by J. R. Tate
“Sir, do you remember me?” Doug asked as he slid off of the horse.
“Of course I do. You weren’t here that long ago. Damn, son, I’m not senile.” He chomped down on the pipe and stretched his legs out in front of him. “How’d the horses do?”
“They’re doing just fine. Thanks again for letting us use them. I don’t think we could have gotten much farther without them.”
“I only see three men and one woman. Who’d you lose?”
How much had Doug told him? He was good with the details and Ryan could tell he was very intelligent. He chalked it up to many years of experience in life.
“My husband,” Margaret muttered, keeping her eyes downcast. “He was ill and it finally just took hold.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“We’re much obliged for your kindness, Sir.” Ryan joined Doug on the ground and extended his hand for the generous stranger to shake. He returned the favor, his grip strong, his palms like sandpaper from years of work.
“Y’all look pretty rough. You probably should get back and get some rest. I can’t imagine what kind of hell you’ve all faced out there.”
“We’d like you to come back with us. It’s the least we can do for the help you’ve provided,” Ryan said, spreading his arms. “We’re trying to rebuild Harper Springs. We’ve got several guys planting and...”
The stranger held his hand up and cut him off. “I don’t think I’ll ever leave Fox Lake. It’s nice of you to think of me but I’m going to stay right here.” He clenched the pipe between his front teeth and pursed his lips around it like he was sucking on phantom smoke.
“Are you sure?” Doug asked, his voice squeaking in disbelief.
“Positive. I have what I need here. My life is here. I can’t leave it now. But take the horses. Those you can keep. I won’t be needing them as bad as y’all do.”
Ryan opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. This almost seemed odd, like out of a movie. “Let me introduce my group to you, if I may. This is Doug, the man on the horse is my father, Darryl Gibson, and that is Margaret Johnson. I’m Ryan Gibson.”
“Ryan Gibson,” the man repeated, pulling the pipe from his mouth and holding it in his hand. “You run that mechanic shop right on the square, yeah?”
“I do.” He cringed at the use of present tense. “Well, I did...”
“You will again. Like y’all said, you’re getting it all rebuilt. And I’m sure you’ll get it back just the way it was.”
“We didn’t catch your name, Sir.” Doug stepped forward, shaking the man’s hand.
“I didn’t offer it, Doug. It’s best to keep this as informal as possible. The more personal we get, the harder it is to leave me here. I’m a dying old man. I’m not going to bring you down by having me tag along. It’d be like hauling dead weight and I’m not going to do that to you.” He looked up at the sky. “Y’all better get going now. Lingering won’t make me change my mind but it’s making you lose precious time.”
Ryan forced a smile. “Again, we thank you for the horses. If you find your way toward Harper Springs, you’re always welcome.”
Climbing back on the horse, Ryan motioned for Doug to follow. There was no convincing him and Ryan didn’t have the energy to try. As Margaret had said earlier, he was ready to get back to Cecilia and Ty. She was probably worried sick about him and he wanted to make sure they were safe. Being gone for so long made everyone vulnerable.
He debated leaving one of the horses there. Doug and his dad could ride on one together but the man didn’t ask for it back and if he didn’t need it, they could use it when they got back to Harper Springs. Having Margaret ride on the back of his was okay for the moment but with his leg throbbing he would have to shift around and having the extra one would be helpful.
After saying their goodbyes to the stranger, they headed south. The smoke from the fire that almost trapped them still lingered but it had taken on a more westerly path toward the mountain range. With the random shifts in wind direction, they couldn’t rely on hoping that it would stay away. The land behind it was likely burned to a crisp, but Ryan couldn’t take any chances. After everything they had been through, he knew Mother Nature was capable of just about anything, including honing in on them and trying again to take their lives.
No one said much as they rode. Each step the horses took dug into the dry ground beneath them, crunching on the parched land in desperate need of some form of precipitation. Ryan was nostalgic for winter – though Texas didn’t get as cold as some places, even a small dip in the temperature would help out tremendously.
He hadn’t thought about the changing seasons until that moment. With as crazy as storm season had been, and as dry as things were now, what would winter have in store for them? Any common patterns that the area was known for before would not be a good way to predict things that would soon be headed their way.
If it snowed, at least that would fill up the rivers and lakes again. But what if it got so frigid that they wouldn’t be able to survive? A constant fire would be good but keeping it going would be impossible. There were no heaters or ways to run them.
He tried to shake the worry from his thoughts. Right now it was over one hundred degrees and they were still months away from winter. Again, he had to remind himself that he had to cross bridges when they got to them. But it was definitely something he had to think about – long term plans were important when it came to keeping his family safe.
“What do you think, Ryan?”
Darryl and Doug were staring at him, their horses stopped. Ryan had completely missed the conversation and there was no way he could pretend he was listening.
“What were y’all talking about?” His cheeks heated up – he was supposed to help lead them to safety and his concerns were causing him to completely zone out. He wasn’t even paying attention to their surroundings, which could prove to be dangerous with all of the possibilities they could run into.
