by J. R. Tate
“And how is it over there?”
She looked up at him, her light brown eyes on the verge of tears. “Same as here. Can’t even tell a difference. You’ll really take me to town? I could use a shower and...” She scraped her tongue over the front of her teeth. “I would love to brush my teeth, even if I have to use my finger and water.”
It made Steve laugh and he extended his hand to shake hers. “I’m Steve Tarrant.”
“Mindy Watson.”
“I’m not one of the bad guys.”
“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it, Steve Tarrant. At this point, if you are, I don’t have the energy to fight it. I’ll take my chances.”
He guided her up on the saddle and she hugged him from behind. It was the first physical contact he had since before his divorce months ago and he didn’t realize how much he longed for it until that moment. He didn’t even know Mindy but just having another person around felt good. She was spunky and sarcastic – it was a nice change of pace.
He kept the horse’s pace slow as he went north. Going to his farm would have to wait. Mindy needed a decent meal, a hot shower, and some rest. It felt gratifying, helping her out. Supplies were already low but he couldn’t deny an honest person a chance. The more survivors who found Harper Springs, the more their resources would deplete. That meant Steve and the other farmers would have to move fast. Getting crops in the ground was top priority.
***
Ryan’s half of the watch had ended and Darryl had taken over. He sat on his pallet and watched Doug for a few minutes. The man was snoring, his sleep so solid that Ryan envied it. How could he sleep so well? He really didn’t have many worries, at least, not like Ryan. The looter was practically suicidal, begging for them to take his life and put him out of his misery. Or was that an act? Deep down, Doug probably didn’t want to die. He was trying to be a tough guy. If Ryan had a brother, how would he feel if he was having to travel with his killer? But this was different. Ryan would never be in that position. He’d never be a thief or take advantage of people in their worst times.
He felt a scowl on his face and he glared at the nuisance who was tagging along. He never hated anyone but he felt close to hatred with Doug. Lying on his sleeping bag, he clasped his hands behind his head and stared up at the sky. He thought about Cecilia and Ty. Was his son’s recovery still going well? This was Ryan’s first night away since his surgery. And what about Steve? Would they be able to find what they needed to get the planting done?
The stars were beautiful, cascading overhead like a massive blanket. It had been weeks since they had gotten a clear view of them and Ryan admired it. No clouds were worrisome and in the midst of trying to enjoy the show Mother Nature was putting on, his mind instantly slipped back to negativity and the impending drought happening right before his eyes. This was an instance where he hated being right.
Sleep didn’t come. His aching body longed for it. Occasionally, he’d watch Doug. He trusted his dad but his attitude toward Doug made Ryan feel like he might not be keeping tabs on him as well as he should. The sun would be coming up soon. He’d like to keep his goal of getting to Fox Lake by late afternoon. The horses had rested but still probably not enough to run them at their fullest potential. Most times when horses had been completely rested they could go about thirty to forty miles per hour. Due to rescue efforts and using them constantly, it was a safe bet to not make them go over fifteen miles per hour, and to Ryan, that felt like they were pushing it.
“What’s the matter? Can’t sleep?”
Doug’s question pulled Ryan from his racing thoughts. He glared at him again and rolled on his side, his attempt at ignoring him failing miserably.
“It’s about time to get up. You didn’t sleep a wink, did you?”
Ryan didn’t answer him. What was the point when the man was trying to antagonize him?
“I can start a fire for coffee. We can roast some of those little canned weenies and pretend their sausage links. What do you say?”
Ryan faced him and yawned. “Do what you want, but please, don’t burn the camp down.”
Doug arched his eyebrow as he dug through his satchel. “Give me more credit than that, Ryan. I might be a thief, but I know how to get a fire going.”
“Something tells me you’ve had plenty of experience with that,” Ryan replied. He noticed his father was up and walking toward camp. Had he fallen asleep? It was hard to tell. “See anything interesting during your watch?”
