Earthbound (31 page)

“It is,” Pace answered.

She seemed relieved. And then she turned on
us with a passion.

“You’re all idiots. You keep this up you’re
all going to die. Especially you, Asher.”

Then she got up on her horse and rode
off.

I wondered why she singled me out. Dying is
dying – one person doesn’t especially die, you’re just dead. Was it
because she cared about me the most?

“What’re you gonna name your horse?” I asked
Becca.

She ignored me. She ignored me for a long
time. Man she was steamed.

“What’re you gonna name your horse?” I asked
again.

“Asshole,” she said finally.

“That is no proper name for a horse,” I
replied.

“Not the horse. You!” Becca said.

Becca was right actually. I was being an
asshole. So was Pace. Things were changing now. We had plenty of
gold to get us anywhere we wanted to go. And that Bion robot.
Wasn’t sure we could handle too many more of them.

“Pace,” I said, “I think we made a grave
error. I promised to keep Becca safe and we almost got her killed.
We can’t keep doing this with her. We’ve got to stop.”

“Finally!” Becca shouted. “A voice of
reason!”

Pace mulled this for a moment. “But I love
it! And I’m good at it! We both are!”

“I know,” I said. “Robbing banks was never
gonna be a forever thing anyway. Let’s get out while we’re still
walkin’.”

Pace reluctantly nodded. “All right. No more
bank robbing. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” I replied.

Becca still seemed angry but I could tell
this made her pleased. “It’s about time you came to your senses,”
she scolded.

And then Pace added something. “Now we just
need that transport.”

“Pace!” Becca yelled.

“It’s the only way to get our gold out of
here!”

“Just leave it behind. Take what you have
right now!”

“But it’s our life’s work!” Pace
explained.

I thought maybe Becca would cry or something.
Or get angry. But no. Instead she had that hard look she would get
when she was beyond emotion. And then when she spoke, it was like
she knew what I was thinking.

“I’ve got no more tears for either one of
you,” she announced. “You just need to know what you’re doing.”
Yeah, I was starting to think I’d undo everything if I could invent
some kind of time machine. Saw a movie about that once. Saw it with
Becca as a point of fact. “You can walk away right now. With me.
And we can take what we can. Or if you go for that transport,
you’ll likely lose everything. Including me. Your decision.”

“Home sweet home,” Pace announced, when we
finally arrived back at the hideout. But it was funny, it didn’t
feel like home anymore. It all felt very temporary.

It was late so we all went straight to our
respective sleeping places.

“I bought you a sleeping bag,” Becca said
from her sleeping bag. “But you tossed it to the ground to make
room for your gold.”

“That was nice of you,” I said.

“Lay out some gold and sleep in it. See if it
keeps you warm.”

There was no changing our minds. We were
going to get that transport.

Becca seemed kinda resigned to the fact that
we were gonna do it. She seemed kinda all over the place actually.
Emotional one moment, cold the next. But she knew she couldn’t
change our minds.

The night before the transport we packed up
everything we could. Bundled it all nicely by the door so we could
quickly grab it and toss it in the transport.

Didn’t drink much that night either. Wanted
my wits fully about me. It was likely gonna be easy but didn’t want
to take any chances. This was too important to all of us.

Kept thinking about what Becca had said. That
we’d lose her. I reasoned if we stayed alive when we robbed the
transport, everything would be fine. We just needed to stay
alive.

I fell asleep, I dunno when. Not sure why
exactly I woke up. Heard something I suppose. I looked up and
didn’t see Becca by the fire. Didn’t see Pace either. You probably
know me well enough to know by now. I go with my instincts. I’m not
necessarily one to think things through much. And my instinct was
telling me something was wrong. So I got up and drew my revolver.
No telling what was going on.

I looked all throughout the hideout. Nothing.
Then I ventured outside. Man I wished I hadn’t ventured outside.
Cause I heard some grunting. Wasn’t pigs grunting neither. I had to
see it with my own eyes I suppose. I followed the noises around the
side of the makeshift stables. And sure enough, I saw something I
can’t unsee.

“What the eff-” I shouldn’t have said
anything, I just couldn’t help it. Cause then they saw me. If I had
just turned around and gone back inside, well, at least they
wouldn’t know what I knew.

“Oh my God!” Becca yelped, doing her best to
cover herself up. “Asher!”

I didn’t need to see anymore. I just turned
and walked right out of the gate. I heard them both screaming after
me but I didn’t care. Didn’t care where I was walking to neither.
Let the wolves and bears get me. Hell, let the wild boar eat me, I
didn’t care.

