Read The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse) Online

Authors: K. A. Jordan

Tags: #zombie, #apocalypse, #horse, #archer

The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse) (2 page)

BOOK: The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse)
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"I've got our right flank. Alexis take the left. Shoot anything that breaks cover," Beth said

"Yep." Alexis brought her bow up, concentrating on her target.

Mist breathed in short snorts, puff - puff - puff. Beth scanned for movement, her bow ready, but she kept a deep seat to keep her horse moving slowly.

"Clear to the right," Beth said.

Alexis called. "Hey! Show yourself! Or I'll put an arrow through you."

"Three people," Dani told Beth. "Moving in."

There was a crash in the brush - Beth threw a quick look over her shoulder. Three ragged men rushed the riders and their horses.

Julie made frightened sound and the young horses snorted with fear.

Mist humped her back, threatening to kick the younger horses for crowding her.

"They're stinkers!" Julie squeaked.

"Go then!" Beth wheeled Mist in a half-circle, letting the young horses bolt through the last yards of brush towards the road.

"Head shots only!" Alexis suited her actions to her words and killed the closest one. Beth shot the second. The third one was so close Patch squealed and lashed out with both hind feet. It hit the ground headfirst with a wet squish.

"Move!" Beth ordered, nocking an arrow to her ear. She got the last stinker through the mouth. The stench of rotting flesh hit her and Mist like a brick. Mist cleared her nostrils with a huge snort.

"Ew!" Alexis gagged.

"Go!" Beth leaned forward and Mist bolted for the road, Patch at her heels. They broke through the brush.The other sisters and their pack horses where already crossing the clearing.

"Woo-hoo!" Alexis crowed. "Just like hunting coyotes!" Patch gave an angry snort as another ragged stinker crashed from the brush, followed by two more.

"Three more!" Alexis kicked Patch into a gallop. "Go!"

Mist surged into a gallop. Beth had her bow and arrows in one hand, careful to avoid stabbing herself or her horse. Her sisters fell in behind Mist as the mare charged down the side of the road. They ran until the stinkers were out of sight. They slowed to a long trot. It wasn't the most comfortable gait, but the horses could keep it up for miles.

Beth wanted a dozen miles behind them before dark. Mist appeared to think the same thing. The mare set an even pace and kept it up until late afternoon. As the sun started to dip to the west, they looked for a safe place to camp. At a turn in the road, they found a burned out subdivision. Short grass and cow patties told them cattle grazed there.

"I'd love to have a steak," Dani said with a sigh. "Can we hunt cattle?"

"The smell of fresh cow guts will bring stinkers We'll have to make due with a cold camp and trail rations." Alexis made a face.

"I like steak better." Julie tugged at her pack horse. "At least we've got jerky."

"This looks good, if the houses are safe." Beth pointed up the hill at three intact houses in a row. The middle house had a privacy fence around the back yard. The horses could graze in relative safety.

"Let's take a look," Alexis said as she swung out of her saddle. She motioned for Dani to hold the horses while she and Beth checked the first house.

The windows were broken, the furniture taken or smashed. Vermin rustled under trash strewn on the floors. Bows drawn, they checked every room in the first house finding nothing useful or dangerous.

The second house was in better shape. Trash from a squatter surrounded a fireplace. Beth tried hard to ignore the smell of mold as she ghosted from room to room. Luckily, there was nothing to see.

The last house reeked. Beth and Alexis started at the back door and worked their way through the rooms. There were animal carcasses on the floor in some rooms. The girls slipped out to the garage, and the smell got worse. Alexis pointed at a pair of freezers, crawling with bugs.

"Must have been full of meat," Alexis said, turning away.

Beth followed her back to the house with the fenced-in yard. A covered porch with a brick barbeque pit opened to a patio. The back yard was thick with grass and weeds. Three trees with new leaves cast some shade.

"This looks comfortable. As long you don't care about mosquitoes." Beth shrugged.

