After and Again (19 page)

  “Well…. I’ll see the bo—  Zack, and we’ll figure things from there okay?”

  “Alright Tal, just come back….with Zack and Emily, Jonus said, and handed Tal a flask. “For the road.”

  “You just take care of my family Jonus, an’ everyone else, looks like.”

  Tal Miller kissed his wife and sons goodbye and rode out of the Martin’s dooryard ten hours after Zack McQueen.

18

  Desmond Trask called a stop on the outskirts of Auburn, dismounted and walked over to the horse that Emily was on. He reached up and untied the strip of leather holding the burlap sack and pulled it from Emily’s head. He also untied her wrists from the saddle horn which were striped with angry purple welts. “Okay missie, were going to ride into that town and stop at the inn and have a meal, unless
you’re
not hungry of course.” Emily, who was given nothing but water since they left the Martin’s was famished, but she said nothing. “Now you may get some ideas about running that horse there, or calling out for help when we’re enjoying our dinner, and I’d like to try and discourage you from those thoughts right now. There is absolutely no chance that you’ll outrun us on that horse, if you try, I’ll make you wish that I’d let Taylor over there kill you back at that house. If you so much as squawk during dinner, I’ll start killing as many people in that room as I can. Won’t bother me a bit, most of ‘em will be dead in two days time anyway. So you just behave, where you’re going isn’t so bad anyway….hell, you might even like it.”

  They entered The Mountain Rest Inn and Tavern at dinnertime and the common room was bustling. The story of Trask’s previous visit had been told and retold so many times that he had been storied to be eight feet tall and better than four hundred pounds, with a nightmare face like a demon. The
real
Trask was only about six and a half feet tall and three hundred twenty pounds. Hours later, the witnesses all agreed that the description of his face was the only understatement.

   As before, the room fell almost silent when Trask entered, but quickly resumed its prior noise level when his eyes scanned the patrons. He selected a table that faced the door and the four of them sat down.

  Andy Gross turned from the beer tap when the buzz in the room quieted, and all of the color drained from his face. The monster had returned and was smiling across the room at him.

  Andy looked over at the table that James Devine, the town sheriff, was sitting at and noticed that the man had made himself scarce, his mug of beer and a nearly full dinner plate sitting alone at the table. Andy didn’t care much for the sheriff, but in this case really couldn’t blame him. The monster threatening Andy for free food was nothing compared to his horse thievery at the stables. Andy wished that he could vanish as well.

  “It’s good to see you again sir,” Andy Gross said, standing at the table and addressing Trask.

  “Didn’t I tell you he was a dandy one, Taylor?” Trask said, reaching across the table and giving him a rough shove.

  “You sure did, Desmond, and that’s the gospel.” Taylor said, smiling like it was the most amusing thing that he had ever heard.

  “Three pitchers of beer, bowls of beef stew and bread all around.” Trask said, sweeping both arms out in front of him magnanimously. “And pie,” he added. “You serve some fine, fine, pie…..I trust that my method of trade is still acceptable?” he asked, with a mock sheepish grin on his weeping, infected looking face.

  “Oh of course sir…..will there be anything else?” Andy replied, sweet as honey.

  “Nope, but I would be grateful if you would hurry that little dandy ass of yours up, can’t you see the girl is hungry?” Trask flashed what would have been a winning smile if not for his face, in the girl’s direction. Andy turned without another word. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in
that
girl’s shoes, he thought. He wondered if she could possibly be with those men willingly. “None of my concern,” he said to himself, walking into the kitchen.

  It was almost dawn when they reached the camp. Emily was put back in the cage along with four other women. “Where did you get those?” Trask asked, walking to the supply wagon with Brandon Locke, the man who had led the recruiting party to Auburn.

  “Awww, there was a couple of farms ‘bout ten miles outside Auburn. Ben Grayson was wanting to get a jump on things so we hit ‘em on our way outa Auburn….two for
him
, and two for us,” he said the last with a chuckle and a wink in Trask’s direction. Brandon Locke was one of the few people that he actually
liked
in his group of raiders. He had a sort of grudging respect for Grayson, but Grayson always looked warily at Trask as if he was a coiled snake ready to strike. Which was smart Trask supposed, because he
was
a coiled snake. But Locke, even though he wasn’t the smartest man in the outfit, was competent, merciless, and he genuinely did not fear Trask, and Trask found this little curiosity interesting.

  “There will be plenty more here as soon as Ben Grayson gets back and we get busy,” Trask said.

  “Well we’re all ready to go, some of these cutthroats are starting to fight among themselves.”

  “Did you get anyone in Auburn?”

  “Not a one, bunch of farmers and ranchers and the like. Seems, there ain’t too many hard men around.”

  “I know, Locke; I have always believed that men were meant to be killers, smart killers, educated killers, but killers just the same. And I haven’t really seen it like it should be, it’s something that has bothered me for years….”

  Locke stopped walking and faced Trask. “Desmond, where did you come from?”

  “I was raised in an old library by a christian fellow who found me, starving and near dead in some rubble of a ruined city from the old days. He believed that the war—that’s what happened Locke, some kind of war—and its aftermath did something to people….something spiritual.”

  “Spiritual?” Locke questioned, looking confused.

  “Like having to do with god, and religion,” Trask explained. “He believed that the war cleansed most of the wicked people from the earth and that the rest were eliminated in the struggle to survive afterward. He thought that pure evil was vanquished, which was the reason that people didn’t seem to be killing each other very much anymore. Oh, he said that men still did bad things, that it would always be in their nature to sin, but the kind of evil that had plagued humans throughout history; murder for the sake of murder, done on scales that you could not even imagine Locke; the Crusades, Hitler, Leopold the second, Pol Pot…..” Trask saw that Locke was looking confused again and continued,

Anyway, he believed that the days of man killing man for hate, greed, and power were over, and that people would finally live in relative peace. He learned otherwise.”