Doug’s eyes widened and he laughed, but it wasn’t because he was amused. He was nervous. “You okay, man? You need to get off the horse and have us look at your leg?”
“No. I’m fine. I was just thinking. What’s going on and why are we stopped?”
Darryl leaned over the saddle horn and pointed south. “The fire is still going. We can go east and stay along the river but by the looks of it, the fire is right along it as well. But we’ll be close to water.”
Ryan studied the horizon. How could a fire be burning so long in the same general area? There were no homes to help it build and the trees had pretty much been torn to pieces. The only thing left was the dry grasslands and pastures that the fire would feed off of but it’d burn out fast.
“Yeah, if we go west we’ll have to worry about the wind speeding it up,” Ryan clarified, lifting his baseball cap. Wiping his hand through his hair, he was shocked at how wet his palm was when he pulled it away. “The river is probably our safest bet. Water readily available. We can cross over the river if the fire gets too close and then we’ll be protected completely unless the fire jumps it, which it can if it’s big enough. The supplies on the travois are an issue but if it comes down to our lives, we can lose them all and keep moving.”
“Yeah, I vote east near the river too,” Darryl replied.
“Margaret, what do you think?” Ryan wanted to include her. She had a say in everything they did.
“I’ll leave it to you boys. I don’t know much about all of this.”
Ryan wasn’t going to press the matter. She had been quiet and sad, and he was going to allow her time to grieve, even though she was hanging off the back of a horse in the middle of a dangerous area.
“Anyone need to take a break before we get closer?” Ryan probably could but he let his pride get in the way. He didn’t want to admit that his leg was numb or that he needed to prepare himself for what looked to be a challenging adventure. No one answered so he dug his boot heel in the side of the horse and continued on. “If we k
eep a good pace we could be back in Harper Springs tomorrow morning. It all depends on the fire and what we might come across between here and there.”
He set his sights on Cecilia and Ty. She’d be heartbroken at the news of her father’s death but she would also be relieved to see her mother, safe and sound and with them. Maybe this was the last time they’d have to split up. Ryan knew he couldn’t assume anything. When it came down to the way things were, all bets were off.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cecilia clutched Ty as the remaining inhabitants of Harper Springs gathered down in the storm shelter. Steve must have told Chief Rayburn – he seemed to have taken on the role of mayor, calling a mandatory meeting for everyone to be at. He as well as Steve and a couple of other men from the fire department stood at the front near the door, each holding the same facial expression – brows creased, mouth set in a hard line, arms folded over their chests.
The morale had already been very low but with the abrupt call for them to gather had made everyone wonder what was going on. Unfortunately, she knew, and it was hard not to blurt it out and warn everyone. What was the hold up? Were they waiting on more people to arrive?
Cecilia looked around the room – it was pretty full and she couldn’t tell if there were any missing faces. Ryan and Darryl weren’t back, so those were two unaccounted for. Chief Rayburn made comments in passing, not fully saying it, but generalizing that they couldn’t send a search crew out for them. With the dwindling population and lack of resources, they’d have to wait or add them to the casualty list.
Cecilia wouldn’t accept that. Ryan wasn’t dead and until she had one hundred percent proof that he didn’t make it back alive, she would always hold out hope that he was out there somewhere, trying to get home safely to her and Ty.
Now with the news of a possible raid, she wished he was here. He was their protector and their help and his absence was a gaping hole in their lives. She tried not to panic – maybe this was all a false alarm. She was ready to hear what Chief Rayburn was going to come up with.
He stepped forward and coughed, attempting to gain everyone’s attention. The room fell silent and he held his hand up, glancing toward the back and around the room.
“It has been brought to our attention that we have a group of looters making their way toward us. They’re close but so far they haven’t made an attempt to come right at us yet.”
There was a hushed silence along with a few mumbles and grumbles. Every person in the shelter was a survivor against the harsh conditions and their haggard faces and comments proved that they were at their wit’s end. How much more of this was everybody going to be able to take?
“I was out looking at the farmland and I saw them – several men on horses and people following behind them,” Steve chimed in, his eyes downcast as if he were nervous talking to a crowd… or maybe he was just nervous about the whole situation.
“Do they outnumber us?” someone asked from the back and everyone turned to face him.
“I’m not sure. It was hard to tell. I didn’t want to be spotted. I was out there alone and they are known for taking hostages as slaves.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I was a victim.”
Mindy spoke up. No one could see her and Chief Rayburn motioned for her to come to the front. She hesitated at first, her cheeks red as if she immediately regretted answering. Joining the men, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at Steve, who nodded at her to continue.
“I escaped from the group a few days back. Steve helped me and here I am. They’re dangerous and they’re patient. They probably aren’t attacking yet because they are planning how they are going to do it. They probably have someone working as a scout, seeing how many people we have and what they can take from us.”
“How do we know you’re not the scout?”
Cecilia’s stomach tightened. She was wondering when it would get down to that. Everyone was quick to be suspicious.
