Tread Fearless: Survival & Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 4) (33 page)

“Neither. I mean, I tried to figure one out, but I couldn’t get it to stay on, even with hose clamps. After the first one, well, I just put the barrel behind the ear and fired. It was really quiet.”

“I see,” said Mark. And after a slight pause he asked, “Who you selling the meat to?”

“Some guy in the neighborhood over there. He’s a butcher . . . was a butcher. He trades the meat and pays me with gas.”

“Why don’t you just sell him an entire cow? You could just walk one over there to him.”

“Because he doesn’t have that much gas,” answered Charlie.

“For the generator?”

“For the generator,” replied Charlie.

“You know, you can trade for other stuff too, or even set up a credit account. It would be better than wasting an entire cow,” said Mark.

“Yeah, but the problem is, Cass would never go for it. I had to make it look like someone was stealing the meat.”

Mark sighed and said, “What are you gonna do when you run out of beef?”

“Leave, I guess. Cass was talking about heading to gramps, but she doesn’t want to leave the cattle.”

“So you’re helping her with that too?”

Charlie ignored Mark’s last comment and stayed focused on the gas, “Not counting what I use on the generator, I’ve got about fifty gallons saved up. I figure with about thirty more we can drive dad’s truck to gramps.”

“That’s a lot of gas,” said Mark. Where does your gramps live?”

“A place called, Tumbling Shoals. Its north of Little Rock a ways . . . a little hole in the wall, but he’s got a big spread there.”

Mark nodded and said, “That sounds like a good plan. But I think you should talk to your sister about it. You don’t think she’ll wonder where you got all that gas.”

It was Charlie’s turn to sigh. He looked at Mark and said, “You’re right. But she’s in denial . . . that’s what you call it when you refuse to believe the facts.”

“I know denial,” said Mark.

“She believes our folks are coming back. I try to tell her they ain’t, but she gets mad and tells me to shut up with all that negative talk. Still, I know they ain’t.”

“You don’t seem that upset by it,” replied Mark.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I cried for them. But they’ve been gone for two weeks now, and we haven’t heard anything from them,” said Charlie, solemnly.

“Still,” said Mark. “They could make it.”

“I saw they didn’t. I saw it in a dream,” said Charlie.

Mark was quiet and let Charlie’s words hang in the air like so much dust. He could hear the truth in Charlie’s words, and knew the young man believed what he saw in his dream. Mark wanted to comfort him somehow, but he didn’t know what to say. He was actually impressed with the young man’s plans, how he was making preparations to leave, and doing it in a way that was smart and calculated, though a little reckless. But he attributed that to his youth. Still, Mark doubted he would have developed such a detailed plan to exit the ranch at his age. With the cattle gone, Cass would have no reason to stay.

Mark put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder and said, “Charlie, if I was your dad, I’d say I was proud of you.”

“You would?” asked Charlie, and sat up a little straighter. “You’re not just saying that?”

“I mean it. You have a plan, and you’re making it work. And I think it’s a good plan. But you have to be honest with your sister. However, I recommend you get enough gas stored up before you tell her about the cattle. She may not want you to kill any more cows like you have been. Then, at least that way, you’ll have enough fuel to make the trip.”

“So you’re not gonna tell her?”

“Ohhh, no sir. I am not. That is your responsibility,” answered Mark.

“What are we gonna tell her about our plan to,” and using a very good imitation of his sisters voice, he said, “stop the cow waster?”

Mark chuckled and said, “I’ll take care of that. I’ll tell her I’ve showed you how to set up early-warning devices and booby-traps . . . that sort of thing.”

“Cool. Can you really show me some?” asked Charlie.

“Sure. Let’s go to the barn. I’ll need light to work,” and Mark stood. “You know though, this means we’ll be leaving tonight?”

“Yeah,” said Charlie. “I figured that. But we’ve all got places to go. Don’t we?”

“You’re wise beyond your years, Charlie.”