"Blood suckers win over flesh eaters every time," Alexis said cheerfully. Beth and Alexis walked back to the front yard where the others waited with the horses.

"The houses are empty, and the fence is intact," Alexis said, taking Patch from Dani. "This looks like a hotel compared to some of the places we've camped." She led her sisters through the gate. Alexis stripped off Patch's saddle and slipped off his bridle. She carried her gear to the porch.

"Should we mark this place?" Dani asked. "It has everything except water."

"We didn't mark the place we stayed last night." Julie set her saddle on the porch and hung the wet saddle blanket over the railing.

"That was a barn in the middle of nowhere." Alexis spread out her saddle blanket so it would dry. "There were holes in the roof."

Beth carried her saddle under the porch. "Dani has a point. We need to think about how we're getting home." The houses on either side made good cover. The privacy fence made turning the horses loose safe. The burned neighborhood would cover the smell of a campfire. There was a brick barbecue pit and a roof in case it rained.

"What if stinkers can read?" Julie asked.

"They don't have that much brain left." Dani rolled her eyes.

"If we leave a hobo sign at the entrance to the subdivision, no one else will know what it means." Beth made eye contact with each of her sisters. They shrugged agreement.

Beth scavenged a plastic planter from the house next door. She shoved it under a downspout to collect water in case they came back. The younger sisters gathered wood from under the trees and piled it under the shelter of the patio. Alexis scouted the other yards and found a bench and a table.

"Let's see how tonight goes." Julie rubbed her hand against the grip of her pistol.

"Relax, kid." Alexis ruffled Julie's hair. "I won't let the stinkers get you."

"Stop it!" Julie slapped her hand. "I'm not a baby."

"You'll always be my baby sister. Get used to it." Alexis gave Julie a one-armed hug. "Being a little scared is smart."

Julie rolled her eyes. She might deny being scared, but she didn't push Alexis away.

Beth grinned, turning away so Julie wouldn't see. Julie had never been out, without their father. Experience would settle her nerves.

As the sun set, they heard animals all around them. There were squirrels in the trees, cows lowing in the field, and coyotes yapping close by. As the night progressed, small animals scurried and pattered all around them, while coyotes sang slaying songs in the ruins of the subdivision.

The horses also kept watch. One horse dozed standing while the others lay down to sleep. It was how the herds had survived without humans to tend them. Now that instinct worked in the girl's favor. The horses always smelled the muerto long before they were a threat.

Even as they cooked supper and settled in for the night, the sisters kept watch. The porch had a trellis that made a good ladder to the roof. The moon was full enough for them to see the area around them.

*

 

Chapter 2

 

At false dawn, the horses got up to graze. Beth woke Alexis for the last watch. Beth snuggled into her bedroll with a sigh. After a couple hours of sleep, the sound of human activity woke her. Her sisters were up, Julie was cleaning hooves and Dani was packing gear. Alexis kept watch on the roof of the house. Beth pulled on fresh socks and her boots.

"There's coffee." Julie pointed at the barbecue pit where a coffee pot perched on a tiny stove.

Alexis crossed the roof, her rifle in her hands, to report while Beth poured her coffee. It was the last cup and full of grounds.

It didn't pay to be the last one up.

"There was a pack of stinkers on the highway, heading south."

Beth sipped her coffee, wrinkling her nose at the strong taste. She dropped the lid back on the Sterno can, putting out the flame.

Dani snorted. "I'll bet on the cows any day. Cows are dumb, but they aren't
that
stupid."

"Could you see a bull going up against a dozen stinkers? He'd smear them all over the ground." Alexis grinned.

"Can cattle catch the infection?" Julie asked.

"Horses don't catch it," Dani said

"Dog's die from it," Alexis said.

"Buzzards don't eat stinkers," Beth added.

"What about hogs?" Julie finished with her pack horse's hooves. Only the coffee pot was left.

