Jessie's War (Civil War Steam) (13 page)

“I’ve gotten real good at
reading people since I left, and I think you’re a coward. But if you’re so
tough, prove me wrong.”

Angrily, she shook off the
hands he offered. She struggled to her feet and walked under her own power,
even though she only wanted to curl up and sleep.

She’d walk just to spite him.

They crested the last ridge
and found the horses, and Luke turned to Jessie and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Can you ride?”

Jessie uttered the most
violent Paiute curse she could think of, and she would have sworn she heard
laughing in the howling of the wind. She climbed on the rock next to one of the
horses and mounted.

Her vision swam, and the
bright flashes of light behind her eyelids had nothing to do with exploding
houses or cannon shells. She dry-heaved, but that just made everything worse.

Luke touched her knee. “You
did good. I knew you could do it.”

“I don’t need your approval,
Bradshaw.” She wanted to hold on to her earlier anger, wanted to stay angry
with him for calling her a coward, but she wasn’t. She even knew why he did it.

The sound of exploding
ammunition rocked her valley, and, as she looked down over the ridge, hot tears
stung her eyes. Her house, her memories, and the only life she’d ever known was
up in flames, burned up as if she and her brother had never existed. Anguish,
like white-hot lightning, tore through her, burning her heart until only ashes
remained.

“I’m sorry, Gid,” she
whispered, and put her heels to horse.

They kept close to the hills,
using cloud cover, weather and the terrain to hide their escape. The snow
continued to fall fast and thick, the small flakes an indication the storm wasn’t
going to let up any time soon. As they passed the still smoking remains of a
burned out crawler, Luke scanned the sky, his expression sharp.

Jessie didn’t need to ask
what he was looking for. She’d lived through the first shelling of Virginia
City, too. She remembered the airships descending from the sky. She remembered
the debris and the devastation. She remembered how Luke had held her that
night, and what he’d done to protect her.

Her eyes lingered as they
passed another crawler. This one wasn’t burned out. They could take it and make
their way down the hill. With its steam engines, it wouldn’t take long to warm.

She shivered. Luke caught her
eye and shook his head, and then turned away from her. She knew his answer. She
even understood.

A crawler would be too easy
to track in the dark. On horseback, the snow would cover their trail. But
without the proper tools, they could die of exposure. With little food and
water, it would be so easy to die out here in the high desert scrub.

She wondered if Luke was
making a fatal mistake.

Every muscle in her body
ached, and she’d lost all sensation in her limbs. As time passed, she began to
tremble violently, her fingers so numb she could barely cling to the horn of
the saddle to keep her balance.

All she wanted to do was
sleep. Knowing she’d die if she did, she wasn’t entirely sure she cared.

“You’re gonna hyperventilate
if you keep that up,” Luke said.

Jessie hadn’t realized he’d
been watching her, but he was right. Already, her vision swam, the edges
growing dark and hazy.

“Shut up.” She didn’t want
another lecture. Didn’t want to be reminded that she’d been weak back at her
house. She just wanted to be left alone.

He clicked to his horse and
was instantly beside her. He pried her hands from the saddle horn. “Jesus,
Jessie, you’re freezing. Where are your gloves?”

She clenched her teeth to
keep them from chattering, though it did little good. “I took them off at the
house.”

“And you didn’t think to
bring them with you?”

“I forgot.”

Their horses walked alongside
one another for a few moments, so close her leg brushed against his. Luke
pulled a small, round object from his pocket and opened it. Jessie heard the
snick of a switch being hit, and the object glowed faintly, the pale light
reflecting against his features. He turned in his saddle and studied the
landscape, obscured by clouds and smoke.

“What did you think was going
to happen?” Luke asked. “If we were going to escape, you didn’t think we’d be
going someplace warm and balmy, did you?”

Hot tears pricked her eyes,
and she didn’t bother to try to stop them. “I didn’t think the vault door would
explode. I was shocked and scared, and I—I forgot to pick up my gloves.
Arrest me.”

“You’re gonna get frostbite.”

She nodded slowly to no one
but herself.

“Whoa.” He brought the horses
to a stop. He took the packs off the saddle of her horse and put them on his.
Swinging himself on to Taba, he settled himself behind her and took up the
reins.

“You’re shaking.”

“I’m cold.” But that wasn’t
why she shivered in his arms.

Luke pulled her into his lap.
“Better?”

The heat of his body seeped
through her sodden clothes, a furnace she thought she should embrace but did
not want. It burned her in more ways than one. She tried to move away, but he
held her fast.

“What are you doing?” she
demanded.

“Trying to keep you warm.”

“I was warm enough before.”

He removed one of his gloves
and took her hand. “You’re soaking wet. You’re probably suffering from
exposure. We need to find some shelter.” He pulled some jerky from his pocket
and handed it to her. “Eat this. It will help.”

The dried meat dangled
loosely from her fingers, for she didn’t have the strength to bring it to her
lips. “We’re lost.” Tears scalded her cheeks.

“You might be, but I’m not.”
He dismounted. “Get off.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

“You need to move. It’s the
only way to raise your temperature. You need to walk.”

“I can’t.” Her voice
splintered in her throat. “I think my ribs are broken. I can’t breathe.”

“Hasn’t stopped you from
talking, so I think your ribs are fine.” He reached up and pulled her from the
saddle, and she only allowed it because she didn’t have the strength to resist.
When she stood rooted in her place, he barked, “Move your ass, Jessie!”

“You try walking when you can’t
breathe.”

