Chapter Forty-Two:
Evangeline felt as if she was having an out of body experience as she rushed down the boardwalk toward the building with a sign that read 'Apothecary' and boasted of medical care and medicine.
She was aware of Frankie behind her but Evangeline didn't attempt to speak to the other woman. Evangeline couldn't focus enough to speak. That didn't stop Frankie from attempting to make conversation.
"I saw Jedidiah head toward the train right after I walked out of the mercantile. I'm sure he'll tell everyone else what is going on." Frankie was quiet a moment. "I wonder what's taking Comanche so long....."
Evangeline went into the apothecary and before her eyes had time to adjust to the sudden change of light, a moaning shuffling rabid grabbed her arm. His hungry jaws gnashed together as bloody drool ran down his rotting chin. He tugged on Evangeline, attempting to bring her arm toward its eager mouth.
Evangeline felt no fear in that moment, only anger and rage consumed her. Damn this new world straight to hell! A new world where monsters lurked behind every closed door and good men like Colt were gunned down in the streets for no reason!
Evangeline swung out her free hand and caught the rabid hard in the temple, causing its grip on her arm to loosen. She pulled away, took the knife from her boot and in one fast motion, sent it deep into the lunging rabid's eye before yanking it back out with a wet squelch of blood.
"Maybe you aren't such a princess after all." Frankie stated with pride in her voice. Evangeline was too numb to feel the same pride. Put her bloody knife back in the sheath tucked into her boot and rushed into the tiny shop. She began looking through the medicine for the jars that Silas would need.
"He'll need water, I reckon." Frankie said as she grabbed a wooden bucket. "I saw a hand pump out front..."
Evangeline's hands were trembling as she found a burlap sack beneath the counter and filled it with medicines, sutures, scissors, clean rags... everything she could think of to stuff inside.
She rushed back out the door, stepping over the dead rabid and nearly running into Frankie who was standing there on the boardwalk with a full bucket of clear water.
"Watch where you're going, Evangeline, or I'll have to fill this bucket all over again." Frankie scolded and Evangeline was about to give the woman a piece of her mind until Comanche came jogging across the street toward them and Evangeline saw some of the tension melt out of Frankie's body.
"What the hell took you so long?!" Frankie demanded of him as the three fell in step beside each other, heading back toward the mercantile where Silas was waiting with Colt.
"I had to deal with the threat." Comanche replied swiping his hand across his bare, blood covered chest.
"Was the threat alone?" Frankie questioned.
"He says he was."
"Do you believe him?" Evangeline asked, the sound of her voice surprising even herself.
Comanche tipped his head. "I do. He may have been lying but I don't think so. When you put a coward in a certain amount of pain they will tell you all their secrets."
Evangeline shivered, not even wanting to imagine what Comanche had done to the man and yet glad that the indian had done it. Whatever pain that bastard had been put through, he had deserved every agonizing second of it.
They were approaching the mercantile when Evangeline froze at the sounds coming from within.
"Dammit, Silas, I'm fine!" Colt bellowed. "Where the hell is everybody! Where's Evangeline? Is she okay? Did anyone else get injured?"
Evangeline dropped the sack she was carrying, lifted her skirts and ran as fast as she her legs could carry her. She burst into the mercantile and her eyes fell on Colt. He was sitting up against the counter, his shirt was off and his shoulder wound was still oozing blood, but he was alert and his blue eyes lit up and filled with relief when they met hers.
"You're alive?" Evangeline gasped. Without waiting for him to reply she ran to him and threw herself into his chest. She was careful to stay away from his bad shoulder as she clung to him and sobbed against his neck. "I thought you were dead."
"No, ma'am." Colt replied gruffly. "No, I ain't gonna die just yet."
"But you got shot in the head." Evangeline stated with shock, her voice muffled against his skin.
"No, I got grazed in the head and knocked out cold. I got shot in the shoulder." Colt countered, kissing her hair. "And you're going to get covered in blood, sweetheart."
"I don't care."
"I need to get that wound tended to." Silas urged. Evangeline sniffed and turned her head to see Comanche and Frankie walk in. Comanche had picked up the sack she'd dropped and he tossed it to Silas.
"Where is the man that shot me?" Colt asked. "Is everyone else okay?"
"Everyone is fine." Comanche replied with a tip of his head.
"Except the man who shot you." Frankie cut in.
"Yes he is dead." Comanche agreed.
Evangeline knew she was in Silas's way as the man began to use the water and a rag to dab at Colt's shoulder. Colt hissed in pain and Evangeline laid gentle kisses to his jaw and gripped his hand in hers, wishing she could take his pain away.
