Zip did not see the look Cotton gave him, or the one finger salute Cotton made at Zip as he left. His attempt to place the blame on Cotton had backfired, and he didn’t even know it yet. Cotton would not be back. Las Vegas beckoned, south through Tonopah. Weaponless, Cotton would meet the single survivor inhabiting Tonopah and learn that he was a cannibal.
Eleon noticed Cotton’s final gesture and gave a mental shrug. He would let the fates take care of Zip in their own way. Whatever happened, Zip deserved worse.
When Deo started to enter the store, Zip gripped the knife under his body and tensed in anticipation.
Zip believed that Eleon stopping him saved the kid’s life. He was not aware of the shotgun Lecti held, pointed at him through the window. She was primed and ready. Neither Eleon nor Zip realized that Eleon had saved Zip’s life again.
After Zip watched the three of them pull away on a bike and an interesting looking three-wheeled ride, he broke the closet door open to get the guns. He was already tired of waiting for Cotton to return. When Cotton got back, the bike would be his, and he would travel on alone. It was a perfect time. Cotton was unarmed.
Patience wasn’t Zip’s strong suit. Soon he was fuming in anger as he realized Cotton had abandoned him. After he searched town and found no viable transportation, it dawned on him that he was going to be waiting a lot longer.
§
The water was warm compared to the mountain streams of the Sierra and Lake Tahoe. It was time to go swimming. Deo was pitching stones with Eleon again as Lecti skinned off, and running into the water up to her knees, entered in a shallow dive. Aaaah, this was nice. She bobbed up and down in the low waves as the surface settled from the strong morning wind.
Eleon watched, slightly embarrassed. Twenty years of being alone had not kept him from appreciating a female body. He was old, not dead. Deo didn’t seem to be aware. Soon Deo joined Lecti, and after much urging and teasing, Eleon shed his leathers and entered the lake.
After plenty of splashing and laughing, the three crawled out and found a warm spot on a large, flat rock in the sun. It was a good day. The serious events of the past days were forgotten for the moment, and the future became the priority.
A discussion of a possible route, brought up by Deo, was suggested. He seemed to assume that Eleon was going to keep traveling with them. Lecti, too, made no mention of a parting. It had never crossed Eleon’s mind that he would stay with the kids.
There was a feeling of ease, of satisfaction in his association with them. He listened to them talk, letting them assume he would continue on with them. It was more of a fantasy to him than a reality. He was considering it, though. He had to admit that.
The sun bore down, and their skin dried. The wind started to pick up again. This time it was little more than a breeze. Eleon stood to put his clothes back on before the sun scorched his skin. Deo groaned and objected.
“Oh, man,” he said, “we don’t have to leave yet. It’s too nice here.”
The comment reminded Eleon of his kids. They rarely wanted to go anywhere with their parents and always complained when it was time to return home.
Eleon commented on the possibility of sunburn, and both kids groaned this time. But they rose and began to dress.
In one of his saddlebags, Eleon had some fishing gear. He tried not to make too many suggestions, but this is one he offered. Deo was enthusiastic, and though Lecti was less so, she agreed that fish would taste good for a change.
The afternoon was spent fishing after they moved to the north shore. That night they slept, smelling of their catch and nursing a full belly.
Another fish fry in the morning was just as appreciated. Freeze dried food lost its charm after several days. The original owners of the packets would have enjoyed the meal of fish just as much. It was difficult to scrub the smell from their hands without any soap, but sand didn’t do a bad job.
Watching Eleon loading the packs and folding the solar panels into the bike’s storage compartment, Lecti got an idea when she noticed Deo inspecting the motorcycle.
“What do you think about letting Deo ride your bike?” She asked, looking at Eleon.
The road was smooth and fairly flat, and Eleon was curious about the three-wheeler. It was a good tradeoff. He insisted that Deo follow behind them and only after the bike was on good asphalt. It worked out well. When they finally came to a halt in Fallon, Deo’s teeth glistened white in a dusty, brown face. Jenny was everything that Eleon expected and proved to be a fun little machine.