“Nothing. Coyotes were howling but I think they were far enough away for us not to have to worry about them too much. We should get to Fox Lake today and if we travel through the night we can get Cecilia’s folks back to Harper Springs before tomorrow morning.”
“If we can find them quickly,” Ryan added as he tossed the bag of coffee to Doug.
“Won’t they be at their cellar? You know where their house is. I don’t see how it’ll be a problem.”
Ryan scoffed and tried to keep the sarcasm to a minimum. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of this, it’s that what seems the easiest turns out to be the biggest challenge. I have a feeling they’re not going to be at their house.”
“I have a feeling they will be. It’ll be a quick stop. Gotta keep a positive attitude, Ryan.”
“At least one of us is,” Ryan replied, looking at Doug, though the comment was directed at Darryl. “I’m going to take the horses down to the river. Holler when the coffee is ready.”
“He always been a cranky ass when he doesn’t get enough sleep?” Doug asked.
Darryl replied but Ryan was already out of earshot to hear, nor did he care to stick around to see what his father’s quick retort would be. Maybe his father was right – maybe, this time, it would all work in their favor.
Chapter Eleven
Steve wasn’t sure how everyone would respond to someone new coming to Harper Springs. With dwindling food, each new person became competition to survive. He’d like to think that everyone would be fine but he was the new guy in the area and really didn’t know anyone. He guided the horse to a hitching post and slid off, tying the reins to the wood. Reaching up, he tried to help Mindy down but she was already on the ground before he had a chance to help.
“Nice quaint town you have here,” she said, the sarcastic tone in her voice again. Her eyes looked past him, down the street and to the homemade sign about the morgue at the church across the street. “I bet there’s more people over there than here.” She pointed toward it, her expression grim.
“Yeah, unfortunately. But you’ve been out there. You’re aware of how bad it is.”
“I was actually up near Colorado when the looters got me. Made it south into New Mexico and now I’m here. Have to wonder if this adventure will finally get me all over the world. Go figure. A world disaster will finally allow me to be well traveled.”
Steve laughed. They had been wondering how it was past their area and Mindy might be the perfect source to find out. He wouldn’t bug her about it just yet. She was exhausted, likely hungry, and probably wanted to clean up. There were a few people starting to stir down inside the shelter but no one stopped to question him on who the new person was.
“There is a shower in the bathroom over at the far corner. It’s just a camp shower. We don’t have running water but at least it drains off on tile. There are travel toothpaste and toothbrush packages over there too. It’s dark but we keep the lanterns running to help. Let me know if you need more propane for the one by the showers.”
“Toothpaste? How did you come across that?”
“Oh, it wasn’t me,” Steve replied. “We have some very generous people here.”
Mindy nodded and rubbed her stomach. “And food? I don’t want to take stuff since, you know, I’m an outsider. Need me to go back up there and chase down a rabbit? I’d hate to take a shower before that.”
Steve was certain she was joking but since he didn’t know her, he couldn’t tell. When she nudged him and
giggled, it confirmed she was kidding.
Wagging his finger at her, he laughed in return and said, “It’s refreshing to find someone who still has their sense of humor. You’re welcome to our food. There’s a table on the other side where there are small things. Oatmeal, coffee, canned goods. We’re running low, which is why I was out at that farm where I found you. Gotta start coming up with alternative ways to get food. Get something. One less packet of oatmeal isn’t going to be our demise, at least, I hope not.” Winking, he nudged her shoulder.
“You had me at coffee, Steve.”
He stood back as she went to the table. The woman sitting beside it welcomed her with a smile, which made his nerves fade a bit. Most of the people were welcoming and nice but it was hard to tell. Patience was shot and people were shoved into survival mode. People did off the wall things when in survival mode, as Steve had witnessed personally.
“Who is the girl?”
Steve noticed Cecilia beside him. She had just woken up and ran her hands through her disheveled hair. Yawning, she leaned against the wall.
