Beyond the New Horizon (Book 4): Dark Times

by Conaway, Christine

  While she waited for him to come back, she put Gus’s pack saddle on the smaller horse. Even though he was smaller than her dad’s horse, she still had to make some adjustments to make the girth fit properly. Matt had cautioned her many times about making the horses sore from improper fitting tack and was careful how she put it on. Sherry wondered what they were going to do about the two saddles. Surely they weren’t going to abandon them, she was pretty sure that when Uncle Sam showed up with the extra horses, they would need all of their saddles. She thought about Gus and wondered if he had found his way back or if he was wandering lost somewhere all alone. Matt had told her how he had managed to find him, Lucas, Sam, and Gina with no problem and she hoped he was right.

  By the time that her father made the last trip, it was beginning to get dark, and Sherry wondered if they could find their way back without light. She couldn’t see much above the trees, but as the sky grew darker, she could see an orange glow in the sky and thought it looked strange because the sun setting should already be done and it would be to the west of them, and the glowing pulse of the red was to the north of them.

  She was staring up at the light when John returned, “This is it kiddo. As near as I could tell I have everything on the list and a few extras. We’re going to have to turn the saddles on their backs and tie them on top. No way am I planning on learning to ride bareback again.”

  “What do you think that is,” Sherry asked. There was no need to point it out because most of the sky glowed a strange red color with flashes of orange and yellow.

  “Mark thought the volcano exploded and I suppose the light could be from that. Remember the pictures on television of Mount. St. Helens? It kind of looked the same way.”

  She put her hands on her hips and faced him, “Actually, no I don’t. Dad, I wasn’t born yet.”

  John frowned, “That’s right. Sorry kiddo, I must have been thinking of Lucas.”

  “Daddy, he wasn’t born yet either.” Then she realized he was teasing her. Her Dad was back, and it felt surprisingly good to hear him tease. It had been so long since he’d called her kiddo or said or done anything reminiscent of the way he used to be. She wondered what had changed him back to the way he used to be. Her Mom had said he had some things to work out and this must be the result. Sherry didn’t care, she was just happy he was back. She hoped his attitude had changed toward Lucas because she’d overheard him and Matt talking and knew that Lucas and Matt had talked about leaving together, even though the first time they’d left hadn’t worked out well for either of them.

  With the saddles tied on, they were ready to go. “You lead the way, and I’ll follow until we get up to the road. She did, and he followed.

  When the road widened out, he came up beside her. Sherry had the feeling he was building up to saying something because he kept softly clearing his throat like he used to when he had something on his mind. When he stopped so did she.

  John cleared his throat one last time and fell silent. When Sherry made to continue on, he said, “I’m really sorry that I’ve been such an ass lately.”

  When she began to deny it, he continued, “Nope. I have been, and I apologize. The truth is, I’ve been so afraid of letting you all down, that I was doing just that, without realizing it. It took a brave young man to make me see it. I tell you that when your brother looked me square in the eyes and said what he was going to do, and it went against what he had just been told, well that took some guts. He’d made a decision, and he was sticking to it, unlike me. I couldn’t have made a decision if my life depended on it and I was putting you all in jeopardy by my actions. I was so afraid of making the wrong choices that I wasn’t making any. I was forcing you to look after yourselves, and it took Lucas to show me that. I have some apologizing to do when we find him and Abby. I feel like I ran her off and that wasn’t my intention at all. I have a lot to make up for, and I apologize to you. You’re turning into a brave young woman, and I almost missed it.”

  Sherry giggled, “We’re okay Dad. I’m not sure how, but we’ll get through this, and you have nothing to be sorry for. I’m just glad to have my Dad back.”

  “There you go, sounding wise beyond your years again. That’s what I’m talking about. Growing up right in front of me.”

  “Dad, will we ever see Lucas, Abby, and Charlie again? I feel terrible that we left them behind.”

