Chapter 58

When they'd settled down I said we should probably take a ride up from the plateau way around and see about warning Cartallow in case the others were heading his way. Rose looked at me funny for a second and then her face made that little That's right, you don't know look at me again.

"You have led a sheltered life since you started back this morning. You might want to go take a look outside," she said.

George, Bill, and I walked to the cave's door then and opened it to go outside. I noticed no one else came with us and as soon as the door was open I knew why.

It was snowing outside to beat the band. There wasn't a squalling blizzard coming down yet, but big flakes were falling and they were coming down fast. It looked like there was an inch on the ground already.

"I see what you mean. If they haven't turned their asses around and headed back already we won't ever have to worry about them again."

"When you're right you're right, but they turned around promptly when it first started with just the tiny flakes. They still have a hell of a trek to get back where ever they're living before it gets too bad for them to travel," Rose said.

"Well I don't feel a bit sorry for them. There is just something about the way he carries himself that makes me not want to like him," I said.

"Maybe it's the fact he killed one of the others Rosco and company set out down there near him. He slipped up on him in the night and shot him in his sleep.

"The other one was smarter and they have come to a sort of understanding now. They've set up shop together and have gathered a few Cro-Magnons up, but they lord it over them pretty hard," Rose said.

"Did you see all that on video last night?" I asked.

"No, Sigfried told me just before he left this morning. We don't have video of their camp. He wouldn't provide it, but I did talk him into giving us a couple of feeds from Cartallow's camp before he left," Rose said.

"Great, where can I see it?"

"In the office," she said.

"The office? What office?"

"The one I had him make me before he left. I pointed out things were getting a little complicated around here and he made us an office to hold all the radio and computer stuff. He said he liked it better that way too," she said, and then grinned at me.

"Look at office after eat. You not have good breakfast this morning. Lucky you even get coffee. Come sit at table now before food get cold. Chiqa and Kita miss you feeding them too," Catla said.

Just then Kita came running to me screaming Daddy and holding her arms up for me to lift her. As soon as I had Shayta held Chiqa up toward my face and I gave her a kiss on her tiny cheek. She said something to me and I guess it made sense to her.

Soon enough they were in their double high chair and I was helping Kita get Chiqa situated with a bottle and then I produced a forkful of scrambled eggs for Kita's open mouth.

"Oh Daddy, it's so good to have you back. Shayta was ever so nice to feed us while you were gone, but it is good you're back to do your job," Kita said.

"Well I'm glad to be back and I'm glad you are hungry so I can feed you," I said.

This time was a little bit of a switch for me. Kita was having a sort of brunch with scrambled eggs and sausage while I had more of a lunchish Bar-B-Que bison and beans. No matter though it was good and filling and of course I had seconds.

After I had my babies topped off I took them to a pallet Catla had made them so they could snooze, but not be back in their room shut off from the whole world. I played with them a little until sleep crept up and claimed them.

Now that I knew it was cold for real outside I noticed quite a few of the metal heaters were in operation throughout the cave and it was nice and warm inside. After I finished another mug of coffee George thought it was time we made a feeding trip on the skidder and put out some hay for our stock.

Back out in the garage we picked up a pallet with the skidder before I noticed my pickup was now attached to my horse trailer and parked out of the way. We stopped what we were doing and went over to take a look at it.

It was just like I had left it with the Monster Mudder tires all around, but I was glad to see the other smaller tires had come along for the trip. They were of the ground-gripping persuasion too, but they were about six inches shorter than the big beast on the truck at the time.

"Hell, if we'd a had this thing yesterday our trip down to the end of the world would have been a good bit easier to get done," Bill said.

"No doubt, and we could have carried more things with us, including a lot more food and some firewood too boot," George said, adding his two cents worth.

"Hell George, you know you were itching to get outside when you went for the wood down there," I said.

"Yeh, but I could have gone in the truck and we'd have really fucked that jackass up with the tire tracks instead of the hoof prints he found."

"Maybe, but it's better to keep him guessing for a while yet," I said.

"That's right. He's out there thinking he's got the world by the tail and he don't really know shit about the real deal," Bill said.

"That's the way I want to keep him too. I'll bet he thinks he's the only one with a firearm at all. Did you notice none of the men with him were carrying?" I asked.

"Sure did. He's gonna find us hard to deal with if he comes snooping around here," George said.

"And that's only if he makes it back before the snow gets too deep. Even if he does make it back he's gonna be tied up down there for the winter. My guess is we're gonna have plenty of snow on the ground for the next month or two," I said.

"Say, why don't we take a run down to the end real quick and see if we can get a view of him with the cameras while he's leaving," Bill asked, and it sounded like a good idea to me.