Chapter Fifty: Life Had Just Gotten More Difficult
June 1887
Charlotte dished fried potatoes onto plates as they were placed in front of her. The group had camped the night before beside a rocky outcropping that, thankfully, kept the roaring wind off of them a bit.
This weather was horrible. The heat was nearly unbearable already this morning and Charlotte knew it would only get worse the further into summer they got. Add to that the blazing sunshine that seemed to beat down from the moment the sun rose until the second it set and the gusting winds and it was safe to say that everyone was at least a little miserable.
Charlotte missed their town. She missed her bed. She missed having a roof over their heads and food without dirt in it. She didn't voice any of this though, simply kept a smile on her face as she served everyone the meager breakfast she had prepared.
They had been traveling for a week and were down to two small meals a day. With twelve people in their traveling party food had to be limited or it would never last. Everyone seemed to understand this but that didn't mean they were happy. Poor Ox was constantly clutching at his roaring stomach and Frankie, (the skinniest woman among them), was surprisingly the biggest eater and of course not afraid to voice her complaints about the lack of food whenever the occasion presented itself.
"Potatoes again?" Frankie sighed as she began to pluck the greasy morsels off her plate.
"I'm afraid so." Charlotte replied sadly. "I can heat some canned apples and boil some oats if you'd like."
"Naw," Frankie shrugged. "We'll save that for another day."
"Twelve people use a lot of food." Silas observed as he looked at the dwindling supplies of food stores in one of the two carts they'd brought along.
"We should be to those tracks within the next day or two and then it shouldn't take too long to find some kind of little town." Colt assured everyone.
Charlotte saw Colt slip a few of his potatoes onto Evangeline's plate while the woman wasn't looking and she smiled. Evangeline had insisted on Colt getting a larger portion than herself at nearly every meal. Colt had gone along with her suggestions but clearly it had only been to placate the southern belle as he'd been slipping food onto her plate every time she looked away for days.
"I miss biscuits slathered in butter." Frankie spoke up again.
"I miss meat." Katherine added. "It's been days since we've had any meat other than jerked beef."
"I can fix that." Frankie assured as she pushed herself away from the tree she'd been leaned against, shoved her final chunk of potato into her mouth and handed Charlotte her empty plate. "Colt, can I have some time to go huntin'? I might just find us some good meet for dinner."
Colt seemed as if he were about to say no but Evangeline leaned sideways and bumped his shoulder gently. Charlotte saw her nod discreetly when Colt glanced at his wife and then the man turned his attention back to Frankie and nodded.
"You have an hour." He replied.
"That's all I'll need." Frankie assured him. "I'll have to fire a shot." She added.
"We haven't seen a single rabid all week." Ox shrugged. "And meat sounds real good."
A half-smile curved Colt's cheeks and he nodded. "I reckon it should be okay."
Charlotte was surprised as Frankie started off into the woods alone. Colt was usually very strict about everyone having partners.
"Someone go with her." Colt spoke up as if on cue.
Immediately Charlotte glanced at Comanche, hoping he would offer to go with Frankie. The two had yet to speak more than a word or two to one another since the day that Hoss and his men had shown up in that town.
Comanche did not seem in any hurry to offer and Charlotte rolled her eyes before taking a bite of her own potatoes. If prizes were awarded in stubborn pride than surely Frankie and Comanche would be standing on the winner's podium.
"I'll go." Lily spoke up as she jumped to her feet.
Frankie's growl of annoyance was plain to hear and Comanche shook his head. "Are you sure you want to do that?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Lily replied before running off after Frankie who seemed to have quickened her own pace.
Silas laughed quietly as he came to stand beside Charlotte. "Lily was a nice girl. It will be a shame to lose her."
"What of it, Jedidiah and Susette? Will Lily make it?" Colt asked with amusement.
"I must say I have seen nothing." Jedidiah assured him. "Though my own visions have been few and far between."
