The Scavenger trotted back to the front of the wagon where Coal still sat on the palomino.
“That’s it, everyone and everything that’s coming with us is loaded,” Kyle said.
“I didn’t see any water,” Coal commented.
“We didn’t have a chance, it’s still inside,” Kyle admitted.
Coal just nodded. “Your cache of water better be where you left it,” he said.
“It’ll be. It is,” Kyle replied trying to sound reassuring.
“Well, this is it then Kyle, the make or break moment of this little partnership. I’m driving this thing, so I need to know where we’re headed. Where in the hell did you stash the water?” Coal asked looking down at Kyle.
Kyle swallowed and took a breath. “A little gas station just off of the interstate, about 10 miles north of here,” Kyle said.
“You mean that burned out place? With the big caddy still in the garage?” Coal asked skeptically.
“That’s the one,” Kyle said with a nod.
“I’ve been through that place a time or two myself, it’s kind of a well-known landmark out there. Where the hell did you manage to hide 50 gallons of water?” Coal asked.
“Trust me, it’s there,” Kyle said and climbed up on to the wagon’s seat.
“Okay if you say so boss,” Coal replied. “West it is then.”
“What?” Kyle asked, but was immediately drowned out by Coal’s shouting.
“Wagon Ho!!!!” and the wagon lurched forward as he kicked the horses into motion.
Murphy stood outside of the burning museum. The massive structure that was filled with years of drying wood and gallons of oil and grease. The fire belched thick black smoke high into the sky. Around him, nearly fifty of his men shuffled about uneasily. Murphy had stood in silence for several minutes now, watching the structure ever since he had been told of Vincent’s death.
Murphy considered what he was feeling for just a moment. Was it remorse? The loss at the death of a close friend? Murphy couldn’t really say, he had spent almost a decade training Victor to be a suitable number two, now that time was all wasted. The councilman looked around and quickly realized one reason he had grown so accustomed to the big man. He hated having to speak directly with his own peons. It was utterly beneath him.
Murphy raised his head and turned to the crowd. “Where is Rory? Where are my fucking Rangers?” he shouted.
The group went quiet. Dozens of sets of eyes suddenly found a lot of different directions to look. Murphy couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. He took a breath and pulled the .45 from his shoulder holster. He raised the gun and pointed it a man at random.
“Where is my fucking cavalry?” Murphy asked calmly.
The crowd parted giving the unlucky man space, just thankful Murphy hadn’t singled them out. The bewildered man pointed at himself in confusion.
“Yes, you. Where are my Rangers?” the kingpin demanded. “You know they ride around on horses and like to swing swords?” he added.
“I…I don’t know boss. We haven’t seen them at all,” the man stammered.
“Well, where did you see them last?” the Councilman demanded.
“I…I didn’t, I don’t know,” the man replied in terror.
A voice spoke up from the Councilman’s left. “I did, I seen them, Mr. Murphy.”
Murphy shot the terrified man once in the chest, the dead man dropped like a stone, but Murphy was already turning trying to find the speaker. At almost the far end of the group a man had raised his hand in the air, the rest of the men quickly backed away from him.
“Where?” Murphy asked.
“Riding out of town this morning,” the new man said simply.
“Which direction?” Murphy asked impatiently.
“South, I believe Sir,” he replied.
“What? And that was the last time anyone saw them?” Murphy demanded.
“As best as I can tell Sir,” the man said.
Murphy shook his head, it seemed Rory was still out waiting in the desert South of town. Watching for Coal to escape on horseback that way, just as he had been instructed. Didn’t the idiot realize what was happening? Couldn’t he see the fucking smoke?
“You, what’s your name?” Murphy demanded of the man.
“Allan,” the man replied.
“Allan, pick out a half a dozen men, send them as runners south, have them spread out and find Rory and send him back here to me immediately,” the councilman commanded holstering his pistol.
“Yes, boss. Uh, boss?” Allan asked hesitantly.
Murphy drew the pistol back out of the holster, he took a long deep breath. “What?”
