“No one else knows,” she told him, feeling bold enough to lock her eyes with his to get her point across.
“No one. And I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t use this information against me, Jack.”
A tense silence passed as Selena realized that her bare moment of honesty had exposed her intimately to him.
He saw the intensity in her gaze and overwhelmed it with his own, but only for a second.
“No promises,” he whispered with a smal smile. The humor had returned to his eyes.
Selena made a face, grateful that the mask of normalcy had resumed.
He stood and offered her his hand. She took it reluctantly and al owed him to help draw her to her feet.
“Wel , that’s a relief,” he said as they slowly walked up the stairs. “Thought you were gonna keel over. You know, I’d have been blamed. I should get some kind of reward for not running the other way.”
“Shut up,” she told him, stifling a laugh. “Running would be the worst thing you could do.”
“You know, you’re right. Not sure I could recover from a knife in the back of my head,” he admitted as they walked back inside.
Selena forced her smile away before meeting Dan’s eyes. He only glanced at the two of them before returning his attention to his food. Selena hoped their entrance didn’t look suspicious. If he asked her any questions, she couldn’t lie to him.
When she took her place at Dan’s side again, she rested her hand on his leg. A glance at Loraine made her feel immediately vexed that she’d left the two of them in a room together without her.
After they were finished eating, Dan didn’t ask any questions, which was a relief. Her attacks were infrequent, so why burden him about it?
For the next three days, Selena continued her work on the clothes. She’d finished with Amy’s pants and they fit her perfectly. Now the girl was always wearing them. They looked very becoming. Selena couldn’t imagine Loraine wearing anything other than a skirt, since that was al she’d seen her in so far. She hoped that the pants wouldn’t look as flattering as they did on her younger sister.
Jack handed over the rope and camouflage netting as promised, and his flirtations continued. He wasn’t terribly discreet, but he wasn’t exactly going out of his way to antagonize Dan.
In the early morning, a few days after her last panic attack, Selena awoke to find Dan’s side of the bed empty.
She sighed, wishing she’d wake up when he was leaving.
Now that she understood his effect on her sleep, she knew it was a futile desire.
Blaire rang the bel for the morning meal as Selena dragged her feet out of the cabin. When she drew near the fire pit, she saw Jack sitting at the edge of his wagon as though he’d been waiting for her.
“Morning, Sunshine.”
“Good morning, Jack.”
The sound of hurried hoof beats interrupted whatever else he might have said.
Buck cantered towards them through the trees.
“Both of you tack up. At the summit,” Dan said when he was close. Looking towards the dining hal he let out a sharp whistle and pointed up.
Selena saw Cal ahead of her. He doubled back and hurried to his cabin.
“Bring the binoculars,” Dan ordered, wheeling back toward the trail.
Selena left Jack there and jogged back to the cabin.
She grabbed the binoculars and was back outside in a flash. When she found Jack again, he was standing in the same place with a skeptical look on his face.
She hurried toward the tack room, gesturing at him to fol ow.
“I don’t know how you can deal with that guy barking orders,” he said, fal ing into step beside her.
“He’s not ‘barking orders’. He just doesn’t have your gift of poetry,” she said sarcastical y.
“Now don’t go knocking poetry. There’s some real y good stuff out there.”
“Oh, stow it. Aren’t you wondering why he wants
you
up there? I know I am.”
Jack shrugged. “Maybe he’s found something that’s not a weapon and needs help figuring out what to do with it.”
“You’re obnoxious.”
He grinned proudly as they reached the tack room.
Cal arrived shortly after they did, and Jack quieted down. Selena wondered what Cal thought of him, but as long as he was pursuing Loraine, he’d have to be nice to her older brother. It was difficult to guess how they’d feel about each other if there were no sisters involved.
A few minutes later, the three of them were cantering up the trail.
When they crested the hil , they found Dan right at the summit, looking through his binoculars in the direction of derelict town he’d been in only a few days ago.
Selena sucked in a breath. They didn’t need binoculars to see the high cloud of dust that the wind was carrying to the northeast. Something on the ground was kicking it up, something big.
