Pox (7 page)
—You know what this means, right?
—I have an idea. It should let us buy our way out of
just about anything.
Caitrin was right. And showing up with her gold meant
that she had both of our interests at heart.
We could begin our final preparations to leave the
city behind.
We headed north to the first level of high hills. At
the half-way point, I stopped on the side of the road and waited
for Caitrin to catch up. I took out a map and unfolded it on the
hood.
—Why are we stopping?
—Check out our ground. We’ve been here before.
Something is telling me to avoid where we’ve been. In any case,
this is still pretty close to the city.
—Do you think there could be others around here?
—Yes. The question is, do we want to meet any of
them? I think it’s still too early in the game for that. What do
you think?
She took a long time to answer. She walked to the
edge of the road and looked down to what we had been in such a
hurry to leave behind. I knew she was hesitant to move out of her
comfort area. Hell, I was too.
—I think we’ve been lucky so far, Caitrin. We haven’t
crossed paths with anyone. We’ve scouted around quite a bit. If
anything, that would have put us into the cross-hairs of anyone
looking for trouble.
Caitrin considered her reply.
—That’s all too true. We would have looked pretty
organized to anyone who had a yen to take it all.
—I have to admit, we were pretty comfortable there.
We both contributed a lot of work these past weeks.
I let her know we could come back for our stockpiles.
I hoped that would make it easier on her, knowing that we could
always return. Our labors wouldn’t end up being abandoned.
—You’re right. It will be a fresh start. Another
one.
I agreed, but I was starting to wonder.
—I don’t think it’s going to be the last.
I covered Caitrin’s hand with my own and tried to
reassure her. I knew it would be difficult for both of us to start
from scratch yet again. At the same time, I knew it was best to get
out of the city.
I opened her door and waited. For a split second, I
thought she might turn back.
—I’m with you, partner.
With the sun low on the horizon, we crested a hill
overlooking a valley. It was populated with tents everywhere. In
all colors. Every outdoor store in the city must have been raided
and this was where they ended up.
Rainbow City stuck in my mind, and that’s what I
named it.
I had to slow for a sharp bend in the highway. A few
hundred yards beyond it, I was forced to a complete stop by a
series of cement barricades that had been moved into position
across the roadway. To get past, I’d need to zig-zag my way
through.
I ended up waiting for Caitrin again. We got out to
take a better look.
The sight of so many tents meant so many people to go
along with them. Lots of people. The thought made us both
uncomfortable. We’d been alone and on our own for so long, our
discomfort at having to interact with such a large community made
us hesitate.
—What do you think?
Caitrin didn’t have to stop and think. Her response
came immediately.
—I think we should backtrack out of here. The sooner,
the better.
The barricade turned out to be the least of our
worries. Before we could move the vehicles, trucks positioned
themselves to block any chance we might have had to back up and
turn around. We could neither advance nor retreat on the narrow
highway.
If I was worried before, now I was terrified about
what might be headed our way.
I didn’t see the armed men walking out from cover on
the side of the road. Caitrin did. She moved closer to me and
closed her shotgun.
The weapons the men carried were slung by their
sides. It was somewhat of a relief.
—We’re into it now. This is going to take some
talking.
They appeared friendly enough. They weren’t
threatening. Their weapons never pointed in our direction. They
tried very hard to convince us to go in and take a look at the
encampment.
We made the only decision possible.
We declined. It was for our own safety and
security.
During the process, we learned that there were at
least another half-dozen communities that had sprung up in the
hills in the wake of the purges. The residents remained camped out,
waiting until they felt the time was right to take over the
abandoned small towns scattered in the hills. With winter coming,
that would have to be soon.
The men pointed out the series of Rainbow Cities on
our map. Finally, at a signal from one of the men, the trucks that
had blocked our retreat moved off and we were allowed to turn
around. We didn’t waste time getting away.
I high-tailed it back into the city with Caitrin in
tow. When we finally stopped, we were back at the home and the
double garage in which we had become so familiar and comfortable.
Even Caitrin didn’t balk at spending one more night so close to her
former boyfriend.
Our trip into the hills had us even more concerned
for our well-being than before we left. Nervous and exhausted, we
climbed into the bed we had shared and slept like the dead. Or the
purged.
Still a team
The gunshot ripped through the night and echoed off
the houses in the cul-de-sac. I tore out of bed and ran to the
living room. I flipped open a corner of the curtain. In the dark I
couldn’t see a thing.
I checked the locks on the front and back doors,
collected some firearms and went back to bed. Caitrin was wide
awake by then.
—What’s going on? What’s happening?
—I couldn’t see anything. I’m not venturing outside
in the dark to find out. I’ll wait until daylight.
We had a morning routine. We dressed together, each
checking the other’s equipment to be sure we had everything we’d
need if we crossed paths with anyone. I exited the house first.
Caitrin followed. At the opening of the cul-de-sac, a body lay on
the ground next to a shotgun.
Caitrin gasped and fell against me. I wasn’t quick
enough and she went all the way down.
—Is that Konnor?
—Yes.
I pulled her up and almost had to drag her back to
the house.
—We’re leaving here as soon as we can get our gear
together.
—I should bury him.
He shouldn’t even be here, but that was old news
now.
—I’ll do it while you get our gear together.
—If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I’d have
survived.
—In that case, you have something good to remember
about him, wouldn’t you say?
Caitrin didn’t respond.
I dragged her former boyfriend into one of the back
yards and went for a shovel. Grave-digging was a new one on me. By
the time I finished, I had quite a sweat going on.
The best I could hope for was that I’d never end up
as a grave-digger in a cemetery.
