Couple Of Strays

2. Bear And Memories

"Fuckin' bears." Rip cursed, tearing at the mangled barbed wire strewn across the field.

"Should we hunt him down?" Lloyd asked from atop his horse.

"No. We'll give it a few days and hunt him at night, otherwise we'll cause a scene with the authorities." Hunting grizzlies wasn't allowed. He'd give the beast a few days head start before organizing a hunting party. He stared down at the giant impressions it's paws had left behind and shook is head.

"That's gotta be a huge motherfucker." Lloyd whistles lowly, checking out the size of the tracks.

"Just out luck." Rip grumbled and tossed the wires down in frustration. "Let's head back. Our tools ain't gonna fix this. We need to get materials." Lloyd nodded and turned his horse around, waiting for Rip to join him.

"That girl is still there." Lloyd informed him, though he already knew.

"I'd imagine so. She don't have a car of her own." Rip dismissed the topic. He wasn't sure what to think of her. She was different. Seemed tough as nails, but he could smell fear from miles away and she reeked of it. She was running from something, that much he was sure of.

She was the first girl to share a truck cab with him since Beth, and he felt oddly guilty about that. Just the thought of her made his heart pang with guilt. His final memory of her flashed back in his mind, making his cringe without realizing it.

"You alright?" Lloyd asked, noting the way he looked. His face blanching noticeably.

"Fine. Let's go." He kicked his horse into a run, wasting no time in getting back to the bunkhouse and clearing his mind. He didn't want to remember that day. He wanted to remember her as she was, not how he found her in those final moments.

"I'd rather kill a thousand men, than shoot another horse." He said sadly before firing a single bullet through the skull of the dying animal. Those damn birds were eating it alive. "Now you can fucking eat him!" He waved his arms angrily at the flock that obliged the command eagerly.

Nothing bummed him out more than having to kill such a beautiful animal. He headed back to his truck and sighed. Off in the distance he could see an even larger flock circling some other poor beast. "Fuck." He groaned and headed towards it, sure it would have the same ending. He never expected to come across what he did.

He didn't even bother coming to a full stop before he threw himself out of the door and sprinted towards his boss, the man he considered a father. "John!" He yelled out and slid through the dust to get to him. He was bleeding badly and propping himself against the tire of his truck.

"Help him first." He croaked, barely audible over Rip's heart pounding in his ears.

"Help who?" He looked back and felt his heart sink. A boy, no more than ten, was holding onto a woman and sobbing uncontrollably. "Keep pressure on that." He pointed to the bullet wound on his side as he ripped his belt off and fastened it quickly around John's thigh to stop some of the blood. He ran back, his hat old brown hat flying off and riding the wind over the road. He didn't need to be a doctor to pronounce the woman dead. There were two bullet holes that had pierced her skull. One came out just above her eyebrow and the other at her temple. "Let me help you." He said gently and worked to pry the boy's hands.

"My mommy!" He screamed and tried to reach back to take her from Rip, but he moved away.

"I'm going to put her in my truck and get her some help." He told him. It was a half truth.

"Mommy!" The boy screamed until his voice was hoarse and he collapsed into a fit of shrieks. Rip set her in the bed of his truck and turned, barely having time to move his head before he vomited all over the blacktop. It wasn't that it was a dead body. Hell, he'd created his fair share of them. No, death didn't bother him. Not after all he'd been through. But this wasn't just a body. This was a mother.