Earthbound

by Adam Lewinson

  Pace didn’t respond. He just kept looking at his watch. Nearly a half hour later, he nodded.

  “Okay. Now.”

  We rode back to the bank and dismounted, loosely tying off our horses to the hitching post with slipknots so they’d come undone with a quick tug. Then we looked around – it was quiet. There was literally nobody around. We entered the bank. It was small and the same set-up as our bank back in Great Falls. No armed guards. Just one bank teller.

  Pace seemed profoundly disappointed to see that the bank was empty, save their lone employee. What did he want, an audience? I took my post at the door, casually flipping the sign over from OPEN to CLOSED. Pace approached the bank teller. He was a rail thin guy who wore glasses. That was an expensive impediment to deal with. It was hard to find a decent pair of glasses.

  “Can I help you gentlemen?” the bank employee asked with a smile.

  “We actually know each other, to a fashion,” Pace replied.

  “We do?”

  “You’re Walt Parker, right?”

  “That’s right. How do we know each other?”

  Pace smiled his warm smile. “We’ve sent messages back and forth amongst each other. Bank talk, that sort of thing. Until recently I worked at the bank in Great Falls.” Walt Parker got a curious expression on his face for a second. “Round here people call me ‘Lewis.’ But my real name is Pace.” Walt Parker’s jaw dropped. Pace swung open his handsome new bison-skin coat and revealed his pistol.

  “Y-you’re Pace?”

  “I guess you’ve been warned about us.” Pace pointed the barrel of his pistol close to Walt Parker’s chin. I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at Walt Parker too, just so he knew we were serious. Slowly Walt Parker’s arms started to rise. “Before you think of setting off the alarm, what say you give me the combination to the safe?”

  Walt Parker shook his head furiously. “Not gonna do it,” he mumbled.

  “Walt Parker, is this worth dying for?” Pace pulled back the hammer on his pistol. Walt Parker took note. “You’re a young man. You can live a long life. Or – you can neglect to give me the combination.”

  Walt Parker made his decision. He started rattling off numbers. “15. 12. 52. 17. 19. 8. 6.”

  Pace smiled with satisfaction. “Hands where we can see them. My partner is a very good shot. He can even cure your bad eyesight. Course, you’ll never see again.” Pace laughed at his own joke and then turned to the safe to crack it open. Walt Parker eyed me nervously. I squinted my eyes just so I’d look as tough as possible.

  I heard the vault clank and then sure enough Pace pulled the door right open. Walt Parker had come through. Inside the safe looked like nearly double what he hauled off in Great Falls. No wonder the people of Augusta were pretty satisfied. They had plenty of money flowing around.

  Pace laughed. “Look at all this beautiful gold!” I expected Pace to start retrieving the gold, but instead he pulled some rope out of his pocket and sat Walt Parker in a chair. “Now hold still. I don’t want you setting off the alarm. That gave us too much trouble last time.” Once Walt was properly trussed, Pace called me over to the safe.

  “I’m supposed to guard the door,” I said.

  “Never you mind. We’ll get out of here twice as fast if you help load up.”

  I rushed over and Pace handed me two shoulder bags to fill with gold. Walt Parker stared at us wide-eyed.

  “Quite a haul,” I said.

  “It’s going to buy you a whole ton of salt,” Pace replied.

  Then unexpectedly the front door swung open, and I wasn’t standing guard at the front door the way I was supposed to. A thin female voice called out. “Are you open?” Pace, Walt Parker and I all turned toward the door in unison. It was Grace. She held in her hand a little deposit. “W-what’s going on?” Grace asked nervously.

  Pace lowered his pistol and approached her. He put his arms protectively around her shoulders. “Sorry, baby, I didn’t mean for you to see this.”

  “But I told you I was going to be here! I always make my father’s deposits at this time!” Pace. That effer. He knew she’d be here and wanted to show off. “Y-you… you’re a bank robber?” Grace started crying. Not a very good way of treating your lady in my book.

  “I’m sorry Grace,” Pace said with all the sincerity he could muster.

