“Pretty good,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t think I can complain.”
“Glad to see you made it out okay.”
“Right,” he said with a laugh. “I should be saying that to you. You were the one who nearly blew himself up.”
“But it worked, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, it did,” he said with a nod. “You blew the whole top of that pyramid apart. Cut the strings on every Wraith in the place. Took the wall down too.”
“The wall?” I asked, confused.
“The back of the cavern wasn’t natural,” Rocke said, grinning. “It was a fake. The whole place was built into a cave under the side of one of the buttes out there. They walled it off and piled dirt across it. When you set that sucker off, it collapsed. Darn near buried you, but once I climbed out, I was able to send up my last few flares and get help.” He let out a little chuckle and shook his head. “Better yet, guess where it was?”
“The outpost?” I asked. “Where?”
“Right next to the cave you and Felix found me in.”
I let out a short laugh. “No wonder Mercury freaked out.”
He nodded. “Yeah, and it explains how Jefferson went missing so quickly. He wandered a little too close to the outpost, and since they were already looking for him …” For a moment we were both silent. He’d been a criminal, yes, but he hadn’t deserved the fate he’d gotten. His wife—or widow, now—even less.
“So, the nurses told me I’d been asleep for about a day,” I said, looking up at Rocke and fighting back a wave of disorientation that made the room spin. “Anyone from the NSAU show up yet?”
“Yeah, last night,” Rocke said, nodding. “They’re taking care of everything. Henderson’s being charged with multiple felonies by both the state and the NSAU. He’ll probably dodge a few of them, but he’s going to prison for a long, long time either way, along with whatever co-conspirators the courts manage to dig up. Well, the ones still alive anyway. Hanks is probably going to spend a little time in jail, as well; they issued a warrant for his arrest a few hours ago.”
“How did he take it?”
“He went quietly, from what I’ve heard,” he said with a shrug, wincing and giving his shoulder a traitorous glance. “He didn’t have much choice. Henderson is doing his best to throw him under the bus, along with anyone else he can implicate. Told the cops about a bunch of campaign bribes and other stuff he’s tossed at Hanks over the years. The sheriff might get out in year or two, but he’s never going to serve the law again. On the other hand, that silver vein has the whole company celebrating. They’ll be out of work for a few days, but when they come back, they’re sitting on top of what might be the biggest lode of silver they’ve ever hit.”
“What about the Wraiths?”
“Dead,” Rocke said with a nod. “Or should I say more dead?” He grinned and I smiled despite my nausea. “Once you took out that pool, they collapsed. Good thing, too. I was out of bullets.” I cocked an eyebrow at him, and he grinned. “I was using one of their paddles on them.”
I laughed. “Of course you were.”
“Hey, you can swing one of those things pretty hard when you’ve got enough motivation,” he said.
“And the outpost?”
“The NSAU’s roped it off for now and put a guard on it, but they’ve got specialists flying in from all over the country to take a look at it. A fully intact Aztec outpost with active spellrunes after all these years? It’s the archeological find of the decade, maybe the century, to hear them talk about it. I heard a rumor that Ford’s already on his way, too.”
“So I’m guessing there are already more theories than either of us want to deal with being thrown around,” I said, envisioning what the place would look like when I next saw it.
Rocke nodded. “The most likely one I’ve heard is pretty much what I’d figured. The Wraiths needed blood to work, which accounts for all of the disappearances and animal attacks over the years, but they spent most of the time hibernating. When Henderson dug into their territory, he woke them all up—”
“And that’s why they were going after Felix’s cows and everything else,” I finished, nodding.
“Bingo,” Rocke said. “They needed a lot more blood all of the sudden, and were probably supposed to go for animal life first. As for why they left Mrs. Fimmlewit and Charlie instead of taking them to the mines like the rest of their victims, my best guess is just that they were more interested in keeping them quiet than punishing them.”
“You make it sound like they were intelligent,” I said.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Just really well made. They’ll be studying those runes for decades.”