“I was with Vincent when he was killed. Just before we spotted that Indian and the old guy, we found Brooklyn and that other guy’s bodies,” Allan began.
“And?” Murphy cut in.
“And well, these were all over the ground, all around them,” Allan said, holding up a hand full of white pills.
Coal pushed the wagon across town, sticking to a series of alleys, avoiding as many major intersections and streets as possible. No one spoke, all eyes peered out from under the canvas cover, watching for signs of pursuit, watching for the Rangers. The sound of steel banded wheels on concrete and the thundering hooves announced the wagon’s arrival long before it came into view. Anyone that was on the street quickly ducked into buildings, old cars, anything that would offer them cover. But as the wagon approached, and people could see that it wasn’t Murphy’s men their curiosity grew. They stepped from the shadows to get a better look, for a time a pair of children ran next to the wagon. An old man waved as they passed.
“A lot of eyes on us,” Kyle called up to Coal.
“That’s the plan,” the half-breed replied.
“We have a plan?” Kyle asked, but Coal just grinned.
The wagon neared the edge of town, a short bridge over a dry stream bed. Coal slowed the wagon and then expertly maneuvered the horses around a few burned out cars. They crossed the bridge, following the highway due West and Coal kicked the horses into a run. In the back of the wagon, the ride got noticeably rougher, segments of clean pavement were now crossed by areas of windblown sand. Coal started to turn and look over his shoulder at their back trail. Kyle couldn’t help it and found himself doing the same. The constant swaying of the wagon and canvas made looking backward almost impossible for him.
“Miles, do you see anything behind us?” he called back into the wagon.
“Not a thing, just a whole hell of a lot of dust we managed to kick up. Can’t even see town anymore,” Miles yelled back.
As the wagon approached another short bridge, Coal pulled back on the reins, and the wagon came to a bone-jarring halt. The Indian jumped from the back of the Palomino and quickly started shouting.
“Okay, everybody out. Get out now, Kyle get down here and hold these horses,” the half-breed shouted.
Kyle was confused but obeyed, he jumped down and took the reins of the hard breathing animals. Coal walked to his left and stared back down the road.
“That should do,” he said to himself and ran towards the back of the wagon where the small group was unloading.
“What’s going on?” Anna demanded.
“We’re going off-road and need to lighten the wagon. That means everybody out, sorry Miles,” Coal called helping the old man down.
“I, I can’t walk, I don’t even have my crutch,” Miles said confused.
“You won’t need to, we’re not going far,” Coal replied and deposited the man down on the side of the road.
Within a few moments, everyone and what few bags they had were unloaded. “Now,” Coal shouted, “You all need to go find, sticks, brushes, anything you can, you’re going to be sweeping away sand so the bushier, the better.”
The group exchanged confused glances, with Anna, in particular, watching Coal very closely, but no one moved. “Come on people we have to do this quickly,” Coal
urged.
“Coal, what are you doing?” Kyle Shouted still holding the reins.
“The whole town just saw us riding like hell for the West. It’s real easy, we pull the wagon real carefully down into that dried up creek bed before all the dust settles. We follow it nice and easy while it meanders kinda north of here. But the sand is real soft here, so we’ll leave real noticeable tracks. So you all need to brush the wagon tracks away as we go, at least until we’re out of sight of the road. Okay? Did I explain that simply enough? So can we get fucking moving already?” Coal was shouting by the end, his eyes on the slowly dissipating dust cloud behind them.
All eyes were on Coal, but Anna turned to look up at Kyle. “Let’s do it and fast,” Kyle said. And the small group sprung into motion.
A few moments later Coal had remounted the palomino and was slowly guiding the wagon down the sandy slope. Kyle didn’t know much about this kind of thing, but he didn’t like the look of it. The sand was soft and clean, it was a natural slide area, and the slope itself had to be close to 30 degrees. Behind the wagon, the rest of the group swept furiously at the sand trying to destroy all evidence of the wagon’s passing. Kyle walked next to the gray mare as Coal had instructed, holding her reins and trying to keep her calm as the team crept slowly down the slope.
