Earthbound (11 page)

Another thing I noticed – we were killing a
few of ‘em, but that just made the rest of ‘em propel themselves
even faster forward. That wasn’t good. They’d be on us in
moments.

Pace and I instinctively pressed our backs up
against each other and kept firing. It allowed us to each focus on
half of the line of sight, and put us close enough to hear each
other over the gunfire.

“Time to run?” I asked.

“Uh-huh.”

We both emptied our chambers, turned, and ran
as fast as we could. Our horses could outrun them, I suppose, if we
could mount them in time. It all happened too quickly for me to
think about it so I just kept running, reloading as best I could. I
heard Pace cry out. I looked over and he had been winged in his
left arm. I didn’t see any blood.

“I’m okay,” he reassured me.

We reached our horses and leapt up.

“Which way?” I asked, firing ten shots at the
robots. I was ten-for-ten that round. I noticed Pace was holding
his arm. I didn’t have time to be concerned, but I was. He pulled
back on his reins to ride deeper into town and away from those
robots. I followed and was pleased to see the townsfolk had the
good sense to get the eff out of the vicinity. All except one.

Becca stood on the front stoop of her
storefront. She wasn’t looking at the robots or the laser fire or
thinking about her own safety. She wasn’t even looking at Pace. She
was looking at me. And she seemed so sad.

If we kept riding in her direction she might
get hurt. Or worse. That I couldn’t abide. I stopped Charon
abruptly.

“Ash, what are you doing?” Pace yelled with
immediate concern.

I glanced over at Becca so Pace could see
what I was doing. “Follow me,” I announced as I turned Charon
around. “Hyah!” We started running right toward the robots. That
was nuts. But those things would follow us wherever we went. I had
to keep Becca safe. It was ultimately the only thing I could do for
her.

Miraculously we avoided the robot’s fire
until our horses connected with their flimsy bodies, knocking them
over with each step. At close range, Pace and I had no problem
shooting them in their little brains. They could only discharge
their weapons to the sides or forward – not up. So while I was
concerned about our horses, I wasn’t concerned about us
anymore.

We made it through the pack of robots – it
seemed like there were six or seven dozen of them. And when we were
clear to the other side, we just rode as fast as we could. I was
relieved, our horses were fine. Might have to replace a horseshoe
or two, but that was about it. After I reloaded I shot backwards,
nicking a few of the robots behind us, and then I started to relax
a little. We were gaining distance on them. Sure enough, they did
rotate their bodies and switch directions on their tracks, but that
took them a few seconds which helped us increase our distance.
Regardless our horses were faster. We’d made it.

We kept riding, craning our necks to watch
their bodies fade into just a glint of metal on the horizon. I
turned around to get my bearings. We were heading toward Black
Eagle Falls. Seemed fitting. We were leaving Great Falls for good.
I should say goodbye at my mother’s grave.

I listened for hoofbeats or rumbling metal
following us, but heard nothing. Soon though, as we approached the
falls, I couldn’t hear anything anyway except the water.

We rode up a hill near the river’s edge. We
dismounted and hit the dirt. We had a wide open view of the
flatlands where we had just ridden through. Nothing. No robots. No
posse. It was almost as if they decided we weren’t worth
chasing.

“You think it’s clear?” I asked.

Pace nodded. Then we got up, mounted and
jogged the rest of the way to the falls. When we dismounted again I
was a little concerned that we weren’t putting more distance
between us and the settlement. But, then again, no one was
following us.

Pace shouted and waved his fists in the air.
Then he opened up his shoulder bag hanging on his saddle and pulled
out a handful of gold coins. He tossed them into the air.

Pace grabbed me by the shoulders and just
screamed at me through his big smiling mouth. Funny, I’m not the
type to celebrate or express emotion or whatever, but eff it. I
wanted to scream too. So I did.

“Have you ever seen this much money in your
life?” Pace asked.

“Never!” I dug my hands into Pace’s shoulder
bag and felt the coins’ weight. It was an amazing feeling.

I noticed Pace tugging at his arm, the one
that had been shot at. “How’s the arm?”

