“Thanks Miles, I’m still counting that as my kill, but I’ll definitely give you the assist.”
“Gee thanks,” Miles choked out.
“Well don’t close the books just yet, it looks like we’re about to go another round!” Kyle shouted.
Ahead of them, another bridge came into view, it was wider than the others they had crossed so far, much wider and already the trio could make out dozens of figures moving frantically across it. The bridge spanned the canal about half a mile away and was closing quickly.
“It’s the 101,” Miles managed to say.
“Will that take us north?”
Miles nodded, “It will eventually, yes.”
“Then that’s our exit.”
“What exit? It’s not like canals have fucking off-ramps,” Coal pointed out.
Kyle blinked twice and then glancing at each side of the canal he realized the half-breed was right. The concrete canal’s bottom angled upward perhaps a dozen feet on each side but then turned into vertical walls 15 feet high. To make the climb even more troublesome, the remains of a chain-link fence ran the length of the canal, in some places it was still standing while in others it was now reduced to a twisted mass of wire that Kyle imagined would easily entangle the buggy. The scavenger knew right away that the buggy couldn’t clear the edge, not without help, he was going to have to make a change if they had any chance of making it out of the canal alive.
“Don’t worry I’ve got a plan, but Coal you’re going to need to move up front.”
“Ok, but it’s not like there is a hell of a lot of room between you two,” Coal said as he started to pull himself forward.
“Not in the cab, I want you on the hood, as far forward as you can go.”
“What? You want me mounted me upfront like a damn deer?”
“Just do it, there is no time to explain and make sure you’ve got a good grip!”
Coal looked at his friend a moment longer and then shaking his head crawled over the roll bars of the speeding rover and lowered himself down on the long sloping hood. The frontend was smooth plastic, but Coal managed to wedge both of his feet under the vehicles LED light bar and then reached over to grip the edge of each wheel well. While the position felt sturdy enough to Coal, he was completely exposed.
“Damn it Kyle, this is some fucking bullshit, no way am I making it through this without getting skewered!” Coal shouted.
“Here take this!”
Then the scavenger thrust Miles’s tool bag out onto the hood and Coal awkwardly grabbed ahold of it with one hand.
“My tools!” Miles shouted.
“What in the fuck good is this heavy ass bag going to do me?” Coal demanded.
“You just keep a hold of it, trust me on this one! And when I say, all of us need to lean forward as far and as quickly as we can!”
“What?” both Coal and Miles replied in unison.
“No time, here we go!”
Nearly 60 slavers were now crowding the highway and as the buggy approached they let out a terrifying cry. Kyle pressed the accelerator to the floor and then carefully guided the rover up on to the slope of the canal’s left wall. Kyle and Miles were now both leaning inside the cab and just as Kyle had hoped with concrete under its wheels instead of sand the buggy quickly gained speed. But just ahead of them the angle ended abruptly as the canal intersected the highway, if they continued straight ahead they would run into the bridge’s concrete abutment. The gathered slavers seemed to realize this, and they pressed in tight towards the center of the bridge, just above where the buggy would be forced to cross when it dropped back to the bottom of the canal.
“Kyle, what are you doing? We’re running out of fucking road up here!” Coal shouted.
“Hold on!”
Just then the slavers on the bridge let out a fearsome cry and launched a fresh wave of stones, bottles, and bricks into the air. Kyle took that as his cue and jerked the wheel hard to the right accelerating back down the canal’s wall. But nearly all of the missiles fell short because instead of heading under the bridge, Kyle guided the buggy straight across the canal and right up the opposite wall. The hard plastic tires squealed against the concrete as the vehicle was launched up the vertical wall. The rover’s momentum carried them upward until the buggy’s front wheels cleared the edge of the canal, but there, for a terrifying moment, the buggy stalled, leaving them seemingly suspended in the air.
“Lean forward!” Kyle screamed.
The scavenger, pulling at the steering wheel, threw himself forward as next to him Miles did the same. Suspended upside down on the vehicle’s hood, leaning forward for Coal was much easier said than done. The bounty-hunter took a quick breath, hooked his feet under the light bar and threw his body forward as hard as he could while gripping the tool bag to his chest. For a few frantic heartbeats, nothing happened, and the vehicle hung helplessly in the air and then it began to fall back down into the canal. But just as Kyle had hoped as it fell the front end pitched forward. The front wheels crashed through a section of rusting fence and Kyle smashed the accelerator to the floor. The thick all-terrain wheels spun, caught hold of the chain-link fence and found just enough traction to suddenly jerk the buggy forward. The motion was enough to bring the right rear wheel in contact with the edge of the wall and with a squeal the rover leaped forward and pulled out of the canal. The sudden shift in momentum was all that kept Coal and the tool bag from tumbling forward and being sucked under the buggy. Instead, the bounty-hunter was pushed back against the hood as the rover accelerated forward, edged around the wreckage of a car and pulled out onto the highway.
“Yes!” Kyle shouted in triumphant.
