“No idea,” I said. I was planning on leaving them a couple of silver coins for the food and lodging.
“Think they will be back before dark?”
“No idea. This doesn’t look like a very secure place. They must have either a hiding place or they just run when the Trippers come,” I said.
We went upstairs and got ready for bed. I looked out the window and something in the yard didn’t look right. I looked again and called Kim over.
“I think I found our hosts,” I said.
“Oh, dear,” Kim said.
Out in the yard, there were two human-shaped lumps in the snow. One was out by a building and the other was closer to the house. They were facing each other, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that one had been attacked and the other had tried to help. Bad luck. Chances were it had happened recently.
“Well, we can try and bury them tomorrow. Least we could do for their post-mortem hospitality,” I said.
“Ugh. You can do that. I hate moving bodies,” Kim said.
“Okay, but you have to take care of the horses,” I said.
“That’s not fair. Judy doesn’t like me,” Kim complained.
“Grab some corpse then,” I said.
“Arrgh!” Kim tackled me onto the bed. I wasn’t sure if she was taking my suggestion literally and was going to kill me or she was mad about my making her work tomorrow. Either way, we got into bed, which helped, since I was actually very tired.
Chapter 54
I found a pick and a shovel in the work shed, and went to work in the early morning. I had gotten out of bed before Kim awakened, and I spent some time with the horses. Judy was glad to see me, and Missy was too. I fed them, gave each a good combing, and let them out into the small pasture behind the barn. It was fenced-in, so I wasn’t worried about them wandering.
I dug a single grave for the both of them, and took blankets out of a closet to cover them in. I placed them side-by-side and filled the grave. I did not look at either one of them, as I had seen Tripper work before.
As I buried them, and finished covering the grave, I had to wonder how they got caught outside the way they did. The house was very sturdy; in the light of day, I could see that it was more of a fortress than a house. The door was solid, and there were shutters that actually closed up the windows. They were solid as well. I saw that when the shutters were closed, there were no edges for Trippers to grasp; it was a smooth wall. I had to admire the ingenuity of the solution. They didn’t need more walls; they just made the ones on their house impregnable. The only flaw in the plan was you had to be inside the walls to be safe.
Kim and I had breakfast, and I spread the map of Illinois I had out on the table.
“Here we are,” I said, finding Ashkum. I drew a line all the way down to Marion. “And here is where we want to go.”
Kim looked at the distance. “Good heavens, that’ll take a month.”
“About that much, maybe more,” I said. “On the plus side, it’ll be warmer every day we get closer to spring.”
“Bonuses all around,” Kim said. “How was the burying?”
I caught the change in subject and played along with it. “They didn’t object,” I said. I looked Kim straight in the eyes. “Something on your mind?”
Kim looked out the window and then down at the map. She traced a finger down the border between Illinois and Indiana. “I don’t know. Maybe I wonder if we should try our luck on the other side. With your skills and my memories, we could get out of here, make a life.” Kim looked at me.
I shook my head. “For how long? At some point, we would make a mistake. Then it would be all over. The people over there don’t want us. They walled us in and let us die. They didn’t care. I’ve seen them kill.”
Kim sighed. “I know. But I wonder sometimes.”
“Tell you what. Once we’re settled in down south, there’s nothing saying that we can’t find a safe way over and visit from time to time when we want to,” I compromised.
Kim brightened immediately. “Really?”
“It would take some doing, but I think it could be done,” I said. “Might even be fun to play both sides.”
Kim hugged me and we set about preparing for our next step in our journey. We decided to spend a couple of days here, and give the horses a good rest. I took my bow and went into the woods across the street, and had good luck getting two rabbits.
Kim practiced with her bow, shooting from longer distances. I showed her how to use the Winchester, and she thought she might want a rifle of her own. I told her she could have the shotgun, it wasn’t being claimed by anyone. She liked that idea until she shot it; even I didn’t like the kick on that mule. We left that one where it was.
