Donners of the Dead

Chapter Seven

While the man who attacked Donna had been partially clothed with disheveled white hair, this man was naked and ice blue. He looked just like the one who had taken Meek’s pinky.

Now he was pulling himself forward on his hands and knees as he came out of the snowbank, struggling to get up. I couldn’t help wondering if he was hurt or dying, even though there was no blood on him. Was this some sort of ruse that these creatures put on, pretending to be wounded or dead to gain sympathy? Surely they had to be smart enough to know it wouldn’t work a second time.

“Meeks, get out of there!” Jake yelled at him. But Meeks seemed too scared to even get his horse to move. Avery reached behind him for his knife, not taking his eyes off the creature who was still crawling forward toward Meeks.

I looked to Jake. “Throw Avery your gun!” I said frantically.

His eyes widened. “I don’t reckon a gun will do the trick.”

“Jesus Murphy, that just can’t be,” Tim swore and brought out his revolver. “This will at least scare the horses away.” He fired a shot at the creature and hit it in the shoulder, the snow around it quickly growing red with blood.

It didn’t stop him but it did scare the horses, so much that Meek’s palomino reared up, and with Meek’s useless hand, he was unable told on. He went flying off the back of the horse, landing in a puff of snow just a few feet away from the creature.

We all held our breath as the creature raised its head to look at Meeks. Then with one last burst of energy, the creature lunged and landed right on top of him.

Meeks screamed, trying to fight him off while Avery started sprinting toward them, his knife out.

But it was too late. Meeks was too injured, too fat, too slow. The creature buried his head into Meeks’ chest and with wet snarls, started feasting on him right there and then. Meeks screamed and screamed and then suddenly stopped. His heart was dangling from the creature’s bloody mouth.

I fought the urge to vomit while Jake was up on his feet and running toward Ali the mule, who was still trotting off in the distance in fright from the gunshot and the screaming. I had no idea what he was doing, and now Avery was at the creature, his knife raised in the air.

The creature cried out as Avery drove his knife into its back, again and again, until it swiped at Avery, knocking him a few feet back.

“Avery!” I yelled, and got to my feet, trying to get to him before the creature did. However weak it was before, it was now growing stronger by the minute.

The creature leaped at him, tackling him into the snow, while Avery tried to hold him back, keeping his snapping jaws just inches away from his face. Blood poured into Avery’s eyes and he was being overpowered with every second that passed.

I wasn’t going to make it to him in time. I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do to help him without getting myself killed, but I had to do something.

And apparently, Jake thought he had to do something too.

“Don’t move!” Jake yelled as he came running toward Avery, an axe held high above his head. I didn’t know if he was talking to me or Avery—probably both. I froze and Avery quickly turned his head to the side, closing his eyes tightly.

Jake swung the axe down like some kind of mythical god, his large muscles straining through his thin shirt as he let out a war cry, and the blade met with the back of the creature’s neck.

The axe didn’t go all the way through, just enough so the creature’s head was half off and Avery was able to roll out of harm’s way. Jake pulled the axe out and brought it right back down, this time severing the creature’s head. It rolled across the snow until it settled face up, those glazed blue eyes looking blankly at the sky.

Jake stuck out his hand and helped Avery to his feet. “Are you all right, boy?”

Avery nodded quickly, but I could tell he wasn’t all right, not mentally anyway. None of us were. Meeks was lying in the snow in a pool of his own blood, his heart having been ripped out and eaten by the same creature, man, monster that Jake just decapitated, while Donna was unconscious in Tim’s arms having lost her whole damn hand to another one of the monstrosities.

Jake looked around, his hand flexing on the handle of the axe. “I’ll go gather up the horses, while you guys get the first aid kit and fix her up best you can. We need to keep moving if we want to save Donna, and I reckon we’re much closer to Donner Lake than we are to the our last camp.”

“You reckon?” I repeated. “You don’t know?”

He shook his head and gave me a leveling look. “Isaac and Hank are gone, and we can’t wait around for them to come back. Isaac has the map. If we lose the trail, I’m afraid you’ll have to lead us there. And you’ll have to hurry. We may have killed one but there’s at least one still out there.”

With that in mind, Avery and I quickly got the kit from Ali and tended to Donna the best we could. In fact, all we could really do is apply the same treatment to her that she did to Meeks.

