She stopped what she was going to say then peered past Georgia.
‘Who’s that?’
‘Hiya, you must be Lola,’ Josh said. He stepped forward from the shadows into a shaft of moonlight and held out his hand, but before Lola could take it, his legs folded up beneath him, and he collapsed in a heap on the porch.
Chapter Fifty Eight
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Lola whispered, somewhat unnecessarily. It wasn’t as though he could hear them.
‘I think he has fainted, let’s get him inside.’
As they carried him into the house, Rebecca fetched candles and set them on the coffee table while they gently lay him on the couch. He came to again, moaning softly and Georgia checked his pulse once more, it was still a little too rapid for her liking.
Lola drew in her breath sharply. ‘What in tarnation happened to him? He looks like he’s been eaten by a wolf and shat over a cliff.’
‘And I feel so much better for hearing that.’ Josh said hoarsely.
Lola gave a little start, looking down at Josh, almost as if she just realized he could hear every word.
‘Just sayin’ how it is,’ she said, ‘didn’t mean anything by it.’
Georgia knelt down next to him, ‘so how you feeling?’ she asked as he struggled to sit up.
‘Better for being here,’ he said hoarsely, ‘just hurt all over.’
‘Well we can help with that, once you have eaten something, we have some ibuprofen. That should help.’
He nodded, closing his eyes, opening them briefly as Georgia lay her hand across his forehead, careful not to touch the gash.
‘At least you don’t seem to have a temperature, that’s a good thing.’
She left Rebecca to watch over him and hurried with Lola to the kitchen. Briefly explaining what had happened to him as she fetched the salt and sugar, then set a small saucepan on the stove, measuring out four cups of water from the large pot. ‘This has been boiled right?’ She asked as Lola hovered anxiously nearby.
‘Yeah, it’s good.’
That would save a lot of time, at least now she would only need to warm it enough to dissolve the salt and sugar. ‘He has to eat something, it’s been at least a day since he has eaten, probably longer,’
‘There’s the fish soup Ruby made, it’s really very good. I spent most of the day fishing, and she made it with milk, herbs, a little flour, and dandelion leaves. Do you want me to warm some up for him?’
Georgia nodded, giving a last stir to the electrolyte solution. That actually sounded really good, and as her stomach rumbled, it reminded her that none of them had eaten since just before setting out earlier that day.
As Lola busied herself lighting another burner she added, ‘oh yeah, and she made a batch of that campfire bread she makes so well, to go with it.’
‘Is there anything for the dogs? What with finding Josh and all that we never stopped to hunt for anything.’
‘Yeah, I did a fish boil up for the dogs, it looks really good, like real dog food, when it cooled the liquid set like a jelly.’
‘Did you…?’
Lola grinned at her holding up her hand, ‘yes, I did remove all the bones.’
Georgia laughed. ‘Sorry, you know me,’ then she asked, ‘so how was Ruby today?’
‘She was good, real lucid today, she was really worried though when it got dark and you still weren’t back, took a lot of persuading to go to bed.’
Georgia filled a cup with the electrolyte and headed out the door.
‘I’ll be right behind you with the soup,’ Lola called behind her.
‘So how’s he doing?’ Lola asked much later as Georgia quietly pulled the door closed. ‘Well he’s going to be okay. I think the Ibuprofen is helping. He’s asleep now and he managed to keep the soup down.’
‘So the kids are going to watch him?’
‘Yes, Rebecca was insistent about it, she is rather possessive about him.’
‘Understandable.’
They made their way down the dark corridor to the master bedroom, she ached all over, and the multitude of scratches across her arms stung like hell, but it was nothing, she imagined, in comparison to what poor Josh was going through. The bedroom was lit up by the ghostly silver of the nearly full moon, and with some relief Georgia slid into bed next to Lola, plumping up the pillows as she leaned back against the bedhead.
‘So what did you find out?’ Lola asked once they were comfortable.