When Mark returned to the barn, he found Lauren awake and looking at the maps under a headlamp. She acknowledged Mark’s return, and looked surprised to see Charlie with him. “Oh. Hi Charlie.”

“Hi Lauren,” said Charlie.

Lauren looked at Mark with surprise and he said, “They knew we were using aliases, so I gave them our real names,” offered Mark.

“Was that smart?” asked Lauren.

“Better than lying when the obvious truth was visible. They saw my name written on some of my gear. Guess I’ll have to remedy that. Anyway, I was wondering if you could show Charlie that trap book you were reading earlier.”

Lauren folded the maps and said, “Sure. Let me dig it out.”

“I’m gonna go talk with Cass for a few,” added Mark. “I need to brief her on what we’ve planned for the protection of the ranch. By the way, we should plan to leave around twenty-two-hundred. I figure we can ride for about five hours . . . cover thirty or forty miles. That’ll put us up near Georgetown, and we can decide what to do from there.”

“Okay. Sounds good to me. Here Charlie, let me show you this,” said Lauren, as she removed the thin green book from her saddlebag and handed it to him.

Mark walked to the house and knocked before entering. He found Cass lying on the couch, an arm draped over her eyes. A single candle burned on the table, the other two had been snuffed to conserve their life. When he cleared his throat she said, “That must be you, Mark, because Charlie would’ve just started talking.”

“Want me to leave you alone?” asked Mark.

“Nah,” said Cass, and she sat up. “How’d it go with Charlie? Did you tell him to stop killing the cows?”

Mark must have looked surprised, because Cass chuckled at his expression and said, “I know what he’s been doing, and why.”

“Did you know that he’s saving gas to get you to your grandfather’s place in Arkansas?” replied John.

“That I didn’t know,” she said, “But it makes sense. I’ve been thinking about heading that way, just wasn’t sure how to go about it.”

“You’ve got enough food, and soon you’ll have enough gas to get you there. You guys are smart. I think you’ve got a really good chance of making it safely there.”

“Y’all wanna come with us? We’d love to have you guys,” asked Cass, quietly, subtly, as if she already knew the answer, but was hoping to hear yes from Mark anyway.

“You know, Cass, I never thought I’d be tempted to say yes until now. I like you guys . . . you’re good people, but I’m heading a bit more west than east. I really want to join up with my friends. Besides, I think you guys can manage. You’ve done really well for yourselves so far. And if I didn’t think you could make it, I’d ask you to come with us.”

“We don’t have any bikes,” replied Cass.

Mark nodded and said, “Our lives were meant to intersect at this moment, but our paths are different.” Mark sat in the seat across from Cass and asked, “Are you gonna tell Charlie that you know about the cows?”

“Probably not. He thinks they’re keeping me here. I was actually waiting for mom and dad, but I’m beginning to think they’re not coming back.”

“Did Charlie tell you about his dream?”

“He did, but I find that hard to believe. A dream . . . really. That’s fairytale stuff.”

“I’ll have to disagree with you there. I had a dream, a waking vision really, of Lauren before I found her,” said Mark.

“Really? That’s so cool. Can you tell me about it?”

“Sure,” said Mark, and he told Cass the real story of his journey up from San Antonio, and meeting Lauren at the church compound. How he couldn’t believe it when he saw her standing in front of him, and how she mentioned that she had a dream of him, too. While telling it, he realized that their story did sound a bit like a fairytale, but one that wasn’t tale, and far from being fairy, or whimsical. They had a rough journey ahead of them, and countless trials and hardships to endure before they reached their destination, whatever destination that was, but he knew they were together for a reason. That made it a fairytale of sorts.

“Do you think something’s going on?” she asked when he finished.

“You mean, like with the disaster, or the dreams and visions and such?” asked Mark.

“Both, really,” she said.

