Dread Nation

When I reach the end of the boardwalk, I keep walking past the saloon and back toward the rail yard where we entered town. For a moment I think that maybe I could just keep walking, out toward the mystery of the wall, past that to the open prairie, continue moving until I`ve left this whole mess behind. Running away has never been my style, but it doesn`t seem so bad, now.
The road past the rail yard is lined with poles, and beyond it are houses, which I can get a better look at now. Beautiful houses, whitewashed and large, the kind of house where you could raise a nice family. Screams filter up the road from the houses, and I tense until I see a pack of kids come running around the side of one of them, playing some game of chase and laughing in between their proclamation of mock terror.
The sight stops me in my tracks. When was the last time I saw kids running and playing, not a care in the world? Even back on Rose Hill we tended to be cautious in our play, the memory of Zeke casting a long shadow for years to follow.
If kids can run and play and scream in delight, then maybe Summerland ain`t all bad.
I turn back the way I came and head to the saloon.

...as we continue walking, Katherine leans in close to my ear. "I do believe that is a house of ill repute."
I nod solemnly. "Yes, Kate, I do believe you are correct."
Katherine sniffs. "I cannot believe she thought we`re meant to work there."
I stare at Katherine, trying to figure out if she`s serious or having a go at me. Her expression is that of someone who has suffered a grievous insult, and I have to fight to swallow a hysterical laugh.
Her mouth drops open. "Jane, tell me you aren`t insulted."
I lean in close so that the men don`t hear me. "Insulted? Kate, we have been put in chains and sent halfway across the continent. We are currently at the mercy of a man who believes that Negroes are put here on this earth to fight shamblers at the white man`s behest, and is going to send us out to do it without guns. Jackson sits in a jail cell awaiting some unknown fate. This town is a dirt spot in the middle of nowhere. There are no trees and the land is disconcertingly flat. My virtue is honestly the last thing I`m worried about. I`m hugnry, tired, a little afraid, and a whole bunch angry, but a few hurt feelings are the furthest thing from my find right now."

The man behind me shoves me with the riffle barrel again, this time causing me to stumble. I catch myself against the front of the general store as he chuckles.
"What are you gonna do? Nothing, that`s what, you uppity darkie. You ain`t in no position to be giving me any lip.
I smile sweetly at him as a black temper sweeps over me, all of the indignities of the past few days coalescing into a dark cloud that erases all thought. Then I center myself and, quick as you please, drop into a crouch and whip aroudn to sweep his legs out from under him. Once he`s on the ground I kick him in the side before placing my knee on his throat. All of this happens in less than a rabbit`s heartbeat.
As he gurgles and flails I lean in close. "Right now, sir, with my knee on your throat, I am in the perfect position to counsel you on your bad manners. A lesson to be learned: Lady Fortune is as fickle as they come. And in a land full of shamblers you`d beest not test my good nature, you hear me? You never know when you`ll end up with the bite."
The sound of a revolver cocking is deafening next to my ear. "Miss, would you please get off of Bill? I`m afraid he`s the sheriff`s cousin, and the sheriff would be quite upset if anything happened to him."
I glance back to see the pale boy above us, the lovely Colt in his hand pointed straight at my head. I give him my sweetest smile and climb to my feet. "Of course." I even bob a little curtsy.

"Jane, you have to calm down. It`s going to get hot in here, and they didn`t leave us with any water. Jane." Katherine`s voice is tremulous, and I realize that I ain`t the only one being sent off into the unknown. Red Jack and Katherine are here with me, and I owe it to them to try to retain some of my sanity.
"I`m going to kill her," I say, my voice low. I use the fine material of my skirt to scrub my face of the snot and tears, the chains around my wrists digging into the soft skin. I take a deep, shuddering breath. "I`m going to kill her, and Miss Preston adn the mayor. All of them. I`m going to gut them like fish and use them as shambler bait, then I`m going to burn both the school and the mayor`s house to the ground and dance upon the ashes."
"That`s good, Jane, that`s good. It`s good to have goals," Katherine says, her voice trembling. She hiccups and begins to cry. I should offer her some soothing words, but I am a knot of rage and violence, and I ain`t got anything like her platitudes.
Outside, the train whistle blows, and I settle in for the long haul, planning my bloody revenge. On one side of me, Katherine cries quiet tears and on the other Jackson says nothing, the sound of his heavy breaths the only indication that he is even there.