Dan handed his binoculars to Jack as soon as they pul ed up alongside him. When Selena could get her little pair adjusted, her eyes widened. She could just barely make out what looked like a huge herd of cattle. From this great distance, it was hard to be sure, but she thought she could see the tiny forms of people trailing for a long way behind the animals.
She shifted her gaze to Dan, whose attention was fixed on the scene before them.
“Holy shit,” Cal intoned slowly as he looked through his own binoculars.
Jack said nothing.
“Do you know anything about this?” Dan asked quietly, without ever moving his gaze from the procession.
They al knew the question was directed at Jack. He shifted in his seat.
blocNot much.”
Now Dan turned his gaze to the other man. A tense moment passed before he spoke.
“No gangs or posses, right?”
“What you’re looking at is not a gang. And it’s not a posse,” Jack answered after a pause.
Selena watched him careful y. He didn’t look as defiant as usual, but he didn’t look guilty either.
“Al right. What
are
we looking at?” Dan demanded impatiently, his eyes stil on Jack.
“They’re what used to be cal ed free-grazers. A band of people that herd cattle and move across the land with them.”
“Uh huh ...”
“It’s the best way to keep a large group of people fed, or the easiest way, at least.”
“Do you know them?” Cal asked, stil looking through his binoculars.
Jack shrugged.
Dan cocked his head. “You could be a little more upfront I think. They’re riding in from the north. Shane informed me that you were coming from the northwest.
Seems unlikely that you haven’t crossed their path, a group that size.”
“There’s not much more to tel you. They’re not marauders. They’re a community that moves. Men, women and children too. Far as I know, they don’t start trouble, but they don’t tolerate any either.”
Dan eyed him careful y for a few moments. “And you haven’t had any problems with these people?”
Jack shook his head.
“Then you wouldn’t mind riding out with me to meet them.”
Selena and Cal looked sharply at Dan.
“No,” Jack said with a hint of resignation.
“Good,” Dan said. “We leave in one hour.”
Jack turned and rode slowly back into the Crater.
“What are you thinking?” Cal asked Dan when it was just the three of them.
“Too early to say,” he answered. “I want to know what they’re about.”
Selena studied him. She saw a fire in his eyes that unsettled her. He had something in mind, but she could not imagine what it was and she knew he did not plan to share his thoughts before he’d assessed the people below.
“Don’t you think it’s risky to ride out to meet a group of God-knows-how-many strangers?” she asked him, not bothering to hide her incredulity. “What could you possibly want with them? You might be kil ed!”
“Don’t worry about that. Jack’s not tel ing us everything, but he’s not lying about the things he did say.”
“So you think it’s perfectly safe?”
“I’l get a good look at them when I’m closer. If I’m
“I’l get a good look at them when I’m closer. If I’m satisfied, I’l meet them.”
“You’re right. That doesn’t sound al that risky. So you won’t mind that I’m coming,” she told him firmly, wheeling to ride down the trail before he could answer.
“Count me in,” she heard Cal say behind her.
“It complicates things if a woman comes along,” Dan explained, back at their cabin. “Especial y one who looks like you.”
Selena continued to pack her essentials.
“I’m your medic. It’s irresponsible not to bring someone to patch you guys up if there are any …
accidents,” she answered, undaunted. Dan was nothing if not responsible, to the exclusion of last night’s indiscretion.
She’d chosen the word careful y. It was true that Selena knew a lot about medicine. She herself had nursed Dan back to health after the battle that nearly took his life those few months past. The knowledge had been passed down from her mother, who had been a nurse before the Crash.
“Fine,” Dan said. “But I need you to promise me something.”
Selena waited.
“You’ve always ignored what I tel you to do in dangerous situations. If there is any trouble, I need to know that you wil do what I ask, even if it makes no sense to you,” he stepped in and placed a hand on each of her shoulders. “Do you trust me enough to listen?”
“I promise I wil do whatever you tel me to do. Unless it looks like you’re going to die.”
