“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“The irony of it all man, the fucking irony,” the raider replied grinning.
“How so?”
The man reached down and pulled up his ragged and bloody shirt. The left side of the man’s stomach was covered in a layer of thick black tar, the skin around it was red and blistered.
“One of those fellas this morning, he was a fucking madman, he killed three us and stuck me twice before they got away. My insides is all tore up and I know I’m dying. My…my friends, they sealed me up with hot tar.”
“Hard to find good doctoring these days,” the Seeker replied.
“They wasn’t trying to make me better. Out here we kinda got an understanding, if you get killed, you’re getting eaten. I was okay with that, I mean not like I was going to be around to complain, right? The only problem is that when five guys get killed in the same day, and you don’t, well that’s a lot of meat to eat up before it goes bad, if you catch my meaning.”
The Seeker nodded slowly now understanding, “If they let you bleed out then that’s just meat left to spoil in the sun. But if you linger on for a day or two, maybe then they would get around to you,” he said, gesturing towards the bodies still hanging and waiting to be butchered.
“Now a slow death isn’t what I signed up for mister, so here is the deal. I’ll tell you any goddamn thing you want to know about them fellas that shot us up. I’ll tell you what they looked like, about their guns, what direction they went and about the water that they left behind. I’ll tell you everything I fucking know, but the deal is, when I’m done you kill me quick.”
The Seeker simply smiled in reply.
Hard Choices
Allen and Juan walked down the street, carrying the plastic milk crate between them. Inside the crate rested an odd assortment of bottles and jugs, each filled with Anna’s daily ration of water. Juan couldn’t help but think that not so long ago walking around openly with this much water would have been tantamount to suicide, especially with only two boys to guard it. Fortunately for Juan, things in most parts of the town had greatly improved. Since the doctor’s insistence that Allen move in with Juan, this walk had become part of their daily routine. Juan would run the pump for four hours in the morning, filling the plastic barrels and the other large containers that the Black Jackets would in turn haul to the various distribution sites across town. Then they would allow the pump to cool before the Grease Monkeys went to work inspecting, cleaning and of course greasing the aging machine. It was then, while the men worked and Juan had no other excuse, that Allen would load the crate with water and pester Juan until the boy relented and they left to visit Anna.
The crate’s handle cut into Juan’s palm and not for the first time he was forced to stop and rub his aching palm against his overalls before switching hands and continuing on. But if the grip bothered Allen the boy didn’t show it, he never switched hands when Juan did and seemed content to simply stand and wait for Juan. The mute added it to the growing list of things that made him feel uneasy around the orphan boy. Even now as they walked he watched the boy, noting how Allen’s eyes never stopped, they swept back and forth as the pair moved, pausing only for a moment to focus on anyone that happened by. Allen carried a small sheath knife on his belt, the blade was only a few inches long, but the way the boy’s hand would sometime slide towards the weapon left Juan little doubt that he knew how to use it.
The pair reached the clinic a short time later, and Juan was immediately thankful to be able to step inside and get out of the midday sun. The clinic was busy, and as usual, the entryway filled with people patiently awaiting their turn to be seen. Allen pushed past them without a word, leaving Juan trailing in his wake to nod a series of silent apologies. While several nurses moved around the clinic seeing patients, they found Anna seated on her stool and looking rather bored. The pregnant women looked up and smiled when she saw the boys enter.
“Allen, Juan, I’m glad to see you two. I was starting to get worried,” she said.
“Nothing to be worried about,” Allen replied.
The boys sat the crate of water down on the exam table in front of Anna.
“And how are things going at the tower?” she asked.
Allen looked at her for a moment before the boy shrugged, “Good, I guess?”
Anna nodded and then turned to look at Juan but found the boy had pulled out his pad and was writing.
I need to talk to you. He wrote.
“What’s the matter Juan?”
The mute boy glanced in Allen’s direction for the briefest of moments before he wrote again.
In private, it’s a doctor thing.
“Oh, okay,” Anna said, glancing up at Juan suddenly concerned.
“Do we need to go over to one of the exam rooms?”
Juan hesitated for just a moment before replying with the briefest of nods.
“Okay Juan, it looks like number three is open, let's head over there,” she said.
Anna guided Juan over to one of the cots used to examine patients, each of them separated with walls repurposed from the office cubicles. A curtain made from an old sheet hung on a string providing the barest illusion of privacy. Allen followed behind them, and as Juan took a seat on the cot, he looked up at Anna and then shot a quick glance in the boy’s direction before looking away again. Anna looked between the boys and nodded slightly.
“Allen, do me a favor and wait outside,” she said.
“Why?” the boy asked his eyes filled with suspicion.
“Because I asked you too and because the relationship between a doctor and her patient is a very important and personal thing,” she replied with a smile. “Now off you go.”
With that Anna drew the curtain closed, giving her and Juan at least the semblance of privacy. She turned and looked at the mute boy and giving him her most reassuring smile.
“Juan, what’s wrong?”
The boy’s head went down, and he began writing furiously.
