The men in the street all complied. Even Savage, who was none too pleased about it.
Red didn’t care.
“If anybody is gonna die here today, it ain’t gonna be some city slicker for stealing things that nobody else has a use for anyway. If anybody’s gonna die here today, it’s gonna be you, John Savage.”
Then Red turned back to the fat man before continuing.
“Unless you’d like to volunteer to die in his place, Brady.”
The fat man swallowed hard and shut his mouth.
Red backed toward a tall Morgan tied to a post in front of the hardware store and continued to address the group.
“There’s been too much dying in this town already. Too much of people shoving others around, just so they could feel better about themselves and their lot. It’s time somebody got the balls to put a stop to it.”
Linebacker scoffed.
“And I suppose that somebody is you, Red? Seriously?”
Red turned again while pulling the reins down from the big horse and saddling up.
The rifle’s sights were now pointing at Linebacker’s chest.
“I’ve got nine bullets left, Billy. How many of ‘em do you want?
Linebacker had no more words.
But he did have a job to do.
Red said, “Now you lift that city slicker up and put him behind me. And you better be damn gentle with him. You’ve hurt him enough already.”
Linebacker did as he was told.
“Now, put that stuff back in that backpack and hang it here, on the saddle horn.”
Again, Linebacker did as he was told.
Red addressed Dave, propped up on the back of the horse and listing badly.
“Can you hold on, stranger?”
Dave managed a couple of words, spoken through broken teeth and a mouthful of blood.
“I… don’t know.”
“Put your arms around me, stranger. You’ve got to either hold on, or these assholes will make sure you die today. The choice is yours.”
Dave’s head cleared to the point he knew that Red was his only chance for survival. He clumsily managed to wrap his arms around the rider in front of him and to clasp his wrists together.
The sight was too much for the thin man, who felt the need to prove his bravery by adding his two cents.
“Why, Red… it looks like the two of you are sweet on each other.”
It was a bad mistake. He was rewarded for his words with a bullet, whizzing past his head close enough to barely nick his ear.
His hand immediately went to the side of his head and came down bloody.
He said, “Oh, shit.”
But he no longer had the guts to say anything else.
Red addressed the group.
“Now, then. We’re gonna ride back to the highway. If any of you skunks have any inclination on shootin’ us in the back, I’ll say this. You better be a damn good shot, and you better make your first shot count.
“Because if you miss, as God is my witness, I’ll dump this greenhorn in the dirt. Then I’ll come back at a fast gallop and send every one of you to meet your maker.”
The last words were said with a sneer.
“How about it? How many of you fools want to die today?”
The men looked at one another.
But no one had the courage to speak.
The bullies who a couple of minutes before were brutally beating a helpless man to death were suddenly powerless.
They’d shown their true colors. In a brief skirmish between good and evil, they’d been beaten by a better hand.
And not one of them had the courage to challenge it.
It turned out they were strong only when they had the numbers. Might was on their side.
But not right.
They meekly surrendered, and let the Morgan work up to a slow trot, while they watched Red and the stranger gradually disappear from view.
But Red knew it was just a short respite. That the group would return to their whisky and their tequila and ply themselves while they stewed. And they’d fume about the nerve that Red had for interrupting their fun. And then they’d recruit some more bullies, reinforce their numbers, and set out to ambush Red and the greenhorn.
Dave, trying desperately to hang on, was still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Red said, “They’ll be coming after us soon. We’ve got to put some space between us. I know you came from the highway. Are we going north or south?”
Dave managed a single word: “South.”
For some reason he didn’t understand, his answer seemed to make Red happy.
“Well, that’s good news for sure.”
Dave was still groggy and couldn’t see Red clearly. Or anything else, for that matter.
But there was something he didn’t quite understand. Something about Red’s voice. Something unusual.
It was a higher pitch than he might have expected.
As they pair rode along, Dave struggled with the question in his own mind:
Was Red really a woman?
Chapter 30
“How you holding up back there, stranger?”
Dave was starting to regain some of his senses, but with the increased awareness of his surroundings came renewed pain. The numbness was starting to wear off of his midsection and limbs.
And he did indeed, he now knew, have a broken arm.
As well as at least a couple of fingers and at least one rib.
It was hard to catch his breath.
“I don’t know,” he said. I’ll let you know when I finish dying.”
Red managed a chuckle.
“I don’t think so, dude. If you go and die on me, after all the trouble I went through pulling you away from those polecats, I’ll beat you myself.”
“You sound like an old gunny sergeant I once knew.”
“Gunny sergeant? Were you a Marine?”
“Yes. You?”
“Nope. My first husband was, before I caught him cheating on me and I divorced his dumb ass.”
“So it’s not my imagination. You are a girl.”