  “I can’t believe you’d do this, Lewis!”

  “It’s Pace actually. My name is Pace.” That just made the tears well up even more.

  “You lied to me! I can’t believe I thought… I thought…”

  Pace put his hand delicately under Grace’s chin. “I know. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, I had to walk into yours.”

  I rolled my eyes. Pace was no Humphrey Booger, or whatever that guy’s name was.

  Then that tender, heartbreaking moment was broken by a sound. That same loud whine we’d heard before. The human drama had distracted us from keeping an eye on Walter Parker. He had leaned his body back in the chair far enough so that he could hit the alarm button with his head. I instinctively kicked the chair out from under him and he landed on the floor with a thud.

  “Pace!” I yelled. “Let’s get out of here before those things show up!”

  Pace was conflicted. He was really enjoying his moment. But there was business to be done and we really didn’t want to get caught. Pace rushed over to join me at the vault. We finished filling the shoulder bags – four and a half in all. It turned out to be more than double our previous haul actually.

  “Anything you want me to do with him?” I asked, nodding over toward Walter Parker.

  “Knock him out, will you? Just don’t kill him.” Walter Parker’s eyes widened as my boot descended on his face.

  Grace’s eyes started to well up again. We didn’t have time for that. I crossed to the door and looked outside. So far nothing. “What am I supposed to tell the authorities?” she asked.

  “The truth,” Pace instructed. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. And so will you. You’re quite the catch.”

  “Pace!” I shouted. “We need to go. Now. And get her out of here too. Remember what happened last time.”

  That got Pace’s attention. He hustled Grace to the door and we went outside. A few townsfolk were approaching. I spotted an older man heading toward us with a head of steam. He was carrying something long and wooden.

  “Shotgun!” I shouted. We untied the horses and I mounted. “We gotta go!”

  The older man with a shotgun was coming up on us too fast. In a second he’d be in range. I raised my pistol and took aim. I didn’t want to shoot him, but that’s the way these things go.

  But then, as always, Pace thought quickly. He put the barrel of his gun up against Grace’s temple.

  “Stay back!” he yelled.

  That got the older man’s attention. He froze in his tracks.

  “Drop the shotgun,” I yelled. The older man listened and the shotgun hit the ground.

  Pace mounted, and then pointed his pistol at Grace again. “Get on,” he muttered to her. She looked up at him with surprise. “Get on!” He held out a hand and she took it, putting her delicate foot in the stirrup and swinging her body weight up on Flashbound behind Pace. “Anyone follows us and we shoot the girl. Understand?” The Augusta townsfolk stared back in dumbfounded silence. If not for the whine of the siren, it would have been quiet as a ghost town. Like the rest of the unsettled world, I imagined.

  We headed out of town as fast as our horses would go. We were just relieved that there weren’t any robots – so far anyway.

  “What are we gonna do with her?” I asked.

  “We’ll drop her off. Don’t worry Grace. You’ll be safe.”

  “I don’t want to,” she whelped. “Take me with you.”

  I craned my neck to get a look at the expression on Pace’s face. That would tell me a lot more about what he wanted to do than his words. But he just looked confused.

  “Your call,” I said.
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  We saw the road leading out of town just ahead of us. I thought we’d made it. But then we saw a horrible sight. A hole in the ground just popped open in front of us. Actually it was a well-camouflaged cellar door. And out of that hole wheeled up robots. Lots of robots. Dozens and dozens of robots.

  At that point we still didn’t know what they were called. Just called them robots. At least then we knew where they were coming from, but that was small comfort. The robots were completely blocking our exit out of town, and once they were in formation they started to roll forward. I saw their gun turrets churning. They’d be firing on us in moments. Grace was screaming her head off.

  “Any bright ideas Pace?” I asked.

  “Just one. Run.”

  We turned our horses hard left and Pace led us northwest. There was a bit of a path to follow, but I wasn’t sure where we were going. Pace rode Flashbound faster than I’d ever seen him. It was nice to see a sense of urgency from Pace, especially under the circumstances. The robots were right behind us, and I started to hear the whiz of their laser fire.

