Earthbound

by Adam Lewinson

  “It’s pretty late,” I said. “You expect him back tonight?”

  “Might be a while. He brought enough provisions to last a few days so I really can’t say.” I nodded and expressed my thanks. As we were leaving, Pace’s Aunt said one more thing. “Oh, and Ash, could you kindly return the suit you borrowed?”

  I grunted a reply. Sure. Don’t think I’ll ever wear a suit again, don’t really want to.

  “I’ll take you home Becca,” I said.

  “Will Pace be all right out there at the air force base overnight?”

  “I’ll ride out there and see.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “No, it’s not a safe place to go.”

  “You took me to the Old City,” she said. “This can’t be any worse.”

  Probably not, I thought.

  “It’s almost midnight, and it’s nearly freezing. Best to set out in the morning. Meet up at my place at 6am. Dress warm.”

  I did sleep a few hours, but found myself awake at 5am. So I packed up my gear and headed out early. Alone. Did I do it on purpose? Kinda. I envisioned Becca showing up at my place and finding no one there. That’ll serve her for getting a crush on Pace.

  I rode east for a few miles before I realized something. I could have been riding alone with Becca. What the eff was I thinking?

  I remember it was so effing cold that morning. Unseasonably cold. I’m pretty accustomed to the weather though, and garments made from bison hair kept both me and Charon warm enough.

  I made my way across the undeveloped plains until I reached the Missouri River. I followed the river’s edge northeast. The river’s not wide around there and you can easily see across to the other side. Getting across is another matter. Traders avoid this whole area entirely, approaching from the west along what used to be called Route 15 and crossing over a massive bridge built for cars, which supposedly is holding up well. Black Eagle Falls, just south of our settlement, used to be a way across until the dam there collapsed a hundred years ago I’m told. Now there’s just a thirty foot drop and chunks of concrete where the dam used to be. Hell of a place to fall in. Just ask my mother. Anyway, I needed to get across the Missouri to get to the air force base. I could have doubled back to Route 87 and make my way across that rickety bridge again, but I had another plan.

  On our way east, me and Charon passed by a structure on the other side of the Missouri. The tall gray walls were covered in moss and surrounded by weeds probably as tall as me. Big panes of shattered glass filled up half the walls facing out toward the river. Probably a fine place for eagles and vultures to nest. A sun-bleached flag still waved in the crisp breeze. I remembered being shown pictures in history books of what that flag was. Red white and blue. A bunch of stars and some stripes. All that used to be symbolic for something, but not anymore I suppose. I guess technically we still lived in the United States of America, but I’m not sure that has any meaning anymore.

  I knew what that sign read in front of the structure. Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center. Some big words there. I only knew it cause someone once read it to me and I remembered it. They also told me about who Lewis and Clark were and why they used to be so effing important a couple hundred years ago. Whatever. Their Interpretive Center isn’t looking so good anymore, so what difference did they make? Whatever the eff an Interpretive Center is anyway.

  A few minutes later we passed an old abandoned house that had been exceptionally well vandalized. It had been that way from before I was born. I suppose no one would be fool enough to go in there now. It smelled of disease.

  We passed Colter Falls. For whatever reason, this was the only falls that our ancestors decided not to stop up with a dam. The fourteen foot drop got submerged though because of all the water backing up from the reservoir at the next dam downstream, but now with the dams busted we’ve got about twelve feet of it back again. When I was a kid I used to throw rocks down there and watch them splash. It’s also where my mother’s body washed up ashore after it rode the current down from Black Eagle Falls.

  A little bit further out the sound of the approaching falls got more powerful, about four times louder than Colter Falls. Rainbow Falls was an impressive forty-five foot drop, so the roar from it got pretty loud. Rainbow Falls is the second biggest, about half the size of Great Falls. Not sure how it got its name. Guess someone saw a rainbow there once, I dunno. I just saw the crumbling remains of what used to be the Rainbow Dam. The dam used to be one of several that powered the Old City. I’m not sure exactly how water generates electricity, I’m told they don’t mix, I dunno, but I’m told that’s how it can work sometimes.

