The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse) (3 page)

The other horses scrambled up the bank as Mist looked across the creek. She snorted. Five more muerto crashed through the trees.

"Let's go." Beth tucked her bow under her arm, grabbed a handful of mane, and let Mist take the bank her way. The mare crouched to leap and sprung lightly to the top. Mist caught up to the other horses in a couple of strides. Beth heard splashing over the grunts and growls of their pursuers.

A mad dash followed. Patch was in front, and the pack horses plunged after, Dani and Julie fighting to keep them under control. Dani was nearly pulled from her horse. She tossed the lead rope over the packs to save herself. Julie struggled too long. Her saddle slipped, and she was pulled, screaming, from her horse. She hit the ground hard, rolling several times.

Beth grabbed her reins. Mist slid to a stop, hind legs cutting furrows in the dirt. Mist pivoted in place, to charge straight for the muerto.

Beth called to Julie, "Get up!" Halting between Julie and the muerto, Mist squealed a warning, ears back, mouth open to bite. Beth reached down for Julie, kicking her foot out of the stirrup. "Come on!"

The muerto clawed their way up the bank.

Julie rolled to her feet, threw one terrified look over her shoulder, then leaped for the saddle. She got her foot in the empty stirrup, scrambling up behind Beth. Julie wrapped her arms around her sister. "I'm up!"

Mist reared, striking the nearest muerto with her front feet. She bowled another over with a forward leap on her hind legs. She turned tail and kicked, leaping away, both girls barely clinging to the saddle. Beth kneed Mist to a gallop. The others were far ahead. Their chances of survival were better with every stride the horses took.

The pack horses and Toby galloped behind Patch, just ahead of Dani and Scout. Someone had pulled Julie's saddle back in place. When Mist caught up to the others, the pace slowed from a terrified gallop to a ground-eating canter that left the muerto miles behind.

After they were far enough away, Alexis gradually slowed the pace, using her voice to slow the loose horses.

"Steady, steady. Trot, guys, just trot." The pack horses, showing the whites of their eyes with fear, dropped into a trot.

"Julie, can you tighten your cinch from the saddle?" Beth asked.

"Are you kidding?"

"You need to have Dad teach you how." Beth stopped Mist well away from the loose horses. The loose horses blew out their nostrils, dripping sweat and nervously pinning their ears back. A few snaps and squeals were exchanged.

The girls ignored them.

"That was beyond stupid." Alexis brought Patch around so she could talk to Julie and Beth. "Really, Julie, what's the matter with you?"

"Nothing." Julie caught Toby, checked her packs and tightened the girth.

"Riding double could've killed Mist," Alexis lectured. "Or what if Beth hadn't seen you? Then where would you be?"

Julie's face turned bright red. "Sorry. Thanks for saving me, Beth."

"Be more careful, okay?" Beth felt Alexis was being tough on Julie, but she was right. Stupid mistakes could get them all killed.

"Is Mist okay?" Alexis asked.

Mist was breathing hard. Sweat lathered her neck and shoulders, but she had her head up and ears forward, scanning for trouble. She snorted several times, shaking her mane. When Julie's pack horse got too close, Mist bit the filly's rump, making her squeal.

Beth smiled, then stepped down. "Tell her, girlfriend. Mist was so brave. She stood her ground until Julie got on, then she kicked the crap out of them."

"The fillies suck at this." Alexis looked at the pack horses. "Not a half a brain between them."

"I know. But they'll learn," Beth said.

"Either that, or the stinkers will get them."

Beth's eyes flickered to Julie. "This is rougher than hunting. I'm going to give Mist a break. I'll walk for awhile."

"Don't. It's not safe." Alexis looked Mist over. "She'll be fine. She's tougher than you think."

Alexis watched Dani catch the pack horses. Julie's pack horse was still showing the whites of it's eyes.

"Julie's pack horse is causing a lot of trouble." Alexis grumbled. "I'm sorry we brought that filly along."

"I've never seen a horse give her so much trouble." Beth shook her head.

"Hey, Julie, you ready?" Dani had both lead ropes.

"Take the pack horse until she settles down," Alexis said to Beth. "Julie can take point for awhile."

"Okay," Beth took the lead rope from Dani. Mist was the filly's mother. Hopefully having mom so close would settle the young horse down.

"You take point," Alexis said to Julie. "Beth has the pack horse. I've got drag." Alexis dropped to the back of the group. "We need to get farther ahead of those stinkers. Alternate the pace for the next hour."

"Got it." Julie set the pace at a long walk.

Muerto could walk as fast as a living person. The horses had just loped two miles in fifteen minutes. At a trot, the horses could be eight miles farther ahead in another hour.

The pack horses settled down.They no longer had energy to spare for silliness. As they walked, Mist recovered from the gallop.

Mid-afternoon, they came to a place where the road widened.

A sign said "Welcome to Cooperstown."

"Cooperstown?" Dani looked at Julie. "What are we doing here?"

"Beth, you said we'd go around!" Julie looked back, fear in her eyes.

Dani said, "You had point. You're the one who missed the road."

"Hey! Shit happens," Julie snapped.

"Then don't blame Beth."

"Shut up. Both of you," Alexis ordered. "We need to get back on track."

The sniping sisters' horses continued walking, Alexis and Beth held their horses back. Beth pulled out her map, putting her finger on the intersection. "We missed the left turn about a mile back."

"We're in trouble," Alexis said loud enough for only Beth to hear.

"Our back trail is clear," Beth said, just as quietly. "We can go back."

"We don't have time to go back." Alexis shook her head. "We can't camp near this town."

"We
have
to skirt the town," Beth agreed.

"What about that road?" Alexis pointed toward their left. "It goes left."

