Deadman's Road Read Online Free

I'll put you on the list."
    "After what I've seen in this life," Jebidiah said, "you are nothing to me. An insect…. So, add me to your list."
    "Let's feed him," the deputy said, nodding at Bill, "and get to moving. I'm feeling rested and want to get this ball started."

    The moon had begun to rise when they rode in sight of Deadman's Road. The white cross road sign was sticking up beside the road. Trees and brush had grown up around it, and between the limbs and the shadows, the crudely painted words on the sign were halfway readable in the waning light. The wind had picked up and was grabbing at leaves, plucking them from the ground, tumbling them about, tearing them from trees and tossing them across the narrow, clay road with a sound like mice scuttling in straw.
    "Fall always depresses me," the deputy said, halting his horse, taking a swig from his canteen.
    "Life is a cycle," Jebidiah said. "You're born, you suffer, then you're punished."
    The deputy turned in his saddle to look at Jebidiah. "You ain't much on that resurrection and reward, are you?"
    "No, I'm not."
    "I don't know about you," the deputy said, "but I wish we hadn't gotten here so late. I'd rather have gone through in the day."
    "Thought you weren't a believer in spooks?" Bill said, and made with his now familiar snort. "You said it didn't matter to you."
    The deputy didn't look at Bill when he spoke. "I wasn't here then. Place has a look I don't like. And I don't enjoy temptin' things. Even if I don't believe in them."
    "That's the silliest thing I ever heard," Bill said.
    "Wanted me with you," Jebidiah said. "You had to wait."
    "You mean to see something, don't you, preacher?" Bill said.
    "If there is something to see," Jebidiah said.
    "You believe Old Timer's story?" the deputy said. "I mean, really?"
    "Perhaps."
    Jebidiah clucked to his horse and took the lead.

    When they turned onto Deadman's Road, Jebidiah paused and removed a small, fat bible from his saddlebag.
    The deputy paused too, forcing Bill to pause as well. "You ain't as ornery as I thought," the deputy said. "You want the peace of the bible just like anyone else."
    "There is no peace in this book," Jebidiah said. "That's a real confusion. Bible isn't anything but a book of terror, and that's how God is: Terrible. But the book has power. And we might need it."
    "I don't know what to think about you, Reverend," the deputy said.
    "Ain't nothin' you can think about a man that's gone loco," Bill said. "I don't want to stay with no man that's loco."
    "You get an idea to run, Bill, I can shoot you off your horse," the deputy said. "Close range with my revolver, far range with my rifle. You don't want to try it."
    "It's still a long way to Nacogdoches," Bill said.

    The road was narrow and of red clay. It stretched far ahead like a band of blood, turned sharply to the right around a wooded curve where it was as dark as the bottom of Jonah's whale. The blowing leaves seemed especially intense on the road, scrapping dryly about, winding in the air like giant hornets. The trees, which grew thick, bent in the wind, from right to left. This naturally led the trio to take to the left side of the road.
    The farther they went down the road, the darker it became. By the time they got to the curve, the woods were so thick, and the thunderous skies had grown so dark, the moon was barely visible; its light was as weak as a sick baby's grip.
    When they had traveled for some time, the deputy said, obviously feeling good about it, "There ain't nothing out here 'sides what you would expect. A possum maybe. The wind."
    "Good for you, then," Jebidiah said. "Good for us all."
    "You sound disappointed to me," the deputy said.
    "My line of work isn't far from yours, Deputy. I look for bad guys of a sort, and try and send them to hell…. Or in some cases, back to hell."
    And then, almost simultaneous with a flash of lightning, something crossed the road not far in front of them.
    "What the hell was that?" Bill said,