Twenty Bodies

Chapter Four: The Gift.

"NOOOOO, YOU BASTARDS" Ace whaled.
Even though Ace had only met the old man this afternoon, he had been the only person who didn't want to hurt him or kill him. Ace stumbled across the room to Willy, only to see his body at the bottom of the stairs limp and lifeless. Ace touched Willy's shoulder and softly told him how sorry he was.

All of a sudden Willy's head began to heal itself, rebuilding the once proud hole of the winchester. It shrunk to a nickel, to a penny, then to nothing. The hole was gone, as if God had sewn it back together himself.
"You gotta be shitting me" Flo said, as her mouth flew open and watched the old man's head reanimate itself back to life.
"How'd you do that- how'd you do that?" Flo exclaimed whilst grabbing a chair and sitting, not breaking eyes with the corpse of Willy.
Suddenly Willy's eyes opened. The blue of them never before being so crystallised and full of life. He took a huge intake of air.
"You shot me, you bastard" Willy muttered whilst looking at Ernest.
Ernest said nothing but his eyes were open as wide as ever.
"HOLY SHIT" Ace said as he stared at his own hands "I brought you back, Willy!"
"Who the hell is you boy!" Flo spoke, a little afraid of the man now.
"I told you I fell from the sky. I don't know who I am!"
"He did. He fell"
An idea fell into Flo's mind and she pointed a gun at Ace and yelled.
"Lift your shirt. Show us ya belly!"
All three men looked bewildered at her.
"What, why?" Ace questioned, turning to face her.
She cocked her gun.
"SHUT UP AND DO IT!"
He did as she asked. The once white shirt he found in the death-box was now plastered with black and red blood from his injuries. Ace lifted his shirt and looked down. He saw a faded red horse shoe shaped scar on his stomach, which he hadn't noticed from the dirt covering this morning. He also spotted that his stomach had slimmed down from this morning. His ribs beginning to protrude through his skin more dominantly.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy" Flo said repeatedly as she bit hard into her nails with anxiousness.
"What the hell is it?" Ernest questioned as he stared at the man's bare chest.
"The horseshoe... that's Jack! No one knew about it but that's... that's JACK!"
"But you said-"
"I KNOW WHAT I SAID! Our daddy gave that to him for stealing something... I CAN'T REMEMBER! But Jack would hide it because he hated it with all the anger in his heart. Only one thing he hated more than it... our daddy!"
Ace looked at Flo "you're my sister?"
"Yeah! I mean- I was or is. Listen! You're- you died!"
"Tell me what happened, now! I need to know" Ace said, staring back at her.
"Okay... okay. We was robbing some folk, about three miles out from this shitpit, when a law man rode up and tried to stop us. Well, he winged me on my shoulder so you put him down. Or so you thought at least. The fella in his dying breath shot you clear through the chest and you fell in front of me dying. I wanted to take you with me but I heard other lawmen comin' so I took your horse, rode off and left you"
"So I died... but why am I back?"
"How the hell should I know!" She barked back.
"He's an angel" Willy said and they all looked at him trying to think of something to say.
The first one to break the silence was Ernest.
"If you say Jack died, he died. This fella ain't Jack, he wouldn't be hanging with this old kook. I must have missed, let me finish the job!"
He aimed his Winchester once again at Willy's head. Ace struggled to stand up but with great enough of an effort he managed.
"You leave him alone" Ace said, his hand stinging a little more than his face.
"NO!" Flo shouted at Ernest, insisting that it was him. "How'd you bring him back, Ace?"
"I don't know!"
"Do it again... Do it again. Yeah, do it again!" Flo demanded.
"I don't know ho-"
"Ernest" said Flo, butting in "go get that boy you put down and bring him in here!"
"Wh-"
"JUST DO IT!"
Ernest did as Flo ordered and headed outside, walked over to the young deputy's body and dragged him by the back of the collar toward the saloon. A trail of blood followed. He dropped the young deputy in front of Ace.
"Now, do what you did!" Ernest shouted, wiping sweat from his head.
Ace looked down at the poor young man, whose skull was split in two by the venomous wrath of the winchester. His face was a mix of dulling pale and romantic blood.
"I don't know how-"
"WELL TRY" Flo barked, pointing at the corpse.
"Okay... okay"

Ace placed his hand against the deputy's chest and whinin a few seconds the skull of the young man began to crunch and crack back into place. Bits of skull and blood floating back into the head of the dead man, his skin turning from an icing grey into pink flesh. Then his hair grew back where the bullet had previously singed it to a crisp, replacing it with brown mousy hair.
"My god, you is an angel" Willy said, smiling.
Both Flo and Ernest watched in disbelief.
The young deputy eyes sprung open and the brown in them a golden fire, erupting with light. He shot up, his body almost dripping in sweat.

"My god my god my god, shit, shit, shit!" The deputy exclaimed.
"You're okay, son," Ace said calmly, looking down at him.
He recoiled from Ace.
"You're One-Eyed Jack! Am I in hell? Oh Christ, I'm in hell, I'M IN HELL!" The young man dropped to his knees and engaged in prayer.
"Please Lord, forgive me. Open up the gates for me Lord. Please forgi-"
"Calm down, kid. You-" said Ace. But the deputy carried on muttering different prayers.
"SHUT THE HELL UP SHIT FOR BRAINS" shouted Flo "you ain't dead, you just came back from being dead"
"I don't miss" Ernest said under his breath.
"How did you even-" the deputy spoke but they all looked at Ace to see his brown hair starting to grey and his eyelids begin to hollow. His skin changed pigment to that of ash, his cheekbones dipped from weight loss and his stomach retreated into itself.
"You okay, Ace?" Willy said with a panic falling into his words.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just need to sit down-" he slumped back and fell to the floor.
"It's killing him'' Flo said "when he does it, it kills him"

"How'd you know me, kid?'' he asked whilst looking at the deputy, followed by a spectacular fit of coughs.
"You killed the Sheriff. He was my... my father" The boy said, hanging his head, still drenched in a see-through coat of sweat.
"Where he buried?"
"What-?"
"Where's he buried-"
"Why?"
"Tell me son. I need to know"
The deputy looked at Ace and noticed that the man he had first seen when he earlier fled the saloon wasn't this man, or One-Eyed Jack, at all. He instead was starting to look like a hauled creature.
"The cemetery that crazy old fella owns just outside town!"
Ace looked at Willy, a little smile creeping on his face.
"Yeah, I think I knows the place" Willy said, rolling his eyes and getting up.
Earnest lifted his gun in anger and was out of the trance the 'angel' had put him in just moments before.
"NOW WHERE THE F-"
Flo lifted a silencing gesture to Earnest and said "I'm going with them"
"No you ain't!" Willy scoffed, now stood.
"Yes, Willy, she is" Ace said, now weaker than ever as he leant on the bar. Ace wasn't sure if he was weaker from the blood loss he had succumbed to or the resurrecting of the deceased but either way the feeling wasn't a spectacular one.
"You're too weak to go anywhere, mister" the deputy spoke.
"The kid is right" Willy said, helping Ace to his feet.
"Earnest and I will be here in the morning waiting for you. We are going with yall!" demanded Flo.
"We are?!"
"Yes, Earnest. Now c'mon, let's get out of here. I've had enough of spooky shit. I need a drink and some sleep."
They both left.
"Cmon Ace lets get you a room" Willy said, rubbing his head. But before Willy could turn around, Ace was on the floor unconscious.