"Frankie won't hurt Lily." Susette said as she stole a potato off of Ox's plate and the big man's jaw dropped just before he scoffed and raised his plate high enough that the girl would require at least two ladders to reach it. "Frankie is nice." Susette added just before shoving her stolen prize into her mouth.
The group all shared a look and their laughter filled the air. All but one person laughed, Charlotte noticed. Comanche simply sat and stared at the space where Frankie and Lily had disappeared from. Charlotte could only guess at what was going through the indian's mind.
***
Frankie's eyes went up to the treetops as she clenched her jaw with irritation. Her jaw tightened and her teeth ground together roughly when she heard the panting breaths and snapping twigs coming up behind her.
She had been keeping a neck breaking pace through the woods, while still moving silently of course. It had been her hope that she'd be able to outpace Lily and leave the annoying twit behind but it was clear now that that wasn't going to happen. Lily had somehow managed to keep up with Frankie while creating a buffalo-sized ruckus as she did so.
"Frankie—" Lily gasped as she came up beside her. "—can we slow down a bit?"
"We might as well head on back to the camp." Frankie snorted. "With all the noise you're making there won't be a critter within miles."
"I see a squirrel." Lily countered, pointing at the busy-tailed rodent jumping from limb to limb.
"One squirrel? Why there ain't enough meat on a squirrel to feed Susette, let alone a man as big as Ox."
"Perhaps we could sit here and wait for something to come around?"
Frankie grumbled as she squatted down and leaned her back against a tree. "Might as well." She muttered. "With all the noise you make when you move around you'll warn everything for miles."
Frankie thought Lily was going to say something to defend herself but then the other woman shrugged a dainty shoulder and sat herself down on the ground, smoothing her skirt around her. Frankie shook her head. Lily was tiny. She was a bit taller than Evangeline, (who Frankie was certain had a bit of dwarf in her), but she was much more slender than Evangeline and lacked the full feminine curves.
The two of them sat in silence for several long moments and then Lily cleared her throat. "Frankie, can we speak about something?"
"Speak about what?" Frankie asked. "We're supposed to be hunting."
"I want to speak about Comanche—"
"Let's head back." Frankie stated quickly, pushing herself up to stand. "We aren't going to see anything now."
"Frankie, he misses you." Lily called, stopping Frankie in her tracks.
Her heart clenched painfully in her chest as she turned to look down at the other woman who was still sitting on the forest floor.
"We ain't gonna talk about me and Comanche. It ain't none of your business as far as I can see."
"Frankie—" Lily began again but Frankie shook her head and turned, heading back toward camp.
"You and Comanche are a perfect match." Lily called out, stopping Frankie once again. "You're both equally as hard-headed and foolishly stubborn."
"You're insulting me now?" Frankie demanded with a chuckle. "You've got some nerve, I'll give you that much."
Lily pushed herself to her feet. "You are both miserable and yet too proud to admit it to the other."
Frankie sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Comanche and I don't work together." She admitted, her heart breaking as she spoke. "Sure we have a good time with the hot and passionate side but that's about as far as it goes. He's looking for things that I have no interest in giving him."
"Shouldn't the two of you speak about that together?" Lily questioned.
"Why do you care?" Frankie spat. "I thought that the two of you were getting awfully close."
"We are." Lily shrugged. "As friends. I remind him of his family and he is a good, kind man. There is nothing more than friendship between us. Comanche is very much in love with you."
"Like I said before—" Frankie adjusted her gun belt. "It ain't really none of your concern."
"Really now! That's enough—"
"Shut your mouth!" Frankie whispered harshly as she caught a flash of movement through the trees.
"Excuse me?" Lily demanded, temper flashing in her light blue eyes.
Frankie simply held up her hand and kept her eyes focused on the movement. Her heart thundered with excitement when she realized it was a deer.
"Get down and be quiet. I just found us some dinner." Frankie urged. Lily followed her gaze and then dropped back to the ground.
Frankie pulled her revolver, crouched low to the ground and eased herself forward. She crept along at a snail's pace as the deer grazed at a patch of grass.
