Chapter Sixty-Two:

"Colt, this doesn't feel right." Comanche said as the group made their way down the road toward the hotel. Comanche had never cared for towns. They were too neat, too organized, too controlled—in the old world. The new world had towns that were wild and untamed and he did not mind them so badly. But this town was like the towns of old. Neat, orderly, clean and.....strangely quiet.

"I know it doesn't." Colt admitted. "But it's just for a night. We'll gather up supplies and leave in the morning for someplace different." Comanche nodded. He knew there wasn't any other choice. They were too low on supplies to simply leave—the group would surely starve or collapse from exhaustion if they didn't get some decent rest soon. Morale was low and a bit of peace was needed desperately.

Comanche could see the lines of fatigue on everyone faces, even Colt's. Comanche himself was exhausted as well—Meals had become whatever Comanche could hunt in a day and whatever the women could gather. Potatoes had become a staple but they were running out and those they had left were beginning to rot.

Everyone was hungry and run down and without a good amount of rest soon the horses were going to begin to fall. Already the brown mare had a limp that Comanche knew Colt was concerned about.

"Colt, we need longer than one night," Rachel argued, her voice barely more than a whisper as her feet dragged the ground with every step she took.

"I know that, Rachel." Colt sighed tiredly. "But something ain't right about this place and that man. Now my instincts tell me that we'll be just fine here for a night but I'm not pushin' it any longer than that."

"Does he live here alone?" Evangeline questioned, glancing at all the clean boardwalks and storefronts.

"He says there are other people here but that everyone keeps to themselves and stays inside." Colt shrugged.

"Clearly there have been no herds through here. Even if he says he deals with the flesh eaters as they come, he could not have handled a herd without some part of this town being destroyed." Comanche observed.

"Maybe he's really alone here, Colt," Evangeline said. "Maybe he's just lonely and pretends there are other people here."

"It's possible." Colt nodded and scratched at his bearded chin. "Comanche and I will take turns keeping watch tonight though. I don't trust this man."

"You said he wasn't mean," Ox spoke up.

"He wasn't." Colt admitted with a snort. "He was downright cheerful. If there's two things I don't trust nowadays it's cheerful and normal. He was cheerful and this town seems normal, other than the fact that it's empty; that means I don't feel real good about being here."

"This man is no real threat, Colt. If he is indeed alone here I can end what worry you have of him quite easily." Comanche assured the other man as he ran his hand over the bone handle of his knife.

"You wouldn't kill an innocent man!" Rachel exclaimed. "That would make you no better than a common murderer!"

Comanche fixed her with a cool stare. "I would kill any threat to myself or this group."

"There's no proof that this doctor is a threat!" Rachel argued angrily. "Maybe he is telling the truth or maybe he is lonely and sad and a little off in the head. Whichever it may be neither of those things means he is a threat to any one of us."

Comanche looked down his nose at the woman. Comanche saw everyone in this group as his family, except this woman. She was harsh, judgmental and full of hate. It did not matter what image the woman now tried to put forth, or how often she bit her tongue; Comanche knew that inside she was still the same.

"No one is going to be killing anyone tonight." Colt grumbled as he came between the two of them and urged them down the road once again. "I don't think the man is dangerous, but there's something about this place I don't like and I don't want to make this home for any length of time. Now let's get the hell to the hotel and get to work patching up the lower windows and doors."

"Will this man be angry that we damaged his hotel? He seems to take pride in the appearance of his town." Comanche noted.

Colt chuckled and shook his head. "How about if he gets mad we let him talk to the business end of my namesake?" Colt patted the gun on his hip and Comanche nodded.

"That should work."

***

"Colt, here's all the nails that Rachel and I could find upstairs." Evangeline said as she sat two jars of nails on the table in the hotels fancy sitting room.

This place was fancier than Colt preferred with its heavy English furniture and gleaming, polished wood but Colt figured beggars couldn't be choosers. He also knew that Evangeline was appreciating the rich interior.

It was a strange feeling to know that in another time before these monsters, Evangeline probably wouldn't have looked twice at a man like him; a man on the wrong side of the law more often than the right side with a tiny struggling homestead and barely a dollar in his pockets.

"That should be plenty." Colt acknowledged as he tossed the board he was carrying onto the floor. They had stripped out the floor of a few extra bedrooms in order to have the boards for the windows and doors. There was no way in hell Colt would allow his people to spend the night in a building with no protection. When they were outdoors it was different—everyone slept with one eye open. But inside they tended to let their guards down a bit more and Colt wanted to ensure that they could do so safely.

Evangeline grabbed a hammer from the back of the small sofa as Colt held a board over a window. She placed several nails between her lips and began hammering those nails into the board. Colt's lips curved in a small smile. He had lost a big part of his group but those left worked well together.

Rachel was in the kitchen preparing a meal, Susette and Ox were bringing in pails of water and filling several tubs upstairs, Jedidiah was nailing boards on the back door and windows and Comanche was on the roof keeping watch. They already had the horses settled in at the stables and had secured the doors the best they could while still leaving small openings in the windows for the animals to have some air. The brown mare had had a rock caught in her shoe and Colt had gotten it out but the horses needed some good hoof care which Colt knew he'd have to take care of tomorrow.

