Feral Nation - Convergence by Scott B. Williams

Author:Scott B. Williams [Williams, Scott B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

Ten

ERIC MET NANTAN AND the four he’d chosen to accompany them just after sunrise, and the six-man party started out to the north without further ado. In addition to the extra horse Eric was leading, they had three more packhorses with them that could serve as mounts for Shauna, Vicky and Jonathan if for some reason the other horses left at Bob’s place were unavailable. Nantan and his men were traveling light; with winter sleeping bags and bivy sacks and as much weight in weapons, magazines and ammunition as their other gear and supplies combined. Eric packed likewise, having already told them of the enormous stockpile of supplies Bob had stored at the cabin. Carrying food for the return journey wasn’t really necessary.

They crossed from Jicarilla reservation lands onto adjacent national forest property, and from there the Apaches led the way across a landscape of brush-covered rolling foothills well to the west of the Continental Divide. Nantan said it was a faster route than the high-country trails, and that they knew shortcuts that would avoid most roads altogether. Still, there were some that had to be crossed, and scattered ranches and communities they had to skirt around, along with barbed wire fences that presented obstacles for the horses. A couple of the men carried wire cutters for the latter, but in the places where it was isolated enough to do so, they used existing cattle gaps to avoid leaving traces of their passage.

“The outsiders moving in are rustling cattle where they can,” Nantan told Eric. “Soon, there won’t be any left.”

“Well, I can see that they would, considering how much ranch country there is out here. I suppose relatively tame cows are a reliable source of meat for those who are too lazy or lack the skills to hunt wild game.”

“Slow elk,” Nantan laughed. “They are easy to kill! And at the rate they’re going, most of the herds around here will be wiped out in a couple more months. The range lands out here are too big to patrol, and there are too many desperate people who are hungry. After that, I’m afraid if enough of those outsiders passing through survive long enough, the real elk and other game will become scarce too.”

“I’ve seen it before, in parts of Africa,” Eric said. “Never thought I would here though. It still seems so big and wild out here; so lonely in these mountains and deserts.”

“Some of it was, when most people still stayed in their cities and towns. But now that they’ve poured out of the population areas looking for someplace to go, you never know where you’re going to find them. Not all of them are bad people of course. Some are just folks with the sense to try and avoid trouble by going where they don’t expect to find too many others. The only problem with that though, is that too many of them from all those different places have the same idea.”

“And so, they bug out to

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