eyes met his and she gave him one of those smiles. Should he go talk to her like Evangeline said??? No he couldn't!! What if she was like those other women and would be ashamed to be seen with him.
Ox just couldn't take that. He'd never felt pulled toward a woman the way he felt toward Katherine. Those other women had just been fun, Katherine would break his heart if she was ashamed of him. He couldn't take the chance.
Quickly Ox turned away and busied himself getting something out of a sack for him and Evangeline to eat before they rode back out.
***
Frankie swallowed down her pride and her hurt feelings and walked to Comanche who was currently standing guard at the back of the wagons. His sharp dark eyes scanning the surrounding woods for any sign of danger and his strong arms crossed over his broad, bare chest.
"I think everything's clear." Frankie said as she came to stand beside him. She didn't look over at Comanche but she could feel his dark eyes fall on her.
"It's been quiet today." He replied and she could hear the slight unease in his voice.
"We've had quiet days before, Comanche." Frankie reminded him and he sighed, nodded and turned to look into the woods again.
"Yes, you're right."
"But you feel like something bad is going to happen?"
"Yes."
Instantly Frankie became more alert as well. She had learned that when Comanche had a feeling something was going to happen, something was usually going to happen. "Do you think there are rabid?"
"My ability to see into the future does now allow for details." Comanche replied dryly and Frankie saw the grin pull at his lips.
They stood there in silence for several moments and then Frankie adjusted her crutches and turned to face him. "Look, injun, I think you and I need to talk."
Comanche nodded. "You talk. I will listen."
Frankie wanted to scream at him for acting as if being around each other all the time and yet being apart at the same time didn't bother him. Surely it did! It had to! Didn't it? Because it was killing her. All she wanted was to have him back. She had cried more tears last night than she had ever cried in her entire life. They had continue to pour from her eyes, running in rivers down her cheeks until finally her eyes had simply run dry with no more moisture to continue letting her emotions pour from them.
"Thank you for the ointment. It's helped my arms quite a bit." She began, knowing she was dancing around what she really wanted to say to him and yet unable to just jump right in and say the words she longed to.
"You are welcome." Comanche replied with a tip of his head.
"Comanche, I'm sorry............" Before Frankie could continue a scream pierced the air. A feminine scream for help, followed by a primal roar of rage that was most definitely male and the loud booming sound of gunshots.
"Evie!!" Ox bellowed and took off into the woods, followed by Katherine and Silas. Charlotte was sitting on the cart with her gun in her hand and Grace on the seat beside her. Frankie knew she couldn't go running into the woods on these crutches and she was surprised when Comanche stood where he was as well.
"Comanche, go!" Frankie urged and Comanche shook his head.
"If there is danger I will not leave you, paleface."
***
Evangeline knew she had promised her overprotective brother that she wouldn't go far but the sound of running water and the temptation of washing off her face and hands was simply too strong.
It was much like seeing heaven when she saw that clear, fast running stream and she crouched down beside it and splashed her face. It wasn't until she was raising her head and blinking the water droplets from her lashes when she saw the group of rabid.... It was only three but they were less than five yards from her and they were standing on the leaf strewn ground staring up at the sky as they rocked slowly back and forth.
On instinct, Evangeline went for her gun, but her wet, shaking hands slipped on the smooth wood and metal and the thirty-eight splashed into the stream.
Instantly three pairs of dead, gray eyes turned to look at her, drawn by the sound. Evangeline saw her gun but had no time to lunge for it before the rabid were limping quickly toward her. Lurching, twitching and jerking as they moaned and hissed. Evangeline looked to the side and saw a thick stick lying on the ground. It was big enough that she hoped it would make a decent club.
Standing straight, Evangeline twisted around and went for the stick, wrapping her fingers around the rough bark just as hands closed around her skirt and caused her to fall. Somehow she managed to twist her body and land on her back and the rabid fell with her, its gnashing teeth and ripping claws tearing into the wool fabric.
Evangeline saw the other two rabid quickly approaching as well and without hesitating she swung the club as hard as she could and then cried out, screaming in terror and frustration, when the stick splintered against the rabid's skull without fazing it.
She was going to die. Just like that, her life was going to end.
She brought her free leg up and kicked with all her might, knocking the rabid back. As it reared up to have another go at her and the other two rabid prepared to fall on her as well, Evangeline searched desperately for a weapon and found none.
Admitting defeat, she closed her eyes and prepared herself for the terrible pain she would no doubt feel as all those teeth and claws ripped her flesh open.
"Evangeline!" Her eyes flew open when she heard that voice... Colt's voice. She opened her eyes and glanced to the side just in time to see him come bursting from the other side of the stream, and that forty-five he carried fired off three quick shots, leaving three dead rabid in their wake.
Evangeline pulled herself away from their dead, rotting bodies, kicking them off of her legs with a whimper as she scooted back and pulled her knees into her chest.
Wrapping her arms around her legs, she buried her face in her skirt and cried. Her tears burned as they poured from her eyes. Tears of shame. Embarrassment. Fear. Relief. And worst of all, of all the people that could have come to rescue it had to be Colt. It had to be the man who hated her guts and treated her terribly. Doing nothing but scowling, yelling or grunting at her anytime they got around one another.
