Samuel smiled at her excitement.
“I suppose we could stay up there a couple of nights,” I said, hesitantly. “Without a locked door?” I asked for clarification.
“No locked door. And then Taylor can move into your old cabin tomorrow.”
“A place of my own. That sounds good to me,” said Taylor.
From their change of expressions, Jill, Paul, and Gary had relaxed when Samuel had said the door would remain unlocked. They each said “Good night” and moved to the door. Paul motioned me over. “Watch out for Taylor. All of us have a bad feeling about him.”
“Me, too. Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Glad you made it back safely with your family. I’m anxious to hear all about the trip,” he said as he turned and walked away with a smile and casual wave.
We hadn’t really been together all that long on our trail of doom, but the ordeal we’d experienced together had bonded us together forever. I felt like I had known them all of my life and trusted each of them completely. We were family.
Samuel also left after telling us to have a good nights sleep and that he would stop by to see us in the morning.
We headed upstairs. It was just as I had remembered with rows of cots along the walls.
Taylor turned around to go back downstairs.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“I’m going outside for a while if it’s okay with you,” answered Taylor. “I’m not quite ready to turn in yet.”
I was suspicious, but I nodded.
Shortly after Sarah, Christopher, and Cindy had settled in, they quickly fell fast asleep, exhausted from the long day. However, I wasn’t quite ready to sleep. I was still uneasy with Taylor roaming around, so I went downstairs to check on him. Opening the front door, I found him sitting just outside on the stoop. He heard the creak of the door opening and turned around.
“Old habits die hard,” he said.
I wasn’t sure what he was talking about and I guess it showed on my face.
“I’m used to staying awake all night and sleeping in the daytime.”
Even though I didn’t trust him, I was grateful for him keeping my family safe while I was away. But I’d learned a long time ago to trust my instincts, and right now they told me he was no good.
“I think I may take a little walk and check this place out,” he said, standing.
“I wouldn’t wander off too far. You’re still a stranger here. I’d hate for you to get shot.”
He smiled. “You’re not worried about me, are you?”
It couldn’t have been further from the truth. “Come on up when you get ready,” I mentioned, closing the door until only a crack remained. The room behind me was dark, not giving me away. I continued to watch him as he walked away until he disappeared down the street. I had a bad feeling about him having so much freedom. I had brought him here, which made him my responsibility.
During the last couple of months Taylor had spent a considerable amount of time with my family and they all seemed to trust him. After the short amount of time I’d spent with him on the trail, I didn’t see it. What I saw was a snake in the grass waiting for his chance to strike. There was something about the look in his eyes and the feeling that everything coming out of his mouth was a lie. Even though I didn’t have any proof, I couldn’t help thinking he was up to no good.
Sarah came up behind me, peering over my shoulder. “Come on to bed, he’ll be all right.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.” I forced a weak smile and closed the door.
* * *
I woke to the loud, repeated ringing of the church bell. It was clear something was wrong. I quickly slipped my boots on and headed for the door.
“John, what’s the matter?” asked Sarah, just waking up.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Even though there weren’t any windows in the upstairs room, a faint light filtered in through the doorway from a window at the top of the stairs. It was enough to take a head count before I left. Taylor was missing. Other than the cots where my family slept, there was no indication any of the other ones had been slept on.
“Dad, can I come with you?” asked Christopher, now sitting up.
“No, you need to stay here and watch over your mom and sister. Can you do that?”
He nodded.
I don’t think he was fully awake yet anyway. I ran down the stairs and out the door. With the sun beginning to peek above the horizon, a group had already gathered in front of Town Hall. From the yelling, it sounded as though they were upset. Someone continued to frantically ring the bell.
“What’s the trouble?” I asked, joining them.
One of the men looked at me, anger in his face and eyes. “Your friend stole my horse and rode off.”
I had been afraid something like this would happen. I shouldn’t have let him walk off last night. “I’m sorry. Are you sure it was him?”
“It was him all right! That’s how I got this!” he yelled, turning his head so I could clearly see a large red welt on the side of his face.
Samuel pushed his way through the crowd. “What’s going on?” he asked.
The angry man went directly up to him, toe to toe. “This man’s friend struck me and stole my horse! I knew we never should have allowed strangers here. What are you going to do about it?” The man’s face appeared to be getting redder the more he vented.
“Joshua, you must calm down,” said Samuel. “You are too quick to anger. Remember, you were a stranger here once too.”
In an instant the man’s attitude changed completely, becoming calm. It was as though Samuel somehow had control of him.
“I’m sorry, Samuel.”
Samuel stepped back and addressed the rest of the crowd. “All of you, go on home.”
The crowd was reluctant to go, but offered no argument. “Go on,” he repeated, in a calm voice. “Get ready for work.” They slowly dispersed and moved off. Obviously, his word was final. I had seen his words have this affect on people before.
Samuel turned to me. “John, I know it’s not your fault, but some may not see it that way.”
