Earthbound

by Adam Lewinson

  “No,” Pace explained. “That would have been way too dangerous. Figured one of the Nuggets might have been posted there. No, we had to find another route across the Missouri. The old maps said there was a bridge across 1st Avenue, but that’s gone. Same as one down off route 15. But we got lucky. There’s a railway bridge that’s still in decent shape, off of River Drive. Then off we went west.”

  “Go northeast instead and that’s how we got to Great Falls to find you,” I added. “Figured that was the safest route.”

  “You two certainly are explorers,” Becca commented.

  “We’re regular Lewis and Clarks,” I said, proud that I kinda knew what I was talking about.

  “You two have really figured this all out,” Becca said. She grabbed the bottle and poured us all another shot. I was starting to get drunk. Probably for the best. We’d been up for such a long time, I could use some solid sleep.

  “So,” Pace said to Becca, “what do you think of your first day as an outlaw?” He was slurring his words. On his way to being drunk too.

  “I’m not an outlaw,” she replied with a laugh. “I’m your hostage, remember?”

  Pace laughed too. “Oh come on, we don’t have to think of it that way, do we? You’re sort of like an honorary member of our gang.”

  “Maybe I’ll feel that way after you give me a gun,” she responded. Again with the gun. She poured us each another shot.

  “No more for you?” I asked.

  “I’m good. Ready for some sleep actually.” She looked around our hideout. “So where exactly do I sleep?”

  I could tell Pace was about to give some smart-ass answer. I shot him a look. Not the time.

  “You can use my sleeping bag,” Pace offered, “and no, I’m not going to ask that you share it with me.” I nodded to Pace, appreciatively. “We’ll make this as homey as we can, I promise.”

  “You paint a beautiful picture,” she responded with I think it’s called sarcasm. Pace rolled his sleeping bag out near the fire. “I think I still might be cold,” she said. So we both chipped in from our gear offering items to keep her warm. Gloves, hats, blankets. I thought about giving her my long johns but that just wouldn’t be right. She picked and chose what she wanted, fairly appreciatively. I was getting’ concerned she was gonna overheat in that sleeping bag. She had enough to keep her warm enough for zero degree weather. But whatever she needed to be comfortable I guess. Before she got in the sleeping bag she glanced at us with concern. “You’ll both be okay?” she asked. “I didn’t take so much that you won’t be warm?”

  “We’ll be fine,” Pace said. “We’ve been doing this for a while.”

  She nodded and moved for the sleeping bag. But then she froze. “Um, I don’t suppose you have an outhouse.”

  Shit. She needed to effing pee.

  “We do,” Pace said.

  “But it’s getting dark outside,” I said. “Safer if you just do it in here. We’ll just turn around.”

  “You’ll do no such thing! I’m going outside.” She rummaged around in my pile of kindling until she found a fairly long tree branch. She lit the end in the fire pit.

  “I’ll come with you,” I said.

  “The hell you will!” She shoved the fiery tree branch near my face. “You boys stay here. I need my privacy. But if anything happens to me, I get eaten by a pack of wolves, it’s on you.” She glared at both of us and then laughed. “I’ll be fine. That fence you put up keeps out critters, doesn’t it?”

  Before she walked out the door she hesitated and turned back to face us both.

  “This is turning into an exciting adventure,” she mused. “And maybe we’ll find out which one of you I’ll wind up with…” She purred kinda seductively and then disappeared into the yard.

  Pace and I kinda looked at each other, not sure exactly what to say. We both had another shot.

  “Best man wins,” Pace slurred.

  “You’re drink,” I said.

  “Yeah.”

  Pace and I settled in to get some sleep. Pace insisted I use my own sleeping bag, but I couldn’t do that to him. I could handle the cold better then him. So I let him use it and just bundled up as good as I could, and holed up sitting up in the corner with the rest of the bottle of whiskey. I slept a lot like that anyway.

  After a few minutes I started wondering what was taking Becca so long. I visualized all the things that could happen to Becca while she was out peeing. I didn’t want to think about any of that.

