Chapter Twenty-Five:

Frankie groaned with pain as her eyes fluttered open and were assaulted by the sunlight coming through the twisted white curtain. She moved her leg and felt a bolt of pain shoot through it causing her to wonder if that damn Silas really knew what he was talking about. He claimed she'd just stubbed her leg up real good when she'd landed on it and that she'd sprained her ankle.

All Frankie knew was that it hurt damned bad.

And her side? She groaned. She didn't even want to think about her tight, burning side.

She glanced to her left and nearly cried out as she flung out her arm, reaching for the gun on the side table. Her heart was beating out of her chest as her hand slowly relaxed and she realized that the ash covered indian in the corner was Comanche.

Tenderness filled her at the sight of her injun and then she mentally slapped herself and pushed herself up on the headboard until she was sitting up. Just that simple movement had sweat slicking her skin and pain radiating through her side and leg.

Frankie took in a sharp suck of air through her teeth and Comanche's eyes flew open and landed on her.

The man looked confused and lost. He had all that ash covering his chest and face and a red headband with what looked like several chicken feathers stuck in it, around his head. He wore only a pair of buckskin pants and he was barefoot.

"Paleface?" he whispered quietly as he rolled his shoulder and rubbed at it painfully. "What are you doing here?"

"I came back last night because I got hurt, Comanche, don't you remember? You threatened to fight Evangeline, then Ox, then the bed, Silas a couple of times and I believe you even had a vendetta against the wardrobe."

This simply seemed to confuse Comanche more as he pushed himself to his feet and his brow furrowed. "I do not remember any of that."

"No you wouldn't. You had a good full bottle of whiskey in you."

Comanche appeared thoughtful for a moment and then nodded, once again rubbing his shoulder. "Liquid ambrosia."

Frankie snorted. "Liquid foolishness." She countered. Anger flashed in Comanche's dark eyes at her words and he headed toward the door, stopping on the threshold.

"How badly are you injured?"

Frankie would be lying she said her feelings weren't hurt. His tone was so cold. He hadn't smiled at her or seemed happy she was back. And now he was simply leaving the room instead of staying around to try to tend to her like he would have done in the past.

"My ankle is sprained and I got grazed by a bullet but neither is real serious just damned painful."

"I am sure you will be fine then." He replied without looking at her and then, just like that, he was gone leaving Frankie to wonder what that ache was deep in the pit of her chest.

***

Comanche was angry as he made his way down the staircase. How dare Frankie just reappear and act as if he should be happy to see her. Happy? The woman had told him he meant nothing and then walked away from him. The only reason she was back now was because she'd been injured or else Comanche had no doubts he would have never seen her again.

Happy. Ha! He wasn't happy to see her at all.

'"Good morning, Comanche." Charlotte said brightly as Comanche walked into the kitchen, his stomach growling hungrily at the sight of the steaming pot of stew in the center of the table.

"Good morning, Charlotte." He couldn't help but notice that while she appeared tired she was also glowing this morning and he knew that it was because she was now a married woman. As if on cue, Silas came into the kitchen with Grace held gently against his chest.

"How are you feeling this morning, Comanche?" Silas asked and Comanche sat down at the table, before ladling some soup into the bowl. The clock on the wall told him it was after eleven in the morning and he wondered what had made him sleep so late. He had always been the type to be up with the dawn.

"Strange." Comanche replied before taking a bit of that steaming stew into his mouth. At least the food was good at the end of the world.

"How is your shoulder?" Charlotte asked, amusement coloring her voice. Comanche rolled it painfully and frowned.

"It hurts." He admitted. "What happened last night?"

"You, Colt and Katherine decided to down two bottles of whiskey and wound up drunk. Katherine then proceeded to vomit all over everything, Colt laughed like a hyena all night and you were determined to show the wall that you could fight it." Silas informed him.

"I don't remember...." Comanche replied, his brow wrinkling as he fought hard to remember something from the night before... A flash of a giant standing at the door went through his mind and he shook his head.

"Where is everyone else?" he questioned.

"Ox is outside, Evangeline is still up in her room resting and neither Colt nor Katherine have woken up yet today."

"Ox and Evangeline?" Comanche asked. "Who are they?"

"You really don't remember anything about last night, do you?" Silas asked with what sounded like annoyance. Comanche shook his head.

"No, truly I don't."

"Comanche, you should probably get to the water closet and wash yourself off when you finish eating." Charlotte urged and Comanche glanced down at his chest which was covered in what appeared to be ash. Had he fallen in a fire? No, that couldn't be it because he had no burns. He ran a finger over his cheek and it came back black with soot as well.