“But that’s all out of our hands,” he said, shrugging and wincing once more. “The NSAU has it all.”
“So everything’s good, then?”
“Looks that way.”
“Then I hope you’ll understand when I say I’m not sure I’ll ever take another vacation offer from you ever again,” I said, giving my head the largest shake I felt I could get away with. “You want to hang out when you’re in Vermont? Sure. But a vacation? No way. Just tell me it’s a job.”
“I don’t blame you,” Rocke said, nodding. “And I owe you an apology for this not turning out the way I told you it would. I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted.” I let out a sigh. “And in fairness, we did a good thing, you know? Somebody would have had to take care of it eventually. I was just expecting some relaxing chupacabra hunting instead of this. It wasn’t your fault,” I said, raising one hand. “But I really did hope that this wouldn’t turn into anything outside my league. I’m not an adventurer.”
“Hey, you just took on an army of ancient Aztec death skeletons and won,” Rocke said with a laugh. “Last year, you took apart a Horror with a fire axe. If anyone’s qualified to hold that title, it’s you. But fair’s fair. Next time I call you, I won’t say it’s a vacation. I’ll call it a job and you can assume the worst.” He folded his free arm across his chest as he leaned back against the window, a grin on his face. “But hey, since you’re here and the Aztecs are definitely dead now, you can have that vacation I promised you.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head again and clutching my bowl a little tighter as my stomach flopped. “As soon as I recover, I need to get back. I only had so much free cash to spend, even if the NSAU is taking care of the hospital bills … and … All right, what?” Rocke was grinning at me, one of the widest smiles I’d ever seen on his face.
“Nothing,” he said, his tone completely unconvincing. “You sure you don’t want to stick around for a few weeks, maybe go on a few dates with that nurse who was in here a minute ago? She’s asked about you, you know. Seems to be pretty curious, and not just because you can go all Disney on her and talk with animals.”
I paused for a moment. It was tempting—really tempting—but …
“I’d like to,” I said, shaking my head again. “But like I said, I need to get back to work so I can pay the bills …” Rocke laughed, his shoulders shaking up and down as he tried—unsuccessfully—to hold back his amusement.
“All right, I give,” I said, my tone dry. “You obviously know something I don’t. What am I missing?”
“Well,” Rocke said, still chuckling slightly. “Remember how we wanted to catch a chupacabra, because there’s that nice reward for a live one?” I nodded. “And remember how I said we’d split the cash if we managed it?” I nodded again, my eyes narrowing.
“Well, when the rescue showed up back at the outpost, one of them heard some scraping coming from one of the lower huts that had been blocked off by your bringing the wall down,” Rocke said with a wide grin. “At first, I was worried it was another Wraith or maybe a survivor, but when we got the door open …” His words trailed off as he grinned at me.
“You found a chupacabra?” I asked, barely believing it. “Alive?”
“No,” Rocke said, and I slumped back. Of course th
ey hadn’t.
“We found six.”
My jaw dropped open, and for a moment, even with the vertigo and the room swimming around me, I was completely focused on one single thought. “Six?”
“Yep,” Rocke said, nodding. “We sealed them right back up, too, and let the NSAU take over. They agreed to pay the full fifty-thousand for each of them. Split half-way with you, that’s a sweet—”
“Hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” I said, fixing my eyes back on the horizon as the reeling in my mind started to spread across the rest of my body.
“Yeah,” Rocke said, his grin wide. “So, what do you think now?”
“I think …” I said, forcing myself to calm. “I think I’m going to spend the next day or two right here, especially since the NSAU is buying.”
“And then?” Rocke prompted.
“I think I’ll finally take that vacation you suggested,” I said, putting one hand behind my head, wondering how many nice restaurants there were in Silver Dreams. Or good camping spots, now that I didn’t have to worry about disappearing. “I think I deserve it. Spend some of my reward.” Maybe get a new staff.
