EMP 1500 MILES FROM HOME (5 page)

Well, I would just have to wait and hope this group would get theirs. They were more than we could handle. What really scared me is the possibility we would meet much larger and better-trained groups as we traveled.

In about an hour, the moon rose. It wasn't a full moon, but it gave enough light for us to travel, so we set out north again. When we thought we had gone about five miles we made a dry and fireless camp. I estimated we could go another two days before we had to find water if we were very careful. Julie rolled up in her blanket and fell asleep in minutes. I kept first watch and thought about our situation.

I also thought about Lucy and Ben for the thousandth time since the sun rose that morning. Cap told me when I started the traveling salesman job that, if something like this ever happened, to not waste a second worrying about Lucy and Ben. That he, Cap, would take care of them. I trusted Cap. I had done surprisingly little worrying so far, but I thought of Lucy and Ben often. Julie increasingly occupied my thoughts as well. She was an attractive woman, and I was discovering that I really liked her. She was smart, careful, hard working, and somehow, things between us just seemed right. Being with her was very easy, maybe too easy, but each time my mind wandered to possibilities, I thought about Lucy and Ben. So far it was working for me.

I also thought about a Louis L'Amour novel I read once and the beginning of an idea came to me. It wasn't something I could do right now, but it might improve my chances of getting home safely. I mulled the idea over off and on until I woke Julie for her watch.

I rolled up in my blanket and fell asleep instantly. It seemed like only a second before Julie was jostling my shoulder. I could see the first rays of the morning light.

We were both hungry, but packed our gear and moved out carefully. We soon found an arroyo that trended north, so we slipped to the bottom of the arroyo and walked along its sandy bottom.

Normally, not being able to see the surrounding terrain is a bad idea. But with a gang of armed men so near, it seemed like a good idea as they were unlikely to leave the pavement with the pickup truck.

We made good time in the arroyo. We found no water or food, although we could have harvested some mesquite beans here and there.

About noon we climbed out of the arroyo and scanned the surrounding area for danger. We saw nothing, so we split a can of cold tamales. It wasn't much. We took turns dabbing the sauce from inside the can and licking our fingers. Then, we buried the can and made our way to the top of the tallest hill in sight. We snuck into a clump of mesquite at the summit and searched the surrounding area with the binoculars. We saw a ranch house about a mile and a half to the north.

We decided to check out the ranch headquarters. We saw no movement and hoped the ranch was abandoned. We moved toward the ranch house, approaching to within a quarter of a mile. Two men exited the house. Both carried rifles. We quietly slid into deeper cover.

"Do you think we should let them know we are here?" Julie asked.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. We don't know how many more people might be in the house, and we don't know how well they might be armed."

"Well, let's move along then."

I found a way past the ranch house in an arroyo where we couldn't be seen and we kept moving north. After three or four miles we saw a stock tank on a low hill.

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked.

"Yes, that is water."

"Worth the risk?"

"Oh yeah," Julie said, "I want a bath so bad I could chew tobacco, and I hate tobacco."

"Yeah, me too."

We reached the stock tank with about four hours of daylight left. It was twenty feet across, four feet deep, and fed by a windmill that pumped a well. The windmill was turning slowly in the ever-present breeze, like nothing had happened. In this spot, the world never ended.

We took turns with the binoculars looking for activity in the vicinity. We didn't see any. I refilled our water jugs while Julie stood guard.

"Wayne, can you keep watch? I have to have a bath." With that, she stripped off right in front of me. She smiled when she saw the shocked look on my face. "Oh, don't be such a prude, Wayne. We have a long way to go together. We are going to have to get to know each other better sooner or later." Then she climbed over the tank wall and into the water. "This water is cold," she squealed quietly.

