Perseverance Read online

  Even before they’d left their apartment near the campus though, she’d thought of her grandparents’ ranch, and how it would surely be a safe refuge, if only they could somehow get there. She’d mentioned it to Megan and Gareth, but he shot down that idea immediately, saying it was stupid to go off and hide in the middle of nowhere when they were on the cusp of making a real difference here. Vicky was convinced then that he was crazy and dangerous, and that if he continued on that path he’d be arrested or killed. Gareth had to learn that the hard way though, and he did when he and several of the guys from the gathering set up a roadblock of their own to ambush a convoy of trucks bringing supplies and equipment to the now police-occupied campus.

  They mostly succeeded with their plan, stopping the trucks on a remote stretch of highway bordered by steep wooded slopes. But the ensuing shootout left all of the truck drivers and their armed guards wounded or dead, as well as three attackers from the camp. One of those who died made it back to the camp with assistance from the others but had lost so much blood that he died there in front of them all when they couldn’t save him. The squeamish among them lost some of their will to fight right there, but the trucks in the convoy had indeed been loaded with supplies, and the surviving raiders had hauled all they could carry with them when they fled. Unfortunately, when they went back to get the rest of it, they found it impossible. It was assumed that someone from the convoy had managed to call for help in the thick of the shooting. From the crest of a high ridge overlooking the road, the returning raiders saw that more trucks full of armed men had arrived at the scene of the attack. Worst of all, they had dogs with them and appeared to be readying to track down whoever was responsible for the ambush. From that moment forward, the mountain campsite was no longer a safe base of operations, and those that had been staying there had little choice but to disperse and try to evade capture. Many were unsuccessful, including some of their friends. Vicky now knew that one of those, a girl named Jena Adams, was among those who’d been rounded up. She learned this when Eric showed her the letter from Megan’s mom that led him here to the ranch. Jena was the one who’d told Shauna about the ranch and their plans to go there. She knew where it was because Vicky and Megan had tried to get her to come with them when they made their escape. Jena didn’t though, but now at least Vicky knew she was alive. Some of the others from the camp likely weren’t so lucky, based on the amount of gunfire they’d heard as their small group struck out into the wilderness to the south just in time.

  Gareth had reluctantly agreed to come with them, and Brett, Jeremy, Colleen and a guy named Aaron made up the rest of their party. Aaron knew the mountains better than any of them, and with his guidance, they finally made their way to the ranch after many long days of hiking with far too little to eat. All of them survived it, and Vicky’s grandparents welcomed them in. A lot had changed on that hike though--especially between Megan and Gareth. By the time they’d arrived there, the two of them were no longer a couple, but Gareth didn’t seem bothered by it at first. He was too busy getting on the good side of Vicky’s grandpa, smooth-talking him just the way he had Megan, in order to gain whatever advantage he could. Vicky thought back on some of the bullshit he’d told the good-hearted old man and seethed with anger as she lay there hiding behind the rocks. It was so unfair that that bastard was still alive, while under those stones lay two of the best people she’d ever known. And to add to the injustice, Gareth and his buddies had the nerve to come back here to his land, riding his stolen horses!

  She watched as Gareth tore open the MRE’s and divided up the contents with his buddies. She thought they might leave when they were finished eating the only food she had, but then Brett filled a bucket he’d found in the barn from the hand pump at the well, and they carried water and hay out to the horses. When they removed their saddles and took them into the barn, Vicky knew they intended to spend at least one night there, and now she was not only deprived of her lunch and dinner, but cut-off from her only shelter and facing a night outside in the freezing cold. Vicky was furious, and more determined than ever to figure out a way to make those jerks regret ever coming back.