Poor Meeks. I kept looking behind me at his mangled, lifeless body that was constantly being shadowed by scavenger birds overhead. Jake quickly shot one before it had a chance to feast on him, saying it would make a good roast. He then picked off a few more birds that tried to peck at Meeks. I watched him carefully and knew from the pained look on his face that he was trying to be good to Meeks, even in death. It hit me even harder to see emotion on someone as stoic as Jake McGraw.

As soon as Donna was bandaged up and laid across the front of Jake’s saddle, we were on our way, heading back through the woods with her horse in tow behind Ali. We traveled for about an hour, all four of us looking to the forest with trepidation, certain that one of the monsters would come back for us. Every thump of melting snow, every crackle of a tree branch made us jump in our saddles.

I was trying my best to keep my senses on high alert, paying attention to any peculiar smells or noises, but after a while, we lost the trail just as Jake feared and it was up for me to find our way to Donner Lake. I could only hope that the lake truly was closer to us because we should have been heading back toward civilization. As far as I was concerned, no amount of money was worth any of our lives and yet Meeks had already paid that debt.

Truthfully, it was hard trying to find the trail. Many times I led everyone to a cliff face or an impassable river before we had to double back and find the way again. I knew they were getting impatient with me but I was trying my very best. The rapidly melting snow made it harder, messing up what could have been a scent trail and obscuring signs of passage. With the clock ticking away and all our lives on the line, not just Donna’s, I started to panic.

Then, when the path seemed to narrow again and it became nearly impossible to move forward, I spotted a piece of cloth hanging from a tree branch. It was dark green and blended in, and had no real smell to it except pine, but it was there and a sign we were in fact on the right path.

Soon the sky started to spread out above us as the trees became sparse. We turned a corner and came across a wide open space with snow-capped peaks in the distance. Donner Lake was frozen over, and on the other side were two log cabins, as if they’d been waiting for us.

We were too tired, our nerves too shot, to even smile at the sight. We could only coax our horses to go a bit faster until we were riding up to the front door.

The first cabin looked about as well-made as the previous camp. It had no glass in the narrow windows, only rotten shutters, but the building was bigger and looked strong enough. To the side and nestled in the trees was another cabin, this one missing the entire front wall. The inside was pretty much empty with the floorboards mostly ripped up leaving dirt in some places. There was no stable or shanty for the horses, so I suggested keeping them in there in case another storm blew through.

“Are you sure?” Tim asked me. He was staring down at me as I dismounted as if I was doing something wrong. “Seems the better idea would be to just let them roam free. I don’t think they’re going anywhere.”

“And if it snows?” I asked. “If they run onto the lake and fall through?”

“Tim,” Jake spoke up. “If Eve wants to put the horses away in there, let her. There’s no harm in it, and besides, she’s right.” He looked up to the sky. “Just because it’s warmer and it’s stopped snowing, doesn’t mean it’s over. Winter is still on its way.”

He dismounted, and together he and Avery lifted Donna’s deadweight off of Trouble. Jake shot me a quick look. “We’ll need your help first, though.”

I nodded. “Of course.” I grabbed the first aid pack off of Ali and followed the men into the cabin. It was dark and musty inside, and smelled absolutely horrible. I was surprised I hadn’t noticed it earlier. It wasn’t the same rotting scent of the creatures but it was revolting all the same. I put my hand over my nose as Tim quickly pushed open the shutters, flooding the cabin with stark rays of light and letting more air in.

With the darkness cleared, our eyes were now free to feast on the terror that lay before us. The entire cabin was in disarray: chairs and beds were turned over, straw strewn everywhere, even a child’s doll was torn in half. But none of that could hold a candle to what lay in and around the fire pit at the side of the cabin.

Piles of burnt bones—human bones—were stacked, spilling out onto the floorboards. In front of the fire lay two large pots, both of them crammed full of what looked to be children’s severed limbs.

There were no words.

But somehow Tim found them.

“Just what the hell happened to these people?” he exclaimed softly.

We all looked at Donna, limp in Jake’s strong arms. Piece by tragic piece, we were starting to have an idea. The snow storms weren’t the only danger the Donner party had faced. Not by a long shot.