‘It’s not good, if we are going to carry on, we need a means of transporting water, and we simply won’t be able to carry enough. This place is like an oasis, with all this greenery, but once you leave it, it’s as dry as hell, even the small creeks we crossed seemed to have dried up.’
‘So what are you thinking?’
‘I am thinking that if it doesn’t rain soon, and I mean steady rain for days, then we are screwed, unless we find a cart or a bike or something; something with wheels.’
Lola drew her knees up under her chin, looking thoughtful, then said, ‘well the only thing with wheels that I have seen is a pink tricycle in the barn with a broken peddle.’ She paused and then said. ‘Oh hell! That reminds me, I’ve got someone locked in there.’
‘You what?’ Georgia exclaimed, sitting bold upright.
‘Yes, I think it must be the canoe thief. Has to be, anyway I was in there earlier today seeing if there was anything useful, when I heard someone walking around in that loft part, then suddenly one of the hay bales came tumbling down.’
‘Oh my God, what did you do?’
‘I ran out of that barn and pulled the doors shut real quick I tell you, and then I locked it.’
‘He’s still in there?’
‘Has to be, there’s no other way to get out.’
‘We can’t just leave him in there Lola, he’s got no food or water.’
‘He’s got food. I shoved a couple of Ruby’s camp breads under the door and…,’
‘Have you spoken to him?’ Georgia interrupted.
‘Yes, but he hasn’t said anything back, but I reckon he’s too chicken shit, because I told him if he tried to get out I would shoot him.’
‘And he didn’t answer you at all?’
‘No, he doesn’t seem real friendly, just threw things around in there and sort of grunted.’
‘Are you sure there is someone in there Lola?’
‘Well of course I am sure, despite what I said to him, he was obviously trying to break out, there was a lot of crashing sounds in there and later when it was quiet again I looked under the crack beneath the door.’
‘And?’
‘Well the rolls were gone.’
‘Oh,’ Georgia said, somewhat bemused.
‘So what are you going to do about him?’ Lola asked.
‘Me? Why me, you locked him in there.’
‘Yeah, but you have the shotgun!’
‘True, but there is no way that I am going to open the barn door in the dark, we will just have to deal with him in the morning.’
Then what? Georgia wondered. Should she feed him? Shoot him? What if he was injured or didn’t want to leave? Would they have to take him in as well? Or worse, what if he was dangerous or violent. Life was much simpler when you could just pick up a phone and those nice policemen would come and take him away.
‘I’m so glad you are back.’ Lola said, ‘you always know what to do.’
When Georgia made no reply to this, Lola went back to the tricycle. ‘Do you think you might be able to rig up something from the tricycle? Or perhaps, dare I say it, we go all out to try and find a horse? Not to ride, but to carry the water?’
‘Horses need to drink too,’ Georgia said, ‘and I bet they need a lot of water.’
‘True, so maybe the tricycle?’
Georgia thought for a moment. There was not a chance they could do anything with it. From Lola’s description it had seen better days and she was fairly sure that if they put any kind of load on it the wh
eels would simply fold sideways and…,
‘Well it’s a start,’ she said, not wanting to quash Lola’s enthusiasm.’ But the tricycle in the barn had made her think of other barns, other buildings across the river, abandoned ones that might have untold treasures behind their closed doors, possibly even a wheel barrow.
‘We could look in the phone book,’ Lola said suddenly, sliding her feet over the side of the bed.
‘The phone book?’ Georgia asked. Not following Lola’s line of thought at all. It wasn’t like they could ring anyone - The phones were not working.
‘Yeah, you know, let your fingers do the walking,’ she crisscrossed her fingers as she spoke. ‘Maybe there’s a bike shop around here somewhere and if it’s not too far, well maybe we could all get bikes.’
Georgia was stunned into silence by this unexpected display of brilliance.
‘I reckon,’ Lola continued unperturbed, ‘with all the bike trails we have seen advertised, people must be getting their bikes somewhere.’