  Three

  AS SHE WATCHED AND waited, Vicky thought it would be a lot easier to take back the stolen horses after dark if Gareth and his companions left them tied up outside the barn, which it appeared they planned to do. But a quick getaway into the night would be risky for all sorts of reasons, not to mention how cold it would be after sundown. If she were going to be faced with a night spent outdoors, Vicky knew she needed to reach a somewhat sheltered location while there was still light. It might be prudent to just leave now and walk, but she wanted those horses—not just because they’d belonged to her grandpa—but because she didn’t want Gareth and his two fellow thieves to get away with what they’d done. She wanted to leave them stranded on foot with nothing because that’s exactly what they deserved. Even if they spent the night, Vicky knew they might still leave first thing in the morning, long before Eric returned. She didn’t want to take a chance on letting them get away with the horses again, so she decided it was worth watching and waiting some more, just in case an opportunity presented itself.

  The rock outcrop gave her a good vantage point from which to do so, but the waiting was tedious. Gareth, Jeremy and Brett did little other than moving their saddlebags inside the barn from late morning to early afternoon. They seemed to be talking constantly, but their voices were too low and too far away for Vicky to hear anything they were saying. She knew they must be disappointed with what they’d found here and were probably discussing what they would do next. The old barn offered them little in the way of long-term accommodations. It was a marginal shelter at best, and completely insufficient for the much colder weather that would be coming soon when winter actually arrived, a problem Vicky had been all too aware of before Eric showed up. She would have been forced to take her chances by moving on, even if she’d had food, unless she began work immediately to gather sufficient firewood and attempt to improve the barn for the weather that would come.

  She was about to give up on any chance of making a move before dark when finally, around mid-afternoon, Gareth and Jeremy set off on foot across the pasture with their guns, leaving Brett behind to watch the horses and other stuff. Vicky guessed that they were either going out to look for signs of her, or perhaps to try their luck at hunting. Gareth had taken to hunting with enthusiasm shortly after they’d all arrived there in the summer, having already gotten a taste of it on the trek there. Aaron was the only one of their group who had prior hunting experience, and when Gareth expressed interest, he’d begun teaching him along the way. They’d had little success while on the move, and Aaron said that was to be expected, but once they’d arrived at the ranch that changed. Vicky’s grandpa knew where the game was in the surrounding mountains, and since he already knew how to shoot well enough, even Gareth was soon contributing to the larder. Knowing how to hunt was a useful skill to have now, of course, especially in a place teeming with deer and other game, and Vicky figured that what Gareth had learned of it was helping them get by. It made sense they would try their luck here today, especially since he knew where to look in the vicinity of the ranch. But regardless of where they were going and why, seeing two of them disappear into the trees on the far side of the pasture gave Vicky hope. It would be much easier to steal back those horses from one of them than from all three, and she made up her mind to do just that before Gareth and Jeremy had time to return.

  Of the three of them, Brett was the one Vicky knew least well. He’d been so wrapped up with Colleen most of the time that she and Megan hadn’t talked with either of them much, even during the long trek from Boulder. Colleen, they already knew from classes they had with her, but she’d met Brett more recently at one of the protest events right before classes got canceled. Unlike Gareth, he seemed to be the quiet type, and tended to keep whatever he was thinking to himself, or at least between himself and Colleen. As Vicky watched him
now, she wondered again what could have happened that she wasn’t with him here today. From the way those two stuck together, it seemed unlikely they’d willingly be apart for any length of time, but at least with her gone Vicky didn’t have to worry about getting the drop on two of them.

  She knew for certain what Gareth was capable of, because she’d already seen it. He wouldn’t hesitate to stop her from taking those horses by any means necessary, even if it meant shooting her dead. Whether Brett was as dangerous, Vicky didn’t know, but she had to assume so anyway and take no chances. She considered trying to sneak closer when his back was turned so she would be ready to quickly grab the horses if he happened to step back into the barn. If he were unarmed, she could probably pull that off, since she was confident the animals would recognize her and not panic when she approached them. Her riding skills were good enough for a quick getaway, even bareback, but the problem was that Brett was armed, and Vicky couldn’t ride fast enough to get out of rifle range if he happened to hear her or look her way at the wrong moment. It was simply too risky, so she decided the best way to do this was to disarm him first. While that was risky too, the odds were far better now that it was one-on-one. She was aware her window of opportunity might be short, though. Gareth and Jeremy’s hunt might turn into nothing more than a short stroll in the woods, and Vicky couldn’t afford to wait and see. Besides, she needed time to put some distance between herself and all three of them, so she could find a place to hole up and survive the night without fear of being found. She would have to come back tomorrow to try and meet Eric but figuring that out would come later. For now, her focus was narrowed to Brett and the three horses.

