Monster of the Apocalypse (14 page)

Domestic chickens are surprisingly intelligent, and once gone wild they get vigilant. The aroma of chicken led Lilly for a long way, further than she had ever been. The birds avoided her first attempt easily. They took to the trees immediately, way too far off the ground. The scent of chickens was strong in Lilly’s nose. Now she sat and drooling, contemplated the birds in the trees and tried to figure out a way to get one.

The big male mountain lion liked chicken. But usually he preyed on deer and small varmints. Dog was an interesting change. Lilly was easy to kill, and filling, but venison was better.

T
he rifle and the shotgun were poised and ready in their hands as Lecti and Deo opened the door to search for Eleon. With the wind kicking up and grit stinging their faces, they looked toward the sudden report of the gun. There was enough dust in the air that they could barely see down the street. Just visible, the outline of a parked motorcycle sat at the convenience store. Deo started to run with Lecti on his heels.

A man burst from the entrance and mounted the bike. Goosing the throttle, the bike spun around, showering the storefront in a rooster tail of sand. Then, getting traction, the rider accelerated into the storm away from them.

Considering a shot as the bike left town, Deo wavered. He knew the rider was not Eleon. The lack of visibility could not disguise the clothing enough to give him any doubt. But he did not even know whether Eleon was involved. He wanted it to be one of his targets, but he had to be sure. He would not kill a man without a basic assurance of reason. He ran on.

Lecti knew who it was. If she had the rifle, she might have attempted the shot. The exiting bike disappeared before she could have swapped weapons with Deo. She really didn’t care. Her concern was for the man she knew must have discharged the shotgun.

Stepping through the door, Eleon met them as they arrived. Shielding his eyes with a hand, he tracked the path of the retreating bike. It had disappeared into the heavy air and was no longer visible. He was pretty sure the rider wouldn’t return.

Eleon turned his attention to Deo. “That was Cotton. You can go after him if you want, but he didn’t kill her. I figured that if they were having trouble with a bike, they would likely be back. So I waited for them. Zip admitted what he did, and I killed him. I thought that Cotton was going to draw on me, but he didn’t. I let him leave. If you want to go after him, I won’t even try to stop you. But, he didn’t do it.”

Looking inside, Deo felt a warm satisfaction. Zip’s body lay on the floor, a red stain leaking from beneath him. Justice had been served, even though Deo wasn’t the instrument of judgment. Anger drained from him. The adrenaline of the moment flowed from his body in waves of relief. After the outpour of information the previous evening, his suffering over Toshi seemed almost petty. The horror of humanity’s failure had given him perspective, and he was able to reevaluate his intended resolution. He would let it go.

As he moved to enter the store to view the body more closely, Eleon placed his hand on Deo’s shoulder.

“Don’t,” pleaded Eleon. “You don’t need to go there. Just walk away. We’ll all just walk away. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Residual anger made Deo pause. Then it dissipated and was gone. He turned around, and grasping Lecti’s hand, led her away. Eleon followed.

There was no reason to delay their departure from town. Mounting his bike, Eleon smiled. They would return to Fallon and decide their course from there. The kids followed in the trike.

As they left town and began the trek on the broken road surface, the wind started to lessen. By the time they reached the viewpoint that they had stopped at the day before, the sun was out and the breeze was much lighter. They stopped to skip rocks and enjoy each other’s company.

Giving the old man and his sidekicks time to get well down the street, Zip rolled off the catsup on the floor. It smelled nasty and covered his jacket. He tore open a roll of paper towels from a shelf and smeared it around as he tried to clean it off. The old piece of shit had gotten the drop on them, and as he remembered, he narrowed his eyes in anger.

At first Zip had an expectation of a swift and sudden end, but as the old man spoke he relaxed. It pissed him off when the old fart started asking questions. Zip tried to lay the blame for the bitch’s death on Cotton. Of course Cotton blubbered all over himself denying it. It didn’t matter anyhow. The cut lip and the bruises on Zip’s knuckles gave him away. He should have quit pounding on her.

