Lilly was sitting at her table when she thought she heard shots and screams coming from a distance. She leapt to her feet and opened the window that gave her a view outside of the fort. More shooting and screams pierced the air.
Chillingsworth and Reynolds appeared at the edge of the forest, running full speed toward the prison. She thought she saw blood on one of Chillingsworth’s legs.
“Oh my goodness!” She slammed the window shut. Grabbed her pistol. Made sure she had bullets. She ran from the cabin. She met Dr. Jacobson, who was just about to the stockade entrance. He held his rifle as he ran.
“What’s happening!” she yelled at him.
“Don’t know!”
They burst out of the prison and toward Chillingsworth and Dr. Reynolds.
When they reached the men, Chillingsworth’s limp was pronounced, blood running down his leg. He stumbled and collapsed.
Dr. Reynolds turned to the forest, his rifle up. ‘Get him inside! Now!”
In the medical tent a short time later, Lilly was very aware of Dr. Reynolds standing at the tent opening looking out. Chillingsworth lay on a cot while Lilly finished bandaging the wound on his thigh.
“What happened out there, Chillingsworth?” she asked.
Chillingsworth looked at her, but he didn’t answer. Dr. Reynolds turned around and when she looked up he glared at her as if she didn’t have the right to know.
Chillingsworth took Lilly's hand. She looked down at their clasped fingers in surprise. Perhaps he needed comfort after his injury, and the pleading in his eyes confirmed it. Unless…unless that was genuine affection she saw.
“Union soldiers?” Dr. Jacobson asked.
Dr. Reynolds said, “Right. That’s what happened.”
Lilly could feel the tension drawing tight between the two doctors.
Lilly pulled her hand from Chillingsworth's. She stood, anger clear. “You would all be talking about this if I wasn't here, wouldn't you? Well you can stop trying to protect me against the truth. I heard the howls. The shots. I can see Chillingsworth's wound wasn't caused by a bullet. What is out there?”
The men remained quiet.
“I read about the dog-like creatures,” she said. ‘They're out there, aren't they? The dogmen!”
Shock crossed the men’s faces, then their expressions wiped clean as if trying to spare her. Disgusted, she stomped off and left the tent.
ISAAC
On a street in Andersonville, Isaac carried a medical supply box to his cart. A bloodied man in a torn Yankee uniform stumbled around a corner. Isaac started, wary of the man. The man staggered and leaned against a pillar.
“What you looking at boy?” the man’s accent was clearly Yankee.
Isaac was used to disrespect from white people, all accept for Dr. Jacobson and Miss Lilly. No one had every treated him so well as them. This man, though, appeared dazed and weary.
“You sir. Somethin’ wrong with you?” Isaac asked.
“Yeah. Almost been killed by beasts from hell. Must be Armageddon.”
“Beasts?”
The Yankee slumped against the pillar. “The devil maybe. Lots of devils. You see those dog-like men hereabouts before?”
Isaac frowned. Was the man addled, an escaped prisoner, or both?
“No, sir.”
The man straightened and walked toward Isaac. The boy automatically stepped back. The Yankee peered at him.
“I've seen you afore. You're friends with Miss Lilly. The nurse in the medic tent. I was in there once when you showed up.”
At her name, Isaac became both elated and frightened. “Yes. I know Miss Lilly.”
“She’s a fine woman. Kind,” the Yankee said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you best help her. There was a big fight with those beasts in the woods. We killed some of 'em and they killed some of us. Don't know how I got away. I reckon they'll be comin' after the prison.”
Alarm hit Isaac. Whether this man was insane or not, Isaac couldn’t abide the thought of anything happening to Miss Lilly.
“You got a gun, boy?” the Yankee asked.
“No, sir. Ain't no slaves allowed to have guns.”
The Yankee handed Isaac his pistol and ammunition. “Take these. You care about Miss Lilly, you best get there really quick and help her. And that Dr....Jacobson. Fine fellow. I could try and go back to help Miss Lilly and the Dr., but the Rebs will just throw me back in that hell hole. Those things get into the prison—”
Isaac didn’t wait for the man to finish. He jumped into his cart and started off, anxious to brave the night and save Miss Lilly and Dr. Jacobson.
At Andersonville prison, guards stood at the towers. Some were half asleep, others watched the mass of humanity inside the prison. One guard caught something out of the corner of his eye as he looked to the northwest. Dozens of shapes formed in the darkness just outside the tree line. The prison guard lifted his rifle, wary. He’d seen one too many insane things in his time here, but something about these shapes made fear spill hot into his gut.
