“Only you,” said Simon.
“You too. I’ve seen how you interact with animals. I bet they would have accepted you, as well.”
“Maybe. I’ll try it some other time.”
“What now?” asked Wade. “It’s just us now. Our friends are on their own. There’s no way we are crossing that desert again. I might also add that I’m starving.”
Simon looked out at the buffalo, then back up at the entrance to the cave with the town inside. "I think we always assumed the four of us were eventually going to break apart from the rest of them. I think that’s happened. I say we continue on and see where it leads us.”
“I love it here,” said Cat.
“I do too,” added Simon.
“It’s beautiful,” said Wade. “I bet there are other spots worth exploring around here. Let’s go on and find a place to camp tonight. Meanwhile, we can try to find some food.”
“Only the crossbow,” said Cat. “I don’t want the rifles disturbing the buffalo.”
“Okay, then you’re in charge of dinner.”
They mounted up and continued down the valley, skirting the buffalo. They rode for an hour, the whole time alongside the buffalo. The herd was enormous. Their original estimate of hundreds of buffalo was way off the mark. They realized the herd comprised thousands of head. Finally they reached an offshoot—a canyon that veered to the right. It was about a mile wide, and even more lush than the valley they were in. No words were spoken. They all seemed to know that it was the way they needed to go.
They rode another two hours at a walking pace. Few words were said. Cat, in particular, seemed to the others to be in a different world, often trotting off to look at something that interested her. Eventually they ran across a pond. It seemed like a good place to take a break. They took the saddles off the horses, who had been wearing them way too long. The horses rejoiced in the freedom and went off to eat some of the rich grass.
“Fish,” said Yuki, looking in the pond. “A lot of them.”
“There’s lunch, and dinner too,” said Wade. “You guys rest. Yuki and I will catch some.”
Left alone, Simon said, “Let’s walk.”
They journeyed out into the middle of the canyon, hand in hand. When they were far out of listening distance from Wade and Yuki, Simon said, “You want to live here, don’t you?”
Cat looked back at him with eyes sparkling. “Oh, Simon, I love it here. I know we have the perfect life in Yellowstone, but there’s something about this place that’s calling to me, and I don’t know what it is.”
“I do. Yellowstone, as beautiful as it is, has too many people. You can ride out and be among the animals, but with the town and the school and the people, frankly, it’s too civilized for you.”
“You do know me, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“But it’s not fair of me to bring this up to you, because I love you even more and I want to be with you.”
“And what makes you think I want to stay in Yellowstone?”
“You don’t?”
“Cat, when we started this trip, I think we both knew that there was a possibility we would find someplace we wanted to live. We never really talked about it, but I think we both knew it. I spent my whole childhood wishing I could live in the nature I could see outside my window. Yes, I agree, Yellowstone is beautiful, but there is nothing to hold me there. Our parents are there, but there is nothing stopping us from taking a journey up to visit them from time to time.”
“Or them coming down,” said Cat. “I know my parents sometimes miss the days when they were on the road. Are you saying this would be okay with you?”
“More than okay.”
They kissed. Cat pulled back and looked Simon in the eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.”
As they walked back, Cat asked, “What about Wade and Yuki? Do you think they would want to stay or go back? I don’t see them the same way I see other people. I could live near them.”
“Me too. Let’s wait for the right moment to talk to them.”
That moment came the minute they returned to the camp.
“Let me guess,” said Wade. “You were talking about how much you love it here and don’t really want to go home.”
“It’s that obvious?” asked Simon.
“You could hold up a sign and it wouldn’t be more obvious.”
“What about you and Yuki?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it. We’ll have to let you know. Meanwhile, Yuki has already caught a half dozen fish and I have a fire going. All I can think of is food at the moment.”
Cat and Simon suddenly realized just how hungry they were. While Wade cooked the fish, Simon filled everybody’s canteens and Cat searched the saddlebags for eating utensils.
They gorged on fish and when they finished, they laid back in the sun and napped, deciding not to go any further that day. They deserved the rest.
Cat was in the middle of her afternoon nap when she woke up to the sound of screaming. It was a ways off and it wasn’t human. It was a bird, and it was obviously in distress. She quietly got up, strapped on her holster, and grabbed her crossbow and quiver of arrows. No one else was awake. It was the first time they had slept without someone on guard. She slipped out of camp and climbed some rocks until she reached a plateau. The screaming was louder. The bird was hurting. She hurried across the rocks, turned a bend and stopped suddenly. She was face to face with a large hawk. The hawk went silent as it looked Cat over. Cat could instantly see what the problem was. The bird had somehow gotten one talon stuck between two rocks. It must have slipped as it landed.
She started talking quietly to the bird, letting it know that she was there to help. He was having none of it, however, and pecked at her every time she got close. After ten minutes of talking by Cat, the bird began to settle down.
