Earthbound (15 page)

Pace bought another bottle of whiskey. He was
holding out on me – he had another gold coin in his sock. I was
peeved, but I got over it after a few shots. We wound up back in
that same park. Eventually we coupled off again and I was alone
with Cheyenne. We made out for a while but, although I tried, to
her credit she didn’t let things get any further. She actually
wanted to talk a little.

“How’s life in Great Falls?” she asked.

“It’s okay. A little boring. It’s better
here, I think.”

“Oh.” She seemed disappointed by that. I
guess wherever you’re from is never going to be as exciting as
where you can go. “And you’ve got no one there waiting for
you?”

“Not really, no.” Knowing Becca, she wasn’t
waiting for anyone.

“So…” Cheyenne took my hands and stared at me
with her big brown eyes. “Take me with you.”

“Oh, I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Well… the place I’m living right now, it’s
not really habitable. Maybe later when I’m more established.”

“You could always stay here.”

Those words were so inviting. “A month ago I
would have said yes. And now… how about this, Pace said this
wouldn’t be our last night here forever, so…”

“Who’s Pace?”

I nearly choked on oxygen. Pace would kill me
for effing up like that. “Sorry, I mean Lewis. I don’t know anyone
named Pace.” It was a clumsy recovery, but it worked I suppose.

Anyway, talking about the future kinda messed
up the mood. I did go to bed that night – alone by the way, if
you’re curious. But around four in the morning I did get woken up
by Pace stumbling through the window again. Usually I didn’t much
mind his spirited activities, but after mulling over my
conversation with Cheyenne, I was pissed.

Pace flopped on the bed. I stood up and
goaded him to stand his drunken body up again.

“You and me are gonna have some words, Pace.
Better stand up for ‘em.”

But instead of standing up, Pace grabbed his
pillow and covered his face with it.

“I think I’m better here,” he cowered.

“I’m not gonna punch you. Not right now,
anyway.” Pace cautiously moved his pillow. “It's nice here.
Cheyenne is kinda nice. If we just came here instead of robbing
that bank, everything would be fine." I was getting worked up.
Talked so loud it wouldn’t surprise me if the whole house heard me.
“I know it was my idea and all, and I know I didn’t think things
through, cause I don’t do that, but you shoulda warned me of the
consequences! You shoulda told me what a stupid idea it was. Cause
now? We are effing screwed. Now we can’t stay here or anywhere.
Things woulda worked out for us right here in Augusta.”

Pace responded with calmness and quiet. "No.
It wouldn't. For one reason. And you know it as well as I do.
Rebecca."

Then he rolled over and went to bed.

I stood there hovering over him for a minute,
wanting to pull him up by his whiskey-stained collar and pummel the
shit out of him. But no. He was right as always. Eff him.

I laid back on the floor by the fire. And
tried to go back to sleep. But of course I couldn’t.

The next morning Pace and I packed up our
belongings and said goodbye to the Norris family. They were sad to
see us go, that’s for certain. Mr. Norris pulled me in close as he
shook my hand. “Come back anytime. We need good men like you in
this town. That’s for damned sure.” Then Grace walked us to the
stables where we got our horses. They’d been well cared for, that’s
for sure. Pace tipped the stable hands with two gold coins
apiece.

“I thought we didn’t have anymore!” I
protested. “I wanted to buy salt!”

“Oh, well now I’m out of gold coins for
real.”

“Are you sure? You didn’t stash a few up your
ass?”

Grace intervened. I think she had a peaceful
streak that befit her name. “Let’s go back to my house. I can give
you some salt.”

“Thank you kindly,” Pace said, “but Grace I’m
sad to say we do need to go. But it is a generous gesture.” Pace
kissed her gingerly and then climbed up on his horse. I mounted as
well, and noticed that Grace was crying. “We’ll be seeing you again
soon.”

I tipped my hat. “Thank you, ma’am, for your
hospitality. And send my regards to Cheyenne.” Pace tipped his hat
as well and we rode out of town. “Thanks a lot,” I grumbled. “I
wanted that salt.”

