600 Miles: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Read Free

in all peaceable then maybe they'd take me for a friend. I saw the lot of them gathered round the fire, eating their supper and talking about things I couldn't hear, one of the fellas suddenly hollering about something as he waved his arms around and made everyone laugh. It was a good way of laughing, it seemed, because there was always a difference between the way good folks laughed and how they laughed if they was bad. The sound of it, I'm saying. I'd learned that a long time ago, back in a time when I was still dumb about things and had to learn it the hard way, back then when I didn't know how many bad people was in the world.
    My hands was sweating as I stood there telling myself to get back down. I would have been plain to see had they looked over, because though it were dark there weren't too much distance between us at all. I started forward, still waiting for them to see me, but it weren't until I was close enough to see clear their faces that one of the women sitting there suddenly looked up and gasped, the rest of them drawing their guns.
    It was a right hard moment standing there, no one saying nothing, just guns pointed and faces all mean and scared. "Ho!" one fella shouted, astonished not enough to describe his face as his mouth hung open under that big hairy beard and I held up my hands.
    "Evening," I said. "Ain't no need for alarm. I just saw you folks and your fire and it sure was lonely sitting out there in the dark."
    They ain't say nothing, the ragged, dirty lot of them staring at me like I was the Devil himself. They looked far from being hungry, though they was still filthy and sure had looked a lot better from far off. Of the two women, one was old and the other not so much, like she still had some good miles to go. The men were of all sorts, though none of them too young, looking real rough and desperate, killers, it seemed to me, one and all.
    I spotted the big one again, the fella who had shot at my dog. Weren't no mistaking him, because though it were the first time he was seeing me, I'd looked at him long enough before. He just glared at me, wondering what I was all about. Then, sure enough he had a loose finger, raising up his rifle and popping off a shot.
    He should of hit me square, as close as I was, but the man was guilty of the worst shooting I'd ever seen and I ran. There was another shot, so close that I felt it zip right by my ear, then even more. I tripped and hit the ground but was up and running again, men shouting and shooting though ain't one of them bullets find its mark.
    I could barely breathe as I laid there listening, though they weren't brave enough to follow me into the night. I heard them shouting back and forth, cussing and telling each other which way to go, though after a while the excitement finally died down. I poked my head up but didn't see no one, and so off I went under the cover of darkness, the glow of their fire getting farther and farther behind me until at last it disappeared and weren't no trace of them at all.

Chapter 4
     
    Having narrowly escaped them people, weren't much danger left but the rattlesnakes and the hot desert sun, though despite how deadly they could be, the snakes was also some of the best eating around. There was a big one I spotted curled up in the dry bushes cooling itself in the shade, its rattle buzzing like it was real pissed at me for disturbing it as I was passing by. Lucky for me, the thing was too dumb to know I was fixing to make a meal of it until I trapped its head under a big stick, beating and stabbing at it as it thrashed around. It weren't long before I had skinned the thing, lopping off its head and cooking it up over my fire, my belly finally getting some much needed grub.
    I never saw them people again that day, which was a good thing no doubt. Were probably man-eaters, I figured, seeing as how they'd just started shooting at me without giving me a chance, just like they'd shot at Lucky. I was too fast for them though. I