In the passenger seat next to him Miles was slapping the dashboard and laughing hysterically.
“You did it, my god I thought we were done for!”
At that moment an arrow flew between the two friends, missing Miles' head by mere inches before slamming into the dash and shattering in a spray of fiberglass.
“Fuck!” Kyle shouted before pushing the pedal to the floor.
The buggy quickly accelerated down the highway while behind them the slavers, now recovered from the shock of the trio's escape, gave chase running after them in an angry mob. Both Miles and Kyle sunk down low in their seats as they quickly pulled away from the masters’ Chosen who were reduced to hurling stones and insults. Kyle glanced over at Miles, and the two men exchanged a quick look of disbelief and began to laugh again.
Then Coal shouted from the front of the buggy, “So when you two girls are done sharing a moment, you mind pulling over somewhere? I think I’m about done playing hood ornament.”
As Little Bird always did upon returning home, she reigned her horse in at the crest overlooking The Indian Nation and took a moment to just look at what her people had accomplished. In stark contrast to the fear, violence, and destruction that had taken place in other towns and cities, the Nation remained untouched. Buildings, both public and private remained standing and intact, having never been touched by fire. The streets were open, free of rubble and even clear of the machines that had long ago failed them. The difference was so great, so shocking, that a newcomer to the Res may even think they had somehow stepped back in time, to a place where technology still reigned. But then they would notice the corrals filled with ponies, the clusters of teepees that now stood in front of nearly every home and the warriors armed with their knives and their spears. One of the young Braves escorting her, the one named David, nudged his horse forward next to Little Bird in a not so subtle urge to be moving again, but the old woman remained still. The two warriors had remained quiet throughout their ride out of town.
“Tell me young man, what do you see down there?” she asked.
David paused for a moment and then looked down at the little town spread out below them replied, “I see my home, my people.”
Little Bird nodded, “Yes and is it that all there is in the world?”
“What do you mean?
”
“Is the world bigger than just the Indian Nation?”
David looked from the old woman back to his friend, “Yes, of course.”
“And how do you know? What is the farthest you have ever been from The Nation?” she asked.
“The town of the whites.”
“I’ve been a day’s ride to the North,” Timmy said with pride from behind them.
“A day’s ride you say?” Little Bird replied trying hard not to smile at the young man’s boast.
“What if I told you that with a swift horse and an endless supply of water, it would take you months to travel from here to the sea, in either direction? That’s how the whites did it you know, with wagons and horses. They traveled from one sea to another settling everything in between and pushing our people out of the way whenever it was convenient for them to do so.”
The young Braves exchanged a glance, as if unsure how to reply.
“But how did our people do it? How did we manage to survive when the modern world failed, while so many others across this land did not?” Little Bird asked.
“Because we are strong and the whites are not,” Timmy quickly replied.
Little Bird rolled her eyes, “Come now, even you cannot be that simple minded.”
“Because we came together when so many were pushing each other apart,” David replied.
The old woman smiled at that, perhaps there remained a glimmer of hope for this generation after all she thought.
“And should we share with the whites what we know? Should we show them how to survive in this new world, show them how to come together?”
“No, let them kill each other,” Timmy replied quickly.
“You think so? Violence has made this world what it is and so the answer must be more violence?”
But David didn’t reply. Instead the Brave looked back out over his home, and Little Bird could tell the young man was seriously considering her question, and she nodded again.
“Yes, perhaps a glimmer,” she said.
“What was that old woman?” Timmy demanded.
“I said we should be moving, we’ve kept our Chief waiting long enough.”
Little Bird kicked her horse into motion and started back down the road again, followed closely by her escort. As they entered the small dusty town the old woman was reminded again of the differences between the Nation and the town of the whites, everywhere she looked were signs of life. A small gaggle of children chased a soccer ball down the street, followed closely by a boy too young to keep up. A pair of women sat together next to a teepee sewing a quilt as they talked and laughed with one another. As Little Bird approached the city’s center, dominated by the large white church, she passed by a young couple walking hand in hand while talking quietly. Little Bird couldn’t help but smile, all around here were the simple pleasures of life that the whites still had not reclaimed. The City Council had made great strides, and she had helped, but the whites were still just managing to survive, it would be a long time before they could ever hope to have this kind of prosperity.
Up ahead the church came into view, and Little Bird could see a small crowd had gathered there. The old woman’s smile quickly vanished as she approached, at her age she knew everyone on the Res by sight if not by name, but the group gathered here all held something in common, namely her. Both of Little Bird’s daughters were present, along with a handful of old friends and political allies. Whatever the Chief was playing at, it seemed that word of her imminent return had spread.
“Mema!” One of Little Bird’s granddaughters called out upon seeing her.
“Hush child,” the old woman replied.
Little Bird and the Braves stopped just in front of the church, and a warrior came forward to take their horses. The two young men took up places on each side of the old woman and made quite a show of escorting her the last few yards into the church, and for the first time, Little Bird found herself considering if perhaps it would have been better for her to have stayed with the whites. Upon entering the church, the first thing she realized was that the Elder Council was seated together in the last row of pews. The two women and two men looked up at her as she entered, but none of them would meet her eyes. Little Bird was about to greet them when a voice called from the front of the church.
