The Road North

by Phillip D Granath

  “I know he said he was going to kill you, but you think he would actually follow through? That he would kill the only family he has left?”

  “Thing is Pale face, I’m not his only family anymore, at least not exactly. He’s Chief Two-Steps now, the whole tribe is considered his family. If he kills me, well it isn’t exactly like he’s all alone out there on the Res.”

  Coal paused for a moment, staring out into the darkness, then he raised the flask to his lips and took another long pull.

  “But if you kill him, then you’re…you would be…,” Kyle said.

  “Yeah, alone,” Coal admitted nodding slowly and then added, “and my family ends with me.”

  Kyle stared across the flames at the bounty-hunter in silence. It seemed every time he thought he had the man figured out, blood crazed killer, exiled half-breed, close friend, the man showed him another layer. It wasn’t hard to see why Coal felt trapped here in town and why he now took every opportunity he could to violently lash out.

  At the sound of boots on gravel, both men suddenly surged to their feet. Coal’s saber and the knife came into his hands without a thought, and Kyle spun, his magnum up and pointed into the darkness.

  “Is that any way to greet an old friend?” Miles called.

  The old man came out of the darkness leaning heavily against his crutch and grinning widely; obviously amused at the pair’s reaction.

  “God damn it Miles!” Kyle shouted.

  “We need to mount a bell out there or something, someone is going to get killed,” Coal mumbled, sheathing his blades.

  Kyle retrieved another folding chair and set it next to the fire for the old man.

  “Thank you, very kind,” he said.

  Kyle retook his own seat, but the look he gave Miles was anything but kind.

  “That’s a hell of a lot more than you deserve after what you pulled today with the council,” Kyle said.

  “All I did was tell them the truth!”

  “Yeah, that’ll get you fucked every time,” Coal quipped.

  “Only because the truth is what’s convenient for you at the moment! And don’t think for a minute that I’ve forgotten what else is in Salt Lake City” Kyle said.

  “More alien killing machines,” Coal pointed out, “Or at least so you hope.”

  Miles blinked and then looked back and forth between the two men, perhaps feeling suddenly outnumbered. Then the old man took a breath and Kyle recognized the look in his eye, it was absolute determination, Miles had already convinced himself he was in the right.

  “You're wrong, both of you, I’m looking for answers the same as always. They just happen to be in Utah, the same as the parts for the pump. And don’t forget what else may be in Utah,” Miles said, pulling the buggy’s spiral bound operating manual from his knapsack.

  “Maybe more machines that survived the attack. More buggies, maybe computers, and who knows what else?” Miles said.

  Kyle shook his head, “Maybe your right Miles, maybe that’s all just sitting there in a dark warehouse, waiting for someone like you to push it all out into the light. Maybe you can use it to figure out what exactly attacked us and why, though I don’t know what good that would do any of us. I hope it’s all there and I hope you find it, but I’m not going with you to find out.”

  Kyle’s words carried a weight of finality to them, and that weight seemed to stretch the moment out between the three friends. Kyle’s brow was set, his decision made. Miles' eyes held a look of mild surprise, perhaps tinged with a bit of regret. Coal looked between the two men and then nodded to himself as if he had come to a decision of his own.

  “Well, I just assumed that we would be going with you Miles,” Coal said. “This seems like the same kind of hopeless cluster fuck that we’ve gone in on in the past, but I got to back my Tonto. So, I guess my answer has to be the same as Kyle’s on this one. In short, go fuck yourself.”

  Miles nodded in understanding, and he looked down at buggy’s spiral bound manual in his hands as if suddenly ashamed to meet their eyes.

  “I was afraid of that,” Miles replied, and then added, “and I wish you would have stayed for the rest of the council meeting.”

  Kyle felt his stomach suddenly drop, he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

  “After you left, the council started making plans for how they would go about rationing the water, the use of the pump and our trip north. One of the first things they did was to enact Martial Law. It gives the City Council, in times of emergency, the ability to seize private property for the collective good of the town.”

  Miles paused allowing the words to sink in and still refusing to meet Kyle’s gaze.

  “You’re going to take the buggy if we go or not, aren’t you?” Kyle said with certainty.

  “It gives us the best chance to cross the desert and reach Salt Lake.”

  “Whoa, whoa, that’s my fucking buggy!” Coal objected,” Remember Miles I saw it first, and I called fucking dibs!”

  Miles looked up giving the half-breed a small, sad smile, “I’m sorry Coal, the city charter doesn’t recognize dibs or even personal property for that matter. All are suspended under Martial Law, it’s for the greater good.”

  “Well, it sounds like a load of horseshit to me! And speaking of horses, I think it’s about time I went and got mine back. Fuck the Black Jackets and their council if that’s the way they want to play it!”

  Coal climbed to his feet, “Come on Kyle, let's go get my ponies. It this town is as truly fucked as I think it is we are going need them anyway, we’ll find our own damn way out of here!”

  Kyle looked up at the standing bounty-hunter, “You really think they’ll just let you take them?”

  Coal’s eyes narrowed as he glanced between the two men, “I want to see them try and fucking stop me.”

