“Thank you.” He whispered.
Linda nodded then in her no-nonsense nurse’s voice she called out to the rest of them.
“I want to examine all of you.” She said, “Make a line and shed some of that armor.”
They were circled around Rye and from the gathering thunder on his face, she could tell Kassie had shared what she’d overheard. They could fill in Harper and Kodiak as she examined them and maybe they could come up with a plan.
Linda fussed over all of them. She told Tobias he needed to do a better job at brushing his teeth, told Kodiak he needed to do stretching exercises or he would lose some mobility in his arm but overall she was impressed and pleased at how well they’d taken care of themselves. Rye reassured them that Lakota was a good place and they shouldn’t abandon their plans to go there.
“How are we going to get there if they plan on cutting us down as soon as we’re away from town?” Kodiak asked. “They’ve got us penned in by men with guns on the walls. If we try to force our way out, they’ll shoot us down and claim we had rabies or something.”
“Donny and I can get out at night.” Swan said. “We’ll dig under this barn tin, sneak up to the top of the wall and kill all the guards. We dump their bodies outside; they won’t even be missed until morning. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
Donny thumped his spear in agreement.
“NO!” Linda said. “You can’t do that. You can’t just go around killing people. There are laws.”
“But they want to kill us!” Kodiak exclaimed. “We’re just getting to them before they do.”
“They’re not all bad men.” Rye said. “Some of them have families and the guards are just doing their jobs. Most of them don’t have any idea what the mayor is planning. We need a stealthy way out. Once you’re away from the town then it’s anything goes if they come after you but you can’t go around slicing throats inside the walls. You’d have bounties on your heads.”
“We could blow up the wall and get out then.” Tobias said. “You got any dynamite?”
Rye shook his head and hid a grin. These kids had spunk. “I said stealthy. You know, quiet like. No explosions.”
“Time’s up, Rye!” a shout came from the front of the barn. “You’ve had your thirty minutes, let’s go.”
“Coming, Slim, just let me say goodbye. I think I’ve taken a shine to this wolf girl.” He shouted back.
There was laughter from the door but the man didn’t dare come inside. The wolves scared him.
When Rye turned back there were looks of shock and surprise on Linda and Kassie’s faces. The children had raw rage on theirs. Weapons were out of sheaths and the animals didn’t look friendly anymore. He hadn’t even heard the whisper of steel on leather, those kids moved like shadows.
“Hold on.” He said. “I had an idea, that’s all. Hear me out.”
They didn’t lower their weapons as he slowly pulled a flask of whiskey from his vest and another horse tranquilizer from a pocket.
“I think I’ll join their gang.” He said and when the weapons still didn’t lower, he repeated what he said before.
“Stealth.” He said. “Not brute force. How much do you think, Doctor? I don’t want them knocked out, just loopy.”
He unscrewed the cap and started breaking off pieces of the pill to let them dissolve in the amber liquid.
“What good will that do?” Kodiak asked. “They’ll sober up and come after us.”
“Not if they’ve been tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.” Rye said. “Do you trust me?”
“No.” Swan said.
“Yes.” Linda answered.
“I know him.” She continued, addressing the tribe. “We’re not best friends or anything but he has a reputation, he’s risked his life to help strangers. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. He’s one of the good guys, Kodiak. I’ll stake my life on it.”
Kassie nodded. She knew the farmers he’d saved, it was all they talked about for weeks. He’d come in guns a blazing and had cleared out nearly a hundred of the undead by himself and led the rest of them away when he ran out of bullets.
“You, too, Doc.” The man yelled again. “Enough chit chat, let’s go.”
“Can I borrow your phone?” Rye asked Kassie as they headed for the door.
“I like him.” Vanessa admitted. “He seems like someone who doesn’t take no crap off anybody.”
“Yeah, like me.” Tobias said.
Swan snorted and Donny rolled his eyes. They all flinched inwardly when the guard slammed the door shut behind the cowboy, the doctor and her daughter.
16
Job Interview
Rye swatted Linda across the butt as she hurried away from the barn and laughed when she shot him a dirty look.
“Slim” he said as he pulled out the bottle “I envy you. You’ve got yourself a sweet little setup here. How do I get a little bit of this action?”
The man took the proffered whiskey eagerly. Guard duty was tiresome and boring and he hadn’t had time to grab himself a little nip of his own.
They passed the time and it wasn’t long before he had the two others sitting around a table in the shade playing a little five card. They were still guarding, they could see the front door and the back one was chained. The brats weren’t going anywhere. Slim was the only one he knew personally but he’d seen the others around back when they were retrievers. Back before they became the Mayor’s men. If he remembered right, they hadn’t been very good at it. They weren’t very successful at any of the big gold gigs and took the easy ones didn’t pay very much. Rye was careful not to swallow any when it was passed to him and when the first flask was empty, they started on the second. He brought up the subject again of coming off the road.
“You boys know how dangerous it is out there.” He said. “I’m tired of risking my life for those rich bastards. They don’t even care if we get killed, am I right? They’ll just send someone else out to get whatever it is they’re looking for. I want a job working you boys. Is the Mayor hiring?”