“Welcome home Little Bird.”
Chief Two-steps sat upon the dais, in the same massive chair that both his father and his brother had sat before him, now both dead. Laughing Bear had been a monster of a man, but the only thing that was larger than his fists was his heart or perhaps his love of whiskey. Red Bear had been a ferocious and proud warrior, but a man that was not afraid to let his anger drive him. Two-Steps was none of these things, he was lean where his father was thick, he was quiet while his brother was loud, in short, he did not look the part of a Chief of the Indian Nation. But Little Bird learned long ago, that one underestimated Two-Steps at their own peril. The man was smart, his mind sharper than a blade and quicker than a snake, she had no doubt that he could be the greatest Chief the Nation had ever seen, that is if he could just learn to let some things go.
“What news do you bring from the town of the whites?” Two-Steps demanded without preamble.
Little Bird smiled at the Chief and not for the first time, she found it hard not to notice how much he looked like his cousin Coal, the man he had sworn to kill.
“My Chief,” Little Bird began with a slight bow, “Let me first thank you for providing such an experienced and… insistent escort.”
On either side of her, the young Braves each stood a bit taller, neither of them seemed to have heard the sarcasm in her voice. The Chief’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the old woman and then with a quick nod of his head he dismissed the two warriors. Little Bird could sense the young men’s disappointment at the Chief’s quick dismissal, but at least they had sense enough sense not to voice it.
“Now answer me.”
“I won’t pretend to understand your urgency, there is very little of interest to report my Chief.”
Little Bird spoke in the same voice that she used with her granddaughter when the toddler threw a tantrum; polite, formal and just a bit condescending. The Chief stared at Little Bird for a long moment, and in his eyes, the old woman could see the man’s anger simmering just below the surface of his calm. She sensed the gathered elder's unease as well, they shifted in their seats nervously behind her, but she dared not look in their direction.
“Very little of interest?” Two-Steps replied coolly.
“Yes my Chief, the City Council continues to try and make their streets safe again, while their own people prey upon one another after dark. The politicians hand down promises but have no real answers, they are more concerned…”
Two-Steps raised a hand to silence the old woman and then leaning forward he asked in a quiet voice.
“Where is the exile?”
Little Bird opened her mouth to speak but then held her tongue as the Chief’s eyes bore into her. This was it she realized, this was why she had been called back, the Chief’s vendetta still held its sway over him it seemed. She was about to reply when she realized that the Chief’s question had been oddly specific. Where? He had asked and the old woman realized that Two-Steps must know something of Coal’s departure. It seemed that the Chief had laid a trap for her and was trying to catch her in a lie. Little Bird licked her cracked lips considering how much she should say.
“Well?” he prompted.
The old woman smiled before replying, “The exile has left the town of the whites.”
“Alone?”
“No, his scavenger friend has gone with him, along with another man if I remember correctly.”
“And they have taken the car?” the Chief pressed.
“I believe so, I don’t see why they would not, it is their car after all.”
Chief Two-Steps leaned back into his chair, his eyes never leaving Little Bird, “And?” he said.
“And what?” s
he replied.
“Don’t play the fool with my Little Bird, we are both too smart for that. What are they doing? Where are they going?”
“They are going scavenging my Chief, after all, like all of the white men, Kyle is a scavenger.”
“This third man, would that by chance be the white’s engineer?” the Chief asked.
Little Bird smiled and nodded slowly, but she didn’t like where any of this was going.
“The same man that installed and maintained the water pump? He up and leaves town, with that half-breed exile, the city council’s pet scavenger and takes the only working car in perhaps the entire world and you expect me to believe it is just a simple salvage run?”
“My Chief, wherever they have gone I’m sure it cannot be for more than a few days…” Little Bird began, but the chief cut her off.
“Yes, just a quick trip I’m sure. So quick in fact, that there should be no need to put someone else in charge of the town’s precious water supply, no one except perhaps a mute 12-year-old boy. Do you take me for a fool Little Bird? The whites have started ferrying their water across town and running the pump for shorter periods each day. They have changed many things very suddenly, but the man most responsible they have allow to simply ride away with his friends to go scavenging?”
Little Bird’s mind was reeling, how could the Chief know so much? For years the white were terrified of the idea that spies for the Indian Nation walked among them and on more than one occasion had lynched a few unlucky souls on suspicion alone. Though for as long as Little Bird had sat on the Council of Elders, no such spies had ever existed. But now having left The Nation to represent her people on the town’s city council, it seemed Chief Two-Steps had been very busy indeed. The old woman opened her mouth to speak, but the Chief held up his hand again.
“Little Bird, I appreciate all that you have done for our people over these years, for my family especially. So I want to remind you, that the penalty for lying to your Chief is exile. And the punishment for conspiring against your own people is death.”
The Road North Page 14