Comanche gave another roll to his shoulder and vowed to never drink the paleface's firewater again. Clearly Colt had been mistaken and it was hell in a bottle instead of heaven.

***

Colt cursed the sun to hell as it shined on his face and hit his closed eyes, causing the pain in his head to intensify one hundred fold. There was a churning in his gut and a pounding in his skull which could only mean one thing...

He'd drunk a bit more of that whiskey last night than he had meant to. Memories came back to him. Comanche, all decked out in fireplace ash and chicken feathers, fighting with the wall. Katherine dancing and trying to hang off of him, at least up until she began to vomit all over the sitting room floor, and Colt.... Laughing and having fun. Forgetting for just a while.

He figured those few hours of peace were well worth the headache and nausea this morning.

Then a memory of a giant and a pretty woman came to him. He had caught the pretty woman when she had fallen... He remembered that much plain and clear.

Colt shook his head. Pretty woman? He wasn't interested in any woman. Last night had been fun but today it was back to reality. Back to the memory of his wife screaming for his help and him failing to get to her in time. The truth of his daughter turning in to one of those monsters right there in his arms and then him leaving her like that and running off scared, just like a damned coward.

Whatever good mood he may have been in thoroughly doused, Colt managed to get to his feet and realized that he was wearing one boot and the other boot was nowhere in sight. How in the hell had that happened. He was also missing his revolver.

The details of the night before were too fuzzy for him to know where both items were, his boot and his gun, but he figured somebody in the damned house would have them.

Blowing out a long breath and pressing his fingers into his temples, Colt walked to the door and opened it slowly. Sitting in the hall, leaned against the wall were his gun and his boot. After reuniting with both of them, Colt made his way slowly down the hallway. He had to walk slowly because he could not open his eyes more than a crack. Any more than a crack caused unbearable pain to lance through his head.

He was heading for the stairs when the door he was walking past flew open quickly and smacked him directly in the face.

Colt went down hard on his backside as a blinding pain filled his head and he let out a string of curses that would make Satan himself blush.

"Oh my goodness!" A feminine voice exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Colt held his hand up and shook his head, swallowing hard with his eyes squeezed shut tight, combating the pain and nausea with everything he had.

"It's okay." He replied, wondering who the voice belonged to. He knew it wasn't Katherine, Charlotte or Frankie. That only left........

......The pretty woman.

"I truly am very sorry! Are you alright? I didn't know that you were outside my door."

"I wasn't outside your door!" Colt snapped, finding that while her voice was pleasant, his pounding head didn't appreciate hearing it and the apologetic tone it held. "I was walking down the damn hallway. Maybe you shouldn't throw your damn door open and come barreling out like a charging buffalo!"

"Look here, I apologized to you and there is no need for your rudeness. Next time I will be sure to whack you just a little harder!" that voice snapped and he could hear a huff before her quick footsteps walked off and faded down the stairs.

It wasn't until she was out of his sight that Colt opened his eyes a crack once again and used the wall to help pull himself back to his feet.

If his head was hurting before, it was damn near splitting now. He made his way down the stairs and the scent of food reached his nose, causing his rolling stomach to clench violently. Deciding the dining room was not the room he wanted to go to, Colt opened the door and stepped outside, determined to let the fresh air ease his head and clear his mind.

***

Evangeline's growling stomach had her following the scent of food to a dining room and then her eyes widened and she came to a quick stop when she saw those sitting inside.

A colored man held a sleeping infant as he sipped at stew and gazed lovingly at a woman with soft angelic features beside him. If the sight of a colored man, (her father had had a strong hatred for colored men and saw them as property refusing to see them as anything else despite the freedom they'd been granted by the government), and white woman appearing to be in love wasn't odd enough, there was an indian sitting at the table also. Evangeline had been raised to fear his kind but this indian did not look scary. He looked quite... amusing.

His bare torso, (which made Evangeline blush as she had never spent time around shirtless men), was covered in what she thought was ash as was his face and he was wearing a headband with... chicken feathers?

"Good morning, Evangeline." The woman said with a friendly smile as she stood and ladled some stew into a bowl, motioning for Evangeline to sit down.

Evangeline did as the woman wanted because she was too hungry to do anything else, wincing and moving as gingerly as she could with that soreness and burning pain still plaguing her between her legs. A whiff of the stew in front of her reached her nostrils and while Evangeline knew it was unladylike she began shoveling spoonful after spoonful of the delicious meal into her mouth, slurping at her spoon.

"Your brother said it's been a few days since you've had a real meal." The colored man said with a smile as his warm brown eyes looked her over. Evangeline ran a hand over her hair, feeling embarrassment fill her when she realized how messy and dirty it was. She knew she probably looked a mess and it made her want to hide. Her entire life she had been groomed to always be at her best.