  “Violence won’t solve any of this,” Miles said quietly.

  “Maybe not, but it sure as hell will make me feel better.”

  Miles shook his head and turned to look directly at Kyle, his hands were open in front of him, and Kyle knew the old man well enough to recognize the sympathy play that was coming even before he started to speak.

  “I’m too old, and I’m too broken to make this trip on my own. Having the two of you with me is the only real chance this town has left, what other choice do we have? Take me north, help me find the parts that I need so we can fix the pump and save the town. And maybe along the way, if we’re lucky, we’ll find answers to some of my questions as well,” the old man said.

  Kyle’s eyes were set, his gaze firm, “No Miles, I’m not going with you. The last time we tried something like this people died, and other people, people I care about were hurt…” Kyle took a breath and paused, his thoughts invariably on Anna.

  The scavenger stood, and Miles stood with him, the old man opened his mouth to speak, but Kyle cut him off. “The answer is no, Miles.”

  With that, Kyle turned back towards the clinic.

  “But Kyle?” Miles pleaded, first to the man’s back and then towards Coal looking for support.

  The bounty-hunter just held his hands up and retook his place by the fire.

  “You’re making a mistake, don’t be an idiot! Think about the town, the people, think about Anna and your child!” Miles shouted at his back.

  Kyle paused and turned slightly as if about to respond when Miles added.

  “Or is that it? You’ve just decided to give up on them too?”

  Kyle spun on his heal and was in motion before the older man could react, the scavenger’s fist snaking out and connecting with Miles jaw before either man could register what was about to happen. Coal was on his feet in an instant with his hunting knife in hand, but the half-breed just watched in silence, as if unsure of what to do. Miles lay in an awkward heap on the ground as Kyle stood over him, the scavenger was breathing hard, and his hand was still curled into a fist. The old man’s body gave a sudden shudder, and then Miles began to softly
snore.

  “What were you saying earlier? About me having the anger issues?” Coals asked with a grin.

  Kyle looked down at his unconscious friend and then to his own hand, still clenched into a fist. He shook his head forcing himself to relax his grip, then turned and stormed back into the clinic.

  “And don’t you worry none Kyle, I’ll put lil old Miles to bed,” Coal called after him.

  Kyle pushed his way through the double doors and into the clinic, still shaking his head in disbelief. Miles had always been the obsessive type, his fascination with the collapse, the light in the cave, even his damn book collection. Perhaps it was why the old man had been the perfect choice to run the museum in the first place. But manipulating the council to back his own wild goose chase, while the fate of the pump and with it the town rested in the balance, that was taking things too far.

  As Kyle entered the clinic, he found the lantern lit and resting on the exam table. Anna and Little Bird sat across from one another, but as Kyle entered their conversation immediately ceased, and the old woman stood.

  “Little Bird,” Kyle said, nodding in the woman’s direction.

  The Indian didn’t reply. Instead, she glanced down at Anna and then turning walked from the room.

  “What was that about?” he asked.

  Anna turned in her chair to look at him, her eyes were damp as if from crying, but they still held a strength.

  “Did you know?” she demanded in a quiet voice.

  “Know what?”

  “Little Bird just told me about the pump, and about Miles’ plan,” she said.

  “I was there earlier today at the council meeting, I’m sorry I was going to tell you.”

  “That’s not what I mean, Little Bird came here tonight to tell me what the Council is doing to prepare and how the clinic can help. But she thinks that Miles has known that the pump was going to fail for some time. She said his plans and the little presentation that he gave to the council was just a little too thought out, a little too polished. As if Miles has known for some time. It has me thinking, what was it that made Miles change his mind? I mean six months ago when after years of calling you crazy he suddenly decided to join us and risk trying to cross the desert?” Anna asked.

  Kyle moved to lean against the table next to his wife, his eyes still on the floor. He shook his head, this had already been a hell of a day he thought, he never would have guessed that having two men try and kill him and nearly getting shot in the process would have been the highpoint.

  “Did Miles know the pump was going to fail then? Did you?”

  Kyle took a breath and shook his head again before admitting, “Yes.”

  Anna inhaled sharply, but Kyle couldn’t make himself turn and meet her gaze.

  “Six fucking months!” she suddenly shouted. “We could have had six more months to prepare for this, to store water, to come up with a plan. What were you thinking?”

  “Me? Miles was the one that wanted to keep it a secret!” Kyle shouted back.

  “And you let him, you could have spoken up at any time!”

  “And what good would it have done? Miles was in charge of the pump; don’t you think that from day one he was doing everything he could to try and fix it? To coax as much life out of it as he could? Everything that could be done he did. Running the pump for shorter hours, breaking it down more often, he did all of that, what good would starting a panic have done?”

  “The council has a right to know, to plan, to prepare…”

  “Bullshit! The council wouldn’t be able to keep a secret like that, word would have gotten out within days! Everything this town has accomplished since Murphy was killed would have never happened. The election, the Black Jackets taking back the streets, this fucking clinic, all of it gone. This whole place would have torn itself apart then. If anything we should thank Miles for not saying anything!”

  Kyle couldn’t help but appreciate the absurdity of it all, defending a man that just moments before he had knocked unconscious.

