Izzy led Callum and La Roux into the hollow where they would make their stand. La Roux pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time. They had a little under an hour until noon, which meant they had very little time to setup their ambush. The Cajun swung his pack from his back and dropped it at his feet. He then pulled out a spool of thin wire and handed it to Izzy.
“I want ya to string this between the trees at around waist height.”
“Why waist height? Why not head height?”
Callum shrugged off his pack and answered for La Roux. “Lingerers move fast and low when they attack. If ya string the wire too high, then they’ll just run straight under it. Stringing it at waist height makes contact more likely. With luck, the wire will cut a few in half before it breaks, we can then take them out after the assault is over.”
Izzy grimaced and said, “You boys have done this before.”
“It sure ain’t our first dance,” La Roux said as he stood and examined the hollow. He then pointed to his left and said, “I’ll help Callum setup his gear over there. You join him when yer done. I’ll setup opposite his location, that way we can catch whoever enters this position in a crossfire. Izzy, if ya start shooting, it’s vital that ya keep your fire away from my position. Is that clear?”
Izzy nodded. “Sure, but ya really didn’t need to point out the obvious.”
“You’d be surprised how many Rangers have died in friendly crossfire,” Callum said as he picked up his pack and moved to the location that would conceal him from the soon to arrive Hunters. “People panic in the heat of battle and it’s easy to make stupid mistakes.”
“That’s right,” La Roux said as he followed Callum. “What seems obvious now soon gets forgot when bullets fly. If ya become disorientated about where I am, then stop shooting and let Callum do it all. Besides, it’s more important to keep his six-shooters full. Only use your gun if ya have to.”
Izzy nodded and then headed off to setup the wire.
“How do ya think she’s going to do?” La Roux asked as he started laying out Callum’s ammunition.
“She’ll do just fine.” Callum then looked his friend in the eye and said, “La Roux, I’m not going to be as fast as normal. If things go south, I want ya to leave me. It’s more important to keep the women alive than it is for me to get out of this.”
La Roux grinned. “Kid, even on your worse day, yer still better than any other Ranger I’ve ever fought with. If ya don’t get out of this, then none of us do. Now make sure all your gear is ready, cos I’m heading off to get dug in.”
Callum watched as his big friend ambled off, but he felt as if La Roux had too much faith in his skills. Callum knew he was good, but was he good enough? Only time would tell.
* * *
La Roux checked his revolvers for a third time and then sat back against the rock behind which he hid. His stomach let out an annoyed rumble, which he tried to quell with his last piece of beef jerky. He had been saving the small piece of dried meat for an emergency, but he figured he would be lucky to live beyond the next few hours, so what the hell. As he chewed on the all but tasteless piece of leathery meat, he began to think of home and of those he had left behind.
He rarely thought of life before the Rangers, and when he did, it always filled him with fleeting feelings of regret. His life was a full and productive one, but at times, he felt like he had sacrificed an awful lot to become a Ranger. Things like having a family, a home, and a woman to love. He knew his regret only reared its ugly head because of the imminent battle, and his possible death. He always put the feelings down to pre-battle nerves, and normally swept them quickly away. But for some reason, this time the regrets felt just that little more real. Its teeth were sharper and the pain the regret caused stung a little more than usual.
His mind turned to Izzy and the regret hit a new height. He knew having a relationship with any woman was out of the question, let alone one he had rescued. The thought of approaching her and telling her how much he admired her made him feel like a rapist. She—along with all the women under his temporary care—were vulnerable and had been treated appallingly by men. If he told her how he felt, she might just accept his advances out of pure fear. The thought of telling her he liked her, would be like taking advantage of someone too weak to defend themselves.
No, Rangers were doomed to a life of solitude, or at least they were while still in the service. He did know of Rangers who had married once they had left the Corps, but their numbers were few and far between. Even after leaving the service, most Rangers remained unhitched. It was as if a solitary life had become so deeply ingrained in their makeup, they simply could not find any way of forming bonds with a woman, or anyone else.
The thought of never meeting or marrying a woman made La Roux feel quite unsettled. Dying on the battle field, or at the hands of Lingerers never scared him. Dying alone did. The thought of never having a son to carry on his name suddenly felt like the most terrible thing in the world, and he struggled to contain his emotions at the thought.