Chapter 55
On the second day, we decided to get moving. The day was very bright and I could tell the horses were starting to itch for the trail. Judy was a horse born for the explorer, and I wasn’t cruel enough to keep her penned up. Missy did whatever Judy did, only with a healthy dose of cussedness. That was a word I found in my westerns and it fit her to a T.
I-57 was a long, lonely stretch of road, and I found it hard to imagine that people used to drive all over the country on roads like this. I’d have been bored out of my mind, constantly wondering when I would arrive at my destination. At least on horseback you had the advantage of moving slowly, taking in the scenery. Of course, in the middle of Illinois, there wasn’t much to the scenery, but here we were.
Towards the end of the day, we decided to get off the road and make a camp for the night. We got off the highway at some county road that didn’t even have a name. There was a house to the east and we started for it. In the distance, there was a large farm operation, which would be our second choice if the house didn’t pan out.
I had my eye on the house when Kim turned and looked at out back trail. She did that a lot, probably from her days of running from the Trippers all the time.
“What’s that?” she asked.
I looked back, shading my eyes from the setting sun. It looked like two large boxes were sitting on the road behind us, about five hundred yards back.
“Not sure,” I said. I hadn’t remembered seeing those boxes when we got off the road, but then I was concentrating on getting Pumpkin up a steep hill while pulling a sled.
“It’s weird they would be in the road like that,” Kim said. “Should we go see?”
“We can check it out in the morning,” I said, leading the horses into the driveway of the house.
I got off Missy and led her and Pumpkin over to the large barn near the house. The house was old, with a large tree in the front yard. There was a wind break that had to be a hundred years old, and the outbuildings looked like their best days were long behind them. The barn looked much newer, and it took a moment to check it out and get the two horses put away and the wagon as well.
I went back outside and Kim was still sitting on Judy. Her head was down on her chest, like she had fallen asleep. I went over to her and put a hand on her leg.
“Hey, sleepy, you can do that inside,” I said, jokingly.
Kim said nothing; she just slumped over and fell off Judy into my arms.
“Whoa!” I said, catching her. I put her on the ground and then I noticed her chest was covered in blood.
“Kim? Kim? KIM!” I yelled, shaking her and checking her for life. I found no pulse at her throat or her wrist.
“No, No, NOOO!” I raged, not knowing what to do. I pulled my gun and looked around. I didn’t see anyone anywhere. I hadn’t heard any shot, either. Judy stamped her feet, and then there was a sickening sound of metal striking flesh. Judy let out a deep groan, then slumped to her knees. She lay down slowly, putting her head out. I reached out a hand and Judy breathed her last onto my palm.
I roared in pain and anger, my heart torn at what had just happened. In the space of a few seconds, I lost the woman I loved, and the horse that had been my loyal companion for most of my life. I couldn’t breathe
, I couldn’t see.
I carried Kim over to the house and laid her down gently. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was sleeping, but I knew she would never wake up in this world again. I ran over to the barn and grabbed my heavy Savage rifle off the wagon. I already had my bow and Colt, but I needed to figure out what the hell had just happened and who was responsible.
My first thought was the two boxes we had seen on the road, and so I circled back around the house to try and get a look through the wind break. I had no idea where shots might come from, or if I would even hear them. I stayed low, easing through the grass like I was stalking someone.
Which, as I thought about it, I was. My face was impassive, but tears ran down my cheeks as I thought about Kim and Judy. I was sick at heart, but my pain was balanced by the nearly overwhelming desire to kill, to smash, to destroy. I wanted to cause pain, I wanted to hurt something, I wanted to hear someone beg for their life.
I wanted vengeance.
Chapter 56
I looked through the trees and down the road, and saw the boxes were moving closer. I could see now they weren’t really boxes, but rather boxy trucks. They were well armored, and the armor extended nearly to the ground, causing them to look the way they did.
