Remnants

City vs. County

The road east was a long and lazy one. As all highways seemed to lead to Dallas, there were plenty of options to choose from. Jack and Leo led the party, the two former cops knowing the best routes through areas that had once been in or near their former jurisdictions.

Along the way, they passed through the forest that had reclaimed this part of the world. A myriad of trees that had grown abnormally tall since the Separation cast shade with the new green leaves that budded on the branches. Birds fluttered through the branches, squirrels chattered, and Jack even saw a doe and two new fawns trot across the road ahead of them. Spring was in the air and the woods felt alive and thriving.

"So, I hear you were a deputy before all of this. What's it like wearing a lasso on your duty belt?" Leo asked as their horses clopped underneath them.

"I don't know, what is it like needing backup on your calls? You city boys really can't handle things on your own can you?" Jack asked in good humor, engaging in the age old friendly feud between county and city law enforcement.

"Well, joke's on me. You got all that practice riding a horse before all of this so you were ahead of the game when the gas ran out," Leo said with a laugh, looking down at their two mounts.

"Buddy, I wish that were true. I would have been a lot less saddle sore in those early days," Jack said, shaking his head and ruefully rubbing his backside.

"You're telling me. I never would have thought my life would be this way, otherwise I would have put in for mounted patrol instead of narcotics," Leo said, nodding in agreement.

"What's it like being a narc? I always figured things got pretty dangerous for you guys," Jack asked.

"It wasn't too bad. Other guys had it worse. I mostly just bagged lower level dealers and pressured them to rat out their suppliers. That's why I have all these tats. Gotta look the part of the buyer," he said, pointing at his arms.

"Yeah, I feel like I wouldn't be able to look the part like you could," Jack said.

He had always been told that he very much looked like a cop. His posture, sharp jawline, and ridged demeanor betrayed his line of work and people often pegged him for law enforcement when he was off duty, despite always thinking he dressed just like anybody else when out of uniform.

Leo looked him up and down, and raised an eyebrow, "I think you're right, brother. You won't be convincing anybody you're a junky. It's a good thing your disguise for all of this is a bodyguard or you'd be in trouble."

"Yeah, I think you're right," Jack said, finally cracking a smile.

"What about you? Any special assignments?" Leo asked.

"I was on the SWAT team. And I was the team sniper. But I pulled patrol duty because we didn't have to man power to have full time SWAT guys."

Leo nodded, impressed by the man who rode at his side. "Ever have an call go sideways? I know things can get a little wild in the county."

"Just one," Jack answered, suddenly grim at the thought.

"Oh really? If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Leo asked cautiously.

Letting out a big sigh, Jack shrugged his shoulders. "It was a SWAT call out. Barricaded suspect with a hostage in a house. Negotiators did everything they could to talk the bad guy out or to at least let the hostage go but it didn't work. No clean shots for me to take as a sniper. Finally we got the go ahead to go in. We were stacked up on the house and getting ready to go in when the suspect started shooting through the wall. A couple of guys caught rounds on their body armor. I was all set up to be the second guy in and my buddy, Chuck, was behind me. He shoved me from behind and told me and the guy in front of me to get moving and get into the house. We go through the door and the suspect was there waiting with a rifle. The guy in front of me goes down and I put two rounds from my M4 into the suspect's chest. He went down but as I went to check the guy who went in before me, he tried to get back up to shoot me with a pistol he had concealed. Chuck put a round in his head and the fight was over."

"You're kidding me, that was you guys? I remember hearing about that. Something like three of your guys got shot. One of them pretty badly if I remember correctly," Leo said, baring his teeth in a grimace at the Journeyman.

"Yeah, the guy who went in before me spent a couple months in the hospital. He ended up having to medically retire after that," Jack said, blankly staring ahead.

"I guess the suspect didn't make it. What about the hostage?" Leo asked.

"She didn't make it either. When the suspect opened up on us, he shot her first. It was the guy's daughter too. She had just turned thirteen. We waited too long and he got the drop on us," Jack said, jaw clenching at the thought of something he had not dwelled on in quite some time.

"That's rough, buddy. You can't blame yourself though," Leo said.

"I know. I don't. But it took me a long time to realize-," Jack said before being interrupted by a thunderous, chesty roar.

George screamed and bucked, as did Leo's mount. Ahead of the riders on the path, a massive brown bear stood up on its hind legs, mouth open in another loud roar, black lips covered with foamy spittle. It looked at them, angrily. Hungrily.

Flipping the safety on Anya's AK into the automatic position, Jack fired a three round burst into the dirt near the bear's feet in an attempt to scare off the massive beast. The bear roared again, dropping to all fours and charging forward as Jack leveled his borrowed rifle at the enraged animal.