The Quest: Countdown to Armageddon: Book 6

by Darrell Maloney

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean it would have been easy for her to give up and shoot herself after she shot Glen. But she didn’t, and I suspect the reason why is because she felt the same need to find and protect you as you’re feeling for her. Maybe it was that need to find you and protect you that kept her going when people were dying around her. Maybe your leaving that day to go and stay with Jordan and his family is the only thing that’s kept her going all this time.”

  “Do you think we’ll find her, Tom?”

  “Yep. No doubt in my mind. If she’s still alive, we’ll find her and bring her home.”

  -10-

  It was nearing noon on their fifth day out when Tom and Sara rode into the northwestern outskirts of San Antonio.

  They'd been riding on the grassy shoulder of Interstate 10, avoiding the hard pavement as long as possible. The asphalt and concrete was hard on the horse's hooves and muscles, and every good horseman knew to take care of their animals. Many cowboys took better care of their horses than they did of themselves. And Tom was old school.

  Sara had been to Baker Street once before, when Scott took her to meet Rhett and Scarlett Butler. But that entire day was but a fog in her memory. That was the day she'd learned that her mother hadn't died after all, and that she was also a victim of Sara's abusive step-father. Her head was spinning that day, and she was lucky to have remembered anything.

  But she was looking forward to seeing Scarlett again.

  Scott had written down directions to Baker Street just in case she couldn’t remember how to get there .

  "Hey, look! Horses!"

  It was an excited cry they'd hear over and over again as they traversed the residential streets of San Antonio. Sadly, not many of the children survived the chaos of the blackout and the plague that followed. Those who did survive were traumatized in a variety of ways.

  One of them was the loss of nearly all of their family pets and other animals.

  Virtually all of the dogs had been killed and eaten, as well as many of the cats.

  Squirrels and jackrabbits outnumbered the citizens of San Antonio prior to the blackout. Now it was a rare day when the children saw either. And none could remember the last time they saw a horse on city streets.

  Horses had been making a comeback as a reliable source of transportation, but only among those who traveled any distance. Within the confines of the city, they were still a rare sight.

  The children survivors would cry out to alert their friends as Tom and Sara approached, and would follow the pair as they passed through each neighborhood. Occasionally they would stop and let the kids draw closer, even touch the animals.

  Sara's heart went out to the children. She couldn't help but wonder how long it had been for them to enjoy something as simple as an animal's touch, in a world that had become so cold and cruel.

  It was late afternoon when they finally turned onto Baker Street.

  Scarlett was in her front yard, tending to her garden, and stood up and yelled when she saw them approach.

  Sara noticed Scarlett's baby bump for the first time.

  She stepped off her horse and hugged the woman, then remarked, "Wow! You sure got pregnant fast."

  Scarlett laughed.

  "No, not really. This blouse is just a bit tighter than the loose one I was wearing when we met a couple of weeks ago."

  There was no masking the glow on Scarlett's face.

  "So, you're happy that you're pregnant, then?"

  "Oh, yes. I couldn't be happier. How have you been?"

  "Very good. Scarlett, this is my good friend Tom. Tom is the sheriff of Kerr County. He's volunteered to help me try to find my mom."

  Scarlett reached up and shook Tom's hand.

  "It's nice to meet you, sir. And it's very admirable for you to help in such an endeavor. I sure hope you can find her."

  She turned back to Sara and asked, "When was the last time you had a good meal?"

  "Not since we left Junction. Are you offering?"

  "Yep. Tom, climb down off your horse and tie them up at that oak tree over there. I'll bring them some water and feed. Then y'all can wash up for dinner."

  Tom asked, "You have horse feed?"

  "Yes. John Castro brought a big bag of it a few days ago, when he said you'd be riding in to see us. And by the way, after we eat you might want to call the people up in Junction and check in. They've been calling three or four times a day, wanting to know if we've seen you yet."

  -11-

  Tom and Sara tied their horses beneath the big shade tree. They had a system going now, whenever they stopped for the night. Since the saddles were too heavy for Sara to handle, she uncinched them one by one and Tom set them off to the side. Sara went behind him and removed the blankets and Tom the bridles.

  Then Sara would give them a quick brushing while Tom checked their mouths and hooves for any signs of sores or blisters.

  In addition to the feed and water, Scarlett brought out three apples.

  “These are just a bit too ripe for human consumption,” she said. “But I don’t reckon your ponies will mind too much.”

  About the time they finished, Scarlett's friend Jessika stuck her head out of a nearby house and yelled, "Supper's ready!"

  At that exact moment another door opened two houses away and Tom and Sara heard a familiar voice.

  "Sara! Mister Tom!"

  They turned to see little Misty Castro running toward them at full steam, her grin seemingly covering her entire face.

  The surprise showed on Tom's own face as he picked up the girl and spun her around in a full circle.

  Sara asked, "What in the world are you doing here, Misty? I thought you guys lived on the other side of the city."

  Scarlett explained.

  "She and Rachel are staying with us for the time being. Hannah is supposed to be too, but we can't pry her away from the hospital. She hasn't left John's side for three days now."