  “I do too, and as soon as it gets light enough, we’re going to go and find them. I promised your Mom we would go back at least to where we left them. They’re probably sitting in front of a campfire right now wondering if we’re on our way back just like we told them we would be.”

  “They’re going to be pretty surprised when we show up this soon, then aren’t they?’

  “I suppose they will be.”

  John and Sherry continued on, with Sherry in the lead. When they were minutes from where they’d left the others, Sherry had gotten her father’s attention and pointed at her eyes and cupped one hand to her ear to show John that she had seen or heard something.

  Neither of them showed any surprise when Matt stepped out in front of them. He grinned at Sherry, “I suppose you’re going to tell me that you heard me, right?”

  Sherry nodded, “Just before we got here you broke a twig. It sounded unnatural, so I thought it had to be you or Mark. There was just the one sound though.”

  “It’s this stupid cast. I can’t feel when my foot lands on something,” he said quietly.

  “Well, her ears are better than mine because I didn’t hear a thing. You’re doing a good job, Matt. I didn’t think about posting a guard for you guys, so for you to think of it shows responsibility.”

  Matt’s face flushed because he had mentioned it to Mark and Mark had said it wasn’t necessary. He wasn’t about to destroy the look of pride on John’s face and say what he’d really been doing. Matt saw the look of doubt on Sherry’s face and knew she was going to offer up her opinion about what he’d been doing and beat her to it, “No sir. I was using the facilities, but I did hear you coming, and I do have my rifle.”

  “And your pants are open,” Sherry giggled.

  Matt quickly turned away in embarrassment and felt for his fly. He froze and shook his head, turning back to face them, he said one word, “Karma!” As soon as he’d felt the front of his clothes he’d known that Sherry couldn’t have seen his open fly even if it had been unzipped because the camouflage jacket he had on hung well below his hips.

  “It doesn’t matter your reason’s for being here, the point is, you saw or heard us coming and you’re armed. That counts for something.” John continued up the short hill leaving Matt watching him. With a shrug, Matt looked at Sherry in amazement, raised eyebrows questioning what he’d just seen and heard.

  “Dad’s back,” she whispered, “I’ll tell you about it later, but that’s my old Dad.”

  Matt shrugged again, took the lead line from her and continued after John. He looked back to make sure that Sherry was right behind him and saw that the change in her father had also sparked something in her. She grinned at him and gave a thumbs up as she jogged past him up the slope.

  Matt followed behind at a slower pace. He knew they were still in a dangerous situation. Mark had told him what Evelyn had done to save Maggie, and he didn’t think the group of men that he and Sherry had ridden far out of their way to avoid, were the type of people to forget about it. He was certain that if they found the dead man, they would seek justice for the loss of his life. If their crudeness and drunken behavior were anything to go by, they would take pleasure in their vengeance. They may have been businessmen, or doctors or blue collar workers before the shit hit the fan, now they were nothing more than armed thugs, taking what they wanted at the other person’s expense. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he had seen teardrop tattoos on several and knew from television they stood for personal kills. Sherry had pointed out that some of them seemed to be wearing a dirty uniform of sorts and Matt thought about the guys he and Lu
cas had seen in Haugan. They had been close enough to see that some of the men without jackets had worn clothing with the word, JAIL stenciled on the back of them. The men that he and Sherry had seen looked similar or could even have been the same bunch as in Haugan.

  The three men shared the watch until John woke them all at first light. Under the canopy of trees that remained standing and the brush, it was just light enough to do what they needed to leave. Mary handed out squares of pemmican that she’d had in her bag, they shared bottles of water and were ready to go.

  John knew that at least if they followed the trail back the way they’d come in, they would eventually find Charlie, Lucas, and Abby. He figured the tractor tires would be easy to follow, all they had to do was to find them without backtracking. It would be far longer than if they could cut across country, because of all the backtracking and jiggy-jogs they had made to bring the tractors through, but he couldn’t be sure they would end up in the same place they’d left Charlie and the kids.