  I knew there was an old railway bridge just west of Rainbow Dam that crossed the Missouri, heading toward the air force base. It was time for me to take a path I’d never tried before. The bridge seemed like it was in decent condition. Course I wouldn’t really know for sure until I crossed it. Seemed like it was in better shape than Route 87. Maybe since it was built for trains instead of cars. So I rode forward. I was glad I had daylight so I could easily see across the bridge. Seemed okay to me.

  The roar from Rainbow Dam grew deafening as I crossed. I was excited to see it up close, since I’d only seen it from a distance from the northern shore of the Missouri. It was a funny spot. To my right was the peaceful river, flowing quietly eastward. So gentle it looked like you could bathe in it. And to my left was Rainbow Falls, where the serene water was suddenly disturbed and fell with great force. I’m told that the dam used to do a better job of regulating the water flow, but after years of neglect and disrepair it seemed pretty chaotic to me.

  As I reached the other side of the bridge, I was now in new terrain. The train tracks continued to the west, but a rusted sign indicated that 67th Street used to intersect there to the south. There was no telling where the road used to be underneath the overgrowth, but I took my best guess and headed off in what I thought would be the right direction. Soon Charon was running across an open field with tall thick grass. I think he enjoyed himself. I just tried to keep us heading south. I slowed us down to a jog as we passed some oversized metal poles lined up every few yards. They almost looked like enormous men with their arms stretched out on a cross, like what they have at church. When I was younger and I saw those poles to the north of our settlement I thought they were scarecrows. But then I learned they used to carry electricity from one place to another. I slowed us to a walk so I could get a good look up as I passed one of the poles. Some of their wires had fallen. Others were frayed and ready to snap. Charon stepped right on the wires, which was fine cause I knew they were harmless at this point. Now they were just dead giants, bereft of their tremendous power. But I tipped my hat to the beasts anyway, knowing that they used to be all-powerful. Although they’re lifeless and I’m still alive, so I guess I was built better, right?

  I traveled south until I found what I was hoping for – a barbed wire fence maybe ten feet high. I just needed to find my way in. I slowly spelled out the letters on a posted sign. I stopped when I felt reassured it said what I wanted it to say. Malmstrom Air Force Base. KEEP OUT.

  I rode along the perimeter of the fence until I found a gaping hole someone had cut through the fence. Big enough for Charon to walk through. I ducked my head so I wouldn’t get nicked by a few metal barbs dangling from the hole. On the other side was a row of houses. I guessed that’s where the soldiers used to live. I wondered if their structures were still fairly hospitable. Probably not a lot of people were adventurous enough to come here. They might still have some good supplies inside. But I didn’t have time for that. I passed through a half dozen rows of houses, then a few more smaller ones, then some official looking ones that had been walled up with wood covering their windows. Finally I reached where I wanted to go. I found the airfield. It was a wide-open stretch of pavement. It was in better shape than most roads I’d seen, but still it sported cracks a yard wide. When I looked up I saw something far more interesting th
ough. Airplanes. Really old airplanes. I’m no expert on planes but I have to admit it was pretty cool. Even though they were covered in rust. They were so big. I wondered how they could ever take flight. I don’t really grasp the physics of it. Not that it matters.

  I was kind of hoping to see one of the spacecraft they used in the Exodus, but those were long gone. They didn’t leave any of those behind. Too bad, that would have been cool. But I did see some remnants from the Exodus. Loading platforms, thirty feet off the ground, that now would lead people up to where the space transports were supposed to be but were long gone. Maybe that’s one of those metaphors, I dunno.

  I rode through the airfield, amongst the deserted airplanes. I wasn’t sure exactly where to go, but soon I just started to follow my ears. I heard something. Faint at first. Kind of a tinkering noise. Then as I moved north it got louder and louder. Until I finally came across a smaller pile of rusted metal in the shape of a jet. Someone stood up on the wing, head buried inside a hatch, pounding away at the jet’s innards with a hammer. His white hand tilted upward. He didn’t look surprised to see me.

