I turned my head, nearly meeting his lips dead on. “Is Donna okay?”
His mouth ticked up. “She’s still on the horse, if that’s what you mean. You sure tied her tight. Knocked her right out, too. You musta given her something much stronger than you gave me.”
My eyes widened frightfully. “It was Avery.”
He gave me a subtle nod. “I reckoned it was. I guess he didn’t give enough of the funny stuff for my height and weight. Tim was still out last I checked.”
“He doesn’t know?”
“That you and Avery took Donna and some gold and hightailed it out of there? No, he doesn’t.”
“Are you going to tell him?” I asked weakly.
“Don’t see why I should,” he said. “Though I’ll have to tell him what Avery did. I’ll leave you out of it, no worries there, Pine Nut.”
We came around a bend and I could hear Sadie whinny. She was tied up to a low branch, Donna still lying across her shoulders. I held my breath, wondering if she was still alive, and then exhaled noisily when I saw her back rise and fall. In hindsight, my desire to take her with us was nothing but foolish. I wondered how much of it was to ease the guilt that kept eating away at me.
Back at the cabin, Tim was still asleep and snoring away. I was so tired and relieved to be alive that I was delirious. I tried to change Donna’s bandages but Jake insisted he fix me up first, calling me his number one priority. My shoulder wound ached, and though I passed on having the opium, I did swallow a few burning shots of moonshine to ease the pain. Luckily—if I even had luck anymore—the bite wound was fairly shallow.
“Do you think I’ll have rabies?” I panicked at the sudden thought.
“Hard to say,” he said grimly. He had cut through the cloth around the wound and taped the last strip of muslin gauze on top of it. “There we go. All done. Sorry I ruined your dress.”
I let out a dry laugh. My dress was already covered in dirt, blood, and who knows what. The rare moment of lightness only lasted a moment though before the fear was back to plague me. “What if I’m infected?”
“You know, I’m not too sure if that’s what’s going on here,” Jake said, his fingers gently tracing the edge of the gauze, making sure it was flat. My skin danced in response, a reaction that still surprised me. “This seems much more than a case of rabies. This is far, far worse, I reckon. This is a danger unlike any I’ve ever seen. And believe me darlin’, I’ve seen a world of horror.”
I was too afraid to ask if I’d be okay from the bite. It seemed lately all I’d known was fear.
My eyes went to his face, the firmness of his jaw, the little scar that caused a slash through the dark hair on his chin. “If it’s so dangerous, why did you come after us?” I whispered. “To get your gold?”
“No,” he murmured. “To get you.” He gently ran his hand down my arm and then met my eyes. “You’re worth much more than gold.”
I stared at him, lost in the coffee brown depths of his eyes, clamoring onto the words that just came from his lips. I could have stared at him forever. It pushed my reality behind me in a haze.
But he cleared his throat and gave me a sad smile. “You need to rest, Pine Nut. I’ll take care of Donna here. You just get some shut-eye. In the morning we can head back to River Bend. Find Avery. And leave this mad world behind.”
I didn’t fall asleep feeling invincible, but there was a tiny ember of hope burning somewhere deep inside.
“Well, well, well, lookee here. A right Injun Sleeping Beauty.”
My eyes snapped open to see Hank standing right above me. He looked unharmed but dirtier and a bit more crazed in the eyes.
“Give her some room,” Jake said, appearing at Hank’s side and pushing him away from me.
I snapped upright, bringing the animal fur blanket to my chin. Hank and Isaac were peering down at me with disdain while Tim was standing over Donna and sipping from a steaming cup.
“What time is it?” I asked. I felt like I’d been sleeping all morning.
“Time to answer a few questions,” Tim said, his voice hard. “Mainly, what the heck happened?”
I quickly glanced at Jake. His eyes were imploring me to lie, to tell him that Avery forced me to leave. With only him on my side it seemed I had no choice.
But as Jake once said, I always had a choice.
“Avery wanted to go, get out of here and get back to River Bend. Back to safety. I suggested we take a gold bar each as payment that was owed to us.”
Jake let out a small groan of disappointment. I went on, ignoring him, “I couldn’t leave without Donna though, so we brought her along too. Not too far in I got separated from him. Those same monsters we saw yesterday, they were back, but different ones this time. If it wasn’t for Jake finding me, I’d be dead.”
Tim glared at Jake. “How courteous of him. I suppose you never found Avery and I suppose Avery has the gold.”
I nodded. “We only took three—one for me, for him, and Donna. That was it. We only took it because it was fair.”
“That’s horseshit!” Hank yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth. “You’re an untrustworthy little tramp. We almost got ourselves killed out there trying to find these beasts and meanwhile you’re trying to rob us blind. That gold is my gold.”
“Actually,” Isaac said from his position against the door, “that’s my family’s gold. But I feel just as slighted.” He eyed Tim. “What do you plan on doing with her?”
“Now wait a minute here,” Jake said, raising his palms. “There is nothing to do. She won’t do it again.”
Hank spun around, getting in his face. “And you of all people trust this redskin here? I’m starting to think you’ve been compromised by the savage.”
Jake cocked his head, his lip snarling. “She’s just a young girl. She is no threat to us. She helped us find the gold, whether she meant to or not, and it’s only fair we bring her back to her home safe and sound.”
“Nuh-uh,” Hank said, shaking his head back and forth like a dog. “No can do, McGraw.” He pointed at me, his finger shaking. “I suggest we get rid of her right here, right now.”
I gasped, my eyes growing large. Hank looked ready to pounce and Jake grabbed hold of his arm before he could do so.
“You lay a finger on her and I’ll kill you,” he sneered in his face.
“I’d like to see you try,” Hank said right back.
“Fellas,” Tim said in a low voice. “No one is killing anyone yet. Let’s not be irrational. Let’s talk like men. Jake is right. She’s just a girl and she’s injured on top of it. We have bigger fish to fry here. We’ve all seen what’s out there, we’ve all seen what they can do.” Everyone’s eyes flew to Donna, who was looking hours from death. “And we’ve all found what we’re looking for. I say we pack up and go.”
“If we go to River Bend, she’ll tell,” Hank said, sounding as insolent as a little boy.
“Then we go somewhere else,” Tim said. I couldn’t figure out then if he meant to take me with them or not. Lord, I hoped not. I had never wanted to see Uncle Pat and Rose so much in my life. At least I knew where I stood with them.
“Can’t trust a savage,” Hank said, spitting on my bed. “Especially can’t trust one that’s already tried to steal from you.” A vicious smile spread across his face, a smile that struck fear in me like a bolt of lightning. “I’ll just make it impossible for her to leave. She can’t leave without her horse.”
He ripped himself out of Jake’s grasp and headed to the table where he’d hung his holster, clearly intent on putting a bullet through Sadie’s head.
“No!” I screamed and jumped to my feet. I ran straight to him and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hands but I was weak in the shoulder. Hank brought the butt of his gun down on my head and I immediately fell to the floor in a dizzying mess. The cabin spun around, stars of pain bursting in my skull, as Hank ran out of the door with Jake yelling after him and in pursuit.