Page 55

John

“ W ell, he’s dumb as shit,” Danny said the next evening, sitting behind his desk at the outrider station. “Denied everything, but then when I told Claire’s side of the story, he flipped his lid and said she deserved it. So.”

“Piece of shit,” I spat. “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him on the spot.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that would’ve gone over well with old Jameson,” Danny replied doubtfully. “After all, what’s a little homicide between old friends?”

I blew out a breath of frustration. If he’d been outside the Valley, he’d already be dead. I’d gotten too used to handling everything myself, being away from home so long.

“Anyway, he’s got a formal warning to stay away from her now,” he continued.

“What if he doesn’t?”

Danny drummed his fingers on the desk. “Kind of uncharted territory. Not like we have to order people to stay away from each other that often. But even if we did, Claire’s an outsider. I don’t honestly know if the same rules apply.”

“You can bet Jameson will say they don’t, just to save his loser son.”

I paced the room, unable to stand still.

“Buddy, you’re gonna wear a track into my floor,” Danny said.

“Look, whatever the rules say, I’m gonna do what I can to protect your girl.

If he comes around her again, I’ll handle it.

The thing I’m most worried about is that you can’t go and kill this kid.

You’ve been an outside cat for too long. Don’t do something stupid.”

I exhaled slowly, reining in my anger. “I won’t. Even if he fucking deserves it.”

“Glad to hear it. Go get ready for the night shift. It’ll be you, me, and Will, and he doesn’t laugh at my jokes, so I’ll be fighting for my life over the radio tonight.”

Despite my mood, I laughed. “Noted.”

I briefly visited Kimmy at the clinic before my evening shift. She was showing Asha around the place, telling her about the job, and to my surprise, Asha actually seemed interested.

“But you’re heading off on another scav trip tomorrow morning,” Kimmy said, her tone teasing, “abandoning me again.”

Asha kissed her, and I just about fell over. Of course, I knew something had been going on between them, but I’d never seen Asha show affection in front of anyone before. Kimmy actually blushed, and I hated how much harder that made it to dislike Asha.

I think I’ve seen Kimmy blush a grand total of twice in my entire life , I thought as I walked through the lounge for the front door of the Lodge. Fuck me, I’m gonna have to start calling her my sister-in-law eventually, aren’t I?

There were a few people hanging out in the lounge area, including—for fuck’s sake—Zach Jameson. He was sitting by the fireplace with his brother, and he gave me a death glare as I walked out. It took real effort not to react, but I ignored him, and thankfully, he didn’t stir the pot.

I wanted to take it as a good sign, but I just felt uneasy.

Another night, another patrol.

As Danny said, it was just me, him, and a younger guy called Will who’d only started a couple months before I did.

It was two in the morning, and it’d been an uneventful night.

After hours of boredom, Danny decided to entertain us—or realistically, himself —by telling lame jokes over the radio every so often.

“Command to Ghost and Copper,” my radio buzzed for what felt like the hundredth time. “I’m great for protection. You use your fingers to get me off. What am I?”

I led Ghost in a canter towards the outer edge of the Valley. The night was calm, and though the air was still cool, spring was finally here. Soon enough, we’d start planting some of the bigger crops.

Meanwhile, I rolled my eyes and lifted my radio to my lips. “Seriously, man, how old are you?”

He didn’t reply right away, so I finished my perimeter check, then steered Ghost back towards the interior. I rode for a few minutes in silence.

“Ghost to Command,” I said into the radio. “Everything okay?”

No response. I frowned. It wasn’t like Danny to not reply right away, but maybe he’d spotted something. I kept riding farther into the Valley, but when another ten minutes had passed without a response, I knew something was wrong.

Will’s voice came over the radio. “Copper to Ghost: you heard from Command? Haven’t heard anything since last transmission.”

“No,” I replied. “Starting search. Stay on your route and wait for my call.”

He agreed, and I took off in the opposite direction to follow Danny’s patrol. He’d been on the northern route while I’d taken the eastern perimeter. It’d take some time to get there.