  “You think she’s okay?” I asked.

  “She’ll be fine,” Pace said, trying to sleep.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Sometimes girls take a long time to, you know, fix their makeup and that kind of thing.”

  “Yeah,” I said. Although I never heard of a girl fixing her makeup before she went to bed.

  After that I think I kinda nodded off for a second, thinking about how I had a shot with Becca… she pretty much told me so… maybe I would wind up with her… but my eyes widened when I heard a sound. Something like metal scraping, for just a second.

  “You hear that?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “It sounded like… our fence opening.”

  I shot straight up. Pace did the same. We raced outside. Our front gate was kinda closed, but not the way I left it. The latch wasn’t firmly down either. At first I thought someone had gotten in. But I quickly realized, no. Someone had gotten out.

  “Becca!” I yelled.

  “Check the horses,” Pace said.

  We ran into our makeshift stable and there was Charon all right, but no Flashbound.

  “She took Flashbound!” Pace yelled. “She’s gone!”

  Eff. I was too stupid to know she was playing us. She was just distracting us with that talk about which one of us she would wind up with. No wonder she got us drunk. No wonder she tried to get a gun. No wonder she got all bundled up, not for sleep but for a chilly night ride. That whole time she was just plotting her escape. As if she really needed to escape from us.

  “Where’s she headed?” Pace asked. Usually he was smart enough to figure that out but I made some allowances for the alcohol and all.

  “The railway bridge,” I said. “We told her exactly how to get across the Missouri.” But it was getting pretty dark. She’d never make it alone. “Let’s go after her.”

  Pace kinda bounced around looking for a horse to ride. Then it kinda dawned on him that Flashbound was gone. Which he already knew.

  “You’re too drunk,” I said. “I got this.”

  Of course it wouldn’t be easy for me either. Becca had smartly removed Charon’s saddle to slow me down. It’d take too much time to put it back on so I hopped on Charon bareback. Not a favorite for Charon or me. Requires extra coordination on my part. Given the alcohol I’d been drinking, coordination would not be my strong suit. But I had to get after Becca fast before she disappeared into the dark. She’d never find that railway bridge before something bad happened to her. Didn’t want to think about that.

  I told myself she’d be headed to River Drive, that’s where we told her the railway bridge was. But I wasn’t sure Becca’d be able to find it, certainly in the dark. She didn’t know the roads or what dangers to avoid. Charon and I rode as fast we could west. It was as if Charon knew the urgency of the situation as much as I did. He was flying.

  We hit River Drive. South was the way to the railway bridge. Without reins it would be hard to steer Charon, but I figured he’d understand a nudge, a slight change in my body position. I was about to direct Charon south when something made me thing I should look north. And I’m glad I did. I saw a fleeting glimpse of fire, just a little amber glow in the dark to the north. Becca had that burning tree branch. Probably was using it to make her way through the darkness. Smart girl. I nudged Charon to the right. She’d be deep inside Riverside Park in a moment. Definitely the wrong direction. But it was somewhat familiar turf for her. That was where I took her and Pace that nigh
t when I showed them the Old City. Didn’t much like her riding through there alone, especially since it was a dead end. If she could make her way through the forest she’d find herself in the middle of the Old City again, but nowhere near the Missouri.

  “Becca!” I called out, hoping she’d hear me and slow down. Probably would only do the opposite. That amber glow of her fire, though, started to look larger. She was slowing down. Probably getting bogged down by the overgrowth. This was my chance to catch up, so long as Charon was okay barreling headfirst into the dark. And of course he was.

  That amber glow got bigger and bigger. I was getting close, but as much as I called her name I heard nothing in response. Finally I started to smell the burning branch. I saw a glimpse of that pale horse, Flashbound. I’d found her.

  “Becca, what in the hell!” I yelled. Charon stopped alongside Flashbound. There was Becca, sitting upright in the saddle, but she didn’t even glance at me. “Becca?”