The best part was the company.
Chapter 23
Lecti, Deo and Eleon were in no hurry, but Fallon, once an oasis in the desert, was an ugly, unattractive place. They decided to camp there anyway, close to the river. At least there was some green.
After fording the shallow flood again, they found a spot close to the water in the shade. A scavenging run by Lecti and Eleon in Jenny provided some lawn chairs and a large, rolled up area rug to lie on. Water, stale licorice, and some jerky satisfied the late afternoon stomach rumbles.
Lecti brought out a pack of cards, and they all spent some time arguing about rules. They laughed a lot and in between hands spent time gathering driftwood for a bonfire. Night closed in, and after the fire burned down to embers, Lecti moved close to Eleon and lay her head on his shoulder as she watched the glow. He was warm in the cool of the night.
He did not know what to say. After the wonderful day, he did not want to ruin the mood. But, frankly, he was more than a little embarrassed. This kid was too young. More importantly, he was too old to be feeling like this. He didn’t want her to mistake his allowing the contact to be some kind of come on from him. He’d had it happen before, some woman getting too close to him and then turning it on him when she was rebuffed.
Thoughts and feelings swirled in Lecti. She considered her flight from Roseburg and the old men that she found so repellent. In the time since she and Deo had run, there were no men any better, not that there were that many anyhow. Her father would not have found any of them adequate. She knew it in her heart. But this man... he was different.
Eleon was educated. Some of the men in Roseburg were as well, but they all treated her like her own intelligence was not a concern of theirs. This man conversed with her as if he appreciated what she had to say. He listened and was careful to consider her point of view. And he treated her brother well.
It wasn’t that Eleon did not look at her as a woman. She felt his eyes on her as they played in the lake and as they sunned themselves. But he did not leer with the malicious intent of the others. He was hungry, but disciplined. He denied himself for the purpose of easing her mind. She liked that.
She inspected his body as well. The lines in his face and the grey in his hair belied the condition of his physique. He had a small paunch and old man hair on his arms and legs, but the muscles in his thighs, shoulders, and butt were full and firm, and well-defined. He was not unattractive.
The clincher was that he was kind. The horror of his past weighed on him terribly. Maybe that was why he made such an effort. It wasn’t that he couldn’t be brutal. He chose not to be. Falling asleep against Eleon’s shoulder, Lecti felt safe. It was something that she was consciously aware of.
Eyes reflecting in the dying firelight, Eleon had a hard time falling asleep. His mind was in turmoil.
The urge to pee woke Deo in the middle of the night. He stood and noted Lecti’s head on the old man’s shoulder. They locked eyes, and Deo froze. He knew Lecti was attracted to Eleon. What had started out as an interest in a father figure was now more. He also knew that Eleon was resisting. The loyalty and protectiveness Deo felt for his sister warred with his desire for her happiness. He was not sure that one precluded the other. He liked Eleon, even with his dark side. More than that, Deo trusted him.
The urge hit him again, and he stepped out of camp to relieve himself.
Morning kissed the camp in a golden light. Flying insects, mayflies, stoneflies, and others common to en
vironments with water close by began to warm and rise on delicate wings. It was too early in the year for cottonwood fluff. The river gurgled over the boulders at the edge of the road and slowly diminished. By the time all three people rose from their slumbers, the water had stopped flowing across the highway.
Sitting next to the water downstream, Deo contemplated his sister’s new relationship. He tore the bark off small sticks and threw them in the current as he mused.
Snoring lightly, Eleon lay curled around Lecti, spooning her body. She dozed in and out of sleep, unwilling to disturb him and perfectly content to slumber as she could. Finally he woke as a meadowlark called above them.
Sitting up and stretching as Eleon rolled to his feet, Lecti smiled up at him. He was embarrassed and unsure of himself. After meeting Deo’s stare last night, he did not know what to expect. He wouldn’t be surprised if Deo was pissed. He figured that the best thing to do was leave. Lecti would get over her infatuation and move on.