Frankie froze when the deer glanced her way but relaxed when it went back to grazing moments later. Frankie raised her gun, settling the sights just behind the deer's shoulder. She took a breath, let it out slowly and began to squeeze the trigger.
Before Frankie could get the shot off, a rustling came from the bushes beside the deer and a rabid came crashing through, leaping on the animal and sinking its teeth deep into its neck.
Frankie cursed under her breath at the lost meal and then Lily's screams joined the thrashing sounds of the deer and rabid.
"There are more!" Lily cried. Frankie realized she was right. Rabid were stumbling through the trees, running on their jerking legs and heading straight for Lily and Frankie.
"Come on!" Frankie yelled at Lily as she fired shots. A few connected with their marks, but most missed. The trees, twigs and branches and the rabid's unpredictable movements as they rushed Frankie and Lily's way made shots hard to make.
Lily seemed frozen in place as she screamed. Frankie thought about leaving her. Frankie knew she had to get to the group and warn them. These rabid, at least a dozen of them were close enough to the camp that it was clear that was where they were heading. But if Frankie left Lily that meant the woman would die.
Frankie only hesisted one more moment before pulling her hatchet from the holster on her hip and rushing Lily's way. She couldn't let the woman die.... Not when Comanche cared so greatly for her.
She reached Lily and sunk her hatchet deep into a rabid's head just before the monster reached the shock frozen woman. Frankie grabbed Lily's arm and yanked her roughly. "Come on now! We have to go!"
Frankie swung her hatchet again, taking off a rabid's arm after it latched its fingers onto her shirt. "Lily, you better get to moving or else we're both gonna get ate." Frankie warned.
The two of them began to run quickly across the forest floor with the rabid just behind them. Frankie kept yelling out warnings, hoping the group would hear them and be prepared. Lily let out a yelp as her skirt tangled in a fallen branch and she fell down hard.
"Get up!" Frankie yelled, standing over Lily and swinging her hatchet as the rabid advanced and yet more appeared through the trees. Lily was sobbing and Frankie had a strong urge to kick her while she was down, though she doubted that would help the woman get up. She had to remind herself that Lily had no memory of this sickness over the last months. In her mind this was just starting and Frankie remembered how frightening those first days had been.
Lily got herself to her feet but Frankie knew it was too late. There was no way they could outrun all these rabid and make it to camp—unless...
"Go, Lily! I'll hold them off!" Frankie insisted, swinging her hatchet through a rabid's neck and splattering Lily's cheek with blood.
"But what about you?" Lily cried, her face ghostly white.
"I'll be just fine. It ain't my first go 'round with these things." Frankie kicked another rabid, causing the monster to stumble back and then swung her hachet into the temple of another.
"Go goddammit!" she yelled at Lily and Lily seemed to snap out of her daze. She pulled her snub-nosed revolver, emptied it into the advancing horde and then took off at a run toward camp, screaming her little lungs out with every step.
Frankie kept swinging, kicking, punching and hacking. Very quickly it became obvious that she'd bit off more than she could chew. Her only hope was that Lily would get to the group and they'd be quick in getting to her....
***
Colt was just securing the belongings in the second cart when gunshots rang out in the woods followed by the faint sound of screams and more gunshots.
Without a word, Comanche shouldered his quiver full of arrows, grabbed up his bow and ran in the direction of the shots.
The screams grew louder and Colt grabbed Evangeline around the waist, eliciting a cry of shock from her before tossing her into the back of the cart and shoving a rifle in her hands. He pulled his revolver just as Lily came into view.
"Rabid! A big group of them!" she exclaimed, tears running down her pale cheeks. "Frankie was trying to hold them off alone but I'm afraid there's too many!"
"Lily, Katherine, Rachel, Evangeline, Susette and Charlotte; stay here, get in the wagons and shoot any rabid that come around. Jedidiah, Ox and Silas come with me."
Without waiting for a response, Colt took off into the woods. He wasn't ready to lose a member of this group, especially Frankie. She was one of his warriors and he needed her.
