Forager (9781771275606) (13 page)

If Sawyer was trying to redirect the mayor’s anger, it
worked.

“
You’re about worthless, you know that?” the mayor
said.

“
Getting mad at me isn’t going to help your daughter. Get
yourself under control before you make this situation
worse.”

Worse? How could it get any worse? Never mind, I didn’t want
to know.

Everything was quiet for about a dozen heartbeats.
I held my breath. Some of the others probably did
too,
waiting
to see what the mayor would do.

His eyes dimmed from a raging inferno to a bed of white, hot
coals. It was an improvement, though not much of one. From between
clenched jaws he said, “Fine, I apologize. What do you suggest we
do?”

Sawyer kept his voice calm and pointed at Rasp. “Honestly,
Harold, I don’t think there’s much we can do. I think we better
listen to what she has to say.”

Rasp sat on her horse, nodding her head. The thin, pressed
look of her lips suggested she was pleased. “You have two days to
fill these trailers. Meet me back here an hour before dusk on the
second day. No tricks, no weapons. Remember, I’d rather not kill
this girl, but if we don’t get that food, she starves along with
us.”

As helpless as I was, I wondered how much worse it was for
Chane. I wanted to do something, anything, but what? Jump off the
horse and try to free Chane? Outfox the guards with my speed?
Create a distraction that would get me killed? None of it would
work. Rasp’s guards would fill me with enough lead to start their
own smithy before I got three steps.

There was nothing left to say. There was nothing left to do.
Sawyer turned Fred and we rode back to the house. The mayor and
Jason stayed a moment longer. The mayor said to Rasp, “If you hurt
her, I’ll personally boil you in corn oil and burn what’s
left.”

“
As long as you comply with my demands, no harm will come to
the girl.”

He brushed Rasps words away as if they were pesky flies, and
spoke to his daughter instead. “Chane…don’t do anything to make
them angry. We’ll get them their food, don’t you worry about that.
Stay safe, I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

Chane nodded. A tear fell from the corner of her eye. “I’ll be
all right, Dad. Just give them what they want and they’ll let me
go.”

Jason spoke for the first time since calling out Chane’s name.
“Hang tough, sis. We’ll see you soon.”

“
Thanks, Jas,” she replied.

I let out a heavy breath when the mayor finally turned his
horse and rode after us. Rasp wheeled her own mount and rode off in
the opposite direction, her guards following. We now knew where
Chane was, but I wondered if it might have been better if she’d
left for the city.

I didn’t know the count of our stores and whether they could
handle the Scavengers’ demands, or how Chane would react to being
held captive for two more days. The only thing I knew was that we
needed to get her back, and the only way that was going to happen
was for everyone to pitch in and fill those trailers.

We rode back to our defenders, who had grown to quite a crowd.
Our meeting with the Scavengers was unusual, and the townsfolk knew
it. An air of curiosity whispered through them.

By the time the mayor reached us, his color was back to normal
and he rode steadily and confidently in the saddle. He stared at
the crowd for a moment before speaking. “The search for my daughter
is over.” He pointed at the retreating horses carrying Rasp, Chane,
and the two guards. “They have her.” The crowd gasped, people
turning to their neighbors in shock. “They will be bringing up
trailers. In order to get Chane safely back, we will need to fill
those trailers with food.”

He went on tell those gathered the specifics of what Rasp
said. My mind wandered back to Rasp. She was a truly beautiful
woman. I wondered what she’d done to be banished from whatever town
she came from. The respect her guards showed when they lowered
their weapons spoke of trust. She must be formidable—trust like
that can only be earned.

The mayor called Frank Miller forward. Sawyer and I were close
enough to hear what he said. “Frank, can we still make quota giving
these bastards that much food?”

Frank closed his eyes and did some mental calculations. “It’ll
be close, but yes, I think we’ll be all right. We might have to
skim down our own meals for a while, though.”

The mayor nodded and let out a heavy sigh. “How could that
girl get herself caught? Did a Scavenger sneak into town last night
after the attack?”

Frank shrugged his shoulders.

“
Post extra guards around town,” the mayor ordered. “I don’t
want those slinking weasels kidnapping anyone else. As for Chane,
the only thing we can do is fill their trailers and hope those
Scavengers keep their word.”

I gasped and asked, “Sawyer, what happens if they
don’t?”

“
Let’s just hope they do, kid. Otherwise it’s going to get
ugly, real ugly.”

“
Everyone, please get back to your normal work,” the mayor
said. “We’ve lost too much time as it is. We’ll need to work harder
to insure we have enough food for the quotas, ourselves, and those
pilfering bandits out there.” He pointed an angry finger at the
road. Two horses, led by a pair of Scavengers, pulled a large empty
grain wagon toward us.

“
Come on, Dillon. We’d best get you prepared for tomorrow’s
journey,” Sawyer said.

The crowd dispersed. Disgruntled mutterings punctuated the
slow trod of tired feet. After hearing we wouldn’t have to defend
ourselves again, I think most people thought the day’s work was
done.

Before we could ride off, Frank Miller came hustling up.
“Dillon, do your best to find that alternator tomorrow. With this
new threat, our food stores are going to be really low. We can’t
afford to leave even a single ear out in those fields.”

I gulped. Talk about putting pressure on a guy. I tried to
give Frank a confident nod. The frown he gave me before walking
away wasn’t very encouraging.

Sawyer grunted. “You’ll do fine. Don’t worry so much about
what everyone expects. If there’s a matching combine out there, I
have no doubt you’ll find it.”

I was glad he didn’t have any doubts, because I sure
did.

“
Ugh,” I moaned as I climbed off Fred. Actually, fell off would
be a lot closer to the truth. We were back at the Dining Hall.
Dismounting wasn’t nearly as easy as earlier when Sawyer took me
out to the fields.

