Chapter Ten: If you're gonna shoot me with something I'd just as soon it wasn't your gun

Holy shit, mother of Mary, dear sweet baby Jesus! The damned woman was naked and even Colt was alive enough to notice that much. Colt cursed under his breath when he felt his cock twitch.

He didn't want this woman. Colt didn't want any woman. He just wanted to get back to killing rabid and sleeping on the ground until the day he was lucky enough to die.

"You gonna stare all day or come on over here?" the woman purred. Colt looked down at her feet, then followed her long legs up and up to the juncture of blond curls between her thighs. She had well rounded, feminine hips, a lean stomach and her breasts were some of the fullest and firmest he'd ever laid his eyes on.

Her face was beautiful too. Full, heart shaped lips, upturned nose, big green eyes and a thick head of sandy colored waves that hung down her back and over her dainty shoulders. With that all naked skin and beauty in front of him Colt knew that his body should be trembling with lust, his mind clouded with it, but instead he felt nothing.

His pecker certainly seemed to be feeling a few things but the rest of him still felt numb. Dead. Colt turned to walk out the door and find a room to be alone when the woman grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Where you going? Don't you want me?" Colt swallowed hard and shook his head slowly. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand off of him before walking around her and grabbing her robe off the worn rug.

He held it out for her and saw the confusion in her green eyes as she reached for it quickly. Her cheeks flushed red as she pulled the robe around herself and secured it tightly.

"What do you want then? Why did you help me?" the woman asked with confusion. Colt just shrugged. He'd helped her because he'd needed to. He'd needed to make a difference to someone since he'd failed his wife and daughter. That didn't mean he wanted a damn thing from her and he certainly didn't want her body, no matter how nice it might have looked.

Colt walked over and picked up his saddlebags and sack. He couldn't leave just yet, not with those flesh eaters in a frenzy below the window as they feasted on their meal, but he certainly didn't want to be in this room anymore.

Colt only wanted to be alone. Forever. Until whenever it was God saw fit to just let him die.

"Can you talk?" The woman asked, coming to stand in front of him. Colt shook his head. The woman scratched at her thick sandy hair and frowned. "Thank you for what you did with those men. I am a whore but they were trying to force me after I'd told them no..."

Colt nodded because he had heard. He had nothing against whores. People were born into the life they were born into. Some rose above it and some didn't but that didn't make one any better than the rest. And a man had no right to force any woman, even a whore, if she wasn't willing to lay with him.

He opened the door and stepped into the dark and dirty hall. "There are plenty of rooms if you'd like to rest a while." The woman said quietly, still looking very confused and Colt was certain she appeared ashamed though he had no idea what she'd be ashamed about.

He nodded again and then walked away, the sound of his footsteps echoing off the surrounding walls. He rounded a corner into another long hall and tried a door. It swung open and Colt stepped into the small room. It was complete with a fireplace, wardrobe, dressing curtain, brass bed, two arm chairs and a tiny table. He shut and locked the door behind him and let out a long breath.

Colt looked at that bed longingly. He was so damned tired..... Tossing his belongings to the floor and slipping off his guns, boots, pants and shirt, Colt climbed into the bed wearing only his white long johns, stained from so many weeks of wear. He collapsed against the lumpy mattress and closed his eyes, willing sleep to come.

***

Katherine didn't know whether to be angry, embarrassed or ashamed. She did know that she was damn confused. Since when did a man do something nice for a woman without wanting anything in return for it? Since when did any man refuse her?

Katherine had always had men falling over themselves and emptying their pockets to get a chance with her. Ever since her father had announced her employment in the brothel at the age of fifteen that was all she'd been. Now at age twenty-three Katherine had a lot of experience with the other sex. She knew how to seduce them and use them to get what she needed. Though they were using her as well for their own release.

But this man had walked away from her. Hell he'd all but thrown her robe back at her! She had seen his cock stir in those stained denims of his but his eyes had remained dull and uninterested. Maybe he hadn't been coming into her window for a romp in the bed after all. Maybe he had simply heard the arguing and wanted to help her....

