Ch 4
The next morning the Doc walks in to find all three men awake and sitting on one bed. They jump as he opens the door.
"Easy, easy now. I'm the local doctor here." He starts but Jimmy cuts him short.
"We need water, please."
The doctor walks out and returns with a pitcher of water and glasses. The boys don't stop until all the water is gone.
"Where are we, mister?" Jimmy asked.
"We are in Billings County, Montana."
"How far are we from Garfield?" Jimmy asked the doctor as he stood up.
"About one hundred miles, give or take a few." Jimmy looks at Buck and Logan.
"We got to go man." Buck jumps up. "We got to get home, Jimmy. The girls ain't far from the Brunson land. Come on, Logan. Let's go. We got to get home to the girls man."
They run out the door. Jimmy composes himself and asked for directions home. They jump on a wagon and haul ass. They ride all day.
"Jimmy, we not going to make it home by dark." Buck says.
"Bullshit, we will. We got to damnit."
"You are going to kill the team."
"Then so be it." Jimmy cracks the whips harder. "Yaaa!" he screams as he pushes the horses to their max. They fly in the gate to the ranch right at dark. They barrel up to the house. Rachel and Lou come running out the door.
"Jimmy, oh my God!"
Rachel runs to Buck.
"Where is Ashley?" Logan yells.
"I'm here." She stands in the door holding a baby. Logan runs up.
"It's a boy, Logan."
They all walk in their house and sit down at the table.
"Jimmy, we thought y'all were dead." Lou tells him.
"What happened out there?" Rachel asked.
The men explained the best way that they could their accounts of what took place in the tunnels. The room fell silent. Jimmy stands up.
"I'm getting every man willing to go with me. I'm going to kill everything down there. We can go back with shotguns. I'll pay two hundred dollars for everyman willing to go."
Buck stands up.
"We will send word fifty miles out. See who all shows up."
Logan looks at Jimmy and Buck.
"I can't go back down there." He starts shaking all over. Ashley puts her hands on his back making Logan jump up and scream.
"Easy Logan. Sit down man." Jimmy says trying to comfort him the best he could under the circumstances.
"I'm sorry." He says crying. "They had me. They were touching me. I can't go back, I can't go back." He falls to his knees covering his face. Jimmy and Buck kneels down by his side.
"Logan, you don't have to. We will kill them all."
"Ashley, go wash him up, get him some clothes on, an get him to bed." Jimmy says pulling Logan off the floor.
The next day Jimmy and Buck ride in to town to send word that every man willing to go under ground and hunt gets paid two hundred dollars before hand. They go to the gun store and bought every gun he had. They tell Billy what happened. He tells them that he had a personal stash and walked them in the back. They bought a total of fifty five shotguns, twenty rifles, and thirty pistols. They load up their wagon and head back to the ranch.
Three days later, there was a total of a hundred and seventy three men in all willing to go under ground. Jimmy holds a big meeting that night telling the men what they were getting in. Twenty five men walked out.
"We leave in the morning." Jimmy says calling the meeting to a end.
That night he tells Lou this has to be done.
"I got to go back, Lou. There's evil down there. It has to be stopped. There were people dying down there."
Lou cries on Jimmy's chest. She knows that he is right. Jimmy and Buck had to protect their family and way of life.
The next morning Jimmy and Buck kiss the kids and women goodbye. They ride off with a army hell bent for a reckoning. They make their way to the barn. Jimmy feels cold chills running down his body.
They dismount. Jimmy turns and speaks to the crowd.
"Men, we will never look back an say we did not try to change what is happening here. Watch your backs and kill everything that is not human. I want ten men to stay up top and watch out for anything that comes in this barn or from under it."
They walk into the barn and drop ropes in.
"I'm going first." Jimmy dropped in and spins around. Buck dropped in next. The hole filled with guns and lanterns fast. They walk down the well lit room to the hall leading under ground. Armed to the hip, they come to the first split. They fill both walk ways. Jimmy and Buck walk past the first rooms full of remains. Gun shots ring out from behind them. It wasn't long before they saw a creature running towards them. Shots ring out. The body drops with a hellacious squealing sound. The gun shots fill the long pathways. They ring out from behind them. They keep walking forward. More creatures rush straight at them, screaming unearthly sounds. Shots ring out killing them as they come. They make the next split filling both pathways again. Pushing deeper into the underground caverns, the shooting never stopped for long. They make their way to the first metal door. It opens as these smaller demon like things crawl out all over the walls. They kill them as fast as they come out. They're thick like ants in an anthill. The men kill everything. They enter the room finding tall creatures standing over a human body. Jimmy aimed and blew its face out the back of its head. Green and white slim flew everywhere. They find bodies all over the place as they go room to room killing everything in their path. They were underground two days killing everything that wasn't of this world. Jimmy and Buck lead their men back to the hole in the floor where they had dropped in. They were greeted by all ten men waiting to hoist them out of the hole.