by Liscom, Sean
“What if there is no cavalry to ride in and help you out? What then?” she asked.
“Then this is going to be one of the shortest offensives in history,” I said grimly. She was quiet for a few minutes before she spoke again.
“I'll find some help. If the ranch and Elko are not an option, I will find it somewhere else,” she said with determination.
“Thanks, Melissa.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You do realize that I will be in direct violation of the orders that Mrs. Sterling and Mr. Hawkins gave me? I am not taking the heat for that! YOU can answer to your wife on that one!”
“I think, in this case, they will grant you a
little latitude,” I chuckled and laid back down.
“You better hope so!” she laughed a little. “Seriously though, do you think that Jill was able to take back the ranch?”
“I really hope so,” I said. She left the conversation at that and laid back on the ground. It didn’t take long for either of us to fall soundly asleep.
Sunday, August 20th, 2017
Southern Nevada.
It was that really dark part of the morning, just before the sun started to make its presence known, when I awoke. Every muscle and joint in my body ached from sleeping on the cold ground and all of the exertion of the last few days. I just laid there for a few minutes, trying to summon the strength to sit up.
I heard Melissa moving around and turned my head to see her upright already. She had her boots and socks off, rubbing her feet. I watched her for another minute or two and it struck me just how tough she really was. I had no idea how
many miles we had walked and she had done it all without a single complaint. She had shouldered her share of the load, more than her share, really. I know that she had to be just as sore and tired as I was.
The heat of the day was the toughest part
to deal with. The lack of water was running a very close second place. Both of us were dirty, really dirty. I hadn’t shaved since I can’t remember when and all of that stubble was beginning to itch. Both of us stank so badly of body odor that we had actually become used to it. Sweat stains were very visible on our shirts and they were beginning to chaff a little.
When Melissa started to put her footwear back on, I groaned my way into the sitting position. All that did was make the aches worse. With no warning, my right thigh muscle began to contract and spasm in real protest. I quickly began to try and massage the impending cramp away.
After nearly five full minutes of vigorously rubbing my thigh, it began to relax a little. Instead of sitting there, waiting for it to cramp again, I got to my feet and did a few basic stretches. That seemed to help. Melissa picked up the backpack and put her arms through the straps. After adjusting it a little, she picked up her rifle. Satisfied that I’d worked out my thigh muscle, I picked mine up and slung it.
“We ready?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“Lead the way, then,” I replied. She turned and started us out on a heading that would take us up and over the top of the mountain range and straight into Duckwater.
Once we got moving and had our pace set, we covered quite a bit of ground before the sun crested the horizon. At 10am, we finally made the ridge and we could see the small town about 10 miles ahead of us. Closer than that though were several green patches. Out here, that could only mean one thing….. Water.
Melissa steered us on a course that would take us directly to it and by 2pm, we arrived. We discovered that there were actually several springs that were putting out enough water to form small creeks. At the site of each spring, there were small pools of crystal clear, cold water. After scouting it out a little, both of us drank until we had our fill. While picking up some sort of bug was always a concern, the decision was made to save our last match instead of building a fire to sanitize the water.
There were no signs of animal activity near the springs and we had found the source where it came directly out of the ground. The odds of getting sick were about as minimal as we could make them.
We had saved all of our empty water bottles and refilled them before we made the final leg to our destination. Duckwater was about another mile and we covered that in 30 minutes. I took it as a good omen when I saw the sign for the local trader.
Before the EMP, Duckwater only had a
population of around 250 people. This was one of those rare places where the pulse didn't really affect them and the population remained steady. If anything, the town may have actually grown slightly. It may have been located in the middle of the central Nevada desert but with local water sources and a vigorous ranching and farming community, they did pretty well for themselves.
The place reminded me of an old western town, right down to the hitching post and water troughs in front of the local businesses. There was a tailors shop, a barber shop, a blacksmith, a trader, a hotel and even a bar right there on Main Street.
Duckwater had become a stopping point for people who were traveling across the state and they seemed to be doing pretty well. One thing that I did take notice of was the lack of men in tiger stripped uniforms. There were none and there seemed to be a lack of any security at all. We were able to stroll right up the street without anyone taking any notice. Sure, we got a few strange looks but nobody seemed to care.
We were nearly to the trader’s storefront when a man wearing a badge stepped off the opposite sidewalk and made his way toward us. Melissa and I saw him at the same time and we stopped walking in the shade of the storefront awning. He didn’t seem to be in any hurry but he was certainly eyeing us. He wore a weathered felt
cowboy hat, blue jeans, cowboy boots and a short sleeve button up shirt.
“How you folks doin today?” he asked as he got closer.
“We’re fine, Sheriff,” I replied.
“Folks look like you been on the road a spell. You passin through or planin on stayin?”
