Earthbound (16 page)

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.

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.

“I figured we’d rob all the banks in the
nearby settlements. Why not. We’re wanted anyway and we’re good at
it. Stash as much gold as we can in the Old City for safe keeping.
And then… then I’m not sure really. Then we’d have to get out of
the Great Plains for good, that’s for sure. Everyone’d be looking
for us at that point.”

“Where would we go?”

“I dunno,” he admitted. “I just know there’s
got to be somewhere else to go. You know I’d love to go starbound
where our ancestors went. Of course that’s not practical. So maybe
Asia or something. I don’t know but someplace great is out there.
We’ll find it. I swear, Ash, we’ll find it.”

“And before we go for good, what about
Becca.”

Pace nodded. He’d been thinking what I’d been
thinking. “We’d see if she wants to come with us, wherever that
is.”

I nodded with agreement. It wasn’t likely
she’d come with us, and if she did there was no doubt which one of
us she’d want to be with. But still it was worth a shot.

“She likes you, you know,” Pace said.

“Who?”

“Rebecca.”

“Aw shut up.”

“She does. She thinks you’re cute.”

“Shut the eff up!”

“She thinks you’re cute. What can I say.”

Pace needed to shut the eff up. He was just
fillin’ my head with talk. Nobody thinks I’m effing cute. Certainly
not Becca.

“I think I liked you better when you weren’t
tellin’ me stuff,” I scowled.

Pace laughed. We rode in silence for a
blissful minute. “How about you and Cheyenne?” he asked.

I exhaled deeply. Didn’t want to talk about
any of that. “Nothin’ to say.”

“I know you guys were getting a little close.
So I’m just wondering… did you make your move on her or did you
just act all gentlemanly?”

“Shut the eff up, Pace.”

“Come on. We’re fifty fifty partners. We
share everything!”

“Shut the eff up, Pace.”

Another two hours into our ride, we heard
some hoofbeats in the distance. Pace and I stopped in our tracks
and exchanged a look. Sounded like a dozen horses, give or take.
Riding slowly.

“Posse?” I asked.

Pace nodded in agreement. It was likely the
posse from Augusta returning home from their wild goose chase with
nothing to show for it. Until now, that is. We looked around and
there wasn’t much ground cover unfortunately. No forest nearby.
Just a lot of tall weeds. Not nearly enough to conceal ourselves
in.

“Run or fight?” I asked.

Pace thought for a moment. “Hopefully
neither.” He started to continue riding forward.

“What’s the plan, Pace?”

“Oh yeah.” He forgot he promised to clue me
in on everything from then on. “Maybe they never stopped in Great
Falls. Maybe they have no idea who we are. In which case, we’re
just riding home. All friendly. Right?”