Beyond the New Horizon (Book 3): Living on the Edge

by Conaway, Christine

  Gina frowned, “But doesn’t that…”

  “Gina, stop it. I know what you’re going to say, and yes it does. That’s why we are going to leave the wagons in the clearing where the road cuts off and go on foot. There’s a creek there and feed for the animals. It looks like someone used to use it for a primitive camp spot…either hikers or some of the snowmobile crowd, but who cares. We can use it to set up a camp.”

  “We don’t have enough food to leave them for very long.”

  “I just said there was a clearing with lots of grass, and water.”

  “I’m not talking about food for the animals I meant food for us. People food!”

  Sam pulled his chin in, and the corners of his mouth dropped down, “How can that be? Journey figured we had enough of the pemmican to last the lot of us for a week and that’s not counting the jerky, beans or rice.”

  “You might say we lost a week’s worth of the pemmican yesterday, but I’ll tell you about that later.”

  He looked into her eyes and saw there was no laughter in them. He wondered how they could have lost so much food. Before he could probe her for the answers, Gina shook her head and mouthed, “Later!”

  Sam nodded and turned to where Lucy and Kenny were tacking the horses, “I wish I had told you before we left how to turn them around, but Andy didn’t think of it until we were a ways away from here. Glad to see someone was using their brains.”

  He looked around, “You took the other horses to the meadow?”

  “We did, and Journey and Willy are there with them. I’m surprised you didn’t see or hear us when you rode by there.”

  “We didn’t. We came cross country,” and pointed to the hill behind them.

  Gina could see where the horses must have slid down the hillside with their front feet planted, dragging their hindquarters, plowing up the ground in front of them. “Was that some kind of a Man from Snowy River stunt? You could have injured the horses or yourselves.”

  “Once we started down it was too late to turn back, so we went with it. The footing wasn’t that bad until we got almost here.”

  Gina shrugged, it was too late to remind the men that they needed sound horses, and it was up to the rider to make sure they stayed that way. “Joe, if you and your brothers want to ride today, you might want to take your gear down and catch yourselves a horse.”

  Tammy, hearing what Gina had said, stepped up beside Joe. He stepped away from her and with a wave at his brothers, “Let’s go.”

  Sierra stepped forward when the three men began jogging down the road. “Is there an extra horse that I can ride?”

  Gina already knew after spending time with Sierra the day before that she had years of riding experience. “Go with them and pick one out. We can’t guarantee they’re all ridable, but have one of the guys check it out.”

  “What about me? Do I get to ride one too?”

  Before Gina could ask if she’d ever ridden by herself Sam took care of the problem, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Tammy, you told me the other day that you’d only ever ridden behind someone. Let’s save your learning to ride until a better time.”

  Tammy’s face turned red with either embarrassment or anger, it was hard to tell. The way she glared at Sam, made Gina think that he had just made an enemy. “Two and a half,” she muttered.

  Hands on her hips, Tammy looked around and spotted Lucy already in the buggy and Olivia climbing in. She went over to stand on Lucy’s side of the buggy, “I’m riding with Olivia. She’s going to teach me to drive it today.”

  “No, I’m not. Where did you get that idea?”

  “Since I can’t ride one of the horses, this is what I am going to do. So if you’ll get down…” She turned her body sideways as if giving Lucy room to climb down.

  Lucy gave her a big fake smile, and through her smiling lips, she said, “I don’t think so. You might go ask Gina where she wants you or go and ask Sam.”

  “Get down! I just said that I’m riding with Olivia.”

  “And I just told you no. Olivia, let’s go down the road to a wide spot so Sam can get the wagon by us.”

  With a smirk, Olivia slapped the reins on Sailors back, and he moved off. “Watch your toes,” she told Tammy as they rolled past.

  “Uh oh,” Gina said, overhearing the conversation between Lucy and Tammy. “Tammy, why don’t you climb up with Sam until we get to the meadow?”

