The Day After Never - Purgatory Road (Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller - Book 2) by Russell Blake Page A
Authors: Russell Blake
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made his way back to Tango and saddled up, and then guided the horse south, skirting the property and giving the search party a wide berth. Once out of earshot, he debated whether to take the most direct way to Blue Springs or a more circuitous route; he opted for the latter in case there were multiple teams of trackers working. He had no idea when the women had left, nor when the miscreants had shown up, and it was more than possible that this wasn’t the first group to have worked the site.
Lucas recalled Sierra’s warning that the Crew would never give up looking for them, and had to give her credit for calling that one correctly. He wouldn’t have believed that their Loco cartel minions would have expended the effort to not only return to the bunker, where so many of them had met their end, but to locate and enlist tracking dogs – it wasn’t as though you could shake a stick and find those.
He glanced at his watch. If he was careful, he could reach Blue Springs by sunup or shortly thereafter. He just hoped that Ruby had the presence of mind to wait for him and hadn’t gotten spooked by the reappearance of the bad guys on her property. He didn’t think so, but people did strange things under pressure.
There was only one way to find out.
“All right, buddy. Sorry to put you through this, but we’re going to have to keep going,” Lucas murmured to Tango. The horse had been on the trail all day and had to be nearing the end of his endurance. If Lucas didn’t want to find himself walking, he’d have to give the stallion ample chances to rest on the route west – there were practical limits of what the animal could physically do, and Lucas was sensitive to the fact that he’d already put in a herculean effort.
Lucas allowed Tango to meander in the general direction of Blue Springs as he thought through their next step. They would need to find a safe place to go to ground – the springs would be a temporary solution, but they needed to put some serious distance between themselves and Pecos, and staying in the area of Loving was obviously a bad bet. But given the topography, there were few viable alternatives. West led into the mountains, which might be good for disappearing, but would be lousy for survival, especially when one of the region’s storms hit. East was effectively desert for over a hundred miles, with unknown dangers and, worse, was headed back toward the Crew’s territory. South lay the Locos and Raiders.
Which left north. The problem being that he didn’t know much past Loving, having had no reason to explore and potentially expose himself to danger. He knew that further along the highway lay Carlsbad, which was another armed encampment like Loving had been, and then Artesia, and past it, the larger city of Roswell, but if the cartel had put out the word about Sierra and Eve, which Lucas figured they had, any of those places could result in them being betrayed in exchange for a reward.
That one would be offered was a given. It was what Lucas would have done under the circumstances, and with the stakes as high as they were, it was bound to be a big one.
Maybe they would do best to split up?
Certainly, that would be the smartest for Lucas’s and Ruby’s survival – they weren’t the direct object of the manhunt. But Sierra and Eve would be dead meat. Just a matter of time.
No, he’d have to come up with a plan that would enable them to go to ground in a safe place and try to figure out what the note said. But no matter what, they couldn’t stay in one place very long. Remaining stationary for even a short period was inviting detection.
The thought didn’t bother Lucas much. He had nothing to go back to at the ranch, and Ruby had lost everything, so life on the road was no worse than waiting to fall prey to scavengers or the other marauders that roamed the badlands.
Lucas glanced up at the stars, and the sight of the heavens stretching to infinity calmed his racing thoughts. He’d
Lucas recalled Sierra’s warning that the Crew would never give up looking for them, and had to give her credit for calling that one correctly. He wouldn’t have believed that their Loco cartel minions would have expended the effort to not only return to the bunker, where so many of them had met their end, but to locate and enlist tracking dogs – it wasn’t as though you could shake a stick and find those.
He glanced at his watch. If he was careful, he could reach Blue Springs by sunup or shortly thereafter. He just hoped that Ruby had the presence of mind to wait for him and hadn’t gotten spooked by the reappearance of the bad guys on her property. He didn’t think so, but people did strange things under pressure.
There was only one way to find out.
“All right, buddy. Sorry to put you through this, but we’re going to have to keep going,” Lucas murmured to Tango. The horse had been on the trail all day and had to be nearing the end of his endurance. If Lucas didn’t want to find himself walking, he’d have to give the stallion ample chances to rest on the route west – there were practical limits of what the animal could physically do, and Lucas was sensitive to the fact that he’d already put in a herculean effort.
Lucas allowed Tango to meander in the general direction of Blue Springs as he thought through their next step. They would need to find a safe place to go to ground – the springs would be a temporary solution, but they needed to put some serious distance between themselves and Pecos, and staying in the area of Loving was obviously a bad bet. But given the topography, there were few viable alternatives. West led into the mountains, which might be good for disappearing, but would be lousy for survival, especially when one of the region’s storms hit. East was effectively desert for over a hundred miles, with unknown dangers and, worse, was headed back toward the Crew’s territory. South lay the Locos and Raiders.
Which left north. The problem being that he didn’t know much past Loving, having had no reason to explore and potentially expose himself to danger. He knew that further along the highway lay Carlsbad, which was another armed encampment like Loving had been, and then Artesia, and past it, the larger city of Roswell, but if the cartel had put out the word about Sierra and Eve, which Lucas figured they had, any of those places could result in them being betrayed in exchange for a reward.
That one would be offered was a given. It was what Lucas would have done under the circumstances, and with the stakes as high as they were, it was bound to be a big one.
Maybe they would do best to split up?
Certainly, that would be the smartest for Lucas’s and Ruby’s survival – they weren’t the direct object of the manhunt. But Sierra and Eve would be dead meat. Just a matter of time.
No, he’d have to come up with a plan that would enable them to go to ground in a safe place and try to figure out what the note said. But no matter what, they couldn’t stay in one place very long. Remaining stationary for even a short period was inviting detection.
The thought didn’t bother Lucas much. He had nothing to go back to at the ranch, and Ruby had lost everything, so life on the road was no worse than waiting to fall prey to scavengers or the other marauders that roamed the badlands.
Lucas glanced up at the stars, and the sight of the heavens stretching to infinity calmed his racing thoughts. He’d
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