He removed his coat and shirt to get a look
at his wound. “Fine actually,” he said, examining his bare upper
arm. He seemed surprised. There was a dark line along it, maybe a
few inches long. “It just stings.” The laser was so hot that it
cauterized the wound the instant it connected. Handy for cutting
through something. Not so handy if it made contact on the wrong
place on your body. Pace put his shirt and coat back on again.

“So those were… what... robots?”

“Robots…” Pace pondered that thought for a
moment. “I suppose.”

“We never seen anything like that in our
lives! Where the eff did they come from?”

“I’m wondering if they were created by the
Great Plains Holding Company.”

“Those robots… built by the bank?”

“That would make sense. With all that money
they shave off the top, they can invest in one seriously high-tech
security system. That’s amazing! Who knew anyone on this planet had
the technology to design anything this advanced? Let alone
manufacture it! This gives me hope, Ash. Gives me hope that there’s
more on this planet than you or I have ever imagined. Now we just
need to find it and get our piece of it.”

Pace retrieved a flask of whiskey from his
pocket. He held it up and saluted me. “This is all pretty effing
amazing!” He took a swig and then handed the flask to me. I held it
up to salute him back, and then drank. I didn’t need it though.
Whatever I was feeling, I didn’t want to numb it with alcohol.

“Shouldn’t we get going?” I asked.

“In a minute. Horses need some rest.”

The horses were fine. Charon was for sure
anyway. He’d run farther distances than that without a break. I
suspected Pace just wanted to catch his own breath though. Or maybe
capture what he was feeling so he’d never forget it.

I turned my attention to Black Eagle Falls.
It was an impressive sight, all right. It wasn’t the mightiest of
the Five Falls, but it was the first heading downriver. There’s
something to be said for that.

I looked out and imagined my mother out
there. The falls are pretty inaccessible, so she’d have had to
creep out along the broken chunks of concrete, making her way to
the top of the falls. And then fall. I used to tell myself she
slipped. But no. It had to have been on purpose. No one has any
business out there unless they’re courting death. I wondered if her
skull smashed against rocks or chunks of the old dam before she
fell the full twenty-five feet. Or if she survived that part of the
fall, only to drown in the rush of water heading east. Either way
killed the same, but drowning sounded more torturous.

I took off my hat and took a moment. She
deserved better than my father. But even so, he didn’t kill her.
No, she killed herself once she saw I was just like my old man. She
couldn’t put herself through that again. Looks like I proved her
right.

Pace stood alongside me and removed his hat
as well. “I apologize, Ash. I should have remembered…”

“S’okay.”

We stood in silence for a moment and I
thought of her. I realized I had a hard time picturing her
face.

I put my hat back on and took another swig of
whiskey. That one I needed. I was starting to think about the few
people I cared about. And who I was leaving behind.

“You don’t suppose those robots are tearing
up the town right now?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. We got half of ‘em anyway.
And last we saw they were heading in our direction.”

“I’m just a little worried… about Becca.
Maybe we should go check on her.”

“If we go check on her, then I’ll be worried.
I told you we can’t go back to the settlement. Ever.” I knew the
consequences for robbing the bank, but I guess I didn’t want to
believe it. But it felt a lot more real thinking I’d never see
Becca again.

Pace seems to know when I’m distraught, even
though I try hard not to show it. He put a hand on my shoulder to
reassure me. “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine. I promise.”

I nodded. “So now what? What’s the plan?”

“You tell me,” Pace replied. “You jumped
right in before I had time to plan our getaway.”

“Oh right.” Didn’t realize I effed that part
up. Never was one to think things through.

“Any ideas on where we can go to hide out for
awhile?”

“Actually yeah. I do.”

We rode silently west down what used to be
called Central Avenue heading between the crumbling skyscrapers. In
this part of the Old City, the skyscrapers were so tall that it
seemed like the sun was setting even though it was mid-day. We had
to ride around huge chunks of fallen concrete, which gave me some
sense of relief. No one had the balls to try to find us here.