  “How’s that, Desmond?”

  “I killed him,” Trask said simply, and continued walking to the supply wagon. Locke looked after him dumbfounded.

  Ben Grayson returned two days later in the early morning with seven men. “Slim pickings there Grayson, that the best you could do?”

  “I was lucky to get them—hey, Preston, get these men some food will ya—they’re migrating workers with no work, they’re hungry and chances are two or three of ‘em will run for it when the party starts.”

  “Just don’t give them too many details ahead of time. We’ll run it differently this time; we’ll go in just before dawn, catch them just getting up. We may have to skip the outlying ranches for the time being but we can pick them up later. Same ruse, tell everyone were just taking valuables and herd them into the stable—the one on the east side. Make sure all of the new meat knows to look for things from the old days while they’re rounding up folks. Any guns come straight to me. Once everyone is inside, you and I can pick out the women that we’re going to take. Oh, and get….Preston, I guess, to go to that little mill and gather up some boards and nails after the towns clear. There’s two windows and two sets of double doors that we’re going to need to seal up. I guess that’s it. Any of those sorry looking recruits have a decent weapon?”

  “One has a bow, and two have skinning knives.”

  “See if we have anymore machetes or some of those clubs that Cap made, with the spikes in ‘em.”

  “Alright, you want to go tomorrow?

  “Oh definitely.”

  “I saw the black-haired girl Trask, but did you get the one who did that?” Grayson asked nodding his head indicating his face. Trask’s expression clouded.

  “He’s dead,” was Trask’s answer. Grayson eyed Trask for a moment, waiting for more.

  “Fair enough,” he said, think I’ll get me some breakfast.

    Zack tied Grace to the hitching rail in front of The Mountain Rest Inn and Tavern at just before three o’clock, two days after Emily had eaten there with Trask, Taylor and Olsen. He had never been to a place like it before but had a rudimentary knowledge of how things worked. He untied his pack and slipped it over one arm, then looked over at Max who was sniffing around the plank walkway and alternately whining then growling. “They were here, weren’t they, Max?” he asked the wolf. Max stopped his pacing, looked up at Zack, and barked once; a short, deep guttural sound, then stood and stared at Zack expectantly, wagging his tail.

  “You look out for Grace, I’ll be back soon,” he told Max, not really knowing what the wolf would do once he went inside the inn, but having a feeling that that the animal would stay put.

  “Excuse me?” Zack said to the thin, middle aged, man behind the bar. “I was wondering if I could get some food, and also I have a question.”

  “Of course and of course young sir,” Andy Gross said, turning to Zack from his bottle polishing, which he usually did at this time of day when business was slow. “First things first, what would you like to ask?”

  “Have you seen a really big man, like a giant, with a slashed up fa—” All of the color had drained from the innkeeper’s face and Zack had his answer before the man spoke.

  “You… you know of him?” Andy asked the young stranger in a confidential voice.

  “Yes sir, did he have a girl about my age with him?”

  “Yes he did—”

  “Did she look harmed?” Zack interrupted, looking anxious.

  “Well, no, at least not that I could see. She didn’t speak at all, and looked….sad….I assume that you are not friends with this man?”

  “No, not at all, when were they here?”

  “They had dinner here, which they did not pay for I might add, two days ago,” Andy said truculently.

  So they had gained a whole day on us at least, Zack thought, not surprised, but disappointed. He was glad that Max was along but the wolf definitely slowed him down.

  “I guess they wouldn’t have told you where they were going?” Zack asked hopefully.

  “No, I am sorry. They have the girl against her will then?”

  “Yes, I’m chasing them—” suddenly there was snarling, and shouting from outside the inn,  

  “Max!” Zack said, turning and running for the door.

  “Keep ‘im off me! Keep ‘im off me, help!” A short, fat, man had his back pressed against the wall adjacent to the door and Max was in front of him, head lowered, hackles up and snarling. “I was just looking, I swear! I work leather and I saw the scabbard and….Please!”

  “Max, it’s okay buddy, c’mon, let him go,” Zack said, a little apprehensively, hoping that the wolf would listen. Max raised his head and looked over at Zack, then looked back at the man against the wall and growled once, turned and walked over and lay next to Grace with his head on his paws.

  “Sorry mister, he’s a little protective,” Zack said, thinking it a great understatement.

  “That animal is yours?” the man asked incredulously, while walking quickly away.

  “I wouldn’t say he’s mine….or anybody’s, we’re just friends.”

  “And a fine friend to have I see,” Andy Gross said from behind Zack, “would you like to talk about that meal now sir?”

  “Yes, thanks,” Zack said, noticing that the innkeeper had dropped the word ‘young’ from his address.

  Back inside, Andy gross ushered Zack over to one of the tables. “What is your pleasure today?” he asked.

  “Zack, tired of smoked meat, no matter how good, asked, “Do you have chicken?”

  “Of course, and what would you like to have with that?”

  “Potatoes I guess, and anything green.”

  “How would you like spinach? It was just brought in today, and a mug of beer perhaps?”

  “Okay, those are both fine.”

  “Could I also get a steak, raw, a big one…. for Max…..the wolf.”

  “ Of course, and what do you wish to trade with?”

  “Oh, uh, yea….” Zack reached down for his backpack, rifled through it for a moment and came up with one of the plastic fire makers. “I would like to pay for whatever the girl ate too.”