Seven Out of Hell Read Online Free Page A

engineer ignored them, staring in stunned silence at the jagged and crumpled metal of the wreckage - like a man paying his last respects to dead colleagues.
    A glance was enough to convince Hedges that no one had survived the wreck, but Forrest circled the Camelback with a fixed grin of evil on his face and the sledge hammer swinging easily in one hand. But as he stared down at each broken body and found no movement the light of hate in his pig-like eyes became dulled by frustration. The stink and the humiliation of Andersonville was still clinging to him and the need for revenge was a broiling fury inside him.
    As he stared down into the blackened face of the final victim and caught the sickly sweet odor of burned flesh, the rage exploded. His ear-splitting bellow drew all eyes in his direction. Then he grasped the sledge hammer in both hands, raised it high and pounded it downwards.
    The hammer head thudded home in the area of the man’s nose and sank deep into the flesh of his face. Blood and bone fragments splashed upwards.
    “We only have to kill them once, Sarge,” Douglas yelled.
    Forrest drew in a deep breath and let it out as a long sigh. Then he shot an expectant glance towards Hedges.
    “Andersonville’s still there, Forrest,” the Captain said softly.
    Forrest nodded and hurled the hammer at the overturned Camelback. “But I ain’t in it no more, Captain.”
    “And it ain’t in you, either?”
    “Right.”
    The men finished gathering up enough serviceable weapons to arm each with a rifle and a revolver - Spencers and Colts - and a supply of ammunition.
    The engineer watched the men, terror at his own fate replacing the horror of the carnage.
    “Ain’t a decent uniform among ’em, sir,” Scott reported after circling the wreck. “All either ripped to shreds or soaked in blood.”
    Hedges acknowledged this with a shake of his head and slitted his eyes to look up at the sun. He pointed towards the brow of the hillock. “Due north’s that way,” he declared flatly. “Which is the way we’ll go. Casey, you’ll lead us -» and tell me what’s up ahead every time I ask you.”
    The engineer bobbed his head and wiped sweat from his forehead. “Yes, sir, Mister Captain.”
    “First off we need a place not too far from here where we can rest up ’till dark.”
    “An’ get somethin’ to eat?” Bell suggested.
    “What you want, a goddamn hotel?” Forrest snarled at him.
    “Man’s gotta eat to live,” Bell said in a whining tone.
    “Breathing’s more important,” Hedges put in. “Let’s move out before the Rebs start to get anxious and we get more company.”
    The group circled the wrecked locomotives, now silent and mournful with their attendant scattering of broken and twisted bodies. They moved into the trees and started up the slope in ranks of two, led by Hedges and the engineer.
    “What a way to ruin a railroad,” Rhett murmured as he took a final look back at the scene of the smash. “Just as I was starting to feel like a real railroad man.”
    “You ain’t lost the chance, Bob,” Scott replied with an obscene leer. “Maybe the Captain will let you have Casey Jones when he’s through with him.”
    “You know I didn’t mean…,” Rhett began to respond.
    “Cut out the yakking,” Hedges hissed.
    Scott winked at the fag and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Guess wartime ain’t a gaytime.”
    *****
    A RED glow showed behind the windows of the big house as the engineer spotted the horse carcass blocking the track and clamped on the brakes. Edge, Alvin and Beth watched the sparks flying from the locked wheels, then glanced across the plaza as the drunken old-timer came down off the stoop and made ungainly haste towards the bank.
    A pane of glass cracked and a tongue of flame licked hungrily at the air outside.
    “He’s burning the town!” Alvin exclaimed, switching his startled gaze to the opaque glass window of the bank as it took on an orange hue.
    “He must be