Earthbound (3 page)

“Okay,” I said. “You wanna be impressed?
Don’t go home with Pace. Instead come with me.”

“What do you have in mind?” she asked.

“The Old City.”

Becca looked at me funny. Pace did too
actually. The Old City was off limits, for everyone’s own safety
really. That didn’t stop me from going over a few times to explore,
but I have a bit of what you might call a suicidal complex. Every
now and then when I don’t feel like I have much to live for, I’ll
go. “You want excitement? That’s a story you can tell your
grandkids about.”

“If we live to tell it,” she added with
caution.

“Where do your parents think you are now?” I
asked. “Asleep in your bed? You snuck out the window, right?” Becca
nodded guiltily. “So they’re not gonna miss you. I’ll get you home
before sunrise.”

I could see a light igniting in Becca’s soul.
“I’ll go!” she blurted out.

“Wait a sec,” Pace intervened. “That’s no
place for a girl.”

Becca gave him a nasty glare. He really
didn’t know her that well. He was basically shoving her into my
arms.

“Guess if it’s no place for a girl,” I said,
“you won’t be coming with us.”

I was challenging Pace dead on, calling him
on his bullshit. He looked back at me, his mouth kinda open, I
expected spit to come drooling out.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Riding horses is second nature to me. Riding
horses in the dark, near pitch dark, with nothing but a shaky
candle-lit lantern in your hand, with a whole lotta whiskey in your
belly – that’s hard. Still, the easy part of the journey was down
what used to be called Route 87. What used to be a six-lane highway
was now covered in moss, like most of the old roads. They didn’t
get much use, save the infrequent use as a trade route between
settlements. People from Augusta or Conrad would make the journey
when they had an excess of cloth or medicine. They’d ride in by
cart to trade when we have an abundance of fish or buffalo meat,
depending on the season. Traders would usually misbehave a bit
while they were in town – probably cause they weren’t accountable
to their folks back home so no one was wiser. It always made for an
interesting time. Harmless mostly unless they put an improper eye
on one of our women. Then the residents of Great Falls would
actually work together for a change and protect what’s ours. There
was only one other time when they banded together like that –
because of my father.

Anyway, Route 87 wasn’t built for horses, it
was build for cars. Supposedly they can run fast. Ten times faster
than a horse. That is if anyone can find a car in pretty good
shape, and they know how to fix it up, and they have enough
electricity to spare to charge the thing. We’ve got a few broken
down cars in the settlement, but they’re really just scrap. So for
my own eyes, it was all just legend, so I didn’t pay it much mind.
Horse riding was all I needed.

We reached the old bridge that goes across
the Missouri River. I’d been over it a few times before – really
slowly. It hasn’t been meant for travel since, I dunno, World War I
or whenever the Exodus was. Like I said, not much of a history
student here. Anyway, there’s just no telling when the bridge might
collapse.

We all stopped our horses and tried to peer
across it. Hard to do when the light only goes ten feet. I hoped
the bridge hadn’t collapsed already, halfway across and without
warning. Would hate to fall down into the Missouri. No telling if
that was a survivable fall.

Pace seemed kinda concerned. “We’re going to
make it across, right?” he asked, trying to hide his fear behind a
fake smile pasted across his face. I looked at Becca, and she
peered back at me. She didn’t need to say anything – I knew she was
nervous too, but she wanted desperately to trust me. I didn’t want
to give her reassuring words though. Not my thing. Not sure I could
believe ‘em if I said ‘em anyway. So instead I just tugged at my
reins and led my horse forward across the bridge. I could barely
hear their horses’ hoofbeats behind me – muffled in moss that goes
halfway up your horse’s leg. And I hoped Pace was pissing his pants
with fear.

I rode as slowly as I could, straining my
eyes to make sure there was solid ground in front of me. Then I
started thinking maybe I should be riding last, not first. My every
step forward could be the one to finally turn the bridge into shit,
collapsing behind me, and then Becca would bear the brunt of it.
Pace too. If they were good swimmers they’d have half a chance.

Finally I could see the other end of the
bridge in sight. Charon took those last few treacherous steps, and
then I had him run a few yards away to get some distance. I turned
around to make sure Becca and Pace made it across whole, which they
did. The dim glow from the lantern barely made out a huge grin on
Becca’s face. She was loving this.

We rode in silence for a while, marveling at
the sight before us. Buildings, unimaginably tall. Skyscrapers, as
they’re called, cause I guess when you get that high up you scrape
the sky. I don’t really ever want to find out. Like the bridge we
just crossed, those structures gotta be ready to crumble, and I
don’t intend to be around when that happens. Rubble had fallen
everywhere. Some of the buildings had been charred by fire – that
can’t help their stability. Most of the ground-level windows were
shattered, probably from looters back when the Exodus ended. Hard
to believe people tried to live here back then, but they didn’t
last long. They killed each other, or worse were taken out by rabid
animals or wolves or disease. Cities are no place for a man
anymore.

Hard to believe that nine million people once
lived there, building up the air force base, and then waiting their
turn to get off this planet. Not that I miss them, but I think they
didn’t leave any excitement behind. They weren’t too smart either,
the way I hear it. They put in all that effort, worked for a
hundred years preparing to go off-planet. 20 billion people gone.
And when they were gone, the hypernova that was supposed to blow us
up never came. The gamma radiation or whatever it’s called from the
exploding star was supposed to wipe out all life on Earth. But it
didn’t happen. Not for the next hundred years. Or two hundred,
whatever the math of it is from then to now. And for the million or
so who stayed behind, they had a hard time dealing with what was
left. Only settlements like ours had a chance. And eventually,
people like us stopped looking up into the sky, wondering when it
was gonna blow up. It just wasn’t gonna happen. And if it ever did,
mind you, I’m okay with it. What can I do about it anyway.