While we found ourselves back in a familiar location
following our excursion into the hills, it had just been made
uninhabitable. This thanks to the suicide of Caitrin’s former
boyfriend at our front door.
There was no doubt that we were most familiar with
the city. Caitrin was even a city girl, having grown up in it. I
was the newcomer, but by now, even I had gotten to know a lot of
the nooks and crannies that had allowed me to survive on my
own.
As a team, Caitrin and I were definitely becoming
more secure. Why chance breaking it up by moving to somewhere
unfamiliar? That would mean new challenges, many that wouldn’t be
recognized right away. Back in those hills, with winter coming on,
it would soon be snowing. Where would people find the food they
needed if they became snowed in?
I didn’t want to contemplate it. I definitely didn’t
want to be a part of it.
We had a narrow escape in the hills. We were lucky
the group we encountered was a friendly one. It could have worked
out much worse. Back where we started from, we had nothing but time
to make good with what we already had in place.
Until Konnor, in his madness, screwed everything
up.
Caitrin had everything stowed away by the time I got
back to the house. Breakfast was on the table. I ate fast,
exhausted from my efforts at digging the hole in the ground.
—Is it finished?
—Yes.
I didn’t have any more words to say.
—Good. I want you to know that I can’t stay here
now.
—I know you can’t. I’m not unsympathetic, you know.
We’ll leave as soon as we can.
The map case was sitting on the table, and Caitrin
had taken out one of the border with Mexico.
—What’s with the maps? What are you thinking?
She pointed to the Mexican border. I gave her a
puzzled look.
—And?
—What if all that’s been going on is only happening
in this country?
I had to admit that I’d never even thought to turn on
a radio the whole time I’d been living in the house. It had never
occurred to me. Even in the truck I streamed recorded music.
—I think we need to spend one last night here. We can
talk about it this afternoon.
I lit a fire. Its heat, combined with our own, caused
us to forget all about what had happened. Caitrin’s warm body
snuggled against mine and we forgot all about our troubles.
I left Caitrin sleeping while I tip-toed out of the
bedroom to search for an old analog radio I knew I had stashed
somewhere. It was a fact that none of our own digital radio
stations were transmitting. Mexico was only a few miles away.
Perhaps their antiquated analog stations might still be
broadcasting.
The batteries checked out and I set the receiver on
scan. I was right. Music. And chatter.
I couldn’t contain myself. I ran into the bedroom and
yanked the covers off the bed. I hesitated, and took a good look at
the naked woman sprawled on her back in our bed. I contemplated
pulling the covers up and climbing in beside her.
Instead, common sense returned. There was no time for
us to waste. I placed the radio on the bed, turned up the volume,
and waited while Caitrin slowly woke up.
We were going to be heading south, down Mexico way. I
just knew it. Already I could picture us together on a beach on the
Baja Peninsula. My only question was, would it be the east side, or
the west?
Caitrin’s arms reached for me.
—We don’t have to leave right this instant, do
we?
###
Twisted Sisters
Detective Jim Nash has a problem. He has a
murder victim in an alley and a dead woman in his bed. His own
homicide division wants to charge him with murder. To say he’s got
serious commitment problems would be an understatement. He's on the
lookout for twins, but he doesn't want to date them. He wants to
know who murdered them. A modern pulp short story.
Dreams Die Fast
Frank is headed home after spending a long
winter on the Baja. When his motorcycle breaks down, he’s trapped
in an old ghost town on the west side of the Salton Sea. A woman
takes pity on Frank and invites him over for a home-cooked meal.
Before he knows it, Frank is knee-deep in cartel drugs with a woman
itching to pull the trigger on the gun she’s pointing at his back.
Dreams Die #1.
Dreams Die Hard
Frank is back on the road with a reformed
junkie on the run from a cartel hit squad riding bitch on the back
of his motorcycle. When the duo end up working at a strip club, the
seedy edge of the city finally catches up, forcing Frank to dig
deep within to triumph over drugs, greed, arson and murder. Some
adult content. Dreams Die #2.
Fast Food Slow Waitress
A biker hits all the high spots (or the low
spots, depending on your point of view). These short stories find
him at a peeler bar off the 15 in Montana; encountering a
hitch-hiker off the 10 in New Mexico; being sweet-talked by his
landlady; romancing a truck-driving sweetheart in a sleeper at a
California truck stop; flirting with a waitress in a restaurant in
the high desert. This is an updated and revised version of First
Time and other stories previously published.
Dead Reckoning
During a well-deserved R&R on mainland
Mexico, Harry picks up something he doesn’t own that forces him to
flee across the Sea of Cortez to the Baja. While hiding out on an
isolated beach, two mysterious gringas show up to complicate
Harry’s life by attempting to implicate him in their own scheme,
resulting in a mad dash up the Baja to escape the consequences of
their actions. First short novel in the series.
Long Way Home
When Harry’s ex-wife, Sasha, and their
daughter accompany her oil-company boyfriend on a working vacation
to Africa, the trio goes missing. They get out a call for help that
will lead Harry on an air and ground chase across the Horn of
Africa to rescue his family before kidnappers can move them to
their den on the Indian Ocean. Second short novel in the Dead
Reckoning series.
Payback
Harry’s comfortable family life is turned
upside down when he gets a phone call from a former comrade he
thought long dead. When the second call comes in an hour later, the
caller asks for his help. He knows his life will never be the same
until he can learn what happened to the woman who launched a rescue
mission to save his life after his plane was destroyed during a
firefight on a bush landing strip in East Africa. Third short novel
in the Dead Reckoning series.
