To Hell and Back: Chapter Four

The ride into town was quieter than quiet. Not even Amos made a sound. His arm had been washed and wrapped in a towel but then he’d been bundled up and brought along. Uncle Tobias had initially protested, saying the boy needed to rest or should see a doctor, but mama would have none of it. “We’re staying together from now on. And till we figure out a bit more, no one else needs to know anything least of all some town doctor.”

They’d never actually seen father’s library from the inside. And only once had they seen the outside, when father’s horse went lame one day and mama had had to take him to work. Oddly, by the end of the day the horse had made a full recovery and that was never needed to happen again. That time, when only mama and Amos had gone, they’d seen a large stone building, pale and lifeless. It was connected to some university which had looked just as lifeless.

Today was a much different picture. The sight was just as lifeless but because the whole of the place was burned to the ground. Pulling up to what they remembered to be the front steps of the library, only crumbled remains of the roof gave any impression anything had once stood there.

“What on earth happened here?” Uncle Tobias said, marveling at the sight.

“Something not meant for this earth,” a voice said from behind them. Mother spun surprisingly fast and to everyone’s shock had a pistol out and pointed at the voice. It was a man, near father’s age, slim of build and dressed in a nice suit. He carried a doctor’s bag. “Sorry to startle you and the gun’s not necessary. I mean you no harm, much the opposite.”

“Start talking then, doc,” mother replied, the gun not wavering.

The “doctor” grinned. “Not like there’s any need for secrecy anymore, but I’d still appreciate it if you lowered the gun. Also, it’s frightfully cold out. Might we go somewhere else?”

Without even blinking, mama put a bullet in the small space between his feet. “I said talk, doc,” mama said coldly. “And toss that case of yours over, no funny business.”

Begrudgingly, the doctor did as ordered and Tobias caught it. Mama gave him a look, clearly meaning open it, and he did. His eyes bulged after looking inside. He reached in and pulled out the largest handgun anyone had ever seen. It only slightly resembled a pistol, in that it had a handle and trigger, but instead of a barrel, it had several. It was much larger than an old-time pepper-box, but what it was no one could have guessed. “Just what sort of doctor are you?”

“The kind who keeps one of those for when the patient doesn’t make it or isn’t supposed to,” he replied.

“My name is Doctor Steven Williams. I worked with your father. If you are here and he is not I can only assume the worst has happened. Did he run off or is he dead?”

“Dead,” mama replied.

“God rest his soul,” the doctor replied, crossing himself. “Was anyone bit?”

“Show him your arm, Amos dear,” mama said. Amos pulled his arm out of his jacket and stretched it out towards the doctor. Cautiously, the doctor approached, and undid the wrap around it. To everyone but the doctor’s surprise, the wound was almost entirely healed. Had it not been for the blood still on the towel, they may have forgotten about it entirely. “What’s happening to my boy, doc?”

“The same as happened to your husband, Mrs. Burrows. And we only have till the next full moon to prevent it.”