A pheasant spooked from some bushes on the near side of the road, and Kyle quickly reached for his shotgun. Before he could get it aimed, the bird had disappeared into the trees, and Kyle reluctantly holstered the weapon.
A thin layer of fresh snow that was sure to melt before noon covered the ground, and Kyle scanned ahead for any signs of geese or pheasant that might supplement his dwindling food supply. A few yards ahead he saw what looked like a set of human footprints trailing across the road.
“Whoa, Garfield,” he said, pulling back on the reins. He surveyed the area, spotting a thin wisp of smoke rising from somewhere further up the side of the mountain. Kyle reached for his shotgun but was stopped by a voice from the west side of the road.
“Raise your hands above your head!” the voice commanded.
Kyle looked for the source, his head twisting side to side.
“You understand English? I said raise your hands!”
Kyle slowly raised his hands. “I haven’t done anything,” he called back, hands up. “Just let me go on my way.”
“Keep your hands above your head. There are three guns aimed at you. If you do anything sudden or unexpected, it will be the last thing you do. Understand?”
Kyle’s heart raced and his hands shook a little. So far he hadn’t sensed life and death desperation in the people he’d met. Yes, they were scared and hungry, but in this part of the country the population was thin, water was abundant, farms and ranches dotted the valleys, and wildlife was everywhere. He’d seen quite a few fresh graves, some at cemeteries, but most of them close to houses or farms, so he knew that the area hadn’t escaped the impact of the EMP. Still, there wasn’t that deep desperation he’d seen in so many other areas. “What do you want?” Kyle called out.
“I’ll do the interrogating here, if you don’t mind.” A tall, skinny man stepped from behind a stand of trees, their thick trunks concealing him until now. His military-style weapon was pressed tight to his shoulder, ready to fire. “Why don’t you get down off that horse so we can talk, eye to eye.”
Kyle eyed the stranger nervously. “How do I know I’ll be safe?”
“I could ask you the same question, and seeing as you wandered into my territory, I think I have first right to find out what you’re up to. Capisce?”
Kyle took a deep breath and climbed down. “I’m just passing through. No intention to cause any trouble,” he said as he dismounted. He stepped away from the horse with his hands still above his head.
Two more figures slipped from the woods and took up positions near Kyle, rifles ready. “What’s your name?” the first man asked.
“Kyle Tait. I’m from Deer Creek, just a little east of Missoula.”
“Little far from home, aren’t you?”
Kyle nodded.
“Get lost on your way home from church?” The others laughed, but didn’t comment.
“It’s not Sunday, is it?”
“Not. It’s not Sunday. What are you doing here?”
“I’m going up to check on my parents. They live in Moyie Springs.”
“You waited five months, then left home at the end of January to check on your folks two hundred miles away? You take me for a fool?”
“No, I don’t. There’s a little more to the story than that, but that’s the short version.”
“You running away from problems? Kill someone or something?”
“I was accused of something I didn’t do, but couldn’t prove it. It was leave town or be killed. I chose to leave.”
The man stared at him for a long time before responding. “What are you doing off the highway on this road? We don’t like outsiders much, that’s why we’re here.”
Kyle heard a noise near his horse and saw that one of the other men had approached Garfield and was inspecting the load. “I come this way a lot, well, not this road, but the highway. My GPS took me this way once and dead-ended me at the river. Since I’m on horseback, I thought I’d save a couple of miles and cross the river with my horse. I’m hoping to get to Moyie by Saturday.”
The man lowered his gun, but kept it aimed at Kyle. “It’s dangerous out here, you know.”
Kyle nodded. “I’ve had my share of run-ins. You don’t need to tell me that.”
“The problem we have is if you’re a bad guy, and we let you go, it’s like we’re linked to whatever you do.”
“But if I’m not,” Kyle said. “And you do something to me, then you’re directly responsible for that.”
“But no one will ever know about it if we do, will they?” the man replied, his voice carrying a calm indifference that unnerved Kyle.
“No,” Kyle said, pausing. “I guess they won’t. I suppose I’m at your mercy, aren’t I?”
“Search his stuff,” Kyle’s interrogator instructed one of the other men. “See if there’s anything that indicates a problem.” The man motioned Kyle over to the side of the road and gave him a push. Another man followed at a distance while the third went through Kyle’s bags.
“Looking for anything in particular?” Kyle asked, watching the search.
The man beside him shrugged. “It’s hard to say, but you know it when you see it. Had a couple of guys come through here with an unusually large amount of women’s jewelry, some of it with blood on it. That wasn’t right.”
“What did you do with them?”
“The man thought a second. “Did you know that pigs will eat just about anything?”
“That sounds like a confession, and a threat.”
“You can take it how you want. Let’s just say that those two won’t be bothering anyone else.”
“So you just sit out here on the side of the road and execute the people you think are a danger to society?”
The man gave Kyle a dismissive look. “There is no society right now, friend. And what would you have us do when we find scum like that? The thing that makes society possible is for civilized people to live without fear of dirt like that. We’re safe. Got us a nice compound and just need access to the river down here. Otherwise, we’re pretty independent. But others around here aren’t as prepared. The least we can do is cull some of the riffraff who make life difficult for peaceful folk.” The man shot a thick stream of tobacco juice onto the ground near his feet. “You getting nervous?”
“No more nervous,” Kyle said, “than I have been every minute of every day since the country went down the toilet. As long as your friend there isn’t scared by a little bit of food and some dirty underwear, I should be on my way in a few minutes.”
The man stepped close to Kyle, his face just inches away, breathing his tobacco-laced breath directly in Kyle’s eyes. “You think we’re wrong to do this, don’t you?”
The man at the horse was opening Kyle’s clothing bag. Kyle bit his lower lip and cocked his head to the side. “You know what? I have no idea what to think anymore. I was put on trial and convicted for something I didn’t do, but I’m not mad at them for doing it. They’re all just as scared as I am, trying to survive from one day to the next with nobody else to rely on to do the difficult things.” He shook his head. “I guess we all just do what we can, and hope for the best. It’s not like the authorities can do much right now.”
The skinny man looked at Kyle, a poorly concealed smirk on his face. “You think the authorities are going to help you?” He let out a grunt. “Don’t get me started.” He turned to look at the man by Garfield and yelled. “We don’t have all day, Wyatt. You see anything wrong?”