Once Bitten: Twice Mad

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine:

April 1887

'Colt!' Sarah's screams pierced the night and Colt ran for the cabin but it was as if his legs were stuck in a muddy bog or a pit of quicksand and no matter how hard he tried to get them to work, how quickly he tried to run, they were being held back and bogged down.

'Colt help!' Sarah's screams became more desperate as did Colt's thrashing movements. The sounds of his daughter's tiny screams mingled with his wife's and with a scream of desperate rage, Colt finally broke free of whatever was holding him back and ran for them.

He was running through a sea of those rabid monsters. They were coming at him from all sides. Clawing, biting, ripping, tearing. The pain was unbearable but still Colt kept going forward. They might kill him but he would not allow these monsters to kill his family. Not again.

He burst into the cabin and his boots skidded to a stop on the uneven wooden floorboards when he saw that he was too late. His thundering heart broke apart yet again. They were rabid. His beautiful wife and his precious baby girl had turned into monsters. They were coming toward him. Their bodies were bleeding from bite wounds and their eyes were gray and lifeless. Their hands were reaching for him.

"Dada!" Loralie's little voice called out and this time instead of running Colt fell to his knees and held out his arms for his daughter as fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

Loralie climbed up into his lap and Colt wrapped his arms around her, holding her tiny body tight against his chest and not caring when she sunk her teeth deep into his throat........

Colt shot bolt upright, his gun in his hand as he quickly looked around the cave he'd camped in. He hadn't built a fire because he had learned they attracted the rabid and while it was April and becoming a little warmer, it was still damp and chilly with all the mud and rock around him.

It was still the middle of the night, Colt realized, though the full moon cast plenty of light outside the cave to see by. He figured he might as well be on his way. He wasn't going to be sleeping any more tonight. Not after that dream.

He grabbed his sack of belongings and his saddlebags from the ground. He'd managed to get a change of clothes, some extra weapons, ammunition and a bit of food from an abandoned homestead he'd come across but he knew he'd have to go to a town soon. He hadn't yet been to a town. He was somewhere in Tennessee would be his guess but he didn't know or care exactly where. That didn't seem to matter when all you ever found were more and more rabid.

Colt hadn't seen a single other living person since that woman who had rescued him from his cabin. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't want to punch her in the face for rescuing him. Things would be so much easier if she had just let those rabid have him.... At least then he wouldn't be living this non-existent life.

He felt nothing. He was no longer sad but he wasn't happy either. He was numb. He simply was. He didn't laugh, didn't cry. He didn't get angry and yell, as a matter of fact he had yet to speak a word. He wasn't even sure how long it had been since the days had all seemed to run together but he thought it was getting close to two weeks.

Colt wanted to die and yet he was too much of a fighter to just lie down and do it. Maybe going into a town would get it done. There may be a lot of rabid there.. too many for him to get away from. He had killed his fair share of rabid already. Dispatching them with a calm cold indifference. He knew it wasn't their fault that they were doing what they were doing and yet he couldn't stop himself from killing every single one he saw.