Once Bitten: Twice Mad

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen: This Town Is Plumb Full of Crazies

Ox did his best to simply avoid the monsters. He was pretty sure that they could smell blood and death and he knew that if he killed one more would come. Clutching the empty sacks and his rifle tightly, Ox went to the gun shop first.

It took his eyes several moments to adjust to the dark and dusty interior and then he walked to the back counter and eyed the small selection of guns that were left. It was clear they'd been picked over but he grabbed a stub nosed .38 that he figured would be easy for Evangeline to handle and then he grabbed a ten inch barreled .45 for himself.

He figured with a gun that big, even if he ran out of bullets, it would make a real good club. Next on his list was to fill the bag with every bit of ammunition he could find for both guns.

His pa had always been strict about not allowing guns on the plantation but Ox had kept them anyway. It was the only thing he had ever done against his pa's orders and Ox had done it because he had been good at shooting. It wasn't often that Ox found things he was good at and so when he did he tried to do it as often as he could. Guns and rutting, those were his two great talents. He wasn't much good for much else.

Ox saw a boot knife and a bowie knife lying behind the counter and he quickly scooped them up and dropped them into the bag as well. He figured the more weapons they had the better off they'd be.

"Gnaa..." Ox's head swung around and he saw the little boy entering the gun shop. The boy's jawbone was clearly visible on the right side of his face as his skin was rotting. The boy's clothes were torn and covered in blood and dirt and he was reaching for Ox with his thin arms, his dead gray eyes focused on Ox's face.

Ox let out a groan. He didn't want to kill a little boy. The boy lunged for him, his fingertips nearly closing around Ox's shirt sleeve before Ox manage to twist out of his grasp. Ox knew he'd have to kill the boy. If he ran out of here the boy would chase him and keep making those moaning sounds and that might alert more of the monsters.

Ox hated that this was how it had to be and he prayed that God would forgive him as he tossed down his sacks, grabbed the unloaded rifle and swung it with everything he had causing the boy's skull to cave in before his small body fell lifeless to the wooden floor.

Ox was shaking and he forced himself to swallow down the vomit that had risen in his throat. The monsters had turned Ox into a monster. He'd killed his pa, several women, men he'd once been friendly with and now a small boy. Ox had thought that the old world was hard but this new one was quite simply a nightmare.

Quickly Ox found a gun belt for himself and Evangeline, though he was sure he'd have to make a couple new holes in hers to make it fit her slender form. He slung his around his lean hips, loaded the .45 he'd picked for himself and holstered the weapon. He then loaded the rifle, threw the sacks back over his shoulder and left the gun shop, sliding around the edges of the buildings and moving slowly. He hoped that maybe if he jerked around like the monsters did then they wouldn't notice him quite so much.

Ox made his way to the mercantile, stepping over the tattered and rotting remains of what appeared to have once been a man, and entered the dark and dingy building. He used the butt of the rifle to quickly kill the two monsters that came around the counter, moaning and twitching toward him and then he busied himself stuffing as much canned fruit, beans and jerked beef as he could inside the sack. He saw the barrels of candy and couldn't stop himself from grabbing several handfuls. He was real fond of peppermint sticks and he knew that Evangeline liked the cinnamon ones.

He threw some extra food into the second sack for Thompson, Clint and Lita before throwing some matches and two blankets into his and Evangeline's sack. Their sack was nearly bursting and Ox knew it wouldn't hold much more. He did grab a lantern, holding it in his hand. He could always loop it around the saddle horn of their horse and it would provide them with a bit of light at night if they couldn't light a fire.