Once Bitten: Twice Mad

Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Understandings, Visions and Bad Dreams

Evangeline stared down into the cup of coffee she had only taken several sips of in the last hour. The child, Susette, she had said her name was, had finally quieted down and was eating the potatoes and biscuits that Charlotte had prepared for her.

Susette had taken up with Katherine quickly saying that the woman's golden hair reminded her of her mama. A mama that was now dead.

Evangeline fought back the tears that wanted to fall. She was having doubts that she could survive in this new world. There was too much blood. Too much death. Too much constant terror. A person no sooner got over one life threatening or heart breaking situation and they were thrust directly into another.

She was no warrior. No fighter. No 'tough guy' the way everyone else here seemed to be. While she could cook and clean, she lacked the motherly quality that Charlotte possessed. She was a pretty face, that's all she'd been raised to be. Lord knew she was trying. She had saved her own life several times and killed a few rabid but today she had frozen.

Fighting one or two rabid was drastically different than being surrounded by so many of the snarling, terrifying beasts. She had wanted to prove to everyone that she could fight and impress Colt by letting him see her 'tough' side and that had done nothing other than backfire and cause her to look a fool as she had screamed and tried desperately to hide behind the men and keep away from the rabid attacking them.

And then to watch Colt kill that man...... Evangeline was no child. She understood that the man was going to die with or without Colt's bullet and she understood that putting him out of his misery quickly was better than allowing him to finish turning or allowing the approaching rabid to eat him alive. She had even seen men be shot before when she and Ox had nearly been killed in that first town they'd come to....... But that had been different.

Those men were bad men. They were trying to kill her and her brother.

The man Colt had killed had been innocent. He'd been scared to death and sick. He'd been crying for his life; begging Colt for mercy and Colt had pulled that trigger with no hesitation; no second thoughts. And it hadn't bothered him at all.

Or had it?

Evangeline let out a frustrated growl that surprised her. Since when did she growl? Apparently she was picking up on Colt's habits. Why did he have to be so closed off and hard to read? Evangeline had grown accustomed to her father and Ox. Her father had always just been either angry or disdainful so it was easy to pick up on how he was feeling. And Ox was an open book when it came to emotions.

But Colt....? Colt covered emotions with other emotions and then wrapped it all up in a hard stone shell decorated with the occasional joke.

Evangeline rose to her feet. She knew what she had to do. She had to make a peace offering and talk to Colt about what had happened that morning. There was no way that she was going to give up all the ground they had gained simply because he was closed off and she was too soft and weak for her own good.

She ignored the glances cast in her direction and went into the kitchen. She filled a clean cup with coffee and grabbed two biscuits before heading through the train to the engine car, struggling to open and close the doors with her hands full.

Evangeline could hear the sound of the shovel scraping against the coal and knew that Colt must be feeding the furnace. She was careful to keep an eye on her skirts as she stepped up into the furnace room and saw him.

He was once again shirtless and covered in sweat and coal dust. She had seen him this way several times in the last few days and yet it was a sight she knew she could see a million times and never tire of.