‘Is there a phone book here?’ Georgia asked finally, almost overwhelmed by the idea of each of them having their own bike; possibly with baskets for the dogs. With bikes, even following the roads they would be in Bethel in under a week. It seemed an almost impossible thought.
‘Yep, sure is, in the kitchen drawer, second drawer down, under all the kitchen tidy bags.’
Leaning over the phone book in the kitchen, reading by the flame of two candles, they scanned the yellow pages. There had been two bike shops in Warsaw, and several in Camdenton, which were too far for them to walk to, without the certainty of finding water. There were a couple of others, but the road names were unfamiliar, as were the zip codes.
‘Crap,’ Lola said, as Georgia blew out the candles and they once again stood in darkness. ‘This is not going to be easy as I thought.’
‘Only one thing for it then,’ Georgia said, ‘we are going to have to systematically search every abandoned property within reach. Maybe we will find bikes.’
Much later on, she went to check on Josh. He was still asleep, and his pulse was finally as it should be. Rebecca had fallen asleep in an armchair she had pulled up to the side of the sofa, the bottle of homemade electrolyte on her lap. The Apaches were asleep on the floor.
‘Poor things,’ she thought as she quietly left the room. They were exhausted. It had been a hell of a day.
It would have to be up to her and Lola to do guard duty she decided. One good thing though, if Josh stayed, they would get more sleep, because they would have one more person to share guard duty with.
The next morning Lola shook her violently awake. ‘He’s trying to get out again,’ she said. She sounded desperate.
‘Huh,’ Georgia said, she had been in that heavy stage of sleep, and it took her a few seconds to grasp what Lola was saying. She hurriedly got out of bed, pulling on her jeans, then searched through her pack for a clean top.
‘There’s no time for that,’ Lola exclaimed, ‘he might get out.’
‘Go get the Apaches,’ Georgia said, ‘while I get dressed. If he gets out he gets out, I am not going out there in my underwear.’
Barely five minutes later they were outside, the gravel crunching beneath their feet as they headed towards the barn. The dogs had been left inside, Georgia did not want them getting in the way. She held the shotgun at the ready, with Lola a few steps behind her, and the Apaches flanking them about twenty yards back, arrows set to fly.
‘See I told you!’ Lola exclaimed, ‘he’s trying to smash his way out.’ From within the barn there was a tumultuous crashing sound, like barrels being knocked over, then a thumping noise, as the doors shook, as though he was bashing on the other side of the door with his fists.
Oh hell, Lola was right. There really was someone in there. Georgia’s mouth went dry and her heart began to race.
Taking a couple of deep breaths to steady herself she took another step forward. ‘Everyone ready?’ she asked in a low voice.
They murmured their assent.
‘Okay here goes nothing.’
‘You in there,’ she called out, trying to make her voice sound like she meant business. The thumping stopped.
‘There are four of us out here, and we are all armed. Which was true because Lola carried a broom which she had found in the laundry.
She waited to see if there would be any reply. When there wasn’t one, she continued. ‘I want you to step away from the doors, get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head. Let me know when you have done it.’
There was still no reply.
‘Now what?’ Lola whispered.
‘I guess we go in,’ Georgia whispered back.
‘I am going to unlock the door,’ she shouted. Why was she warning him? Her nerves stretched to their limit. ‘If you are not on your knees, I will not hesitate to shoot. Do you understand?’
This time there was a muffled reply, more of a groan than anything.
‘Did you understand what he said?’ Georgia whispered.
‘Nuh uh,’ Lola said.
‘Maybe he’s hurt,’ Jamie said. He sounded so calm, Georgia thought.
‘Opening the door now,’ she called, damn, she had warned him again! Then gathering up all her courage, she reached out, yanking the bolt out of the catch, blood pulsing in her throat. Her legs feeling like lead as she steadied the shotgun and Lola slowly pulled the door partially open.
For a moment she stared into dim interior of the barn, the bright line of sunlight streaming in the opening making it hard to focus. There was no one there! Stunned at her own stupidity for believing that that the man would actually have followed her instructions, she stared at the empty space.
