The Runner: The Author's Cut

Chapter 12

After our meeting in the Governor's Suite, we checked out of the inn and got our horses ready for the upcoming journey once again. We brushed their coats, threw our saddles and gear onto their backs, and saddled up once again, something I was starting to get a hang of. Once I was atop Ajax's saddle and comfortable, I saw a new message from Gwen and Jonas which included a picture of both of them together with the caption of "we miss you, baby, call us when you have service," causing a smile to ghost onto my face as I sent them a message letting them know that I loved them, that I missed them too, and that I would make sure to call them before we left St. Helens; a port town which would be our last taste of civilization before the coast. Checking my gauntlet, I brought up St. Helens on my map and let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was only going to be a roughly two and a half hour trail ride along US 30 from our current position, meaning that we would arrive just before noon. Checking the weather app again, I took note of the flood advisory in effect for our sector, particularly in the areas between Warren and McNulty which were the closest to the river. After powering down my gauntlet, ensuring all of my gear was ready and on hand, and adjusting myself in the saddle, I turned to the Marshals, finding Hayes looking towards me from atop his mount.

"Let's move, gentlemen! Adrian, you ready?"

"Yes, Sir!" I called out as I tapped my heels on Ajax's sides and brought him around as best I could to join the other Marshals. "Yah!"

"Then let's roll out. Yah!"

He dug his heels into his steed's gizzard with a mighty roar as the other Marshals and I followed his lead atop Ajax, struggling to keep pace as the other riders. I rammed my heels into his sides once and leaned forward while pulling the reins close to my chest, trying to emulate what the Marshals were doing, only to be caught off guard by Ajax's sudden jolt of speed, squeezing my thighs tightly against the large animal's body and let out a sharp gasp.

"You good, Adrian?" Hayes called back to me as I moved up the road towards him.

As we rode onward, I began to see more of just how drastically both The Fall and The Rip had affected the area beyond the city state, with marshes and floodplains drowning the once dry lowlands, abandoned buildings, wrecked and rusted Pre-Fall automobiles, and primitive trees that Hayes helped me identify as Metasequoia, Podozamites, Taxites, and early Hazelnut trees which grew amongst contemporary trees like the emerald green Douglas Firs, gray, leafless maples and oaks, and other modern foliage like ferns, club mosses, and horse tails. While air around us was both eerily silent, lacking in the sounds of industry and human activity, the environment itself was very much alive with bird songs, the northwestern winds blowing through the trees, and the sounds of our steeds.

"Hey, Marshal Hayes!" I shouted from my position in our small formation. "What are we going to do once we arrive in St. Helens?"

"Plan is that we stop there, get some grub, stock up on supplies, and stay on US 30 until we reach the junction for Highway 101 in Astoria. We'll take that to Fort Stevens. We should make it by Thursday if we keep pace and make good time."

"Understood, Sir. Thank you."

"Of course."

"By the way, sir, what kind of critters do y'all see out here?" I asked as I rode beside Hayes. "I saw a weird-looking rhino thing just a day ago on my way to Scappoose. It looked like a rhino, but it lacked a horn like all the other rhinos I've heard about."

"Well... sounds like you met a North American Hornless Rhino, what they called Aphelops back before The Fall. Though it is kind of strange that you encountered such a creature in these woodlands as they usually fancy the drier prairies. But, with how things are now, it doesn't surprise me. There's a lot more of them further East out near La Grande and in the plains of Eastern Oregon."