  Scarlett saw the puzzled looks on her visitors' faces and said, "Oh, my God. That's right. You guys have been out of radio range. So you haven't heard..."

  "Heard what?"

  "About John Castro getting shot."

  Tom's jaw dropped and Sara's knees went weak.

  Sara exclaimed, "Oh, no. Is he all right?"

  Instead of responding, Scarlett looked directly at Misty. Tom and Sara both knew what that meant. Whatever happened to their friend John, whatever his condition was, Scarlett didn't want to discuss it in front of John's daughter.

  That worried Tom. He assumed it meant the news was bad.

  "Why don't we go get some chow?" Tom suggested. "I'm starving, and I heard you guys were pretty good cooks."

  “Well, some of them are,” Misty said. “Some of them really suck at it.”

  Scarlett made a scary face at the child.

  “You better not be talking about me, you little weasel.”

  “If the shoe fits…”

  Scarlett pretended to be angry and said, “I’m gonna get you, you little snot.”

  Misty squealed in delight and ran off, keeping her distance several yards in front of the group. Finally Tom picked her back up and said, “Don’t worry, little one. I’ll protect you.”

  Tom carried Misty toward the house where he could see the other Baker Street residents gathering.

  Scarlett walked twenty paces behind, filling Sara in on the shooting and its aftermath.

  She was careful not to speak loudly enough for Misty to hear.

  "Three days ago. He was picking flowers to take home to Hannah. Some cowardly bastard shot him and then ran away."

  "Oh, my God. Is he okay?"

  "They don't know. He's at St. Mary's Hospital, in Becky's old ward. Becky, bless her heart, volunteered to come back and help take care of him, but the nurses told her not to. They said they've got it under control."

  "Was he able to tell them who shot him and why?"

  "That's just it. He hasn't woken up yet. They d
id three different surgeries on him to repair the damage to his chest and back and collapsed lung. But they said what worried them the most was the head wound."

  Sara felt faint at the words "head wound." She reached out to Scarlett to steady herself.

  "The doctors said the bullet never entered his brain cavity, and that's a very good thing. Apparently it was a glancing blow, though, and it hit his skull hard enough to break it and to force a big piece of it into his brain. They said his brain is swelling and it's too soon to know whether he'll survive."

  "Oh, no. Please don't say that."

  "I'm sorry, honey. But you might as well hear the rest of it. They also said if he does survive, there will probably be extensive brain damage. He'll probably never walk again, and could live the rest of his life in a vegetative state."

  Sara started to cry.

  "How is Hannah? And Rachel?"

  "Hannah hasn't left his bedside. I don't think she's slept, except for napping when they've had him in surgery. Rachel and Misty don't know the extent of it. Rachel can sense it's serious, but she doesn't know any of the details."

  "Is there anything we can do to help?"

  "Probably not. Rhett's going to be home from work soon and he's going to take me up to the hospital to check on Hannah. You guys can go along if you don't mind riding in a cramped police car."

  "Of course we'll go. Or, at least I want to. I suspect Tom probably will too. We both grew quite close to Hannah and the girls when they were at the compound with us. I consider them among my best friends."

  Scarlett smiled.

  "That's the same thing the girls said about you. That's why they've been working so hard on the flyers."

  "Flyers?"

  But Scarlett didn't have time to elaborate. They were suddenly surrounded by the residents of Baker Street who'd gathered for their community supper.

  Sara remembered many of them from the street party Scott had taken her to a couple of weeks before.

  The conversation about John's shooting and whatever flyers Scarlett was talking about would have to wait. Sara had a lot of people to greet and introductions to make.

  -12-

  Tom was leaned back in an easy chair, regretting that he’d eaten so much of Jessika’s spinach lasagna, yet still wanting another portion.

  He was amazed at how the group of survivors was able to make such food by a combination of great recipes and ingenuity.

  The homemade sauce was made extra garlicky to hide the fact that the lasagna noodles were three years old.

  They’d figured out how to make and cure their own cheeses from the single dairy cow the block had.

  The garlic bread was exquisite. So was the fresh salad and homemade dressing.

  “This is food I would have expected to get at a fine restaurant before the blackout,” he proclaimed.

  He was lying, of course.

  But only a little.

  Sara noticed that Rachel and Misty had gone outside to play with the other children, and thought it a good time to find out more about the shooting.

  Scarlett was happy to oblige them.

  “He was found by a passerby while he was picking flowers for Hannah. The passerby used his car’s radio to call dispatch and then disappeared. Apparently he didn’t want to get involved any more than he had to.

  “Rhett told me that initially they tried hard to locate the man, and considered him a prime suspect. But then it dawned on them that if he was the shooter, he’d have just left without reporting his crime.

  “Somebody went by and got Hannah and the girls and took them directly to the hospital. Hannah never left, but we were able to convince her that it was no place for the girls to be.”

  Tom dreaded the answer, but asked the question anyway.

  “What are his chances?”

