Bottled water was still on the store shelves. Several cases were gone. Deo pulled two and placed them in the aisle to be picked up on his way out.
He moved on.
Boxes of ammunition lay scattered on the floor in the sporting goods section. The broken display cases were almost empty. The few remaining weapons were ruined by time and the alkali in the dust. The ammo that remained appeared questionable. After opening the first couple of boxes, Deo realized that the packaging kept the shells well. He started wiping them off with a hand towel he found under the counter. Trying to read the fading ink with marginal success, he stacked them to one side if he was successful and the other side if he couldn’t make it out. After thirty or so boxes he had found two that looked like something they could use.
Lecti and Eleon found Deo. Lecti went to get some more dust cloths in the bed and bath section of the store, and Eleon checked the boxes that had already been cleaned. He found one more box that Deo had missed, simply because he was familiar with the type of shell. The ink was unreadable.
When she returned, Lecti started searching at the other end of the shelf. The boxes in this area were cubes. Shotgun shells.
After cleaning and sorting, they had four boxes of ammo for the pistols and three for the shotguns. As Eleon had predicted, there was nothing to fit the rifle.
Coming back out into the light of day, Eleon looked around. He knew that catching up to Zip and Cotton would not happen today. It was well past noon. By the standards of the past, they were moving at a snail’s pace, but by present standards they were moving pretty fast.
He suggested they find a place to spend the night, a place out of the dust if possible. After a discussion that the next leg of the journey might offer little in the way of shelter, Lecti and Deo agreed.
The city library was locked. A tumbleweed-packed stair to the basement with a door that opened inward resisted their efforts. It finally gave way when Lecti pulled out her wrecking bar.
Upstairs, the library was in good condition. Books remained on shelves, monitors lined the walls, staring blankly out at the room.
Lecti went over to look at the monitors. Virtual reality control gloves and halos hung from a hook under each. She put a pair of gloves on and waved her hands in front of the screen. Nothing happened. Just as the GPS satellite for their father’s atlas had failed, the rest of the systems had lost function as well. Lecti expected nothing, even though the wind-damaged solar panels required on all government buildings still provided electricity to the library.
Settling in for the evening, they found a functional microwave in the library office. The metal camping gear that they cooked with on the road would not be suitable for this ancient technology. Fortunately a glass bowl in the cupboard fulfilled their needs, and soon a meal of freeze-dried, rehydrated gumbo filled paper bowls. The cupboard even provided disposable silverware. There would be no dishes to clean tonight.
As Eleon ate, he contemplated the situation. The day had gone well. The future held the possibility of danger but also held the probability that the quest would never be satisfied, especially if Lecti and he could keep delaying and distracting Deo. Deo was intelligent, but being as young as he was, he could be expected to react in predictable ways.
As the meal came to a conclusion, conversation picked up. Deo expressed his expectations of their task. The concerns of Lecti revolved around safety and the dangers of the road.
Eleon listened and only interjected occasionally. He was feeling melancholy and preferred to remain silent. It was not uncommon for him to be gloomy. His past held many demons, and they often visited his thoughts.
Gradually the evening wound down and the banter that developed late bolstered Eleon’s mood. He felt better. Lecti and Deo forgot that they had ever felt any discomfort with Eleon. They were becoming friends. Lecti felt a strange attraction to Eleon. She attributed it to the loss of her father. She missed him every day. Now Eleon made her feel safe in the same way.
The bag that Eleon brought into the library would serve as a pillow as he slept at some distance from the kids. He settled into his bag, turning away from them. They continued to speak in low voices. Knowing that they would soon be joining him in sleep, Eleon intended to listen to their voices until he drifted off. It was not eavesdropping. He really could not make out anything clearly. Just as he settled, there was a lull, and Deo spoke up clearly.
“Eleon, you said something when you made me that offer. You know, when we left the flats. You said you had a lot of notches on your belt.”
Eleon could feel it coming.
“So, you know, how many are there? Notches, I mean.”
As Eleon turned to face them, Lecti knew that he had anticipated the question. If Deo had discussed it with her earlier, she would have asked him to keep his mouth shut. She sensed Eleon was battling the past. She didn’t understand the magnitude.
As Eleon’s eyes searched theirs, his face fell. He looked haggard but determined. Suddenly, Lecti feared the answer.
He rolled back away from them, making himself comfortable. For an instant they thought he was not going to answer.
Eventually Eleon spoke. In a clear, sad voice he said, “Just over twelve billion.”
Chapter 18
Twelve billion...twelve billion…twelve billion.
Not wanting to hear it, and bracing herself, did not stop Lecti from being stunned. It was such an outrageous number. She was expecting five, maybe six. In her wildest dreams she would have been surprised at twenty. She understood that the number must represent the victims of the plagues, and of course she knew that Eleon could not be responsible. It was too unlikely, too bizarre. Her mind roiled with the justifications that she felt must explain the answer that Eleon gave. He was exaggerating or more likely felt an unjustified guilt. Massive guilt brought on by believing that he could have done something to prevent the extermination. One thing she did know, Eleon believed what he said. It just couldn’t be true. It would make him a monster.