She supposed it was foolish to be vain given the circumstances but old habits were hard to break.

"Where is Ox?" Evangeline asked, deciding that she needed to slow down on the stew before she made herself ill. She glanced at the indian sitting at the other end of the table but he was staring down into his stew and seemed lost in his own thoughts.

"Outside." The woman replied. "Let us introduce ourselves. My name is Charlotte. This is my husband Silas," she pointed at the colored man. "And our daughter, Grace." Evangeline could tell that the little girl was not any blood relation to Silas but chose to not mention that. It wasn't any of her business. "And that is Comanche." The woman added as she pointed at the indian.

"I'm Evangeline." Evangeline smiled. "But I suppose you all already knew that." She shifted painfully in her seat, wishing the pain could simply end and Comanche's sudden voice shocked her into gasping and nearly choking on her spoonful of stew.

"Are you in pain?"

She glanced over at him and nodded, unsure what to make of the man. While part of her was afraid of him, another part couldn't get over how dangerously handsome he looked even with all that ash on his face. And his dark eyes, while nearly black, did not seem to be evil holes the way her father had always stated that an Indian's eyes were. Instead they seemed friendly enough, if perhaps a little sad.

"My brother tried to find me a sidesaddle but was unable to and so I've been riding astride for a couple of weeks without stopping." Evangeline blushed and looked down at her stew. "I'm quite sore."

"I will make you a cream that will help heal you. There is a rash, yes?" Comanche asked and Evangeline's blush deepened.

"Yes." She squeaked. Comanche got to his feed.

"I will go make your cream now. There are plants around that will sooth the burning and begin to heal the redness, though you will need to rest for a few days and stay off of horseback in order to heal completely."

"Looks like I'm not the only doctor." Silas stated with amusement. Comanche turned and Evangeline shook her head.

"You don't have to go now! Finish your meal."

"I am finished." Comanche assured her with a small smile.

"Why are you so eager to help me?"

"I just like to keep busy." He winked then and grinned, catching Evangeline off guard. "It's the savage in me." With that he turned and left the room and Evangeline stared after him for several long moments before going back to her stew.

"This entire house has lost its mind." Silas mumbled and then he smiled down at the baby in his arms. "But not you, Little Grace. You're still just as perfect as you've been since the day you were born."

Evangeline was nearly finished with her meal when she decided to bring up the rude, bearded man from upstairs. He'd looked awfully rough with his untucked shirt half buttoned, his heavily bearded face and his forehead wrinkled as he had squeezed his eyes shut tight.

"There was a man upstairs and I am afraid I may have hurt him." She stated.

"Colt?" Charlotte asked and Evangeline shrugged.

"We didn't share names." She admitted. "I was in a rush to get out of my room and figure out where I was and I'm afraid I hit him with the door and caused him to fall. I apologized but he was awfully rude and angry....."

"It isn't like Colt to be rude." Charlotte said thoughtfully and Silas chuckled.

"I told you he wouldn't be feeling cheerful this morning." Then Silas looked at Evangeline. "I'm sure Colt is just fine. He drank a bit too much, along with Comanche and Katherine, whom you haven't met yet."

Evangeline nodded and turned her attention to Charlotte. "Thank you so much for the meal. I will assist you in making supper tonight if you'll let me."

Charlotte smiled. "I would like that very much. Frankie has no desire to cook and Katherine has no real talent for it."

"I have always been a good cook. It was required."

"Required?" Silas and Charlotte asked at the same time and Evangeline blushed.

"A good southern bred, high class wife has to know how to do certain things even though the hired help is usually who ends up doing the work."

"Well that's one thing about the new world we live in, Evangeline." Silas said with a happy smile as he kissed his daughter's forehead. "A former slave with nothing to offer can marry the widow wife of a plantation owner. A whore gets a second chance at being something different. A former gang leader gets to show that deep down he's a good man. An indian gets the chance to prove that he is not an evil savage. A wild woman who shoots better than most men is finally seen as an asset instead of simply an oddity. And a quiet, meek widow woman gets the chance to prove that she is stronger than anyone ever gave her credit for. Whatever you were in the past is gone. You, and that brother of yours, are now free to be whatever it is you really are instead of just taking whatever life birth gave to you."

Evangeline smiled at the wisdom in the man's words and then a terrible smell filled the dining room. "Shew! And a newborn babe is free to stink her papa clear out of the house!" Silas exclaimed. "On that note I believe it's time for me to go change a baby."

"Silas you don't have to do that! I'll do it." Charlotte countered and Silas grinned before standing and silencing her with a kiss.

"I'm more than capable of taking care of this, Miss Charlotte, but you're welcome to come with us."