  Sam sat on the wagon seat and scooted over to make room for Tammy. Flashing daggers at the departing buggy, she turned and with a smile, climbed beside Sam. Immediately, Tammy placed her hand on his knee and used him for leverage in getting herself comfortable. When she was seated, she left her hand there until Sam removed it.

  He gave Gina a look of apology, “You going to climb on or what?”

  Gina rolled her eyes and pointed, “I guess I’ll have to drive the chicken and goat cart unless you want to Tammy?”

  The girl snickered, “And have to smell that nasty billy goat; no thank you.”

  With a sigh, Gina climbed onto the front edge and realized that Tammy was right. Someone had tied the billy to the back corner of the cage, and he did smell. She clucked at the little mare and with a tug from the resisting billy, they set off. He tried to pull his way out of the halter that someone had fashioned for him, but the weight of the cart and the horse pulling it dragged him along. He had no choice but to follow.

  It wasn’t far to the meadow, and through the trees, Gina could see that the three boys were riding two of the bay horses from the auction yard and Joe was on the last of the horses that hadn’t been ridden yet, from Minnakers. All three boys were riding bareback and with halters. The Appy that Gina had chosen and the mare that Ben had picked out for Lucy were tied to the tree that Willy had been resting against earlier.

  Sierra stood beside the two who were tied up. Gus, the other two bays, the old gelding Willy had ridden, and the three pregnant mares made up the balance of their remuda. Gina had forgotten to approach Sam about teaching Lucy’s little mare to pull the goat cart and now it was too late to try. Sherry’s mare was as pregnant as any of the other three mares and Gina didn’t want her going into premature labor from pulling the cart. It wasn’t heavy, but it was still a new activity for the horse. When Gina had checked her while tacking her, she had found a waxy buildup on her teats and knew it wouldn’t be long before she foaled. The shafts of the cart were barely wide enough to allow the horse between them. Gina would drive the cart so that she could make sure the mare didn’t overdo it today. She didn’t know how far it was to the new camp spot, so she would take it easy on the horse.

  “Sierra? Why don’t you go ahead and get my saddle out of the wagon and you can ride my Appy and Ben, maybe you can take the mare? I’m sure Lucy won’t mind if you borrow her saddle.” Kenny was the smallest of the three brothers, and he also was mounted on the thinnest bay. “Kenny, why don’t you use the last saddle seeing as it wouldn’t fit your brothers.”

  By the time the horses were sorted out, and Willy was back on the seat of the buckboard and Sam back on his horse, and Andy still on Bess, an hour had passed. Journey had elected to walk beside the goat cart in spite of the stench that seemed to waft over them.

  With the departure of Sam from the wagon seat, Tammy had scooted as far away from Willy as she could get. A sullen expression plastered to her face, she kept her head turned to the right, and Gina felt like it was to either discourage Willy talking to her or because she found it distasteful to be riding beside a black man.

  They hadn’t gone more than a mile when Willy pulled up. He said something to Tammy, and she climbed down. Sam, who had been leading the procession, rode back, “What’s the problem?”

  “The young lady says that she has a migraine and needs to lie down. So I told her to get in the back.” Willy’s tone of voice conveyed something besides his usual jovial humor.

  He sounded stressed to Sam and Sam watched Tammy climb into the back. She roughly shoved stuf
f aside to make room for herself. Sam wondered if they weren’t going to have trouble with the girl. He would have to speak to Joe and see if the kid could do or say anything to her to get her to be more tolerant. He understood they were hardly more than strangers to her and maybe she just needed time to figure out where she fit in, but he wasn’t putting up with her insolence too much longer.

  By the time that Tammy had made herself comfortable, Gina and the cart had caught up. Joe and Kenny were following behind while Journey sat perched on the front edge of the cart with Gina.

  “Andy, why don’t you and Ben go ahead and take the lead. Take the next left that you come to, it shouldn’t be much further. I’m going to go back and see if Journey wants to swap places with me.”

  He rode back down the side of their caravan stopping beside the buggy, “You two okay here?” He grinned when he saw that Lucy now held the reins. “How are you doing?’