Nervous again when he was ordered to give up his weapons, Zip almost did something stupid. As they backed away from the guns, the old man explained his plan and his motivation. He was trying to keep the young kid from killing them. Zip didn’t understand why. If he were in the old man’s place, he would have pulled the trigger himself.

But fine. Zip could go along with it. Just in case, he kept his knife hidden and planned to use it if necessary.

Eleon unloaded the weapons awkwardly as he held the shotgun on them. Then he kicked the shells into the cooler and threw the guns into the broom closet. A hasp and padlock from the parts store, mounted with tools from the same, secured them.

Cotton was told to watch for the kids and Zip to lie down in the catsup and be still. When the kids appeared at the carpet store door, Eleon let fly with the scattergun, and Cotton launched out the door.

Zip did not see the look Cotton gave him, or the one finger salute Cotton made at Zip as he left. His attempt to place the blame on Cotton had backfired, and he didn’t even know it yet. Cotton would not be back. Las Vegas beckoned, south through Tonopah. Weaponless, Cotton would meet the single survivor inhabiting Tonopah and learn that he was a cannibal.

Eleon noticed Cotton’s final gesture and gave a mental shrug. He would let the fates take care of Zip in their own way. Whatever happened, Zip deserved worse.

When Deo started to enter the store, Zip gripped the knife under his body and tensed in anticipation.

Zip believed that Eleon stopping him saved the kid’s life. He was not aware of the shotgun Lecti held, pointed at him through the window. She was primed and ready. Neither Eleon nor Zip realized that Eleon had saved Zip’s life again.

After Zip watched the three of them pull away on a bike and an interesting looking three-wheeled ride, he broke the closet door open to get the guns. He was already tired of waiting for Cotton to return. When Cotton got back, the bike would be his, and he would travel on alone. It was a perfect time. Cotton was unarmed.

Patience wasn’t Zip’s strong suit. Soon he was fuming in anger as he realized Cotton had abandoned him. After he searched town and found no viable transportation, it dawned on him that he was going to be waiting a lot longer.

The water was warm compared to the mountain streams of the Sierra and Lake Tahoe. It was time to go swimming. Deo was pitching stones with Eleon again as Lecti skinned off, and running into the water up to her knees, entered in a shallow dive. Aaaah, this was nice. She bobbed up and down in the low waves as the surface settled from the strong morning wind.

Eleon watched, slightly embarrassed. Twenty years of being alone had not kept him from appreciating a female body. He was old, not dead. Deo didn’t seem to be aware. Soon Deo joined Lecti, and after much urging and teasing, Eleon shed his leathers and entered the lake.

After plenty of splashing and laughing, the three crawled out and found a warm spot on a large, flat rock in the sun. It was a good day. The serious events of the past days were forgotten for the moment, and the future became the priority.

A discussion of a possible route, brought up by Deo, was suggested. He seemed to assume that Eleon was going to keep traveling with them. Lecti, too, made no mention of a parting. It had never crossed Eleon’s mind that he would stay with the kids.

There was a feeling of ease, of satisfaction in his association with them. He listened to them talk, letting them assume he would continue on with them. It was more of a fantasy to him than a reality. He was considering it, though. He had to admit that.

The sun bore down, and their skin dried. The wind started to pick up again. This time it was little more than a breeze. Eleon stood to put his clothes back on before the sun scorched his skin. Deo groaned and objected.

“Oh, man,” he said, “we don’t have to leave yet. It’s too nice here.”

The comment reminded Eleon of his kids. They rarely wanted to go anywhere with their parents and always complained when it was time to return home.

Eleon commented on the possibility of sunburn, and both kids groaned this time. But they rose and began to dress.

In one of his saddlebags, Eleon had some fishing gear. He tried not to make too many suggestions, but this is one he offered. Deo was enthusiastic, and though Lecti was less so, she agreed that fish would taste good for a change.

The afternoon was spent fishing after they moved to the north shore. That night they slept, smelling of their catch and nursing a full belly.

Another fish fry in the morning was just as appreciated. Freeze dried food lost its charm after several days. The original owners of the packets would have enjoyed the meal of fish just as much. It was difficult to scrub the smell from their hands without any soap, but sand didn’t do a bad job.