Deo looked at his sister. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to him. Her face was still visible in the dimming light. He watched as Lecti reacted to the despair that the answer to his question created.
As Eleon enunciated the unbelievable number, Deo remembered the look in his eyes as he turned away from them. Deo, too, had a hard time with the number. For some reason, even though twelve billion sounded so irrational, Deo believed him. Deo could tell from Lecti’s expression that she was in denial, but she believed him, too.
Deo opened his mouth as if to say something. He wanted to pursue this strange assertion. Glancing at him, Lecti laid her hand on his arm and shook her head. She pleaded with him silently. She shook her head again and put her finger to her lips. After he nodded, she rose to her feet and made her way to her bed. She looked back one more time, finger to lips, and pleaded with her eyes once more. Understanding, Deo nodded. He made his way to his pack and leaned against it, thinking hard. No more words were spoken that evening.
Night passed. Eleon woke many times, never really dropping into a good sleep. Not unusual for him. There was always plenty to think about, plenty to remember. He regretted so much. He listened to the even breathing of his slumbering companions and envied their innocence.
Deo was up early. He rose immediately and nudged his sister. When she turned over and opened her eyes, he turned to Eleon. In the early dawn light Eleon was already watching him.
No one had anything to say, and yet they spoke volumes.
Eleon was dejected and sullen, not in the mood to play the game of delaying Deo. His anger seethed under the surface. It could take him in any direction in an instant. If either of the kids had given him an excuse, he would have climbed on his bike and found a different direction.
The pain of Lecti’s time locked in a room with Hal was still with her. She had managed to bury her emotions for the most part, but they were surfacing once again. Last night she had managed to put it behind her for the moment. The jo
urney from Roseburg had been full of impediments, obstacles to be overcome, but the last few days were at another level entirely. She felt that she was ready to break.
The distraction of getting ready and loading Jenny agreed with her.
The collective mood permeated the morning with gloom. Deo woke with a sense of urgency. He wanted to get this pursuit over with, but he was surprisingly sensitive to his companions as the dawn broke. Quietly and efficiently, he completed his preparations and climbed into the three-wheeler. He would drive today. He had reacquired his focus.
The exit from town was uneventful. Highway 95 south from Fallon beckoned in the early morning chill. It would be warm soon enough.
As the river wound around the south side of the ruined town, it pushed its way through an accumulation of debris stacked against the pilings of the highway bridge. When the dam upstream collapsed, the resulting flood piled large pieces of detritus underneath, along with an increasingly deep layer of river rock and sand. The channel no longer accommodated the seasonal volume of snowmelt from the mountains to the west. The water was still up from the spring flood, and a shallow flow cascaded across the road on both sides of the span. The upstream side of the bridge was in bad shape with a missing rail and about half of the lane gone.
Stopping to assess the path ahead, Eleon felt no particular trepidation. The tracks that they followed out of town could be seen on the other side of the water. He entered the flow slowly with his boots held just off the surface, helping to maintain balance and ready to prevent a spill.
Deo waited and watched. The motorcycle made its way across without incident, and Deo began to follow.
Jenny was built low to the ground by some standards. It was not a rock crawler. Seats were low enough that the occupants could bend over and touch the ground over the low side of the roll cage.
Water lapped about the wheels and gurgled underneath the floorboards. When they hit a depression hidden by the surface glare, Lecti woke from her dark thoughts and paid attention. Some liquid swirled around their feet. The broken part of the bridge passed to their right, crumbled into the riverbed. The machine broached the flood on the farther side without incident. That side had less water and was not as deep.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Deo accelerated to catch up with Eleon. The river crossing had been a concern. Electric vehicles and deep water were not particularly compatible.
Settling back into her seat and her thoughts, Lecti braced herself for the cool air as they increased their speed.
Soon the air warmed and the travelers felt more comfortable. The next town of any size was a good distance ahead. With the extra cases of water bottles tied to the cover over the rear motor, they were well prepared for a desert trek.
Time and miles passed.
The motorcycle kicked up dust as it trailed the killers. Even though the wind blew most of the dust away from them, Deo and Lecti were glad for the goggles. Soon they found the first bit of humor in this grim day when they noticed the dust on each other’s faces. Lecti turned the rear view mirror to her and traced lines across her cheeks and a short vertical line over and under each goggle lens. Deo thought she looked great. When he smiled and laughed, exposing bright white teeth in his dust-covered face, Lecti smiled and started to enjoy the day.
A large body of water appeared on their left. Walker Lake was full. After disappearing due to the demand for both drinking and irrigation water, it was back. The lake had been gone for so long that the lakebed became populated with an industrial park. There was no reason to think that the flow would ever return. A road entered the lake from the south end. The low buildings lay deep enough that they were only visible if the wind was not up and the water was still. It did not happen often. They decayed in peace.
When Eleon lived in Carson as a teenager, he had traveled this road to Las Vegas with his buddies once. The lake died just before his road trip, and he paid no attention to the political fallout that ensued. By the time the road and buildings filled the area, Eleon was long gone from Nevada.