Dan groaned in frustration.
“No one can promise to be in control of themselves in a situation like that,” she pointed out. “I could promise but I couldn’t be sure to keep it.”
“Just try. Promise me that you’l try, at the very least.”
“I wil do my very best to do what you ask, even if I think you’re going to die.”
He nodded, looking somewhat mol ified, then returned to his packing.
When they had everything they needed from the cabin, Selena fol owed Dan outside. Instead of heading to the tack room, he strode purposeful y to the kitchen.
“Blaire,” he cal ed when they stepped inside.
“Ya missed breakfast again. Becoming a bad habit,”
she scolded.
“We’re riding out. Taking Cal, Jack and Selena. I’l need provisions for us, plus a little bit of everything.”
Blaire nodded and set about stuffing a burlap sack with the produce she had stored in the cabinets. A lemon, lime, plums, artichokes and a smal pouch of green beans al went inside. Many other kinds of fruits and vegetables that they’d grown were careful y placed in it as wel . When she was done with the produce, she wrapped up the meats that she knew would keep. There was an assortment of pork, chicken, venison and turkey, smoked, dried and salted. Lastly, she tied up a few pouches ful of several herbs and laid them inside. When she’d finished she handed the careful y packed sack to Dan, no questions asked.
Selena watched the process with a raised brow. An offering, she assumed. Waving goodbye to Blaire, she fol owed Dan out.
In less than an hour, the four of them were mounted and ready to go.
Seven
The journey was faster than usual, extending three days instead of four. Dan was intent on intercepting the free-grazers by the time they reached the remains of the neighboring town. The trek was grueling and Selena had wondered if Jack had been with the wagon so long he had forgotten how to ride in the saddle. He hadn’t.
It was obvious that he didn’t see the point to the journey. Selena often caught him casting drol glances at Dan. In truth, she was as lost as he was about why Dan was so interested in these people. If Cal had any clue, he didn’t indicate it one way or the other.
Selena was vexed that she didn’t know his reasons for meeting with them, but that was nothing to the growing dread she felt at the pit of her stomach. It was difficult enough for her to adjust to being around the handful of people they lived with now. She guessed there were many more of these free-grazers, and every one of them was a stranger. She was beginning to wish she hadn’t come when they arrived at the end of the hil s and the trees that shrouded them. For her entire life thus far, Selena had preferred living in the open. She could always spot other people before they spotted her. This gave her time to secret herself away as they passed. Now, knowing they planned to ride through what might involve crowds, she felt completely exposed under the wide, empty sky.
As they rode through the old town, she nervously twisted her long, glossy brown hair into a bun in the hopes that it would draw less attention to her. At some point, she realized that she was fidgeting. Glancing at Jack over her shoulder where he rode behind her, she was perturbed to see that he hadnShe t missed it. Selena sighed. He knew far too much about her for her comfort.
The sounds of cattle had been audible for some time now. Dan’s timing had been excel ent. When they reached the edge of the ramshackle buildings, the band of grazers could be distinguished with the naked eye.
When her gaze met the scene before her, she wanted nothing more than to run with al her speed in the opposite direction. For now, she could only sit dumbstruck and stare in fear and awe. The procession of cattle had stopped. As the dust was carried away by the wind, she saw tents sprawled out in every direction. There were far more than she could count, and throngs of busy people were pitching them for the evening.
Selena’s vision was suddenly unclear and for a moment, she thought she was having another attack. But when she blinked, moisture fel from her eyes and she wiped it away quickly. Her heart was racing and she squeezed her grip on the reins as if it would help her get a grip on herself. She’d never seen this many people in one place in al her life, not even in her vague memories of her life as a very young child before the Crash.
Several men on horseback seemed to be forming a ring around their vast herd of cattle, which stood peaceful y now that evening had begun. She felt a little relief when she spotted six or seven children running and playing games boisterously around the outskirts of the camp while the adults worked to get things settled for the night. She studied as many of the latter as she could. They didn’t look any more menacing than her friends in Brian’s Crater, but there were so
many
.