  “Shh!” she shushed. I turned my head to where she was looking. Something ahead was blocking her way. A big ol’ grizzly bear. Maybe a hundred feet away. Must’ve been about a thousand pounds, I dunno. Not that it matters. Grizzly bear are a lot faster than they look, and if their teeth don’t get you their paws will. Being up on a horse was no advantage. I’ve seen a grizzly up on its hind legs take down a bison. Grizzlies win. Bison lose.

  The grizzly was ripping away at something’s innards. Seemed like maybe a boar. I was sorta relieved. It was preoccupied. I was hoping we could just back up and ride off. But I could tell, Becca was kinda frozen, with good reason.

  “Shoot it!” she whispered.

  “I can’t!” I had my revolvers and sure, I coulda taken a shot, but it would’ve been like a peashooter against his thick hide. It would only make him mad.

  I grabbed hold of Flashbound’s reins and gave Charon a nudge to go backwards. Charon complied, slowly. He’s no dummy. Charon knows a threat when he sees one. We all started to move back. Slowly, slowly. So far the bear paid us no mind.

  But then it stopped eating and looked up at us, bloody pig entrails all over its snout. I was kinda hoping it would just ignore us. But no. They’ve got an amazing sense of smell, so the effing thing must’ve caught wind of us. I hadn’t bathed in a while, I knew I smelled bad, even if Becca didn’t. Guess that smell was appetizing. Maybe it was finished with the boar cause it still looked hungry. Sure enough sign that it was springtime since hibernation must’ve been over. That meant it was extra hungry. Damn.

  I caught a glance from Becca. She was scared shitless, looking at me for what to do next. Yeah, this was one of those situations better for me to handle. Even though getting away from a grizzly is probably about smarts and that’s where Becca’s got me beat for sure, but she didn’t have any experience with grizzlies. I had. Lots of ways to get away from a grizzly, none of them very effective though. So I chose the best one I could think of. I hoisted my body high up on Charon. Not easy to do with all the whiskey in me, mind you, but I probably couldn’t have done this if I was sober. I made myself as tall and big as possible. I stood my ground and made sure the grizzly couldn’t tell I was scared shitless. Sometimes grizzlies can get intimidated if they think you’re bigger than them. Not much chance of that.

  “Back up slow,” I said calmly to Becca. She complied, but as we moved slowly backward the grizzly started to approach. Not a good sign. He’s not intimidated. And he’s hungry. “Stop,” I said. We stopped and the grizzly stopped. He was still interested, but he was not sure. I tried to wave my arms to make myself look bigger. That didn’t work. He started moving closer to us again. Only one option left. I had to protect Becca. Let her escape no matter what would happen to me. I let go of Flashbound’s reins. “Back up,” I told her. “Don’t go slow.” I didn’t give her a chance to protest. Instead I waved my arms even more wildly and started yelling at the grizzly. “Over here you stupid effing bear! You hungry? I got more meat on me. Look over here!”

  “Asher!” Becca protested. But I would hear none of it.

  “Go! Now!”

  Flashbound started to move backward and I nudged Charon forward. You’d think it’d be hard to nudge an animal closer to certain death, but Charon and me we always know what we have to do.

  The grizzly locked in on us. This was it. It was about to lunge forward.

  And then, you know, never underestimate a grizzly’s desire for fresh pork. Cause that whole herd of wild boar ran past us underfoot. The grizzly set its eyes on those boar and I knew in that moment we were in the clear.

  “Run!” I yelled. “Now!”

  Becca complied and we both rode our horses as fast as we could out of Riverside Park. I looked back and the grizzly wasn’t after us. Felt kinda bad for those boar though.

  When we got out of the forest to the clearing, Becca reared Flashbound around and stopped. Charon stopped alongside then.

  “Oh my God,” Becca cried. She was out of breath. “I can’t believe… we’re alive…” I reached out to comfort her but she slapped my hand away. “No thanks to you!”

  “I just saved you!” I protested.

  “We got lucky. And I wouldn’t be in this situation anyway if not for you!” Becca wasn’t relieved that we were still alive. She was just effing angry. “You and me have been through a lot of things, Asher, but I’ve always trusted you. Always trusted you! And you used that trust to get me out here. Away from my home, where it might be boring but at least it’s safe.”