"What in the hell is that?" Colt demanded suddenly. Evangeline followed his gaze and fought back a gag when she saw the bloody piece of skin and hair hanging from Comanche's waist, bouncing against his leg when he moved.
Comanche shrugged. "My trophy."
Frankie laughed and winked at Comanche. "Nice scalp, injun."
"Thank you, Paleface."
Colt grumbled under his breath as Silas poked at the bullet hole in his shoulder. "Dammit, Silas, leave it be!"
"You were shot, Colt." Evangeline reminded him. "Let Silas patch you up."
"Y'all act like this is my first time getting shot." Colt stated. "These two bullets actually make times thirteen and fourteen."
Evangeline blinked several times as she stared at him. "Fourteen times?! You've been shot fourteen times?!"
"Yep." Colt grimaced in pain, his one-armed grip on Evangeline tightening almost painfully as Silas poured a strong smelling antiseptic over Colt's shoulder, the nose-burning liquid coating both the entrance and exit wound.
Colt's nostrils widened and Evangeline felt him trembling with pain as Silas began to sew up the entrance wound on his shoulder.
Evangeline threw a glance at Comanche and Frankie and the two of them quickly slipped out of the mercantile.
"Look at me, Colt..." Evangeline urged gently, hating to see the pain on his face and yet impressed by the way he kept himself from crying out.
Colt's dark blue eyes looked deep into hers and Evangeline held his gaze. So much was written in Colt's eyes. Evangeline recognized the love she saw there. Colt looked at her in much the same way that her father had always gazed upon her mother. Colt loved her and she loved him right back—fiercely.
They simply sat their staring at one another, lost in the other's gaze until Silas stood up straight and swiped his arm across his brow. Your shoulder is took care of." He stated. "Now I'll start on that head."
"It can wait," Colt grumbled, grabbing onto the counter with his good hand. Evangeline moved off of his lap and helped Colt to his feet.
"Colt..." Silas began and Colt shook his head, though he grimaced when he did so and Evangeline knew the man must have one heck of a headache.
"It can wait. I'll need a good bath and Evangeline can help patch it up then and make sure it's clean."
Evangeline swallowed hard as she looked at his bloody hair and then imagined his long, lithe body in a bathtub, dripping wet with hot water. "Sure." she nodded. "Yes I will help make sure he's taken care of."
Silas sighed. "Alright, but at least allow me to fashion you a sling for your arm so you don't tear those stitches right back out."
***
"Colt!" Katherine exclaimed and Colt braced himself as she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. "Thank God you're not dead."
"Thank God that bastard shooting at us wasn't that great a shot." Colt muttered as he slid out of her grasp and held on tight to the train wall beside him. He would swear that the dining car was spinning and his legs were weak.
"Sit down, Colt." Evangeline urged as she led him to a table. Colt nodded and slid into a seat, barely having time to get halfway comfortable before a glass of water and a bowl of canned apples were sat down in front of him.
Colt looked up to see Charlotte smiling at him. "You've lost a lot of blood and you need food." She urged.
Colt nodded and shoved a big bite in his mouth before realizing that everyone was looking at him strangely. He swallowed the apples and frowned. "Yes, I know, I'm filthy and I'm covered in blood and my head is still oozing a little but I'm fine. I promise."
"We were so scared that we had lost you." Charlotte whispered.
"Yes that would have been a shame." Rachel agreed, though Colt was sure he could hear sarcasm in her voice. Once again he tried hard to remind himself that he would be upset when the woman died.
"Nobody lost me." Colt assured everyone, feeling his heart beat faster as Evangeline sat down beside him and laid her head against his shoulder.
Colt was not accustomed to affection. He and Sarah had never been affectionate with one another. No one in Colt's life had ever just wanted to lie against him or hold his hand. And he'd never wanted to share that with anyone else. He was a firm believer in appearing tough and not openly displaying affection..... Or at least he had been a firm believer in that before Evangeline had come into his life. Now he lived for her tiny gestures and he didn't care who saw.
"Colt, we must speak." Comanche said, from where he leaned against the kitchen door frame.
"Yes we really do." Ox agreed, glancing at Susette, who was wrapped around herself at a corner table and staring at him with wide blue eyes.
Colt pinched his nose. "I'm really tired of hearing those words." He mumbled. His head was pounding, his shoulder hurt to high heaven, he was tired, sore, weak and just wanted to go lie down and sleep for hours—preferably with Evangeline lying beside him.
"The man that shot you spoke to me—" Comanche began.
"Was this before or after you scalped him like some kind of uneducated barbaric savage?" Rachel demanded.