Watching Eleon loading the packs and folding the solar panels into the bike’s storage compartment, Lecti got an idea when she noticed Deo inspecting the motorcycle.

“What do you think about letting Deo ride your bike?” She asked, looking at Eleon.

The road was smooth and fairly flat, and Eleon was curious about the three-wheeler. It was a good tradeoff. He insisted that Deo follow behind them and only after the bike was on good asphalt. It worked out well. When they finally came to a halt in Fallon, Deo’s teeth glistened white in a dusty, brown face. Jenny was everything that Eleon expected and proved to be a fun little machine.

The best part was the company.

L
ecti, Deo and Eleon were in no hurry, but Fallon, once an oasis in the desert, was an ugly, unattractive place. They decided to camp there anyway, close to the river. At least there was some green.

After fording the shallow flood again, they found a spot close to the water in the shade. A scavenging run by Lecti and Eleon in Jenny provided some lawn chairs and a large, rolled up area rug to lie on. Water, stale licorice, and some jerky satisfied the late afternoon stomach rumbles.

Lecti brought out a pack of cards, and they all spent some time arguing about rules. They laughed a lot and in between hands spent time gathering driftwood for a bonfire. Night closed in, and after the fire burned down to embers, Lecti moved close to Eleon and lay her head on his shoulder as she watched the glow. He was warm in the cool of the night.

He did not know what to say. After the wonderful day, he did not want to ruin the mood. But, frankly, he was more than a little embarrassed. This kid was too young. More importantly, he was too old to be feeling like this. He didn’t want her to mistake his allowing the contact to be some kind of come on from him. He’d had it happen before, some woman getting too close to him and then turning it on him when she was rebuffed.

Thoughts and feelings swirled in Lecti. She considered her flight from Roseburg and the old men that she found so repellent. In the time since she and Deo had run, there were no men any better, not that there were that many anyhow. Her father would not have found any of them adequate. She knew it in her heart. But this man... he was different.

Eleon was educated. Some of the men in Roseburg were as well, but they all treated her like her own intelligence was not a concern of theirs. This man conversed with her as if he appreciated what she had to say. He listened and was careful to consider her point of view. And he treated her brother well.

It wasn’t that Eleon did not look at her as a woman. She felt his eyes on her as they played in the lake and as they sunned themselves. But he did not leer with the malicious intent of the others. He was hungry, but disciplined. He denied himself for the purpose of easing her mind. She liked that.

She inspected his body as well. The lines in his face and the grey in his hair belied the condition of his physique. He had a small paunch and old man hair on his arms and legs, but the muscles in his thighs, shoulders, and butt were full and firm, and well-defined. He was not unattractive.

The clincher was that he was kind. The horror of his past weighed on him terribly. Maybe that was why he made such an effort.              It wasn’t that he couldn’t be brutal. He chose not to be. Falling asleep against Eleon’s shoulder, Lecti felt safe. It was something that she was consciously aware of.

Eyes reflecting in the dying firelight, Eleon had a hard time falling asleep. His mind was in turmoil.

The urge to pee woke Deo in the middle of the night. He stood and noted Lecti’s head on the old man’s shoulder. They locked eyes, and Deo froze. He knew Lecti was attracted to Eleon. What had started out as an interest in a father figure was now more. He also knew that Eleon was resisting. The loyalty and protectiveness Deo felt for his sister warred with his desire for her happiness. He was not sure that one precluded the other. He liked Eleon, even with his dark side. More than that, Deo trusted him.

The urge hit him again, and he stepped out of camp to relieve himself.

Morning kissed the camp in a golden light. Flying insects, mayflies, stoneflies, and others common to environments with water close by began to warm and rise on delicate wings. It was too early in the year for cottonwood fluff. The river gurgled over the boulders at the edge of the road and slowly diminished. By the time all three people rose from their slumbers, the water had stopped flowing across the highway.

Sitting next to the water downstream, Deo contemplated his sister’s new relationship. He tore the bark off small sticks and threw them in the current as he mused.

