Earthbound (23 page)

I know how to get to you…

Round midnight we returned to our hideout. We
were beat, but still wanted to lock up our gold. As I got a fire
going and we cracked open a bottle of whiskey, Pace used the light
from the fire to examine that robot arm. The weapon on the end of
that turret had gotten crushed, unfortunately. Would’ve come in
handy. But still, it proved to be helpful.

“It says on here M-A-N-K-I-N,” Pace read.
“Mankin. Guess that’s what these things are called.”

“Mankin,” I repeated so I wouldn’t forget it.
As if I could.

“Never seen any kind of construction like
this. This metal is so lightweight but really sturdy.”

“Anything else written on it?”

Pace examined it on all sides. “Bunch of
numbers, not sure what those mean. A serial number I suppose. And…
wait a minute…” Pace peered at one section of the arm really
closely – right where it had been severed by the trap door. Then
Pace got this amazed look in his eyes. “Well I’ll be damned. See
here? It says ‘Property of the Great Plains Holding Company. All
rights reserved. I was right!”

I wondered how many decades or centuries or
whatever that the bank had those Mankins hidden just outside our
settlement. Probably the whole time we were alive, they were just
waitin’ right there.

We mounted the Mankin arm on the wall by the
electric staircase, just for the hell of it. It was our little
memento – may as well put it on display.

After a little more whiskey we headed off to
sleep. Couldn’t sleep. Wasn’t the cold. That wasn’t so bad
anymore.

“Pace, you sleepin’?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Been thinkin’ about somethin’.”

“That’s dangerous.”

“Our lives just got a whole lot more
difficated.”

“You worried about that guy Shādo Shay?”

“Nope. Been thinkin’ about what Birkin was
yellin’.”

Pace hesitated a whole long time before he
finally replied. Wasn’t sure if he fell asleep or something.

“Yes, me too.”

“He says he knows how to get to us.”

“He said we know
who
he was talking
about.”

“I reckon he does. What do we do?”

“I suppose we go rescue Rebecca. That’s what
we do.”

Probably the single most dangerous thing we
ever did was go back home.

Sure, in the other settlements we’d been to
we stuck out as strangers, but not necessarily outlaws. Not unless
someone got a good look at our Wanted poster. In Great Falls,
everyone knew our face. And they’d either want to gun us down if
they were able or collect the five thousand gold coin reward. Or
both. And of course the Nuggets would be on the lookout for us. We
knew we couldn’t just ride into town, rescue our girl and then go
about our business. We needed a better plan than that. Fortunately
we thought we had one. But even if we didn’t, we couldn’t give up
on Becca, no matter the cost.

For an idiot, Birkin was pretty smart. He
knew what he said would draw us out. We’d go to Becca to protect
her and then the Nuggets would close in on us. We didn’t think
she’d be locked up somewhere or anything like that. Boze probably
still cared about her, wasn’t gonna let that happen. But Birkin
would keep himself nearby. Wouldn’t hesitate to cut her or even
kill her if it brought us outta hiding. Sure, he’d have a problem
with Boze if he harmed her, let alone us, but he’d do it for five
thousand in gold, that’s for sure. Or just for the satisfaction of
gettin’ back at us. He was twisted that way.

So we knew what we were riding into, but that
didn’t matter. I was okay with that. What concerned me more was how
Becca was gonna react when she saw us. The way we left her, that
sad way she was looking at me, not sure she’d even want to see us
again. Had no idea how she felt about us anymore. That was the most
dangerous thing.

We rode up toward the settlement around
supper time. The sun was fully set once we reached the outskirts,
so the darkness would help hide us. And as we walked down Main
Street, everyone – and I mean everyone – was gone. The place was a
ghost town. Did all the townsfolk find a spaceship and fly off into
the stars past the hypernova? Eff no. They were just in Town Hall.
Sitting in the dark. It was movie night. Effing brilliant plan. We
just walked into Town Hall through the back door and no one saw us.
All eyes were glued forward staring at that tattered screen
watching some kind of romantic movie. I dunno, I didn’t pay much
attention to it, but there was a lot of kissing. It was easy to
find Becca. She sat where she always sat, toward the back, by
herself so she could enjoy the movie without interruption. Sorry
Becca, we had other ideas.

I tried to scout the room for the Nuggets.
Too dark, couldn’t see ‘em. But they usually sat toward the front
with their girlfriends, usually slept through the movie. They
probably didn’t think we’d have the balls to just barge right
in.

Pace and I sat on either side of Becca. She
kept her eyes staring front but she shifted her weight around
uncomfortably. Probably pissed off that anyone would sit right next
to her. Probably thinking she needed to move. But then Pace leaned
in and did his suave thing.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” he whispered in her ear.
“Is this seat taken?”

I could actually hear her gasp for breath.
She immediately turned to look at me, and she lit up like I never
seen before. Then she turned back to the screen. Tears started to
stream down her cheeks. Guess she was relieved we were still alive.
I was relieved knowing she still cared about us.

“It’s not safe,” she whispered.

Pace gave her a reassuring smile, which she
glanced at, and then we all stared forward to look at the screen.
If we didn’t make much commotion, who would notice?

Onscreen there were a couple a fancy people
on a boat. They did a lot of dancing and kissing. The guy looked
familiar. I think I saw him in a few movies before, maybe running
from a crop dusting plane or something like that. The woman I never
saw before. Pretty I guess in an elite sorta way, but not my type.
The girl sitting right next to me was my type.

I saw some movement out of the corner of my
eye. It was Pace’s hand, landing right on Becca’s knee. Man, that
infuriated me. After only a minute he was already claiming his
territory. Well, I’m not sure how but I mustered the courage to put
my hand smack on her other knee. And the funny thing – she didn’t
seem to mind. Even though she had jeans on, it felt so warm under
my touch. Then I noticed that she started smiling under her tears –
maybe even trying not to laugh.