The special K was doing its job. They couldn’t remember whose turn it was or who had bet what. The talk was light and tongues were loose. Rye started off by asking them if they could keep a secret. Three inebriated heads nodded and leaned in closer.
“I ever tell you about that Indian squaw I come across up in Kansas?” he asked in a conspiratorial whisper, his had askew on his head. “Her and her man had a place in a warehouse. Pretty good setup. He was out scavenging when I found her. She put up a good fight, but I like to play rough.”
He laughed and they leaned in closer, wanting to hear the details. The lie left a bad taste in his mouth but they ate it up as he told about two days of “fun” he had with the woman.
“Her old man came home when I was giving her the old in and out. Had to put a couple of bullets in him, he wasn’t the sharing type.”
They guffawed and started sharing stories of their own, like how they’d gotten rid of the old mayor and the sheriff in a tragic cattle stampede. That little “accident” was what paved the way to their life of leisure here in Gallatin.
Rye passed the bottle around again and asked about the kids in the barn.
“Oh we got plans for them.” Slim said. “They’ll be leaving tonight, never to be seen again.”
“That’s right.” Beardy guy said. “Those animals hides are gonna bring us a whole bunch of money and those kids will be feeding the fishes.”
“After we have us a little fun with those girls.” The third man said with a wicked grin. “Me and blondie and the black girl and that albino twin are gonna have us a date tonight.”
“Don’t be getting all greedy.” Beardy complained. “I want some, too.”
“I want me a piece of that wolf girl.” Rye said, his smile predatory under his mustache. “I got a thing for Indians. You think the Mayor would hire me on?”
“Probably would.” A bearded man slurred. “We could use another man that’s good
with a gun and ain’t afraid to use it. Can’t trust these townies with anything more than walking the wall.”
“What do you think, Slim. Will you vouch for him?” he asked but Slim was face down on the table in a puddle of drool.
The third man narrowed his eyes and tried to focus them. Something wasn’t right. They’d only had two small bottles of whiskey, nobody should be feeling so loopy. It was barely enough to give them all a good buzz, let alone have one of them passed out. He picked up the nearly empty bottle and gave it a shake, saw the residue of powder in the bottom and dropped his hand to his gun. Rye hooked his chair with his boot and pulled, tipped him over backward and swung a hard left at the bearded mans surprised face. There was a solid thwock as he cracked his jaw and the man went stiff before his eyes rolled up and he toppled out of his chair. Rye put a pointy toed cowboy boot to the man struggling to free his pistol and sent it flying. He reached for his AR-15 but Rye had already snatched it up.
“Say goodnight, dirtbag.” He said and slammed it against his forehead
17
Ice Cream
The tribe tensed when they heard the rattle of the chain being pulled from the doors but relaxed again when Rye stuck his head through.
“Hey, give me a hand.” He said and they hurried forward to drag the three unconscious men through the door.
“Got any rope we can tie ‘em up with?” Rye asked, sweating from the exertion of dragging the fattest one.
“Don’t need any.” Swan said.
“Look, I know you kids are tough but they’re grown men and…”
“Guard.” Swan said and instantly her pack of wolves stopped being inquisitive about the bodies and low growls came from their throats. They paced around the inert forms, watching for any movement, any signs of aggression, any little reason for them to rip into the soft flesh and bone.
“Uh. Okay.” Rye said. “Point taken.”
“Now what?” Kodiak asked. “This is your plan? How are we going to get through the gate, they still have machine guns. They still have the height advantage.”
“Yeah. We’re worse off now than before.” Swan said. “They’ll figure out they’re missing three guards pretty quick. I thought you said stealth. I could have gone out and konked some drunks over the head.”
“Not just any guards and not just any konking.” Rye said and pulled out Kassie’s phone. “Have a listen to this, I recorded our whole conversation. See if you can edit it some, just leave in the really nasty stuff they admitted to and play it on a loop.”
Tobias grabbed it and started to do as he asked.
“Cut all that stuff I said out.” Rye called after him. “None of it’s true, I was just talking crap.”
“Great.” Swan said. “Now all we have to do is walk around with an ear bud and ask everybody to listen. Good plan.”
“Oh ye of little faith.” Rye sighed.
“Do you trust me?” he asked again.
“No.” Swan said.
“Yes.” answered Kodiak.
“What do we do with them?” Harper asked, indicating the three unconscious men.
“Hope they wake up and try something.” Swan said and fingered her tomahawks.
“Just keep them here, all will be revealed but I’ve gotta hurry. I’ve got to stay ahead of the Mayor. Right now we have the element of surprise but this whole plan can blow up in our face.”
Rye gave Kodiak a nod, winked at Swan and hurried towards the door.
“I’m going to run the chain back through the handles but it’s not locked. You can get out if you want but I’d stay inside if I were you. Give me another hour to put the rest of the plan in motion.” He called over his shoulder then was gone.
True to his word, about an hour later they heard the quiet rumble of a truck pull up and Rye slid the barn doors wide open.
“You ready to get out of here?” he asked
Linda and Kassie were there with Denny and his ice cream truck.
“Can the bear walk or does he need a ride?” he asked
“He can walk.” Kodiak answered. “He’s limping a little but he’s good.”