Pulling his chaps on and picking up his bag, Eleon started packing his bike. His face burned with an uncommon heat.
Realizing what was happening, Lecti moved to his side. She put her hand on his arm as she was used to doing with her brother. Eleon didn’t stop packing. He wouldn’t look at her. She could see the tightness in his expression.
“Do you think leaving will save you from me, Eleon?” She asked.
It was an odd thing to say, he thought. Eleon hesitated, and then met her eyes silently.
“You have regrets enough already.” She went on, “You’ve confessed to me your most precious secrets. And I’ve forgiven you. I have forgiven you. Now we need each other. I need you to listen to me now, Eleon. I have something to confess to you, and I want you to forgive me. I need you, too, Eleon. I want you to stay.”
He didn’t want to understand. She took his hand, and pulling gently, led him from the campsite. They walked upstream along the river, away from Deo, and Lecti spoke as Eleon listened.
It was hurtful to Lecti’s sensibilities to tell Eleon about the hour with Hal. She managed to keep from crying, and her voice only broke a few times, but her fingernails dug into his palm with enough pressure to hurt. The confession opened a wound that had festered for what seemed a long time. She told him about the men in the community that they fled. The murders that put evil men in power so that they could take young women as they saw fit. And she spoke of her father, frothy blood coming from his nose and mouth, laboring in his effort to tell them to run. Her guilt, because she did.
He listened and sorrowed for her. She was a young life in a world of hurt. It was a phrase he had used all his life and now realized the brutal reality. He had created this world for her.
She looked up at him from the fallen cottonwood trunk that they were sitting on. Tears welled but did not flow. He admired her courage.
“So now you know,” she whispered. “Deo doesn’t know about Hal, and I will never tell him. But we need to go back to Carson. The girl that helped you, that you said gave you a place to sleep, Hey You, is still there. We need to help her. She is so afraid.”
She let her eyes fall.
“And can you, will you, forgive me?”
Eleon kissed her forehead as he embraced her. He felt a fierce anger and an immense compassion. It was confusing, feeling so paternal and yet so much more than that.
“You don’t need my forgiveness. None of it was your fault. None of it.”
He enveloped her tightly, an effort to assuage her guilt and sorrow as well as his own.
As Lecti appreciated the comfort she whispered, “We have to save Hey You. We have to. It won’t be that hard to separate her from Hal, even if we have to kill him.”
Fully intending to do just that, Eleon suppressed his urge to tell Lecti. He would make sure that Hal could hurt no one else. He suspected now that Hal must have been abusing Hey You all this time, and Lecti just didn’t know it.
“One other thing.” Lecti was not finished. “I know that you think I am too young for you. Or maybe you think you are too old for me.”
Looking up from his embrace, she smiled.
“All you have to do is consider my options. There’s Hal and Zip and Cotton.” She hesitated. “And there’s you. You are the best thing that has happened to me in terms of a future with a real man. If you don’t want me, fine, but in this world I haven’t found anyone better suited to me. This isn’t a world of unlimited options. I’m lucky enough to find a man that I enjoy and respect. Think about it, Eleon. You mean a great deal to me, and you being uncomfortable with our age difference should not stop me from being happy.”
Entering camp, Eleon felt apprehensive.
Deo saw Lecti’s face and knew the time had been spent in an emotional uproar. They were holding hands, and Eleon was acting strangely protective of his sister yet embarrassed by it. Deo’s fear that Eleon would be leaving, though, seemed to be unfounded.
Deo walked up to Eleon and offering his hand, grinned and said, “Welcome aboard.”
Chapter 24
They broke camp. The miles ahead beckoned in a way that none of them remembered feeling before.
Lecti wanted to drive and asked Eleon to share Jenny with her. The leather chaps and jacket were handed over to Deo. They fit well, other than a need to tighten the belt several notches. He grinned as he climbed on the motorcycle.
Leaning out of Jenny, looking at Deo, Lecti’s eyes sparkled.
