Beyond the New Horizon

by Christine Conaway

  “It’s a reefer trailer. Whatever is in it is probably already spoiled. Now that one maybe.” He pointed at the trailer half off of the road.

  Near the bottom, Lucas had forced himself between the front seats trying to see. Sam put his finger to his lips, asking for silence.

  At their exit ramp, the tracks continued on down the road toward Mullan. Sam grinned, “First piece of good luck,” he whispered.

  “Second piece of luck right there,” Gina said and pointed to the area where the junk vehicles sat. At least one large tan goat, two smaller light brown goats and another black and white one with horns were eating the taller weeds sticking out of the snow alongside one of the wrecked trailers.

  “The whole family is here if I miss my guess,” Gina said under her breath. I wonder where the rest of them are. Ben said there was a dozen or so.”

  There was no smoke rising from the chimney and no footprints or wheel tracks said anyone had been there since the snow. At the bottom of the ramp, Sam made a sharp left and coasted to a stop under the overpass.

  “We need to be as fast, and as quiet as possible. Lucas grab the feed can for me please.”

  Gina took the can from Lucas before Sam could and headed toward the field. At the grass line, Gina knelt at tapped the can on the side of it, rattling the contents. It was a trick she had used to catch Bess, Journey’s mare many times. It had always surprised her when the mare fell for the trick every time. She could only hope the goats understood the significance of the can.

  Almost in slow motion, the tan goat turned, and Gina was happy to see it was a female. The nanny turned to face Gina and began to walk slowly toward her, chewing whatever she had in her mouth. Gina shook the can to encourage her. The grainy crumbles rattled and had the desired effect, the nanny began to trot to her, followed by the two younger ones.

  “Do you think those are her babies?” Lucas asked as he knelt down beside Gina.

  “We’ll know in just a few minutes. Pray they are.”

  As if afraid the others were going to get something before he did, the black goat began to run to them, bawling all the way. The younger goats became spooked by the billy goat and backed away, leaving no doubt who ran the herd.

  “What’s the plan before we run out of feed?”

  Lucas seemed excited by the prospect of catching a goat and lunged for the billy. “I got him,” he crowed as the billy turned, reared up challenging Lucas. He tried to come down and head butt Lucas, but Sam was faster and grabbed the short length of rope hanging from the goat's collar. Gina immediately offered the billy some of the feed in her hand. The other three goats had scattered when Sam had grabbed the billy, but they stayed close enough that when Gina moved away from Sam and the billy, the nanny came back to her. While she was feeding the nanny, one of the young goats came up and began to nurse.

  “That’s one question answered. Now, what are we going to do? Are we taking all of them or just the nanny?”

  “Sam, if we take just her those babies will starve. I don’t think they’re old enough to be left alone.”

  “Lucas, behind the seat…”

  “I know. Go get some binder twine.” He turned and almost dragging his feet, he set off.

  “Today, Lucas!”

  Lucas jogged off obviously recognizing the tone of his uncle's voice.

  Sam shook his head. “One of these days…”

  “You forget that he’s just a kid. He may look like a man in size, but he’s still only fourteen. Go easy on him. He’s a great kid.” She saw that the billy was giving Sam a hard time by trying to head butt him, but Sam held him off. “Sam, use your other hand and get hold of one of his horns. It might give you more control.”

  He grinned at her when it seemed to calm the billy down. Sam was tall enough so he was able to straddle the goat and hold him firmly between his knees. Gina inched her way toward the nanny and was relieved when she stood there chewing the grain filled pellets.

  “What now? I thought it was going to be easy to come in, catch one and leave.” She chewed her the corner of her lip trying to think. She looked at Sam, “We have to take them all.”

  He turned from watching Lucas jog back, “Are you crazy? Where are you planning on putting them?”

  Lucas had come close enough to hear Sam, “You know I was the champion at goat tieing at the rodeo, right? You lay him down, and I’ll tie his feet together.”

