Small Town Pt.3

The horse trotted behind the pickup truck. Maggie and Bohannon rode in silence, but it became too stupid for Bohannon.

"You know those things are dead right? And they won't hesitate to kill you. Man, woman, child, elderly, even a babe if it gets close enough. But don't you judge me until you've been in a situation where a child is about to rip out the throat of someone you love, with their teeth."

"Whatever you say, Bohannon" Maggie replied.

Bohannon looked at the stars and sighed. "Have you ever heard of the Wahatna Tribe... The old Bohannons whipped them out. Used their woman as breeding whores. So naturally, some of their stories survived. Like many native Americans. The Wahatna had their own version of the wendigo…

They had never beheld such a creature until the white men came to the Americas. However, the surrounding tribes called the creature, Wendigo. According to legend, Wendigos are cursed by the Great Spirit for tasting the flesh of another man. To kill this monster, you must cut out its heart and burn it in fire. My ancestors tried this, and one wendigo became four…

That is until the daughter of the shaman, Isi, killed the Wendigo by splitting its head open with her Tomahawk. Soon after, the Wahatna and the Choctaw hunted the rest down until they found the last being shot by white men. Isi appeared and crushed its skull. As the white men looked on terrified. The sun-kissed slaves, coward next to the trees in fear. They chanted their voudon prayers. The Isi and her people said they could feel the big magic from the slaves, and the white men watched terrified. When they were finished, one brave slave walked to Isi and used her tomahawk to sacrifice a horse. With its blood, the slave painted foreign symbols. He then looked to the white men and the Native Americans and said, 'No more, Zoombie.'...

Since all of this started, All I can think about is Isi and the story of the Zombie. " said Bohannon.

"Is that why you have tomahawks now?" Maggie asked

"Partly, But Tomahawks are what a Bohannon uses in war. But the point is, something that can have its heart cut out and continue to move, is no longer human. Sick or otherwise. The Human race has spilled too much blood and feast on the flesh of other men, staining the earth. The Great Spirit is getting even." Said Bohannon.

Maggie tried to hide it but Bohannon could see that story made her skin crawl and the fear of the Zombie began to grow.

"Well, Mr. Bohannon. You can keep your Native American juju to yourself. God is on our side." Maggie clicked her tongue and speed towards her house. Bohannon watched as she unmounted her horse and walked it to the stable.

Bohannon moved to the driver's side of the pickup truck. "If killing those dead girls doesn't sit well with you, then you stay here. Because what you saw, what I did, is only the beginning." Bohannon spoke to Sasha.

Bohannon then road to stables and called out Maggie, "Send the boy in the morning, We'll go and look for his folks at sunrises."

Maggie nodded her head and Bohannon took off back home.

____________________________________________________________________

The next morning. Jimmy arrived at Bohannon's, bright and early. Sasha was cooking a meal while Bohannon and Jimmy sat at the table talking shop.

"Let me see that," said Bohannon.

Sasha looked over her shoulder and saw Jimmy handed Bohannon a refurbished Winchester Model 1873 saddle rifle.

"Holy Shit. She's a beauty. Where'd you get it?"

"Hershel gave it to me," Jimmy replied.

"It takes .45's. How many rounds are you packing?"

"15."

"I'm deputizing you today, boy. The old goat that stayed here before loved to make shit. That means I have a shit load of ammo and no one to use em. You listen to every word I say out there, like a good deputy, and I'll get you a belt that holds the rounds and I'll make sure you come home in one piece."

Jimmy nodded his head. "Deal...Is… Is she coming with us?". Jimmy gestured towards Sasha.

Bohannon smiled. "Don't you go steady with the farmer's daughter?"

"We dated a while before the world went to shit but, you know. It's not every day…"

"You meet a woman you used to jerk off to." Sasha finished his sentence as she put the food on the table.

Bohannon chuckled as he pulled bacon from the plate Sasha had placed on the table. "Well if you're nice enough, she just might play out one of those fantasies with you."

Sasha smacked Bohannon in the head as he laughed.

"I will not! He's a kid, Bohannon." Sasha chided him.

Bohannon kept laughing as Jimmy gushed at Sasha.

"Okay. Serious shit. Tell us about your paw and your siblings. Sasha can you get me the map." Said Bohannon.

Sasha left and Bohannon kept talking, " I need to know where you lived, where sisters went to school, where your dad worked, And if you know, where each one of them was when the world went to shit."

Sasha returned with a map and Jimmy pointed out each location Bohannon asked for and where his kin was supposed to be on the day the town got hit by a walker outbreak. Jimmy happened to be at the Greene farm while his family was at home. With that information. Sasha, Bohannon, and Jimmy set out on a search and rescue mission.