“It usually don’t take men so long to notice. And I’ll overlook the fact that you called me a girl, and not a woman. Consider yourself lucky I don’t kick your ass for that. I’m only being generous because I know your eyes are swollen nearly shut and you can’t see so good.”
“Thank you, Red.”
“For what? For not kicking your ass?”
“Well, yeah. For that. But mostly for saving my life.”
“Don’t mention it. I just hope I don’t live to regret it.”
“Why would you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Most of the men I’ve met lately have turned out to be pretty poor human beings. I’ll just leave it at that.”
“Then why did you rescue me?”
“I don’t know. For the same reason I’d rescue an abused dog, I guess. You just seemed to be way outgunned and outnumbered. I guess it was just my sense of fairness.
“Plus, I’ve gotten so tired of watching those jerks push people around. It was time somebody stopped them.”
“Well, I’m lucky you came along. My name is Dave, by the way.”
“I’m Debbie. Most people don’t know that, though. Most people just call me Red.”
“Yeah. I got that part.”
“How far is your camp?”
“It’s not a camp. It’s a truck.”
“You live in a truck?”
“No. I’m a drifter of sorts. I was just passing through. I spent the night in a bobtail truck. A cabover Ford, I think. It’s in front of a sign that says Blanco One Mile.”
“Well, that’s interesting.”
“Why?”
She ignored his question and asked one of her own.
“So you didn’t really need the alternator for your fishing boat?”
Dave, for a reason he couldn’t understand, couldn’t bring himself to lie to her.
�
�Well, no.”
“So that’s why you pulled up behind the bobtail and parked this morning, just before daybreak? Your alternator went out?”
Even with the damage his brain had incurred during the beating, Dave was certain her question sounded a little odd. He just couldn’t figure out why.
So he continued volleying questions back and forth with her.
“What do you mean?”
“So it was you, wasn’t it? I saw you, just before the sun came up. Bonnie and I were on the crest of that hill over there. We watched you climb into the truck, and waited for you to come back out to see what you did.
“You never came out, so we figured you were a night traveler and went to sleep. So we left.”
Even as his head cleared, Dave was getting more and more confused.
“What? Wait… who’s Bonnie?”
“You’re sitting on her.”
“Why do you think I needed an alternator?”
“Why else would you take one? Duh… I don’t understand why you took the battery, though. You do understand, don’t you, that it’s worthless without the acid. Right?”
She paused before finishing, as though she was afraid of hurting his feelings.
“Unless you’re just dumber than dirt.”
“I know it’s worthless without acid. I was on my out behind the store to look for acid when your police chief arrested me.”
“You know he’s not really the police chief, right?”
“The badge looked real to me. So did the gun in my face, so I didn’t think it wise to call him on it.”
“That was probably pretty smart on your part. He’d surely have put a bullet in your head then and there. Would have saved me some trouble. As for the badge, the town council had no choice but to give it to him. They’re scared to death of him. Have been for a long time, even before the blackout.”
“So I take it he’s not the upstanding citizen and administer of justice he claims to be?”
“Maybe in his own mind. Actually, he was the town banker before the world went to hell. He was under indictment for wire fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. Then everything went black and he was suddenly off the hook.
“Truth be known, he’s guilty of a lot of other things as well. Including murder. He’s had this town under his thumb for years.”
She pulled Bonnie to a sudden stop.
“This your truck?”
Through one half-open eye, Dave peered to his left, then waited for his vision to clear.
“Yep.”
“Then that Explorer is the vehicle I saw you crawl out of in the dark?”
With some apprehension, Dave admitted, “Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you get off. If I climbed down, you’d fall before I could help you. The best I can do is hold your arm and try to keep you from falling while you slide off. With any luck we can keep you from hurting yourself anymore.”
Dave slowly did what he was told. As soon as he put weight on his left leg, though, he fell to the ground in agony.
“Stay there,” Red commanded. “I’ll be right back.”
Dave tried his best to keep from passing out.
Red took her horse to the passenger side of the big Ford diesel and tied her to the chrome handle on the side of the cab.
Bonnie had just enough slack to munch on the grass on the shoulder of the road, growing through a crack in the pavement.
Then Red had a better idea.
“I’m sorry, girl. You deserve a better meal than that, after carrying an extra load for the last half hour.”
She took her to a large oak tree, fifty yards off the road.
Then she returned to Dave.
“Okay, my new friend. This is probably gonna hurt you more than you’ve ever hurt in your life. But we have to get you up into that truck and into the bunk so I can doctor your wounds.”
“Is it smart to stop? You said they’d be coming after us. Shouldn’t we keep moving?”
“First of all, you’re in no shape to keep moving. If you do, you’ll probably die on me. And I’ve spent too much time saving you to have to bury you too. Secondly, they won’t be coming this way. First, they’ll get drunk. That’s the only way they’ll be brave enough to challenge me again. Then, they’ll go the other way, north. Not south.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“You told them you had a boat. The only fishing pond within miles is two miles north of Blanco.