“That’s horseshit. Join me
when you decide to stop being a daisy.” He took the horses’ reins and walked
away. Taba followed dutifully.

Traitor.

She watched his back, certain
he’d stop and come back for her. Only he didn’t.

He disappeared into the dark.

How like him to leave her and
not come back.

Walk,
Jessie
, whispered that
voice again, and it offered comfort.

She forced herself to move
her feet. Struggled to follow him into the night, step after painful step,
trudging through the snow in the direction he’d gone.

Once she was safe, she’d
never have to see him again. But right now, as much as she hated to admit it,
she needed him.

“Bradshaw?” she called.

“So you decided to live.”

Jessie whirled around to find
him about ten feet behind her, leaning against the brittle, twisted trunk of a
scraggly juniper tree, holding a bundle of sticks. Approaching her, he motioned
for her to hold out her arms. When she obeyed, confused, he handed the bundle
to her.

“You expect me to carry this?”

“Just to those rocks over
there.”

“I’m so tired.” And suddenly
so hot. She had to get out of these clothes, maybe lay down in the snow for a
while. Only the bundle of sticks in her arms kept her from taking off her coat.

“You’re doing fine, Jessie.
It’s just to those rocks over there. I’ll be there in a minute. I’m going to
get some more firewood, and I’ll be right there. Just go to the rocks. Make
sure you walk a bit, would you? It will keep your body temperature up.”

She swayed on wobbly legs. “No.”

Luke shook his head. “You are
the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met,” he said, but his tone wasn’t
unkind. “Just take the bundle to those rocks. I’ll bring the rest of the
supplies. Unless you’d rather build the shelter and see to the horses.”

“We’re stopping?”

“Yeah,” he answered, as if
her question was the most idiotic thing anyone had ever said. “What did you
think we were doing?”

“I thought you were making me
walk and carry your stuff for you.”

Turning his back to her, he
said over his shoulder, “I’m glad you hold me in such high regard.”

She shuffled in the direction
of the rocks. Her muscles stiffened and locked down, and her calves cramped in
her boots.

“
Move, Jessie
!” Luke roared.

She wanted to tell him where
he could go and what he could do with his orders, but she fought through the
cramping and the pain and forced her legs to move. Forced herself to keep
moving despite knees that threatened to buckle and take her down into the snow.
She clung to that bundle of sticks as if it were the most precious thing she’d
ever held in her entire life.

Sadly, she’d already held
that in her arms and lost him.

She refused to think about
that now.

Luke waded through the snow,
carrying a large armful of wood and some blankets. “Follow me.” When she held
her ground, he said, “If you want to stay out here, that’s fine. Or you come
with me and I’ll find us some shelter. You choose.”

Cursing in every language she
could think of, she followed.

He led her to a cluster of
rocks, mumbling something that got lost in the wind. When she rounded the
corner, she saw what he had in mind: an abandoned mineshaft.

The place felt eerie and
familiar and
wrong
.

She stopped at the entrance. “Where
are we?”

“One of the collapsed tunnels
of the old Shaeffer mine. It’ll give us some shelter for the night.”

“You’re kidding, right? This
place is dangerous.”

“So’s being out in this
weather. Come on.”

“It’s… it’s haunted.” She
stiffened, so hot she could think of nothing else but stripping down to her
undergarments and lying down in the snow.

“Don’t tell me you’re
superstitious, Jessie. I’d expect more from the daughter of the resident
scientist.”

And she’d expect nothing less
from the granddaughter of a tribal shaman. She might be her father’s daughter,
but that didn’t make her any less native. She wouldn’t trespass on the graves
of the dead unless she had no other choice.

“No, I’m not superstitious,”
she lied, following him inside, though the act took every ounce of courage she
possessed. The air was heavy and viscous, like moving through quicksand. “But
think of all the people who’ve died here. Everyone who’s entered the mine has
died. The place is cursed. It’s
burial
ground,
Bradshaw.”

He took the bundle from her
and set it on the floor. Taking out a flint and steel, he began the process of
building a fire. She didn’t know why he bothered. She wasn’t even cold anymore.

“Damn stuff is soaking wet,”
he grumbled as he arranged the firewood. “I don’t want to use the thermite
unless I have to. You see anything dry?”

Behind her, some old, dry
tumbleweeds clustered along one wall of the shaft. Hearing what sounded like a
shaman’s chant eddying up from the dark, low and melodic, she tried to convince
herself it was a trick of wind. She ventured into the darkness of the tunnel,
gathered the tumbleweeds, and brought them back.

“Perfect. You’re not as
useless as you pretend to be.”

“Try to be nice.” She looked
down into the dark behind her, the deep and endless dark. Whispers wafted over
her, and she felt the pull of magic. “I… I…”

The flint sparked and the
tumbleweeds caught fire. “Oh, thank God.” Luke put some of the tinder on the
flames and stepped away as the fire crackled to life and the acrid smoke of wet
wood filled the shaft. His dark duster swirled about his ankles as he
approached Jessie, and something about the way he moved seemed otherworldly and
dangerous. He put his hands on her shoulders. “We won’t take anything from your
ancestors. It’s not the same as with the miners. This is for survival. I’m sure
they’ll offer us their hospitality if we ask for it.”

After all this time, he still
understood her heart so well. This time, when his fingers grazed her face, she
didn’t resist him. She allowed the contact of his skin against hers, and wanted
to remember what they’d once shared. She wanted to take comfort in this man who
had once meant so much.

And then he broke her
reverie. “All right, take off your clothes.”

“What the hell, Bradshaw?”
She shoved him hard.