I dug into my pack and tossed her a bar of soap. Then I hung both towels over the edge of the tank. I took the binoculars and the Mosin and climbed halfway up the windmill for a better view of the surrounding area. What I didn’t realize was that this also gave me a better view of Julie bathing in the tank. It was far more difficult than I had anticipated to not look at her. She was an attractive woman, all the more so because I really liked her.

Yeti

I struggle to set one foot ahead of the other. The cart is feeling heavier and heavier. My legs feel like they weigh five or six hundred pounds each. It takes all of my willpower just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. My lower back is starting to cramp. I know I need to stop soon, but I am too stubborn to admit it to myself. I prefer to fantasize about my feet feeling as light as air, my breath coming easily, and the miles just effortlessly passing by.

Finally I had to stop. I set the cart handles on the pavement and rested against the cart. After a while, when I was breathing more easily, and my heart rate dropped to near normal, the urge hit me. I had to go.

Let me tell you, going is never easy for a fat man, well, OK, boy. Toilets never fit and reaching around to wipe can be difficult. If I try to squat I am sure I will fall into my own poop, especially as tired as my legs are now.

I reached into the cart and brought out a sturdy chair and a roll of toilet paper. I had two sturdy chairs in the cart, but this one was special. I modified it in the barn the night before I left.

I replaced the seat with 3/4" plywood and cut an appropriate-sized hole in the new seat. Then I sanded it until it was splinter-free. I also nailed a pee shield of 1/4" plywood inside the two front legs. The legs had boards nailed across them to keep the chair from sinking into loose sand.

I set my portable toilet up beside the road and dropped my pants and underwear to my ankles. It felt good to sit down, but it even felt better to unload. I fell asleep in the chair with my pants around my ankles. When I awoke the sun was low on the horizon. I felt refreshed—except for the smell, which was not as bad here in the semi-arid Southwest as it would have been in a more humid climate.

Since I left the orphanage, I had seen no one. I was careful to stay away from habitations, but I had to stay on the road or I wouldn't be able to pull the cart. Sooner or later I was bound to encounter people. When I did, if my history was a predictor, they would just laugh at me, and probably shoot me since we were now without the rule of law. I vowed to myself, that if I survived, I would lose weight and get into good physical condition so I could defend myself. Losing weight did not look like it was going to be a problem. My clothes were already getting loose. The walking was helping. However, I had no idea how I would learn to defend myself. My mother was killed in an automobile accident when I was four and my father died three years before, so I never had a father to teach me those skills, or any others for that matter.

Wayne

I carefully scanned the area with the binoculars. I saw no human activity. We were maybe a mile west of the interstate and there were few houses. It was fairly easy to avoid other people here in the West, at least so far. As I traveled east it would be increasingly difficult to move unnoticed. I thought again about the Louis L'Amour book,
The Walking Drum
, and began to formulate my plans for the journey home.

Less than a mile north of us there was a large, open arroyo that ran from west to east. I could see many tire tracks in the sand. It seemed to be a popular place.

It was about 700 feet across, and I could see two more similarly wide and flat arroyos north of it. These would be difficult to cross without being seen if anyone was in the area.

When Julie was out of the stock tank and once more dressed, I came down from the tower and took my turn. I wasn't quite as uninhibited as Julie so I undressed on the far side of the tank. Julie climbed the windmill tower with the binoculars and managed to pretend like she wasn't looking at me.

She was right. The water was cold. It took me about three minutes to soap up, wash off, and get out of the tank. I quickly shaved with a safety razor of Julie's. It was dull and felt like shaving with a rasp, but I managed to get rid of my whiskers.

I had just dried off and was putting my clothes on when Julie climbed down from the windmill and ran over to me. She pointed to the southwest and said, "Two men on horses with rifles, coming this way. They are close. They just popped up from over the next hill."

I finished dressing as quickly as I could, stuck my feet into my shoes, grabbed my pack, and the Mosin. Julie already had her pack and the shotgun. We ran north away from the tank, not having time to wipe out our tracks.

