The Plain of Bitter Honey by Alan Chin

Author:Alan Chin [Chin, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781602829220
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2013-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Aaron hoped the attack would make the Caliban tuck their tails and run for cover, but by late afternoon, Aaron spotted them again. Only a few were on horseback, and they weren’t moving nearly as fast as before, but they kept coming.

Gideon halted the group only long enough for Aaron to rip away Hayden’s shirt and dig out the bullet in Hayden’s gut. Fortunately, the damage was made by a small caliber bullet and didn’t rupture any vital organs. Only the threat of infection worried Aaron as he dressed the wound with Hayden’s shirt as best he could.

They cut due west, trying to elude their pursuers. No luck.

It was back to the game of trying to outwit them, but each time Gideon changed direction or took a course up a steep cliff where the horses couldn’t follow, it did nothing more than slow the pursuers for a while. Before long the Caliban were at their heels again.

“Those bastards must be half bloodhound,” Gideon said. At first he had been confident he could outsmart them, but his angry tone made it apparent he no longer felt that way.

That matter of time turned out to be two days. They had traveled most of the night, only resting for ten minutes every hour. Two days of constant traveling with no food and little rest had pretty much done them in. By sunup the marauders had gotten close enough to be heard. They were running as fast as they could, but were running on empty. They searched through the trees for a hiding place but found nothing. They cut along a deep valley between two ridges, a gnarled forest crammed with old growth trees as big around as a HumVee-X, but the landscape offered nothing in the way of refuge.

At the point Aaron heard horse hooves pounding behind him, Gideon called them to a halt. They stood in a circle panting. Gideon thrust his compass into Aaron’s hand and told him to lead the others due north, and whatever happened, he was not to head west.

“I won’t do it,” Aaron replied.

“There’s no time to argue,” Gideon said. “You trust me or we die.”

They held each other’s eye, and Aaron had the strange feeling Gideon was about to lean forward and kiss him, but Gideon whirled around and took off heading east. He yelled, “Faster, run faster,” as he clumped through the brush as noisily as an avalanche.

“Come on,” he hissed to Liam and Juanita. They raced northward for three hundred yards, until they heard shots echoing from the direction Gideon had run.

Aaron rolled Hayden off his back, propping him against a tree. Liam and Juanita sank to their knees behind another tree, panting and holding each other as if clinging to a life raft in a sea storm. Aaron took a few steps back down the path they had come, trying to peek through the trees to catch a glimpse of Gideon. He heard more shots and a hideous scream.

Gideon was dead.

His head dropped.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.