Burn by Geoff North

Author:Geoff North
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2019-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Cobe had only been to Rudd once in his life, and when he’d left, the town had been set flames. All that remained now was smouldering ruin and the stench of death. They crossed the remains of the stone bridge and saw the carcasses of dozens of bodies left in the dried up moat on either side. The fire had been all-consuming, licking down into the chasm’s deepest pockets of waste, melting the skin from people mired in the waste-deep shit. Those that had made it through the cesspool had succumbed on the far side to smoke inhalation, their bloated bodies now being picked over by dozens of ravaging buzzards. There were hundreds more circling overhead.

The rotted corpses of Ivan Tevalov and Aleea Shon were still lying near the end of the bridge inside town. Cobe looked over at Jenny and wondered what could be going through her mind. Tevalov had attempted to rape and murder her on that very same spot.

Dust whinnied nervously and tried to pull away from the tangle of their bodies. Lawson reined him in. “Easy boy, they can’t hurt us now. You seen to that.”

Cobe remembered the old cryer’s violent end with grim satisfaction. The Lawman’s horse had pulverized his skull and face into the ground. The barrel end of Lawson’s rifle had done almost as much damage to Aleea. Their bodies were twisted together now in a stinking, dried out heap. It was difficult to tell one from the other, and Cobe didn’t much care to try and figure it out.

They rode into town.

“He found me here,” Jenny said.

“What’s that?” Lawson asked.

She slid off of Dust and approached the collapsed remains of Rudd’s meeting place. “Here, in my dreams. This is where Eichberg found me.”

Cobe had left Willem alone on Cloud to stand next to her. “Why would you come here in one of your dreams? I can think of a million better places to visit if I had a choice.”

“I was looking for my mother… found him instead.”

Lawson surveyed the damage around them. Ashes danced in the wind. Wisps of smoke swirled about the charred ruins. Everything was black and grey. “You ain’t going to find yer ma here.”

“You ain’t gonna find nothin’,” Willem added. “Do we have to stay the whole night here? It’s starting to get dark.”

The Lawman shook his head. “It’s what Eichberg expects, so no. We’ll set up outside what’s left of the town. When morning comes we’ll split into two groups and keep an eye out for him.”

“Which way will he come from?” Cobe asked.

Lawson looked at Jenny for the answer. The cryer shrugged. “I’ve seen him in my dreams, but he didn’t say where he was or how far away.”

Lawson turned his back to the wind and started rolling a cigarette. “He’ll be comin’ from the west, maybe north some, maybe south a bit. If he’s on foot, we’ll have time to prepare.”

Willem shivered. “Well let’s get outta here and start preparing. This place scares me.”

“Nothin’ left to scare nobody,” Lawson said blowing smoke.

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