Reluctant Berserker: Isaacson Trilogy Book One

Chapter 9

Gunnar stood and began sorting through the wreckage, hoping to find his hat. Grumbling under his breath, he lifted a bag and a broken piece of a bench, then smiled.

He quickly flung aside the debris to reveal his Stetson, spattered in blood and sporting a new indentation in the crown where it lay in a shaft of light, waiting for him to repossess it.

With a relieved sigh, he stooped and retrieved it, set it firmly atop his head, then left the car to help Esmund with the bodies. Among the dead, they found the ticket master as well as three other railroad employees.

After going through all the items found on the bodies of the Berserkers, they had many unanswered questions. Two other Berserkers had a similar wolf and bear medallion. None had train tickets, and two had ripped portions of a blood-stained telegram.

One of the Berserkers had five peppermint candies and a single grizzly bear claw with a leather thong wrapped around the base. The last one they checked had something they hadn't expected—a US Marshals badge, but other than the medallions, mushrooms, and berries found on three of them, there was no clue as to what had driven them to such a violent attack.

Truth be told, Gunnar was hesitant to get more involved than he was. He was done. Retired. Ready to move on and start a normal life. He didn't want to get dragged into something that was no longer his job.

The rest of his life awaited him in Buffalo Gulch, where finding a wife and starting a family was supposed to be his only worry now. Sitting cross-legged, he rested against a pile of debris, waiting for the train to pull into the station so he could wash his hands of this mess.

Nearly thirty minutes after sorting through the bodies, Ulric emerged from the parlor car and closed the door behind him. Leaning against the panel, he took a deep breath and met Gunnar's gaze. "I think I've got everyone calmed down enough that they'll remain inside until we reach the station."

Gunnar looked at Nora where she sat curled into the corner, her forehead resting on her bent knees, arms hugging them to her chest. Not a sound had left her mouth since they found the body, and she hadn't made eye contact with anyone in the car.

Instead, after kneeling by her uncle until just five minutes ago, she had retreated to the corner, but he couldn't blame her.

His eyes traveled to the crones once again. If they weren't women, he would have punched them for the things they had said.

Ulric sat down beside him and leaned against the wall with a sigh. "What'd I miss?"

"Three of the Berserker's had the mushroom berry mix and a medallion—a wolf engraved on the front and a bear on the back. The fourth had a Marshal's badge."

Ulric's brow furrowed, "A marshal...anyone we knew?"

Gunnar shrugged, "Hard to say. One of you did a bit of facial rearranging, so it's difficult to know what he looked like before."

He saw Ulric motion with his chin to Nora and ask, "How is she?"

"I don't know; she hasn't spoken a word for almost an hour now."

Ulric grunted and stretched out on the floor, crossing his arms beneath his head, "May as well try to get some rest before we reach the station. Who knows how long they'll hold us up there answering questions and delivering statements about what happened."

Gunnar nodded but kept a watchful eye on Nora. Something about her spoke to him, regardless of the fact he barely knew her. Grief was an emotion he had little experience with.

Both of his parents were alive and well, and death itself was always something he caused rather than experienced on a personal level, but it couldn't be good for her to be huddled up in the corner, all alone, less than two feet away from her dead uncle.