“I’ll buy you some in the next town, I
promise.”

We rode off until we were out of sight from
Grace, and then we turned right off the road and hid in the weeds
for a time. Pace kept looking at his watch.

“What are we waiting for?” I asked.

“Just timing is all.”

“I thought we were gonna do it just like the
last time. What are you timing for?”

Pace didn’t respond. He just kept looking at
his watch. Nearly a half hour later, he nodded.

“Okay. Now.”

We rode back to the bank and dismounted,
loosely tying off our horses to the hitching post with slipknots so
they’d come undone with a quick tug. Then we looked around – it was
quiet. There was literally nobody around. We entered the bank. It
was small and the same set-up as our bank back in Great Falls. No
armed guards. Just one bank teller.

Pace seemed profoundly disappointed to see
that the bank was empty, save their lone employee. What did he
want, an audience? I took my post at the door, casually flipping
the sign over from OPEN to CLOSED. Pace approached the bank teller.
He was a rail thin guy who wore glasses. That was an expensive
impediment to deal with. It was hard to find a decent pair of
glasses.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” the bank employee
asked with a smile.

“We actually know each other, to a fashion,”
Pace replied.

“We do?”

“You’re Walt Parker, right?”

“That’s right. How do we know each
other?”

Pace smiled his warm smile. “We’ve sent
messages back and forth amongst each other. Bank talk, that sort of
thing. Until recently I worked at the bank in Great Falls.” Walt
Parker got a curious expression on his face for a second. “Round
here people call me ‘Lewis.’ But my real name is Pace.” Walt
Parker’s jaw dropped. Pace swung open his handsome new bison-skin
coat and revealed his pistol.

“Y-you’re Pace?”

“I guess you’ve been warned about us.” Pace
pointed the barrel of his pistol close to Walt Parker’s chin. I
pulled out my pistol and aimed it at Walt Parker too, just so he
knew we were serious. Slowly Walt Parker’s arms started to rise.
“Before you think of setting off the alarm, what say you give me
the combination to the safe?”

Walt Parker shook his head furiously. “Not
gonna do it,” he mumbled.

“Walt Parker, is this worth dying for?” Pace
pulled back the hammer on his pistol. Walt Parker took note.
“You’re a young man. You can live a long life. Or – you can neglect
to give me the combination.”

Walt Parker made his decision. He started
rattling off numbers. “15. 12. 52. 17. 19. 8. 6.”

Pace smiled with satisfaction. “Hands where
we can see them. My partner is a very good shot. He can even cure
your bad eyesight. Course, you’ll never see again.” Pace laughed at
his own joke and then turned to the safe to crack it open. Walt
Parker eyed me nervously. I squinted my eyes just so I’d look as
tough as possible.

I heard the vault clank and then sure enough
Pace pulled the door right open. Walt Parker had come through.
Inside the safe looked like nearly double what he hauled off in
Great Falls. No wonder the people of Augusta were pretty satisfied.
They had plenty of money flowing around.

Pace laughed. “Look at all this beautiful
gold!” I expected Pace to start retrieving the gold, but instead he
pulled some rope out of his pocket and sat Walt Parker in a chair.
“Now hold still. I don’t want you setting off the alarm. That gave
us too much trouble last time.” Once Walt was properly trussed,
Pace called me over to the safe.

“I’m supposed to guard the door,” I said.

“Never you mind. We’ll get out of here twice
as fast if you help load up.”

I rushed over and Pace handed me two shoulder
bags to fill with gold. Walt Parker stared at us wide-eyed.

“Quite a haul,” I said.

“It’s going to buy you a whole ton of salt,”
Pace replied.

Then unexpectedly the front door swung open,
and I wasn’t standing guard at the front door the way I was
supposed to. A thin female voice called out. “Are you open?” Pace,
Walt Parker and I all turned toward the door in unison. It was
Grace. She held in her hand a little deposit. “W-what’s going on?”
Grace asked nervously.

