The Pass — The Battlefield Z series
From THE PASS — The Battlefield Z series
Maybe guessing wasn’t the right word.
“I guess it’s a town?” Brian said.
“This close to Mexico, would it be a pueblo?”
He snorted.
More of a courtesy sound than an actual laugh. A noise to let me know he appreciated the effort of a joke, if not the actual joke itself.
I glanced at him.
He looked thin and drawn, but then we all did.
Not eating and walking a lot had a tendency to burn off all the extra, and we didn’t start our trek with that much to begin with.
Tired.
He looked tired.
I gave our little group a once over.
We all looked tired.
Maybe it was the constant movement.
“Pioneers did it,” I told them when we started out.
Like some kind of rallying cry, and enough of a Dad sound behind it that the kids felt comfortable making it a joke.
“Pioneers,” they made quiet little jeers, almost as much noise of encouragement as the one Brian gave me.
That told me something about us.
We needed a break.
California could wait.
The Wall, if it existed, would still be there.
I wanted to reach the safety of it as soon as possible, but the lack of transportation options west of El Paso was slowing us down to a brisk crawl.
A long march.
Divided up into two sections, morning and evening so we avoided the worst of the mid-day sunshine.
Hunting, scavenging, and avoiding.
Our three –ing’s we lived with day after day.
No wonder we were tired.
No wonder we were drawn.
I wondered for a moment if the town had answers.
Excuse me, pueblo.
If there was rest there, or respite, or repast even.
One of the three would do.
No use in hoping for all three though.
The world wasn’t that kind anymore.