  Sam looked at Lucas, frowning, “And then what?” His eyes opened wider, “Oh. We tie him up, he rides in the back, and the others can ride in the backseat with you.”

  Gina had coaxed the two small goats to eat out of her hand. While they were not as friendly toward her as the momma goat, they didn’t appear to be afraid either. She dropped her arm across one of them and pulled it close to her body. It bleated and struggled briefly. “Holy cow…this baby is skin and bones.”

  Sam looked up from where the billy lay on its side, all four feet tied together. The goat's eyes were rolled up in his head, and Gina wondered if goats could faint, but at least he was quiet.

  “Damn, this thing stinks.” Sam raised his hands up in front of his face and sniffed, he wiped them down the front of his jeans, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

  Gina laughed, “I could tell you why he smells so bad, but you really wouldn’t like it.” The little goat she had in her arms began to struggle half-heartedly. “Are we going to get these tied up and get out of here, or what?”

  Gina offered the nanny the last few pellets in the bottom of the can while Sam walked around her. Sam dropped his arms around her and hung on. “Dang, feels like she could use a few good meals herself.”

  “Feeding two babies, it’s no wonder. I think these guys should be weaned by now, but what do I know. As soon as we get them all on better feed, we can wean them and continue milking her for Nathan.” Gina watched Sam tie the nanny goats feet together and laid her gently down.

  Sam struggled, but managed to pick up the billy. He turned his face away from the goat in disgust. The billy tried using his head to butt Sam, but Sam successfully avoided the horns. “Tell me again why we are taking them all?”

  “Because baby goats need to have a daddy, just like people or horses. We can’t raise any more of them without him.”

  “And we want to raise goats? Why?”

  Gina rolled her eyes and sighed, she’d done it so much lately, that she felt she was developing the perfect technique. If she did it just right, she could exercise her neck muscles at the same time. “For milk, for meat and for weed control, just to name a few.”

  “I’ll stay here and look after momma and the babies while you take him to the Jeep.”

  “Thanks,” Sam said, and scooped the billy up. He stretched his neck as far away from the goat as he could, and still see where he was going. He went stomping off toward the Jeep.

  Someday when Gina thought he would handle it better, she would tell him why the billy smelled so bad. She had read an article years before that said the billy would try to pee on his own chin hairs to make himself more attractive to the nanny. She laughed softly at the memory.

  “What’s so funny?” Lucas had settled on the ground with the second kid on his lap. The little goat seemed content to lay in Lucas’s lap and seemed to enjoy the attention from Lucas.

  The nanny seemed to understand they meant her and her babies no harm and lay patiently waiting for whatever her destiny was to be.

  When Sam returned, he found each of them with a baby lying in their lap. Gina had pulled the nanny’s head onto her knee and was scratching the side of her face.

  “We’ve got to do better than this,” Sam told them when he got close.

  Gina frowned and looked up. Sam had both her and Lucas’s rifles over his shoulders while carrying his own in his hand. She saw the problem. They had been excited enough by seeing the goats, they had forgotten their own safety. Just the sight of wheel tracks on the highway should have been a reminder.

  Sam pulled Ginas
30/30 off his shoulder and handed it to her, and Lucas’s to him. He slung his over his shoulder and pushed it toward his back with his elbow. He squatted down to pick up the nanny. She didn’t fight him as if she knew she was safe. She bleated once at her babies as if reassuring them all was well.

  Gina rose without the need to put her baby down and cradled it in her arms. Lucas followed her lead, and they followed Sam back across the field. Gina almost walked into the back of Sam when he stopped in front of her. She had been making soft, soothing noises to the kid and hadn’t been paying attention.

  “What?” she looked passed him to see why he’d stopped.

  “Shh! Listen.”

  “I hear them, and it sounds like they’re coming this way,” Lucas said.