He needed to clear all these maudlin ramblings from his head, otherwise, he would be no good for what lay ahead. La Roux closed his eyes and pictured all those who had died at his side. He pictured the face of every Ranger who had died at the teeth of the undead, and his warrior’s heart returned. When he opened his eyes again, his thoughts had turned to nothing but carnage, and the killing to come.
* * *
Izzy quickly tied one end of the wire to a tree, and then started feeding the rest out as she backed her way to the next one. As she wrapped the wire around the second tree, she thought of her dead sister, Alice, and the horrors she had suffered at her own brother’s hands. She despised how readily her male kin had fallen under her pa’s insane spell, but her brother had been the most brutal of them all. He had accepted every vile word her pa spewed, and he was always the first in line to administer any punishments that pa wanted administered. No matter how hard she tried, she could not understand why the men—but especially her brothers, and Jacob Junior in particular—had so easily slipped into the barbarity of life in the Maxwell camp. Were all men so easily swayed?
She knew this could not be true because of La Roux and Callum. They were the antithesis of her male kin. They were kind, caring and would die rather than see harm befall the women they now protected. This left her with only one option. Every male in her family had the propensity for insanity.
The Maxwells had always been close knit, and maybe that had something to do with the men’s evil ways. It was possible that years and years of cousins marrying cousins had effected the males of her blood line. She shook her head with disgust at the thought of the men’s insanity, and then tied off the wire to the second tree. With both her heart and mind saddened by the evils of her family, she moved to the next tree and began her work again.
She hated her family for what they had done to her women kinfolk, but most of all she hated her pa. If not for him, the men would have never gone down the path of rape, murder, and brutality. Her mother’s death had triggered her pa’s madness, but it was he who had turned his madness into something contagious. His insanity was every bit as virulent as the Lingering, and he had done everything in his power to make sure it spread.
At first, his sermons had seemed reasonable, all be it eccentric. But as days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, his sermons had turned darker. Even then she had seen the writing on the wall, but she had done nothing. She should have stopped him when she had the chance. If she had of acted back then, so many of her female kin would still be alive. Not only that, but countless malformed children would have never been born; then subsequently murdered. If only she had killed him back then, how different her life—and the lives of every Maxwell—could have been.
Over the years, she had imagined a hundred different scenarios of killing him. She had pictured feeding him to the undead. She had pictured cutting his throat, and then watching on as he turned into one of the things he revered so much. She even pictured strangling him as he raped her. But now that her chance was at hand, she found herself unsure if she could kill him.
As much as she hated herself for admitting it, she still had a deep seated love for the man who had raised her. It was true that her pa had changed into a crazed lunatic, but he was still her pa.
She tied off the last of the wire to the final tree and then inspected her handy work. With another shake of her head, she realized her real pa had died along with her ma, and now all that remained was a husk filled with pain and hatred. She wiped a single tear from her eye and steeled her resolve. If she got the chance to kill her pa, she would take it. To do any less would be a betrayal of all those who depended on her.
Izzy let out a long, low sigh and then turned and headed back to where Callum waited.
* * *
Callum stared out at the hollow, and focused his mind on what needed to be done. He started to run over different scenarios in his head, and how he would cope with them. Missing a hand was bad enough, but the wound was still incredibly vulnerable. He was managing to block out the pain while he kept the arm relatively still and protected, but if it got knocked or hit, well then all bets were off. It wasn’t only the pain that concerned him. The wound was still comparatively open, and already had signs of infection. If even a single drop of Lingerer’s blood—or saliva—made it into the wound, then he would be as good as dead. It would be like being bitten, which meant either he, or La Roux, would have to put a bullet in his head.
He knew this was true because he had witnessed firsthand the affects Lingerers blood had on open injuries. Many Rangers had survived brutal battles, only to change because blood from the undead had made it into their own injuries. With this thought in mind, Callum pulled his knife and started hacking at the thick leather of his protective coat. Soon, he had cut a large square from the bottom of the heavy garment. As soon as Izzy returned he would get her to wrap it over his stump and then tie it off with the twine from his pack. He knew the makeshift glove would be far from waterproof, but it would at least stop blood splatters from penetrating his bandages.
