Blood & Dust (Lonesome Ridge Book 2) Read online

  The older man chewed on his lip for a moment. “How are we with defenses?”

  “We have a rough wall built up most of the way around the town. Everything else has pretty much been put on hold while that happens. It’s not much, but they’ll be able to reinforce it better once it’s complete.”

  “Good, good. What about patrols?”

  “Doubled. Teams of at least four, no less. We don’t want anyone to be caught unawares.”

  Connor nodded. “Smart. Any sign of…” He paused, searching for the right words. “Any sign of those things?”

  Jasper’s blond hair danced as he nodded. “Not them, but we’ve found some tracks. Tracks that lead away from the town. None have tried to hit us, or attack anyone that we’ve heard of, but it looks like some did get away. We have to hunt them down, take them out.”

  The sheriff took a deep breath. “And we have to go back to the Crawford farm. We have to make sure it’s clear, that none of them are still there.”

  Jasper’s jaw worked as he clenched his teeth together, but he nodded. “Yep.”

  “When are you leaving?”

  Both men jumped at the voice in the doorway. Connor almost cursed Cora’s name out of sheer habit. Sneaking up on him was one of her best tricks. But as before, it wasn’t Cora in the doorway. It was Abigail Crawford, one of the two survivors of the attack on the Crawford farm.

  “Abby, how’s your arm?” Connor asked as he nodded in her direction.

  She walked into the jail house and lifted her left arm. It ended just below the elbow and she had wrapped the long sleeve of the dress she wore into a knot to cover it. “I’ll live. When are you leaving?” she asked again.

  Connor smiled at her tenacity. Abby was a strong woman of twenty. She managed to save one sister from the undead attack on her family’s farm, and she had fought and survived against one of the toughest undead to attack Lonesome Ridge. She lost her arm in the process, but she still survived.

  Connor glanced at the clock on the wall. It was still only mid-morning. “We should head out soon. Take a posse with us and clear it out.”

  Jasper shifted in his chair. “Amos had a posse,” he observed.

  “Amos didn’t know what he was facing.” Abby answered for Connor. She crossed her arms as best she could, wincing a little at the pain still in her arm, and looked down at the deputy. “We do. We know what those things are and we know what they’re capable of. If we’re careful, we’ll be fine.”

  “We?” Connor raised an eyebrow at the young woman and cocked his head.

  Her jaw was set and her eyes were hard. “Yes, we. Don’t even think about leaving me behind, Connor McClane. That’s my home. My family. I need to…” Her voice cracked and she paused to clear her throat and straighten her shoulders. “I need to make sure everything is settled.” Her shoulders sagged a bit and her head drooped. “I need to make sure none of them came back.”

  The pleading in her eyes was all he needed to see. He understood that sentiment all too well. Cora had taken herself out before she could turn, but others hadn’t been so lucky. Was Abby’s family roaming around the farm still, eating whatever living thing they happened upon? Her brother had come back and nearly killed her. He had killed his betrothed. Was her father or mother one of the undead who had attacked Amos? The girl wanted to know, and Connor couldn’t deny her that opportunity.

  “All right then. Jasper, gather up some men. At least six, not counting us.” Connor rose from the desk and the other two followed him out into the morning sun. Connor flinched as the light hit his eyes and several people who were walking down the street paused to stare at him, but he ignored them and acted like it was a normal day. “I’m gonna go find Robert,” he said as he walked down the steps.

  Abby was right on his heels. “I’ll come with you. I know where he is.”

  Connor’s teeth clenched. He didn’t want her to come with him. He didn’t want a chaperon or puppy dog, whatever she was trying to be. He just wanted to be alone. The feeling that had been overwhelming the last two days tried to creep back up, but Connor pushed it back. He turned his head slightly to the side and smiled at the girl. “Lead the way, little lady.”

  She returned his smile with a glare. “Don’t make me flatten you,” she growled as she stalked by him and headed toward the wall.

  Connor couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course, Miss Crawford. No flattening needed.” He had to give the girl credit. Despite all the awful stuff that had happened to her recently, she was holding up well. She had always been a spitfire, without a doubt, but Abby Crawford was growing up.

  “Connor,” Robert called from near the unfinished section of wall as they approached. His voice boomed out across the dusty road and assaulted everyone nearby. “How are you, lad? Feelin’ well, I take it?” He clapped the sheriff on the shoulder so hard, Connor almost stumbled to the side.

  Connor’s head bobbed once as he avoided the questioning eyes of the nearby workers. “Fine. Listen, we’re taking a hunting party out to the Crawford farm. We need to clear it out and make sure none of those things are still milling about.”

  ‘Those things’ had become the go-to term for the undead creatures. No one wanted to give them a real name, and no one wanted to acknowledge what they had once been. ‘Those things’ was a safe, distancing phrase that kept most people from really admitting the truth. It was much easier to deal with that way.

  “Aye, I agree. I was just thinkin’ about that this mornin’, actually. Happy ya beat me to it. Want me to join ya?”

  Connor shook his head. “No, not today. I’m taking Jasper with me and I need someone to be in charge. You up for the job?”

  It was a stupid question, really. Robert had basically been in charge while Connor was holed away in his room. But the big man had tact and refused to acknowledge that particular issue.

  “Sure, lad. Happy to. I’ll keep these fellas workin’ an’ sweatin’. Should have the wall done by tomorrow at the latest.”

  The sheriff appraised the section of wood nearby. It was hastily erected, but it would do for now, and as Jasper had said, it could be reinforced later once the whole thing was up. “Lookin’ good, Robert,” he said. “Keep it up. Who knows, someday you might be sheriff.” Connor grinned at the butcher and Robert laughed.

  “Nah,” he said. “No interest. Maybe mayor, though.” He tossed Abby a wink and the stoic girl rewarded him with a small smile.

  Connor tapped Robert on the arm. “We’ll be back by tomorrow at the latest. If we’re not…” He let the words hang, but Robert got his drift.

  “Yep, understood.” He gave Connor another nod of the head and went back to bossing around the men and women at the wall.

  Connor turned back toward the middle of town and Abby followed. They found Jasper and the posse he had gathered at the stables. All the men carried rifles or firearms of some sort. Jasper led a horse out to Abby and helped her mount up.

  “I ain’t ridin’ with no woman,” one of the men spat as he balanced his shotgun on his shoulder.

  “Fair enough. You don’t have to,” Connor said.

  Abby opened her mouth to protest as the man leered at her, but Connor held up his hand. She snapped her lips shut and Connor walked over to the man. He held out his hand. “Shotgun.”

  “What?” The man stood toe-to-toe with the sheriff, confusion evident on his face.

  “Give me your shotgun.”

  “What fer?” The man’s fingers turned white as he gripped the stock.

  “Because you’re not going with us. You’re going to find Robert and work the wall while we’re gone.”

  “But… I…”

  “Shotgun,” Connor said again. He stared at the man hard and didn’t move a muscle. It was a battle of wills and he wasn’t about to lose.

  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 nodde
d 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.