"You enjoy the rest of your meal, Evangeline, and make yourself at home here." Charlotte said warmly and then Evangeline watched she and Silas leave the room and she sat there alone at the table and felt the first bit of hope filling her since she had been forced to take her mother's life. Maybe things were going to be okay now that they'd found this group of survivors... Maybe she and Ox were going to make it.

***

Ox was standing in the middle of the yard staring into the woods and thanking God for the new group he and Evangeline were with. It seemed they were good people and that Charlotte made real good stew. They certainly didn't seem like the same types of people as the last group of survivors had been. Ox was hopeful that he and Evangeline would be safe here and he would finally be able to give Evangeline the easier way of life that she needed.

"Who are you?" a voice asked from behind him and Ox turned and saw the bearded man from the night before who had called him a son of a bitch and carried Evangeline up to her room.

"We met last night." Ox replied and the man frowned.

"I remember... vaguely. But I don't recall your name."

"Ox. That's what folks called me."

"On account of how you're damn near as big as one?" the man asked, squinting as he too scanned the woods around them. Ox wondered if the man had a headache as he rubbed at his temple.

"Actually...." Ox had been prepared to tell the man it was because he was as dumb as one that he'd earned the nickname but then he thought twice. Why tell this man that? Ox didn't really like being big, dumb Ox anymore and while he liked the nickname and wouldn't want anyone calling him Joshua, he figured he'd say he earned the nickname by being so big. "Yeah, that's why."

"My name's Colt." The man reached out and shook Ox's hand and Ox felt some of his dislike of Colt disappear. He honestly wasn't the type to dislike anyone and while this man had been inappropriate last night, it wasn't in Ox's nature to hold a grudge.

"Has Evie woke up yet?" Ox asked and Colt frowned.

"Evie?"

"My sister. The one you carried to bed."

"I carried her to bed?" Colt asked seeming confused.

"Yeah and you called her pretty." At that statement Colt's nostrils flared and he seemed genuinely surprised.

"I actually said that out loud?"

"Yep."

"I apologize."

"You don't think my sister's pretty?"

"Whether I do or I don't doesn't really matter. I ain't got no interest in your sister." Colt crossed his arms over his chest and rubbed his chin. "This group has unofficially named me the leader so I wanted to let you know that you and your sister are welcome to stay with us if you choose to. However if you choose to, then know that all final decisions on where we go and what we do are mine. I'm trying hard to keep as many people alive as I can and there just ain't much room for democracy when it comes to survival."

"Uh.. sure." Ox replied, not understanding exactly what Colt was saying but understanding enough to know that Colt was boss and what he said went. Which Ox was fine with. He sure as hell wouldn't want to be responsible for keeping so many people alive and safe.

"Now you and your sister are welcome to leave at any time if you choose to but while you're here no doing anything that could risk our group and if you mean this group any harm, I will kill to protect it."

Ox looked over at Colt who was looking at the trees instead of him but Colt's dark blue eyes and stern gaze told Ox that he was dead serious.

"Me and Evie don't mean no harm, sir."

"Colt. Don't call me sir. I can't be but a couple years older than you."

"Yes, sir... I mean Colt."

"Were you and your sister heading anywhere in particular or just wandering when Frankie found you?"

"I was trying to get us to our aunt Rachel's but I'm afraid I ain't real good at making my way through the woods. I never had to do it before. I guess when it comes to that I'm pretty damn dumb."

"And I'm pretty damn dumb when it comes to cross stitch.. We all have our talents." Colt replied with a shrug. "Where does your Aunt Rachel live?"

"On the Franks River somewhere around here..... It's a real big plantation house."

Colt seemed thoughtful for a moment and then he nodded. "What's her last name?"

"Gibson. Rachel Gibson."

"If it's a big plantation then Charlotte might know of it since her husband owned a plantation here in Tennessee. We'll all talk about it tonight at supper and if Charlotte knows about where that's at, after we've had a while for Frankie to heal a bit, we'll head out and go check on your aunt."

Ox smiled brightly and nodded. "Thanks Colt! Damn am I glad you're a hell of a lot different from the last group of survivors we found! They were crazy and tried to sacrifice us to those flesh eaters."

"Well this group ain't exactly normal." Colt said with the smallest ghost of a grin. "But I promise not to throw you at a rabid to save myself... Even though you'd probably keep them busy eating for a good long while."

Ox laughed, content that he'd finally found a safe place for he and his sister. "Thanks for taking us in, Colt."

"Don't' thank me yet, Ox. Thank me once the monsters are gone and we're all still breathing." Colt patted Ox on the back and then strode away toward the barn, rubbing roughly at his temples as he went.