Earthbound (27 page)

“But it’s getting dark outside,” I said.
“Safer if you just do it in here. We’ll just turn around.”

“You’ll do no such thing! I’m going outside.”
She rummaged around in my pile of kindling until she found a fairly
long tree branch. She lit the end in the fire pit.

“I’ll come with you,” I said.

“The hell you will!” She shoved the fiery
tree branch near my face. “You boys stay here. I need my privacy.
But if anything happens to me, I get eaten by a pack of wolves,
it’s on you.” She glared at both of us and then laughed. “I’ll be
fine. That fence you put up keeps out critters, doesn’t it?”

Before she walked out the door she hesitated
and turned back to face us both.

“This is turning into an exciting adventure,”
she mused. “And maybe we’ll find out which one of you I’ll wind up
with…” She purred kinda seductively and then disappeared into the
yard.

Pace and I kinda looked at each other, not
sure exactly what to say. We both had another shot.

“Best man wins,” Pace slurred.

“You’re drink,” I said.

“Yeah.”

Pace and I settled in to get some sleep. Pace
insisted I use my own sleeping bag, but I couldn’t do that to him.
I could handle the cold better then him. So I let him use it and
just bundled up as good as I could, and holed up sitting up in the
corner with the rest of the bottle of whiskey. I slept a lot like
that anyway.

After a few minutes I started wondering what
was taking Becca so long. I visualized all the things that could
happen to Becca while she was out peeing. I didn’t want to think
about any of that.

“You think she’s okay?” I asked.

“She’ll be fine,” Pace said, trying to
sleep.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Sometimes girls take a long time to, you
know, fix their makeup and that kind of thing.”

“Yeah,” I said. Although I never heard of a
girl fixing her makeup before she went to bed.

After that I think I kinda nodded off for a
second, thinking about how I had a shot with Becca… she pretty much
told me so… maybe I would wind up with her… but my eyes widened
when I heard a sound. Something like metal scraping, for just a
second.

“You hear that?” I asked.

“What?”

“It sounded like… our fence opening.”

I shot straight up. Pace did the same. We
raced outside. Our front gate was kinda closed, but not the way I
left it. The latch wasn’t firmly down either. At first I thought
someone had gotten in. But I quickly realized, no. Someone had
gotten out.

“Becca!” I yelled.

“Check the horses,” Pace said.

We ran into our makeshift stable and there
was Charon all right, but no Flashbound.

“She took Flashbound!” Pace yelled. “She’s
gone!”

Eff. I was too stupid to know she was playing
us. She was just distracting us with that talk about which one of
us she would wind up with. No wonder she got us drunk. No wonder
she tried to get a gun. No wonder she got all bundled up, not for
sleep but for a chilly night ride. That whole time she was just
plotting her escape. As if she really needed to escape from us.

“Where’s she headed?” Pace asked. Usually he
was smart enough to figure that out but I made some allowances for
the alcohol and all.

“The railway bridge,” I said. “We told her
exactly how to get across the Missouri.” But it was getting pretty
dark. She’d never make it alone. “Let’s go after her.”

Pace kinda bounced around looking for a horse
to ride. Then it kinda dawned on him that Flashbound was gone.
Which he already knew.

“You’re too drunk,” I said. “I got this.”

Of course it wouldn’t be easy for me either.
Becca had smartly removed Charon’s saddle to slow me down. It’d
take too much time to put it back on so I hopped on Charon
bareback. Not a favorite for Charon or me. Requires extra
coordination on my part. Given the alcohol I’d been drinking,
coordination would not be my strong suit. But I had to get after
Becca fast before she disappeared into the dark. She’d never find
that railway bridge before something bad happened to her. Didn’t
want to think about that.

I told myself she’d be headed to River Drive,
that’s where we told her the railway bridge was. But I wasn’t sure
Becca’d be able to find it, certainly in the dark. She didn’t know
the roads or what dangers to avoid. Charon and I rode as fast we
could west. It was as if Charon knew the urgency of the situation
as much as I did. He was flying.

We hit River Drive. South was the way to the
railway bridge. Without reins it would be hard to steer Charon, but
I figured he’d understand a nudge, a slight change in my body
position. I was about to direct Charon south when something made me
thing I should look north. And I’m glad I did. I saw a fleeting
glimpse of fire, just a little amber glow in the dark to the north.
Becca had that burning tree branch. Probably was using it to make
her way through the darkness. Smart girl. I nudged Charon to the
right. She’d be deep inside Riverside Park in a moment. Definitely
the wrong direction. But it was somewhat familiar turf for her.
That was where I took her and Pace that night when I showed them
the Old City. Didn’t much like her riding through there alone,
especially since it was a dead end. If she could make her way
through the forest she’d find herself in the middle of the Old City
again, but nowhere near the Missouri.

“Becca!” I called out, hoping she’d hear me
and slow down. Probably would only do the opposite. That amber glow
of her fire, though, started to look larger. She was slowing down.
Probably getting bogged down by the overgrowth. This was my chance
to catch up, so long as Charon was okay barreling headfirst into
the dark. And of course he was.

That amber glow got bigger and bigger. I was
getting close, but as much as I called her name I heard nothing in
response. Finally I started to smell the burning branch. I saw a
glimpse of that pale horse, Flashbound. I’d found her.

“Becca, what in the hell!” I yelled. Charon
stopped alongside Flashbound. There was Becca, sitting upright in
the saddle, but she didn’t even glance at me. “Becca?”

