Venom

bed with Lou. “I doubt it was any of the Worths. They had no reason to be out and about so soon after the storm.”

“Your mother or your father?”

“Ma or Pa would have stopped.” Zach had a troubling thought. “Whoever it was, they were headed east toward Waku’s lodge.”

They looked at each other and both of them said at the same time, “Evelyn.”

Zach was still holding his tomahawk and Bowie. He went to the door and paused with a finger on the latch. “Stay inside, you hear me? I won’t brook an argument. If you won’t do it for me or you won’t do it for yourself, do it for the baby.”

Lou nodded. “Don’t worry.” She stood and came over. “I wish you didn’t have to.”

“She’s my sister.”

“You’re going without your rifle?” Lou nodded at the Hawken in the corner.

Zach hefted his edged weapons. “These are better. I can kill more, faster.” He worked the latch.

“Be careful, darn you,” Lou said anxiously, and kissed him hard on the mouth. “Our baby needs a pa.”

“I don’t aim to die.” Zach smiled and slipped out and shut the door behind him.

Lou leaned her forehead against it and closed her eyes in dread. The thing was, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t.

Nate jerked his Hawken to his shoulder and fired. The heavy ball hit smack in the center of the rattlesnake’s head and the head exploded. The path to the lake was momentarily clear. He reloaded as he rode. He goaded the bay into the water, reined parallel with the shore, and brought it to a gallop. Winona was right behind him.

Nate was astounded at the number of snakes he saw and relieved that they didn’t come near the lake. Rattlers could swim, but it was his understanding they only did so when pressed or after prey. Most of the time they fought shy of water. A lot of the snakes, he noticed, were crawling toward the forest to get out of the wet and the chill.

Moments like this, Nate almost regretted living in the wilderness. There was always something, always some new threat to deal with. He yearned for a spell of peace and quiet, a long spell where none of his family or his friends were in peril.

That was the crucial difference between the wilderness and civilization. People who lived in cities and towns and on farms back East could go their entire lives without anything to fear save old age. Oh, a wagon might roll over or a horse go down or they might come down with a disease, but for the most part their lives were peaceful.

The wilderness was anything but peaceful. It was a savage realm of fang and claw where the only true peace was the peace of the grave. Yet God help him, Nate loved it. Not the savagery, but the freedom that came from living without laws and rules. The only restraints were those he imposed on himself.

It was freedom in its purest sense, and more precious to him than the security of civilized society.

A long time ago, when the children were small, Nate had asked Winona if she would rather live east of the Mississippi where there were fewer dangers. She had stopped sewing and looked at him with that special look of hers and said that danger had always been part of her existence. She couldn’t let fear of it rule her. Life was for living, not hiding.

“Husband! Look!”

Nate came out of his reverie. They were on the north side of the lake. Ahead was his son’s cabin. Lou was at the window, waving her arms.

“We should stop!” Winona called.

Reluctantly, Nate slowed. He would only take a minute and be on his way. Whoever had fired that shot might need help. Any delay could prove fatal.

Chapter Seventeen

Snakes were all over her.

Evelyn held herself still and clenched her fists and bit her lower lip so hard she drew a drop of blood, all in an effort to keep from screaming and flailing. Serpents were on her arms, her chest, her head. She never knew when one might sense she was a threat and attack.

The sorrel stopped breathing. A last gasp, its tongue lolled from its mouth, and it was gone.

Evelyn would have wept if she wasn’t so afraid. Here she had always thought of herself as somewhat brave. She’d faced buffalo and bears and an alligator once and survived people trying to kill her, and none of that filled her with the fear and loathing this did. Having snake after snake crawl over her, having their bodies brush her clothes and rub her skin—she could barely stand it.

Their number became fewer and fewer until at long last she had none on her. She hoped that was the end of them, that they had all gone into the woods, but she was mistaken.

Out of the pool came five more, some of the biggest yet, crawling slowly but inexorably toward her and the poor sorrel.

“Please, no,” Evelyn pleaded, and squeezed her eyes tight shut. Maybe if she didn’t watch them it wouldn’t affect her as much. She heard them, though, heard the scrape of scales on cloth and a hiss. One crawled onto her arm. Her natural reaction was to jerk her arm away, but she commanded herself not to move. The snake wriggled onto her chest, and stopped.

Evelyn almost sobbed. She waited for it to move on and when it didn’t, she cracked her eyelids. The thing was huge, as thick around as her pa’s arm. Its head was a few inches from her face and it was flicking its tongue as if testing the air. Keep going, she mentally begged. Please keep going.

The rattler didn’t move. It looked around and then lay back down with its lower jaw on her shoulder.

Dear God, Evelyn thought. It was resting on her. It must like how warm her body was after the cold of the water. She suppressed an impulse to shudder. She mustn’t so much as twitch. But how long could she stay still? Evelyn asked herself. Her nerves were raw. She was frayed to where she might lose control. Please, she prayed, make it go away.

The rattler started to coil. She tensed, expecting it to attack, but no, it coiled in on itself and lay on her chest with its head on top of its coils. It wasn’t going anywhere. It might stay on her for the rest of the day, for all she knew.

Evelyn couldn’t take it. She just couldn’t. She knew that if she screamed or she moved it would make the snake mad, but her need to get it off overwhelmed her reason. Torn from her innermost being, ripped from her against her will, a keening shriek burst from her lips. Simultaneously, she swatted at the snake with all her might and sent it tumbling onto the ground. For a span of heartbeats she felt sheer elation. It was off her! She was safe!

A hiss shattered the illusion.

Evelyn twisted her head.

The rattler had coiled and its tail was buzzing like a hundred angry hornets. Its baleful eyes fixed on her and it poised to strike.

Zach King stood at the rear corner of his cabin, his Bowie in his left hand, his tomahawk in his right. Before him were puddles and pools teeming with snakes. Many of the reptiles were making for the trees. If he waited a while, the shore would be clear, but he couldn’t shake a persistent feeling that his sister was in trouble. He must get to her quickly.

Taking a deep breath, Zach bounded forward. He vaulted a viper, skirted another. A thick one reared in his path and he separated its head from its body. To the right was a clear space. A few steps, and he jumped over