“What do you want?” I asked. Under my breath I whispered to Trey. “Keep an eye on our backs.”
“Your horse looks like a fine animal. Would you sell him?” the man asked, stepping closer. I could see one of his hands, but not the other, and I didn’t like it.
“No, she’s not for sale. The pelt is, if you’re interested in buying that,” I said, keeping my eye on the man. I slid my right hand up to the top of my thigh, keeping it close to my gun.
The man looked at the pelt. “Hmm. No thanks. But I like your horse. If you’re interested in selling or trading, you just let me know first, you hear?”
“I won’t; thank you though. Come on, girl.” I gave Judy a little nudge and she walked smartly away. When we reached the next block, I spoke in low voice to Trey.
“Think he’ll leave us alone?” I asked.
“No, we’ll probably see more of them before we leave. Man, I sure thought this was a good idea when I first came up with it,” Trey said, more to himself than me.
“Well, you’re more wrong than right anyway, so this ain’t so bad,” I said. I chuckled as an acorn whistled past my ear.
We reached the center of town and there were several shops and places of business. I went looking for a tanner while Trey stayed with the horses. On the edge of the central square there was a small building. I could see several pelts hanging on frames, stretching as they dried. I recognized several rabbits, a few deer, and there was even a large cow hide.
Inside the shop was a large assortment of hides, and I was grateful to see there weren’t any wolf pelts. Perhaps we could get more in trade.
“Help you, son?” the man behind the table of pelts asked. He was working with some leather on a belt, adding some decoration with a hammer and some punches.
“I have a pelt to sell or trade,” I said, picking up a length of stiff leather. It was tanned black, which really looked nice.
“What kind of pelt?” the man asked with a sigh. “I already have plenty, as you can see. But, since I know your dad, I’ll make you a fair offer, no matter what it is.”
“You know me?” I asked, perplexed.
“Everyone around here does. You’re Josh Andrews, and your old man is the law around here. He’s a good man; helped me out several times.” The man smiled, and stood up. “Where’s your dad?” he asked. “Hope he’s out there taking care of those drifters.”
I shook my head. “My father’s dead. Tripper bit him a while back,” I said quietly as the memories came back all of a sudden.
The tanner sighed deeply. “That would explain a lot. You any good with that gun under your coat?” he asked suddenly.
I started slightly. “I killed the wolf with it,” I said defensively.
The man nodded. “You’re too young to be the law yourself, but maybe in a few years? We’ll see. Let’s take a look at that pelt.”
We walked outside and over to where Trey was waiting. There was a small group of men who seemed to be deep in conversation across the green where we had the horses, but they didn’t seem to be interested in us at the moment.
In the end, we managed to trade the pelt for a new gun belt and holster for myself, and a new knife for Trey. I traded the old pistol for a couple of boxes of 45 Colt ammunition. Apparently I was the only one around who had a gun for it. I was thinking about being able to shoot the rifle chambered for that caliber as well.
Chapter 33
We rode out of town, following the same way we came in. The drifters were still at work, only this time we knew more about who they were. The tanner told us that the drifters were nomads who followed the Trippers, looting homes after the diseased walkers had moved on. They didn’t do anything but take what other people had gathered, going in when it was safe. They were little better than Trippers themselves. Sometimes they finished what the Trippers had started. It was rumored that the drifters killed the survivors if they were weak enough.
We passed the man who wanted to buy Judy earlier, and this time he just looked at me. I held his stare until I had passed, keeping a hand near my gun. If my father had been here, he’d probably have forced that crowd to move on. I felt a wave of sadness sweep over me, and I struggled to keep it together. I knew if any of this crowd saw weakness, they’d follow me home. Deep down, I almost wished they would.
I didn’t know what was coming over me. After losing my parents I was spiraling into a blackness I wasn’t sure I wanted to get out of. Part of me wanted to crawl into a warm bed and cry myself to sleep every night, and the other part, the scarier part, wanted to just hunt down bad people and kill them.
I told Trey what I was thinking, since he was my only friend, and he gave it to me straight.
“Man, don’t be stupid. You got every right to hate the Trippers for what they did. And you been using that anger to focus yourself on fighting them. It gave you something to do and probably will save your life someday. Hell, it already has,” Trey said. He pulled out his new knife. “That wolf you killed would have torn us both apart. If you hadn’t been working with that gun, he’d have been still eating us before killing our horses. You just need some more time to figure things out. It’s going to be a long winter, and we’re both going to be busy trying to survive it.”
I had to admit, Trey was right. I was looking for some purpose, but maybe what I was supposed to do was just survive right now.
We crossed the tracks and started back towards the valley. The creepy house was still there, but the sun had shifted and lit up the back half of the house. The tree that had grown over the roof was grasping at the rear windows, and more than one branch looked like it was going to break the glass any week now.
I pulled Judy into the yard, and Trey followed.
“What are you doing? The sun is setting; we don’t need to be out after dark. If you’re going to prove you’re as nervy as me, you’re too late, man,” Trey chided.
