by Geoff North
Lawson brought Dust to a halt in front of the Law House. This was where the Lawman spent most of his days, meting out justice, and imprisoning wrong-doers behind bars to serve out whatever sentences they had received. Most folks the last few years hadn’t spent much time behind bars. Almost all of Burn’s criminals were condemned to climb the tree. There they either hung, or if the rope broke, they got cut.
The wooden tower built above the Law House cast a black shadow over the tree and ground below. It was like a nest, suspended ominously upon four heavy timbers with one ladder leading up. The uppermost branches of the hanging tree touched part of the tower’s railing. Cobe’s father once said the tree and the tower were like lovers, eternally holding hands. Justice and death go hand-in-hand together in Burn. Cobe was surprised he’d remembered the words. Most things that had come out of his father’s mouth was drunken nonsense.
He looked away from the tree and stared at the tower again. The Lawman used to watch folks up on that perch, making sure they weren’t committing depraved acts on their neighbors. Just knowing he was there had kept the most depraved from acting on their worst instincts. Now that the tower sat empty, Cobe wondered who was keeping an eye on things, or if indeed anyone even cared. Lawson slid off from his horse and walked up the rickety front steps of the building. Cobe secured Cloud’s reins to a post, and the boys followed him inside. Jenny remained on the street, sitting high on the Lawman’s horse, staring those down that had started to gather around her.
“This where you used to kill folks?” Willem asked once they were inside.
“No one’s ever died here,” Lawson replied. “Except one piss-drunk idiot what choked on his own puke a few years back.” He went to the solitary desk sitting up against a wall and started going through the drawers. He slammed each of them shut in turn, cursing under his breath. “All my papers… all the books I found in Big Hole and beyond… all gone. Fuckin’ inbred savages took everything. No doubt burned it all in some gawdamn town ritual.”
Willem stood behind him. “Well, most folks probably thought you was dead. Maybe some new Lawman decided to clear yer shit out.”
Cobe walked across the room and stood before the iron barred cage where hundreds of men had been imprisoned, awaiting whatever fate the townsfolk thought best. His ma and pa had spent their last few nights here. Had they begged the Lawman to spare their lives? Had he offered them any kind words in return?
Lawson shoved Willem out of his way and started pushing the entire desk away from the wall. He removed a piece of the wood flooring where his feet used to rest and reached down into a dark hole. “They didn’t clear out all the shit. The braindumbs didn’t even think of lookin’ down here.” He pulled a dirty burlap sack out and dropped it on the desk. “My most prized possessions.”
Willem looked at him questioningly. “Go on,” Lawson said. “Open it up and pull ‘em out.”
Cobe did it for him. An ancient leather belt, oiled repeatedly centuries before and cracked throughout sprung forth. Twin holsters were attached to the belt, the leather on the outsides worn smooth from touch. Cobe dug into the sack deeper and pulled out the first of two heavy handguns. These weren’t like the ones he and his brother had taken from Big Hole. The weapons they’d seen on the armory level were old; they had come from an age long before there were towns called Burn and Rudd. These guns seemed older still. They were bigger, and they were… beautiful. The long grey barrels looked true and strong. The handles looked as though they were made from animal bone, cold under his fingers and gleaming in the right light. These guns stood out from all the others. They were special. He didn’t share the Lawman’s love of weaponry, but if the guns had belonged to Cobe, he would’ve returned for them as well.
Lawson strapped the belt around his waist. Cobe handed him one of the weapons and he dropped it into a holster. It made a satisfied sound that was half crunch and half squeak as it settled into place. The Lawman pulled the second gun from Willem’s admiring fingers and slid it in the other holster. The younger boy spoke. “You didn’t want any of them papers and books… you probably would’ve left ‘em behind if they was here. All you wanted was them pretty guns.”
“Guilty as charged,” Lawson rumbled. “You going to place me under arrest and lock me in that cage?”
“I ain’t got no key, but if I did, I’d probably give it a try.” He started to grin.