“We just going to waltz to the front gate and tell them to open it?” Swan turned to Rye. “That’s your big plan?”
“You can waltz if you want to.” Rye answered with a smile “but it’d be cooler if you didn’t.”
“You have my phone?” Kassie asked “Did you get it edited down to a loop?”
“Yeah.” Tobias said and handed it over. “Good playlist, I like your music.”
“Thanks.” She said and for some reason she felt a little heat creep to her cheeks as she handed it to her mom. “I can get you another one, I have a bunch with even better songs.”
“You kids gather your gear.” Rye said. “We’re leaving.”
Linda found a quiet corner, recorded her message and handed it to Denny as packs were stowed, saddles were strapped on and Rye dumped a bucket of water over the three men.
They spluttered awake and he wasted no time tying their hands and looping nooses around their necks. He ignored their complaints, attached the three ropes to the bumper of the van and signaled Denny they were ready. He took off at a slow and steady pace with the ice cream music blasting its merry tune as he made his way towards the center of town. Kodiak led his band of warriors with Otis at his side, his Warhammer held in his fists. Donny and Swan followed, the wolves and the panther padding softly beside them. Harper rode high on Bert, her blonde curls blowing in the breeze as Vanessa sat tall and proud astride her war bird. The twins brought up the rear astride their massive polar bears, battle axes in their hands, pale hair fluttering.
The people along the way stopped what they were doing and followed the slow parade. Once they reached main street, Denny turned on the recordings and heard their doctor tell them what she’d been ordered to do by the Mayor. They gasped when the voices of the drunken men started bragging about killing the old mayor and the sheriff. Every window had faces in it and every hand stopped its work as the crowds grew. They listened in horror at what had been planned for the children as the truck made its way to the center of town and the courthouse. The Mayor heard and ran to put a stop to it but the words were too damning and when they started repeating, empty hands of the townspeople were filled with whatever was at hand.
Rocks, shovels and hammers. Butcher knives, pitchforks and baseball bats.
They watched the quiet procession, the battle-scarred children riding majestic animals as tame as kittens, and their hearts went cold with rage as they heard the words repeated over the loudspeakers. Rye cut the three men loose in front of the courthouse and motioned for Denny to continue on towards the front gate. Most of the men stayed behind, looked up to the windows of the mayor’s office and made their way inside the building. They sent their women and kids to the gates to see the tribe of wild children off. A great wrong had been done in their town, a wrong they had let happen. It was time to set things right and it wasn’t anything they wanted their families to witness.
Denny stopped the ice cream truck a mile out of town at the first crossroads. They could see for a long way in all directions and there wasn’t a zombie in sight. He passed out some bags of food he’d thrown together for them and watched them pack it carefully away.
“I’ve got something for you.” He said and pulled out a bucket of homemade ice cream. He had cones and sprinkles and chocolate syrup to pour over them and the kids lined up at the window like kids had for generations. He put on his ice cream man hat, turned the jaunty music down low and his eyes shone, basking in their simple joy. Once the animals discovered the sweet, sticky goodness he knew he was going to use up the whole gallon.
“You still headed to Lakota?” Rye asked Kodiak as the boy watched over his people.
“We have to.” He replied. “I made a promise, three of our tribe are already there.”
“It’s a good place.” Rye said. “A lot of real good people there.”
Kassie
grabbed her phone out of the truck and took it over to Tobias who was tussling with Popsicle over a handful of ice cream.
“Here you go.” She said shyly. “You can have it if you want.”
“Oh, cool. Thanks.” He said and wiped his hands on his pants. “Which song is your favorite?”
Within minutes they each had a bud in their ears, heads together and were smiling broadly.
The wolf pups were wound up on sugar and when they realized there was no more of the treat to be had they started chasing each other around a field as Swan watched over them.
“They look so much like children.” Linda said “But I know they’re not. Not anymore.”
“Maybe when they get to Lakota they can unwind, be kids again.” Rye said. “Maybe the scars don’t go too deep.”
“We can only hope.” She said then added “That slap on my ass was just for show, right?”
“Um, yeah.” Rye said quickly. “I’d never want to smack your backside, I found it quite distasteful and difficult to do.”
He was pretty sure that was the right answer.
“Hmmm.” She said and walked off. “Too bad.”
Rye groaned as he watched her give her bottom a little extra shake. He blew that chance.
“Hey, Wolf Girl.” he hollered over to Swan “Trust me now?”
She made a face and waggled her hand back and forth. “A little. Maybe.” She said.
“Donny.” Kodiak said over the hubbub and when the boy looked his way, he flashed some hand signs at him. The boy nodded, waved at Rye and Linda and started a slow jog down the road.
The rest of the tribe saw that it was time to go and like a well-oiled machine everyone mounted up, found their places in the procession and were waving goodbyes and shouting thank you’s.
Everyone except Tobias, he was still head to head with Kassie, lost in the music.
Vanessa gigged Ziggy, got low in the saddle and rode by them at full speed. She let an acorn fly and it bounced off Tobias’ head.
The Feral Children | Book 3 | Nomads Page 10