  Vicky could tell Brett was bored from the way he acted as she watched him. He sat for a while and then he stood and paced, mostly looking at the ground and seemingly lost in his thoughts, probably thoughts of Colleen, Vicky figured. She decided that rather than try and sneak up on him, she would simply walk up as if nothing had happened and she totally expected to find him here. While that would startle him, she doubted he would shoot her on sight or anything like that. And if he freaked out and yelled for Gareth and Jeremy, they were too far away now to hear him. Even if her appearance resulted in gunfire being exchanged, they were too far away to get back in time to stop her from riding away with those horses. Her mind made up, Vicky stood and tucked the Glock into the waistband of her jeans so that it was hidden in the small of her back, and then she boldly left the rock outcrop and walked deliberately through the pine grove straight in the direction of the barn. She kept her focus on Brett as she walked, and even though she was in plain view if he’d bothered to look up, he didn’t. When she was about 40 feet away, she decided she’d better stop and get his attention:

  “Brett?”

  When Brett heard her voice and looked up to see her standing so close, he nearly lost his balance as he turned towards her and fumbled with his rifle in surprise.

  “DON’T SHOOT BRETT! It’s me. Vicky!”

  “Vicky? What are you doing here? We didn’t think there was anyone around! We didn’t even know if you were still alive or not!” Brett glanced over at the two rocky graves as he said this.

  “My grandma and grandpa are not. But I’m still here. It looks like you found the last of my food though and helped yourself!” Vicky nodded at the MRE wrappers on the ground.

  “Sorry. We didn’t know those rations were yours. We figured some military assholes must have left them here.”

  “What do you mean, ‘we’? Who’s with you, Brett?” Vicky pretended not to know. “Colleen?”

  Brett looked at her with a blank stare before responding. “Gareth and Jeremy are with me. They’re hunting but they’ll be back soon. I don’t know where Colleen is. She went missing when we were out there in the mountains. We’d lost all our food crossing a stream. The packhorse carrying everything we had slipped on the rocks and got swept downstream in the rapids to a waterfall. We couldn’t find a way down there to get it, so we set up camp not far from there and went hunting for something to eat. Colleen stayed behind with the other horses and when we came back that afternoon, she was just gone! Her horse was gone too. We looked for her all the next day, but never saw anything. I wanted to keep looking, but Gareth said there was no use and insisted we keep going. We did go on for a few more days, but the hunting wasn’t any good where we were, and we never could really find enough to eat. It looked like we would starve if we kept on, so we came back here, because by then Gareth said there was no way Megan and Aaron could have made it all that way either, and that they were probably both dead.”

  “So, you came back here to see what else you could steal….” Vicky glared at him, after glancing at the three tethered horses.

  “We didn’t really ‘steal’ those horses from your grandpa, Vicky. We just borrowed them so Gareth could try to catch up to Megan. We were always planning on bringing them back. I’m just sorry he’s not here so we could explain that to him. What happened to him and your grandma anyway?”

  “It doesn’t concern you,” Vicky said, reaching behind her and drawing the Glock. Before Brett realized what she was doing, she had leveled it at his face, and had subtly closed the gap by several more steps, making certain she was close enough that she would not miss if she had to shoot. “Drop to your knees and put that rifle on the ground nice and easy! That belonged to my grandpa too, and you’d better be gentle with it!”