  “It’s not like that. Birkin…”

  “I’ll take my chances with Birkin and the likes of him. Better than a grizzly bear any day.”

  “Come on, Becca, it’s not safe out here. Especially at night.”

  “It sure isn’t. It’s one thing for you to endanger yourselves. But for you to bring me into this! To treat me like some helpless woman! And to think there was a time I thought I could have loved you.”

  Those word stunned me. I had no idea what to say after that.

  Becca took a moment and started to cool off.

  “You were going to let that grizzly kill you to let me escape.”

  “Yup.”

  “You are such an idiot. A brave idiot.” She looked around, not sure where to go. “Now what?”

  It took a while but words came out. “I’ll take you to the railway bridge.”

  I gave Charon a nudge and started to ride south.

  “Wait,” Becca said. I stopped Charon. “I guess I can’t. I can’t leave you and Pace. At least not yet. Not like this.”

  I nodded, and led Becca back to our hideout.

  We rode back in silence, and when we arrived I could see the look of relief in Pace’s eyes. He wanted to talk, of course, but I shut him up quick. It was time to stop talking and just get some sleep.

  Becca settled in to the sleeping bag and things settled down. I tried to sleep but that wasn’t possible. I’d blown it with Becca. Both Pace and I have actually. If we ever had a chance it was now long past over.

  I heard another sound. This time laughing. Becca was cracking herself up over in her sleeping bag. Then the laughing stopped, and then I heard a soft kinda sobbing. Why do girls do that sorta thing? Laughing one sec and crying the next. Never gonna understand that. Never not ever.

  “You okay, Becca?” I asked.

  “I’m fine,” she replied. But I could tell she didn’t mean it. She got out of her sleeping bag and walked over beside me crouching in the corner. She was trying hard not to cry.

  “You’ve got me in this. You and Pace did this. It’s up to the two of you to get me out. Safely. This is your responsibility, do you understand me? What you two decide to do to yourselves is your own choice. Now you are responsible for me. My life is in your hands, you know that? I can trust you? I can trust you both?”

  She looked up at me with her beautiful brown eyes, still kinda wet which helped reflect the fire from the fire pit. In that moment I wanted to make it all better.

  “Your life is wo
rth more than my own,” I said.

  Not sure why but that got her crying even more.

  Women.

  Somehow I managed to sleep that night after all, not exactly sure how. Guessing maybe after all that adrenalin surged through my body I needed to collapse. At any rate, I slept. We all did. And in the morning, things were kinda different.

  First of all, it was very quiet. Not a lot of chatter. Suited me fine of course. And me and Pace were on best behavior, doing our best to try to clean up our hideout and get the stink out of the room. Meanwhile, Becca sat by the fire, not saying much.

  Finally, Becca had something on her mind. “I appreciate you putting an effort into making this place more livable.” Pace and I grunted our thanks. “So… can I see it?”

  Pace got kinda cocky. “You can see whatever you want.” I hit Pace kinda hard. Wasn’t the time or place to be cocky. Guess that’s where the expression cocky comes from. Ha.

  “Can I see your gold?” Becca asked.

  A fair request. We led Becca to where we hid the gold. More on that later. And when she saw it, her eyes kinda widened and her mouth kinda hung open. That was a lot of gold.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” she gasped.

  “Me neither,” Pace said. “It’s ten times more than I ever saw in the bank.”

  “Can I?” Becca asked, reaching out her hand. We indicated that she should go right ahead. She ran her hands through the gold. “It’s amazing.”

  “Take all you want,” Pace offered.

  “No.” Becca pulled her hands out of the gold. “It’s not mine to take. It’s not yours either, mind you. But it is amazing.”

  Later that day, Becca took time to inventory our supplies. Her mood was considerably better, that’s for sure. Almost like she was trying to make herself at home. She announced that we had maybe two or three days of fresh water. And plenty of food so long as we did some fishing. But still, we had not taken into consideration another mouth to feed.