Alone, Book 3: The Journey (17 page)

     She couldn’t wait until he was able to speak without pain, so she could ask him those and a hundred other questions.

     She walked east, away from the highway, and across a meadow toward the oak tree where she’d left Bonnie. As she walked she made a clicking sound, knowing that if she wasn’t sleeping, Bonnie would come to her at a slow gallop.

     She allowed her horse to graze freely, knowing she never wandered far, and always came when called. She wouldn’t have had any trouble finding the stream that ran adjacent to Highway 281, and a couple of hundred yards away from it. The grass was plentiful, and the snakes and other things that might spook her were rare this time of year.

     She heard the horse first, the clop, clop, clop of Bonnie’s hooves coming from the south and slowly growing louder. Bonnie had excellent night vision. Normally, it was far better than Red’s own.

     But not tonight.

     The big horse approached slowly once Red was in sight, and once near changed to a walk. She was a smart horse, smarter than most humans Red knew. At least by Red’s estimation.

     Bonnie understood that although she was there to serve Red, that she was so much larger and therefore capable of hurting her. Especially in the dark, when Red might not see her coming and might step into her path.

     Bonnie was smart enough and careful enough to make sure that didn’t happen. For the love Red felt for her horse went both ways.

     Bonnie was pushing twelve years old now. Her best years were behind her. She’d been with Red since the beginning. There had been other riders, occasionally, when Red was inclined to share her. But she knew that Red would always be back, would always nuzzle her and rub her and make her feel loved.

     Red loved Bonnie like a best friend. No, more than that. Like a sister. Bonnie was the one friend she could always talk to. Bonnie was the only one to see her cry when she lost her sister a few years before. The only one to hear her wail when her husband and son died.

     The only one who understood her sorrow when her father died of a supposed heart attack.

     And her anger and frustration when Red suspected there was more to the story.

     Yes, she loved this horse as much as any human she’d ever loved.

     Except maybe Riley, her young son who was murdered.

     That’s why it broke Red’s heart, knowing what she’d be forced to do.

     She placed her cheek next to Bonnie’s and scratched her behind the ears.

     “Oh, baby, I love you so, so much. I hope you understand, I have to do this. I will hate myself for it, and I will never forgive myself. But I have to do it. There’s no other way. I’m so sorry.”

     With that, she mounted up and rode east.

Chapter 34

     Dave awoke several hours later, and could tell by the shadows in the truck’s cab that the sun had already climbed high in the sky.

     He felt better, in that breathing was a bit easier.

     As long as he didn’t try to draw too great a breath.

     As for his body, he was able to move the fingers on his right hand without pain. They had somehow come through the beating unscathed.

     Everything else hurt like sin.

     But not as much as the day before.

     He didn’t know how much of the progress was due to the numbing effects of the pain medication she’d given him the day before, and how much was due simply to his body trying to heal itself.

     Then he discovered a nasty medicine taste beneath his tongue. His mouth had dried to the point where it had prevented his saliva from dissolving all the additional Percocet she’d placed under his tongue just before she left.

     So much, he decided, for progress. 

     Moving his eyes and not his head, he scanned as much of his body as he could. Much of the skin that wasn’t covered by bandages was covered instead by ugly bruises.

     He noticed that two of the fingers of his left hand were taped together. He wondered which of them was broken. They both hurt like sin.

     Suddenly, a wave of panic came over him. Where had Red gone? Had she taken the Explorer?

     Had she abandoned him and stolen his vehicle, as he first feared she might?

     He vaguely remembered her saying something about having replaced the alternator, and that everything seemed to be working fine.

     But women didn’t know how to replace an alternator, did they? At least none of the women he’d ever known. Most of the women he’d known had a better chance of finding Kurdistan on a world map than they had of looking in an engine compartment and even identifying which part the alternator was.

     Dave caught himself. If he’d said such a thing out loud in front of Sarah she’d have affixed him with a cold stare. Then she’d have lectured him that he needed to pull his head out of the last century and acknowledge that women could do anything men could do.

     If he’d have uttered the words in front of a woman like Red, there was no way of telling what she’d have done.

     The fact was, though, that no woman he’d ever known personally would have been able to replace the alternator. So he assumed he was hallucinating when he heard Red say those words.

     He forced himself to turn his head toward the hole in the back wall, just to be sure the Explorer was still there.

     It was, and he eased his head back down with considerable relief.

     Then where was she?

     Had she saved his life, set his broken bones, dressed his wounds and dragged him into bed to rest, just to abandon him?