The sand began to slide beneath them before Kyle realized it was happening. “Look out!” Coal shouted as he climbed onto the Palomino’s back and kicked the horses forward.
Kyle leaped to the side, though trying to jump in knee-deep sand proved almost impossible. He instead fell onto his face and choking on a mouthful of sand rolled to his right. A wagon wheel cut deeply through the sand where he had lay just a moment before. Coal urged the horses on as they fought to stay upright in the slide. The wagon was pulled along behind, swerving badly and threatening to tip at any moment. As Coal and the wagon reached the bottom, he pulled them hard to the right facing down the streambed, and the wagon bounced violently several times before coming to a stop.
Coal dismounted. “Kyle, you Okay?” he shouted.
“Yeah, I guess,” the Scavenger replied spitting out sand.
“Riders, riders on the road!” Dante shouted from above them. Both men looked up, and Dante was pointing frantically back towards town. Pauli, Anna, and Juan stood above them just above the start of the sand slide with sticks still in their hands.
“Grab Miles and slide down here on your asses, all of you fucking slide down, don’t walk don’t leave any tracks,” Kyle shouted.
Coal spun and ran back to the wagon. “I’m moving the wagon,” he yelled and leaped on the Palomino’s back and urged the horses forward.
Anna and Pauli looked at each other skeptically and then dropped down to their butts, with little prompting the loose sand began to slide, and the pair easily slid down the slope. They stopped just at Kyle’s feet, followed by Juan a moment later and he helped them up and sent them running after the wagon. Carrying Mile across his chest like a new bride Dante dropped down and tried to follow. The weight of the combined men made them sink deeply into the sand.
“Put me down, I can fucking slide myself,” Miles shouted fighting clear of Dante’s grasp, and sure enough the two began to slide easily.
Kyle stood at the bottom watching and waiting feverishly as the sound of pounding hooves on asphalt was getting noticeably louder. Kyle glanced over his shoulder, the wagon and the rest of the group had rounded the bend and were out of sight, but it would be a lot of ground to cover especially carrying Miles he quickly realized.
Dante reached the bottom of the slide first, followed a second later by the old man. Dante under hooked one of Miles’s arms and Kyle did the same on the other side. The men struggled forward, by now the sound of hooves was almost overpowering.
“To the left!” Kyle shouted, and the men scrambled under the bridge trusses just as Rory leading fourteen Rangers charged across it at a full run. Dust and more than a few chunks of aging pavement showered down over the three huddled men. But just as quickly as it had come the sound of the running horses dissipated. The three men looked at each other, they were all covered in a thick layer of dust and shared a grin. At least for a moment, it seemed the Indian’s plan had worked.
Dante and Kyle carried Miles between them up the streambed, carefully avoiding the sand and trying to stick to the rocky bed. Just around the bend, they found the wagon and the rest of the party waiting for them anxiously. Anna ran to them, first to check over Miles and then to throw her arms around Kyle. She walked back to the wagon the rest of the way with them still holding his hand. They had just laid Miles carefully back into the wagon bed when Coal spoke.
“So here is the plan people. The creek bed will keep us below the line of sight, but we have to keep the dust we kick up down. That means from here on out we need to take this slow. With some luck that idiot Rory will be halfway to Phoenix and up to his ears in cannibals before he’s realized we’ve even left the road,” Coal explained.
“Cannibals?” Anna asked looking from Coal to Kyle.
“Never mind that now. The point is we have to get moving, we’ve got to cover as much ground as possible before dark, and we have a very winding road ahead of us,” Coal concluded.
Anna, Pauli and the rest began to head for the back of the wagon when Coal spoke again. “And one more thing, nobody rides. This damn thing is heavy enough, and the country is only going to get rougher, we save the horses in case we have to run. Everybody walks except Miles,” Coal added.
“And Juan,” Miles added.
“And of course, dear precious Juan, how could I forget?” Coal amended.
