Saga of the Scout

by Cliff Hamrick

  As Ethan stepped into the room, the wet sound of tearing flesh came from the other side of the bed. The sandy fur of an animal’s back peeked above the smooth yellow bedspread and lurched up as it pulled on something on the floor in front of it.

  Madison walked into the room behind Ethan, but her aluminum baseball bat clinked against the door frame. The accidental sound got the attention of the animal, and it jerked its head up to look over the bed. The bloody snout of a coyote curled up into a snarl when it saw them.

  It leaped up onto the bed and launched at Ethan who jumped to the side. The coyote landed on the floor between them but kept its focus on Ethan, who jumped onto the bed.

  “Ethan!” Madison shouted as she stepped forward and swung her baseball bat. But the coyote jumped onto the bed, and her bat hit the floor with a loud clunk.

  Ethan pointed his gun and fired at the coyote. The bullet hit the coyote in the middle of its back, and the force drove the wild animal into the bed. Its back broken, the coyote yelped loudly while its front legs flailed. Its rear legs twitched uselessly. Ethan fired again, blowing the coyote’s brains out onto the once pristine bedspread.

  Smoke from the gunshots overwhelmed the smell of rotting flesh, which came from the disemboweled corpse of a woman lying on the floor next to the bed. Their ears rang from the loud shots in the enclosed room.

  In their temporary deafness, they did not hear the sounds of horse hooves galloping on asphalt.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Madison and Ethan stood in the bedroom, rubbing their ears as the twitching corpse of the coyote continued to pour crimson blood onto the bright yellow bedspread. They resumed their search for supplies, unable to hear the clip-clop of horse hooves moving up and down the street outside the house.

  “I’ll go check the other rooms,” Madison said loudly to overcome the ringing in her ears.

  Nodding his response, Ethan stepped around the dead body of the woman lying face down on the floor. He was careful to not step in the spongy carpet, still wet with her blood. Ethan realized that he was becoming too used to scenes like this. He hoped that same didn’t happen for Madison.

  He checked both nightstands but did not find a gun. He found a small pipe and a bag of what he assumed to be marijuana, but nothing he thought to be useful. The dresser wasn’t much better. Each drawer was filled with women’s clothing and underwear. He realized that he had not found any signs of a man living in the house, and he wondered if she was a single mother just like his own. Then he wondered where her children were.

  Madison went into the upstairs bathroom and gathered up more toiletries and found a few candles and took them as well. Then she went into the other rooms.

  Both belonged to children, but no one was there. At least there aren’t any coyotes in here, she thought. She picked up a toy from each room, one for a boy and one for a girl. The Martinez children got antsy when they got bored, which led them to become a little annoying.

  Madison and Ethan met up in the hallway again and they decided to return to the fire station. They already had plenty of things and probably couldn’t carry more. They packed away what they found and walked into the living room.

  Madison said, “Should we—”

  Ethan cut her off by waving his hands at her just before she was about to open the front door. He ducked down and motioned for her to do the same. Then he pointed out the front window.

  Through the slits in the blinds, they could see a raider riding a shaggy black horse in the middle of the street. His black leather pants and chest piece contrasted against his pale skin. A long, curved sword dangled from his waist. He turned the horse around and paced the other way, looking in all directions, searching for them.

  Madison’s eyes went wide when she saw him. She looked back to Ethan and mouthed the words, “You were right!” Then she watched the mounted raider as the horse slowly walked in the street.

  She moved closer to Ethan so she could whisper to him. “What are we going to do?”

  Whispering back, “We should just wait here until he goes away.”

  She looked back at the rider, who did not seem to be in a hurry to leave. Then she looked at the gun stuck in Ethan’s belt. “Why don’t you just shoot him?”

  Ethan looked at his gun, and then back at the rider. It made sense, but it was risky. Hiding from sight was how he had survived for the past few days. But he didn’t want to seem like a coward in front of Madison.

  “What if I miss?”

  “Just shoot the horse. Then we can run for the trees.”

  Ethan thought it was an unnecessary risk. But he couldn’t think of an argument against it other than hiding is safer, which he felt was cowardly. He licked his lips and nodded. Drawing his gun, he said, “OK, be ready to run.”

  He stood by the front door and carefully opened it just a crack. He cocked the revolver and watched the rider as he paced towards the house but waited until he turned the horseback in the other direction away from the house.

  Ethan opened the door and stepped out on the front patio, pointing the revolver at the center of the horse. His heart pounding in his chest, he fired.

  The noise wasn’t deafening now that they were outdoors. The shot hit the horse, which caused it to kick as if at some unseen attacker. But the rider stayed in the saddle.

  “Run!” Ethan yelled. Madison ran past him, away from the rider and around the corner of the house. Ethan fired again, but the rider turned his horse towards them, and the bullet whizzed past the horse’s flank.

  The rider drew his curved metal sword and kicked the horse into a charge to follow Madison. His face was twisted into an evil grin as he bore down onto his prey.

  “Look out!” Ethan warned Madison. He stood on the front porch and fired the revolver twice again. Both shots hit the horse in the side. It screamed out in pain as it lurched away from the shots.