  Finally, Gina could hear the sound of motors. To her it sounded like there was more than one, and Lucas was right. While they were still a distance away, they were coming closer.

  “Come on,” Sam said and began to run for the overpass.

  Lucas passed Gina just before she got to the shelter of the over crossing. Lucas started to lay his kid in the backseat when it bleated in protest and with a sharp look from Sam, he scooped it back up.

  The billy, tied up in the back of the Jeep began to wiggle, and his small hooves repeatedly scraped on the metal bed. “Shit!” Sam exclaimed and ran to the back bed of the Jeep. He lay the nanny beside the male and clamped his hand over the billy goats muzzle. There was barely enough room in the short bed for both of the goats, but the billy settled down as soon as Sam had lain the female beside it.

  Sam pulled a length of twine from his back pocket, where he had stuffed it after tying the billy, and also tied the nanny’s legs together. He reached over the back of the seat and pulled the blanket Lucas had been wrapped in and dropped it over the two goats. He tucked the edges under them and stepped back. The goats did not move or make a sound. He hoped the warmth and darkness would soothe them and they would stay that way for the trip home.

  Gina, still holding the baby goat had come to stand beside him. “They’re getting closer. Any idea what you want to do?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m open to suggestions.”

  “They’re almost here,” Lucas hissed.

  “Lucas, get in the back seat. I’m going to put you in charge of keeping these babies safe.”

  Sam moved the driver seat out of the way and helped Lucas into the back. When he sat, the goat snuggled closer and tried to nibble on his fingers. Lucas let it because it kept the kid quiet. Sam took the one from Gina’s arms and set it on the seat beside Lucas. It immediately began to protest. Weak bleats that sounded very much like it was saying, “mamma,” squeaked out of its open mouth. Wild-eyed it looked around as if searching for the warm place it had just been.

  Gina unzipped and pulled off John’s coat. She leaned in and wrapped it over the top of both babies and Lucas. They would have the security and warmth from Lucas, and it would give Lucas something to do.

  The expression of delight that Lucas flashed her reminded her again, how unfair this whole thing was. It didn’t matter that Lucas was already the size of some men, inside, where she thought it counted, he was still a boy. No matter how much he wanted his Uncle Sam to consider him a man.

  The sound of the motors coming up the highway came closer, and it only took seconds before they were rumbling overhead. The noise echoed and bounced around under the overpass, making it hard for the three to speak and be heard. It was impossible to say how many there were. Could have been anywhere from three to twenty. As soon as they passed, they waited until the vehicles were out of hearing and another few minutes more.

  When Sam walked to the opening, he held his hand up to stop them from following.

  “I’ll go and check to make sure they’re gone,” He disappeared up the grass leading to the freeway above,

  Gina waited for Sam to reappear.

  While she wasn’t paranoid, she knew it would have been a simple thing to shut one of them off and coast to a stop, much like they had done coming down the hill. But she also thought that unless one of the guys on the four wheelers happened to look into the gravel lot in front of the old store/junkyard and noticed their tracks, no one would know they had been there. She thought they should wait until the guys went back where they’d come from and then go back to their camp.

  Hands stuffed into her windbreaker pockets and her 30/30 hanging from her shoulder, Gina walked to the opening. There wasn’t much that she hated worse than waiting. She shivered and wished she was still wearing John’s big jacket.

  She knew the baby goats, as thin as they were needed the warmth more than she did. Gina wondered if they could wean the goats to the pellets and hay or would they have to hope the nanny, with good feed, would make enough milk for all three of them. As much as she liked the little goats, one or both would be sacrificed to keep Nathan alive.

  Gina could see Lucas fussing with the babies and she realized that is was the first time she had seen him smile. She had seen his thin-lipped smirk and his false ho-ho-ho, when dealing with Sherry and Abby, but she had never seen him smile for the simple pleasure of doing it. Gina decided right then that she was going to find a way to ensure a long life for Nathan and the baby goats.