“You don’t have a way of knowing. But think about it – I haven’t had a chance to get word back to them if I was their scout. I’ve been around people since I got here. I couldn’t just dial them on my cell phone and get word out. I get your apprehension, but I also know we can’t just stand around here pointing fingers at each other. This is a serious threat and they will come in and take everything we’ve been working so hard for. Our stocked up food supply will be gone. They’ll destroy the pastures we’ve planted. And...” Mindy hesitated again.
“What? What is it?”
Cecilia wanted to yell the same questions out and was glad when someone else took the initiative.
“They won’t hesitate killing us. If they think you’ll be a good worker and not a threat, they’ll make you a slave. And…” She licked her lips and when she looked up, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “They won’t even hesitate to hurt women and children… even kill them.”
Another loud gasp from everyone. Cecilia held onto Ty, never wanting to let him go. Damn it, they needed Ryan! He’d never let anything happen to them.
“I’m assuming they have guns and weapons,” Chief Rayburn said, his furrowed brow proving that this was not something to take lightly.
“Yes. Assault rifles, handguns, shotguns, knives. I don’t think we stack up to their potential,” Mindy stated.
“We need to come up with a plan, Chief.” Steve took Mindy’s hand in his.
“Gather all of the guns and ammunition. I know we don’t have a ton but we do have enough to make it sound like there are more of us than there really is. I have a few bows from hunting. They may outnumber us but they also may have not ran across people who actually tried to fight them off. This can come as a complete shock and that can deter them, even if it’s just for a little while until we come up with something better.”
Everyone was about to scatter but Chief Rayburn stopped them.
“We’ll make it through this. We can do it. We’ve come too far to allow someone to take it all in a matter of seconds.”
With that comment, everyone scattered. Cecilia pulled Ty back away from the rush and wondered when his questions would start. Setting him on his cot, she handed him a cup of water.
“Drink that. We haven’t had any water or food in a while. Are you hungry?” She couldn’t even imagine trying to eat at a time like this but kids were resilient.
“No. Are we going to get Daddy’s guns?”
Before Cecilia could answer, Chief Rayburn approached them, patting her on the arm. Heaving a deep sigh, he studied everyone as they moved about, like ants scattering from the hill to bring back supplies for their colony.
“Ryan will be back. You know that, right?” He cocked his head to the side and glanced at Ty and back to her.
“Of course I do, Chief. I’m just worried about what is taking so long.”
“I’m sure there are reasons. There was that wildfire. They are probably having to take the long way around it.”
Cecilia was having a hard time gauging him. Was he just saying those things to make her feel better? Did he genuinely think that Ryan was okay and would make it home? The tone in his voice seemed like he was appeasing her to keep her calm and she was about to say something she was going to regret.
“Listen, Chief, I need to get some food for Ty. It sounds like we are in for a hell of a night and I want to make sure he’ll be okay.”
“He will be, Cecilia. That kid is tough.” He paused and began to walk away but turned on his heel. “Does Ryan have any more guns or ammunition?”
“Not with me. He took a gun with him to Fox Lake and the rest we lost in the tornadoes.”
“Okay. If you or Ty need anything, just let me know.”
She didn’t have to question it. Chief Rayburn had written Ryan off, presuming he was dead. A knot formed in her throat and she blinked back the tears. Ty would pick up on it instantly and she couldn’t handle that with everything else going on. Was everyone feeling like this? Did
they really think Ryan and his father were dead? If they were, that meant her parents were gone too.
No. They weren’t. They were having to take the long way around the fires. Cecilia wouldn’t accept any other possibility.
Sitting on her cot, she pulled her knees up to her chest. She had pondered the idea that Ryan may never make it back. She had stayed awake many nights fearing that she’d never see him again. The risk of going out into the elements was a big one and she loved him so much for sacrificing to get her parents united with them.
What were the odds that a person wouldn’t make it out there? He was generally healthy, aside from his wounded leg. And his father – he was older but he was in good health as far as she knew. And Doug, the known looter – what if he was up to something? He had no problem voicing how much he disliked Ryan for taking his brother’s life. He could be out for revenge against him. There were too many what-if’s and maybes. It was driving her crazy.
Her moment of worry was taken over by an instant switch into survival mode. They had to get ready for a fight. She’d do anything she could to protect Ty. Anything. Wallowing in self-pity would only make them more vulnerable.
***
Steve somehow took on the role of being the lookout for Harper Springs. Stepping into a leadership position wasn’t exactly what he thought he’d ever do with his life, and here he was, binoculars in hand, watching the group of people near the foot of the mountains. They still had a good ride in to town but they were too close for comfort.
Lying flat on some rocks, he tried not to be spotted. They probably had someone else doing the same thing, watching movement to make sure they hadn’t been seen. Adjusting his weight, Steve knocked some small rocks from under his elbows and went back to watching. What exactly was he looking for? They had shotguns and handguns, and by his count, there were enough of them to do some damage against the people of Harper Springs.