  “F-48 Lightning V. Near whisper-quiet electric engine with fuel-powered afterburners. Can reach supersonic speeds of Mach 2.5. Or at least it could. Now it’s just junk.”

  Pace pounded his fists against the metal shell.

  I reached out to touch the rusted underbelly of the F-48.

  “When’s the last time the doc gave you a tetanus shot?”

  I pulled my hand back. I didn’t remember the doc giving me any sort of shot since I was a kid. I didn’t want to get lockjaw just for touching some stupid piece of metal.

  Pace ditched the hammer, climbed down to the edge of the wing, got a toehold on a foot panel a few feet below, climbed down a few rungs and then leapt the five feet or so to the ground. He picked up a thick manual of yellowing papers and waved it around above his head.

  “I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix this thing. For years actually. But I’m here to announce that it’s not possible. I don’t have the tools, or just a basic understanding of how this stupid thing is supposed to work!” He kicked the plane’s flat middle tire. Looked like it hurt.

  “So you were hoping to get ‘er fixed and fly off?” I asked.

  “That was the plan.” Pace tossed the instruction manual to the ground. “I was going to come get you and ask if you wanted to go with me. And I was going to ask Rebecca too. Sorry. Not sure what she would have said anyway.”

  “Probably eff off.”

  We laughed.

  “But now, I’m grounded.”

  Pace sat on the ground. I dismounted and offered him some water from my canteen. He took it. I sat next to him for a moment. The air was warming up. I took of my bison-hair coat.

  “I wish I could have been born 200 years early,” he continued, “and I went wherever our ancestors went.” He took another swig of water. “Maybe I could even have been a pilot.”

  I pulled some buffalo jerky out of my saddle bag and offered it to Pace. I figured he hadn’t eaten and he hadn’t. He was hungry.

  “I got fired from the bank,” he announced.

  I looked at him. Felt kinda bad. “Sorry.”

  “Without my father there protecting his position, they got rid of me. They never thought much of my work ethic anyway.”

  “That effing sucks,” I said. “You did say though you didn’t really wanna be there anyway.”

  “No. I just figured I’d leave on my own terms. Save up some money first.”

  “Now you’re just a poor fool like me.”

  “Afraid so.”

  “What’s that gonna mean to all the girls who like you? I mean, you’re not as good a match as you used to be.”

  “Oh I don’t know. I still have my charm and my looks.”

  “Yeah, that’ll get you far.” Pace laughed. He got up and went over to his saddlebag and pulled out a flask. Tossed it to me. You now I usually don’t drink other people’s liquor but what the hell. It was the good stuff. “You’re not gonna be able to afford this much longer. You think about what you might do?”

  “No,” he replied, sitting back down alongside me, taking back the flask and having a long swig.

  “I can ask my boss if he could afford another ranch hand. I’d train you myself.”

  “Thanks Ash, but I might not have a natural affinity for physical labor.”

  We sat quietly for a while, listening to vultures in the air, drinking good whiskey.

  “I appreciate your helping me, Ash. You didn’t need to do that.”

  “It was nothin’,” I replied.

  “It was more than that. Especially since I just tried to steal your girl.”

  “You got that right.”

  Pace laughed again. Seemed like I had a good ability to make him laugh. But then he kinda got choked up.

  “So what am I supposed to do now?” he asked me. I didn’t look to see his eyes, but his voice sounded watery. I didn’t have much of an answer, so I didn’t reply.

  During the day Pace showed me around at some of his favorite spots on the base. The place where the soldiers used to eat, called the “mess hall.” Guess that says something about the food they ate. And the control tower – or the outside of it anyway, Pace said the roof had caved in on it and the structure would collapse any time now. And most interestingly, the hangers where they used to store the spacecraft for the Exodus. Those barns were massive and miraculously still standing. But they were also completely empty.