“There’s only one reason I can think of for him to have stolen a horse. He’s going to tell the governor about this place and lead the Guard back here for a reward. I won’t let it happen, Samuel. I’ll make this right.”
“There’s no reason to be concerned,” said Samuel with his ever present smile, patting me on my shoulder. “The Good Lord will protect us.” He turned and walked away, leaving me standing alone in the street. I couldn’t believe his nonchalant attitude. I had never trusted in faith the way he did. I turned back toward Town Hall to see Jill, Paul, and Gary waiting for me.
“Did you hear?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Jill. “I wish there was something we could do.”
“I’d appreciate it if all of you could keep an eye on my family until I return.”
“Then, you’re going after him?” asked Gary.
“I have to. I’m afraid I don’t have the same faith Samuel does. I’m going to need a horse to catch him.”
Levi stepped out of the shadows. “I’ll have one here for you by the time you’re ready to leave.”
I nodded a ‘thank you,’ then went upstairs to tell my family what Taylor had done.
“I can’t believe it,” said Sarah. “He would never do anything to harm us.”
“Well, he’s done it now. If I don’t stop him, I know he’ll lead the Guard here. It’ll change everything. They’ll take over the valley and treat these people just like they do the ones at Tent City, like slaves.”
Sarah sat on one end of a cot and began to cry. “I thought we could trust him,” she said between sobs. “We treated him like a friend. How could he do this?”
“It’s okay, Mom,” said Cindy, sitting beside her and taking her hand. “He had all of us fooled.”
“I have to
go now,” I said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I gave Sarah a smile and walked out of the room.
“John!” yelled Sarah. I stuck my head back in. “Be careful.”
I smiled again. “Always.”
A horse was waiting just as Levi had promised, tied up in front of Town Hall. Jill was there too. She handed me a small bag and two canteens. “There’s food in the bag,” she said. I mounted up and gave her a nod. “Be careful,” she said, the exact words my wife had used.
We needed to have a heart to heart when I got back. I nudged the horse into a trot. At the edge of town, Levi stood. He gave me a “Good Luck” as I rode by.
Chapter 10
I estimated Taylor had about a half-hour head start, potentially too far ahead for me to catch up. However, my chances would improve greatly if he pushed his horse to the point of collapse or if he had an accident. Either way, it would be to my advantage. There was another possibility. During the brief time I’d known him, he’d demonstrated an attitude of cockiness that annoyed me. If he believed he was far enough ahead to be safe, and slowed down, that too would give me a chance. I rode hard, determined to catch him, or until I knew I had failed.
Still dark, I had to assume he was staying on the main trail that he was familiar with. I couldn’t see any evidence of him coming this way, but I had no choice but to keep going and hope I was right. Then the impossible happened. I came across his horse writhing in pain on the ground next to the trail with a badly broken leg. It appeared he had stepped into a prairie dog hole. Taylor hadn’t had the decency to put him out of his misery and I couldn’t let it continue to suffer. I pulled out my pistol and dismounted. He was thrashing wildly, wanting the pain to end. As I stepped closer, a calmness came over him and he laid his head on the ground. Holding my reins tightly, I pointed the pistol behind his eye and pulled the trigger. It was quick and his suffering was over. Afterward, I didn’t feel like continuing the chase, even though I knew Taylor was now on foot and near my grasp.
As the morning sky began to lighten, I could see where Taylor had hit the ground and rolled. As a result of the unfortunate accident, my chances of catching him had just greatly improved. I was sorry for his horse, but stopping him would be saving Paradise and everyone in it, not just a matter of getting even.
It appeared he had left the main trail and was heading toward the rocky area Ryder and Levi had led us through, making it harder for me to follow. But, with me on horseback and him on foot, I decided to gamble and stick to the main trail. I’d be able to move faster and potentially head him off.
With each of us on different trails, there was no way of knowing whether I was gaining on him or not. I stopped once, only briefly, to let my horse have a moment of rest and to have some water. There was a dead silence all around me, no sounds of insects, coyote, or birds. It was the same eerie absence of sound I had experienced when I was here before with the others. Then, the silence had only been broken with the occasional word uttered around the campfire and the crackling of the fire. Perhaps this silence was the new normal since nothing seemed to live here. I was feeling the same sensation as before, as though someone was watching. It was an unsettling feeling.
Then, I heard something familiar. I remained still, concentrating, as I tried to identify the sound and where it had come from. There were voices north of me. One good thing about the silence and these wide open spaces was that sound carried.
I walked toward the voices with my horse in tow. The voices were getting louder. They were excited. I tied the reins to a mesquite branch and moved closer, crawling on my hands and knees to the top of a small ridge. There was a fire with several men standing around it, all in Guard uniforms, one in a black officer’s uniform. This had to be one unit sent to find us. I surveyed the campsite. There didn’t appear to be any sentries. Then I saw him, Taylor, and he was excitedly talking to the officer. I cursed. I was too late. I had failed.
I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I could guess. Taylor undoubtedly was telling them everything about Paradise. He hadn’t had to go all the way back to Sector 4 to report his discovery after all.
