The Traveler Series Box Set 2 by Tom Abrahams

Author:Tom Abrahams [Abrahams, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Piton Press LLC
Published: 2019-11-29T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

FEBRUARY 9, 2044, 9:12 AM

SCOURGE + 11 YEARS, 4 MONTHS

COLEMAN, TEXAS

Grissom slid uncomfortably from his horse. He held his shoulder and stumbled toward the center of the camp where the other men were loading up. They were ready to go. Nobody paid attention to him until Bumppo stopped him short of reaching Junior.

His face etched deep with concern, Bumppo grabbed Grissom’s collar and tightened his fist around the sweat-stained cotton. “Where’s Whisper?”

Grissom shook his head. “He’s dead. Battle got ’im.”

The lines in Bumppo’s forehead shifted from anger to worry. He loosened his hold on the shirt. “What do you mean? How? Where?”

“I dunno,” said Grissom. “It was dark. He was waiting for us. He had to be waiting for us.”

“Why didn’t he kill both of you?”

Grissom swallowed hard. He couldn’t look Bumppo in the face. “He wanted me to warn you.”

Junior marched toward them from his horse, rubbing his hands on his shirt. With his chin up, he called to both, “Warn who?”

“Whisper’s dead,” Bumppo told him. “Battle killed him.”

Junior motioned with his chin toward Grissom. “He’s dead and you’re here?”

Grissom’s dead arm hung limply from his dislocated shoulder. His face was stretched with the thumping pain that radiated from the misaligned joint. He nodded.

Junior shook his head. “Ain’t that something,” he said, unfazed by the revelation. “Go ahead and learn us about what happened.”

“He came from nowhere,” Grissom said with a shaky voice after taking a deep breath. “Just popped up on the road. Cut us off.”

“He killed Bumppo’s best man?”

“Something like that,” said Grissom. “He claimed he was lost, needed help. Said he’d been wandering. We didn’t know who he was. Then his horse shows up.”

“Shows up?” asked Junior, his voice sharp with incredulity.

“I don’t know where it was,” said Grissom. “Maybe he’d tied it somewhere, I don’t know. But it shows up and that’s when we know he’s lying. Like a flash he draws and fires, shoots Whisper dead. My horse spooked and threw me off.”

“Why didn’t he kill you?” interjected Bumppo.

“He told me to deliver a message.”

Bumppo and Junior exchanged glances. Junior stepped closer to Grissom and lowered his voice. “What message?”

Grissom’s mouth opened and closed again with the hesitation of a messenger who knew better than to deliver. He closed his eyes. “Battle said it doesn’t matter whether you got nineteen men or nineteen hundred. He said if you come to Baird, it’s where you’ll die.”

Junior gently put a hand on Grissom’s good shoulder. “Anything else?”

Grissom swallowed hard. “He also said…”

“What?” Junior prompted.

Grissom’s eyes fluttered and he looked at his feet. “He also said he’s going to let the same dog that killed your dad chew on your carcass until all he has to bury are the bones the dog doesn’t want.”

Junior’s hand gripped Grissom’s shoulder, his nails digging through the thin fabric of the shirt. His eyes narrowed and twitched. He stuck out his tongue and licked the corner of his mouth.

Grissom flinched like a dog expecting a backhand to the head. But Junior released his hold and backed away.

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