“Now, then. Put your hand on my shoulder, grit your teeth, and let me help you up.”
Chapter 31
Dave didn’t remember much after that. When he came to several hours later, it was just in time to turn to his right and see a glorious sunset through the left side of the Ford Freightliner’s expansive windshield.
Turning his head, of course, sent a stab of pain through his neck and upper back that was almost bad enough to make him black out again.
Then he heard a noise, and felt the very slight tilt of the sleeper cab as someone climbed into the driver’s side of the tractor.
His right eye was caked in blood, but he could barely make out Red as she smiled at him and said, “Well, you’re still alive. That’s always a good sign.”
Dave tried to speak, but nothing came out.
She held up a bottle of water and asked, “Can you sit up to drink this?”
He managed to shake his head. Barely. But even barely hurt.
Red looked around the sleeper and found an old McDonald’s drink cup. She removed the straw.
“I reckon any cooties that were once on here have long since died.”
She held the bottle just below the side of the bunk and placed the end on Dave’s shattered lips.
“Take small sips. I’m still not sure whether you’re bleeding internally. If you are, water could be dangerous.”
After three sips, he was able to manage, “And dying of thirst isn’t?”
He tried to smile but it hurt and he thought better of it.
Come to think of it, everything he did hurt.
Even breathing.
Red said, “You’re not gonna want to hear this, but I’ve got to elevate your head. Just a bit. The good news is, it’ll help the blood from your broken nose drain, and will make it easier to sip your water.
Dave was in no position to argue.
Red, a rough and tumble fireball to this point, showed Dave she had a gentle side as well. She tenderly slipped her hand under his head and lifted it, as she slowly tucked a pillow beneath it.
“I had to steal this from another truck. You threw up all over the one that was here before.”
That explained the taste of vomit in the back of Dave’s throat.
From his newly elevated position, Dave glanced down with his good eye and noticed for the first time he was completely naked.
Except for the third of his body that was now covered in bandages.
Red laughed when she saw the movement of his eyes, then the look of alarm on his face.
“Oh, stop it. I was once a nurse. I’ve seen my share of naked men.”
She could have stopped there, but she couldn’t help but needle the city slicker.
“And by the way, I’m not impressed.”
She smiled an evil grin, meaning to cheer him up just a little.
It worked.
He smiled.
He noticed what looked like a magazine wrapped around his forearm and gave her a puzzled look.
Red appeared to be just as adept at reading minds as she was at tending to wounds.
“It’s called a field splint. After you set a broken limb, you use whatever you have to immobilize it. If you don’t have the materials to make a proper cast, you use whatever you have available. A magazine, wrapped around an arm and taped with duct tape, makes a pretty good cast. And it keeps you from damaging it more by moving it around.”
“Where?”
The single word, weakly and squeaky, left a lot to interpretation.
“Where what, Dave? Where are you? Planet earth, and still among the living. You’re pretty darn lucky to be here if you ask me.
“Where did I get the bandages? From the trucker’s cargo strap box. A lot of truckers carry some pretty impressive first aid kits. Sometimes they come across some pretty gruesome accidents on the highways, and they save a lot of lives.”
She caught herself.
“At least they did, before the world went black.”
She smiled slyly.
“This particular trucker had a pretty impressive pharmacy in the glove box, too.”
She held up a bottle of prescription pills.
Dave couldn’t make out the tiny words, so she helped him out.
“Percocet. It’s a heavy duty painkiller. Of course, it’s a year and a half old, but it’s still better than acetaminophen. Do you want some?”
Dave managed a weak nod.
“Good. Because you already had some. I crushed two tablets into powder and put it under your tongue to dissolve while you were out.”
She saw a mild look of panic on his face.
“Oh, relax. If I wanted to do you harm, I’d have just left you to deal with Savage and his cronies on your own. Besides, be glad I gave it to you. If you think you hurt now, just imagine how bad it would be without the Percocet. I’ll give you another one in an hour. It’ll help you sleep.”
He looked at her blankly.
“What? No more questions? Aren’t you gonna ask me how my afternoon went?”
Dave smiled and nodded.
“Well, thank you for asking. My afternoon flew by. I put your new alternator on for you. It appears to be working fine. I put the dry battery in the back of the Explorer. I still don’t understand why you need it. I suppose we can pick up some acid in another town and use it for a backup.”
Dave managed to raise an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.
Instead, he quietly asked himself a question:
Am I hallucinating, or did she just say ‘we?’
Chapter 32
“Here. Put this under your tongue until it dissolves. Don’t try to swallow it, or you might choke on it.”
Alone, Book 3: The Journey Page 10