  No one had mentioned how wrong they’d thought it was for the three to be left behind in the first place and John was just now understanding that it never should have happened. They should have stayed together and figured out a way to move the wagon or at least rearrange their things to include some of Charlies. Not to mention that Charlie had graciously taken some of his and Mark’s possessions in the wagon and the weight could have made the difference in how quickly Charlie’s horses could have moved in front of the landslide. John understood why Lucas had stayed behind, but he was determined to put that behind himself and wondered where Sam and the others were.

  Around lunchtime, they stopped to share a bottle of water and John looked off the edge of the road. With the switch-back down the side of the hill, he could look across the narrow valley and see the road snaking up the other side. He thought they were on an old logging road and it would save them time if they climbed down this side and across the glade below. With the new grass and leafy bushes, he thought there may be water on the valley floor. Mary had already told him they were running short. It might be a good time to stop and boil some to refill their bottles. The horses stood with their heads down, and John knew they needed water as much as he did.

  “You thinking about cutting across?”

  John looked at Mark, “I was, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s a creek down there for water, but maybe I’ll go down first and check it out.”

  “Good, and I’ll check out Matt’s cast because it was made for walking on, and not this cross country slog we’ve been doing. If that boy's leg doesn’t heal properly, he’ll be a cripple, and there won’t be anything we can do about it. I’m really regretting that we let those horses and the mule get away.”

  John didn’t acknowledge the lack of blame in any way. Mark had said we, but John knew the horses escaping was his fault. Mark had wanted to tie them at night, but John had been sure they wouldn’t stray as long as there was plenty of fodder to graze on. He knew they were fortunate to have the two they did have. If Lucas hadn’t taught his gelding to come at a whistle, and the other three hadn’t followed it in, they would be afoot.

  That was one instance he knew he’d made a mistake and then seeing the way that Evelyn had dealt with the man the day before had been another and a wake-up call for John. He hadn’t even considered doing what she had done, and hers was the right answer. Anyone who would hold a gun to the head of a child wasn’t someone a person could ever put their trust in nor should they be walking among civilized people.

  Lost in his thoughts instead of paying attention, John’s foot slipped and his leg buckled under him, he threw himself onto his side and rode the grass almost to the bottom of the ravine. He lay on his back, while he confirmed that all of his parts moved without pain. He already heard his brother, “John, you need to get your head out of your ass and pay attention to what's around you. You could have broken your neck with a stunt like that!”

  John stood and dusted himself off. He looked up hoping that no one had been watching and saw them all peering down at him, “I’m trying Sam, I’m trying.”

  John waved to show he was okay and using probably more caution than he needed, he continued to the bottom. Once he reached the swath of green nestled between the two hills, John felt cool water soaking his feet. Looking behind him to determine the source, he saw there was no visibly defined creek-bed, only the impression of one made with the growth of new grass and weeds. He suspected that up the hill from him, he would find the source; possibly a new spring. This wasn’t the first new creek they had seen, but this seemed to be the most convenient one. A water source just when they needed it for themselves as well as the animals.

  He knelt on one knee, quickly soaking his pants leg and began pulling up the grass and moving rocks as he dug down into the dirt until he had a small collection pond. Sitting back on his heels he watched it slowly fill. He figured by the time he climbed back to the top and down again, the pond would be full and the sediment might have settled enough to water the horses.

  However, he hadn’t counted on his family starting down. Maggie and Mark had the two horses and were working their way across the face of the slope much like a skier would, descending as they went. Evelyn and Mary with Matt between them followed the horses with Sherry bringing up the rear. He watched her for several minutes and realized their security was an important issue for her and she was taking it seriously. When she should have been going to junior high and thinking about boys and her horses, she was carrying an AR15 like she had grown up with it in her hands.