Lawson shook his fingers through the boy’s dirty hair. “Good to see you still have that spirit after all we been through.” He looked at Cobe. “I haven’t heard much from you the last few days. We going to put all this roller-shit behind us and start workin’ as a group again?”
“As long as me and Willem don’t get left behind again. Groups stay together.”
“Then I reckon it’s time we left this godforsaken town once and fer all, find Eichberg, plant him in the ground a second time, and then go catch up with the rest.” He pointed at the desk. “Bring the bag, Willem. These guns look awful nice, but they won’t do us much good without bullets.”
Willem peered inside and saw over a dozen cartridge boxes. “There must be thousands of ‘em.”
“We’ll need plenty to get to where we’re going.”
There was something else under the ammunition boxes. Willem could see a few worn corner pages of a book. He reached in for it, but Cobe started pulling him after the Lawman. “Come on, brother.”
They stopped on the front steps. The crowds they’d passed through on the streets had gathered at the Law House. They formed a half-circle around Jenny and the horses, blocking out any way of an easy exit. Four men stepped forward. Cobe recognized them as more of Lode’s followers. They were big and mean-looking—as most of Lode’s men tended to appear. Ervin, the biggest and meanest, stood in front of Lawson with his arms crossed over his chest. “We don’t got no Lawman no more. Don’t need one.”
“I didn’t come back to take the position.” He patted the holsters at his sides. “Just came for the last of my belongings.”
“So now you’re going to ride out of town? Act like nothin’ happened?”
Lawson looked out over the crowd and spoke in a louder voice. “Nothing’s happened here… at least not yet. Wish I could say the same fer Rudd. But you folks keep headin’ down the path of ignorance and stupidity, I’m sure death will come visit Burn as well.”
“Looks like death up and rode into town already.” Ervin pointed up to Jenny. “She’s one of them things what killed all those people in Rudd. Lots of them was from Burn. She ain’t leaving.”
The Lawman took another step down towards him. “You really want to do this, boy?”
Ervin lifted his arms above his head and showed the crowd his dirty hands. “So now you’ll pull your weapons and shoot me down like a dog?” He turned slowly and addressed the people. “This is how it was when the Lawman ruled Burn. He kept us in fear! He threatened us with them terrible guns!”
“I kept order. Lode kept you in fear.”
One of the old women they had seen in front of Abby’s stepped forward. “Lode kept us safe. It was you that brought bad things. She pointed at Cobe and Willem. “You showed their parents books… taught Freeda how to read. Look where that knowledge got ‘em.”
Another one of Lode’s men was pacing back and forth behind Cloud. “And don’t forget the creature sitting up there! I was at the Rites, I saw what those things done to the people of Rudd. I saw how they murdered loved ones from our own village and feasted on their guts. Barely any one escaped that massacre, but I did! I saw that one up there eating human hearts and eyeballs!”
“You’re full of shit,” Jenny said.
“Hang her from the tree,” someone yelled.
Another voice shouted. “Take all four of the fuckers and cut them to pieces!”
The accusations and threats continued. Cobe heard someone say the Lawman had raped Trot. Somebody else called out that it was true, and that Jenny had eaten him before he could return to Burn to seek ju
stice. Fists were shaking in the air, children and some of the younger men started throwing rocks. Cobe saw wooden clubs being pulled out, knives being unsheathed. One of the rocks hit his shoulder, knocking him back into Willem. More stones were being directed at Jenny. The cryer’s chin was nestled into her chest, her arms raised to protect her ears and skull. Rocks and clumps of dry mud were bouncing off her back. Dust whinnied nervously and started to rear up on her hind legs. Jenny would fall in another moment and be trampled under his hooves, or be beaten to death by the hundreds surrounding them.
Lawson drew his guns. He stepped down onto the street and pressed the end of one against Ervin’s pock-marked forehead. The other was levelled at the old woman’s face. He called out in a thunderous voice that silenced the crowd. “If one more stone is thrown… if one more gawdamn lie is told… I will blow the brains outta both of ‘em. And then I’ll shoot off the ten bullets remaining. A dozen of you will be dead at the very least. I expect some of the bullets will take out a few more of you as well.”