His mind then turned to the women hiding in the cave, and of how scared they must be. He knew that if they failed to stop not only the Hunters, but also the men following them, then they were as good as dead. He closed his eyes and pictured the description Izzy had given them of her pa. He visualized himself cutting the old bastards head off, and as the image coalesced in his mind, a smile lit his lips. He knew it was wrong to draw pleasure from killing, but he would make an exception with Izzy’s pa. After all the pain Jacob Maxwell had caused, death would be the only fitting end to the maniac.
Callum almost went for his gun as Izzy jumped down beside him. He looked at her, and for the first time saw not a victim, but a strong and capable woman. At that moment, he wished the Rangers took women as part of their ranks, because Izzy would make one hell of a Ranger, and one he would gladly have at his side.
“What ya doing with that?” she asked as she nodded toward the square of leather.
“I want ya to wrap my stump in it.”
“Is it to protect your wrist from the undead’s blood?” she asked as she set about covering his wound.
Damn, she smart,
he thought as she took the leather. “Yep, or at least, I hope it will.”
As she worked, her eyes drifted in the direction of La Roux. “I wonder how Pierre is doing.’
Callum grinned, and goaded, “Ya like him, don’t you.”
Izzy simply blushed, but said nothing.
Callum opened his mouth to say something else, but instead he cocked his head and listened to his surroundings. He then looked at Izzy, and from the cold resolve that had replaced his wry smile, she instantly knew hell was about to erupt in the hollow.
“La Roux,” Callum shouted as he pulled his neckerchief up to cover his mouth and nose. “Here they come!”
“Now, things are going to happen very fast,” Callum said as he handed a revolver to Izzy. “Battles rarely last more than a minute or two, but it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by what’s happening around ya. Stay focused on keeping my guns loaded, and leave the Hunters to me and La Roux. If everything goes south, don’t run; fight. Lingerers will run you down before ya can out run ‘em, your only chance will be standing your ground. Do ya understand!”
Izzy nodded and took his gun with shaking hands.
“
IZZY!
”
Callum barked firmly. “Stow those nerves.”
Strangely, Callum’s harsh tone seemed to help her, and her hands ceased their shaking. Now she too could hear the fast approaching Hunters. Their coarse howls, grunts and bays seemed to be coming from every direction. Callum placed a hand on her shoulder, nodded reassuringly, and then stood.
Callum raised his revolver in the direction of the approaching throng of death, and cocked its hammer. He knew it was vital to fell as many of the Hunters in the first few seconds as he could, otherwise the hollow might become over run. His cool, calculating side kicked in, and his heart rate and breathing slowed. He had done this many times before, and today would be no different. Head shots, then, if they got close he would set to work with his tomahawk. Fifteen Lingerers, that’s all there would be, and he had taken out more than that on his own before. He concentrated on doing his job—the job of dealing in death—and nothing else.
* * *
La Roux covered his face with his neckerchief, then heaved his massive frame off the ground and spun toward the sound of the screeching Lingerers. As he turned, he glimpsed Callum doing the same, and nodded his approval. Even missing a hand, he knew Callum was a formidable ally to have at his side.
La Roux flinched as a particularly ear splitting wail rang out around the hollow, closely followed by another, then another. Soon the wails reached a crescendo, then abruptly died. He shot his fellow Ranger a nervous look and he saw his own concern reflected in the face of his young friend.
Over the years, he had heard Lingerers make many sounds, but the ones he had just heard were new to him. Normally, Lingerers sounded animalistic, and their cries lacked any communicatory skills. They were simply cries of hunger and wanton need. The wails which had just ceased sounded like battle calls. He knew this could not be true, but he could have sworn the call was meant as some kind of signal.
His eyes went wide as he spotted two Hunters bolting in his direction. The wire stood between him and the ravenous creatures heading his way. He gritted his teeth, and waited expectantly for the wire to cut them down.
The two Hunters darted toward the wire at an incredible speed, and at the last possible moment, they leaped high into the air and straight over the hastily erected trap. Both Rangers watched on in utter disbelief. Never before had they seen a Lingerer go out of its way to avoid injury. The undead never paid any heed to their surroundings, yet these two saw a danger and avoided it with ease. This did not bode well for them.