  The horse stumbled and struggled to stay standing. The rider tried to turn the horse around to charge at Ethan, but it was no use. The horse fell to its front knees, a horrible gurgling sound coming from its chest. The rider slid off the horse’s bareback and charged Ethan.

  Ethan shot at the raider, but he was moving too fast. The bullet flew past the rider and shattered a window across the street. He pulled the trigger again, but there was only a click. He was out of bullets.

  Ethan turned to run from the raider. He didn’t dare look back, but he heard the sound of the raider’s bare feet on the green grass just behind him. His backpack, laden with cans and packages, bounced loudly against his back with each stride.

  Running across the lawns of neighboring houses, Ethan ducked around a car parked in a driveway. He did not see the man’s body lying on the other side, and he tripped when he dashed around the car. He landed face-first and struggled to get up, clambering over the stiff corpse.

  A guttural shout came from behind him as the raider came around the car and saw Ethan’s predicament.

  The raider raised his sword, and just as he swung downward, his head lurched suddenly to the side as a rock ricocheted off it. Ethan heard the wet crack of bone as the raider’s skull cracked, causing his eyeball to bulge out of its socket. The raider stumbled and struggled to stay standing. Stiffly, he turned his head and torso to see who threw the rock.

  Ethan saw another rock the size of his fist slam into the raider’s chest at the base of his throat. The raider dropped his sword and clutched at his throat as he fell backward onto the concrete driveway.

  Ethan laid there, still panting hard from fear and exertion, and watched the raider struggle to breathe until his bare feet twitched as he died.

  Ethan stood up just as Madison ran around the car to see him. “Are you OK?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around him in a relieved hug. Ethan was stunned but not so stunned that he didn’t enjoy the feeling of her soft skin against him.

  “Yeah…yeah. How did you…?”

  She pulled away and smiled at him. “I’m a catcher. We have to throw a
softball from home plate to center field.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  They paused to look down at the dead raider. This was the first time Ethan had seen one up close. And he realized this was the first time he had seen one of them die. He felt a sense of relief at the knowledge that they weren’t immortal.

  The raider was tall and muscular, but not like a bodybuilder who spent all of his time in the gym. This was a man who worked his whole life, and the rough scars over his pale chest and arms showed it.

  Ethan squatted next to the body and noticed the leather pants and chest piece that the raider wore looked very old, like something that was handed down and cared for over generations. The style didn’t look familiar to anything Ethan had seen before. It certainly wasn’t like any Native American buckskin, which had seen in some of his old Boy Scout books.

  Madison picked up the curved metal sword lying next to the body. It was similar to an old cavalry saber but without a cross-guard. Despite its crude design and construction, it was razor-sharp.

  She looked down at the raider’s body. “How do you think he got all of those scars.”

  Ethan poked at one of the raider’s shoulder. It was old and tough and covered with an even older and tougher scar. “I don’t know, but I don’t want to wait around here any longer. There might be more, and it's getting dark.”

  They returned to the house to retrieve Ethan’s gun and the equipment bag where Madison dropped it. She brought the sword with her and put it in the bag to take back to the fire station.

  Much more cautious now, the pair looked over their shoulders often until they were well into the trees of the shallow gully behind the neighborhood. They followed the gully longer than before, wanting to use the cover of the brush to hide from any raiders who might be lurking in the neighborhood.

  The sun was setting, which made the shade of the trees much darker and the shadows cast by the bushes in the field much longer. Ethan didn’t remember how long it took them to get to the neighborhood, and he hoped they would get to the station before dark. He left his flashlight along with the box of ammo at the fire station.

  Once the neighborhood was out of sight and they felt a little safer, Madison spoke up, “Who was that? I mean, it was human, right?”

  Ethan shrugged slightly. He hadn’t thought about it. “They look human, but they don’t act like it.”

  “He was riding a horse and carrying a sword. No one does that anymore. And what kind of horse was that? It was shaggy like something from the Ice Ages.”

  Her comment revived a memory of a dream. Perhaps it was a dream of a memory. Both seemed accurate. “Yeah. And the rhino, too. But how did they get here? I mean, they came out of that pit. But where does the pit go?”

  They pondered possibilities in silence until they reached the fire station.

  The sun was below the horizon, but the sky was still bright enough for them to see. Once they arrived, the garage door was closed, and Jeff was not making his usual rounds outside the building.

  Madison pounded on the metal door and called up to one of the open windows, “Hey! Let us in!”

  Tully’s head poked out of the window. “Oh, thank God. Just a minute.”

  The door opened just enough to let the pair enter the bay, which now held the fire truck and the minivan. Tully led them back upstairs, where the rest of the group waited. There was only one table in the dining area this time. Andrew was handcuffed to his chair again.

  “When the sun set, we got really worried. Elena saw one of those crazy people wandering around the road, so we decided to close the garage door and wait inside in case she decided to pay a visit.”

  “How did you know she was crazy?” Madison asked as Ethan unpacked his backpack, handing one of the toys he picked up to the Martinez girl.

