Walk With Me In Hell

Chapter Six

By morning, the Goldline Tavern was reduced to a smoldering pile of burnt wreckage. Thick wooden beams, now twisted and broken and scorched black from the fire, stuck out of the debris like dead trees. A few townsfolk were picking through the remains, looking for anything that might be salvaged from the disaster. There were probably still more bodies buried somewhere inside, but no one seemed in a hurry to try and recover them. They hadn’t identified all of the bodies that had already been pulled from the wreckage so far. There had been precious few survivors.

Burt stood across the street, his arms crossed. Sitting on the steps next to him, wrapped in a blanket and looking out with a doomed, haunted look in her eyes, was Louisa May. Burt didn’t think she had slept at all. He had only gotten a few hours himself. Teshenah was there as well, standing like a bodyguard over Louisa. For some reason, Burt appreciated his presence, even though the Indian had only spoken a handful of words the entire time he had been there. He was a man of few words, and Burt could appreciate that as well.

The rest of the town was talking plenty. They all spoke in hushed tones, their worried whispers hanging like a thick fog across the entire town. Already, town officials were telling people that the building had collapsed due to poor construction, that too many people had been inside and the second floor had simply fallen down, caving the rest of the building in. The fire had started when oil lamps were smashed in the collapse.

A terrible, preventable tragedy, to be sure. At least forty people were dead. These deaths, at least, would be recorded and counted. The debris would eventually be cleaned up, another tavern would most likely be built in the exact same place, and life would go on.

Some of the people in town maybe even believed it. But Burt knew what he saw. A creature in the sky, with huge leathery wings, descending on the tavern and smashing right through the roof. And a few other shell-shocked survivors, Louisa among them, claimed to have seen bestial figures running into the dark with victims in their clutches. Lots of people saw what happened, but they were all keeping silent, as if the truth was some shameful secret that they had to keep concealed.

The tavern had not collapsed, it had been attacked. Mysterious, terrifying creatures hunted the desert, and now they had finally struck at the town. Or maybe they had already attacked the town before and the town officials covered it up. That wouldn’t surprise Burt at all. He didn’t have to be a genius to see the connection between the events of last night and the stories he had heard about the mines. If monsters were lurking in the desert, there was only one place they could have come from.

Burt turned and saw one of the people from last night walking towards him. It was young woman with long blondish hair. Burt hadn’t learned her name, but she had arrived just after the tavern was attacked. She was one of the good Samaritans who helped people in those first few hectic moments after the building completely collapsed. Last night, she’d still been dressed in her nightgown, but now she was more appropriately dressed in a blue dress and blouse, a wide-brimmed straw hat on her head.

She came up beside Burt and looked over at Louisa. “Is she going to be okay?” she asked softly.

“I think so,” Burt replied. “She’s still scared, I think.”

The woman sighed and gazed upon the smoldering wreckage. “I don’t blame her.”

Burt held out his hand. “We weren’t properly introduced last night. Name’s Burt Hancock.”

The woman daintily shook his hand. “Helen Mosely. It’s nice to meet you.”

“The girl is named Louisa May, and this other fella is Teshenah.”

“Yes, I’ve seen him in town before.”

At the mention of his name, Teshenah nodded toward Helen in greeting and then resumed watching over Louisa. For a little while, the four of them just stood together and watched as a large wagon pulled by a pair of horses rode up to the remains of the tavern. A few burly workers began picking up scattered pieces of wreckage and loading them onto the wagon. The job of cleaning up had already begun. Burt wouldn’t be surprised to learn that plans for a new hotel had already been approved. They would probably begin construction before all the bodies had even been recovered.

“Are you gentlemen mine workers, then?” Helen asked.

“Not really,” Burt said. He rummaged in his pocket for a cigarette and then remembered he had smoked his very last one the night before. “I’m not, at any rate. I don’t think Teshenah works in the mines either, at least he hasn’t said so. You might say I’m unemployed at the moment.”

“Oh, okay,” Helen said. She crossed her arms over her chest and was quiet for a minute or two. Then she asked, “Why did you come to Haventown? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Looking for work, I suppose. There’s lots of jobs around here that need doing. Maybe I’ll get hired to help clean up over there.”