"The subdivisions are that way. We might have to fight our way out."

"I hope not." Alexis's eyes shifted to Beth's quiver. "You don't have many arrows left. When you run out, are you gonna club them with your bow?"

"I don't want to get that close." Beth made a face.

"This sucks."

Loud enough for everyone to hear, Alexis said, "I'm taking point. Julie, take the pack horse. Beth has drag."

She clucked to Patch, moving to the lead.

"Let's see if we can get out of here in one piece."

*

Chapter 3

Beth watched behind them as the sisters crossed the intersection single file. The horses walked to keep the noise down, but the hollow sound of hooves on asphalt still echoed. The wide strips of grass on either side of the road had been grazed by cattle, though none were in sight. The fence lines were cluttered with weeds and small trees.

The breeze blew into their faces, the ground was soft, and the horses moved at an easy canter. The girls followed the road for five miles before they turned right onto a long, smooth stretch of road.

For another couple of miles, the farms were large and weed-infested. Downed barb-wire fences lay tangled among the weeds, abandoned farm equipment, and remnants of hay and corn fields.

The white farm houses had peeling paint and the forlorn air of abandonment. Unpainted barns crumbled darkly in forests of weeds. Buzzards circled overhead. Starlings, crows, and ravens clamored from the trees.

The horses slowed to a walk.

"Keep your eyes open," Alexis warned.

"Toby's listening to something." Julie stood in her stirrups, peering ahead. Her horse looked left, down the road toward an enormous ramshackle farm house with a series of crumbling barns and rusted fences. The sisters had to pass it.

"Hang on a minute." Alexis let Patch walk a few yards ahead. He lifted his head, drank in the air, then snorted an alarm. They trotted back to the group. "Something's up there."

Beth noticed a patch of stunted cornstalks struggling against bindweed vines and other weeds. The corn still had ears hanging from the stalks.

"There's at least a bag of corn hanging in that field." Beth pointed at the stalks rising above the weeds. "The horses could use some corn after traveling so far."

Alexis frowned as she weighed the horses' needs against their safety.

"Okay, make it quick."

Beth fished a cloth gather bag from her packs. Following old tire tracks turned game trail, she rode Mist into the field. Vines clung to the horse's legs, and weeds snagged at Beth's chaps. She twisted hanging ears off stalks and dropped them in her bag. A dozen, two dozen, and the bag bulged. Mist waded deeper into the field.

"Back trail," Dani said, watching through the binoculars. "Three stinkers."

"Let's go!" Julie said. Toby danced impatiently.

"Beth?" Alexis shaded her eyes, looking behind them.

"On my way." Beth tied the bag tight, then fastened it to the back of her saddle. Mist made a tight turn, to wade through their back trail.

"Oh, gross! The fattest stinker ever, coming this way," Dani reported. "Need to get a move on."

"We take the right side of the road," Alexis said, nocking an arrow. "I have point." She used her legs to direct Patch across the road.

Beth muttered a curse as she armed her bow. She was already low on arrows. If she used her pistol, they might as well ring a dinner bell.

"Beth, you've got drag. We're moving out." Alexis set her horse to a trot. Patch went down to his knees, nearly throwing Alexis. "Crap! Take the road. The side's full of holes." The instant Patch's hooves clattered on the pavement there was a howl behind them.

"What was that?" Julie turned in her saddle.

"That stinker," Dani said.

"When did they start howling?"

"Are you gonna stop to ask them?" Dani urged Scout to trot. "Hurry up. The damn fat one can run."

"What?" Beth turned to see for herself. The fat muerto and the three with it moved at a jog - many times faster than normal.

"Don't look! Hurry!"

"Oh shit! Another fat one." Alexis pointed ahead. A second fat muerto led a group out of the barn and outbuildings. It answered the howl of the one behind them. "Move out!"

The horses flew down the road, only a few yards from the muerto. Their hooves beat a loud tattoo on the pavement that brought more creatures out of hiding. The howlers were faster than the others, so a strung-out pack of shambling muerto followed them down the road.

"Find a side road!" Beth shouted. They galloped, leaving the pack behind them. At a sharp curve in the road was a side road. The horses leaped the ditch to get to the grassy shoulder, then ducked down the side road.

A thick group of cedar trees grew on an old fence line. Alexis wheeled Patch behind the trees, the others followed. They listened as the howling rose in volume. They watched the stinkers keep going straight instead of taking the turn.

"That was close," Dani said, giving Alexis a thumbs up. "Good thinking, sis." The slowest muerto of the pack followed the main group.

"Let's get out of here." Alexis scanned the field. A game trail behind the trees followed the fence line. "This way."

Since the ground was soft, they let the horses canter until they entered an area with subdivisions on both sides. The area was infested with muerto wandering aimlessly up and down the streets.

They pulled up.

"There's no way around it. Cross here at a walk. We have to outrun this bunch." Alexis walked Patch across the road, and the others followed single file. As one, the creatures turned their way. Once they were on the grass again, the girls kept the horses trotting fast enough to stay ahead.

More muerto took up their trail, shambling down the road.

"Look at all of them!" Julie pointed down the next road. Another dozen joined the pack behind them.

"Crap! Move out! We need to lose them!" Alexis signaled Patch to canter. The sisters and their horses cut across the street and leaped over a low fence, losing the bunch behind them in a maze of backyards and fences.

"I need a second to check the map," Beth said, pulling Mist to a stop. She checked quickly while the others watched all around.

"We need to get moving," Alexis said as Patch danced impatiently under her.

"We can't afford to go in a circle. We have to take the next left, or we'll be back on the farm road." Beth pointed toward the road on their left. "That one."

"Left it is." Alexis turned Patch to the left. They took off at a canter.

There was a howl behind them.