Deadman's Road Read Online Free Page A

coming out of what had been a near stupor.
    "It looked like a man," the deputy said.
    "Could have been," Jebidiah said. "Could have been."
    "What do you think it was?"
    "You don't want to know."
    "I do."
    "Gimet," Jebidiah said.

    The sky let the moon loose for a moment, and its light spread through the trees and across the road. In the light there were insects, a large wad of them, buzzing about in the air.
    "Bees," Bill said. "Damn if them ain't bees. And at night. That ain't right."
    "You an expert on bees?" the deputy asked.
    "He's right," Jebidiah said. "And look, they're gone now."
    "Flew off," the deputy said.
    "No…. no they didn't," Bill said. "I was watching, and they didn't fly nowhere. They're just gone. One moment they were there, then they was gone, and that's all there is to it. They're like ghosts."
    "You done gone crazy," the deputy said.
    "They are not insects of this earth," Jebidiah said. "They are familiars."
    "What?" Bill said.
    "They assist evil, or evil beings," Jebidiah said. "In this case, Gimet. They're like a witch's black cat familiar. Familiars take on animal shapes, insects, that sort of thing."
    "That's ridiculous," the deputy said. "That don't make no kind of sense at all."
    "Whatever you say," Jebidiah said, "but I would keep my eyes alert, and my senses raw. Wouldn't hurt to keep your revolvers loose in their holsters. You could well need them. Though, come to think of it, your revolvers won't be much use."
    "What the hell does that mean?" Bill said.
    Jebidiah didn't answer. He continued to urge his horse on, something that was becoming a bit more difficult as they went. All of the horses snorted and turned their heads left and right, tugged at their bits; their ears went back and their eyes went wide.
    "Holy hell," Bill said, "what's that?"
    Jebidiah and the deputy turned to look at him. Bill was turned in the saddle, looking back. They looked too, just in time to see something that looked pale blue in the moonlight, dive into the brush on the other side of the road. Black dots followed, swarmed in the moonlight, then darted into the bushes behind the pale, blue thing like a load of buckshot.
    "What was that?" the deputy said. His voice sounded as if it had been pistol whipped.
    "Already told you," Jebidiah said.
    "That couldn't have been nothing human," the deputy said.
    "Don't you get it," Bill said, "that's what the preacher is trying to tell you. It's Gimet, and he ain't nowhere alive. His skin was blue. And he's all messed up. I seen more than you did. I got a good look. And them bees. We ought to break out and ride hard."
    "Do as you choose," the Reverend said. "I don't intend to."
    "And why not?" Bill said.
    "That isn't my job."
    "Well, I ain't got no job. Deputy, ain't you supposed to make sure I get to Nac-ogdoches to get hung? Ain't that your job?"
    "It is."
    "Then we ought to ride on, not bother with this fool. He wants to fight some grave crawler, then let him. Ain't nothing we ought to get into."
    "We made a pact to ride together," the deputy said. "So we will."
    "I didn't make no pact," Bill said.
    "Your word, your needs, they're nothing to me," the deputy said.
    At that moment, something began to move through the woods on their left. Something moving quick and heavy, not bothering with stealth. Jebidiah looked in the direction of the sounds, saw someone, or something, moving through the underbrush, snapping limbs aside like they were rotten sticks. He could hear the buzz of the bees, loud and angry. Without really meaning to, he urged the horse to a trot. The deputy and Bill joined in with their own mounts, keeping pace with the Reverend's horse.
    They came to a place off the side of the road where the brush thinned, and out in the distance they could see what looked like bursting white waves, frozen against the dark. But they soon realized it was tombstones. And there were crosses. A graveyard. The graveyard Old Timer had told them about. The sky had cleared now, the wind