  “What are those things?” Grace screamed. Didn’t have time to fill her in.

  We rode right through the Augusta cemetery, which seemed fitting. They had plenty of open lots for us, in the event of our demise. Mighty convenient. I looked back and saw the robots just steamrolling over the tombstones, leaving crumbles of stone in their wake. Those robots didn’t care less about humans – living or dead.

  As soon as we made it through the cemetery, we were in farmland. Surprised a couple of farm hands too. At first they tried to flag us down to stop us from trampling through their crops – but the moment they saw those robots coming they dropped their farm tools and ran.

  “Where you headed?” I yelled to Pace. I wasn’t sure what was up ahead, but at least we weren't leading the robots into a very populated area.

  “Keep going!” Pace replied with a confident tone. Made me feel a little better. Like he had a plan.

  Soon I saw something up ahead. It was just a blue blur at first, but then as we got closer it took shape. Water. And not just a little water. One of those huge reservoirs that made Augusta farm land so fertile. I figured we’d have to ride around it, but as soon as we reached the water’s edge Pace stopped Flashbound abruptly and dismounted.

  I pulled back on the reins to slow Charon. “What the eff are you doing?”

  Pace led Flashbound into the reservoir. What the eff was he doing? I looked back and saw the robots fast approaching. Not sure what else to do, I dismounted to get a closer look. Turns out there was some sort of floating wood platform roped off to a stake in the ground. “Come on!” Pace yelled. Then I saw Pace start to cut the rope. Finally I got it. I quickly led Charon onto the makeshift raft. Once the rope was severed, Pace and I each grabbed a handy oar and started to shove the raft away from the shore.

  “How’d you know this was here?” I asked.

  “Cause I built it yesterday,” Pace replied with a know-it-all smile. The effer had this whole thing planned, in the likely event that those robots came back again.

  Once we were floating about thirty feet from shore, the robots arrived, gun turrets blaring. Fortunately we were just far enough that their blasts couldn’t reach us. It was also a little far for us to return fire.

  “This is what is called a Mexican standoff,” Pace announced. “They can’t get us and we can’t get them.”

  “Course we’re in a standalone pool of water,” I noted. “They can just wait us out.”

  Pace’s shit-eating grin turned into a frown. Guess he hadn’t thought of that.

  “This is gonna be difficated,” I said. I glanced at Grace, still up on the horse. She had turned all kinds of shades of pale. “You all right, ma’am?”

  She just shook her head violently no, and then heaved up whatever she ate for breakfast onto the ground. Fortunately it missed me completely. Pace was not so lucky.

  The robots seemed confused about what to do next. Once they realized their fire wasn’t connecting, they lowered their turrets. Then they lined up against the water’s edge.

  “What are they doing?” Pace asked with curiosity, wiping some hurl off his sleeve.

  The robots seemed to whirl and click for a minute, like they were thinking with their little metal brains.

  “Maybe they’re trying to figure out if they can swim,” I offered.

  Maybe they heard me. The first dozen or so robots whirled forward on their tracks, directly into the water.

  “They’re coming after us!” Grace screamed.

  The reservoir was shallow at first, so the robots didn’t seem to be having too much trouble. But as they progressed forward, the water sank down deeply and covered up the robot’s four feet tall bodies. They sputtered and hissed, like this was not such a good idea for them. Still, despite evidence to the contrary, the next dozen or so robots followed suit. Their metal bodies just kinda collided with one another on the floor of the reservoir. Then the next dozen or so followed. Then the last dozen, until they were all underwater and malfunctioning.

  “They’re like lemmings,” Pace noted. “Remarkable.”

  “Are those things dead?” Grace asked.

  “They were never alive in the first place.”

  “Should we shoot them, just to make sure?” I asked.

  Pace mused on that for a second, and then agreed. We rowed our raft closer to the robots until we were in firing range. Grace covered up her ears and we opened fire. I think there’s an expression about shooting fish in a barrel. This was like that, only it was robots. Kinda fun.