  Jeff responded, “She was just wearing a swimsuit and carrying a meat cleaver. It looked like she was sniffing the air.”

  Andrew broke in, “She was kind of hot. You know, if you’re into crazy.”

  Madison just smiled and shook her head as she unpacked the equipment bag. Tully reached in and took out the sword. “What is this?” he said while examining it.

  “We got that off a raider that attacked us.”

  “They’re real? What happened?”

  “See any rhinos?” asked Andrew.

  Madison and Ethan told them the story of the coyote and raider. When they told about Madison’s rock-throwing ability, Andrew laughed.

  “Well, it looks like our student athlete isn’t so useless after all.”

  Ethan felt a pang of jealousy when Madison laughed. He remembered to load his revolver.

  Jeff said, “We have the windows downstairs boarded-up. We used the tables and some of the interior doors. Don’t know how much punishment they can take, but that’s all we have right now. We moved the minivan inside and filled both vehicles up with gas from the police cars.”

  Madison asked, “So, now what? We just wait to see what happens?”

  No one answered. They had been so focused on the simple tasks that they did not think of their next steps. The giggle of one of the Martinez children from the other room reminded them of a burden that they would have to address somehow. But Ethan had a mission he could not delay any longer.

  “I’m going to Austin in the morning. I need to get to my mom. She needs me there.”

  “So soon? Why don’t you stay another day? It’s going to be a long walk,” Madison replied.

  Ethan shook his head. “No, she’s alone, and if I don’t help her, then I don’t know who will.”

  Jeff nodded. “We understand. We appreciate your help today.”

  Tully averted his eyes when he said, “How do you know she’s even still alive? You might be going to Austin for nothing.”

  Ethan paused and took out his cell phone. They watched as he turned it on and waited for it to connect to anything. “Sometimes, this works. Sometimes, I get her messages.”

  He smiled when he saw a new voice mail from his mother. He played it so everyone could hear.

  “Where are you, damn it?” His mother slurred her angry words. “No one cares about me. I’m stuck in this house. I’m cold, and I’m scared. You said you were coming. Where are you? Get your lazy ass home, right now!”

  The message ended, and everyone was silent.

  Andrew said, “Yeah, she sounds like a real peach, your mom.”

  Ethan looked at the phone in his hands. “You don’t understand.”

  Tully put his hand on Ethan’s shoulder and said, “It’s OK, son. The good news is that she’s still alive.”

  “And drunk! So she’s having more fun than we are,” said Andrew.

  Ethan didn’t respond, but his chair skidded loudly against the floor as he stood up to walk out of the room. He went down the hall and found the bathroom, the only room that still had a door, and slammed it closed after he went inside.

  He hated the tears that came to his eyes. He knew he had disappointed his mother. He would be closer to Austin if he hadn’t wasted the day with these people. He wanted to impress Madison, but now he sat on a toilet and crying like a baby because he didn’t know what to do.

  He knew he had to take care of his mother, but why did she have to make it so hard? Sometimes, he wondered if his father was right when he left her. They used to fight all the time. His father said she was drunk all the time. His mother said that she drank because she was lonely because he worked all of the time. He said he worked to get away from her. Round and round they would go.

  Emily disappeared into her gymnastics, and his father spent more time at work. That left Ethan to take care of his mother when she cried and when she was angry. He knew she drank a lot, but he understood she couldn’t help it. Someone had to help her. Why did it have to be him all the time, though?

  Please, come home, sweetie.

  Get your lazy ass home, right now!

  He spent a little more time in the bathroom until there was a knock. When he ope
ned the door, it was Elena who said she needed to use it. At least, that’s what Ethan thought she said with his poor understanding of Spanish.

  He went back to the dining room, where everyone was quietly eating macaroni and cheese that he found at the house. The sun had set, and the room was lit with a few of the candles Madison brought back from the house. Ethan noticed her face glowed in the candlelight.

  Andrew said, “Hey, I’m sorry. I was just joking around, you know.”

  Ethan sat alone at one of the tables. “Whatever.”

  Tully gave him a bowl and joined him. “Don’t pay him any attention. How are you doing?”

  Ethan shrugged slightly as he ate the mac and cheese, which was bland and runny without any milk to put into it.

  Tully continued, “I wasn’t blowing smoke earlier when I said that it was good that you knew your mother was still alive. Madison left her phone back on the highway and has no way of knowing what’s happened to her family back in Dallas. Jeff is divorced and doesn’t have much contact with his ex or his daughter. And I haven’t been able to contact anyone since all of this started.”

  Ethan looked into his bowl at the unnaturally bright orange cheese as he listened. He felt childish and selfish. Everyone else was struggling, and he was upset because of a mean message from his mother. He should have been used to those by now.

  “I’m sorry I got upset.”

  “Oh, don’t be sorry. This is tough on all of us. Including your mom. I’m sure that’s why she was angry. It was because she was worried about you.”

  Ethan doubted that but the idea did give him comfort. Maybe that’s why she was so desperate for him to get back to her, so she would know that he was safe and didn’t have to worry about him anymore.

  “I’m still going to leave tomorrow morning. I can’t stay here anymore. Thank you for the food.”