  “Then what about me?” Anna asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Kyle looked down at his pregnant wife, part of him knew that this day would come when he would be forced to tell her, but another part of him had always hoped it would be avoided.

  “When we left town, everything was in such a rush that there never really seemed to be anytime,” he offered lamely.

  Then pausing added, “And I was afraid you would want to stay, to try and do something to help the people we were leaving behind.”

  “And why didn’t you tell me in the six months since then?” she pressed.

  “I don’t know,” Kyle replied.

  Anna stared at her husband for a moment and then leaned back her chair accentuating her pregnant belly.

  “Well, let me take a guess.”

  Kyle met her eyes and then glanced down at her stomach before quickly looking away.

  “That’s not it,” he said quickly.

  “It's not? Then how come we’ve never talked about it, about our child growing inside of me?” she demanded.

  “You never brought it up! And you don’t know if that is even our child!” he shouted back.

  “And you don’t know that it's not!”

  The words hung in the air between, the very thought that kept Kyle lying awake most nights voiced aloud.

  “You didn’t have to keep it,” he said quietly.

  Anna turned away from him suddenly as if slapped and she raised her hands to cover her face. Kyle reached out for her immediately regretting his words, but she pulled away from him. Anna took a breath and Kyle thought that she may start crying again, but a moment later she spoke, her voice carrying a note of pain.

  “I know, and I can’t say I didn’t consider…my options. But part of this child is me, and I choose to believe that the other part of it is you. I won’t let what those animals did to me, to us, dictate my life, my family or my future.”

  As Anna spoke the pride and strength came back into her voice and a lump caught in Kyle’s throat. This was the woman that he had fallen in love with, the woman he had married.

  “That’s good, you…you shouldn’t…” he began.

  “Then why are you?” she shouted at him.

  “What?”

  “Why are you letting what they did dictate our lives? The life of our child?” she demanded.

  Kyle stared at her, his face blank, for all his late nights spent in worry, for all the awkward moments with Anna, he had never considered that he was letting what Murphy had done drive his decisions. In a way, it was if the bastard was still ruling over him like he had the town for so many years.

  “I, I didn’t realize that I…I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  “I’m sorry too,” she said, “But I have to know, do you still want to be part of this family? Are you going to be a father?”

  “I…I need some time…to think,” he replied quietly.

  “No! You’ve had six months to fucking think! I want you to decide right now,” Anna demanded.

  Kyle stared at his wife in shock, unsure of what to say.

  “I love you Kyle, I really do. For years you supported us, you helped me with my work, and together we saved so many lives, helped so many people. You saw Murphy for what he was and stood against him and his men when no one else would, you set this whole town free and never asked for anything in return. You’re a good man, I love you, and I’m so happy that you’re the father of my child.”

  Kyle felt a lump swelling in his throat and his eyes growing moist at his wife’s words.

  “But if you can’t put this behind us, if you can’t accept this child as your own, then I don’t want you to be part of our lives. I would rather raise this child by myself, with one parent that loves them unconditionally, than raise them with a father that has doubt in his heart. If you can’t accept this child as your own, then you leave tonight, and you never come back, not to see our baby and not to see me, not ever!”

>   The tears were flowing freely down Kyle’s cheeks now. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time, not since his parent’s divorce when his mother had walked out of his life. Not since the last time his father had pulled away from the house in his cruiser, the night the world had ended. Kyle suddenly realized the most pivotal moments of his life, were marked by him being abandoned. But this time was different he realized, this time he had a choice. He wouldn’t abandon them as he had been, he would be there for Anna and the child growing inside of her…his child.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “You’re going to help me raise this baby then, our baby?” Anna pressed.

  “Yes.”

  “And we’ll be able to talk again? To be friends again?” she pushed, her voice beginning to crack.

  “Yes, please” he replied.

  She reached out for him then, and Kyle wrapped his arms around his wife. They held each other for a time, both of them crying, their bodies shuddering against one another. When the flood of tears had stopped Kyle stood and picking up the lantern he guided his wife to their bedroom.

  Sometime later Kyle stood in the dark, pulled back on his pants and walked out of the clinic and into the darkness. The fire had burned down to embers, but the scavenger could just make out the shape of Coal, lying next to it and curled around a whiskey bottle.

  Miles still lay where Kyle had left him on the ground, but now he was wrapped in a blanket with a wadded-up shirt shoved under his head for a pillow, apparently Coal’s contribution.

  “God damn you Miles,” he whispered into the darkness.

  Simple Math

  The next two days swirled into a storm of activity with Miles at its center, and though the old man would never admit it, it was at these times that he felt most alive. The pump was fired well before dawn surrounded by a small group of Black Jackets and Grease Monkeys. Once the pump reached full pressure, indicated by an ancient looking dial, Miles released the valve and the rusty mechanism sprung into motion and began to pump water up from the deep well. As the tower slowly filled the structure let out a series of low groans under the increasing weight. Several of the gathered Black Jackets exchanged nervous glances, but if Miles held any concern his face didn’t show it. Instead, he reached out to rest a hand reassuringly one of the tower’s heavy cable guidelines.