Maybe that was why her heart stopped beating and her body seemed to freeze in place when she felt her head lifted up and pulled against a broad expanse of hard chest.
"Shhh.... Easy now, Evangeline. You're alright. I've gotchya." Evangeline wanted to pull away and tell him to leave her alone after how awful he'd been for days, but she couldn't.
Instead her arms slipped around his neck and he continued to hold her tight, his big hands stroking her back and her hair.
"Stop that crying now. You're okay. I got here in time. They didn't get you." Then he stiffened and pulled away from her, leaving Evangeline reeling from the close contact and by its sudden absence.
His dark blue eyes looked into hers and they were wide with worry. "They didn't get you did they?" His eyes narrowed. "Are you bit?"
"Evie?!" Ox called from the road, which was clearly far away judging by the sound of his voice. She really had wandered further than she should have.
"Dammit, Evangeline, did they bite you?" Colt demanded, his hands going to her skirt and trying to lift it to check her legs. Evangeline shoved his hands away as a flush colored her cheeks.
"No, they didn't bite me!" she assured him. "You got here in time."
Colt seemed relieved but then he stood and walked toward the stream, fishing her gun out of the water and talking as he did so. "I guess we'll know soon enough if you're lying. I've seen the change a few times. Sometimes it takes hours. Hours of fever, shivering and dying before a person becomes one of those flesh eaters...." Colt's eyes were sad and he wouldn't meet her gaze as he tossed her dripping gun onto her lap. "And sometimes it's just minutes. They don't even have time to fully die before they're trying to sink their teeth into you... forgetting any bond you may have once shared...."
Evangeline had a feeling Colt was trying to open up to her. That he was sharing something personal, something painful, that perhaps he hadn't shared with anyone else.
"Colt..." she began but Ox chose that moment to burst onto the scene with Katherine and Silas behind him.
"Shit, Evie!" Ox exclaimed as he pulled her to her feet and held her tight under his arm. "I thought I told you not to go too far from the road?"
Evangeline winced at the temper in her older brother's normally good natured voice.
"I was just..."
"Being a foolish, stupid girl." Colt snapped as he kicked at one of the dead rabids. "You need to teach your damn sister how to not be such an idiot." Colt finished before storming back across the creek the way he had come when Evangeline had been being attacked.
"What has crawled up his backside lately?" Katherine asked and Silas shrugged. The two of them turned and headed back toward the road.
"Should I kick his ass, Evie?" Ox questioned and Evangeline shook her head and patted his arm.
"No. He's right. I was being foolish and stupid. I wanted to wash my face and I ignored the danger I would be placing us all in. He had every right to be angry. If he hadn't gotten here when he did, I would have died."
Ox nodded and then began to lead her toward the road. As much as Evangeline wanted to be angry at Colt for his harsh words, her mind was on the pain in his voice as he'd talked about people changing and forgetting. And then of course there was the other thing that was on the forefront of her thoughts.... When Colt had held her Evangeline had felt those things she'd been waiting her entire life to feel.... Tingles.
***
Camp that night was a tense affair. No one spoke much as they kept one eye and both ears glued to the forest around them for any sound of a threat.
Charlotte hated the tension and when she and Silas slid into their makeshift bed of grasses and blankets that night with Grace tucked safely between them, Charlotte couldn't help but notice that Silas seemed to be on edge as well.
"Are you okay?" she whispered, not wanting to disturb the sleeping baby or the others around them. Colt was wide awake, and perched in a tree keeping first watch but everyone else had slid into their own beds.
"Just fine, Miss Charlotte. Get you some rest now." Silas urged, kissing her head gently. Charlotte sighed, knowing he wasn't fine and yet knowing she couldn't help. It was this constant threat of danger and death out here in the woods that weighed heavily on everyone. They had managed to almost forget just how dangerous the world had become when they were safe in that house together. Out here it was an entirely different story.
"I love you, Silas." Charlotte whispered in the dark and she felt his big hand caress her cheek.
"And I love you." He replied, a smile in his voice. "Now sleep."
***
The plantation began coming into view at close to noon the next day and Charlotte noticed that Evangeline and Ox became silent when it did. Clearly they were scared about what they were going to find.
The tobacco fields were rolling around them and the outer barns seemed empty as they passed them by.
Colt positioned himself at the head of the group and set the pace, which was slow and methodical. Clearly he wasn't in any hurry to rush into a mass of rabid or a trigger happy group of survivors.
A big red barn came into view then and Charlotte nearly cried out with relief when she saw the horses with their heads poked out the small stall windows. Chicken were squawking and pecking at the dirt in the coop and there were even a few hogs rolling in the mud in a pen beside the barn. This place was still very much alive.
"Shit, Evie!" Ox gasped. "I told you Aunt Rachel would be okay."
"Quiet." Colt snapped harshly. Charlotte had noticed that Colt seemed more tense and on edge ever since Evangeline's brush with death yesterday and she couldn't help but wonder just what had happened in those woods before Ox, Katherine and Silas had shown up.
"Hello the house!" Colt called out loudly, one hand holding the reins of his horse loosely and the other resting on the handle of his gun.
The door to the house opened and an old man, dressed all in skins with a floppy stained hat, broken toothed smile and leathery skin stepped outside.
"Well hello, Colt! I was wondering when you all would finally show up. It's nice to meet you. I'm Jebidiah."