Remembering his road trip fondly, Eleon was surprised. He only vaguely remembered most of the trip due to the altered state he had kept himself in. One thing he did remember was the friend that wanted to go skinny-dipping. His friend’s parents, longtime residents of Nevada, had offered their son the idea. As they passed the dry, parched depression, Eleon’s friend ranted about how the earth was being ruined. The lake should have been there for them. Eleon had laughed and promptly forgotten all about it. Today he remembered. There was a lake in the desert. It was big.
The road along the west side was starting to deteriorate. The road base was built with no moisture in the soil. When the lake returned, the ground swelled and heaved. Now the asphalt was cracked and crumbling.
The three wheeler surged ahead as Eleon fought his way through the rough surface. He did not like to see Deo drive past him, but the bike was not capable of any speed unless he had a death wish. He did not. The ill humor of the early morning had disappeared, and he was enjoying the trip.
A wide spot in the road, a viewpoint, afforded a chance to stop and rest. Deo pulled over, and by the time Eleon pulled up, Lecti was standing in water. The shoreline was just below the highway. Throwing stones into the water, Deo unlimbered his arm. Soon Eleon joined him, and they began testing each other’s skill at skipping rocks.
The town south of the lake invited them. Deo insisted that they drive to the opposite end and make sure Zip and Cotton were no longer there.
The tracks led through town with only one deviation. The killers spent a night in a convenience store. Though the coolers did not work, the racks and shelves still held usable packages of snack food.
The attraction for the bikers may have been the store next door. An automotive parts store was an oddity before the plagues. Vehicle companies wanted to protect their profits and became increasingly protective of the ability of anyone but their employees to work on them. By necessity, a remote area like this required access to parts that most communities resourced in other ways. The footprints in the dust showed the interest the pair had. The dust free circles on the shelf showed that several bottles of tire sealant were newly gone. Other interest appeared to be shown by the mass of prints next to a rack full of electrical connectors.
Deo hoped they were having trouble with their bikes. Eleon had the thought as well. Maybe the hunt was winding down. For different reasons, and with different reactions, both men resigned themselves to the near future.
The group decided to bed down once more because of the distance to the next town. There was not much daylight left anyway. Returning back the way they had come, they entered a floor covering sales and storage facility. Carpet makes a great bed when you are used to hard floors.
After a quick meal, Eleon found a comfortable seat outside to watch the sunset. A restaurant next door provided a chair from their sidewalk eating area. He pulled it from the tangle where the wind stacked them, and testing it for sturdiness, he faced west to watch the colors in the clouds.
Both Lecti and Deo joined him shortly, pulling their own chairs from the pile. They remained silent until the first cricket started to chirp.
Chapter 19
The sunset was beautiful. Clouds of several shapes and sizes, gaps and beams of light filled the sky. And color, magnificent color. Eleon was a connoisseur of sunrise and sunset. He made an effort to witness each, to appreciate each.
His thoughts were occupied with the burden he carried. The weight was heavy, the guilt enormous. Twenty years now, twenty years of wishing he was dead but without the will to stop his own pain. He was afraid of hell. A Supreme Being would have no mercy on him. Lately the load was somehow less. He noticed a difference since he began this journey with these two young people. The information he carried, the burden he bore, needed to be shared. He knew that eventually he would have to speak. It was time.
Turning his chair to face Deo and Lecti, Eleon began.
“I have something t
o tell you. It will be very difficult for me, but I want you to know that everything I say will be the absolute truth from my perspective. I know that you must wonder about how twelve billion people died,” Eleon hesitated, “and how I claim to be responsible. If you don’t want to hear it, tell me now, but don’t ever expect me to tell you anything about it after this.”
He hesitated, waiting to let his statement sink in. He would not be surprised if the kids turned away. In their short acquaintance he believed he knew their characters, however, and expected them to give him this chance, this opportunity, to relieve his mind. It would be the first time in twenty years.
Lecti kept her eyes to the ground. She felt Eleon’s angst and realized that this moment was tremendously important to him. Her kinship with this mature man was growing in spite of her initial hesitations and suspicions. She liked him, and her nature empathized with his sadness and his pain. By now she knew that she would allow him a chance to divulge what apparently was going to be a confession. She feared and still welcomed it.
Looking up, she met Deo’s eyes. He had been waiting for her to consider her thoughts. Deo would follow her lead as he had so often. Besides, he was curious. If Lecti had elected to leave, to not hear Eleon out, he would have followed even though he would have wanted to stay.
“Okay Eleon,” sighed Lecti, “we’d like to listen. We’ll even try to not interrupt.” She looked at Deo meaningfully.
Eleon was pleased. Tears welled in his eyes. He would have spoken to Deo alone, but Lecti was the one that he really wanted to hear him out. Somehow he hoped she would understand. More likely she would curse him. It would be nothing new. He had been cursed for a long time.
Bending his head and bringing his hands to his forehead, Eleon folded them as though he was praying. He was not a great fan of the ruined former religions, but truly this was a time to ask for deliverance and understanding and not only from Lecti and Deo.
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