I guessed there were around thirty members of the Guard. The governor was taking our escape far too serious. Why should he care if one small family disappeared out of the thousands remaining in Tent City?
My gut had been right all along, Taylor was the snake I’d believed him to be ever since our first encounter when Sarah introduced us. He’d run to the Guard at his first opportunity, against us and for himself from the start. I had no doubt he intended to lead them to the valley and there didn’t appear to be any way of stopping them.
Even though it hadn’t been mentioned specifically, I was under the impression Samuel and the others in the valley were against violence of any kind. And if that was the case, they wouldn’t put up a fight, letting the Guard roll right over them. I knew Samuel wouldn’t blame me, but it would be my fault. If it hadn’t been for me going back to get my family, none of this would be happening. But I wasn’t going to apologize for wanting a better life for them. The only way I could think of to stop them and protect the valley was to find Ryder before it was too late. I had my suspicions he was somewhere nearby. I doubted if the Guard did anything out here without someone from the Raiders knowing what they were up to. Perhaps they were watching me right now. Maybe it was the sensation I had felt earlier. I hoped I had time to find them.
The Guard didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave their campsite with night coming in only a few hours. It would probably be dawn before they moved out. If successful, there would probably be rewards and or promotions for every man in the group. A question that occurred to me was whether they had the authority to proceed to Paradise based solely on Taylor’s word. It wasn’t what they’d been sent out here to do.
I eased my way back to where I had tied up my horse. I untied the reins and began to mount. A hand rested on my shoulder. I jerked around, reaching for my pistol, expecting to see one of the Guard’s sentries, but instead seeing Ryder with his hands up and a big smile.
“My, we’re a bit jumpy, aren’t we?” he commented, two of his men behind him, also smiling at my expense.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on someone like that.” I took a deep breath. “I was hoping you were close by. I need your help.”
“I noticed. It seems one of your traveling companions isn’t what he appeared to be.”
“Oh, he turned out to be exactly what I thought he was. I just hoped I was wrong.”
I didn’t really know anything about Ryder either, other than him being Samuel’s son. People can change according to their environment and he’d been living out in the wasteland for four years. If anything could change a person, that would do it. Granted, he had helped us get away from the Guard once already, but then so had Taylor, supposedly. Until I knew more about him, I was going to assume he was just the lesser of two evils. For now, I needed his help again, in stopping what I perceived to be the greater evil.
“Where’s the rest of your group?” he asked.
I knew he already knew the answer to that. His brother had been taking us to Paradise even though the words hadn’t been stated specifically.
“They’re a little ways south of here in a safe place,” I replied. “But you already knew that. I can’t let the Guard get to Paradise or take my family back. Can you help?”
He continued to smile, but not in a suspicious or Cheshire cat way, not the way Taylor had. There was something familiar about it though and his whole relaxed demeanor. It reminded me of Samuel.
“I think we can help. Stay here and we’ll be back in a little while.” They tied up their horses to low-lying mesquite branches and took off together on foot, staying low and strangely seeming to be enjoying themselves. I watched intently, anxious to see what good three men could do against a squad of guards.
Time passed slowly as I waited to see what would happen next. All of a sudden there was a commotion in the Guard’s camp w
ith men running and shouting with shots fired. I saw the images of horses running by their campfire and a growing dust cloud. The guards were running frantically in all directions. Ryder and his men must have cut loose and stampeded their horses. An act that would definitely disrupt the Guard’s plans. The officer was yelling to his men, trying to restore order, telling them to retrieve the horses and find the intruders.
Shots randomly rang out. I heard the sound of movement in the brush as it came toward me. I ducked down and drew my pistol, prepared for whoever it was. Ryder and his men came running out of the brush, exhilarated, happy, and out of breath, as though they had just played a hilarious prank, which I guess they had.
“We should probably be leaving now,” he said. “They’re pretty ticked off, but it’ll take them a while to round up their horses and regroup. Maybe it’ll give us time to get away. They’re going to want to get even with whoever they can get their hands on. All we did was slow them down temporarily. I think you can count on them to keep coming.”
“Did you see Taylor?” I asked. “Without him, they won’t know where to look for the valley.”
“Sorry,” said Ryder. “We did see one man ride off, probably sent for reinforcements. But, I can’t say whether it was Taylor or not. It’s probably best to forget about him for now.”
“I can’t. I’ve got a score to settle.” I paused. “So, where do we go now?” I asked.
With a bright, wide smile, “Back to Paradise to join your family and friends, of course.”
* * *
As we rode, the sounds of chaos from the Guard’s camp faded away. We were headed south and Ryder was leading the way.
An hour later and the sun was above the horizon. I noticed we had merged with the main wagon trail again. I’d only been on this trail a couple of times before, but I felt like we were getting close to the valley. Then, I heard the distant ringing of the church bell, alerting the community of someone coming. It was good to be back.
Paradise (Aftershock Series Book 1) Page 12