     Apparently.

     He drifted back to sleep.

     But just for a few minutes. Then he awoke with a fresh stab of pain.

     He’d remembered something else she’d said. He couldn’t remember the words, exactly. But the implication was that she’d be going with him.

     Or had he imagined that too?

     He tried calling out to her.

     His voice felt stronger now, but he still had trouble getting anything out. His dry mouth wasn’t helping.

     “Red?”

     It was barely above a whisper.

     He decided that if he really had been abandoned, he’d better be willing to take care of himself.

     And he was parched.

     He very slowly turned his stiff neck to see where she’d left the water bottle.

     It was laying on the pillow beside him.

     With much effort and even more pain, he managed to reach his good right hand across his chest and just high enough to grab the bottom of the bottle.

     He was working it down with his fingers, trying not to let it slip from his grasp and roll onto the floor, when all of a sudden he heard the words, “What in the hell are you doing?”

Chapter 35

     Dave was startled, but somehow managed not to jump.

     Jumping, in his present condition, wouldn’t have been a good thing.

     “What are you doing?” Red demanded again of her patient. “You shouldn’t be moving around yet. The only thing you’re in charge of doing is resting and recovering. I’ve got everything else under control. If you want water, just say so.”

     Dave considered telling her he tried to.

     But he thought better of it.

     She picked up the bottle of water, removed the lid, and placed the straw in it. Then she placed the straw between his damaged lips and let him sip.

     “You need the whole bottle, but not too fast. Little sips. Drink a third of it, then in a few minutes we’ll have some more.”

     Dave looked at the bottle. This one said “Dasani” on the side. It wasn’t the same bottle he’d drank from previously.

     Red seemed to read his mind.

     I brought some bottles over from the back of your Explorer. I didn’t think you’d mind.

     He didn’t mind.

     Something caught his eye that bothered him, though.

     One of his eyes was still almost swollen shut, but he could see more clearly now out of his good eye.

     Clearly enough to finally get a good look at Red’s face.

     In another time, at another place, he’d have thought her beautiful. She’d obviously had a rough year, and it showed. But as he told Sarah the first time she noticed a wrinkle on her forehead, “Beauty is impossible to hide. Even when you put wrinkles in its way.”

     It was true. Despite the toll that a year’s stress had taken on Red, and the fact that she hadn’t worn makeup in almost that long, she was still a very attractive woman.

     He thought better than to tell her that, though.

     It was that same face, around the eyes especially, that caused Dave’s concern.

     They were puffy and red. And her eyeballs were shiny and seemed moist.

     Had Red been crying?

     Was that why she didn’t respond when he called out to her?

     She’d been sitting in the passenger seat, on the other side of the sleeper’s curtain, when he called her name. Granted, it was little more than a whisper. But surely she heard it.

     Perhaps she did, and just didn’t respond immediately because she had to regain her composure first.

     Perhaps it was important to her that she maintain her tough-as-nails image.

     Still, she certainly didn’t seem to be the type of girl who cried.

     Obviously he’d already been taken in by her tough girl persona and accepted it as fact.

     But then again, even tough girls have feelings.

     His throat now wet, it was easier to get the words out.

     “What’s wrong?”

     The sad eyes suddenly became fiery and she shot back, “Who said anything was wrong?”

     “Me.”

     She studied him for a moment and the eyes softened again.

     Still, the last thing she wanted to show Dave at the moment was that she might be vulnerable.

     Right now, she was his protector. His healer. He had to have confidence in her.

     She had to be strong. For both of them.

     So the tough girl returned.

     “Nothing. Nothing at all, except that you’re about as worthless as a wheel chock, lying there in bed unable to move. We need to put some distance between us and this place before Savage and his bunch grow some brains and decide to look south for us. But you can’t even sit up straight yet.

     “Absolutely nothing is wrong, besides all that.”

     She hesitated and pursed her lip before adding the last few words.

     “That… and the fact that I just lost the last good friend I had in the world.”

Chapter 36

     Dave was at a loss. If this had been his Sarah, or one of his daughters, or even a close female friend, he’d have wrapped his arms around her and coaxed her into talking.

     But even if he’d been able to do that, it wouldn’t have been a good idea. Not under the present circumstances.

     He finally found a reason to be glad for his injuries.

     They gave him an excuse to avoid what would have been a very awkward moment.

     And quite possibly a second beating.

     Still, he could see the signs. She lost a friend, and she needed to talk about it.