  “She handles them like she’s driven before. She’ll be just fine,” Olivia told him, and Lucy grinned.

  Sam nudged his horse and went a few more steps to where Journey was already standing on the ground ready to swap places with him. He helped her into the saddle, adjusted the stirrups for her shorter legs and climbed up beside Gina.

  “Are we too heavy for her?” he asked, nodding at the mare.

  “I don’t think so as long as we don’t have any hills. But I’m glad you’re here. There’s something we need to talk about.”

  “If it’s about what I said before I left, I’m sorry. I let my emotions speak instead of my brain. I’m worried about John and the others.”

  “Pfft. I’d forgotten already. I understand your worry, and it isn’t any less than the rest of us feel. What I wanted to talk to you about was Tammy.”

  “I removed her hand as soon as I could,” he said in his defense. “I’m not even sure why she is like that with Joe right there. Maybe she’s trying to make him jealous. I don’t know.”

  Gina laughed and told him the whole story as Kenny had told it to her. “So, they aren’t a couple at all.”

  “Okay. Well, I can see where this might cause a problem then.”

  “That’s not the only issue I’m having with her. There are several, but the main one is…” She told him about her stealing the food and the way she talked down to Lucy and Olivia.

  Sam told her about Tammy’s treatment of Willy and Willy’s response. “You know this isn’t going to end well if she continues making an enemy out of each one of us. My God, who hasn’t she pissed off?”

  Gina steered the cart to one side of the track and leaned over to peer past the buggy, “What the hell?”

  “What? What’s the matter do you see something?”

  “Hold up!” Gina bellowed loud enough for the people in the next county to hear. She pulled the mare to a stop, and bailed off and threw the reins down, “Tammy!” was all she said before taking off at a run.

  Sam climbed down and ran after her. At the back of the wagon, Tammy was sitting with one of the 45’s pointed at Gina.

  “Why are you doing this? Tammy, just lay it down beside you.”

  “Don’t come in any closer. I swear I’ll shoot you if you do!”

  “Whoa, Tammy. Put the gun down. There’s no need for that. Tell me what’s wrong, and we can fix it.”

  She waved the gun at Gina, “She’s what's wrong. Her and all these other bitches. Don’t think that I don’t see you all watching me every second. Like everything I do is wrong. Don’t think I don’t see the way you cozied up to Joe and turned him against me.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Joe creeping down the side of the horses and shook his head slowly. He knew that Joe couldn’t see the gun nor that it was being pointed directly at Gina.

  “Why would I do that? I have a husband already.”

  Hearing this, Tammy looked puzzled for a moment, and the gun wavered. “Because you want what I have and I won’t let you. You go around here like you’re the queen bee, giving out orders left and right and everyone jumps when you say something. Well, not anymore!”

  While Tammy was talking, Gina tried to look past her and see how deeply she’d gotten into the tub of guns. The box the 45 had been packaged in, now lay discarded beside her but as near as Gina could see, the others were undisturbed.

  Gina lunged at the girl, and Tammy pulled the trigger in reflex to Gina moving. “Click click click.” The pistol dry fired. Tammy hadn’t loaded the magazine. Gina twisted the gun from Tammy’s fingers with her left hand and hit her hard in the face with her right. Tammy’s eyes crossed and then rolled up in her head, she slumped sideways against the tub of ammunition and guns.

  Gina stood panting hard with the 45 dangling from her hand. She held it out to Sam and as soon as he took it, Gina bent at the waist and vomited on the road.

  Sam grabbed her from behind when it looked to him like she was going to follow the vomit down to the dirt and supported her until she was done.

  “Don’t you ever do something that stupid again.”

  Wiping her mouth, Gina straightened up, her eyes met Sam’s, “I knew it wasn’t loaded. Or at least there was a good chance it wasn’t.”

  Sam wrapped his arms around her and held on until she quit shaking.