On the way, I kept trying to reach Danny, but he never responded. The silence of the night felt suddenly eerie. My chest was tight with worry. Danny was a jokester, but not about things that really mattered. He wouldn’t do this just for a laugh.

The northern route had the toughest terrain because there were only a few homesteads on this end of the Valley. The brush was thick, and the patrol path was narrow. The ground was rocky and uneven, which meant Ghost had to tread carefully .

The radio buzzed, and for a minute, only static came through. Then came Danny’s voice, weak and rough-sounding.

“Command to…”

He trailed off, and more static came through.

“Command, this is Ghost,” I replied, trying to keep my voice level. “What’s your position?”

No reply. My grip on the reins tightened. I continued along the patrol route, but I was slower than I needed to be. Static came through a couple more times.

“Danny,” I said into the radio, ditching protocol. My tone sounded more frantic than I liked. “If you can hear me, please tell me where you’re at. Come on, man.”

Nothing. God fucking damn it.

We reached a stretch of flatter ground, and I urged Ghost to go faster. The darkness deepened as we headed farther into the woods, and I had no choice but to use my flashlight. Almost as soon I clicked the light on, Danny called out, “Hey! Over here!”

I followed the direction of his voice, and just off the path up ahead, I came on the gruesome scene.

Danny was lying on his back on top of some bushes, groaning with pain.

He couldn’t move because from the knee down, his left leg was pinned underneath his horse, which was very dead.

The horse’s head was bloody; he’d been shot.

“Fuck,” I muttered as I dismounted, rifle in hand, and grabbed my medical kit from my saddlebag. I waded through the brush to reach him. “What the hell happened?”

“Don’t know,” Danny replied through gritted teeth. “Heard a shot, then Bolt tumbled. Tried to call you, but…blacked out, I think.”

I ran my flashlight through the trees all around us, searching for anyone nearby, but it was dark and quiet now. Owls hooted in the distance. Could someone be watching through a scope? I didn’t know, but I also didn’t have a lot of options. Danny needed emergency care.

“You hurt anywhere else?” I asked, dropping beside him.

“Don’t think so,” he answered, wincing.

I did a quick exam to make sure, but other than some gnarly bruising, the rest of him seemed fine.

I made a radio call to Will, telling him our location and calling for reinforcements.

Kimmy was working at the clinic, so she’d be the one treating him.

For now, I had to figure out how to move Bolt’s corpse off his leg as carefully as possible .

My medical kit had a small bottle of morphine for emergencies like this one.

I loaded the syringe and injected Danny.

I led Ghost over to the scene and unhooked a spool of rope from her saddle.

Over the next few minutes, I tied Bolt’s legs together, then tied the loose ends around Ghost’s shoulders, building a makeshift harness.

I hoped she’d be able to drag the dead horse far enough that Danny could slide his leg out.

“A few inches is all we need,” I said.

“That’s what she said,” Danny replied, but whatever effect he wanted was ruined by his laboured breathing.

“Danny, now is not the time,” I growled. I knelt beside the horse corpse, shoving my arms underneath it. I clicked my tongue to signal Ghost, and as she pulled, I lifted the dead horse upward, off Danny’s leg.

“Now!” I said, and with a horrible scream, Danny slid his leg out. I let the horse fall back to the ground.

There was no way to soften the blow: his leg was gory as shit. Crushed below the knee, and his ankle was turned at an unnatural angle. Blood oozed from the site of a clean break, where his shin bone protruded from the skin.

Danny’s skin was ashen and pale, and his breathing was fast and shallow. His eyes were glazed, but he’d relaxed some, which I hoped meant that the morphine was working.

“Johnny,” he gritted out. “Don’t leave me here.”

I reached out and took his hand. “I’m not going anywhere, buddy.”

I waited for what felt like an eternity for a radio call.

Danny passed out, which was probably for the best, and I wrapped up his leg as best I could.

Finally, more outriders arrived. Someone had driven their truck as close to our location as possible so they could drive him to the clinic.