I took aim at the driver’s window of the nearest one and fired, sending a bullet through the glass. The large vehicle swerved suddenly, running south off the road. The truck behind it stopped and two men got out, running to the side and taking cover behind it.
Four more men got out of the truck I had shot and joined the other men. I moved from my position to a new one, and glad I did. Three of the men began firing their weapons, neither of which made a sound louder than a handclap. It was no wonder I hadn’t heard the shots that killed Kim and Judy.
They weren’t the only ones who could shoot quietly. I pulled my bow and measured the range carefully. There was no wind, and I pulled the bow back. I had to relax and try again twice due to my hands shaking. I took a deep breath, steadied myself, and loosed the arrow. I backed away from the tree and moved again.
There was a scream and a man fell to the ground, an arrow sticking out of his face. He didn’t move, and I knew I had killed him. I was using my compound bow, so the arrows were little more than black streaks through the air.
More bullets ripped the trees, and I had to take cover behind a larger one, but not before I shot another arrow, this time without aiming. I hit something metal, but no one else screamed. The bullets hit the house, and I hoped the horses were okay. Suddenly, the firing stopped, and I heard a voice calling out.
“Hey, Runner! You still alive?”
I didn’t respond. I lay down on the ground and sent another arrow roughly in the same direction as the other one. It struck something metal and there was a healthy round of cursing.
“You’re a dumb son of a bitch, you know that?” the voice called again. “I figured you’d have disappeared after you found the bodies of that couple at the farmhouse. But you buried them and walked right towards us.”
I lay back and cursed myself for a damn fool. I never checked those bodies for any wounds. I just assumed they had been killed by Trippers. They had been tracking us the whole time. They just kept the spies out of sight.
The voice continued. “Just so you know, you bastard, you hauled me out of a very comfortable base on the other side of the wall and made me come to this shithole. You killed my men, shot down my drones, and probably infected people in the civilized world with who knows what. We had to test that whole high school for the Tripp virus, you asshole!”
While he was talking, I stood back up, and moved back towards the house. Once around back, I ran for the barn and grabbed my heavy rifle again. I went over to the trees and found an opening to see what they were doing.
“Just so you know who killed you and your woman, my name is Captain Vega, and I killed dozens of you seventeen years ago when the wall first went up. And by God, I will kill you.”
There were three more of them; two were pointing rifles in my direction and the other was sitting in the truck. I lined a shot up and exhaled slowly, bringing the trigger back slowly. The rifle bucked, and there was suddenly only one man holding a rifle.
“You son of a bitch!” the man yelled and suddenly bullets ripped all around me. I dove for the ground and crawled back towards the house. I ran around to the other side and waited as I heard the truck’s engine suddenly roar. I lay down to present a smaller target and the truck raced past the house. A man on the outside was firing towards the house and the other was driving. I shot at the man firing, and cursed when my gun went empty. I think I hit him, because he jerked suddenly and scrambled inside.
The truck rolled out of sight, and I could do nothing but watch it leave. I did get a good look at the driver, and I knew I would remember him.
When the adrenaline wore off, I went over to Kim and I just cried for a long time. I kept telling her I was so sorry for my mistake and for not protecting her. I took her inside and lay her on a bed. I covered her with a blanket and went out to the barn. I calmed the horses down, and took them out to let them walk a bit. They both went over to Judy and smelled her, nudging her a little bit. Judy was beyond responding, and eventually, the horses knew what I did and they walked away, saying their goodbyes. Missy reared and neighed, and Pumpkin just blew several times.
I knelt down by my old friend and put my hand on her neck. I couldn’t do anything but shed fresh tears that splashed down on her hide. Judy had been with me for so long she was family. She was the last link I had to my home and now she was gone. And for what? I just didn’t understand why.