  “But Vicky! We’re friends! There’s no need to point a gun at me!”

  “Do it, Brett! I will shoot you if you don’t! I swear I will!”

  Brett followed her instructions this time, though the puzzled look on his face told her he was still surprised that she would point a gun at him. Vicky was dumbfounded to realize that this idiot really didn’t see that he’d done anything wrong. He was just like Gareth and Jeremy.

  “Now crawl backward away from that rifle on your knees and keep your hands where I can see them. If you try anything, I’ll shoot you, Brett. I’m serious!”

  “I’m not trying anything! I just don’t understand what you want!”

  “I want you to stay down there where you are, that’s what I want! I’m going to take my grandpa’s horses and leave. You three had better do the same when Gareth and Jeremy get back. I have a friend looking out for me now, and let me tell you, he is one badass dude. He’ll be back soon, and if he finds you here, you’re going to wish you’d never set foot on this ranch!”

  “You can’t take those horses now, Vicky! We’ll have no way to get around! What will we do?”

  “You’ll walk, I guess! And be glad you still can! I should shoot you anyway just on principle! Grandpa said stealing a man’s horse was a capital offense out here in these parts not so long ago and said that’s what all of you deserved when he discovered what you’d done. The way things are going now, Brett, those old ways are coming back into fashion. You should know that by now, you dumbass!”

  Vicky picked up the rifle from the ground while keeping the pistol pointed at Brett. She was keeping a tough facade, but she was truly glad that he was being compliant. She hadn’t had to shoot anyone yet since all this mess started, and she hoped she would never have to, especially not another college student her age that she actually knew by name. She backed away to create some distance, but she was confident Brett wasn’t going to try anything now after surrendering the rifle so easily.

  The old bolt-action Remington was one she’d shot with her grandpa many times during her summer vacations. It was a .22 Magnum small game and varmint gun that he always kept handy by the front door of the house, using it more for plinking than anything else. She was glad to get it back, but she wanted the other guns that Gareth and Jeremy had taken too—her grandpa’s deer rifle and shotgun that he’d so generously loaned them when they’d all arrived here. She knew that retrieving them wasn’t likely to happen though, and she felt lucky to have just the one rifle and the opportunity to leave with the horses.

  “You need to w
ait until Gareth and Jeremy come back,” Brett said. “Don’t just take the horses and leave us like this. They will want to work something out, I promise you. We should all stick together like before to survive. You should know that is a better idea!”

  “Bringing any of you here was a bad idea!” Vicky said. “All three of you betrayed my trust and betrayed my family and your other friends, including Megan. There’s nothing to work out. I just want all of you gone when I come back, and I will be coming back when my friend does.”

  “Maybe we’ll work it out with him then. He’ll probably be more reasonable than you’re being right now, Vicky; pointing a gun at me and all.”

  “Don’t kid yourself, Brett! The guy’s a former Special Forces soldier. As a matter of fact, he also happens to be Megan’s dad, and he’s already pretty pissed off that she’s not here! He’ll definitely point a gun at you if you’re still here, but the difference in him and I is that he’ll pull the trigger before you have a chance to open your mouth.”

  “Megan’s dad? Are you serious? Well, he’s a little late if you ask me. I think Gareth was probably right; Megan and Aaron are dead by now. They either starved or somebody killed Aaron and took Megan! I think someone must have gotten Colleen like that, because she wouldn’t have just left.”

  “That won’t stop Eric Branson from searching all the way to Aaron’s tribal lands. If she is alive, he’ll find her. But I’m telling you, and you’d better pass it on to Gareth and Jeremy: Don’t be here when he gets back, and don’t bother trying to find me, because you won’t! Good-bye Brett!”

  Vicky turned and walked quickly towards the hitching post where the horses were still tied. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Brett was still on his knees, watching her go. He didn’t have it in him to try anything alone, and Vicky knew she was lucky it had been him they’d left to guard the horses. She doubted either Gareth or Jeremy would be so compliant.