I don’t trust him.
Anna folded her arms in front of her, “Juan, is this because I made him stay with you?”
Juan shook his head in obvious frustration and started writing again.
It’s not that, it’s a lot of things, he’s strange.
“Juan, you need to give that boy a chance.”
Not with the pump I don’t.
Anna’s eyes narrowed as she looked down Juan, “What do you mean by that?” she asked.
In reply, Juan pulled a folded piece of paper from under his shirt and handed it to Anna.
“What’s this?” she asked.
Juan just pointed to the paper again, and Anna unfolded it. She found several circles, nearly identical to one another traced on the page. A date, in what could only be Miles’ handwriting was scrawled next to each of the circles along with numbers that Anna realized were measurements. The latest entry was clearly written by Juan, and the note next to it read 5mm, nearly twice as large as the previous measurement.
“Juan, what does this mean?”
It means the pump will fail soon, tell the council to be ready.
Anna stared down at the note for a long moment and then placed a hand protectively over her swollen belly. She had known that this day would eventually come, but she still had trouble believing it. She forced herself to take a breath and then asked.
“How long?”
Juan hesitated for a moment before writing again.
I don’t know, maybe a day or two.
“There’s no chance on fixing it again? Cutting bigger gaskets or anything?” she asked.
If I pull the pump apart and the piston has deformed any further, I’m not sure we will be able to get it back together. Juan wrote.
“So it’s either let the patient linger on and die slowly or risk surgery that may kill her,” Anna said shaking her head.
Juan nodded in reply.
“I’ll talk to the council right away, but I’m also going to ask t
hem to send more Black Jackets over to guard the pump. When it does fail, a lot of people are going to be afraid and angry. If it turns violent, I want you to get back here as quickly as you can, do you understand me?”
Juan nodded in reply and then standing from the cot he turned to leave the examining room.
“And Juan,” Anna added. “When it does happen, Keep Allen close. I have a feeling that boy knows how to handle himself in a fight.”
After Allen and Juan had left, Anna carried the water back to her room sliding the crate underneath her desk in the corner. She paused for just a moment and looking down at her and Kyle’s bed, couldn’t help but wondered where he was and if he was safe. Then taking a deep breath to steady herself she walked out through the clinic and down the long hall towards the city council’s chambers.
Anna found the Wadsworth and Nim sitting in the first row of the chamber reading through a stack of meeting notes. Wadsworth looked up, and upon seeing Anna, she quickly stood.
“Doctor, is everything alright?”
“No it’s not, Juan thinks the pump will fail in the next day or two.” she replied, just managing to keep the fear from her voice.
Wadsworth was silent for a moment, then Councilman Jackson entered into the chambers behind Anna. Wadsworth looked up and the man and said simply.
“Send word to Chief Rincone, it’s time to bring everyone in.”
Driving through the Coconino National Forest was like taking a detour through some strange circle of hell. Everything was either charred black or covered in a thick layer of gray ash. To add to the surreal feeling of the place fires still burned deeper in the forest, darkening the sky with smoke and leaving them suspended in an odd and eerie twilight. Dozens of trees had fallen on to the roadway, forcing Kyle to slow the buggy to a crawl. In some places Coal got out and walked ahead of the rover through the snow like layer of ash, guiding them around the burnt trees and twisted limbs.
As the half-breed cleared one downed log and started to pull aside a few limbs, he noticed three oddly shaped lumps in the ash, just at the edge of the road. Coal looked around cautiously and then moved forward to investigate. He stood over the suspicious mounds for a moment and then shaking his head bent down and brushed away the ash from the largest of the three. Coal uncovered the face of a man, his hair had been burned away, and his skin was drawn tight from the heat, giving him a hideous looking grin in death. Coal looked at the other two lumps, and it was suddenly clear that he was looking at a family. The other mound covered in ash was slightly smaller than the man, and presumably a woman. She was half curled around the third and smallest. Coal reached out to brush the ash from their faces as well, but then he stopped and pulled his hand back.
“You just rest easy now,” he said.
Then coal scooped up a handful of ash and recovered the man’s face. Kyle jumped down from the buggy and walked up behind his friend.
“Are those bodies?”
Coal stood, “They are.”
“Raiders?” Kyle asked.
“No,” Coal replied brushing the ash from his hands, “Just folks.”
“Why were they doing out here? Flagstaff can’t be more than five miles ahead.”
“I guess we are going to find out,” Coal replied.
Half an hour later the buggy pulled off of I-17 and on to I-40, and though they had left the national forest behind them, everywhere they looked they were surrounded by burnt stands of trees. Even from the roadway, it was easy to see that the fire had swept from clumps of trees to small home and businesses all along the edge of the freeway. The scavenger remembered it as a boy, the city was so green, with thick stands of pine growing all throughout the city, giving it a very natural and inviting feeling. But as Kyle guided them up an overpass, he finally got a chance to see what remained of Flagstaff. The city had been completely ravaged by fire, not a single building had gone untouched. Homes and shopping centers were burned down to their foundations, even concrete structures like the grain elevator just off of the interstate has been scorched black. The very trees that had given the city that feeling of life had killed it.