We ran for almost a mile and then took a position on a rise where we could see the stock tank and windmill. The riders were about a half-mile behind us. It was obvious they were tracking us from horseback.

On horses, they could easily run us down. I told Julie what I wanted to do. She agreed since we had few other options. I waited until they were about 600 yards from us. Then I handed Julie the Mosin and stepped out into the open.

"What do you want?" I shouted as loudly as I could.

The lead rider rose in his stirrups and shouted back. "You might as well give up now or we will just run you down." Sound was carrying well and I understood him clearly.

"Leave us alone!" I shouted.

"No," The lead rider shouted. "You got a woman with you. We want her." He then raised his rifle and took a shot at me.

Wayne

The shot fell short by two hundred feet. I figured he had a 30-30.

Julie tossed me the Mosin and I went prone. All of the long-range rifle training Cap had drilled into me was a comfort now. I raised the tang sight on the Mosin and set it to just below 550 meters. I then released the odd Russian safety and took aim hoping the old gun shot true. I pulled the trigger and the lead rider toppled from his saddle. I worked the bolt and took aim again. The second rider was trying to control his horse. I fired as soon as the horse settled down and the second rider fell as well.

"That was some kind of shooting. Are you a sniper, or something?"

"No," I answered, still watching carefully as the horses wandered off a bit. Neither man moved. "I was aiming for the horses."

"Oh," Julie said.

I didn't know how the Mosin would shoot. If it shot to the right or left, I would have corrected on the next shot. I aimed for the horse’s heads. If the Mosin shot high, the bullet would hit the man. If it shot low, it would hit the horse. Either outcome would have been fine.

"Let's get those horses," Julie said. "I am pretty tired of walking. I am glad you didn't hit the horses."

"Those men may not be dead. We have to be careful."

We made our way to the men, staying under cover as much as possible. I carefully examined the two men from a distance. They were both motionless. Each man's rifle was out of reach and neither seemed to be carrying a pistol. Julie kept guard with the shotgun as I walked up to the men, .45 in hand. The first man I approached was dead. He had been center shot in the chest. It was not a pretty sight. I felt sick, but moved to the second man.

He was still alive, but barely. I rolled him over and saw he was gut shot. The shot had been dead center, and had broken his spine. He opened his eyes as I held the .45 to his head.

"Why did you shoot at us?" I asked. "We would have let you go your way, if you had let us go ours."

The man spit out some blood. It was frothy, so I figured he had lung damage as well, maybe a broken rib from the fall. "Hell, there is no law anymore. We thought we could get away with it, just like we killed the man that owned these horses."

"I am sorry," I said.

"Yeah, me too," The man said. "Am I going to die?"

I nodded my head. "Yes."

"Shit! What about Paco?"

"Your friend is dead," I said. "He died instantly, if it is any consolation."

"Not really," the man said.

Julie managed to catch the horses after she saw I had control of the situation and now she brought them close. They both snorted at the dead man, but calmed down under Julie's reassurances. She looked like she knew her way around horses. That was good because I had never been on a horse before.

I searched the dying man and found a wallet, a switchblade knife, and a set of keys. He had nothing else. I pocketed the knife and tossed the other stuff on the ground beside him. He passed away as I watched.

I searched the other guy. This one, the leader I thought, was better equipped. He had a good belt knife. I cut his belt and removed the knife. I also found a .38 snub-nose Colt and about 20 rounds for it in a pocket. The Colt had the hammer shroud. It was a good, very concealable weapon. It would be useful, as would the belt knife.

Before I finished searching the dead man, I threw up. Julie held my shoulders as I knelt. That surprised me a bit.

Neither of us said a word as I got to my feet and put the stuff from the dead men in a saddlebag. I cleared the chambers of both of their rifles and put them back in the saddle sheaths. Both were Winchester 30-30s. One was a carbine and the other had the long barrel.

We led the horses north. It didn't make sense to stick around just in case someone else heard the shots and came to investigate.

