Page 52 of The Pale Rider
“Are you going to tell me what actually happened at the gate, Aeron?”
“No, because you were a naughty girl and peeked when you weren’t supposed to.”
“Aeron, I thought we agreed on no secrets.”
“Does it really matter, Ariel? Bad people died, and we stopped them from ruining a wonderful thing. You’ve seen your share of monsters since you woke up. I don’t want you to think of me as one too because of how I stopped them.”
“I don’t think of you as a monster, Aeron.”
“You aren’t focusing on what’s important, Ariel. Two more miles and we’ll reach the border to Mexico. Leif has a lab in San Quintin, and the ride there will be rough. Some cities we will pass through are overrun with Rage Heads, and some people who are still alive will slit your throat over an unlabeled can of food. San Quintin put up walls like California and cleared out the Rage Heads. That’s where the remaining military force is in Mexico, and if you think that scene at the gate in California was bad, it’s worse in San Quintin.”
“Then why are we going to Leif instead of Leif coming to us?”
“Because Leif has a top-notch research facility in San Quintin and armed guards to make sure he’s not disturbed. Those are pretty scarce now.”
I knew why I needed to meet them and do this, but I also had nightmares about the last time someone experimented on me.
“Aeron? Is Leif going to do the same things to me they did before?”
Aeron pulled me to his chest.
“Leif would never do that to you. None of us would ever hurt you.”
“But why? It’s my father doing all this, and it was my blood that caused all those people to mutate. Why did you approach me in that chatroom instead of just kidnapping me and taking what you needed?”
“Because we aren’t the evil guys, Ariel. If you hadn’t agreed to come, we would have tried harder, but even then, we wouldn’t have just kidnapped you.”
“Maybe you should have. Someone beat you to it.”
“No, we should have just played it smarter when you left. Your father probably knew Leif and I were in Mexico and was watching border crossings.”
“What’s the deal with all of you and my father?”
“Stay alert, Ariel. That’s the border to Mexico. Remember how it used to be a thing that the United States was so concerned about people crossing the border? Well, even though the United States took over Mexico during the war, Mexico doesn’t want people coming in now either. Let me do the talking.”
I remembered all the talk about some big, fancy border wall that would cost trillions of dollars and had so much controversy. There was undoubtedly a wall now. It looked like they crushed all the cars no one could use anymore and stacked them. There were military vehicles, school buses, and garbage trucks as far as I could see blocking the way in.
I couldn’t see a single person, just stacked cars. Someone had turned the side of one of the garbage trucks into a door. A little slot slid open, and two eyes peered out.
“Well, look who finally came back. I hope it was worth it. One of the gangs tried eating some Rage Heads they killed because they were hungry. You can imagine how that turned out. We send these patrols out to cut down on the Rage Head population, then these assholes go and eat their flesh.”
“It was worth it. I have what Leif needs.”
“Looks to me like all you did was pick yourself up a girlfriend.”
“Shut the fuck up, Martinez. Leif needs her.”
“She doesn’t look like any type of scientist to me. If Leif needed to get laid, he’s got plenty of options here.”
“Okay, that’s offensive,” I growled. “What does a scientist look like, anyway?”
“You look like the kind of girl who will beat my ass for checking you out and not a scientist.”
“Oh, come on. A scientist would totally beat your ass for checking her out.”
“She’s right, Martinez. You’re being a pig. Open the door.”
“Oh, fine.”