An older man worked his way through the clubs and sticks to stand in front of Lawson. He was as tall as the Lawman and roughly the same age. “I was at the Rites as well. I watched my son die.”
The Lawman lowered the gun pointed at the woman’s face. He slipped it back in its holster. A small compromise perhaps, Cobe wondered? The other gun remained stuck against Ervin’s head. Lawson nodded at the older man. “Then you know I had nothing to do with Lode’s death. I was already half-dead before that thing crushed in his skull.”
Lode’s father nodded back at him. “It is true… Ervin and the rest of my son’s friends spread lies. They’re dirty, thieving, whoring assholes.” The crowd started to murmur amongst themselves. Most of the crude weapons were put away. Stones were dropped back to the ground. “But it don’t excuse you none for bringing one of those monsters into Burn.”
Lawson pushed Ervin away and holstered his second gun. He stood eye to eye in front of Lode’s father and called him by name. “Jude… yer son and me never got along, it’s true. I would’ve killed him in that ring if I had the strength.”
Jude shrugged. “I wanted to throttle the fucker a thousand times myself. People feared him in this town. He was a bully and a gawdamn terror to behold. Still… he was my boy, and someone’s got to be held accountable for his death.” He looked up at Jenny. “You and the boys are free to go, the girl stays here.”
“I didn’t come back to Burn to make any deals. She came with us, and she’s leavin’ with us.”
Jude shook his head. “Lode was murdered, and you didn’t return home. That made me town leader. How would the people ever look at me true again if I was to let one of them killers walk? Her kind’s responsible for the deaths of hundreds of our citizens. Judgement will be handed down, and she’ll hang from the tree. If you say any different, all four of you will swing.”
Lawson stepped back and motioned Jenny to climb down off of Dust. The girl looked puzzled, but eventually slid off. Lawson took hold of one of the reins and climbed up in her place. “Cobe, Willem… Get on yer horse.”
Cobe untied Cloud from the post and helped his brother up. The younger boy shouted at the Lawman as Cobe sat in place behind him. “What’s going on? You said no deals. Jenny comes with us!”
“Apparently she doesn’t. Jenny must climb the tree like all them others before her… all them weaker humans … there she’s got to hang on till she drops, or jump and end it quick.” Lawson grabbed the reins from Cobe and pulled on Cloud. “We’re ridin’ north for Rudd. We got ourselves one more cryer to kill.” Both horses began galloping side by side through the town’s center. People scrambled back, some falling against others in a clumsy attempt to avoid being trampled under the animals’ hooves.
Jenny saw the big wooden door leading out of town open back up in the distance. Seconds later it closed again. The Lawman had passed sentence in Burn one final time. He’d left her there to die.
Chapter 23
Sara and Kay saw Angel returning from the east. She was riding Spot, and there was no one sitting behind her. “Damn that stupid Trot,” Sara whispered. They were standing at the top of the hill Trot had kept watch over the night before. The river she had shown them on the map was a still a hundred or so miles to the west. They hadn’t moved an inch in that direction for the last twenty-four hours. The last day had been spent wandering out everywhere but west, searching for Trot.
“Are we going to leave him out here, Ma?”
Sara nodded solemnly. It was bad enough she’d allowed Cobe and Willem to sneak off. But the boys had each other at least. They were smart enough to find Lawson. She couldn’t say the same for Trot. “We’re too low on water to stay. We might not make it to that river at all now, but we can’t wait here any longer.” She cursed his name again. “Why’d he have to go off like that?”
“You know why. He felt guilty for letting the boys run off, and set out on his own to bring them back.”
Sara started down the hill towards Angel. “He didn’t have much success.”
Angel rode up as they were settling in on their black stallion. “There’s all kinds of tracks out in the open,” the homely girl said. “Most of ‘em are roller. They pretty much tore up any other foot marks that might’ve been there.”
Sara nodded. “We saw roller tracks to the north as well. He’s dead already… or will be soon.” She prodded her daughter in the ribs, and Kay snapped at the reins. The horse began trotting westward.