We made it to the edge of the first big arroyo. It was wide, flat, and shallow. As long as we stayed within a mile of the interstate, the terrain was fairly flat. To our west the ground rose quickly. Only five miles west of the interstate there were low mountains.

"I think we should just ride across the arroyo right now," Julie said.

"I don't know how to ride."

Julie showed me how to mount a horse, and how to stay in the saddle by hanging on to the saddle horn. So I climbed aboard the horse, a bay gelding, which paid almost no attention to me. Julie mounted the other horse, took the reins of my horse, and led it across the arroyo. An hour later we were past all three arroyos and were once more moving through sparse mesquite.

We made camp about a mile past the arroyos. Julie said it was far enough for my horse to carry me since I was so big. She then unsaddled the horses, took some pieces of rope out of the saddlebags, and hobbled the horses.

By the time she came back to camp, I had a small fire going. From the easy way she handled the horses, I figured she knew horses well. But then, for someone who grew up on a New Mexico ranch, I thought that was normal.

Julie sat down beside me as I put the last can of tamales in the pot. I put the pot over the fire and said. "We were lucky today."

"Life is luck, Wayne. No one can control everything."

"I guess you are right."

"It didn't feel very good killing those men," I said.

"Those men would have killed you and raped me."

"You are just trying to make me feel better."

Julie smiled. "No Thief, if I were trying to make you feel better, I would do this." Then she grasped my head, pulled my face into hers, and kissed me. I was surprised, and a little shocked. I have never been a woman chaser, maybe because my height and size always made me feel out of place around regular people. I responded to the kiss even though I didn't want to. I was thinking of Lucy and how I have always been faithful to her, but it didn't seem to do me much good. After a bit, Julie ended the kiss and sat back down beside me.

I said, "uh," verbal articulation not being my strong point at the moment.

"Don't worry Wayne. I am not trying to take you away from your wife. But it is a long road home for you, and I could make it a little easier if you want."

Responding more articulately this time, I said, "uh."

"I see," Julie smiled. "Well, we can discuss this later if you like."

My next, "uh," seemed to satisfy her.

A few minutes later we were wolfing down tamales from the pot. We were both still hungry when they were gone. I got up and started going through the saddlebags. Julie laid out the tarp. We found the saddlebags were full of food, mostly beans and flour. There was also some salt and pepper.

"Ah, bean burritos in the making," Julie smiled.

"Do you know how to make those?"

"You bet I do. I will put some of the beans on to soak overnight. Tomorrow we will have some burritos. You find me a smooth, flat rock, and I'll make us some tortillas for tonight.

I went to look for a flat rock that would fit over the fire pit. It took me about ten minutes. When I returned, Julie had the stuff from the saddlebags laid out on the tarp. She took the stone from me, grabbed a sack of flour, and went to the fire.

I looked over the stuff on the tarp. I saw the 30-30 rifles, two ten pound sacks of beans, two ten pound sacks of flour, three boxes of shells for the 30-30s, a small steel frying pan, a couple of boxes of strike anywhere matches, two two-quart canteens, a few packs of cigarettes, a hip flask filled with what smelled like whiskey, a worn sharpening stone, the 38 special Colt revolver, the loose shells for it, the belt knife (the switchblade was still in my pocket), and a few eating utensils.

Overall, it wasn't a lot of stuff, but it made me feel rich. The horses would speed the journey, and the food and canteens were needed, as were the matches.

I sat down with the sharpening stone and sharpened the old butcher knife. It took me a while since the stone was medium-fine grit. The old knife wasn't shaving sharp when I was done, but it was much sharper than I was able to get it with the desert stone. As I was putting the sharpening stone down, Julie called me back to the fire. She had a large pile of hot tortillas stacked on a rock by the fire. I saw where she had propped the flat rock over the fire on some smaller stones. I assumed she had cooked the tortillas on the flat rock.

