Chapter 20

I left my office and hugged Barbara after I spoke rather harshly to her, letting her know that I was not mad at her. I explained that I was going to take one of the ATV’s and check on the horses and see where they were. I grabbed my rifles from the truck and put them in the scabbards on the ATV. I cranked it up and started out of the garage when I saw Harlou running towards me. I stopped and waited for him. I then said to him, “Harlou my son, I need to go for a ride and I need you, and Barbara to take care of all the people here. I need you to protect them, let Barbara know that I will be back before sunset, but I have to be by myself for a while. Can you do that for me son?”

“Yes Father, I will protect our extended family until you return. I will find Barbara and let her know what you said. Please take care Father, come back soon. We will be here for you.”

I could see the tears in his eyes as he said the last bit. I really think he understood why I had to go off by myself for a while. I’m sure he had learned of all that had happened at the other camp.

I rode out to the canyon and then reversed direction and went up the ramp to the plateau. I thought I saw Barbara watching me, but I couldn’t be sure. I run out on the plateau about a mile. I stopped and just sat and cried. After a while I heard something in the grass and looked around. There were some hyenas sneaking around. There had to be some dead carcass somewhere close. I stood on the seat and used my scope to look around. Sure enough, a cave lion had a bison down and was eating away. I figured that I could help it out by cutting down on the hyena population. I sighted on the nearest one and blew its head off. I spied another one and shot it as well. This was actually allowing my built up anger to dissipate. I started shooting at any one of them I saw. Pretty soon there were no more hyenas, so I drove up closer to the lion and started shooting it too. I got two shots into it and it turned on me and came towards me. I fired what was left in my magazine on the 44 magnum, and then grabbed my 45 caliber lever action; it had a full magazine of 10 rounds. As the lion came closer, it was slowing down. I hit it twice between the eyes with the 45 and it stopped, shook its head and took two more steps and dropped. I just emptied my gun into it and felt much better. I also grabbed one of my Colts and fired a full magazine in the lion too. The lion was completely dead; everywhere I looked, everything was dead, except me.

I had killed a cave lion with a 44 magnum rifle and a 45 caliber saddle gun. I had filled it too full of lead to be of any use for meat. I would let the scavengers have it. I also killed 10 hyenas as well. I left the plateau to the scavengers for now. I rode down to the stream and sat and cried for the loss of life I had inflicted on this world and for the one little innocent child that had suffered so much. I would not regret the killing of Detara and his bunch of slimy perverts, but why did I kill all those hyenas and the cave lion. They were only doing their normal job. Eat the weak and survive.

After about one hour I slowly rode back to the cave. I parked the ATV and put the charger on it. I reloaded all the guns and safely locked them in the gun vault. I washed up in the sink in the garage and wandered into the main cave. Looking around I spotted Mertir. “Mertir, will you please get me a beer from the fridge. I think I need one tonight.”

Mertir quickly ran and got me one of my precious few beers that I had brought with me. I had 2 cases in the small garage fridge and when we left they came with me. This was only my second one, but I grabbed a chair and sat out by the entrance and watched the sun and the scenery, sipping slowly. Barbara came out in a couple minutes and asked if she could join me. “Please Barb, I would enjoy the company. I think I am better now. I went up to the plateau and killed a few things. And I feel better now.”