Pace inched his hand up slightly. He got away
with it, so I did the same. Then he went again, inching ever closer
to paradise. So I did too. I snuck another look at Becca and she
was doing all she could do to not bust out laughing. Pace moved a
nudge higher. Then I did too. Then Becca couldn’t contain herself –
she blew out a burst of air from her mouth and started laughing.
Probably not the best part of the movie to laugh in. There was more
kissing going on up on that screen. Miss Taylor even turned around
and shushed Becca. Becca quietly apologized, and we were all quite
grateful that Miss Taylor turned back to watch the movie and paid
no mind to the gentlemen creating the commotion in the first
place.

We all held still for a minute, enjoying the
moment. It was like I could feel the energy in her body burning out
into my hand. I’d touched a thigh before, sure, but not that thigh.
Soon, Pace decided to inch up again, and I matched him, and we
moved up closer and closer until both of us were right under her
jewel box.

This was a dangerous game. Way more dangerous
than robbing some old bank.

I held my breath wondering what she would do
next. Would she let our hands stay there? Would Pace make the final
move, with nowhere else to go? And would I follow? Would I be
allowed to follow? I’ll never know, cause she shoved both of our
hands away with a sigh of frustration. Not sure if that was sexual
frustration or she was just frustrated with our juvenile antics.
Like I said, I’ll never know.

But Pace and I got a great consolation prize.
Instead of punching us both in the balls, she firmly clasped each
of our hands and held them tight. I hadn’t held hands with Becca
since pre-puberty when it didn’t mean nothin’. But it sure meant
something by this point. If that had been my last human contact
with a girl, I woulda been all right with it.

We sat there and watched the movie for a
while. The guy and the woman had some kinda problem. They were both
married to other people or something like that. So they were gonna
get off the boat and go break up with their spouses or whatever and
then meet again when they were freed up. They were trying to decide
where to meet.

“How about the top of the Empire State
Building?” he suggested.

She seemed thrilled. “Oh yes that’s perfect!
It’s the nearest thing to heaven that we have in New York!”

“102
^nd
floor, and don’t forget to
take the elevator!”

102 floors. That’s nothin’. I shit 102
floors. Our skyscraper was probably a hundred fifty floors, bare
minimum.

Looking out from the boat they showed what
New York City looked like back then, around 1850 or so, I dunno,
whenever they made that movie. That Empire State Building was
pointy and tall all right, but the rest of the skyline wasn’t all
that impressive. Our Old City was much more built up. More
impressive. I’d seen New York City a lot in movies. Like the one
with King Kong. Yeah, I remember that one. That big old monkey
grabbed that hot girl and carried her to the top of that same
building. Fingered her boobies too. That was a way cooler
movie.

The guy and the woman in the movie smooched.
It looked like a forbidden kiss, like they were afraid of getting
caught. I can relate to that. Then the boat was docking and it was
time for them to split up. Pace caught my eye and nodded to the
door. He wanted us to split up with Becca too. I didn’t want to.
Boze could have come over and shot me in the head right then and
there and I woulda been okay with it.

“Meet us at Black Eagle Falls,” Pace muttered
into Becca’s ear. She nodded, and then next thing I knew she
released our hands. Damned shame. Pace and I quietly got up and
exited through the back door.

We waited two hours for Becca at Black Eagle
Falls. Seemed like the perfect spot. Isolated, far enough away from
town, not one of the usual make out spots that people went to after
the movies like the hill over by the blacksmith’s. We knew it was
gonna take time for Becca to go home, probably being watched by the
Nuggets, then go to bed, wait a while, then sneak out the window.
Pace was pretty relaxed about the whole thing. I admit I was
jittery. Wasn’t concerned about us getting caught so much. Was more
concerned about anything happening to Becca. I kept my gun out most
of the time, looking out through the tree branches to see if anyone
was coming. Finally someone did. Lone footsteps, in a hurry. Kind
of a light footing. I put my pistol away.

Becca embraced us both at once. It was a long
hug and my shoulder got wet from her tears. Then she pulled back
and looked at us both as best she could in the dim moonlight.

“You are both such fools,” she said finally
through a smile. “I heard you’ve been busy.”

“You might say that,” Pace replied.

She shook her head disapprovingly. “There
won’t be a safe place for you to hide pretty soon.”

“You’d be surprised,” I said.

Becca took a moment to take my face in her
soft hands and looked at me soulfully. “My little bandit,” she
laughed.

“Not so little anymore,” I felt compelled to
say.

“Oh yeah,” Pace interrupted. “He’s big all
over. He could hurt someone with that thing in his pants!”

Embarrassed, I shoved Pace pretty hard, but
they were both laughing so I cooled down. It wasn’t like I’d been
insulted or anything. And of course it was true. Anaconda and all.
But I did take that opportunity to look away for a moment and scout
out the path where Becca came from. Didn’t see anything.

“No one follow you?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” she replied.

“How’ve you been, Rebecca?” Pace asked.

She kind of moaned. “I’ve been worried.”

“Oh we’ve been just fine,” he said
reassuringly. “And how’s everything been in the settlement?
Everyone must be talking about those robots.”

“Oh yes, my little robot killers!” Becca
beamed like she was almost proud of us.

“Nobody was hurt by ‘em, right?” I asked.
“Except Frank?”

“That’s right. And Frank’s still got a little
hobble but he’ll be all right.” I wasn’t surprised, but I was
relieved. “Some of the townsfolk think you’re heroes for fighting
off those robots.”