“Shh!” she shushed. I turned my head to where
she was looking. Something ahead was blocking her way. A big ol’
grizzly bear. Maybe a hundred feet away. Must’ve been about a
thousand pounds, I dunno. Not that it matters. Grizzly bear are a
lot faster than they look, and if their teeth don’t get you their
paws will. Being up on a horse was no advantage. I’ve seen a
grizzly up on its hind legs take down a bison. Grizzlies win. Bison
lose.

The grizzly was ripping away at something’s
innards. Seemed like maybe a boar. I was sorta relieved. It was
preoccupied. I was hoping we could just back up and ride off. But I
could tell, Becca was kinda frozen, with good reason.

“Shoot it!” she whispered.

“I can’t!” I had my revolvers and sure, I
coulda taken a shot, but it would’ve been like a peashooter against
his thick hide. It would only make him mad.

I grabbed hold of Flashbound’s reins and gave
Charon a nudge to go backwards. Charon complied, slowly. He’s no
dummy. Charon knows a threat when he sees one. We all started to
move back. Slowly, slowly. So far the bear paid us no mind.

But then it stopped eating and looked up at
us, bloody pig entrails all over its snout. I was kinda hoping it
would just ignore us. But no. They’ve got an amazing sense of
smell, so the effing thing must’ve caught wind of us. I hadn’t
bathed in a while, I knew I smelled bad, even if Becca didn’t.
Guess that smell was appetizing. Maybe it was finished with the
boar cause it still looked hungry. Sure enough sign that it was
springtime since hibernation must’ve been over. That meant it was
extra hungry. Damn.

I caught a glance from Becca. She was scared
shitless, looking at me for what to do next. Yeah, this was one of
those situations better for me to handle. Even though getting away
from a grizzly is probably about smarts and that’s where Becca’s
got me beat for sure, but she didn’t have any experience with
grizzlies. I had. Lots of ways to get away from a grizzly, none of
them very effective though. So I chose the best one I could think
of. I hoisted my body high up on Charon. Not easy to do with all
the whiskey in me, mind you, but I probably couldn’t have done this
if I was sober. I made myself as tall and big as possible. I stood
my ground and made sure the grizzly couldn’t tell I was scared
shitless. Sometimes grizzlies can get intimidated if they think
you’re bigger than them. Not much chance of that.

“Back up slow,” I said calmly to Becca. She
complied, but as we moved slowly backward the grizzly started to
approach. Not a good sign. He’s not intimidated. And he’s hungry.
“Stop,” I said. We stopped and the grizzly stopped. He was still
interested, but he was not sure. I tried to wave my arms to make
myself look bigger. That didn’t work. He started moving closer to
us again. Only one option left. I had to protect Becca. Let her
escape no matter what would happen to me. I let go of Flashbound’s
reins. “Back up,” I told her. “Don’t go slow.” I didn’t give her a
chance to protest. Instead I waved my arms even more wildly and
started yelling at the grizzly. “Over here you stupid effing bear!
You hungry? I got more meat on me. Look over here!”

“Asher!” Becca protested. But I would hear
none of it.

“Go! Now!”

Flashbound started to move backward and I
nudged Charon forward. You’d think it’d be hard to nudge an animal
closer to certain death, but Charon and me we always know what we
have to do.

The grizzly locked in on us. This was it. It
was about to lunge forward.

And then, you know, never underestimate a
grizzly’s desire for fresh pork. Cause that whole herd of wild boar
ran past us underfoot. The grizzly set its eyes on those boar and I
knew in that moment we were in the clear.

“Run!” I yelled. “Now!”

Becca complied and we both rode our horses as
fast as we could out of Riverside Park. I looked back and the
grizzly wasn’t after us. Felt kinda bad for those boar though.

When we got out of the forest to the
clearing, Becca reared Flashbound around and stopped. Charon
stopped alongside then.

“Oh my God,” Becca cried. She was out of
breath. “I can’t believe… we’re alive…” I reached out to comfort
her but she slapped my hand away. “No thanks to you!”

“I just saved you!” I protested.

“We got lucky. And I wouldn’t be in this
situation anyway if not for you!” Becca wasn’t relieved that we
were still alive. She was just effing angry. “You and me have been
through a lot of things, Asher, but I’ve always trusted you. Always
trusted you! And you used that trust to get me out here. Away from
my home, where it might be boring but at least it’s safe.”

“It’s not like that. Birkin…”

“I’ll take my chances with Birkin and the
likes of him. Better than a grizzly bear any day.”

“Come on, Becca, it’s not safe out here.
Especially at night.”

“It sure isn’t. It’s one thing for you to
endanger yourselves. But for you to bring me into this! To treat me
like some helpless woman! And to think there was a time I thought I
could have loved you.”

Those word stunned me. I had no idea what to
say after that.

Becca took a moment and started to cool
off.

“You were going to let that grizzly kill you
to let me escape.”

“Yup.”

“You are such an idiot. A brave idiot.” She
looked around, not sure where to go. “Now what?”

It took a while but words came out. “I’ll
take you to the railway bridge.”

I gave Charon a nudge and started to ride
south.

“Wait,” Becca said. I stopped Charon. “I
guess I can’t. I can’t leave you and Pace. At least not yet. Not
like this.”

I nodded, and led Becca back to our
hideout.