With effort, we managed to get Danny over the rocky terrain and down to the vehicle without fucking up his leg even worse.

Some of the others stayed behind to investigate the scene.

When we finally made it to the clinic, relief surged through me at Kimmy’s presence. She set to work immediately, barking orders at us like a drill sergeant as she prepared for surgery. Granny would’ve been proud.

I stayed by Danny’s side while the others went to round up his family .

“John,” Danny croaked as Kimmy prepared anesthetic to put him under. “Gloves.”

I frowned. “What?”

“Gloves,” he repeated, like it was super important. “The answer was gloves.”

I stared at him. “To your stupid joke?”

He grinned like he was the funniest guy in the world, then immediately passed out again. I sighed. Trust Danny to give me the punchline even on death’s fucking door.

The days after Danny was attacked were grim.

Kimmy managed to set his leg—a minor miracle—but she predicted permanent nerve damage.

He may also walk with a limp. His ankle was broken in several places, and she’d done her best to set it and put it back together, but it’d likely never be the same.

She kept him there overnight, and his poor grandparents looked like they’d keel over with worry.

They depended on him more than ever, and he’d struggle to support them with the coming harvest.

Jenna was beside herself when she arrived at the Lodge. She’d always thought of her big brother as invincible. With Danny’s sense of bravado, maybe we all had. Isla joined her in the grand hall, where they sat and cried together.

I was exhausted, and the only relief came when Claire arrived. Seeing her beautiful face, even when she looked so worried, instantly made things a little better. She didn’t speak, just pulled me into her arms and held me close. I buried my face in her hair and inhaled the comforting scent of her.

An attack on the Chief Outrider had never happened before, and that scared the shit out of everybody at the council meeting the next day.

Worse, it’d been totally unprovoked. The investigation of the scene turned up nothing, other than that whoever had done this had been careful to cover their tracks…

and that Danny’s radio was missing. They combed the area searching for it, but it was gone .

I tried, over and over, to remember if I’d seen it when I found him, but I hadn’t.

That suggested his attacker took it. They’d also killed the horse but left Danny alive.

How had they found their way into the Valley?

And what were the odds that some random outsider had just happened to cross paths with Danny?

Nothing made sense, and at the council meeting, everyone seemed to feel either anxious or suspicious. I was in the second category.

I watched Jameson carefully as he led the meeting, Abby by his side.

To his credit, he seemed as shocked as the rest of us.

Unlike his father, though, Zach seemed agitated.

After his threats toward Claire, he seemed like the obvious suspect.

The problem was that he had no clear motive for hurting Danny or stealing from him.

He saw outsiders—and me, I guessed—as a threat to his family’s power, but Danny wasn’t.

That said, having access to the radio would give him insight into where all the outriders were at any given time, including me.

I clenched my jaw, watching Zach fidget in his seat.

The meeting ended with no real resolution other than we’d keep investigating.

None of us knew what to do, or who to trust. Violence was rare in our small community.

In my few months as an outrider, the most I’d ever had to do was break up a drunken brawl or mediate a heated argument between neighbours.

This was way beyond anything we normally dealt with.

The morning after that, I drove Claire to school, along with a hefty pile of books she wanted to bring into the classroom. Books stacked in my arms, I pushed open the schoolroom door…and stopped dead.

Claire’s mural, painted on the back wall of the room, had been defaced. Long, dried streaks of what looked like blood spelled out GO HOME, WHORE.

My blood ran cold as Claire followed behind me.

“You can just leave the books on the desk, darling,” she was saying as I turned to block the door.

It was too late. Her eyes got huge. “What the hell is that?”

Her voice came out high-pitched and terrified, and I rushed to do damage control.

“Turn around and walk out to the lounge,” I ordered. “This is a crime scene. ”

She did as I said, but I couldn’t erase the heartbroken look she gave me. I closed the door to the schoolroom and made my way across the building to the command center.

All we could be sure about was that this wasn’t over.