Walk With Me In Hell

Chapter Four

Burt rented a room at one of the dingiest hotels in town, located at the far end of the main street, crammed in between a rundown brothel and a decrepit warehouse full of broken mining equipment. He briefly considered visiting the brothel, but even their low prices were too expensive for him. He had barely a few dollars to his name, having spent more than intended at the tavern that afternoon. But he received some useful information from the saloon girl Louisa, and he thought about talking to her again tomorrow if the opportunity arose.

It was nearly midnight, but the town was still bustling with nervous activity. The taverns, saloons, and brothels were making brisk business. Boom towns like Haventown always did, since there were plenty of young men with money to burn. Burt could hear music coming from one of the nearby hotels, and laughter from another building. Out in the street, some workers were busy unloading wagons packed with barrels of food supplies. A dozen or so ragged-looking men, most likely miners, congregated outside one of the taverns, talking and arguing with each other. A preacher down the street was haranguing a few gathered listeners, warning them of the deadly sin of Greed and the fires of Hell.

Burt thought about trying his luck at one of the gambling dens in town, but he couldn't risk losing what few dollars he still had. Tomorrow he would have to find some work, that was for sure. But he didn’t think he would join a mining crew, not after what Louisa had told him. Combined with some of the other vague rumors he had picked up throughout the day, signing up to work in the mines seemed like a pretty bad idea.

He took out a cigarette, his last, and rummaged in his pockets for a match. After a few moments, he gave up and sighed to himself. He was too poor to even buy a match.

Another horse-led cart rumbled down the street, kicking up dust. Burt stepped back and watched the cart for a second, when he noticed someone leaning against a horse post, looking in his direction. It was an Indian man in a faded blue jacket. A long red scarf was wrapped around his forehead.

Burt sauntered over to him. “You got a match, partner?” he asked casually.

The Indian studied him for a moment and nodded. He reached into his pants pocket and took out a tiny box of matches. He handed one to Burt.

“Much obliged,” Burt said. He struck the match on his belt and lit the cigarette, taking a few quick puffs. “You know, I saw you standing around out here earlier today,” he said, blowing out smoke. “You the night watchman in town?”

The Indian shook his head. After a moment, he replied, “No, I am not.”

Burt smoked his cigarette and looked around the dark street. “No offense, mister, but I’m surprised the sheriff lets you hang around. You get much trouble from the locals here?”

“The only local here is me,” the Indian said. “The rest of you are visitors.”

Burt laughed and said, “You know, I figure you’re right.”

The Indian looked at him. “To answer your question. No, the people here mostly leave me alone. They are too busy working and making money to care about one man like me.”

“But if a whole tribe showed up wanting their cut, I bet there’d be problems.”

“Indeed,” the Indian said with a chuckle of his own. “You must have worked with my people before, to be so comfortable talking to me this way.”

“Sure, yeah,” Burt said. “I’ve traveled all over. I worked with Indians a few times. To be honest, I fought them a few times too. I ran into Comanche in north Texas on a couple of occasions. But I got nothing personal against anybody.”

“You are a good man, then. And now you are here, looking to make it rich.”

Burt shrugged. “Something like that. I’m just going where fate takes me, you know? My name’s Burt, by the way. What’s yours?”

“My name is Teshenah,” the Indian replied. He shook Burt’s hand.

“You been in town long, Teshenah?”

“For some time, yes.”

“You hear much about the work in the mines? I heard there’s all kinds of dark stone down there, just waiting to be dug out. Lots of fellas here getting rich, like you said.”

“Yes, they are always hiring men.”

“Must be pretty dangerous work though, I figure.”

“Yes, it’s very dangerous.”

“You ever hear about –”

Burt was suddenly interrupted by a strange noise high in the air above him. He stopped and looked into the dark night sky. Teshenah did the same and stepped a few paces into the street. They heard the noise again, like a strangled cry echoing high above.

“What in the world was that …?” Burt said to himself

“There!” Teshenah cried, pointing.

Burt ran over to Teshenah and looked. He saw something barely visible in the sky, something dark and nebulous, barely silhouetted by the stars. He couldn’t guess how huge it was, as his sense of scale was all wrong. It was bigger than a bird, that was for sure. As his brain tried to incorporate what he was seeing into his understanding of the world, Teshenah grabbed his sleeve.

Something drove them forward, and they ran down the street as the enormous shape flitted over their heads. A hideous, spine-chilling sound broke across the night sky, like a cross between the growl of a wolf and and the cry of an eagle, and then Burt witnessed something fall down out of the sky and land directly on the roof of a large building on the left side of the street. It was the Goldline Tavern, the very same establishment where Burt had spent most of the afternoon.

Even in the glowing light of the streetlamps, the figure was barely illuminated, as if shrouded in black mist. But Burt saw more than he wanted to. Long, skeletal limbs jutting at strange angles from a narrow reptilian body, and a pair of enormous bat-like wings raising high into the air.

Before Burt could choke out something to say, the roof of the Goldline Tavern collapsed and the creature crashed down into the building. The whole structure shuddered with the weight. Windows shattered in their frames. Wooden beams creaked and snapped like twigs. People began screaming, and the entire street came alive with terror. The peaceful evening had turned into a madman’s insane fever dream.

Burt tried to run for the door, but Teshenah held him back. Just then, people began pouring out of the building, some of them still carrying poker cards and glasses of whiskey in their hands. In the mad rush to get out of the building, people were knocked down and trampled. A man broke out a window on the second floor and leaped to the street below. The entire building seemed to wobble side to side, and Burt could only watch in disbelief as the front section of the roof broke free and crashed to the wooden sidewalk, right on top of half a dozen people trying to escape.

The entire town seemed to be screaming and calling for help. The bright orange glow of flames lit up inside the tavern. In the surge of bodies rushing past, Burt got separated from Teshenah, and pushed his way closer. He heard the sounds of smashing furniture and shattering walls. It sounded like an entire herd of cattle stampeding their way through the building. And above that noise were the screams, high-pitched and terrified, the agonized wailing of people being killed. Through broken windows, Burt thought he caught glimpses of the winged creature ransacking the entire tavern.

He climbed on top of the collapsed section of roof and grabbed the hands of people trapped just inside the doorway. He hauled three people out, and when he reached down once again, he recognized the last person as the saloon girl Louisa May. Barely thinking, he lifted her up and ushered her away as glass and wood rained down on them.

Moments later, the entire tavern crashed down on itself like an implosion. In the massive cloud of dust, wood, and glass that followed, the survivors caught a flash of the huge winged creature soaring into the sky.

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