I sat down beside her and we gobbled the warm tortillas as if we had not eaten for days. We ate them all. It was the first time I had a full belly since breakfast on the day the world ended.

After supper, we sat close and quietly discussed what to do next.

Having horses made us a target because most of the people we would encounter would want them, and many would be willing to kill for them. It was now a very violent world. Cap said it would be, but I never really believed him before.

Without Cap’s training, I would be dead. I never thought I would be able to shoot and kill a man, let alone five. It really was a different world now, and I was afraid I was becoming a different person. I would like to think a better person, but, at the moment, I wasn't sure. It had been so easy to slip into this new, uncivilized way of life, even though I was longing to be home with Lucy and Ben. Instead, I was camped out in the New Mexico desert, armed to the teeth, partnered with an attractive woman I had never met before.

"We need to follow Highway 60 east," Julie said. "That will take us to Mountainair and close to Dad's ranch."

"How far from Mountainair is the ranch?"

"Twelve miles," Julie said.

"We will need to travel off the road as much as possible."

"For the most part, we can do that, but Highway 60 climbs the mountains and in the area of the pass that will be difficult. Wayne, please don't misunderstand me. I like you a lot, but sometimes I really wish for everything to go back to normal, even though I know it won't."

"So do I Julie," I said. "So do I."

Julie turned, put her head against me, and cried softly. I held her until she sat back, rubbed her eyes, and said, "It isn't going back to the way it was, is it, no matter how much I hope?"

"No Julie, it isn't. I think it may well get worse before it gets better."

"We planned for a while after that. We spent time deciding how we would handle different situations if we encountered them. We also began to develop our own sign language so we could communicate quietly without anyone knowing.

I took first watch. Julie rolled up in her blanket and seemed to sleep more soundly than usual. I could hear the horses moving quietly nearby. I listened carefully to them in case they heard something I did not.

Julie

When Wayne woke me for my watch, the stars were crisp points of light in the cloudless sky. He rolled up in his blanket, which was too small for him, and soon was sound asleep. I put my blanket over him. I do that every night after he is asleep and take it off just before daylight so he won't know. I don't know why I don’t want him to know.

I remembered watching Wayne in the stock tank and thinking how attractive he is. Of course, all thought of that vanished when I saw the two men on horseback.

And when I kissed him, he kissed me back even though I could tell he was reluctant to do so. I should be mad at him for turning me down, but I’m not. He is a married man trying to be faithful to his wife, 1,500 miles away. I knew he was attracted to me, although, until the kiss, I wasn't sure he realized that I was attracted to him. Men can be so stupid sometimes.

But what really surprised me was the fact that I had taken my clothes off in front of him and later kissed him—a married man. That is not like me. I have never been, and never wanted to be, the other woman. In fact most people, boyfriends included, would call me shy. There is just something about Wayne, an ease I feel in his company. Maybe it is
The Knowing
? In any event I am different with Wayne. I have more confidence and I feel safer—if anyone could feel safe right now.

Wayne

The night passed without incident and the sun rose in the morning as always. Soon we were on our way. The sand was thick, so we led the horses. When the ground firmed up, we alternately rode and walked. By afternoon we could see Highway 60 off to the east past the interstate.

"There are only a few houses close to the interstate and Highway 60. I think we might be able to just ride through, if we are careful."

"Unless some bad guys have a car or truck," I said. "With that they could easily outrun us."

"In daylight, they could pick us off with a rifle," Julie said.

"How about we ride through very quietly at first light?"

That sounds like as good a plan as any."

So that is what we did, and it worked. We didn't see a soul. By good light we were riding east across the flat desert toward the mountains about 18 miles away. They looked to be much closer, but Julie's paper atlas said not.

We had gone about five miles when I saw something in the road ahead. At first I couldn't tell what it was so I looked through the binoculars. "It is a man walking. He is pulling a cart of some sort."