Cat got closer, set her crossbow down, and reached for the hawk’s trapped leg. The hawk tried to peck her. As he did, Cat’s left hand shot out and grabbed him by the beak, holding it shut. She put her second hand on the bird’s back to try to comfort it. Whether he sensed it or he had just grown weary of fighting, he let Cat reach down and free the trapped leg. The moment the leg was free, Cat sat back. The hawk immediately flew off. But then he circled and landed in a tree nearby, watching Cat. Cat waved to the hawk.
On her way back to camp, she saw a flash of metal. She ducked down. The flash came from close by. She crept closer, staying hidden behind the rocks. When she arrived near the spot of the flash, she carefully looked over the rock. Twenty feet away was a man hiding behind a rock and staring down into Cat’s camp. The man was older, with a long gray beard. He was shabbily dressed and wore no shoes. It was one of the group who had pursued them across the desert.
Cat felt a shiver of fear shoot through her body. She had been wrong. They hadn’t given up at all. Would this ever end? She looked around and saw nobody else. Maybe she had a chance to end this now.
She crept around the rock. The man’s back was toward her and he hadn’t felt her presence. When she was ten feet away, she spoke quietly to him.
“I have a crossbow aimed at your back. It would be an easy shot for anyone, but I happen to be very, very good.”
The man stiffened. He laid his rifle down next to him, raised his hands, and turned.
He was the ugliest man Cat had ever seen, and the breeze was blowing his stench her way. His face was mottled with purple sores. He had no teeth and his gums had receded, giving him a wizened look.
“Are you going to shoot?” His voice was high-pitched and he was hard to understand with no teeth.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you. I was hoping this was all over. How many of you are …”
From behind her came the now-familiar screech of the hawk she had rescued. Cat jumped to the side just as another man came at her with a large stick. Lying on her side, she pulled the trigger on the crossbow. The man was only five feet away. The a
rrow caught him in the right eye. He was dead before he hit the ground. She quickly looked back at the first man. He had picked up his rifle and was bringing it to his shoulder. In one fluid motion, Cat pulled out her pistol and shot. The man hadn’t even had time to aim. The bullet caught him in the chest, and he dropped with a grunt.
She looked around quickly, not seeing anyone else. Suddenly, from the direction of the camp, she heard a half dozen shots. She clamored over the rocks to get a good look, loading her crossbow as she went. Looking down on the camp, she saw three more of the attackers on the ground. Her friends seemed to be okay. Then she spied one more of the men hiding behind a large rock. He was unseen to Simon and the others. She took aim and fired, the arrow hitting him in the upper back. He fell over on his side. The others heard the sound of the crossbow and looked up at Cat.
“There was one more,” she said.
Her friends came into the rocks, searching for any others, but found no sign of anyone else. When they were all together, they asked Cat what had happened. She explained about hearing the hawk’s cries and freeing it, then seeing the man behind the rocks and the hawk screeching again.
“I don’t know if the hawk was intentionally saving me from the second man—I don’t even know if they can think like that—or if he was screaming because the man was in his territory. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the hawk cried at that second. Whatever the answer, that hawk saved my life.”
Altogether there were six dead men, and they knew they had once and for all seen the end of them. There was no sign of any others.
“What should we do with the bodies,” asked Yuki, who, from Cat’s perspective, had lost her innocence very quickly.
“Leave them,” said Wade. “The wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions will appreciate the food.”
“If they can get past the smell,” added Simon. "Maybe only the vultures will want them."
That decision made, they decided they no longer wanted to camp there for the night, and started on their way.
*****
It was well into the next day when they heard it. It was a sound none of them had ever heard before.
They had been making their way through one small canyon after another—each seemingly more beautiful than the last. Wildlife was abundant. Buffalo were still scattered around, but the teens also saw deer, mountain goats, otters, and marmots. The grass was a deep green and they were never at a loss for ponds, lakes, and streams.
They were traveling in silence when they heard it. It was music and it was echoing off the cliffs around them. It was at times squeaky and at other times bold, full, and even haunting. It was one of the most beautiful sounds Cat had ever heard.
They rounded a bend and found the source. Standing on a ledge in the brilliant sunshine was a man. In his arms was a large bag with pipes sticking out from it. The man seemed to be making the music by blowing air through a tube into the bag.
He saw the movement of the horses out of the corner of his eye and lowered the pipes. As the teens approached, he raised his hand, acknowledging them. And then he looked directly at Cat.
“Lila?”
Chapter 30
He was in his forties, well built, with gray flecks in his sandy-colored hair. He had a slightly receding hairline and a close-cropped beard. He wore jeans, a t-shirt, and sandals.
“I’m sorry,” he said, setting down the bagpipe and jumping down from the ledge. “Obviously you can’t be Lila, but you look too much like her not to be family. You are her daughter, right?”
Cat nodded. Who was this man and how did he know her mom?
“I saw you as a baby. I don’t remember your name.”
“Cat. Back then I was known as Katie.”
“Right. Katie. I remember now. My name is Peter. I knew your mom for a short time.”
