Search for Haven by Justin Oldham

Author:Justin Oldham [Oldham, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781935964513
Publisher: Shadow Fusion LLC
Published: 2020-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

Dar and Bellamy stood in an alley between two food vendors that was too narrow for most people to squeeze through. She ate a greasy hot dog with one hand while she fondled a big brass token in the other. “I give this to somebody when we get on?”

“Yes,” Bellamy confirmed while eating her own hot dog. “Just put it in the bucket. This your first time on a train?”

Dar nodded while she ate. “Sometimes, we can hear it. The horns. Tracks are too far away from the farm to ever see it. I have wondered what it would be like to ride a train. Seems to be a lot of demand for it.”

Bellamy licked her fingers and wiped them on her pants. “They mostly move people. Fruits, vegetables, and livestock are seasonal.”

“I know,” Dar acknowledged while she finished the last of her improvised breakfast. “We didn’t always have enough extra to sell. When we did, my folks would bring it to Belmore. The last few harvests have been a little lean. I haven’t been here in two years.”

Bellamy looked at her watch. “Okay, they’ve already started boarding. Time to get serious. I’ll give you your gun, but there are a few rules. First, don’t ever travel with an unloaded weapon. Safety inside your own home or wherever you live is fine and well, but you’re not at home anymore. I know things have gotten hard for you. They’ll probably get harder before you feel safe again.”

“I’m starting to figure that out.”

The detective pulled her backpack on to her chest. She used both hands to open it. She gave Dar the adjustable, detachable holster containing her semiautomatic pistol.

“Put that on inside the fold of your vest. It’ll be uncomfortable for a while. Might take you a few days to get the hang of it. Anyone who looks at you can see that you’re armed. Let them guess about the rest.”

Dar opened her vest. She unrolled the holster and positioned it under her left arm. “That is uncomfortable.”

Bellamy handed over all three loaded clips and the remaining bullets. “Put those in one of your outside pockets. The idea is to reload without hunting for them.”

“I know how to do this!”

The older woman remained placid. “Everyone who grows up on a farm thinks they know everything there is to know about guns. The last time I checked, cows, pigs, and chickens don’t shoot back. People do.”

“We don’t shoot chickens!” Dar protested petulantly from lack of sleep.

Bellamy waited for Dar to stow her gun and ammo. “Look around. Whaddya see?”

Dar put the box of bullets in her pack and zipped it shut. “People. Lots of them.”

“They’re getting on with their lives,” the officer commented as Dar closed her vest, “Some of them have already survived worse things than you did. They are moving on, which is what you need to do.”

“What do you know about losing family?”

Bellamy softened. “We see it all the time. Too often, really. The Taggerts and others like them do make a lot of trouble out here.

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