The Hunters landed in a hunched crouch, and eyed both La Roux and Callum hungrily. Then, as if the two creatures were communicating somehow, they exchanged a glance and then charged in La Roux’s direction. The undead’s unexpected behavior left both Rangers momentarily transfixed and unable to act. Only when the Hunters made the move for La Roux did they finally open fire.
As each man opened fire, the Hunters began to dodge and weave at an astonishing speed. Normally, both men always hit their targets with an unerring accuracy, but not today. Their shots went wide as both Hunters zigzag toward La Roux.
Callum looked toward Izzy, and she saw fear in his eyes. “Remember what I said about things going south?” he shouted.
She nodded and chambered a round into her rifle.
“Well there going south already. Shoot anything that enters this hollow. Don’t try for the head, just take ‘em down and we’ll finish them later.”
With that, Callum holstered his revolver, pulled his tomahawk, and ran to his friend’s aid.
* * *
La Roux stumbled backward and raised his arm to block the first Hunters attack. The creature latched onto his arm with all the ferocity of an enraged guard dog, and started thrashing its head side to side. Even though the thick, protective leather of his Ranger’s coat shielded him from the disease drenched teeth of the Lingerer, the pain of its bite was still considerable. La Roux raised his free arm and placed his gun against the incensed monsters ear. He then turned his head and pulled the trigger. He felt a wave of hot blood and brains splatter the side of his face, and the teeth tearing at his arm released.
He turned to look at his handy work, but the impact of the second Hunter drove him to the ground. As he slammed to the dirt, both his revolvers flew from his hands. However, he had no time to worry about the loss of his guns.
The Hunter flew at his face, and La Roux only juts caught the thing by the throat in time. The cords in the big man’s neck tightened with the strain of holding the ferocious creature at bay, but hold it at bay he would. Its teeth gnashed just inches from his face, and again he had to turn away to avoid the things infected drool from getting in his eyes.
With his temper stressed to its limits, the Cajun drove up with his knee and sent it slamming into the ghoul’s groin. The thing showed no signs of pain, but the force of his blow did send it flying off of him. With a speed that matched that of his attacker, La Roux threw himself to his feet, drew his large knife, and attacked that which had just attacked him.
With its arms out stretched, the monster roared and the thing sprang to meet him. La Roux had found his feet, and the fury of battle now had him firmly in its grip. He raised his knife high in the air and then brought it down in a powerful sweeping movement that looked both terrifying and graceful. The blade tore through both of the things outstretched arms with ease. It was now the Hunters turn to stumble and fall, and La Roux took full advantage of its misfortune. In one deft movement, he flipped the knife in his hand, then drove it back handed into the things skull.
As the thing fell to the ground dead, La Roux scanned the dirt for his dropped revolvers. A second later, he held both weapons in his hands and turned to see which of the Hunters would be next.
* * *
Callum had reached the center of the hollow when the first of the two Hunters hit his friend. Determined that he would not let La Roux fall to the undead, he gritted his teeth and increased his already considerable pace. A few more strides and he would be at his friend’s side, but the sound emanating from his right brought him skidding to a stop.
The rest of the Hunters chose that moment to join their advanced vanguard, and came charging in Callum’s direction. Thirteen Hunters assailed the wire at once, and in the frenzy to reach the warm flesh stood before them, several stumbled and fell prey to the wire. One found itself cut clean in half at the waist, the other at the top of its thighs. This only slowed their approach to a dragging crawl, but the other eleven moved with the same speed of the two now attempting to devourer La Roux.
The sound of gunfire erupted from the direction of Izzy’s location, and massive holes began appearing in the chests of the fast advancing throng. Callum could not help but admire her shooting skills as she desperately tried to protect him from the oncoming mass of gnashing teeth and rotten flesh. The force of her the bullets drove those hit backward, and sent them cascading to the dirt. The rest of the pack ignored their fallen, and focused on Callum in the middle of the hollow.