  After Gina had hit Tammy and taken the gun away, Joe came around to the back of the wagon. “I knew there was something wrong with her. She’s been acting stranger and more confrontational since we got to the farm. She got something from the pharmacy in Missoula that seemed to help for a little while, but I think she ran out. She’s been acting worse the past two weeks.”

  “Yeah, she’s been acting like a total psycho; talking to herself and shit. I told you we should have left her in Missoula, but oh no, you felt sorry for her.”

  “What do you want to do with her?” Joe asked.

  “For now tie her up until we can figure out what’s going on, and for Pete’s sake check her pockets. I don’t want her cutting herself loose and hurting someone.”

  Joe used a piece of twine and tied her hands while Journey went through her pockets. She pulled something out and held it in her hands. She held the orange bottle up and peered at the label closer to read what was left of it. “Is this what she got in Missoula?”

  Joe looked, “Nope. It was a white bottle. She had that one with her when we found her.

  “What is it?”

  “Haloperidol. Or at least I think it is. The labels too worn to read all of it. On the bottom it says St. Pe… or something like that, but that’s all I can read.

  “Well, shit. That could explain her strange behavior. What do we do now?” Gina looked to Journey to provide an answer. “She’s only going to get worse as time passes.”

  “St. Pete’s?” Willy asked, having walked up on the last part of the conversation. “That’s a mental institution. Well, not a mental hospital but they have facilities there to treat mental disorders.”

  “You think that’s where she came from?”

  Joe was standing there nodding. He looked at Jesse, “If you think about it, where were we when she found us? Right down there, just past the hospital. How likely is it that she was a patient there? Remember, she had to go into that pharmacy? Maybe she knew without her meds this would happen.”

  “What are we going to do with her? We sure can’t keep her tied up all of the time, and we can’t turn her loose if we can’t trust her. What happens the next time if she manages to load the gun?” Lucy asked, “Maybe next time she kills one of us.” She looked at Gina, “If I were you I would give her a wide birth. She was drilling you with her eyes all morning.”

  Journey shook her head and sighed, “Truthfully, I don’t know. We could take her to Mullan and drop her off and hope she finds her family.”

  “We can do that after we find John. I have no problem taking her there but until then, someone is with her at all times, or she stays tied up. Now, we have to get moving. Leave her tied until we stop for the night.”

  �
�I’ll sit with her,” Lucy volunteered and climbed into the wagon bed.

  Gina walked back to the cart. She had finally stopped shaking. Gina knew that she had reacted not thinking about what she was doing. When she saw the other boxes still neatly stacked she had been pretty sure the ammunition hadn’t been touched. She couldn’t understand Tammy not loading the gun. Could she in her muddled thinking, believe that all guns are loaded when you bought them? Gina had no idea, but was grateful that Sam had moved the plastic tote with the guns up to the passenger floorboards out of reach from Tammy.

  She drove along not thinking about the birds or the scenery or where they were going. She watched the mare’s hips go up and down as she placed one foot in front of the other. The clip clop of her feet had a certain rhythm of its own and the hypnotic effect had soothed Gina almost to sleep so she was startled when the mare stopped.

  They were within two feet of the buggy, and Gina saw Olivia turn and wave to her. Gina waved back. She climbed off the cart and stretched, her butt hurt from sitting on the hard surface and her back ached. She wondered how long she had been in a daze.

  Gina walked up beside Olivia, “What’s going on?’

  Olivia laughed, “I was surprised that you never fell off. Every time I looked at you, your eyes were closed, but you were sitting up straight. Sam said to leave you be.”

  Gina blinked, “This isn’t the first time we’ve stopped?”

  “No!” Olivia laughed out. “When I moved forward that horse just followed along. When we crossed the creek, we stopped, and the boys gave all of the horses a drink from the bucket. You slept right through it.”

  “Where are we now?”

  “I think we’re here. See the clearing? I’m pretty sure this is where we’re setting up camp.”

  Gina walked to the front of the wagon where she found Willy climbing down. As his feet hit the dirt, he groaned, “Damn wagon!”

  “I heard that. Maybe you’d like to trade rides?”