I was pretty much dressed the same way: blue jeans, a deep green shirt, and the same kind of black boots. I even had a bandana around my neck. Dr. Zetlin’s fantasy was something right out of the Old West, which raised a weird question. Was there an Old West on Veelox? I guess there had to be, because we were in it.
Loor knelt down and picked up a handful of dirt, then let it spill through her fingers.
“It is real,” she said. “How can that be?”
“It’s real because our minds are telling us it is,” I answered. “Or Zetlin’s mind is telling us it is.”
Loor stood up and gazed around at the canyon. “This is what the man Zetlin is thinking?”
“Yeah,” I said. “He must have wanted to be a cowboy when he grew up.”
“What is a cowboy?” Loor asked.
Before I could answer, I heard a sound. It was a rumble, like far-off thunder.
“You hear that?” I asked.
The curious look on her face told me she did. We both stood there, listening, as the rumbling grew louder.
“It is coming from that direction,” Loor said and pointed deeper into the canyon.
Behind us the canyon walls made a sharp turn. There was no way to know what lay beyond. But Loor was right. Whatever was making that sound was around the bend, and getting louder. That meant it was coming closer. I took a quick look in the other direction. The mouth of the canyon had to be at least a half mile away.
“Look,” Loor said.
I looked back the other way to see a huge, brown cloud of dirt drifting out from around the bend in the canyon. What was coming? A storm? A rock slide? Godzilla? The thunder grew louder. The sound bounced off the walls of the canyon. Whatever was making that sound, it didn’t seem happy. I took another quick look around to see if there was a place we could hide. But the rock walls to either side of us were steep and unforgiving. No way we could climb up. If we were in trouble, the only safe place would be out of this canyon… a half mile away.
I kept my eyes on the bend in the canyon, but started to back toward the mouth.
“I think we’d better get outta here,” I said.
“If this is happening in Zetlin’s head, are we in danger?” Loor asked.
“That depends,” I answered.
“On what?”
“On what’s coming around that corner.”
A second later we had our answer. Charging around the bend of the canyon, running full throttle, was a herd of cattle. There must have been a thousand of them, headed right for us.
“Stampede!” I shouted. “Run!”
Loor and I turned and sprinted away from the charging mass of animals. I took a quick look back and saw that the swarm of beasts was packed nearly wall-to-wall in the canyon, all snorting and grunting with wild eyes. I’ll bet the animals in front of the herd were just as scared as we were. If one of them went down, they’d be trampled by the others charging up from behind. No way they were going to stop. They were running for their lives. Just like us.
“What are they?” asked Loor breathlessly. “Do they eat meat?”
“No, but if they catch us there won’t be anything left to eat anyway!”
There was no place to go for protection. We had to get out of that canyon. But it was too far away. No way could we outrun this charging herd. I looked back again and saw that they were catching up, fast. It was like racing against an avalanche and we were losing. I started to feel the prickle of grit on my neck from the cloud of dirt they were stirring up. In seconds we’d be roadkill. Or canyonkill.
“There!” shouted Loor.
She pointed to the canyon wall ahead of us, where I saw a single, brown vine that snaked down from somewhere above.
“Follow me!” Loor ordered, and ran for it.
There was only one vine. Even if it was strong enough, which I wasn’t sure about, there was barely time for one of us to climb. The herd would be on us in seconds.
“Jump on my back!” Loor commanded.
What? Was she crazy?
“Now!” she demanded, and grabbed the vine.
I wasn’t about to argue. I could feel the ground rumble with the thumping of oncoming hooves. Loor grabbed the vine and I grabbed Loor, wrapping my arms around her neck. She climbed, hand over hand, with her boots on the wall, walking up. I dangled from her neck, hoping she had the strength to do this and hoping the vine was strong enough to hold us both.
The cattle were on us. But we were high enough to be out of harm’s way. They charged past as if we weren’t even there. The mass of animals thundered by only inches below us. I could feel the heat coming up from their bodies. Or maybe it was my own sweat.
“You okay?” I asked Loor.
Loor gave a quick nod. No problem. I could feel the strength in her shoulders and arms. I shouldn’t have doubted her. This was cake for her. Now all we had to worry about was whether the vine would hold until the herd was past.
The cattle kept coming. I couldn’t believe how many there were. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the herd started to thin, so they weren’t close to the canyon wall anymore.
And the vine snapped. Loor and I tumbled to the dirt. Luckily I broke Loor’s fall. Lucky for her, that is. It wasn’t so hot for me. She landed on me full force and knocked the wind out of my lungs. Ooof! It took me about a minute to catch my breath, but I didn’t care. We had survived. I glanced up and saw a few straggling cattle trotting after the herd. The rumbling sound of hooves grew faint. I glanced to the end of the canyon and saw the herd spreading out over the green meadow.
“How do you feel?” Loor asked. She was sitting in the dirt, barely winded from the ordeal.
“I feel like a genius,” I said.
“A genius?”
“We’ve only been here two minutes and you’ve already saved my butt. I knew it was the right move to bring you along. Thanks, Loor.”
Loor stood up and helped me to my feet. We started to brush the dust off our clothes when we heard: “What in blazes are you two doing here?”
We looked up to see two cowboys on horseback trotting up to us. These guys were definitely out of the Old West, complete with cowboy hats, leather chaps, and coils of rope around the horns of their saddles.
Neither looked like Dr. Zetlin.
One cowboy asked, “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, we’re fine,” I answered.
“We checked the whole canyon before we drove the herd through,” the other cowboy said. “Where did you two come from?”
“We must have wandered in right after you checked,” I said. It was sort of the truth.
“You coulda gotten killed! What’re you doing all the way up here?”
“We’re looking for somebody,” I answered. “Up here? In the pass?” the first cowboy asked, totally confused.
“Yeah, well, we got lost,” I said. “His name is Zetlin. Do you know him?”
The first cowboy looked at the other and asked, “That the name of the fella staying down in Old Glenville?”
“Could be,” the second cowboy said with a shrug.
The first guy then looked at me and Loor and said, “There’s a man living down in town who might be the one you’re looking for. You been through there?”
“No,” I said with growing excitement. “Could you point the way?”
“Sure,” he answered. “Where are your horses?” Loor and I looked at each other and shrugged. “We lost ‘em,” I said. Wow, could I have given a more lame excuse?
“Lost your horses?” the second cowboy exclaimed. “How did you go and do that?”
“Long story,” I said. “We can walk.”
“It’s too far,” the first cowboy said. “We’ll lend you horses.”
“Really? That’s great!”
“Climb on,” the second guy said.
Loor and I each climbed on to the back of one of the horses, behind the cowboys. A second later we were trotting out of the canyon. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but way better than walking.