Pace lowered his pistol and approached her.
He put his arms protectively around her shoulders. “Sorry, baby, I
didn’t mean for you to see this.”

“But I told you I was going to be here! I
always make my father’s deposits at this time!” Pace. That effer.
He knew she’d be here and wanted to show off. “Y-you… you’re a bank
robber?” Grace started crying. Not a very good way of treating your
lady in my book.

“I’m sorry Grace,” Pace said with all the
sincerity he could muster.

“I can’t believe you’d do this, Lewis!”

“It’s Pace actually. My name is Pace.” That
just made the tears well up even more.

“You lied to me! I can’t believe I thought… I
thought…”

Pace put his hand delicately under Grace’s
chin. “I know. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the
world, I had to walk into yours.”

I rolled my eyes. Pace was no Humphrey
Booger, or whatever that guy’s name was.

Then that tender, heartbreaking moment was
broken by a sound. That same loud whine we’d heard before. The
human drama had distracted us from keeping an eye on Walter Parker.
He had leaned his body back in the chair far enough so that he
could hit the alarm button with his head. I instinctively kicked
the chair out from under him and he landed on the floor with a
thud.

“Pace!” I yelled. “Let’s get out of here
before those things show up!”

Pace was conflicted. He was really enjoying
his moment. But there was business to be done and we really didn’t
want to get caught. Pace rushed over to join me at the vault. We
finished filling the shoulder bags – four and a half in all. It
turned out to be more than double our previous haul actually.

“Anything you want me to do with him?” I
asked, nodding over toward Walter Parker.

“Knock him out, will you? Just don’t kill
him.” Walter Parker’s eyes widened as my boot descended on his
face.

Grace’s eyes started to well up again. We
didn’t have time for that. I crossed to the door and looked
outside. So far nothing. “What am I supposed to tell the
authorities?” she asked.

“The truth,” Pace instructed. “Don’t worry,
I’ll be fine. And so will you. You’re quite the catch.”

“Pace!” I shouted. “We need to go.
Now
. And get her out of here too. Remember
what happened last time.”

That got Pace’s attention. He hustled Grace
to the door and we went outside. A few townsfolk were approaching.
I spotted an older man heading toward us with a head of steam. He
was carrying something long and wooden.

“Shotgun!” I shouted. We untied the horses
and I mounted. “We gotta go!”

The older man with a shotgun was coming up on
us too fast. In a second he’d be in range. I raised my pistol and
took aim. I didn’t want to shoot him, but that’s the way these
things go.

But then, as always, Pace thought quickly. He
put the barrel of his gun up against Grace’s temple.

“Stay back!” he yelled.

That got the older man’s attention. He froze
in his tracks.

“Drop the shotgun,” I yelled. The older man
listened and the shotgun hit the ground.

Pace mounted, and then pointed his pistol at
Grace again. “Get on,” he muttered to her. She looked up at him
with surprise. “Get on!” He held out a hand and she took it,
putting her delicate foot in the stirrup and swinging her body
weight up on Flashbound behind Pace. “Anyone follows us and we
shoot the girl. Understand?” The Augusta townsfolk stared back in
dumbfounded silence. If not for the whine of the siren, it would
have been quiet as a ghost town. Like the rest of the unsettled
world, I imagined.

We headed out of town as fast as our horses
would go. We were just relieved that there weren’t any robots – so
far anyway.

“What are we gonna do with her?” I asked.

“We’ll drop her off. Don’t worry Grace.
You’ll be safe.”

“I don’t want to,” she whelped. “Take me with
you.”

I craned my neck to get a look at the
expression on Pace’s face. That would tell me a lot more about what
he wanted to do than his words. But he just looked confused.

“Your call,” I said.

We saw the road leading out of town just
ahead of us. I thought we’d made it. But then we saw a horrible
sight. A hole in the ground just popped open in front of us.
Actually it was a well-camouflaged cellar door. And out of that
hole wheeled up robots. Lots of robots. Dozens and dozens of
robots.