I dug a grave for Kim and lay her in it, covering it with dirt and laying stones over the top. I put together a cross to mark her grave, knowing it wouldn’t last long in the winters here, but maybe with luck, it might. I hung her bow on the cross; I figured she might need it in the afterlife if the Trippers had crossed over.
I used the other horses to drag Judy to the ditch, then I spent a day burying her as well. She deserved better than just to be left out to rot. I covered her in stones and lay a marker for her as well. She was my friend and savior more times than I could count, and I owed her a debt.
Chapter 57
I spent the next few days trying to figure out what I was going to do. I couldn’t just let this go. My world had been destroyed, and someone had to answer for it. I looked to the east every morning and a growing hatred started in my heart. I wanted to hurt that world out there, I wanted to teach them a lesson they would never forget. I wanted to take their world away from them.
The truck had stayed where it was since I had shot the driver, and I had not bothered to bury the men I had killed. I couldn’t care less what happened to them. I took their weapons and gear, and whatever I found useful, but they were worth less to me than the wood I burned for fuel.
One day, I went into the truck and found a load of supplies, food, and weapons. There was a lot of ammunition for the guns, and I felt like I had hit the motherload. I tried starting the truck, but it was dead. Apparently, the arrow I put into it had done something to the engine and killed it. That wasn’t too much of a problem. I didn’t know how to drive, anyway. There was one item that was interesting. It was a small box that had a small keypad on it like an old telephone. On the back was taped a handwritten note with some numbers and names on it. I wasn’t sure what that meant but it seemed important so I held on to it.
I was reluctant to leave the house and barn, since it was where Judy and Kim were buried, but I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. I had a plan, and it was going to take some work, but I really had nothing else to do, and no one to live for. Revenge was my family now.
I had one weapon to use against that world, and I planned on making it painful.
Chapter 58
After two weeks in the same place, it was time to get moving. The weather was starting to warm up and there was a feel of spring in the air. The Trippers were going to be more ac
tive and hungry as the weather got better, which suited me just fine.
I needed to move faster than I had in coming down here, so I decided to alter the wagon a bit. The sleds were in decent shape, but I wanted the horses to be able to move along further each day and still be able to move the next. To that end, I used some lumber I found in the barn and made a harness system where both horses could pull the wagon.
The day we pulled out, I said my goodbyes to Judy and Kim, and I made a promise to them both that their deaths would not be unavenged. I had it to do. I didn’t just want revenge. I wanted a reckoning, as my western books called it.
The wagon worked pretty well, although it was a bit rough at first. Missy wanted to pull in another direction sometimes than Pumpkin did, but Pumpkin surprised me with how she kept Missy in line. It was almost as if she was stepping up into the role that had been vacated by Judy.
The horses trotted along, and we made at least twice the distance that we had made traveling before. We weren’t going south, however; we were going north. What I needed wasn’t where I was going; it was where I had been. All thoughts of Southern Illinois were gone from my head. I had a new plan, and the job and new life were going to have to wait.
I had a man to kill, and his name was Vega.
Chapter 59
It took us two weeks of hard travel, but we made it back to the homestead. Everything was exactly as it had been left, except there was a great big hole that Judy and Kim used to fill. The house felt empty, even though it was still filled with my things. I spent a lot of time just walking around the house, and walking around Kim’s house. There was a slight smell of bread in the air at her house, and it caused more than one tear to escape my eyes.
I unpacked my weapons and the weapons of the men who came after me. I spent a week familiarizing myself with one of their rifles, firing it, and getting used to working it. It seemed flimsy compared to my other rifles. The stock was plastic, and the receiver felt like it was made out of a lighter metal than steel. But it shot well and held a lot of bullets that were accurate out to three hundred yards. The short scope on top of the rifle was useful, too. Against a horde of Trippers, I think I could hold my own as long as I had enough bullets. And thanks to the truck I cleared out, I had over three thousand rounds of ammunition, more than I have ever had for a gun.
Born In The Apocalypse (Book 3): Jericho Page 15