“I want to see if there’s anything to read. I’m running out of material, and I’m not desperate enough for textbooks,” I said, dismounting from Judy. I hit the ground and adjusted my gun belt. It hung lower than the one I had made, with the bottom of the holster nearly touching my knee. I took her lead rope and brought her close to the front door. If I had to get out in a hurry, I wanted her near.
“Man, I heard that,” Trey said, getting off of Pumpkin. He led her over to the other side of the door. He shifted the knife on his belt, getting used to its heft and length. It was a camp knife, about seven inches worth of blade with a simple handle. It was longer and larger than anything Trey had before, and he was very pleased to have it.
I opened the front door and pushed it slowly aside. I stepped in slowly, trying not to make too much noise. The dust on the furniture and the floor told me this house had been abandoned for years, and I didn’t see any footprints that would give away the presence of any Trippers.
“Quick sweep, see what we can find,” I said.
“We looking for anything other than books?” Trey asked, stepping in beside me.
“I’m not, but you’re welcome to whatever you find,” I said. I took a look into the living room, but not seeing any books, I went into the first room I could find. It was a small bedroom with a made bed and two nightstands. There was a bookcase across from the bed, and I immediately went over to it.
“Jackpot,” I said. I grabbed a dusty pillow off the bed and took the pillowcase off to use as a sack. I did that once before at my own house, and my mother gave me three kinds of hell for it. I checked the titles and nearly danced when I saw the first two rows were Louis L’Amour paperbacks. I transferred them to the sack and checked the rest of the titles. There were a few more westerns by Zane Grey and a bunch of things that looked like fantasy or science fiction. I grabbed them anyway, figuring a book was a book. On the bottom shelf there was a thick book, and I grabbed it. It was heavy, and I glanced at the title before I put it in the sack. The cover said The Lord of the Rings, whatever that meant.
Trey came walk
ing out of the back bedroom with a sack of his own. “Found a bunch of romance novels. My mom will love me for this.”
The sunlight was turning from gold to orange, and we needed to get out of the night or we were spending it here. We were about a half mile from the homesteads, and it was going to be a quick run. If the drifters were any indication, Trippers had been through this area recently and there might be stragglers.
We left the house closed up, and mounted our horses. They were not happy about the extra weight hanging from the saddle horn, but it shouldn’t be long in getting home.
The setting sun was casting long shadows across the hilltops, and the valley we needed to go through was shrouded in grey. The shadows of the trees were dark on the ground, spotted with lighter shades of black and brown. The low area by the bridge was just one big dark shadow.
“Well, this is not how I was expecting the ride home to be,” Trey said. “We had to look for books, didn’t we?”
“What’s the big deal? Ride through and we’re done. Hell, the other entrance is right around that tree line,” I said.
“Howdy boys!”
Judy started at the voice, and I had a time calming her down. I was grateful for the chance to hide my own shaken nerves. I never even looked down our back trail, and I cursed myself inwardly for not doing so.
“Jesus! What the hell is wrong with you?” Trey demanded, struggling to get Pumpkin under control.
The drifter from Frankfort had followed us out of town, and we had allowed him to get close—too close. He was leading two other men who were both armed with long sticks and what looked like ropes at their belts.
“Well, I decided I really liked the look of your horses, and figured I didn’t really need to buy them after all. Both of you git down now afore you all git hurt.” The man wasn’t playing at nice now; he was all business.
Trey looked at me, and I looked at his horse and nodded.
“Hang on! They’ll run if we try to get off now!” I said. I kept pulling the reins and giving Judy a kick on the side the men couldn’t see. Trey was still having a hard time, and I could see him pulling on the reins as well. The horses whinnied and danced away from the men, who gave them a wide berth to calm down.
As soon as both horses were facing the road, I gave Judy her head and kicked her in the ribs. She shot out of that driveway like she was launched from a cannon, with Pumpkin right behind her. Trey and I rode low on our horses’ necks, holding tight as we raced away.
All we heard from the men behind us was a startled “Hey!” I threw a quick glance behind me and saw the men were running after us. The men with ropes were running with them in hand, and I was worried if they got close enough they might get lucky and catch one of us in a loop.
We raced down the hill and reached the bottom of the valley where it leveled off before rising again. The bridge was the connection between the sides, and once we started up the other side, we’d leave the men far behind. The setting sun cast a deep shadow here, and it would be pitch black before long, and would stay that way until the moon came out and showed its face.
Suddenly Judy pulled up short, and I had a time settling here again. Pumpkin slid into us, and both Trey and I were hard put to settle the horses for real this time. I looked over at the bridge, and swore softly.
Chapter 34
“Shit!” I lay flat on Judy’s back and prayed she didn’t buck. Trey took his cue from me and did the same, rubbing Pumpkin’s neck and whistling softly to her.
On the far side of the bridge there were four Trippers. I could barely see them in the gloom, but their pale skin stood out. They were walking down the road and would be upon us soon. In between the blowing of Judy’s lungs, I could hear the wheezing of the infected people.
“Hey! Git back here! I gotta come down there, you ain’t gonna like it!” The voice of the man from town echoed down the valley, bouncing off the trees and skimming across the water from the pond.