Katherine had made a fool of herself. A complete and utter fool. A good man, a decent man finally rides into her life and she had to scare him away! With any luck she would never see him again. He would rest up and then be gone.... She didn't know if she could look him in the eyes again knowing that she had offered herself to him and he had refused.

She pulled on a long blue gingham skirt with tiers that danced and twisted with her movements. There was a long slit in the side so that she could better access the .38 revolver in the holster tied around her thigh. Her blouse was white and hung off her shoulders, showing off her tanned skin and the bottom of the shirt tended to ride up revealing a bit of her stomach as well.

Katherine had never bothered with underclothes, finding that they just got in the way when it was time to work. Men didn't usually appreciate having to take the time to undress her when all they wanted was a quick rut.

She could still hear the monsters outside, moaning and screeching for all they were worth. Katherine pulled on her dark brown knee high boots and then left her bedroom and made her way downstairs to the kitchens. She had worked up quite an appetite with those men in the night and it was well past time for breakfast.

Using what meager supplies she had left, Katherine prepared oatmeal with canned peaches and cut off a few chunks from the loaf of bread she'd baked the day before. Using some of the little bit of butter she had left, Katherine slathered the pieces in them and then sighed.

She could hear that man upstairs moving around in the room he'd chosen. Clearly he wasn't sleeping and so Katherine wondered if perhaps he might be hungry. As badly as she would like to never see him again, the fact remained that he had helped her out and they were survivors in this crazy world. There weren't very many survivors left and Katherine hadn't had conversations with those that were left.... .She'd been too busy letting out moans when it was expected in exchange for bread and bullets.

She put some oatmeal into a bowl for him and laid all the food plus two glass of water onto the tray before making her way back upstairs. She propped the tray against her hip and used her free hand to knock on the door.

The door opened almost the instant she knocked and she nearly swallowed her tongue at the sight of that .45 revolver pointed at her face.

"If you're gonna shoot me with something I would just as soon it wasn't your gun." She managed to choke out around her fear, while giving him a coy brow raise. She had expected him to laugh or at least smile but there was nothing. No expression at all on his tense fence as he holstered his weapon and looked down at her. Katherine cursed her shortness. She stood only five feet two inches tall and this man was much taller than her, as were most men.

"I made you breakfast." Katherine said holding out the tray. "I was hoping maybe we could eat together and talk. Or I guess I'll do the talking and you can do the listening....." The man let out a long sigh and then moved aside to allow her to enter.

Katherine sat the tray down on the small table while the man moved the armchairs so they could sit on them while they ate.

She was happy when he grabbed up the food and began to gobble it eagerly. Clearly it had been a while since he'd had a fresh cooked meal.

"My name is Katherine. It would be nice to know what yours is..."

The man frowned and then pulled his gun, laying it on the table and pointing at it. "Gun?" Katherine asked with a raise of brow. "Your name is gun?"

The man shook his head and pointed at the words written on the barrel. One word in particular. "Colt?" The man nodded. Katherine thought that was an odd name and wondered if it was short for something else but knew she would never know. Not if he couldn't speak and tell her.

"It's nice to meet you Colt." If the man returned the sentiment it was impossible to tell. Those dark blue eyes of his really were blank. Katherine wondered if he was dumb as well as mute... though he certainly didn't act as if he were.

The meal was eaten in silence and yet it was the best meal Katherine had eaten since her mother had died. It was the first meal she'd eaten with someone else. It felt nice to just have another living, breathing person around that wasn't trying to rut with her or chew her face off.

Katherine was about to gather up the dishes and leave the room when she noticed Colt's nostrils flaring as he sniffed. Katherine mimicked his movements and that's when she smelled it. Kerosene and smoke.

"Rot in hell you dirty bastards!" Katherine recognized the voice of the man who had run from Colt and jumped out the window hours earlier. She saw Colt jump to his feet and look out the window and she let out a cry of shock when he pulled his gun and fired off a shot.

"Did you kill him?!" she demanded and he shook his head. Katherine ran to the window as well and saw the man trying desperately to crawl away as a rabid made its way toward his injured and bleeding body. She swallowed heard. Maybe Colt wasn't such a nice man after all.