"You'll watch how you speak to him." Frankie warned, stepping toward Rachel with her fists clenched. "He got a lot of schooling. He sure as hell ain't uneducated."
Colt laughed lightly as Comanche smirked. "Thank you, Paleface."
"Just the same—" Rachel continued. "—I see no good reason why you should be carrying that bloody, disgusting piece of flesh around on your body! Get rid of it."
"No. I earned this scalp and I will keep it. I thought my chief had been murdered and I was avenging him—savagely."
"Chief...?" Colt mumbled. "Good Lord....." Colt rubbed at his eyes and pleaded with God to take this pulsing headache away. Of course it was better than the alternative which would have been a leaky brain. "Alright, Comanche, you first. What did the man say?"
"He was alone in this town, guarding it, until his group returned."
Silence fell over the dining car. "Group?" Colt asked quietly.
"Yes. A very ruthless and bloodthirsty group. They are out hunting for both animal and—" Comanche paused. "—and women."
"How big of a group?" Colt questioned, ignoring the gasps from the women.
"There are six men other than the one I killed and he was expecting them back tomorrow evening. They keep very strict time schedules and he seemed certain it would be tomorrow evening when they returned."
"Do you think his information is reliable?" Colt asked.
Comanche shrugged. "It's always possible that he was lying. However I believe he was being honest. You cut off a man's scalp and then threaten to begin with his fingers and it loosens his tongue."
"You scalped him alive?!" Rachel demanded with horror. "Great!" she threw up her hands. "I'm sharing a train with a murdering thief and a ruthless savage. That will certainly help me sleep better at night."
"You're welcome to leave at any time." Colt snapped, his head pounding. "I don't remember pulling my gun and forcing you to stay."
Rachel opened her mouth to speak but Ox stepped forward. "Aunt Rachel, that's enough. You won't say another bad word against Colt or Comanche. Both of them have risked their lives to keep you safe and you oughta be grateful instead of saying bad things about them."
Colt tipped his head to Ox and the big man smiled.
"Alright." Colt turned his attention back to Comanche. "Let's get the supplies we need and get the hell out of here before his friends come back. I would have liked to have stayed here a few days to stretch our legs but that's just not gonna happen now. Ox, Jedidiah, you both can let the horses out and put them over in the corral at the livery. They need to stretch their legs as well."
"Colt, there's more we need to talk about. It's Susette..." Katherine began but Colt held up his hand.
"Is this life threatening because my head hurts and I'm sore and we really need to get a move on."
Katherine sighed as she looked at Ox and he shrugged. "It can wait until we get moving again I suppose."
Colt nodded and rose from his seat, adjusting the sling around his left arm. "Alright then, let's get split into groups, get what we need and get the hell out of town."
***
"Shit." Colt stated as he looked at the nearly empty coal bin. There wasn't enough coal left to take them more than a few miles and they had searched this town up and down to no avail. There had been several rabid hidden in the buildings that they'd had to put down but there was no coal. They weren't going anywhere; at least not on this train.
"We could still take the train just as far as we can. Get away from this town and those men." Charlotte said.
"No we can't." Colt countered.
"Those men are not dumb men. They will know something happened and they will see our tracks and know we came by train. It won't be hard for them to find us." Comanche agreed.
"If this is gonna come to a showdown, I'd just as soon have it happen here. I don't want to be stuck inside a big box of metal with men gunning to get in to me." Frankie spoke up.
Colt nodded his agreement with Frankie. While he'd rather not have a showdown of any kind, especially with him wounded as he was.
"Alright. Everybody stays armed. Everybody stays at the hotel. If you have to leave the hotel, you check with me first and you don't' go alone. Silas and Charlotte, can you take first watch up high to keep an eye out?"
"I thought we had until tomorrow before they come?" Rachel asked and Colt shrugged.
"I don't take chances. There's no guarantee they won't come back early and even if those men don't come tonight, there could always be a herd or a different group of men."
Rachel nodded and took a step back. Colt was glad she seemed to have taken Ox's words to heart and was finally shutting that big mouth of hers.
"We'll take first watch." Silas spoke up.
"I'll take the binoculars with me so I can hopefully catch them coming early." Charlotte agreed.
"Alright. The rest of us need to get ammunition and weapons stockpiled at the hotel, as well as food and water. We need to barricade all the lower windows and entrances except one for us to get in and out of."
"Yeah, we know the drill." Frankie spoke up and she looked at Colt. "You reckon we could take a little while and get a good hot bath for everybody?"
Colt nodded, touching his stiff, sticky hair. "I reckon hotels have tubs."