“We’re just passing through. We wanted to stop and see your trader but after that, we’ll be moving on,” I said. I also noticed that he was giving us a good once over from head to toe.
“I see. Where y’all from?”
“Me and my daughter here, we came up from Arizona. I’m Jack and this is Irene,” I extended my hand. He eyeballed us for a moment before he extended his hand. He didn’t volunteer his name. After he withdrew his hand, he leaned against the post holding the awning up.
“I’ve seen my fair share of travelers comin through town, I’ve also heard my share of big fish stories and I’m thinkin that’s what your story is,” he said. Melissa and I glanced at each other. “Ya
see, most travelers come in here with some mode of transportation, usually a horse, and they ain’t wearin combat boots and body armor…..” he paused for a moment.
“Now, I reckon it’s possible that you’re tellin the truth, but its mighty suspect. I might be wrong bout this, but somethin is tellin me that
you them folks Ray Judge is lookin for. If you are, that puts me right smack in the middle of some shit that I want nothin to do with…..”
“Sheriff, I…..” I started to say but he cut me off.
“See, on one hand, I can’t stand that pompous ass but on the other, the survival of my town hangs in the balance. So, I’ll tell ya what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna walk on back to my office where the radio is, I’m gonna eat my lunch and then I’m gonna put in a call and tell ‘em that I may have seen the people they are lookin for. If you ain’t them, you got nothin to worry bout. If you are them, well, you’ve been warned and you know which team I’m playin for. Their nearest patrol is at least a few hours away. Understand?” he asked.
“I understand, Sheriff,” I replied.
“Then I bid you two farewell, safe travels and a whole lot of luck,” with that, he turned his back and began to walk ever so slowly away from us. I watched him until he was on the other side of the street again then I looked at Melissa and
nodded toward the traders door.
horse tack, dried fruit, hand tools and too much more to list.
We made our way to the counter and could see that the proprietor kept all of the good stuff behind the counter. There were weapons of all sorts, bags of jerky and ammunition. A big, burly man stood up from behind the counter and greeted us.
“Afternoon,” he said in a gravelly voice.
“Hi,” Melissa and I said in unison.
“How can I help you today?”
“Well, we’re looking mainly for some transportation. The motorized kind if you have it,” I said.
“You’re out of luck there,” he chuckled. “We ain’t had fuel in this town in weeks.”
“Horses?”
“I got two but I’ll warn ya ahead of time, the price is steep. What are you looking to trade?”
“Will guns and body armor do it?” I asked.
“Let me see what you got, then we’ll haggle,” he replied. Melissa took off the backpack and set it on the counter. She removed the two Glock 19 handguns, all of the spare magazines, the spare magazines for the AK and the body armor. I unslung the AK-47 and laid it on the counter.
He picked up each piece and gave it a meticulous once over. He even removed the
ceramic plates from the body armor. He cycled each weapon by hand and emptied all of the magazines onto the counter. He even counted each round of each caliber. Satisfied that he had inspected everything, he finally looked up at us.
“What you have on the counter here will buy you the blanket, saddle, bridal and reigns for one horse. What else do you have?” he asked. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the gold coin and put it on the counter. His eyes lit up. I held out my hand and Melissa gave me the second coin. I also put it on the counter.
“You folks must be really tired of walking,” he remarked. “I’ll make ya a deal but you ain’t gonna like it much.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said.
“Like I said, the price for a horse is steep. How about everything that’s here on the counter for one horse and a full set of tack?”
“Everything for a horse, tack, 50’ of 1/4 inch steel cable, 100 rounds of 5.56 and 50 rounds of 45ACP,” I replied.
“I don’t know….. My quarter horse is pretty sought after. There’s two or three people in town that want him.”
“What’s the other horse?”
“That ole nag? She’s a mustang. She ain’t been ridden in near a year,” he said.
“Fine, I’ll make the deal for the mustang.”
“Well…..”
“That’s my offer. You can either take it or leave it. The choice is up to you,” I said. He looked over everything on the counter again before he spoke.
“Alright. Since the mustang is less than the quarter horse, how about I throw in two pounds of elk jerky and two full water bladders for your body armor?”
“That’ll be fine. We have a deal then?” I said as I extended my hand across the counter.
“Deal,” he said, shaking on it. “I’ll have my stable boy saddle up that mare. If you want, I can set you two up with a room and a hot bath for the night,” he offered.
“No, thank you though. My daughter and I have to get going,” I replied. The offer of a bed and hot bath were very appealing though.
“Okay then. Give me a few minutes and I’ll gather everything else up.”
“If you don’t mind, we’ll just wait out front,” I motioned Melissa back toward the door. Once we were outside again, we moved out of view of the store window.
“You got a plan brewing in that head of yours, don’t you?” Melissa asked.
“I sure do.”