"Hogs won't eat them, too smart." Alexis turned back to the road. She scanned the neighborhood with her binoculars. "You know, this is a good campsite. We're on high ground. The fence keeps the stinkers on the highway."

"We'll mark it and come back." Beth downed the bitter coffee. Just knowing muerto were on the highway made her want to get going. She packed quickly, then she saddled Mist.

When everyone was ready, they mounted up, opened the gate and filed out one at a time, Alexis was on point with her bow. Beth took rear guard.

Dani carefully closed the gate behind them, and put a locking link on the gate to keep it closed. She sprayed the hobo sign for safe camp on the door in black paint - an X with a line over the top and an eye on each side. At the entrance to the subdivision, Dani sprayed another hobo sign for camp. Next to it she put the sign for no water.

The horses settled into a long walk, skirting paved roads, trees and brush. The sisters avoided any area that alerted the horses. At an intersection leading to the freeway, the road was blocked with burned or abandoned cars, accompanied by hundreds of well-gnawed human bones.

"Gross," Julie said as her horse picked her way through the bones.

"Those are old," Alexis reassured Julie.

At noon, the girls ate lunch sitting on a fallen log beside a creek. The horses drank cool water and grazed on the thin grass.

Beth checked the map. The road they were on went straight through a small city. She wanted to find a safe route around the city that wouldn't add too many miles.

"How much farther?" Dani asked.

"I think we'll get there in another day and a half." Beth pointed at their location. "There's a small town right here. We need to pass it before we camp."

"Are we going around or through?" Alexis asked.

"Around," Dani said.

"There might be stores," Beth said deliberately teasing.

"There
will
be stinkers," Julie countered.

"Don't be a spoil sport." Beth elbowed Julie.

Dani shrugged. "Dad said not to take any chances. That's my vote: do what Dad said."

"Okay." Beth heaved a sigh. "I'm outvoted." She held the map for the others to see. "This is the best route. We need to find these roads."

Mist snorted, a loud blast of air that signaled danger. Immediately, the other horses raised their heads, looking in the same direction.

"Mount up!" Beth called.

Alexis grabbed the food as the other girls scrambled for their gear. The girls tossed their saddle bags onto their horses and quickly pulled cinches tight. The pack horses bobbed their heads, looking downstream, and their hooves tattooed the ground. Patch pawed the ground as he gave Alexis a 'hurry up' shove with his nose.

Beth cinched her saddle tight and sprang onto Mist's back. She watched the direction Mist's ears moved. She appeared to be listening for a couple of things.

"Mist has two groups of stinkers. What about Patch?" Beth said in a low voice. She pulled three arrows from her quiver, holding them with the bow.

"He's got something across the creek," Alexis said as she stood on her saddle for a better view. Patch bobbed his head, but he kept his feet planted. "I see movement. Let's get out of here."

Julie hissed as her pack horse spooked. "Stand still!" She grabbed for the lead rope, but the young horse pivoted away from her.

Beth shifted and pressed her left leg into Mist's side. The mare sidestepped to the young horse, pinning her against Patch. Patch snapped at the young mare. She reared up, backing away on her hind legs. Beth snatched the rope, yanking the young mare down.

"Beth, to your right!" Alexis slid back into the saddle. "Three stinkers on this side of the creek."

"Can't. Hands are full." Beth kneed Mist around in a tight circle, pulling the pack horse over to Julie. She handed Julie the rope. "If things get too hairy, drop the rope."

"Leave her for the stinkers?" Julie was wide-eyed.

"She'll follow the other horses." Beth turned Mist toward the approaching muerto. She saw them crashing through the brush. She nocked an arrow, taking careful aim at the closest one - a big male.

"I'm up," Dani announced as she swung into her saddle.

"Point," Alexis said and she turned Patch away from the creek.

"Rear guard," Beth said as she let the arrow fly. She took the muerto through the mouth. The remaining muerto collided with the falling one.

BOOK: The Emissary (Horse Women of the Zombie Apocalypse)
5.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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