Snoring lightly, Eleon lay curled around Lecti, spooning her body. She dozed in and out of sleep, unwilling to disturb him and perfectly content to slumber as she could. Finally he woke as a meadowlark called above them.

Sitting up and stretching as Eleon rolled to his feet, Lecti smiled up at him. He was embarrassed and unsure of himself. After meeting Deo’s stare last night, he did not know what to expect. He wouldn’t be surprised if Deo was pissed. He figured that the best thing to do was leave. Lecti would get over her infatuation and move on.

Pulling his chaps on and picking up his bag, Eleon started packing his bike. His face burned with an uncommon heat.

Realizing what was happening, Lecti moved to his side. She put her hand on his arm as she was used to doing with her brother. Eleon didn’t stop packing. He wouldn’t look at her. She could see the tightness in his expression.

“Do you think leaving will save you from me, Eleon?” She asked.

It was an odd thing to say, he thought. Eleon hesitated, and then met her eyes silently.

“You have regrets enough already.” She went on, “You’ve confessed to me your most precious secrets. And I’ve forgiven you. I have forgiven you. Now we need each other. I need you to listen to me now, Eleon. I have something to confess to you, and I want you to forgive me. I need you, too, Eleon. I want you to stay.”

He didn’t want to understand. She took his hand, and pulling gently, led him from the campsite. They walked upstream along the river, away from Deo, and Lecti spoke as Eleon listened.

It was hurtful to Lecti’s sensibilities to tell Eleon about the hour with Hal. She managed to keep from crying, and her voice only broke a few times, but her fingernails dug into his palm with enough pressure to hurt. The confession opened a wound that had festered for what seemed a long time. She told him about the men in the community that they fled. The murders that put evil men in power so that they could take young women as they saw fit. And she spoke of her father, frothy blood coming from his nose and mouth, laboring in his effort to tell them to run. Her guilt, because she did.

He listened and sorrowed for her. She was a young life in a world of hurt. It was a phrase he had used all his life and now realized the brutal reality. He had created this world for her.

She looked up at him from the fallen cottonwood trunk that they were sitting on. Tears welled but did not flow. He admired her courage.

“So now you know,” she whispered. “Deo doesn’t know about Hal, and I will never tell him. But we need to go back to Carson. The girl that helped
you, that you said gave you a place to sleep, Hey You, is still there. We need to help her. She is so afraid.”

She let her eyes fall.

“And can you, will you, forgive me?”

Eleon kissed her forehead as he embraced her. He felt a fierce anger and an immense compassion. It was confusing, feeling so paternal and yet so much more than that.

“You don’t need my forgiveness. None of it was your fault. None of it.”

He enveloped her tightly, an effort to assuage her guilt and sorrow as well as his own.

As Lecti appreciated the comfort she whispered, “We have to save Hey You. We have to. It won’t be that hard to separate her from Hal, even if we have to kill him.”

Fully intending to do just that, Eleon suppressed his urge to tell Lecti. He would make sure that Hal could hurt no one else. He suspected now that Hal must have been abusing Hey You all this time, and Lecti just didn’t know it.

“One other thing.” Lecti was not finished. “I know that you think I am too young for you. Or maybe you think you are too old for me.”

Looking up from his embrace, she smiled.

“All you have to do is consider my options. There’s Hal and Zip and Cotton.” She hesitated. “And there’s you. You are the best thing that has happened to me in terms of a future with a real man. If you don’t want me, fine, but in this world I haven’t found anyone better suited to me. This isn’t a world of unlimited options. I’m lucky enough to find a man that I enjoy and respect. Think about it, Eleon. You mean a great deal to me, and you being uncomfortable with our age difference should not stop me from being happy.”

Entering camp, Eleon felt apprehensive.

Deo saw Lecti’s face and knew the time had been spent in an emotional uproar. They were holding hands, and Eleon was acting strangely protective of his sister yet embarrassed by it. Deo’s fear that Eleon would be leaving, though, seemed to be unfounded.

Deo walked up to Eleon and offering his hand, grinned and said, “Welcome aboard.”