  “The doctors say not good. He could still die from his head wound, they said. They’re monitoring him closely for blood clots, but if he has a bad one it could kill him. He could get a serious infection, and the only antibiotic they have to treat him is penicillin. And he’s allergic to penicillin.

  “They told Hannah there are a lot of different things working against him. And even if he does survive he is likely to be severely brain damaged.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She told them they were crazy. She said, and I quote, ‘If you think two little bullets are going to kill John Castro, then you don’t know John Castro.’”

  -13-

  “Scarlett, you were saying something about flyers earlier. What were you talking about?”

  “Oh, I forgot. Thanks for reminding me. Let me go get Rachel and Misty and they can show you what they’ve been working on. But remember, no more talk of the shooting while they’re around. They’re having a hard enough time coping as it is.”

  A few minutes later when Scarlett returned with the girls, little Misty was beaming. Scarlett had appointed her to do the big reveal. That was only fitting, since she’d hatched the project in the first place.

  Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. She’d gotten the idea from Zachary when he told her over the ham radio about the business cards he’d altered.

  Sara hugged Misty and said, “Okay, Punkin head, I understand you have something to show us.”

  “Yep. Sure do.”

  From behind her back she produced a handful of handmade signs, drawn in various colors of crayon on white computer paper.

  Each sign proclaimed:

  STACEY

  McAllister:

  Sara Is Looking For You.

  Please Flag Down Any

  SAPD Vehicle And

  Ask the Officer To

  Take You to Chief

  Mike Martinez

  Sara was touched.

  “Wow, Misty. This is so awesome! And so are you! How in the world did you ever come up with this idea?”

  “Well, Zachary said he was helping in your search by making you cards to hand out to people. I figured if cards would help, then maybe signs would too. So I asked Mr. Rhett if he would hang up the signs for me and he said he would. So every day I make a bunch…”

  Rachel cleared her throat, much louder than she needed to.

  Misty went on.

  “Oops, sorry. Rachel and me make up a bunch every day, and then the next day when he goes in to work, Mr. Rhett takes them and hangs them all over the place. He says he’ll hang them as long as we make them, and we’ve made over three hundred already.”

  Rachel stepped in to clarify.

  “It’s not just us. All the kids on Baker Street are helping out. And our dad, before he got shot, got the chief of police to get involved. He said that if your mom flags down a police car and gets a ride to him, he will personally bring her directly to you, wherever you are.”

  Sara didn’t know quite what to say.

  “You guys are so sweet… thank you so much.”

  Scarlett added her two cents.

  “I asked her why she capitalized each word and she said that’s because it’s how the newspaper used to do its headlines, and she wanted it to look professional. Then I asked why she always made the name ‘Stacey’ so big and… well, you tell her, Punkin.”

  Misty grinned and said, “Well, you know how you can walk past a crowd of people and not even notice any of them, and then someone calls your name real loud and it gets your attention?

  “Well, I thought the same thing might work with signs. I thought if your mom was walking down the street and not paying much attention, she might miss the sign. But if out of the corner of her eye she saw her name in huge letters, it just might get her attention just like someone in a crowd yelling out her name.”

  Sara’s eyes began to moisten. These girls, whose father was lying critically wounded and fighting for his life, thought enough to devote their time to aid in Sara’s search.

  “Oh, you guys… I don’t know how to thank you, with everything else you’ve got going on, to do this for me…”

  Misty didn’t ski
p a beat.

  “You don’t have to thank us, silly. We did it because we love you.”

  Misty ran to Sara for a hug, and Rachel and Scarlett had to wipe their eyes.

  Even Tom, the tough old Texas cowboy, had to turn away and pretend to look out the window.

  -14-

  Rhett Butler charged into the room and finally broke up the hug fest.

  “Hey, what’s going on? I was wondering where the horses came from.”

  Scarlett did the introduction.

  Rhett, you remember Sara. This is Tom Haskins, Sara’s friend from Junction, and the Sheriff of Kerr County.

  He hugged Sara and shook Tom’s hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Sheriff.”

  “Call me Tom, please.”

  Scarlett went on.

  “Honey, I was telling Tom and Sara that you were taking me to see Hannah after you ate. Would you mind if they tagged along with us?”

  “No. I don’t mind at all. I can fill you all in on the latest news about the investigation.”

  “Good,” Tom said. “I’d love to hear it.”

  While Rhett ate, Scarlett and Sara took Tom on a tour of Baker Street. Once a strong middle class neighborhood, it now resembled a small commune.

  Half the houses in the two block compound had been torn down. The concrete slabs were still there, the only visible signs that structures had ever existed.

  The slabs were now used to store farm equipment and other miscellaneous things. Wheelbarrows, rakes and hoes, water hoses and plastic baskets once used for laundry, more recently used to harvest crops.

  The front and back yards of the demolished homes now boasted a wide variety of crops in various stages of growth.

  Some lots were completely covered with lush growths of subsistence crops, like corn or wheat or soy. One house at the end of the street even had a rice crop, although it didn’t seem to grow well in the dry heat of south Texas.

  Other plots were laid out in a more traditional backyard garden form, with rows of beans, peppers and watermelons.