“’Som bitch,” he said.
The guard gestured to the next guard down the line to look into the woods. Hundreds of shapes continued to form just outside of the tree line.
The first guard yelled to the second, “What is that?”
But he knew. He didn’t know why he’d bothered to ask. Because unless working at this prison had stewed his brain like his mother’s preserves, there wasn’t another explanation for the ungodly creatures. The second guard hadn’t answered him, and that’s when he looked all around and noted that the entire prison was surrounded on all sides by the hideous devil dogs.
“Load up! Something’s coming! From all sides!”
The second guard yelled, his voice quavering. “Yankees! Yankees are comin’! Surroundin’ us!”
The first guard screamed back, “Those ain’t no Yankees you dumb fool!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The guards fire, reigning destruction on the beasts. When one falls, there is always another and another. They were coming. Hundreds of beasts.
Hell was loose.
LILLY
Lilly bolted straight up in her bed as the thunderous retorts of dozens of weapons woke her. Breathing hard, fear on her tail, she lit a candle with a shaking hand. That night she’d slept fully dressed, anticipation that something awful might happen keeping her cautious. She bolted for the door and opened it. She stepped into the cold night.
Dozens of prison guards lit up the night with their weapons, shooting from the towers into the woods.
“Oh, God.”
She grabbed the pistol in her skirt pocket and checked her ammunition. She raced to the medical tent.
ISAAC
Isaac’s cart hit a rut in the road. The right front wheel stuck and halted the cart. The jolt almost threw Isaac off his seat. He jumped down and examined the wheel. The horse whinnied, undeniably skittish. Isaac could see the wheel wasn’t damaged. He took the reins and urged the horse to move forward. The cart bounced out of the rut.
A growl came from the woods. Isaac stopped, his heart suddenly racing. A growl came again, this time louder.
The horse bolted and crashed into Isaac. The horse raced down the road with the cart rattling behind.
Isaac fell, his head hitting the ground and sending him into deep darkness.
LILLY
Lilly rushed to meet Dr. Jacobson, Dr. Reynolds and Chillingsworth near the medic tent. Lilly’s heart pounded so loud she was breathless.
She stared up at the prison guards firing into the woods. “What’s happening?”
Chillingsworth turned toward her. “Lilly, get back to the cabin! Lock yourself in!”
“No, I won’t—”
A guard yelled, “Shit! There’s something out there!”
Screams came from outside and inside the prison. Lilly looked up at the prison guard tower nearest to here. Horror pinned her to the spot.
A dogman grabbed a screaming guard and bit into the man’s neck. Blood spurted.
Lilly pointed to the tower. “Oh, my God! Help him!”
Yelling from inside the prison increased. Prison guards abandoned their towers as they ran out of ammunition.
Chillingsworth grabbed Lilly’s arm and started to drag her back to the cabin. “I’m taking her to—”
Lilly jerked from his grip. “No! We have to keep the patients safe! I have to find Benjamin and Elijah!”
“No time!” Dr. Reynolds yelled.
Dr. Jacobson grabbed him by the collar and shook him. “You son-of-a-bitch! You knew these things were out there and you didn’t warn anyone! You son-of-a-bitch!”
Dr. Jacobson swung at Dr. Reynolds and they exchanged blows. Lilly and Chillingsworth charged toward them.
“Stop! Stop!” Lilly urged them.
Chillingsworth muscled the men apart. The feuding men eyeballed each other, breathing hard.
Lilly stomped toward the men, incensed and terrified. “We've got to keep watch over the patients! They're helpless!”
Dr. Reynolds sneered. “I'm not wasting my bullets on men who are going to perish anyway! Leave them to the dogmen!”
Lilly wanted to punch him in the face. “You disgust me!”
Dogmen leapt onto the stockade surrounding the main prison. They growled low in their throats. Lilly sensed the evil inside them, something fierce, gruesome and unholy. The growls vibrated within her, filling her with a terror she’d never experienced before. Their eyes glowed red, jaws and teeth dripping saliva and blood.
Lilly turned to the men, determination building inside. “I’m keeping the prisoners safe. Where do you keep the ammunition and rifles?”
Chillingsworth raised his voice, his expression defiant. “We can’t--”
“We can, and we will! We have to do this.” She grabbed his arm.
To her surprise, Dr. Jacobson smiled. “What she said. I’ll stay with the patients. You get the weapons.”