Callum drew on all the memories of those he had lost to the Lingering. He pictured his father and mother, he pictured his sister and old Jo. He imagined their pain and their terror as they fell, and he focused his rage on the filth now charging toward him. With his body fueled by hate and pain, Callum charged forward to meet the wave of undead. His anger would fuel his ballet of blood and gore. Vengeance would be his most terrible of weapons. As with every encounter that had gone before it, this battle would go some way toward evening his scorecard.
* * *
Izzy slipped Callum’s revolver down the back of her belt, and then placed her rifle to her shoulder. She picked her target carefully, and uttered a small prayer to the God she no longer believed in. In a matter of moments, Callum would be overrun by Hunters, and she would do her damnedest to stop that from happening. She advanced, firing as she went. She knew head shots would have to wait until she got closer, but her weapon was powerful, and a bullet to the chest might buy Callum some precious time.
With every step forward she took, she fired. As she moved, a myriad of thoughts filled her head. First and foremost was how many rounds did the rifle hold? Had Callum or La Roux told her? She did not think so. She knew her pa’s Henry repeater held sixteen rounds, so surely the Ranger’s model held more. Whatever it held, she resolved to run it dry, then she would use the revolver Callum had left behind. Once that was empty, she would use her knife and bare hands.
As she advanced, her eyes flicked to Callum, and her heart almost stopped. She saw a man every bit as single minded and terrifying as the Hunters. She saw no fear in him, only cold hatred and resolve. Her gaze returned to her foe, and she fired again. Again and again she fired, but then she raised her gun in alarm. Callum was charging into the mass of undead. Was he mad?
* * *
Callum ran forward, and the horde lunged for him as one. Without dropping his pace, he slid to his knees and took out the legs of the first two with his tomahawk. Before they hit the ground, he was on his feet again, whirling his weapon as he went. Instantly, he split the skull of one Hunter, pulled his weapon, and then planted it in the face of the next. Another Hunter grabbed his throat, but Callum lashed out at its knee with is booted foot, and bent its leg grotesquely backward. As the Hunter fell, Callum pulled free his tomahawk and brought it down on the center of its head, and the things skull split in two like a seasoned log.
From behind him, Callum heard the familiar sound of a Lingerer’s guttural groan. In one fluid motion, he pulled his tomahawk from the now dead Hunter’s skull, and spun with his weapon outstretched; dropping to a crouch as he went. The Lingerers grab for him went high, and his blade found its guts. As the things intestines spilled to the dirt, he stood and finished it with a backhanded blow from his tomahawk to the back of its head.
Callum moved out of the fray, and turned to see who would be next. Suddenly, the heads of the two Hunters closest to him exploded. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw La Roux advancing with his pistols held high. Another head exploded, but then La Roux ran dry. The Cajun threw his guns to the dirt, and pulled his long blade.
Callum looked forward again, and saw six Hunters remained, all but one had suffered injuries of varying degrees. Three were all but legless, another was cut clean in half. The last injured one had a hole in its chest almost big enough for him to pass his fist through. His attention finally fixed on the one remaining ambulatory Hunter, it in turn had its eyes fixed on Izzy. Callum suddenly realized that the last standing Hunter was the one meant for the woman at their side!
“
SHOOT
!” he bellowed as he bolted for the Hunter.
Izzy held the rifle limply at her side. She appeared to be in shock from what she had just witnessed, and did not respond to his calls for action. As if sensing this would be its only chance, Izzy’s Hunter ran at her like a charging bull. It hit her in her midsection and drove her to the ground with incredible force. Callum dashed to her aid, but he was still at least ten yards from her when she hit the dirt. Even from where he was, he could hear the wind being forced from her lungs, and he instantly knew she would not be able to fight the thing off.
Callum threw his tomahawk with all his might, and it tore into the Hunters back, but the creature showed no signs of even being hit. Instead, it turned Izzy’s head to one side, and lunged for her neck. Callum’s heart went to his mouth, and his hand moved in an instinctive blur. Behind him, La Roux hacked and stabbed at the five injured Hunters. In front of him, Izzy lay helpless and at the mercy of an uncaring and blood crazed monster. Callum’s heart pounded and his mutilated wrist throbbed, but still he would fight. He would fight to the end, but this would be close.