We reached the part of the city where the
streets were flooded. First couple times I got to the flood I used
to turn back. Still water’s got alotta disease in it, and that’s
not the way I wanna go out. But eventually I figured out a path to
ride around the flood, which led to an area that was worth the
risk. Buildings ceded their territory to a thick forest, seemingly
sprung up out of nowhere. Nature has a way of reclaiming what’s
hers, I guess.

There was an old rusted sign mounted
alongside overgrown brush. I never could read the words. I could
say it was because of the overgrowth of vines and weeds blocking
the letters, but in actuality it was cause I can’t really read
much. Never understood why I needed to really.

Becca read the sign aloud. “Riverside Park.
Sounds nice enough.”

I rode up alongside Pace, close enough to
whisper in his ear. “Keep an eye out for wolves.” I did that to eff
with him, although there were plenty of wolf packs in the Old City.
Never saw them up close though. Only times I did was when I was
working out on the ranch. Those were the only times anyone ever put
a shotgun in my hands, so I could protect the herd. They had good
reason for keeping a shotgun out of my hands the rest of the time.
Not sure how I’d get one on my own anyway. I’m not even wholly sure
where the armory is. They keep it a secret, so guys like me don’t
break into it I gather.

Anyway, I went in first to the forest, since
I knew the way. I knew exactly the spot I wanted to show Becca. But
this part was probably the most dangerous of all the Old City.
Worth it though. She was probably spooked, I reckon. Pace too. He
was bringing up the rear, and he had to know that wolves tend to
like to follow their prey. He’d draw their first attack.

I admit, this part of the Old City was
unsettling, but it was almost soothing when we started to hear the
sounds of nature we were accustomed to. Birds, owls, crickets, that
sort of thing. I could see thick spider webs pretty much
everywhere, and every few moments I thought I saw the scurry of
rats near our horses’ hooves. This was the kind of life that owned
the Old City now. That and the wolves – or worse.

Pretty quickly I could hear the familiar
sound of rushing water, getting louder and louder. I led us to a
clearing, and was happy to get us through that forest without
incident. In front of us was a little patch of land that sloped
slightly downward, right alongside the bank of the Missouri River.
We dismounted, gave the horses some water, and gave ourselves some
whiskey from a flask I kept in my saddlebag. We tamped down some
weeds and sat among them, staring out at the flowing water.

“Nice spot, right?” I asked.

Becca nodded. I couldn’t tell if she was
still excited or now just plain scared. She’s a smart girl. She
knows about wolf packs.

“Puts a new perspective on our tiny little
existence, doesn’t it?” Pace said. “There’s more than just the
Great Falls settlement, that’s for sure.”

“But none of it’s as safe,” Becca reasoned.
And she was right about that.

“I’m up to my ass in safe,” Pace replied. In
that moment I couldn’t tell if he was boasting or being truthful,
but as I later learned it was a little of both.

“Haven’t seen you at movie night in a few
months.” I thought Becca was talking to Pace, but I glanced up and
saw she was looking at me.

“What’s the point?” I said.

“I never miss movie night,” Pace said
cheerfully.

“I know,” Becca replied. “I see you there.
With a different girl every time.”

That made me laugh. Becca knew what Pace was
all about. I didn’t need to worry about the two of them. Or so I
thought.

Pace thought it was funny too. “I like the
movies, what can I say.”

When we were younger, movie night was pretty
much the most exciting thing in our lives. It seemed like everyone
in Great Falls would get together in Town Hall on that special
night when they’d load up the equipment and show us a relic from
our past. They’d probably show it more often, but the equipment is
old and no one knows how to fix it. Plus using it takes up precious
electricity, of which we have little. Those wind generators only
crank out so much. Pace’s family could afford to keep a few working
lights in their house, but for the rest of us, daylight and
candlelight were enough to get by out of necessity. Anyway, when I
was young I never missed movie night. For about three years
straight I always went with Becca. We sat next to each other in the
dark. We were both prepubescent by the way, just so you don’t get
any ideas. I remember watching some movie about some girl who gets
swept up in a tornado and lands in some magical place. Or there was
one about this lady, she was a teacher I think of a bunch of
children, and their dad was an effing jerk, and they sang and ran
away from the Swiss or the Nazis or something like that. Boy, we’d
talk about those movies for the whole month until the next time. So
I stopped going when it was time to grow up. Eventually you realize
that life is about survival – and that’s pretty much it – so there
isn’t much time for fantasy.

“You stopped going, Asher?” Becca asked.

I gave her the courtesy of an honest answer.
“Those movies have nothing to do with who I am. It’s just a waste
of time.” I took a swig of whiskey and handed the flask to Becca.
Then I added, “course, if I was dating someone like Boze, I’d want
to sit in the dark with him as much as possible, so I wouldn’t need
to see his ugly face.”

I caught Becca off guard as she was taking a
sip of whiskey. She laughed and nearly spit it out. But that stuff
is too precious. She managed to save every drop. “Yeah,” she
agreed, “not seeing his face was a bonus.”

“I have to say,” Pace said, “I was glad to
hear you unloaded that guy. Good to see a worthy girl such as you
keeping yourself available for a better opportunity.” Pace was a
better opportunity, that’s for sure. No reason to worry about money
for a girl that married him. Maybe that’s one reason why he had no
problem with girls liking him. But was that what Becca was flirting
with Pace for? That didn’t sound like her. Of everyone I know,
she’s the one who seems best able to handle being so dirt poor.
“You’d be set if you married someone like me,” Pace continued. Now
I was pissed. I sat up and noticed my hands were clenching into
fists without me even thinking about it.