***
Comanche let lose arrows, dispatching the rabid between he and Frankie. He could see her, his paleface. She was surrounded and swinging her hatchet with everything she had. Her clothes were bloody and he prayed it wasn't hers. Her hat had been lost and her hair was sweat covered and clinging to her cheeks.
Comanche was out of arrows so he dropped his bow and quiver, pulled his hunting knife and fought his way toward the only woman he had ever loved—the only woman he would ever love.
"Are you hurt?" he demanded, unable to get a good look at her as they battled the rabid horde. A child, no more than six, leapt at Comanche and he swung his knife in the air, catching the monster and slamming it down to the ground. Frankie kicked over his back, knocking another rabid back before it came down on Comanche.
"I'm just fine." Frankie snapped. "Less talking; more fighting."
Colt, Ox, Silas and Jedidiah soon joined them and the couple dozen rabid left were quickly taken care of. Several gunshots sounded from camp, though they ended quickly and Comanche knew everyone was fine. More shots would have sounded had too many rabid made it to camp.
Comanche took several moments to catch his breath and frowned when Frankie moved away from everyone and leaned against a tree, her back to the men.
"Are you okay there, Frankie?" Silas asked. "Did you hurt your ankle?"
"No—" Frankie replied, her voice tight. "My ankle's just fine."
"Let's get back to camp." Colt ordered, sliding his bloody knife into the sheath on his leg. "We need to get a move on. There's no telling what's heading our way. We got too comfortable. Too many days without rabid made us let our guard down. We can't let that happen again."
Comanche was only half listening to Colt. His attention was only on Frankie as she gripped the rough bark of the tree beside her. Her shoulders heaved silently and Comanche suddenly knew she was crying.
He was to her in three long strides. He gripped her shoulder in one hand and spun her around. "What is wrong—" Comanche's voice trailed off as he looked away from her tear and blood stained face and down to her stomach.
"Oh my God—" Silas whispered.
"Shit." Colt stated blankly.
Ox shifted his feet and rubbed his neck roughly. "She got bit."
Comanche's world stopped turning as he looked at the large, bleeding wound on Frankie's stomach. Her shirt had been ripped away and her skin had been shredded by the rabid's teeth.
"Y'all don't let me turn." Frankie ordered, squaring her shoulders and standing straight. Comanche could see her body beginning to shake and it was clear from the sheen in her eyes that her temperature was raising. Comanche knew that death would follow and then sometime within minutes or hours she would awaken changed.
"Leave us." Comanche said quietly, his eyes locking with Frankie's. Silas, Ox and Jedidiah headed back toward camp but Colt remained.
"Comanche, I'll take care of things." Colt insisted.
Comanche shook his head. "That won't be necessary."
Colt studied him for a moment and then turned his attention to Frankie. "I'm sorry, Frankie. Reckon I should tell you now that I'm not sore at you for savin' my life anymore."
"You take care of yourself, Colt." Frankie replied, her teeth beginning to knock together as she shook.
Comanche knew that time was running out. Colt quickly turned and headed off in the direction that Silas, Jedidiah and Ox had taken.
"Paleface—" Comanche began, his voice raspy with the emotion currently building in his throat.
Frankie turned away from him and slumped against the tree, falling to her backside on the forest floor. "Did Lily make it back?"
"Yes." Comanche replied distractedly. "I am sorry, Frankie. I should have come hunting with you..."
"I ain't got time for I'm sorry." Frankie replied quietly. She clutched at her stomach and blood oozed through her fingers. "You'll be happy with her, injun. She'll give you things that I wouldn't have."
"I have no interest, Paleface." Comanche ground out as he crouched and touched her cheek. He nearly winced when he felt the heat radiating from her skin. "You are all I want."
"Comanche—" Frankie's shivering intensified as her eyes slid closed.
"Frankie!" Comanche yelled, smacking her face.