After about ten blocks, Pace was surprised
when I dismounted. I started to feed and water Charon, so he took
the cue to do the same for his horse. I stared up at the hundred or
so floors above us and the thin strip of blue sky separating the
tops of the skyscrapers. A couple hundred years ago that was
probably awe inspiring. But now, it just made me think of death.
Isn’t there an expression about what comes up, or something like
that? I dunno. I just know that shit falls down.

“You thinking this is a good place to stop?”
Pace asked.

I just nodded. I felt my stomach rumble, so I
grabbed a strip of buffalo jerky out of my saddlebag. I took a
bite, but then realized something. The food I had on hand wasn’t
very much, and when exactly would we have the chance to resupply? I
wrapped the jerky back up and put it away. I could be hungry.

“Well, this looks about as good as any,” I
said. “Follow me.” I started to lead Charon into the lobby of one
of the skyscrapers.

“You sure about that, Ash? These buildings
could come down on our heads any time.”

“Worth the risk,” I said.

The front doors had fallen aside, and the
entrance was pretty wide for walking Charon right on in. On the way
inside I noticing an old sign halfway secured alongside the door. I
recognize the word BANK. I knew how to spell that, of course. And
before BANK were the letters U and S. US BANK. I wondered who US
was.

“Ash… where the eff are you going?” Pace
followed out of curiosity.

The lobby was vast, with large pillars from
the floor to the sixty foot ceilings. I guessed those pillars
helped support the structure. It looked fairly secure, I had to
admit. Straight ahead was some kind of big desk, and behind that
some kind of electric staircase I’d never seen before. No, scratch
that, maybe I saw that kind of thing in a movie once or twice.
Anyway, it didn’t work anymore of course. To the left was a glass
door that had been shattered, which led to what looked like an
old-fashioned bank. Everything was sleek and metallic, and it
definitely reminded me of the kind of banks I’d seen in movies
before.

“So I was thinking we could hold up here,” I
said.

“Here!” Imagine Pace’s surprise.

“What better place for bank robbers to hide
out than in a bank?”

“We’re going to stay here. In that lobby of
this skyscraper. As our hideout.”

“That’s my plan.”

“What the eff kind of a plan is that?”

“You’re the thinker. This is the best I could
do on short notice.”

“Ash, let me make sure I’m understanding you.
This Old City is uninhabitable. And you intend to inhabit it.”

“Right.”

“Effing crazy.” Pace was getting heated. “You
do realize that this building could collapse on us any time?”

“We should be fine. I know a lot about the
old city. These buildings housed a lot of important people leading
up to the Exodus. Government figures and people like that. I’m sure
they built this place extra sturdy. Sure, it’ll collapse sometime
in the next hundred years, but probably not today.”

“Real comforting.”

“You were comfortable in the Old City when
you were trying to impress Becca. Why not now?” I’d called Pace on
his bullshit. All he could do was pull out his flask and take a
swig. “Besides, it’s too dangerous for a posse to come looking for
us here.”

“That’s exactly my point. If it’s dangerous
for a posse looking for us, then it’s dangerous for us too!” Pace
handed me the flask. While I was mid-swig he said, “gonna run low
on supplies pretty fast. Whiskey first. That’s all I got.” I
stopped swigging.

“Why didn’t you bring more?”

“That was part of my plan that you didn’t
give me a chance to finish!”

“Eff. No whiskey.” I guess me just jumping
into things did cause problems.

“Let’s do an inventory and see what we have.”
We started pulling things out of our saddlebags. But not much. “We
don’t have any bales of hay for the horses. “Don’t suppose we’ll
find any hay around here.”

“No chance. They can just sleep over by that
electric staircase. They’ll be fine.”

“You want the horses to sleep in here?”

“Can’t have them sleeping outside. That’s
dangerous.” I was right of course. Wolf packs. Bear. Who knows
what. And the cold. Best way to keep them alive was to keep them in
shelter, and in our line of sight.

“You know we’re gonna have to muck this out.
They’re gonna shit here.”

“So are you. What’s the big deal?”