In Times To Come - Displaced by Scott B. Williams

Author:Scott B. Williams [Williams, Scott B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Alan felt lightheaded and dizzy as he stood staring at his backpack. It seemed as if his entire world had inverted and he was afraid he was losing his mind. How was it possible that his backpack had arrived here before he did after it was stolen way out there in the wilderness? As he thought about it, Alan realized if it weren’t for the fact that the ranch had been looted and appeared long abandoned, then it was possible that someone could have found the pack beside the trail and brought it here while he was making his way back the long way around. But if everything else was as it had been before, why would anyone do that? How would some random person that found it out there in that canyon even know to bring it here, to this particular ranch? Alan was alone and as far as he knew, only Douglas, Valerie and Sierra knew he was out there. There was nothing inside the pack to connect him to this place if it was discovered by a stranger, so it made no sense at all that it was here now.

Alan went back into the tool room and sifted through the other things that were scattered about on the floor, looking for further clues. He didn’t find any of the expensive camping gear or the food that had been in the backpack, but he did find the zipper pouch that contained his compact travel-sized toothbrush and a small comb. The toothpaste and razor that had been in there were both missing, as was the small bottle of soap and a pair of nail clippers. He dug around some more among the clutter on the floor and also found his oldest pair of wool socks that had gotten holes in the heels after his first couple of days of hiking. There was nothing else of his to be found and he figured whoever ransacked this place had emptied the backpack and taken everything else that was in it. Alan wondered why they hadn’t just taken the pack itself and figured they must have dumped everything into another bag or vehicle and didn’t need it. It occurred to him they could have loaded his motorcycle into a truck or trailer too, instead of riding it away.

He carried the backpack with him and walked over to the house again, where he sat down on the porch steps for a moment to collect his thoughts. The things that had happened here didn’t take place over the course of a week; Alan knew that was simply impossible. A man like Douglas Timms wouldn’t leave the ranch his great grandfather had established more than a hundred years prior without a damned good reason. When Kurt’s mother died some ten years prior, Douglas had stayed there alone until Kurt was getting ready to deploy and moved his wife and daughter there to live while he was away. But now the three of them were not only gone, but so was almost everything of value that had been here.

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