CHAPTER 25
Sunday, August 20th, 2017
The ranch.
Braden had come back from Elko, debriefed Bill, Jill and Dan, and they told him to go get some sleep. Sleep was the furthest thing from his mind after what he had done to Pete. The scene kept playing over and over in his mind. It was like he was watching it from a third person point of view.
After he left the security shack, he found himself wandering the grounds of the ranch until well after the sun came up. When it got too hot outside, he found shelter from the sun by going into the underground. It was four in the afternoon when Bill found him sitting on the couch in the common area. All of the lights were off and there was a lone candle burning on the end table next to him. Without an invitation, Bill sat on the other end of the couch.
“Megan asked me to come find you. She said that you didn’t go home this morning,” Bill said.
“Nope, I didn’t go home,” Braden replied quietly. Bill just let the silence hang in the air for a few minutes.
“First time?” Bill asked.
“First time for what?”
“First time you’ve had to kill?”
“Yes,” came Braden’s shaky reply. “How did you know? I didn’t say anything at the briefing.”
“I saw it in your eyes, Braden.” Braden said nothing. “I’ve seen this before, too many times to count,” Bill said.
“How….. How do I deal with this, Bill? That man, Pete….. I killed him in cold blood.”
“There’s no easy answer. I could tell you that we are at war and these things happen. I could tell you that the survival of the ranch depended on what you did. I could tell you all sorts of other things to try and make you feel better. None of them will do anything but confuse your brain and make it even harder.”
“How does Jason deal with it? I know he’s killed people.”
“The truth is, it’s different for everyone. Jason is able to compartmentalize it and put it away. I know that it’s not something he talks about, not even to Jill. I know that it bothers him though.”
“How do you know that?” Braden asked, looking at Bill.
“Nightmares. Jill has told me that sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night, soaked in sweat and a bit combative until he regains his senses.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Nobody does. Let me give you the official
line, Braden. I don’t know the circumstances that you were put in and I don’t know the context of why you killed that man. I do know that there was a reason for it though. Something inside you crossed over an imaginary line and you took a life. You have to live with that now. You can never go back to the way things were before. You can spend all of your time sitting here, in the dark, wondering what happened. You can replay it over and over again or you can move forward.”
“The choice is up to you,” Bill continued. “Now, let me give you the unofficial part of it. Up till now, you have been very lucky to not have been put into a position where you had to kill someone. Very lucky. We live in a world now where every damn day we have on his rock is a gift. There are people out there who wouldn’t think twice about killing all of us. Sometimes, you have to meet deadly force with deadly force. Sometimes it’s a choice we get to make, other times, they make the choice for us.”
“The end result is always the same, at least for those of us who still have some moral fortitude. We’ve taken a life and we are the ones who have to deal with the consequences. It’s not an easy thing to live with but it’s what we have to do. When you go home, look at your wife, look at your girls and ask yourself this; what would you not do to protect them?”
“Bill, I would do anything to protect them.”
“Then you already have your answer as to how you deal with what happened this morning. This is how you deal with it when it happens again. Trust me on that, it will happen again,” Bill replied.
“Maybe next time I’ll be better prepared for it,” Braden said.
“No, you won’t be. It’ll never get easier, for lack of a better term. If it does, you need
to have your head examined.”
“Thank you for coming down here to talk to me, Bill. I really appreciate it.”
“I’m always here, for you or anybody else. I’m going to go talk to Megan, let her know that you’re okay. I want you to hang out down here as long as you need to. When you go back upstairs and go home, talk to your wife. Don’t try to keep this a secret between the two of you. Nothing good will happen if you do,” Bill warned him as he stood up. Braden nodded his acknowledgment.
Sunday, August 20th, 2017
Duckwater, Nevada.
Within 30 minutes, the trader had everything that I requested put into a backpack and delivered with the saddled horse. The trader thanked us and began to walk back into his store
when I stopped him.
“Can I ask for one more favor?” I asked.
“You can ask.” he said with a smile.
“Before too long, you are going to have some men, probably on motorcycles, come into town looking for us. I want you to tell them exactly which direction we’re headed. Can you do that for me?”
“Are you sure you want me to send that kind of trouble your way?”
“I'm positive of it,” I replied. “Tell them we were here and that we are headed north on state route 379, you heard us say that we were heading to Eureka.”
“Okay, you know they usually travel in packs of five, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Excuse me for saying so, but that sounds a little crazy. They'll find you and cut you to ribbons, mister.”
“I really hope they find us and it's gonna take a whole lot more than five of them.....” I nudged the horse in the sides and left the trader standing in the middle of the street. Melissa was riding behind me, holding onto the back of the saddle seat with both hands.
As we neared the end of Main Street, I saw the Sheriff step off of the curb and begin to approach us. He held up his hand to signal me to stop. I pulled on the reigns a little and the mare