“Her name is Mindy. She was out at an old farm that I was looking for supplies.”
“Mindy? She’s not familiar.”
“She’s not from here. Claims she’s from Colorado.”
Cecilia’s eyes widened. “Colorado? How in the world did she get here?”
This was the part where people would have their doubts about Mindy but Steve couldn’t ignore the detail. “She was captured by a group of looters. Said they came all the way down to New Mexico and she somehow got away from them. And now, here she is. I couldn’t leave her there.”
“No, of course not.” Cecilia shook her head. “We’d all want someone to help us in times of need too.”
“Like your husband did for me.”
Cecilia bit her bottom lip and walked toward the table with the coffee. “Yeah, you’re right. Want a cup of coffee?”
“Sure.”
He watched as Cecilia introduced herself to Mindy but he couldn’t hear what was being said. Judging by their body language, the two women were hitting it off. Mindy even followed Cecilia to Ty’s hospital bed and she handed Cecilia a pair of sweat pants and a shirt. It was nice to see such good hospitality – people offering their clean clothes and food, their shelter, to a complete stranger that could be up to something sneaky.
Mindy smiled toward Steve as she walked past and went into the bathroom where the showers were.
“She seems nice. A little snarky, but nice. I guess we’d all have attitudes if we were having to run with a thieving crowd like she did.” Cecilia sipped her coffee and handed Steve his cup. “Any luck finding anything at the farm?”
“Not much. Hopefully, with more men and daylight, we can come across more things.”
“There used to be an old cotton gin and corn meal factory about twenty miles west of here. Might be a good place to start looking for cotton burrs and corn. Those two crops are probably the main two we need – we can do so much with both.”
“And that’s why it’s good to be friends with the locals. I’ll get with Chief Rayburn and we’ll do just that. Thank you, Cecilia.” Finally, a plan that Steve felt good about.
***
Ryan watered the horses and took them back to camp. The ten minutes of alone time was nice. For a moment, he imagined that he was back at home on his ranch, getting the horses ready to go riding with Ty and Cecilia. They often did that on the weekend – a quick trot across their land to check for damage and make sure everything was running correctly.
Guiding the horses, he tied them up as they gathered up all of their supplies for their next trek toward Fox Lake. All three of them were quiet as they finished and Ryan double checked the fire to make sure it was out. Kicking some dirt over it, he hoisted his bag and slid the shotgun back in the side of the saddle.
“The horses seem rested up?” Darryl asked as he climbed on his.
“As good as can be expected. I still don’t think we need to run them as fast as you suggested.”
Doug scoffed and shook his head. “Why do you wanna prolong this?”
“I don’t. But if we don’t take care of them, we’ll be left without any means of transportation except for our legs, and by the way you’ve been acting, I don’t think you’d be able to handle a forty-five-mile hike. Hell, none of us could. The twelve I had to travel from my place to Harper Springs damn near killed me. Fox Lake is about sixty miles from town. We went about fifteen yesterday. Do the math. The horses will get us there. We just have to be patient.”
“Unfortunately, patience isn’t exactly the personality trait none of us possess right now.” Darryl brushed his boot against the side of the horse and Ryan and Doug followed. “I agree – we don’t run them at full speed.”
“If we go a little faster than yesterday we’ll get there.”
Ryan looked off in the distance. It looked like a hazy cloud of dust lingered over the hilltops and mountains. It was an odd view compared to what they recently had seen. Dust storms were nothing out of the ordinary for the area but when they happened, at least in the past they had a house or barn to take cover in. Right now they were outside, unable to hide from it.