I didn’t like it. Why couldn’t it have just
been a kiss? But come on, I know Pace. You know him well enough by
now too. He’d never stop at just a kiss.

I knew in that moment I’d lost the
competition for Becca. Not sure I ever had a chance.

I’d lost. Pace had won. I shoulda been happy
for them.

But I wasn’t.

I almost never went back to that hideout. But
by dawn cooler heads had prevailed. If this was what Becca wanted,
then this was what she wanted. Couldn’t blame her. Just had to
accept it.

Hadn’t slept at all since I left. Didn’t look
like Becca or Pace had either. I ignored them. Sat down to eat my
beans, and noticed Pace and Becca were both kinda quiet. Not
looking at me none. Not looking at each other neither.

“Almost time to go,” I announced eventually.
Even though I’m not much of a talker, I don’t like that much quiet.
Nobody said nothing after that. But I noticed Becca holding her cup
of beans up for Pace and letting him get a little more from her
portion.

I put down my beans. Lost my appetite at that
point. Becca noticed. I saw her shoot a worried look to Pace. Yeah,
the two of them. Conspiring.

“I’ll be waiting outside until you two
finish… whatever it is you two are doing.”

Then I went outside and prepped Charon for
battle.

Finally Becca came out to see me. Alone. Only
a few feet from where I saw her and Pace, well, you know.

I did my best to ignore her.

“I’m staying here,” she said.

“Good,” I replied. “Wouldn’t want you with us
being a distraction for Pace.”

“Oh Asher, it’s not like that…” Becca’s words
trailed off. It was like that.

She put her hand on my arm, finally tried to
make eye contact with me. “Asher, please! You don’t need to do
this!”

Finally I turned and looked right into her
eyes. “Give me a reason not to.”

I just stared at her with the steeliest eyes
I could manage. I was daring her to say something. Anything.

She glanced away immediately. Yeah, she
couldn’t give me a reason not to.

“It’s not like you think it is,” she exhaled
finally. “Me and Pace. I mean, last night could be the last night
I’m ever going to see you two again. And me and Pace, well…”

“I get it,” I said, letting her off the hook.
“You chose him. It’s fine. You love him. I understand, he’s… he’s
my best friend. If not me, well then, I suppose him. I just wish
you didn’t sneak behind my back.”

“I’m sorry, we… I’m sorry.” She teared up for
a second. “It’s not what you think, though. It didn’t mean
anything. I don’t love Pace. Not in that way. It was just… it was
something I couldn’t do with you.”

In that moment I knew what it felt like to
get shot. So I did what you do when you get shot. I recoiled. I
turned my back on her and tended to my horse.

“Asher, that didn’t come out right. I mean… I
just… Asher?”

But that was it. I was dead. Bullet right in
the heart.

I heard her rummaging through something.
Didn’t much care. Then she reached out to me again. “I have
something for you.”

I turned. She reached into her shoulder bag
and pulled out the
one
thing
I’ve been wanting ever since I started this
adventure. Salt. A big old pound of salt. She handed it to me and I
swear I wanted to cry. But I didn’t. Of course.

“But how did you remember…”

“I listen to you,” she said with a smile.
“Now go catch a pig or something and make some bacon.” I didn’t
stop her from giving me a kiss on the cheek, and then she turned
and walked back into the hideout.

Then I realized something.

The pound of salt was my consolation prize
for not getting the girl.

Effing salt.

Pace and I rode in silence to our position at
Tower Rock. There was much to be said but neither of us really
wanted to. Or maybe we wanted to keep our head in the game. I
dunno.

The climb to the top of Tower Rock was a
struggle, I have to admit. I had an easier time than Pace but
still, there were lots of steep spots where there wasn’t much to
get a toehold on. But Pace and I made it up in once piece. I gave
Pace a hand a couple a times. Didn’t want him tumbling down. It was
a particularly warm day, the warmest I could remember, which helped
make the climb pleasant. Although when we reached the top the wind
picked up quite a lot and I was glad I was bundled up.

We placed ourselves with a broad view of the
highway to the south. With our field glasses that we had picked up,
we had a real good view, not just of route 15 but as far as we
could see across the Great Plains. We had a long wait ahead of us.
And I didn’t mind it at all. Gave me the opportunity to finally say
something to Pace. But as usual he beat me to it, and cut right to
the heart of it as he always did.