  When we were convinced they were all debilitated, we rowed back to shore and led our horses back to solid ground.

  We mounted and rode back toward the settlement in silence. Finally as we passed through the trampled cemetery, I thought we should change direction. “Getting close to town. Shouldn’t we head east?”

  Pace nodded, and we stopped. The entrance to Augusta was visible in the distance, and as far as I could tell no one had spotted us. Wasn’t sure anyone was even looking for us. Nothing like robots to scare everyone away.

  Pace craned his neck to talk to Grace behind him. "You're welcome to come with us, if this is the life you want to live."

  She didn’t respond. Instead she just dismounted.

  Pace seemed a little mournful, which was kinda surprising. He reached into a shoulder bag and pulled out a handful of gold coins. As he offered them to Grace, she just turned away.

  I felt the need to say something. “Tell Cheyenne I’m sorry.”

  Grace didn’t acknowledge me. Instead she pointed east. “Just go.”

  And we did just that.

  7.

  As we rode back toward the Old City, I had to admit I was feeling a little manipulated. Pace had always planned on robbing the Augusta bank. Thought it out, plotted out our escape, figured out how to show off as much as possible to his latest conquest. Pace was a thinker – no doubt. He could think through all sides of a plan. But this time, he forgot one thing. Me.

  I pulled back on the reins and slowed Charon to a halt. Pace turned Flashbound around to see what the problem was.

  “We should get her going,” he suggested. “That old guy with the shotgun was ornery. When he figures out we left Grace behind safely, he’s just the type who might come after us.”

  “I’m sure you can handle him,” I said. Then I added for emphasis, “Alone.”

  Pace got this curled up expression on his face. “What are you talking about?”

  “You seem good at planning these robberies alone. You see fit to tell me about the details at the last possible moment. So I guess you don’t really need me. Just my muscle I suppose. I’m sure you can find another outlaw to partner with. Someone strong. A sharpshooter. Guys like me are a dime a dozen round here.”

  I turned Charon and started to head south, wherever that might have led. But that didn’t matter. I knew Pace wouldn’t let me get very far.

 
; “Now hold on!” Pace yelled. He loped Flashbound over to catch up with me. “Aw hell. I thought I was sparing you from the details, Ash. You don’t want to trouble yourself with all that planning, do you?”

  “When my ass is on the line, you bet I do.” Then I kept riding.

  “Wait, wait, hold up!” Pace rode over and grabbed hold of my reins. We stopped and squared off. “All right. I’m sorry Ash.”

  “Not interested in apologies. That’s just words.”

  “What do you want then? You want more than half a cut? You want sixty percent?”

  I scoffed, disgusted that he’d suggest that. “I made a choice to change my life by robbing the bank in Great Falls. A choice. But I never chose to be your follower. We’re partners. Fifty fifty partners. Not just in our cut but in everything.”

  “Of course we’re fifty fifty partners in everything, Ash.” Pace seemed contrite. He even took off his clean new white hat and held it earnestly over his heart. “I admit I like planning things out, and I like seeing the surprise on your face when things come together. But if you don’t like that it’s done.”

  “Cause you don’t think you can find a better sharpshooter than me?”

  “No Ash. Cause I know I can’t find a better friend than you.”

  My face automatically squinted. I am instinctively repulsed by sentiment. But I heard him well and good. After a moment, I sighed. I got what I wanted. No need to make him suffer further. I just laid down the law.

  “No more sneaking around. No more secret plans. Either I’m in a hundred percent or you’re alone. With no muscle. Got it?”

  Pace nodded. Then I turned Charon and led us back to what was left of the highway headed east.

  We rode in silence for a minute. I fully expected Pace to start chattering away – but he didn’t. So instead, I struck up a conversation for a change.

  “So. How does robbing that bank fit in with the bigger plan?”

  Pace stammered for a second. “Well, uh, see… it is all part of the bigger plan. You know…”

  “And that plan is…” I said with a demanding tone. I heard him sigh. The new phase of our partnership had begun in earnest.