The wind picked up, swirling the dirt under the horse hooves. Ryan’s back was already covered in sweat so it was cool but it was a dry wind, so it felt like a heater was blowing on them. Even though Ryan had lived there all his life, it still surprised him at how fast everything was drying up. He couldn’t even estimate how much rain had fallen during the crippling tornadic weather pattern but it had to have been enough to prevent the ground from soaking it all up so fast. Droughts came up on farms quickly but this was the fastest he had ever seen. Then again, this was also the earliest he had seen temperatures as hot as they had been – one hundred plus degrees happened in late July and August. It was springtime so the sun played a large role in drying things out fast.
He took a swig from his canteen. He had to keep telling himself to take a drink every time he thought about it. They were staying close to the river so he didn’t feel guilty each time he did it. The river was another concern. He could see the water level falling. The river had crested fast and was well over capacity but now he could see it falling back below the original banks. The lakes it drained into would be good water sources, but without the river feeding into them, they’d soon fall. What people didn’t take out the sun would evaporate – evaporation was his biggest concern. It seemed like the human population had at least been cut in half, so it would take a long time to completely drain a lake. The sun would be their worst nemesis in preserving it.
Planting crops would deplete it as well. Hopefully, Steve knew to plant things that were drought tolerant. It wasn’t far-fetched. Cotton was a perfect example, though it wasn’t edible. They would be able to make clothing and supplies with it.
“So dark and brooding.” Doug’s horse was close to Ryan’s. “You look like someone just ran over your dog.”
Ryan didn’t say anything. He stared off at the large cloud of dust that appeared to be growing. Was it his imagination? It was like a mirage in the middle of the desert, only this wasn’t something he wanted to stumble across.
“Just trying to pass the time. I guess your son still doesn’t want to talk.” Doug pointed at Ryan and glanced back at Darryl who was about three horse-lengths behind them.
“I think he’s seeing what I’m seeing.”
“And what is that? Indians on the hill? We gonna lose our scalps if we don’t go hide in the brush?”
Ryan gripped the reins and stopped his horse. “So you see it, Dad? I’m not just imagining it?”
“No. I think it’s coming this way.”
It looked like something out of a dust bowl documentary. A massive wall of dust rose high, thousands of feet in the air, tall and dark enough to make the visibility almost zero. The wind had been blowing, but a huge gust made Ryan’s hat fly off but he was able to catch it before it blew away. The sky w
as brown and getting darker, completely hiding the foothills where the dirt wall had originated.
“I think we need to take cover!” Ryan yelled but the wind was blowing so hard now that it was masked.
“Where do we go?” Darryl yelled back, and the only thing Ryan could think to do was run the horses in the opposite direction. They would never be able to run fast enough to get away from the dust but maybe along the way they could find some place to hide.
The three men went east, Ryan nudging his horse’s side repeatedly in an attempt to get him to go faster. The dust was already getting thick and it crunched between his teeth. His eyes scanned for a grove of trees or even an old homestead but there was nothing. Turning his horse north, he hoped they might be able to get around the wall but it was so massive that they didn’t stand a chance. The horses sensed the weather and bucked. Ryan gripped the reins tightly to keep control, adding an extra challenge to get to safety.
Ryan spotted a ditch a quarter mile up and pointed, getting Doug and Darryl’s attention. Both of them were also fighting for control over their horses, each one about to be knocked off. They could duck down in the crevice – it wasn’t one hundred percent protection but it would be better than staying on a horse and risking running into something.
The other two followed his lead and slid off the horses, lying flat in the ditch. It was about four feet deep and had mud in the bottom. Losing the horses was something to add to Ryan’s concern. Animals weren’t stupid and they would do anything to get out of the weather.
They watched the wall approach, moving fast, and it reminded Ryan of how it looked on September Eleventh when the towers fell and the massive cloud of debris blanketed Manhattan. Only this was red in color.
“Get down!” Ryan yelled and covered his head with his hands. The visibility was zero and the wind howled. The sand blasted against their skin and he tried to take short, shallow breaths to not suck in a lot of the dirt. He opened his eyes and it burned instantly, so he kept his head down, unable to see Darryl and Doug beside him.