The Trippers reacted immediately, walking towards the sound and breathing heavier. Unfortunately, that meant they were headed right for us.
“Stay low. Be a part of your horse.” I said softly. “Follow me.” I turned Judy’s head and nudged her with my knees, keeping low on her neck. I could feel her tension, but she stayed true and walked slowly off the road towards the hill on our left. The tall grass silenced her hooves, and I was relieved to see Trey was right behind me. We eased the horses and ourselves slowly through the grass, keeping the Trippers in sight as we let our horses walk away from trouble.
“Where the hell did you two git to, goddammit!” The voice came from lower down the hill. “Whut the hell? Oh, shit!”
The men who were after us must have found themselves face to face with the Trippers, and there was a lot of screaming after that. I heard one man scream he had been bit, another gave out a gurgling cry that ended abruptly, and there was the sound of running feet as one man abandoned his comrades and took off. I heard the meaty sound of a fist striking flesh over and over again, and a deep groan like someone was breathing out his last. If I had to guess, I’d say two men were dead and the third was bringing trouble back to wherever he had come from.
We crossed the small land bridge that separated the creek from the pond and made our way through the forest. Dark branches reached out and caressed our cheeks letting us know we were welcome to stay if we wanted to. Once upon a time there was a campground here, and we rode our horses past the abandoned buildings. These cabins would be useless for defense since they had no fence and were made of thin wood. The only building that might be worth using was the main lodge, but it had huge windows in the front which would be fine until the first Tripper put his head through it.
On the far side of the campground, we hit another wall of brush and trees, and we took a right turn at that obstacle. A hundred yards from there we trotted our horses up onto the road and continued home.
The entire time we spent in the woods Trey and I didn’t say a word. We didn’t know if there were any more Trippers about, and who wanted to bring them home with us?
“Damn,” Trey said.
“No kidding,” I replied. I gave Judy a reassuring pat on the neck, and she rewarded me by putting her ears back and arching her back a little.
We rode back to our houses, and by the time we reached them, it was fully dark. I made a circuit around the perimeter before going in, making sure there weren’t any visitors I didn’t want to have. I put Judy in the garage stall and gave her an extra bit of hay and fresh water. She’d earned it by keeping her cool.
Inside the house was quiet, cold, and dark. It reminded me in a big way that I was alone. I took my gun off and hung the new gun belt off the headboard of my bed. I figured the cowboys of old did it that way. The gun I lay on the side table, easy to hand if I needed it.
I took the books out of the pillowcase and arranged them on the top shelf of my bookcase. I had sixteen new westerns, ten fantasy books, and a few science fiction books. I was set for the winter.
I pulled out the big book, The Lord of the Rings, and hefted it. A book that weighed that much had to have some good material in there somewhere. I opened the book and jumped when something fell out and hit the floor with a metallic ring. I put the book down and felt around on the floor, eventually finding a heavy coin. I picked it up and held it to the candlelight.
It was a gold coin with a woman walking on the front and an eagle on the back. The words on the back said “1 ounce Fine Gold.” I set it down and picked the book up again. Opening it carefully, I saw that the pages had been altered, allowing the gold coins to sit in the book without anyone being the wiser. I counted fifty gold coins in the book, along with fifty more silver coins.
Suddenly I had real wealth, and had no idea what to do with it. Disappointed I couldn’t read the book, I put the fallen coin back, set the unusual bank on the shelf with its brethren, and promptly went to bed.
Chapter 35
The first serious snowfall hit us about
a week later. You could smell it for almost half a day before it arrived. The flakes came down in groups and blanketed the cold ground almost immediately. I had spent the previous week gathering even more wood and laying in supplies, so I wasn’t worried about being snowed in. If I didn’t have Judy to care for, I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of bed for much more than to eat and set another piece of wood in the stove. My dad had put small cast iron stoves in each of the bedrooms early on when the world fell apart. He knew the utilities would fail eventually and made sure we would survive the winters. The stoves sat on ceramic tiles and the pipes went directly out the side of the house. I don’t remember dad installing them, as I was just a baby, but I was grateful these days for the thought he put into making sure his family survived. As I always did, I wished again to have him and my mom back.
I padded downstairs and checked on Judy. She was restless, so I led her outside, and let her walk around a bit. She danced a little in the snow and kicked a few flakes off of some of the bushes. She kept prancing around and shaking her mane, snorting as flakes got in her nose. I had to laugh, since she was acting like a long legged colt who was enjoying her first winter.
She finally came back in, and I spent a good hour rubbing her down. I cleaned out her stall and gave her some fresh hay for the day. I refilled her water trough, and just for fun I floated some snowballs in it. She spent a good ten minutes staring at those round balls of ice before she would take a drink, and even then she eyed the snow warily.
I went inside laughing at my silly horse and for a moment forgot how quiet everything was. I went back up to my room where the stove was happily consuming the oak log I had put in there, and I spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon in a deep dive into one of the westerns I had retrieved. I liked Louis L’Amour a lot, but that Zane Grey had a way with words that made you think.
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