Undead at Sundown Read Free

Then, with the exception of Zata and the big, broad Apache, the villagers joined the rest of their people, their wives and children, but still, all eyes were on the white men.
          ‘Come,’ Zata called to Joel and waved a hand in a ‘follow me’ gesture. The three men followed the interpreter and the big Apache through an array of tents, until they came to the largest of all tipi’s.
          ‘Wait here!’ Zata said and went inside, the young strapping Apache followed.
          ‘All this starin' is making me fuckin' nervous Joel, ’ said Bud, the older of the two brothers.
         Joel spat onto the floor before replying. ‘We would be the same if three of these feather wearing fucks came into Huntersville. Just ignore it or take it as a compliment. The way I see it, the men are looking at me because I make them nervous and the women are looking because they never had a white man before and they wanna piece.’
         ‘I tell you somethin' said Bart, the younger of the brothers, ‘Some of these Apache whore’s ain’t half bad. I wouldn't mind giving them a bit of my c…’ 
          Bart was interrupted by Zata coming out from inside the tent. He held the curtain back in order to allow the men access, ‘Chief Eskadi will see you now.’
         ‘Honoured,’ replied Joel and led his two men through the gap into the Chief’s home.
         Inside, Chief Eskadi was sitting on a large chair towards the back of the tent. Joel flicked his eyes from side to side examining the material walls but saw no sign of any scalps. There were paintings of bears and wolves in red and black but the hair and skin of the white man was nowhere to be seen. The chief was smoking a pipe and stared at Joel and his men as they entered. His long hair reached down to his thighs and was almost pure white in colour, his hard face was creased with the lines of age and hard sun.
          ‘No good for you y’know, ’ said Joel nodding towards the chief. The chief didn't answer, he simply took another drag of the pipe and continued to watch the men.
          ‘Chief Eskadi uses the smoke to open his mind to all elements. It brings inner peace to him and in turn to his people,’ said Zata.
         Peace from a pipe, my ass! Joel thought, this son of a bitch had scalped more white men than a blind barber. ‘Sounds like a good idea,’ Joel replied with an unnatural smile on his face.
    Zata explained to the chief why the men were there. He spoke in the Apache tongue and the three white men had no idea what the irritating interpreter was saying but Joel thought he had a good idea. The chief regarded the three men for a moment before speaking. When he had finished the interpreter turned towards Joel. 
          ‘Chief Eskadi says that you should not have come here again. He says that this is our land and everything in it is therefore ours. He says he knows you came here to lay blame on his people for theft at your camp. He says you have come to the right place if you want to know who has taken the horses, food and furs from you but this is not the right place if you are looking for thieves. This is the land of the Apache and everything in the land belongs to them, to us.’
          Joel listened to this, his mouth hung open a little, shocked by the open admission from Eskadi. Was the man really saying that? Or was the interpreter changing it in a bid to cause trouble. Joel supposed that the old mans face answered that for him. He had the look of a stubborn son of a bitch who was not willing to form any kind of peace between the two parties. He didn't fear Joel and Joel thought that just might prove to be a big mistake on the old mans part.
          ‘Can you tell tin-dog here, that in this age you can’t just go and take another man’s shit. Thieving is thieving, and taking the belongings of Blackwater employees will not be tolerated by my father. I am here to put a stop to it and stop it I shall.