Her fever bright eyes opened and she snorted as she shook. "Hit me again and I'll kill you."
"You were trying to die on me." Comanche stated unapologetically.
"I g..got bit." Frankie stammered, her words broken. "D...death is gonna h..happen."
"Why didn't you run?" Comanche demanded angrily. "Why did you stay and fight them?"
"L...Lily f...fell." Frankie replied. Her back rubbing against the rough bark as she began to convulse more intensely. "W..we wouldn't h..have made it. I.. had to s..save her. F..for you."
Comanche felt as if he'd been sucker punched in the gut. He shook his head roughly grabbed her chin. "Damn her!" he exclaimed." I care about her, yes. I care about the entire group but they all mean nothing compared to you! You are my one, paleface."
"Y..you are t..the one who c..called me selfish. I f..figured I'd prove y..you wrong."
"I never meant that." Comanche whispered as shame filled his heart. "I would have given you anything you wanted and never asked you for more than you were ready for. I only wanted your happiness and I wanted you to be able to talk to me. To open up to me. I wanted you to love me as I love you."
Frankie raised a quaking hand to his cheek. "I do." She vowed clearly. Then she winced. "N..Now end th..this... it h..hurts s..so bad."
Comanche placed a kiss to Frankie's burning brow and pulled his gun. Frankie's eyes met his as her body went into more intense convulsions and foam began forming at the corners of her mouth.
"I love you, paleface. I am sorry."
***
Colt heard the gunshot and at the sound of it, Evangeline threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. Colt wrapped her tightly in a hug and kissed her hair. "Colt?" she whispered.
"What is it?" he replied gently, memories of that bullet he'd placed in his own wife's head coming back to him.
"If I'm ever bitten, please don't let me turn." Evangeline's voice was muffled against his chest but her words were like razors straight into his heart.
"Don't!" he growled angrily, his grip on her tightening and causing her to squirm. "You'll never be bitten. I won't allow it."
Colt glanced around at his group. Everyone had fallen silent. Charlotte was crying while Silas held her. Katherine was staring into the woods. Ox had a tight grip on his gun and his eyes were red rimmed. Jedidiah was holding Susette's hand as silent tears fell down the girl's cheeks. Rachel was pale and off by herself near the first wagon. Lily was also standing alone with her arms wrapped tightly around herself.
Comanche strode back into camp. His shoulders thrown back and his eyes were expressionless. He walked straight to his paint horse and pulled himself up into the saddle.
Colt pulled Evangeline off of him and jogged over to Comanche, grabbing the reins to stop the indian from riding away.
"Where are you going?"
"Away."
"You can't leave." Colt countered and Comanche looked down at him, his dark eyes flashing with sadness.
"I must. I am a poison to those I care about. My tribe, my paleface... It will only be a matter of time before I bring death to everyone here."
"That is bullshit and you know it. You're running scared." Colt ground out. "I need you here, Comanche. I need you to help keep my wife safe."
"No one is safe, Colt, and we should all be scared. The world has ended. We were fools to think differently. We were fools to think there was hope for the future."
Comanche jerked his reins free, clicked his tongue and rode away. Colt simply watched for several long moments and then let out a breath and waved his hand.
"Ox you stay with me and we'll take care of....We'll take care of the body." Colt said. "Everyone else get moving on. Ox and I can catch up with you easy enough. Don't stop for a damn thing until we catch back up with you. Nothing. Do you hear me?"
"Colt I'd rather wait for you..." Evangeline began but Colt shook his head.
"There's been too much noise here. There could be more rabid coming. You will all move on."
Colt's tone made it clear there was no room for argument. Ox appeared at his side with two shovels while everyone else began to load up on the horses and wagons.
Just like that the group moved on and Colt felt his heart hurt. Death was so common in this new world. It was such a commonplace thing to lose people and to see death that moving on from it had become easier. Though he knew the fallout from Frankie's death and Comanche's departure would eventually hit.
He had just lost two good friends and his two greatest warriors. Life had just gotten a lot more difficult.