Then she realized what that fat monster snack had been doing. Her home was on fire. The brothel that she had been born and raised in, her one safe place in all this madness was quickly going up in flames and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

***

Colt knew he had to get out of this building and he had to get Katherine out as well. Colt wasn't the hero type and never had been but he couldn't very well let the woman who had fed him breakfast burn up in a fire or fall prey to the rabid outside.

"What are we going to do, Colt?" Katherine asked. Colt put his rifle over his back, grabbed up his saddlebag and sack and went to the door, motioning with his shoulder for her to come with him. He stepped out into the hallway and already he could feel the heat beneath his feet from the flames. Clearly that fat bastard had used a lot of kerosene on the rickety wooden building to ensure the flames would spread.

Colt knew the fire would draw the rabid. Not just the rabid in the town but the rabid in the countryside for miles around them.

He untied his bandana from his neck and put it over Katherine's mouth and nose. Her eyes widened and she held it in place. Colt took one last breath of decent air and then headed down the stairs, Katherine right behind him.

The boards that were blocking the door from the outside were also blocking their escape. Colt handed the saddlebags and sack to Katherine and then ran at the door using his shoulder as a battering ram. He felt the wood crack as his bones jarred. Colt took a few steps back, prepared himself, though his eyes were burning and watering thanks to the smoke filing the space, and then ran for the door again.

The boards broke free on the outside and Colt drew his revolver before stepping out. He felt Katherine's hand clutching the back of his coat as they walked through the smoke, flames licking at them. Colt knew it those flames were probably singing Katherine's bare skin but they had to stay in this smoke for as long as they could. Colt could hear the moaning hungry rabid all around them and he could see their figures through the haze.

He went to the corner of the building already knowing that he was heading straight across the street to a side alley that led out of town. Colt was good at memorizing escape routes with just a glance. It had been important in the life he'd lived before Sarah and he was glad it was a skill he'd developed since it had suddenly become important again.

He threw a glance at Katherine threw his burning, watering eyes and she nodded, knowing that they were going to have to run fast. They left the cover of the smoke and Colt was surprised at the amount of rabid but he more surprised by the way they were acting.

They were standing still, for the most part, almost as if the smoke and the growing flames had them in a trance. As a matter of fact only a few noticed Katherine and Colt as they ran past and those didn't seem to want to leave the fire to look at them.

"They're like bees." Katherine said, her voice raspy and her lungs clearly burning from the amount of smoke she had breathed in despite the bandana Colt had given her to breathe through. He raised a brow as they slid around the back of the alley and stopped to catch their breath for a moment. "Haven't you ever seen bees around smoke?"

Colt nodded and realized that Katherine was right. Those rabid had acted much like bees in smoke. A good piece of knowledge to save away for later.

Soon he was once again leading them around town, though this time he stopped at the jailhouse when he saw a shadow move inside the bars.

He frowned as he went to the door and knocked. It was opened by a man with a shot gun and Colt sighed with relief. Clearly this was a safe building and he could leave Katherine here. He wouldn't have to worry about taking her with him. Colt was not wanting a partner or a ward to look after. He liked being alone. Being alone with his failures and his memories was what he wanted.

He grabbed Katherine, took his saddlebags and sack from her and shoved her toward the door.

"What are you doing?" she demanded angrily, her voice still raspy. Colt nudged her further into the building and the man with the gun frowned.

"I aint' got no room for her." He warned. Colt glared at the man and then pulled his gun and put it to his forehead, which quickly became slicked with sweat while his throat bobbed. "I guess I could always make room."

Colt tipped his hat to Katherine before holstering his weapon and then turning to walk away. He stopped in his tracks when a revolver cocked behind his ear.

"I ain't staying here. My home is gone and this town is running out of food. You seem like a man who can take care of himself and help me stay safe. I'll take care of you, you take care of me.... It sounds li a winning situation for us both."

Colt turned and looked down the barrel of a .38 and past it to Katherine's face. One look in her green eyes told him she wasn't joking. She'd pull that trigger if he refused her.

"I'll be coming with you." She assured him and Colt's jaw tightened as his fists clenched. Damn. Looked like he'd just gotten himself a rabid killing buddy. Whether he'd wanted one or not.