While Tim and Jake cleared out the scene of carnage from the cabin, I helped Avery tend to Donna. She was still unconscious, though Avery had found a small packet of opium buried deep within the first aid pack, a remedy better than moonshine should she wake up.

When we’d done what we could for her, I threw on my thick shawl and started for the door.

“Where are you going?” Avery asked, wiping his hands dry on the last clean cloth we had. If we wanted to keep Donna’s wounds clean someone was going to have to start doing laundry soon and I had a feeling it would be me.

I looked over at Tim and Jake, who had gotten a fire started in the cleaned-out pit and were boiling water to make tea and coffee. They both eyed me in such a way that it made me feel on edge.

“I’m putting the horses away,” I said to Avery without taking my eyes off of them.

“I’m going with you,” he said. He grabbed his coat and shrugged it on. “I’m not letting you out there alone with those crazed people.”

Jake let out a dry laugh at the word “people” but didn’t say anything else.

“Sure,” I said. “I can use the help.”

We headed out into the dusk. There was little light left so Avery grabbed the kerosene lantern that was hanging by the door and we walked over to the horses that had already gathered inside the cabin anyway. Though the day had been mild, the dripping sound of melting snow had stopped and my breath was clouding around me. The night would be cold but as long as we all made it through alive, that was enough for me. I had a hard time complaining about trivial things when someone like Meeks had lost their life in such a brutal way.

The empty cabin had hard-packed dirt which was perfect for the horses, and they were all huddled together with their gear still on. Though it was cold, the missing wall was south-facing and only a little bit of snow had drifted through the roof. Avery and I quickly started getting them untacked, and once he had only his own horse to do, I went around with the lamp and tried to make the cabin a safer place. There was a section of broken and loose floorboards near the middle that could cause a problem if one of the horses stepped on it.

I started prying them off the ground and putting them off to the side when my hands went through the dirt beside one of the boards. Curious, I pushed it aside and looked down. There was a square hole cut into the ground, not too deep and about two feet wide and long. In the middle of the square was a leather satchel. And in the satchel was a gleam of gold.

I blinked, feeling stuck in place, and tried to make sense of what I was looking at. I bent over and brought the lamp closer. Now the gold danced with the light, sending off a beautiful glow like a million summer sundowns. I was transfixed. With one hand I reached into the bag and carefully pulled out a heavy bar of gold, its surface chilled and shiny smooth.

“Avery,” I said breathlessly, afraid that if I looked away, the gold would vanish. “Avery, you won’t believe what I found.”

I heard nothing in response. I smelled only tobacco smoke.

I turned around, and in the shadows, saw Tim standing behind me with a gun to my head. Jake was off to the side of him, his revolver aimed at Avery who was scowling at him with his hands in the air.

“If I was you, Eve,” Tim said with a smile that didn’t match his eyes, “I would kindly drop the gold.”

I didn’t know what to say, or what to do.

“I said,” Tim repeated, “drop the gold. Drop it and get up and come over here.”

“Tim,” Jake warned. “It’s fine.”

“People change when they see money,” Tim explained. “They change even more when they see gold. Come on, Eve.”

I dropped the bar with a clatter and slowly got to my knees. “Tim,” I said, trying to reason with him, “why are you pointing a gun to my head? To both our heads? What did we do? What’s going on?”

Tim sighed. “Guess I do owe you an explanation. You did find what we’ve been looking for, after all.”

“I thought you were looking for George Clark,” I said. I exchanged a wary look with Avery, and it was apparent he thought the same thing too.

Tim lowered the gun. “George Clark is dead. Or so we all assume. He was never related to anyone in the Donner party and was never involved in the search for them. George Clark was a prospector from Sacramento who struck gold in the foothills and became filthy rich. He was heading back over the mountains from the west when something happened to him and the three fellas that were with him. Only one man made it out of the mountains and turned up at Isaac’s door, a man who had gone half-mad. He later died, killed himself in some awful suicide, but he’d already told Isaac everything he needed to know. Mainly, there was a fortune left behind here in these hills. That fortune was just in your hands.” His eyes flitted over to the hole full of gold, the bars gleaming in the lamplight.

Out of everything he’d just told me, all the horrible truths, I could only think of one thing. I looked over at Jake who was keeping his gaze to the ground, as if he was ashamed, even though his gun was still aimed in Avery’s direction.