“
You’ll get used to it…eventually,” Sawyer teased.

His own “ugh” while dismounting reminded me that I needed to
check his leg. Through all the excitement, I’d forgotten about it.
“How you doing?” I asked.

“
This leg hurts a ton, and I’m a touch feverish, but I’m
through the worst of it, I think. I hope so anyway.”

I’d check the wound when we got back to the RV.

I tied Fred to an old bicycle rack, retrieved the wheelchair,
and pushed Sawyer into the Dining Hall.

Supper that night was an egg and vegetable casserole. Despite
Millie’s ability to create new and interesting dishes, I didn’t
much care for it. I ate it. Sawyer did too, but our shared
turned-up noses, which we both tried to hide from Millie, spoke
louder than words about the flavor of her latest
creation.

Sawyer continued to give me instructions for the coming day.
“It probably won’t rain, but keep an eye on the weather. Fred will
get wet if she has to, but she won’t like it.”

I hoped it stayed dry. Any more than a light sprinkle, and the
combine wouldn’t be able to get in the fields. Most years it wasn’t
a big deal to wait a day or two for things to dry up. The way this
year was going, the mayor would have us all out there slopping
through the mud and harvesting by hand.

The Johnsons with their three unruly boys stepped into line.
“Unless you like it loud, we’d better get out of here,” I
said.

“
Ah, I see.” He rolled away from the table and we headed for
the door.

Millie stopped me on our way out. “Sorry about supper tonight.
Don’t think I didn’t see the two of you force-feeding
yourselves.”

“
It wasn’t that bad,” I lied.

“
I might be an old lady, but my tongue still works. Don’t
forget, I have to eat it too. It was awful.”

“
It was better than eating dried rations out of my saddlebag,”
Sawyer said.

“
I’m not so sure about that, but it’s nice of you to say so.
What I really stopped you for was to tell Dillon to be careful out
there tomorrow.” Tears started leaking from Millie eyes. “I don’t
know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

“
I’ll be careful, Millie. I promise.” In a backward kind of
way, I liked her tears. It proved she cared.

Wheeling Sawyer out the door, I walked us back to Fred. She
was grazing on the grass between the sidewalk and the building. I
didn’t know much about horses, but I thought they ate more than
just grass.

“
Sawyer, how much food does Fred need?”

“
She’ll need a good amount of oats when you stop for the day,
and some in the morning. I’ll show you later. Otherwise, make sure
when you stop to check a building you let her graze. She’ll take
care of the rest.”

“
How often does she need water?”

“
Make sure she gets a drink whenever you get a chance. She
needs a lot more water than you do, so let her drink her fill so
long as she isn’t all sweated up. If she is, then make her wait a
bit.”

Fred snorted her displeasure at having her grazing interrupted
when I walked up and tugged on her reins to make her lift her
head.

“
Do you want to ride Fred back to the RV?” I asked.

“
You need the practice.”

Putting my foot in the stirrup caused all kinds of
unpleasantness in my thighs. My muscles had stiffened way too fast
when they were resting.

Sawyer chuckled when he spotted my grimace. “You think you
hurt now? Wait till morning. Best cure for sore muscles is more of
what made them sore. Hurts like crazy at first, but once you get
loosened up, most of the pain goes away.”

I noticed that he said “most.”

Fred carried me back to my RV while Sawyer pumped the
wheelchair beside us. A spiteful grin crossed my lips when I
realized that his forearms would likely be as sore tomorrow as my
thighs and butt were sure to be.

“
What else do I need?” I asked.

“
Bring a couple of blankets. The nights are getting cooler. You
can use the tools in the saddlebags so you won’t need to worry
about that—”

“
What about weapons?” I interrupted him.

He pondered the question a short while before answering. “I
wish I could tell you that won’t need any, but…you never know who
or what you’ll meet out there. I’ll send my bow with you. Don’t use
it unless you have to.”

I let out a breath of relief. The bow would offer some
protection, especially with Scavengers nearby. I fiddled with the
reins and opened my mouth to pester Sawyer with more questions, but
he cut me off before I started.

“
Look, kid, there’s always going to be something you didn’t
take and wished you had. You won’t know what it is until you need
it, though. You prepare the best you can. Then you get the job done
quickly.

“
The combine’s a big machine. If you don’t see one right away,
move on. Don’t waste time looking at whatever else might be in a
building.”

It dampened my excitement a little. It would have been fun to
explore those buildings to see what I could find, but he was
right.

“
There’s one more thing,” Sawyer said. The solemn tone of his
voice caught my complete attention. He looked up at me from the
wheelchair, struggling for words. A few seconds passed before he
said, “It’s not unusual, when you’re foraging, to
find…remains.”

“
You mean bodies? Dead bodies?” I
shuddered.
Gross.

“
Don’t let the idea of dead people get to you. They’re dead,
Dillon. They can’t hurt you.”

“
Are there a lot…out there?”

“
I’ve seen my share. Too many people didn’t survive the
aftermath of the Collapse. There was no one to bury those that died
alone out there.”

It was morbid, but I understood Sawyer was trying to prepare
me. It would have been horrifying to stumble upon remains and be
surprised. A gruesome image entered my head, and I had to ask, “Do
the bodies still have…flesh?”

“
No. Insects and time have taken care of all of that. The only
thing you’ll find is bones and a few remnants of whatever clothing
they were wearing when they died.”

That was a relief. Bones would be bad enough.

I tried to get my mind off of dead people by looking at live
ones. A couple walked past close enough for us to
overhear.

“
I wonder if the mayor would be so willing to pay the ransom if
it were our daughter that was a captive instead of his,” the man
said.