  As Mark and Clyde reached the valley floor, John saw Clyde throw his head in the air and stare off to the east. Before John had a chance to warn him what he thought the horse was going to do, Mark slapped his hand on Clyde’s muzzle to stop him. If Clyde caught the scent of another horse, he would always neigh a greeting to it, even if it wasn’t familiar to him. The whiny could be a dead giveaway to their position.

  John thought the other bunch of men were to the south and west of them and hoped they hadn’t split up to surround them. He shook his head because maybe he was getting paranoid. He thought they had to be several miles away from where it happened, and the band of men he and Mark had encountered didn’t seem the type to be that smart or quiet. From a distance, another horse whinnied, but like the earlier gunshot it bounced off the hills making the origin undetectable.

  Mark led Clyde to the water hole and got the horse more interested in drinking than answering the mystery horse.

  “Mark, I’m going to go upstream further and make another hole to fill our water bottles. Go ahead and let the animals drink their fill.”

  “I’ll walk with you, John. I want to run something by you.” Mark held the lead rope out to Maggie who took it. “Thanks, I think they can share the same spot.”

  John nodded and went to the boxes on Clyde. He untied one of the orange five-gallon pails from the outside of the panniers and got several empty two-liter soda bottles and the empty sixteen-ounce bottles they’d already drunk and set the smaller bottles in the bucket. Until they took the time to boil the water, they couldn’t use it for drinking, but they at least had a way to carry it until they stopped for the night.

  Mark remained silent until they had a hole in the dirt to equal the one John had dug for the horses, with nothing for them to do but wait for it to fill and the mud to settle, both men moved to higher ground out of the shallow water and sat side by side.

  When Mark sat without speaking, “Spit it out. I practically smell the sawdust burning.”

  Normally this would have gotten a reaction from Mark, but other than a thin-lipped smile he didn’t seem to find the humor in it. His eyes traveled up and down the surrounding terrain. The small valley they were in appeared to end a couple hundred yards from where they sat, bisected by another hill running at a ninety-degree angle across the two that made the valley.

  John thought that none of them should have been where they were. It was as if, someone had used a g
iant dozer and pushed the rolling hills into steep inclines. Had there been no grass or trees on them, he would have thought they had been forced up from the bowels of the earth. He wondered if they had been designed by the rise of the volcanoes pushing their way to the surface.

  “The way I remember it, we left Charlie about four, maybe five miles as the crow fly’s from here. With the backtracking we had to do to get as far as we did, why couldn't that horse we heard be them?”

  John didn’t want to discount Mark’s thinking, but he thought they’d left the wagon more to the north than they were now. The truth was that he didn’t know this terrain at all, but he had thought they would have come across the cattle by now, but they hadn’t seen them unless Sherry was right and they were south of their present location.

  When they had left what remained of the box canyon, they should have had two small hills, and two shallow valleys to cross before they climbed up over the larger mountain overlooking the St. Joes Valley. With the changes in the landscape they had climbed three hills and not come to the valley at all. Matt and Sherry had said that when they led the gang of men on the run through the forest, that they had seen the cows down below, but Matt didn’t think it was part of the St. Joe’s Valley. Matt had specifically noted that they hadn’t seen anything that looked like a continuous roadway at all.”

  “So, what are you thinking? Did you want to follow this ravine east and see where it comes out?” John rubbed his chin while he spoke and wished he’d had the time or equipment to shave. Looking at Mark, he could see that he looked as scruffy as John felt.

  “Not exactly. You saw the fireworks in the sky last night which leads me to believe that last quake may have been the catalyst for our volcano. I’m worried while we’re searching for Charlie, we’re going to put ourselves right in the path of any lava flow if it has erupted. I think that we need to find somewhere high and make a camp. You and I or you and Matt can take the horses and find them quicker than us traipsing all over and dragging the women and girls around. Mary and Evie are tired to the point of exhaustion which is going to cause needless injuries. I’m afraid they can’t keep up this pace.”