Angel caught up a second later. “We gonna just leave him out there? Shouldn’t we at least keep looking for his body? If my parents was still living they’d expect us to give him a proper burial.” She recalled her mother being torn apart by a pack of howlers. If Angel hadn’t been too busy running to save her own life, she would’ve planted the woman’s remains into the earth herself. Then again, there probably wasn’t much left to bury after the howlers had finished with her.
“We don’t have time to waste on finding and burying corpses.” Sara locked eyes with Angel as the girl rode next to them. “There’s a good chance the rest of us will be dead before we get to that river.”
***
The gnarled old tree was the only thing Trot had seen left standing in the dry plains since running off to find the boys. Rollers and howlers had trampled and eaten everything else. The land outside the towns belong to monsters, he thought grimly, untying the rope belt around his waist. I learned that weeks ago. It was dumb to set after the Lawman like I did. I should’ve stayed in Burn. People hated me, but I was safe. His pants fell down around his ankles, but Trot didn’t care. And it was even more dumb to leave the girls to try and find the boys on my own.
He kicked the pants away and stared up at the lowest branch. “Now I’ve up and got myself lost again.” He spoke quietly, even though there wasn’t anyone around for miles to hear. “I’m sorry I broke my promise, Lawson. I’m sorry for bein’ so… so dumb.” He tossed one end of the rope above his head and watched it catch and curl on the branch. He caught it as it came back down and stared at the two ends in his hands. He pulled them towards his neck and realized it wasn’t long enough to create a noose to hang himself from.
“Gawdamn it.”
He let the rope fall to the ground and sat up against the dead tree. Trot started to cry. If the rope had been a mile long, he wouldn’t have known how to tie a noose. And even if he had, the branch sticking out above his head probably wouldn’t have held his weight. “I’m too dumb, and I’m too gawdamn fat.”
Trot sank his head into his hands and cried harder.
The man in the distance heard him wailing. He spotted the tree seconds later in the west and saw Trot sitting beneath it. He started towards him. At least he isn’t covered in gore and frothing at the mouth, the man thought as he got closer. Maybe he’ll answer some questions instead of trying to tear my throat out.
Trot looked up as the shadow fell over him. “Just my luck,” he blubbered. “The last person
I’m gonna see before dyin’ is one of them freaks from Big Hole.”
“Big Hole?”
“It’s where you came from, ain’t it?”
“I exited from a subterranean installation. I’ve been wandering in this wasteland for over a day searching for a city, a town… a road. There’s nothing left, absolutely nothing.”
Trot wiped his eyes dry so he could see better. “You look just like a man I woke up out of his coffin. You even talk the same… saying words that make no sense.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re a cryer. You wear funny-lookin’ clothes like the rest of them.”
The man looked down at his dress suit. People he worked with dressed like this every day. Where did I work? “Why did you call me a cryer?” There was something about the word that seemed familiar. Something important. “What does it mean?”
“That’s what Jenny calls them, and she should know, ‘cause she is one.” Trot watched as the man continued to inspect his strange clothing. “You got a name?”
“I’m Hank.” His eyes opened wide. “Yes… my name is Hank.”
“Folks from Big Hole got second names, too. What’s yours?”
Hank’s mouth opened, but no words came out. His brows drew together with a look of concentrated forgetfulness. A flash of light. His best friend tearing apart, disintegrating. “I’m… my name is… Hank. I was born in… I was born in Kansas, and I… I… that’s all I remember.”
“Are you gonna eat me, Hank?”
Hank offered Trot a hand and pulled him up. “I hadn’t planned on it.” His stomach rumbled. He was starving. His mouth watered as his eyes settled on Trot’s meaty forearm. What is wrong with me? What have I become? “Do you know where we can find food?”
“We got a bit left in the saddlebags, enough to get us to that river on the Lawman’s map.”
“You’re travelling on horseback?”
Trot shrugged. “I was, up until I wandered away lookin’ for some friends and got lost myself.”