The realization hit her. Peter. Her mom had told her about Peter visiting her when her dad was captured in Washington. She had also confided in her about being so lonely, not knowing if Ben was even alive, she had spent some nights with him—nights that had filled her with guilt for years. Despite Peter’s—and later Ben’s—reassurances that she had done nothing wrong, she saw it as a sign of weakness. But Lila had never blamed Peter for any of it. She had said that he was a kind man.
Somehow Cat imagined that Peter wouldn’t look so old. But of course he was younger then. It was sixteen years ago. She tried to picture him sixteen years younger and realized that he had probably been a very attractive man. For that matter, he still was … for an old person.
“Yes, my mom told me about you.” Cat had once told Simon the story, so she knew he was aware of what was happening. Wade and Yuki were clueless and just sat quietly.
“How is your mom?” He hesitated. “Did your dad ever return?”
“He did.” She gave him a condensed version of the reason her dad had been gone. “My mom and dad are good. We’re living in Yellowstone.”
“I heard there was a large community there.” Changing subjects, he said, “I’m glad your dad returned. Your mom was very much in love with him.”
“She still is.”
She could sense a sadness about Peter, but couldn’t put a finger on it. She didn’t think it had to do with her mom. It was something else. She introduced Simon, Wade and Yuki.
“I’m happy to meet you. I don’t see too many people out here—none, really—so it is certainly a pleasure. I have a place only about a mile from here. I’d love to have visitors. You all look hot and tired. I have a running shower.”
At the word “shower,” they all perked up.
“It’s always running. It’s a small waterfall. It’s cold, but very refreshing. I have soap and everything.”
They followed Peter through the valley, walking their horses. Cat was amazed that much of what they had traveled through since leaving the desert seemed to be a series of valleys, rather than one long one. She mentioned that to Peter.
“The earthquakes around the country shifted much of the land and I know that some of the valleys were the result of that. We’re pretty out of the way up here, which is why you don’t see the remains of many towns.”
Cat told him about the town in the mountain.
“I haven’t seen that one,” said Peter, “but believe it or not, I’ve seen another one like that—not in as good shape as yours, though. There were towns built against some of the mountains and when the earthquake hit, the mountains came tumbling down. I’ve run across a number of towns that were destroyed by rockslides.”
They rounded a bend and came upon a fence, Beyond the fence were a couple of acres of vegetables in full production. Cat also saw what looked like apple trees.
“My garden. I fenced it in to keep the animals out. And there are a lot of animals. Sometimes it’s effective and sometimes not. I’m constantly repairing breaks in it. I eat well during the summer, but I also do a lot of canning so I am never without vegetables, even in the dead of winter.”
His house was half cave/half house. He had taken a shallow cave about ten feet above the ground and added onto the front, bringing the house down to the valley floor. The add-on was his living room and kitchen, and the cave served as a loft bedroom. The house was comfortably fixed up with items that Peter had had found in area towns. An outhouse sat to the side of the house. The waterfall shower was around the corner, just private enough. Normally, privacy wouldn’t be much of a concern to Cat, but as much as she liked Peter, the fact that he once slept with her mother made her just a little uncomfortable.
The teens took turns showering. Wade and Yuki showered together, but Cat and Simon purposely avoided it. They were quickly realizing that it wasn’t going to be long before they gave in and had sex. Although they hadn’t verbalized it, they both knew that when they did finally make love, it would be in a special place at a special time.
Peter offered the teens his living room floor for the night, but while they appreciated the offer, they chose to set up their tents outside. They did
eagerly accept Peter’s offer of dinner. He served a delicious venison stew with homemade cornbread, followed by coffee.
“How did you learn to make the cornbread?” asked Simon.
“Books. I’ve done well growing corn and I use it mostly for baking. The bread is a little heavy, but it’s better than nothing. I also make a mean tortilla.”
“And the coffee?” asked Wade.
“Ah, the coffee. You kids don’t know what real coffee tastes like. I’ve collected cans of coffee over the years from supermarkets that I’ve raided. Even sealed in a can, the years have made it stale. Even I don’t know the difference anymore. I’m used to it. But what I wouldn’t give for a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee.”
He got blank looks from the kids.
“Never mind. I’m dating myself.”
Wade and Yuki soon retired to their tent, thanking Peter for all of his hospitality. Cat and Simon stayed, sensing that Peter wanted to talk more. They knew it had to be hard to live completely alone so far from anywhere.
*****
“So your mom is good?”
“She is. She lost an eye years ago in an accident and wears an eyepatch. She says it was difficult for a while, but she’s gotten used to it. Everyone says it makes her look mysterious.”
“If anyone can overcome that, it would be Lila. Why did you leave your place by the lake?”
“Forest fire. My parents said they were considering leaving anyway so that I could be around other kids. They love it in Yellowstone.”
“Do you?”
“Sort of, but Simon and I want to find someplace even more remote. We don’t really like being around people.”
“I hear you. Are you looking around here?”
“It is beautiful here.”
“About twenty miles northeast of here is a series of valleys and gorges with a river running through the center of them. Check them out. You’ll never find anything more spectacular.”
Eden's Legacy (Eden Rising Trilogy Book 3) Page 19