Colt moved down to the next window, wishing this sitting room didn't have so many, and braced a board across it. Evangeline began to hammer, sticking her tongue out and biting it as she did so. Colt chuckled but that laughter died when Doctor Harris came bursting in the through the front door, his feet stomping loudly through the entryway before he strode into the sitting room and fixed Colt with an angry glare.

"What are you doing?!" Doctor Harris bellowed, his full cheeks turning blood red as his chins shook.

Colt shrugged and positioned his body in front of Evangeline's, the action more of an instinct than a conscious decision. "We're making this place secure."

"Secure from what?"

"From the rabid," Colt replied. He saw Comanche slinking silent through the entry way with Frankie's hatchet clutched firmly in his hand. The Indian crouched and seemed fully prepared to launch himself on the large doctor. His eyes met Colt and Colt shook his head. "You don't have to do that, Comanche."

Doctor Harris turned quickly and began to stutter when he saw Comanche rising back up. Comanche slid the hatchet back into the self-made holster and crossed his arms over his chest. "Is this the doctor?"

"Yes, I am the doctor." Doctor Harris snapped. He whirled back toward Colt. "This is my town! I told you this hotel was safe and you have destroyed it! Where did you get these nails and boards?"

"From upstairs!" Susette exclaimed as she walked into the sitting room, dragging her bucket along the best she could with one good hand and one not so good one. Water sloshed against the edges of the wooden pail and landed on the fancy rug. "It was lots of fun getting the nails... it was like a scav...sabenger....sacavenger.... it was lots of fun." She finally blurted out.

Colt smiled at the girl. Katherine's abandonment and then death had taken a big toll on her but she seemed okay. Perhaps not as happy as she'd been before Katherine had left but Colt knew the girl would be alright. Ox played a big part in that. Colt had never seen a finer father. Ox was hurting but he seemed to have pushed that to the side and focused all his time and attention on Susette. Together they were healing and Colt figured that was the way it was supposed to be.

"You are tearing down my hotel?" Doctor Harris demanded. Colt wiped his hands on his trousers and shrugged.

"I'm doing what has to be done. I don't know how this town has gone without being torn apart but you ain't seen the rest of the country, doc. My family ain't sleepin' in a place that ain't safe."

"Now see here--!" The doctor took a step forward and Ox was suddenly there, stepping between Colt and Doctor Harris. Ox and the Doctor were roughly the same height, both seven foot giants, but the doctor was soft and fat around his middle whereas Ox was all hard, solid muscle.

"You'll take ya a step back now." Ox warned. "Nobody needs to be yelling and fighting in front of the ladies—" Ox looked back at Colt. "Ain't that right, Colt?"

"That's right Ox." Colt nodded. "Now you and Susette get them buckets on upstairs."

"Doctor, I am terribly sorry if we have offended you," Evangeline stepped around Colt and held out her hand to Doctor Harris. "We've been fighting to stay alive for so long that I'm afraid we did all of this purely out of habit without first considering how it would bother you."

Colt snorted, but the doctor seemed soothed as he shook Evangeline's offered hand. "Can I ask what you all are so scared of?"

"The monsters." Susette replied. Ox had taken her bucket from her and gone upstairs, leaving the girl in the sitting room.

"You mean the sick people?" the doctor asked, his jaw tightening.

Susette shook her head and tugged on the ends of her tied back hair. "They aren't people anymore. They're monsters. They killed my mommy—well she wasn't my real mommy but I was hoping that she might be..." Sadness filled Susette's features and Evangeline went to the girl and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"They are not monsters," the doctor argued. "They are simply sick people who need to be helped."

"I'll kindly ask you not to be spouting out your beliefs to the girl." Colt warned. He nodded at Comanche who walked back out the door to retake his place on the roof.

"You would rather her see these people she loves as monsters?!"

"They aren't the people she loved anymore. I'd rather tell her a horrible, heartbreaking truth than have her believing a sweet, sugar-coated lie."

"Come on now, let's stop fighting," Evangeline urged as the doctor stepped forward and Evangeline came between he and Colt. "What's done is done and we cannot change it." Colt's hand instantly went to the handle of his gun when it appeared for a moment the doctor was going to force Evangeline out of his way.

Finally Doctor Harris took a deep breath. "I want your group out of here in the morning."

"We're tired, doc, and if this place is rabid free and quiet then we'll probably be sticking around." Colt replied.

The doctor's brown eyes nearly bulged from his head and he let out a whoosh of air through his nose. "The townspeople will not be happy about this."

Colt stuck his thumbs through his belt loops and shrugged. "Then have them come on over here and let us know that. I have to look out for my people and just now this is the best choice we've got."

Colt stared the doctor down and knew that he had called the man's bluff. Colt was fairly certain that there were no other people in this town. He suspected that Evangeline was correct and the man was alone here; sad, lonely and probably more than a little crazy because of it.

Without another word the doctor turned and strode from the hotel, slamming the door loudly behind him.

"Trouble, Colt?" Jedidiah asked stepping into the room. Colt shook his head as he realized Rachel was now peering into the room as well.

"No," Colt replied slowly. "But y'all ain't gonna be able to let your guards down quite as much as you normally do when we find us a place like this. I'll want two guards on the roof at all times once darkness falls. There's something strange that I don't trust—"

"I think he's just a few bubbles off of plum," Jedidiah shrugged with a smile. "But then again I've been told I'm the same a time or two."

"I would say you have," Colt agreed. "Now let's get back to gettin' this place locked down. I'm ready to rest a bit."