“That’s the spirit,” Rocke said. “After all you, can’t just stockpile it all. You’ve got to spend some of it.”
I smiled. “Nope, or you’ll end up just like those Aztecs.”
Rocke laughed. It wasn’t appealing the way Ellera’s was, but it was an honest laugh, all the same. “I guess you’re right. That was all just for some money in the ground, wasn’t it?” He shook his head and patted me on the shoulder. “Well, I need to get back to the hotel. I’ve got a lot of paperwork to go through.”
I let out a groan as he spoke. I’d pulled my status a few times, too, which meant I would have a similar pile once I was back on my feet.
“Relax,” Rocke said as he saw my expression. “I grabbed yours from the NSAU and added them to my stack. It’s the least I can do after everything you went through.” Then he was gone, his steps receding down the hall before I could say thank you. Of course, that was sort of how Rocke was. I had no doubt that if I spent the next week or two in Silver Dreams, doing whatever I felt like, he’d be gone before the first week was up, off on some other job somewhere, even with the extra hundred and fifty thousand dollars in his pocket.
I fixed my eyes back towards the horizon, letting out a sigh of relief as my system finally quieted down. Maybe Rocke had it right, moving from place to place the way he did, jumping from one adventure to the next. And maybe I was a bit more of an adventurous than I was willing to admit. I didn’t quite feel the same as I did after I’d fixed up someone’s garden or driven off an obnoxious pest, but I felt content all the same.
“Hey, you awake?” Ellera asked as she walked into the room. She smiled as she stopped by the side of the bed, and I nodded. “Bored yet?”
“No,” I said honestly. “And I’m not tired, either. Not tired enough to sleep, at least. How are the other patients?”
“They’re fine,” she said, leaning back against the windowsill like Rocke had, the sunlight illuminating her shoulders as it fell across her back. “Thought I’d see if you were up for some company. What’re you thinking about?”
I looked back out the window, running my eyes over the endless expanse of rock and desert. “Mostly about what I’ll do when I get out. I’m in need of a vacation, and I think I’ve earned it.”
Ellera laughed. “I think you have at that. What do you want to do first, once we let you out?”
“I think I’ll find a nice restaurant and have a bite to eat,” I said with a smile. “Any place you might want to go?”
“Me?” she asked, putting a hand to her chest.
“Well, yeah,” I said, nodding. “After all, you know the town, and I need to make up for that greeting I gave you earlier. Just something fun. It’d be nice. What do you think?”
“You know,” she said with a sparkle to her eyes as she leaned forward, a gentle smile on her face. “I think I’d like that.”
“Yeah,” I said nodding as my smile grew wider. “I’d like that, too. As soon as I get out?”
“I think I can get off early whenever that is, assuming I’m on,” she said with a grin. “We can make it work. It’ll be an adventure.”
I almost laughed, but I settled for widening my smile instead. “You know what?” I said, nodding. “I think it will be.”
And for once, I was just fine with that.
Other Works By Max Florschutz
One Drink
Unusual Events
Colony
Keep up to date! Check out the author’s site at maxviking.wordpress.com for writing guides, short stories, and more!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Max Florschutz was born in the small town of Wrangell, Alaska, in 1986, and from an early age displayed a most prodigious imagination—something that would later become a vital component in his storytelling. During his teenage years he worked on commercial fishing boats, saving the money that would pay for both his college education at Brigham Young University and fund a two year, volunteer mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Returning to BYU after his mission, he continued furthering his education, taking a variety of English classes from a number of teachers, including best-selling author Brandon Sanderson. In 2010, Max transferred to BYU Hawaii for his final year before graduating in 2011. After a brief stint in the video game industry, he returned to writing and published his first book in 2013. Emboldened by that success, he pushed forward, and embarked on the career that has continued to thrill him and a host of readers around the world ever since.
You can follow him at his website, Unusual Things, for news, guides, and information about his newest works.
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