‘He must be hiding behind the other door,’ Lola whispered, her voice tight with fear. Georgia felt like screaming as instinctively they both took a step backwards.
‘Now what?’ she thought.
Then to the left in the shadows she saw a movement and a burly figure lumbered forwards into the sunlight. She stood frozen. He was huge…, and…, furry? What the…?
‘Oh holy crap,’ she screamed, ‘BEAR!’
‘Bear?’ Lola questioned, then understanding struck her, and she shrieked, ‘oh fuck! BAR!’
‘Run!’ Georgia screamed.
She turned, pushing Lola towards safety, ahead of her and they began to run. But it seemed to her they were moving in slow motion. The Apaches not moving at all, simply staring back in shock. Lola taking long slow strides through the air, the broomstick flung away, disappearing amongst some shrubs. Behind them, came a loud coughing sound and she could imagine it’s breathe upon her neck.
She took another step, the Apaches slowly, slowly turning, putting their legs out to take a step, and beginning to run, but ever so slowly. The barn door crashed open, slamming against the side of the building. She could hear something heavy on the gravel.
The Apaches disappeared out of sight, Lola reaching the corner, not far behind. Georgia looked over her shoulder, becoming aware of Rebecca, Ruby and Josh staring wide eyed through the window. Their mouths opened in horror at the scene unfolding before them.
Then she fell, the shotgun knocked from her hands and skidding across the gravel. She was going to die, the bear was nearly upon her now.
Why hadn’t she just shot it? She scrabbled to her knees, reaching frantically for the shotgun, hearing the bears rasping breathe only feet behind her now. Waiting for it to fall upon her and rip her head off with one swat. She knew what awaited her, she had read articles describing what an angry bear can do.
She reached the shotgun and grasped it, rolled onto her back, her feet drawn up, knees against her chest, her heart racing out of control. But the bear was not there.
She looked wildly around, as Lola came up behind her. ‘Get up,’ she screamed, as she half lifted, half dragged at Georgia.
‘Where did it go?’ Georgia asked.
‘Up the hill,’ Lola screamed in her ear, ‘I think it was
a young one.’
Georgia staggered to her feet, and together they ran. ‘If it has taken off,’ she gasped, ‘then why are we still running?’ she gasped, through ragged breaths as they reached the steps.
Deedee had the door open, and was frantically motioning them in, as Lola and Georgia practically fell over each other in their haste to reach the safety of indoors.
‘Because it means that it has a mother somewhere,’ Lola yelled as she shut the door so firmly that the glass rattled in its frame.
Georgia suddenly felt very cold. That terrifying beast had been a young one? And it had a mother!
Then Lola added, still breathing heavily, ‘I told you there were bars.’ Her voice almost had a triumphant tone to it.
‘Yes you did,’ Georgia said, keeping remarkably calm. Inwardly wanting to scream, ‘But you didn’t tell me that you had locked one up in the barn!’
It was hours before they dared to venture out of doors again. They kept looking out of the windows trying to see where the bear had gone, and if the mother bear was somewhere out there as well.
Josh seemed much better this morning, joining them in the kitchen for breakfast, although he was still very weak and moving stiffly. After they had eaten, Ruby and Lola spent a considerable length of time heating water for the bath, while Georgia hacked at Josh’s shoulder long hair with a pair of kitchen shears.
Josh protested but Georgia was adamant. ‘It has to go, we can’t risk that gash getting infected, and seriously your hair is filthy. No wonder I thought you were a woman,’ she teased, ‘this long hair of yours and the pink top.’
He gave her a weak smile, but gave up his protestations as the long dark tresses fell to the floor. Ant thought this was wonderful fun, skating through it, and running off with strands in her mouth, chased by Deedee and Jamie, in case she choked.
Once the bath was quarter full, and the water just above tepid, Georgia added a little salt to it, knowing it would probably sting like hell, but it was the only thing she could think of that might prevent the blistered skin becoming septic.
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