“We’ll stop at the building where we got her,” indicating the three-wheeler. “Try to keep up.”
She smiled big and hit the accelerator hard. The rear tire raised a cloud of sand as the trike fishtailed. Hitting his own throttle, Deo leaped forward. Off the line, the bike had an edge on the heavier vehicle. He stayed ahead by taking up most of the road. Lecti took his lead away when they hit the intersection where they turned toward Carson. Slowing on the loose surface, Deo yelled a good-humored gibe as Lecti burned past him. Eleon gripped the sissy bar in front of him with white knuckles.
By now, Lecti and Deo were comfortable with their abilities at speed. They enjoyed finding drifts to jump and obstacles to dodge. Eleon sat in his seat and enjoyed what he could. As the miles went by, the kids calmed down enough that he began to feel better about Lecti’s driving.
Passing Lahontan, Silver Springs, and then Dayton, a huge bedroom community better described as a suburb of Carson, the three travelers once again entered the crossing that led to Virginia City. They stopped on the top of the low dune occupying the intersection. The windblown surface held no hint of the tracks they had left so few days ago. Along the way, Eleon had noted the traces of tracks that remained, some barely touched and others almost completely erased.
A short discussion ensued. The garage Jenny was housed in lost its charm as a destination. There were other options. The flats were mentioned as a campsite, but Lecti was anxious to return to Carson. They had made good time. The sun was just past its zenith. Eleon pointed out that morning might be the best time to approach Hal’s fortress. Lecti’s brow furrowed as she fidgeted in anticipation of moving on and resolving the situation. She was worried about the girl that confided in her and treated her like a friend in so short a time. Not really caring one way or another, Deo stayed out of the conversation for the most part. Finally, after Lecti mentioned the contents of the garage where the three-wheeler was stored, Eleon suggested they at least go into Carson.
Lecti felt some relief. They were closing in on their destination.
They pulled onto the open concrete area in front. The roll up door was still open and beckoned Eleon with hints of gleaming chrome and new tires. He jumped out as Jenny rolled to a stop, and drawing his shotgun, he entered the doorway without waiting for the others.
By the time Lecti parked and waited for Deo to join her, Eleon had checked out the building for any trace of occupancy. He would have been surprised by any, but being in Carson and knowing that a man he intended to kill was in residence, he exercised what he felt wa
s an appropriate caution. It was difficult to walk past the vehicles without stopping to admire, but he intended to spend plenty of time looking once he knew they were safe.
Lecti and Deo joined him at the open door. He looked around at the surrounding landscape and buildings once more. Judging the chance of being seen to be slim, he invited the kids in.
Chrome, paint, tires, and speed. These machines screamed of power and wealth. It was a fix, an addiction, which contributed to the downfall of civilization and humanity. Bigger, faster, more expensive, and a reason to brag to others that prioritized the accumulation of wealth in order to buy more toys. All to stroke an already overly large ego, or alternatively, to compensate for a small penis. The reward of success was the ability to spend money on pride. Somehow, they never seemed to make the connection that the ability to collect expensive hardware didn’t mean they were interesting people.
Eleon recognized all of this and was still seduced.
He moved between the chariots of excess and pined for the past when he would have driven one. With all the years of anguish over the tragedies of the past, he could not help thinking about the misery and opportunity denied that this opulence represented, and yet he yearned for the testosterone rush of ownership, the adrenaline thrill of mind-numbing acceleration.
It would not do any good to express these thoughts to the young people he was with. They would understand, but telling them would not change the past or the future. Eleon kept his negativity to himself, and only spoke about the labor, imagination, and fun that these pieces of art expressed. Choosing to forget the down side, he began to enjoy himself.
Deo listened as stories of the past flowed from Eleon. Terms he had never heard before were questioned and explanations given. Four wheel drifts, double clutching, and torque curves were discussed. The information from a previous generation was expressed as Eleon shared stories that his father told him. It was a moment of time articulated in horsepower and burning rubber.
Monster of the Apocalypse Page 15