The next several hours seemed some of the most nerve-racking of Kyle’s life. The terrifying excitement of the trip’s first hour was replaced entirely now by a slow, plodding pace and the constant feeling of unease. The dried-out streambed shifted direction constantly. Their impromptu roadway was a mix of deep sand and loose gravel. Several times the stream bed forked, forcing Coal to stop the wagon and scout both paths ahead. A few times their path was blocked by piles of logs and debris deposited by flash floods from decades ago. These were the times that Kyle felt the most vulnerable, knowing they were wasting what little lead they held over their pursuers. When darkness finally came, Kyle wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse.
Coal pulled the horses to a halt and dismounted. Turning back to look over the little group he called out. “This’ll be it for the night, everybody gather up for a minute.”
The small party gathered around the half-breed, even Miles climbed down from the wagon to join them, expressing his need to stretch his legs and water the earth.
“So far so good, we are only stopping for a few hours. I plan to be moving again by the time the sky starts to lighten. Between now and then you all keep quiet if you need to talk you whisper. I’m going to be on lookout for the first two hours, then Kyle and then Dante.”
“Why are the men the only ones that are pulling guard duty?” Pauli asked.
“It’s not that we’re men, it’s that we have the guns and know how to use them,” Kyle interjected.
“OOOhhh yeah. That’s much better than my answer, go with that,” Coal replied, and Pauli looked at him crossly, but Coal just continued.
“Did we manage to bring along any food or water at all?” Coal asked the group.
Dante reached into his jacket pocket and produced a plastic bag full of dried rat meat. “This was supposed to be for that last going away meal that Kyle wanted to have, but of course that didn’t happen,” Dante said and began handing around single strips of meat to the group. By the time he was done half of the bag was gone.
As Kyle chewed his rat meat, he went back to the wagon and retrieved his canteen from his pack. Coming back to the group he opened it and handed it to Anna. Coal’s arm snaked out and grabbed it.
“Not so fast, we got priorities,” Coal said.
“Yeah like not dying of thirst,” Kyle replied refusing to let g
o of his canteen.
“It takes days to die of thirst, those Rangers will butcher you inside of a minute. You want to keep that from happening, you give that water to the horses,” Coal said simply.
“A mouthful is not going to make a difference,” Kyle said.
“Maybe not, but I’m not going to risk finding out,” Coal said an edge to his words now.
Anna reached up and put a hand on Kyle’s arm, both men turned to look at her. “Maybe there is a compromise?” she asked.
A minute later Anna pulled a plastic specimen jar from her bag. Inside it held an odd assortment of needles, safety pins, and razor blades, she dumped these onto the tailgate and carried the jar over to the group. “How about this? A small enough amount and everyone gets an equal measured share,” she said.
Coal and Kyle exchanged looks, and Coal nodded, releasing the canteen.
Anna poured the precious water into the small plastic jar and handed it out in turn. First Coal, then Kyle, Dante and then Pauli. When Miles was passed the jar, he simply turned and handed it to Juan. Juan took the jar tentatively and then looked up at Miles.
“I’m riding in the shade all day; I want you to have my portion Juan. Now drink it,” he said.
Juan smiled at the old man and then drank down the water, returning it to Anna she refilled it and handed it right back.
“And this is your portion Juan,” Anna said.
Juan looked down at the water and then tried to hand it to Miles. Miles couldn’t help but smile down with pride at the boy.
“Oh ain’t that cute, it thinks it’s a people,” Coal commented, and Miles shot him a stern look.
“Drink it, Juan,” Anna told him, and after another glance at Miles, he drained the jar. Anna then filled the jar for herself and drank her portion, she then handed the canteen to Coal, it was still almost ¾ full.
“Thank you, ma’am, now is if the festivities are over for the night, I suggest you all rack out. Kyle, I got a job for you,” Coal said.
The group broke up, most of them returning to the back of the wagon to find what sleep they could, Kyle followed Coal around to its front and helped him unhitch the horses. The pair led them to a nearby bush and tied them off. Coal then removed the collars all the while whispering and praising each horse quietly.
To Cross a Wasteland Page 34