Page 4 of The Pale Rider
“Why wouldn’t you want a gun during the end of the world?”
“Rage Heads are drawn by sound and smell. A gun will draw every Rage Head within a fifteen-mile radius to you. Most smart people don’t use them anymore and have learned to hunt with bows.”
“Will you teach me?”
I was starting to think I would stay with Aeron long enough to survive on my own and find some place to hunker down. Why did he have my baseball bat from who knew how long ago and know what I called it? He said he was at that hospital looking for something and heard me pounding. I was guessing he didn’t find it and found me instead.
If he wasn’t looking for me, how did he know so much about me, and where did he get that bat? Something wasn’t sitting right with the mysterious Aeron and me.
I’d hear him out, but depending on what he said, I may or may not stay with him. He was kind of a grumpy fuck.
Chapter 3
T
he crazy asshole driving the horse did eventually slow down when we got to narrow roads with a lot of tree cover. Where were we anyway? I didn’t recognize any of this landscape, and I wasn’t getting any flashes like when I touched the bat.
“Aeron? Where exactly are we?”
“Waterville, Washington. It’s pretty remote. We won’t be staying. We’ll be meeting someone in Mexico.”
“Who said I was staying with you?”
“I did. I found you, I rescued you, and I’m claiming you. You’re coming to D.C. with me.”
“Excuse me? You can’t claim me if I don’t want to be claimed.”
“Don’t be stupid. I can’t protect you if I don’t claim you. Important things are waiting in D.C. We have to make pit stops in Mexico and Florida to pick people up. Then, we are going to Washington D.C. to stop the end of the world.”
“Well, don’t you just think you’ve got the biggest balls in the world?”
“I do. I’ve also got a plan that will work. I’m not asking you to like me, cupcake. I’m asking you to do the smart thing and help us.”
“How exactly am I supposed to help you with that?”
“Just trust me. Now be quiet. Scooter’s gang patrols these woods. They are trigger happy and cannibals. I have no desire to be eaten alive by Rage Heads or a bunch of human jackasses. Just stay silent for the next two miles. You’ll get your answers when I get home.”
I zipped my mouth, but I was dying to know what exactly happened that corpsesandhumans were eating people. And what the fuck happened to me that I slept through it and couldn’t remember my name? How long had I been in that hospital, anyway? Why did this blue baseball bat trigger memories for me?
I kept my mouth shut until Aeron pulled the horse up to what looked like a remote cabin. Was this what the world had come to? The cottage had high barbed wire and a trench with wood spikes out front. There was a wriggling corpse impaled on a pike as Aeron led the horse through the front gate.
It was a small cabin made out of logs. I was a little shocked when he helped me off the horse, we went inside, and he pulled cold water out of the refrigerator.
“I’m not an expert on the end of the world, but I thought everyone lost power. The hospital must have had backup generators.”
“That’s what this place has. I only run it for the fridge and the stove. I siphon gas out of cars to run it. I was lucky to find this place.”
“You don’t live here?”
Aeron just scoffed.
“Hardly.”
“Then, why were you here, and what were you looking for at that hospital?”
“First of all, it wasn’t a hospital. It was a research facility. I thought part of my plan was there, but it was incomplete.”
“Do you know why I was at that research facility? Am I from here?”