  After a time we decided to head back. I let Pace lead since he knew the fastest route back to Rainbow Dam. Pace was uncharacteristically silent, so I took that as my cue to tell him of my plan. The roundup was coming up. It was one of my favorite times, I gotta say. About ten of us ride out to find the wild herds of bison, and see if we can get ‘em back to our ranch. I told Pace how he could be a part of it. How exciting it would be. Although if my boss agreed, he’d probably assign him to the chickens for starters. That’s not very manly work but it’s also hard to screw it up. With the added benefit that it’s easy to pocket a few eggs now and then. Hard to do that with a bison. Not that I’d even know how to try. Anyway, Pace had no response for me. I wasn’t even sure he was still listening.

  As we reached Rainbow Falls, we noticed a lone figure on a horse staring out at us from the other side of the Missouri.

  “Who is that?” Pace asked. “We could get in trouble for being over here.”

  “It’s okay,” I said confidently. “I think I know who it is.”

  As we went across the railway bridge and got closer to the northern shoreline, my suspicion was correct.

  Becca. We were definitely in trouble.

  She shouted at me at the top of her voice as soon as I was near enough to hear her over the roar from the falls.

  “Asher! I can’t believe you left without me! You did that on purpose!”

  I rode up alongside her with my head held low. And I lied.

  “I had to, Becca. Didn’t think the trip would be safe.”

  “Well obviously it was!”

  Becca rode her horse away from me and over to Pace. They had a quiet chat. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I saw her take his hand. I had no right but I was angry anyway. Had no proof but I was sure they’d seen each other at some point without me knowing it. I kept imaging their secret get-togethers to make out – or worse. I wanted to ask them, but at the same time I really just didn’t want to know the truth. That set me off so I just rode off for a few minutes. Eventually they rode up alongside me and we kept going back toward the settlement.

  “Asher,” Becca called out. “Everything okay?”

  As if I’d give her the truth of that.

  We rode in silence and I kept myself preoccupied by thinking about the other night when the three of us were together. Pace wanted to escape. See what was out there in the Great Plains. In the stars.

  As the sun was starting to set we arrived on the outskirts of G
reat Falls. I stopped my horse sharply. I had no interest in going forward. Becca and Pace stopped their horses and waited for me.

  “Okay,” I announced, “I have a plan.”

  “What kind of plan?” Pace asked.

  “A plan to get us out of here.”

  Pace looked at me, widening his eyes, encouraging me to continue. Took me a moment. Wasn’t sure. Needed to make a firm decision. And then I did.

  “We’re gonna rob your father’s bank.”

  3.

  Not sure why I thought of the idea of being a bank robber, I’ll tell you that right now. And if it was just bar talk – if we were drunk and unable to keep our heads up off the table – I’d be able to explain it. But no, I was sober. And there wasn’t much point in talking me out of it.

  “Ash,” Pace said, looking at me like I was a God or something, “that is a great idea!”

  “That’s an insane idea!” Becca said.

  “No,” Pace replied. “It’s exactly right. I’m in.”

  “You’re in?” Becca was livid. She was probably even more effing angry hearing Pace was in than when I brought it up. “You might get yourselves killed! And if not, you’ll be stealing from the people we grew up with.”

  “So?” Pace responded.

  “So some of them have been good to us over the years.”

  Pace scoffed. “One of those people killed my father.”

  “So you’re going to punish everyone?” Becca asked.

  “Hardly. The money in that bank doesn’t belong to you or anyone else in this town. It belongs to the Great Plains Holding Company.”

  “Never heard of it.” I said.

  “I have. That name’s been on my every paycheck. It’s the company that owns the banks. They ensure the safety of your deposits. So if money disappears from the bank, guess who pays? You? No. The bank. The faceless Great Plains Holding Company. And let me just tell you, because I know firsthand, they’ve been cheating the residents of Great Falls for decades. They deserve a little payback.”