Burt didn’t ask why Helen was in town. It was none of his business, and he didn’t much care. But she offered, “I’m in town to look for my brother. He disappeared some time ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am.” Burt would have stopped there, but something compelled him to ask, “Did your brother work in the mines?”

“Yes, he did.”

“It’s a dangerous job, or so I’ve heard.”

“I’ve been asking around town if anyone has seen him or knew what happened to him.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you there. I’ve only been here a few days myself.”

“A man came to my hotel room last night,” Helen said. “He said that my brother went to work in a mine with some other men and they never came out. He told me the mine was in a place called Knife Canyon.”

To Burt’s surprise, Teshenah spoke up. “I know that place. The mines there are closed up.”

“Yes,” Helen said. “It was an abandoned mine, to my understanding.”

“You go to the sheriff and tell him?” Burt asked.

Helen shook her head. “No, they won’t do anything.”

“That’s a shame. I’m sorry to hear it.”

“What I’m trying to say,” Helen said, looking flustered, “is that I’m looking for people who might be willing to help me look for him.”

“You mean go into the mines?” Burt asked.

“Yes. I’ll look for him by myself if I have to, but I would rather have someone to help me. I’m not just going to walk away. If he’s down there, then I’m going to try and find him.”

“You understand he’s probably dead?”

“Of course,” Helen said. “I’m not a fool. But I have to know for sure what happened to him.”

Teshenah shook his head slowly said in a low voice, “The mines are places of death. If you go there by yourself, you will not survive.”

Helen looked at him evenly. “I’ll willing to risk that.”

Burt looked concerned for a moment and then let out an amused chuckle and leaned against a horse post. “Lady, you got guts, that’s for sure,” he said.

Helen seemed to accept that as a compliment and looked back at Burt and Teshenah. “So, do either of you know where I can find someone to help me?”

“I’m sure there’s mine workers you could hire,” Burt suggested.

She shook her head. “I don’t have enough money for that.”

“So you’re looking for volunteers?”

“My brother isn’t the only person who’s gone missing,” Helen said. “The prospector told me that Henry entered the mine with a group of other men. There’s got to be other people in town who want to go look for them. Those men have families too.”

“Yeah, but their families ain’t here,” Burt said, trying to sound gentle and reasonable. “Nobody goes into those mines for free. I suppose you might be able to lure some folks to help you if you could convince them that they’ll find dark stone down there, but –”

“I’ll go with you,” Louisa said suddenly. She stood up and shook off the blanket, letting it fall to the dirt at her feet. She was still dressed in her purple corset, blue skirt and stockings, since all of her other clothes had been destroyed when the Goldline collapsed. Her face was still red and her eyes puffy from tears, but she straightened herself and stepped over next to Burt. She cleared her throat and said again, “I’ll go with you. I’ll go.”

No one said anything for a few moments. Burt just looked at her in surprise.

Louisa clenched her hands into fists. “They killed my friends,” she said fiercely, looking into the distance. “Those … those things,” she hissed. “They killed Mary and Paulina, and Frankie the bartender who was always so nice ...”

She looked like she was about to cry again, but she swallowed it down and stared at the three of them, daring any of them to contradict her. “I can’t go back to working in the saloons again, I can’t. Not anymore, not after what I saw. I’ll help you find your brother, lady. And maybe we can find some of those things that killed my friends, and we can kill them too.”

Helen reached out and held Louisa’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said.

Burt raised his eyebrows and looked from Helen to Louisa and back. Then he chuckled softly to himself and sighed. “Oh, well. I guess I can’t let you brave women go off and face dangers unknown while I stay here in town sitting on my hands, now can I?” He hooked his thumbs through his belt and smiled again. “Besides, I guess I don’t really have any important plans today.”

Helen smiled back at him. “Thank you, too.”

Teshenah had remained silent through most of the conversation, and now he closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath. He seemed to be lost in thought, and then he nodded and opened his eyes. “Yes, this is good,” he said solemnly. “We all do this for the right reasons. There are four of us, and that is a good number. I would be honored to join you as well, Miss Mosely.”

“All right, then,” Burt said. “When do we start?”

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