“Yeah. I think something’s going on,” said Mark, and he thought of John and everything his friend said in the warning email more than a week prior. John knew the disaster was going to happen before it happened. He knew things about the change, and all because of a dream. Like Cass, Mark once thought dreams like that were the stuff of fairy-tales, but then he had one too, a daydream. Something was definitely going on, but he didn’t know what it was, or what to call it, except maybe, “change.”

Deep in thought, Cass broke the silence by asking, “And?”

“I wish I knew,” finished Mark.

“I was hoping for a bit more than that,” replied Cass.

“You and me, both. All I can tell you is that this change, whatever it is, is a big deal. Something’s going on physically and . . . I don’t know, spiritually. It seems something has happened to wake some people up, and put others to sleep. I don’t just mean the disaster, either. There’s been some kind of polarizing effect, a delineation between positive and negative.”

“Good and evil?” she asked, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

“Perhaps. That is within the range of opposition, but I can’t say I believe in God, or the devil,” said Mark.

“I do,” replied Cass. “I’ve seen it in people, good and bad. It had to be more than a simple choice.”

“Well, I’ve seen evil too, but I think man is more than capable of being evil without influence. But then again, I’ve never been a religious man. But I will say this, I’ve given a lot of thought to the idea of spiritual awakening, and, well, you don’t understand how much that vision of Lauren affected me. Point is, something’s going on. I don’t feel more evil, though. I feel more goodness, or a need to do more good.”

“Were you a good man before the disaster?” she asked.

“I believe I was, yes.”

“Then maybe that’s what’s going on . . . good people become, well . . . better, and bad people become worse. That fits within your explanation of the change,” she added.

With a nod Mark said, “It does, at least more than most. But if this is just the beginning, then we should see some pretty remarkable goodness, and horrible badness.”

“Let’s hope we see more of the first and less of the last,” replied Cass.

“I’ll toast to that,” concluded Mark. And after a long minute of silence, he said, “Well, thanks again for having us. It was a pleasure meeting you and your brother. I wish you the best of luck on your journey to your grandfather’s place.”

“And also to you,” replied Cass, as she stood. Mark stood also, and Cass stepped around the coffee table and gave him a hug. It was a quick and firm one, like a hug one might get from a sister, but Mark was touched by her tenderness and wanted to say more. Before he could summon the words, Cass asked while walking toward the front door, “Will you guys take Sage with you?”

“I thought he was your dog?” replied Mark, surprised.

“What? Heavens no. He’s mom’s dog . . . was mom’s dog,” she corrected herself and added, “He never listens to me anyway. And by the
looks of it, I don’t think I could stop him from following Lauren. Besides, we won’t have room for him in the pickup when we’re loaded up to head to gramps. It would break my heart to leave him here.”

Mark knew she was only being polite, offering marginal justifications for allowing Sage to go with them, but he thought she was right. The way Sage glued himself to Lauren was strange and interesting at the same time. It was as if the dog’s new mission was to serve Lauren, which made it yet another strange chapter in the post-disaster change. All Mark could think of to say in reply to Cass’ sweet offer was, “Thanks.”

“There’s only a little dogfood left, so take what we have,” said Cass, as she moved around the blanket and opened the front door. They walked side-by-side to the barn, and found Lauren showing Charlie how to set a small game snare. He was writing notes in a tablet under the beam of a hanging flashlight. Sage sidled up to Cass when she entered the barn, and she bent to scratch him behind the ears. “Now you be a good boy, and take good care of Lauren,” she cooed to him.

Sage barked once, clear and loud, as if in reply to Cass’ instructions. Mark watched as the big German Shepherd turned to look at Lauren, and then back at Cass. She knelt in front of him and gave him a big hug, and Mark knew then that her parting with Sage would be harder than she admitted in the house.

Lauren caught the entire conversation, between the owner and her dog, and said, “What? Cass, I couldn’t. He’s your dog. I can tell you love him.”

“I love all my animals,” replied Cass, matter-of-factly. She went to hug Lauren and held her close, like a dear friend. “Take care of him,” she said. “I know he’ll take care of you.”