Aurora Quest

So at ten-thirty on the morning of December 25, she had him brought out in front of everyone and made to kneel naked before her in the snow. She shot him once through the back of the neck, the pale flabby corpse twitching in the crimsoned whiteness.

She had herself a merry little Christmas.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

As the two tractors, stopping for frequent refueling, rumbled their way northward throughout the long Christmas Day, the weather began to improve.

It became noticeably warmer, with a bank of dark rain clouds sweeping across the region from the northwest. It brought with it a torrential downpour, tasting of the ocean salt. Coming in from across the Pacific, it melted snow and turned roadside gutters into foaming streams of brown water.

Carrie was at the wheel of the first tractor, opening up the plastic side flaps and tying them up to give herself some needed ventilation.

Paul McGill drove the second one, whistling merrily to himself. Everyone’s spirits were higher since they were making such good progress toward the Cascades.

Sukie was maintaining her improvement with the course of drugs, and was even well enough by late afternoon to ride with her father at the wheel of the tractor.

The high spot for Sly Romero was when Jim allowed him to drive their tractor himself. The lad kept giggling and clapping his hands together when he was told he could give it a try.

Heather had been unhappy until her dad suggested that she could have the second shift at the wheel in the morning. She stood by the front observation window in the horse trailer when Sly took his turn, whooping her encouragement.

“Slow and gentle. Keep your foot light on the gas pedal, Sly.” Jim was perched behind the seat, ready to grab at the wheel or the emergency brake if it should become necessary. But Sly showed a surprisingly good touch, not rushing it, steering cautiously in the center of the blacktop, pulling around the occasional derelict car or truck.

“Dad sees me here, Jim,” he said.

It wasn’t clear whether it was a statement or a question. Jim answered him anyway. “He sure can, Sly. And he’ll be smiling that big special smile he had—he has—just to watch you, the king of the road.”

“Mommy Alison and… me remember his name. Randy. Slept with Mom in big goose-feather gypsy rover bed to stop her having bad dreams after Dad left. She wouldn’t have let me drive like this, Jim.”

“Guess she wouldn’t at that.”

“Someone ahead.”

“Where? Put the brake on a bit, Sly. Slow and easy. The autogears will handle it. Steer to the right… that side, and keep slow.”

The touch on the brakes warned Jeanne McGill, following on a dozen yards behind, that there could be a problem up ahead. Nanci Simms, immediately sensitive to the change in speed and the slight alteration in the pitch of the tractor’s engine, called to find out what was happening.

Jim replied, shouting over his shoulder and not taking his eyes off the figure at the side of the highway about two hundred yards ahead of them. “Someone pushing a baby carriage loaded with stuff. No cover on either side, so it doesn’t look like an ambush of any sort. I got the Ruger out and ready.”

“I’ll cover him with the Port Royale from here. Tell Sly to pass by nice and steady.”

He passed the instruction on to Sly, who nodded, his whole body tense with the effort of concentration. “Don’t stop unless I tell you,” warned Jim. “No matter what happens, you only take your orders from me. Got it?”

“Over and out, Captain,” replied Sly, feeling important.

Now they were less than a hundred paces from the ragged figure, who was moving along at a little above walking pace. Jim had heard Nanci relaying the message back to the McGills about the stranger on the road and he knew that they’d all be ready for any kind of unexpected threat.

Suddenly the person stopped, still hanging on to the handles of the baby carriage, and turned around to look at the approaching miniconvoy.

“It’s a funny man,” gasped Sly. “With a funny sort of face with holes and stuff.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *