Page 28 of The Pale Rider
Chapter 16
I
got my shit together for the rest of the ride to the train. If I was the one killing the zombies, then I didn’t have to worry about crazy horses throwing me off. I needed to be focused. I guess Aeron got a cue I didn’t like it when his horse helped out because he kept that mysterious sword out and we killed our way through the woods as a team. Let’s do more of that and less letting the horse out to play when I’m sitting on its back.
Meremoth brought us straight up to a train car. This wasn’t a passenger train. It was some sort of cargo train. If this place was swarming with Rage Heads and Aeron got surrounded when he slept in this car once, how was the horse still alive? Would he at least tell me that?
Aeron flung the door open, and we climbed inside. It looked like Aeron had spent a lot of time preparing this car. The crates were stacked in such a way that it would make an additional barrier to the steel door for anything that wanted to get inside.
He’d made this cozy little nest in the middle of the crates. He must have been looking for me or brought someone else here because there were two sleeping bags rolled out and a bucket at the very end of the car if we needed to go to the bathroom. I could see a case of bottled water stashed in the corner.
“This is great, Aeron.”
“It’s sleeping bags in an abandoned train car.”
“Learn to take a compliment, dickhead. It’s the apocalypse. We will not have houses every night.”
“You deserve a house every night,” Aeron muttered. I don’t think he intended on me hearing that, but there were great acoustics in an abandoned train.
“Aeron? Are you finally going to tell me the deal with your horse? It kills for you, and if you got swarmed when you slept here, why didn’t they eat the horse?”
“I’ll tell you this, Ariel. There are only four horses like Meremoth in the entire world. Meremoth and his three brothers are the only horses of their kind. That is why you think he’s not a normal horse.”
That made sense, but other things didn’t.
“How do you make your sword just appear like that?”
“Help me move these crates. We have to secure this place before we can sleep here.”
I hated it when he did that, but I also didn’t want to get eaten alive, so I helped him move the crates to make a barrier around us. Aeron just pretended like I never asked him about his sword as he plopped down with his rucksack.
“How do you feel about Cheetos and chicken soup for dinner? I’ve got some creamed corn, but I don’t know who actually likes that stuff.”
“What are you going to eat?”
“I’ve got ten more bags of Funyuns left. I would take the vegetable beef soup, unless you want it?”
“Cheetos and chicken soup sound great.”
“It’s cold, and we must eat it from the can.”
“Aeron? I know. I won’t complain.”
I was actually starving, but I’d never tell Aeron that. We had eggs for breakfast, and we only ate chips and water on our brief stop for lunch. I’d never tell Aeron that, and I’d be grateful for any food we had. There was no point in complaining about being hungry when the shit had gotten so bad outside. I knew Aeron was just as hungry as I was.
We didn’t have any spoons. I ripped the pop-top off the can and just drank from it. I’d worry about bad manners later. I slurped up that cold can of soup like it was my last meal, then mowed my way through the Cheetos. I grabbed a bottle of water from the stash in the corner to wash it all down.
I wouldn’t mind washing in a river. I was pretty sure I was ripe at this point, but what else was I going to do? I could stink, or I could get eaten.
Aeron gathered the trash and stuck it in a corner. It was getting dark in the train car, and I was having difficulty seeing. I had no idea what all those bombs did to the atmosphere, but the weather had gotten weird. It was always sweltering hot during the day and so humid, it was like walking around in soup. When the sun went down, the temperature always dropped drastically.
“We should get some sleep, Ariel. We have a better chance of avoiding the Rage Heads if we start early. The Rage Heads don’t sleep, but they go into a sort of a trance at night. It’s usually broken once the sun comes up. I learned that one the hard way.”
“Good night, Aeron,” I said, crawling into my sleeping bag.
I was about to wonder if I would have any more dream memories when Aeron pressed himself against my back and flung his leg and arm over me. What the fuck? He wasn’t drunk this time.
“Aeron? What are you doing?”