  Happiness could be a big motivator when it came to the quality of their existence. There had to be something besides only the drudgery surrounding their post-apocalyptic survival, otherwise what would be the point. There had to be more than the available options. In her mind’s eye, Gina saw the man in the plaid shirt and the woman in red. Killing had to be one of the options they found a way around.

  The simple act of making themselves unavailable should be the first step. Seclusion, constructing an un-accessible stronghold, and creating a self-sufficient environment, would go a long way toward their safety. However, simply being safe and secure would carry less value if they were not happy, or at least reasonably happy, as well. There had to be at least the anticipation of something better, to inspire productivity and camaraderie.

  Their first order of business towards that productivity, was to get the goats, all of the goats, to their camp or wherever they decided they were going to stay.

  One thought led to another and Gina realized the opportunity to have a private talk with Lucy and Journey to discuss their future had never presented itself. She wasn’t sure whose idea it had been to join forces at all or if it had ever been formally discussed.

  In the past, they had always put their brains together and come up with a plan that satisfied each of them. Gina was okay with the amalgamation of the two groups, or now, three groups, but she felt they needed to form some sort of leadership. Someone should hold the reins and guide them through the trials ahead. Where they should build their stronghold should be the first decision, a decision made by all of the interested parties.

  Gina laughed, “Interested parties…like we have many choices.”

  “Choices for what?”

  “Sorry Lucas, I was thinking out loud. One of my bad habits.”

  Lucas laughed, “Both Mom and Dad do it too, and Uncle Sam swears at himself all the time.”

  “Yeah, well as long as we don’t answer ourselves, I guess we’re okay.”

  They could hear running footsteps coming their way.

  “Get down on the floor!” Gina hissed. She pulled her 357 from her holster and using the Jeep as cover, she waited for whoever it was to show themselves. She let out her held breath when Sam, arms flailing, slid to a stop in the opening. His rifle still hung off his back, so Gina thought he wasn’t being followed.

  Flexing her neck to relieve her tension, Gina slid her gun back where she’d pulled it from, and pulled her jacket down to conceal it.

  “Where did you go? We thought you were only going up to the roadway.”

  Sam, took a minute to catch his breath, “I followed them up the hill. They were the guys trying to get the trailer open.” From the inside of his jacket, he pulled a handful of papers o
ut, “I found these blowing down the road and it explains why they are so interested in the trailer.” He laid them on the hood of the Jeep.

  To Gina’s untrained eyes, they looked like shipping papers. Upside down, she read the name at the top of the page. Unwittingly, she raised her eyebrows up, opening her eyes wide, her mouth opened, she breathed out, “Oh wow. No wonder. You think that whole trailer is full of whiskey?”

  “Yeah, I do. Maybe not all whiskey, but some form of alcohol. I’ve drunk my share of some of their ‘Old number 7’ back in the day. This may create a little problem for us getting back.”

  Gina laughed, “You think they’ll stay there and drink the truck dry?”

  Sam grimaced, “Don’t even say that. We can’t leave these goats tied up forever, and those babies are going to be getting noisy when they don’t get fed.”

  As if hearing they were the topic of conversation, one of the babies began to vocally complain. While Lucas was doing his best to keep the babies quiet; letting them suck on his fingers and scratching them, the babies were getting frustrated without warm milk coming out the end of Lucas’s fingers. One of them grew tired of fingers that didn’t feed and tried to jump out of the Jeep. Lucas managed to catch one of the back legs as it jumped up between the front seats. He held the second on the back floorboards with his legs and in protest, it began to bleat.

  “Guys? I can use some help here.”

  Sam reached between the seats and helped Lucas get both goats back on the floor at his feet and covered them back up.

  “Maybe being in the dark will settle them down.”

  “Some food would probably work better,” Lucas told him.

  “Yeah, well food is going to have to wait. Right now we need to make a decision, wait them out or go for it.”

  Chapter Twenty-six…………Dry creek