“You lied to me,” I yelled at Jake, my heart breaking with indignation. “You said you didn’t know why we were here.”

He swallowed hard, and when he looked up at me, a sad smirk was playing on his lips. “Guess I do know you well enough.”

“You know nothing about me,” I sneered, “or anything about being an honorable man.”

He cocked his head. “Well, I can’t know everything.”

Tim cleared his throat, and I was suddenly aware of how hot my face was. I felt utterly betrayed, stupid and foolish. Tim had been such a fatherly figure to me, and Jake…well, I didn’t know what I thought about Jake. But him lying to me near tore me up inside. I was angry that he had such an effect on me—I shouldn’t have even been surprised.

“Now this ain’t the end of the world,” Tim said, putting his gun in his holster and motioning for Jake to do the same. “We can get through this just fine if the two of you behave.”

“You actually think we’d take the gold and run?” I asked, for the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“My, you are an innocent one, aren’t you Eve?” Tim asked. “You need to change that real fast or this world is going to eat you up.”

“Literally, it seems,” Jake added, though he was back to not looking me in the eye.

“We should get a move on back inside,” Tim said, taking his gun out and gesturing to the cabin with it. Night had already fallen and the wind was picking up, whistling over the unseen lake. “Donna may need you.”

When I didn’t move, Tim waved his gun again. His eyes weren’t mean but I didn’t want to test his patience. I looked at Avery and nodded. We walked off toward the cabin, Tim right behind us. I could hear Jake making his way to the wood boards and covering up the hole, I guess in case Isaac and Hank came back. It was clear now that this was an every man for himself operation.

As if reading my mind, Tim said, “You know one bar would be enough for you to start a new life, Eve. The best life you could imagine.”

“Are you trying to tempt me?” I said in a dull voice as the wind whipped my hair out of my braid.

“Just trying to get you to see why we came all the way out here. What it’s worth. We’ve all put in time with the Rangers or other jobs, and we’ve all bled more than we should have for it. The beauty of this fair country is that every man has the opportunity to make the most for himself. We’re just being Americans.”

With that, he opened the cabin door and led us in. Donna was lying in her bed and slowly rolling her head back and forth, a few moans slipping out of her mouth. All the gold in the world couldn’t buy her another hand.

We went over to her as she was starting to stir, and I put the back of my hand to her forehead. She was burning up and clammy and her eyes were rolling back in her head. Avery brought out the small vial of opium and sprinkled a few drops in a metal jug of water, briefly shooting a wary glance at Tim who was stoking the fire. As he shook it around, Jake came back in the cabin, shutting the door behind him.

He paused near us and stared at Donna, taking his hat off his head and holding it to his chest. “How is she?”

I could only glare at him. “Why do you care?”

Avery shot me a look to be quiet and raised her head while he brought the jug to her lips. Most of the water dribbled out of her mouth, but some managed to go down.

“I may have brought you here under false pretenses,” Jake said, “but the offer still counts. Your tracking got us here, got us to what we needed. We’ll pay you handsomely.”

“But not in gold.”

“What’s fair is fair,” Tim said, the flames crackling dramatically behind him. “And the last thing we want is for a member of our team to die. Donna was hired just the same as you was. We don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”

“Is that why you just held guns to our heads?” Avery scowled, darting hateful eyes toward them as Donna appeared to drift off into a drug-induced sleep.

“I said things will be fine if the two of you behave and I mean it,” Tim said. “Tomorrow we’ll head back to River Bend, get out of here while we can. Get Donna the help she needs and you’ll both get paid.”

“What about Hank and Isaac?” I asked. Not that I cared a whit about Hank.

“They wouldn’t hang around for us, that’s for certain,” Tim said.

“And what about the…the men…those creatures out there? What about them?” I asked. “We can’t just go on our merry little way knowing what lives in the mountains.”

“Oh, I reckon you can tell anyone you damn well please. And with the money you’re making, you can move far away and pretend this whole thing never happened.”

I sighed and rubbed my hands against the apron of my dress. We all knew the money was Uncle Pat’s, and even with Avery taking my side, he would never believe what we saw. Once Avery and Rose left for the big city, I’d be all alone. I figured I’d never get another night’s sleep for the rest of my life as long as I knew what lived in the Sierra Nevadas, never be able to wash the image of Meek’s torn heart out of my head.