“How does this happen?” Kyle asked.
“The people that lived here, like those ones we found out on the road, I bet they didn’t have it half bad out here. All this forest providing game to hunt and trap, wood for lumber, shade when it’s hot and plenty of firewood at night when it’s cold. But it’s been three years since we seen any rain, I don’t know how long since they had any here, but it’s obviously been a while. These people were living in a tinderbox, and they didn’t do a damn thing to prevent this.”
“And what the fuck could they have done to prevent all of this Coal?”
“Plenty, they could have cut fire breaks, cut down all them damned trees in and around the town and set a few controlled burns every now and again. Take away the fuel, and there wouldn’t be any fire, at least not like this,” the bounty-hunter replied.
Kyle shook his head in frustration, he knew that Coal was right, but part of him didn’t want to blame the people that had lived here. He guessed most of them had probably suffered the same fate as the family they had discovered out on the interstate. Then looking down at the burnt out town another thought struck him.
“They were just trying to hold on to something,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“The trees, the forest, it was such a part of this place. The people didn’t want to cut them down, they wanted to keep them. They were trying to save something from before all of this,” Kyle explained.
“And that’s why they’re all dead Tonto. Think of it like some big goddamned game, where the dice are loaded, and the rules can change on you in a heartbeat. You got to learn to change with them and whenever possible, cheat.”
“Remind me…never to play cards with you,” Miles choked out.
At the old man’s words, Kyle turned to look at his friend. Mile was pale, he seemed to have aged a decade in just the last eight hours, but his eyes were open and clear.
“Oh Jesus Miles, I’m so glad you're awake,” Kyle said.
“I’m glad too,” the old man said and then looked down to the four inches of hollow shaft sticking from his chest.
“We used the arrow like a catheter, to decompress your lungs…or something.”
“Or something?” Miles asked looking up at him.
“It was Kyle’s idea,” Coal added.
“Never mind that now, where in the hell are we?”
“Flagstaff.”
“Show me.”
Kyle and Coal gripped each of Miles’s arms they managed to prop the old man up high enough to peer over the buggies dash and see what remained of the city. Miles stared silently for a few minutes, before gesturing to be set back down. His eyes looked distant, and Kyle suddenly wished that they hadn’t shown him the once inviting city.
“What’s the plan?” Miles asked in a quiet voice.
“Same as before, keep pushing north.”
“Good lad.”
Miles nodded slowly and then licking his lips added, “I could use some water before we go.”
Kyle looked down and shook his head slowly, “I’m afraid there isn’t any water Miles,” he said.
The old man looked between the Coal and Kyle, “What happened?”
“One of the water buckets got busted when we escaped,” Coal replied.
“And I left the other one behind,” Kyle admitted.
Miles went quiet for a moment, “Maybe it’s for the best, that coffee tasted like shit anyway.”
Kyle smiled at that and nodded in agreement, “It did.”
“Well if you boys liked that, then you’re going to love this,” Coal said.
The bounty-hunter produced a small brown bottle from beneath his shirt and removing the cap took a quick pull, before offering it to Miles. The wounded engineer accepted the bottle and looking at it for a moment as if in contemplation, before raising it to his lips and taking a quick p
ull. The old man choked down the fiery liquid before breaking into a painful fit of coughing and quickly pushing the pushed the bottle away. Kyle accepted the bottle next and knowing what to expect, he swore to himself and took a quick drink of his own.
“Well, now that we are properly hydrated, how about we hit the road?” Coal said with a grin.
“You’re saying he was murdered?” Sally Night-Song asked in astonishment.
“Of course he was murdered!” Little Bird snapped back.
The old woman had called for an emergency meeting, and the Council of Elders sat around her kitchen table once again, and none of them looked happy to be there.
“You don’t know that,” Laughing Dog said.
“I do!”
“What proof do you have?”
“I just know it, down in my bones. Two-Steps is too smart to leave proof of anything!”
“But why would he do that to poor Daniel?” Sally asked.
“Strongbow was always a quiet one, but when he spoke, people listened,” Long-Armed John added.
“Maybe that’s why he’s dead. Daniel was the first one to tell me about Two-Steps changing the Rite of Passage,” Little Bird pointed out.
“If he already told you, then why kill him?” Laughing Dog said.
“To send a message!”
“What message?” Sally asked.
“Not to get in his way!”
“Little Bird! Listen to yourself, Two-Steps is the Chief. He doesn’t have to worry about people disagreeing with him, his word is the will of the Nation,” Amy Red-Tail pointed out.
“And that’s what worries me Amy! We’ve had some Chiefs go off half-cocked before. Like Red Bear running off to help Coal attack that damn club! This council begged and pleaded for him to say no, but at least Red Bear’s last act managed to open up trade with the whites. Whatever Two-Steps is planning, he must really think the whole tribe will be against it.”
The Road North Page 24