Camping for Dummies

[Isaac Rhys]

The sun would be setting soon, and Isaac was glad for it. A day of traveling in the hot sun at a pace that left even the energetic Stud plodding docilely along had left him with a pounding headache.

Not that that was the only thing causing his migraine. His cell phone had inexplicably lost service a few hours back, halfway through a conference call with an important client and their lawyer, who seemed to think that scavenging in what was recently war-torn territory was against the law. Isaac had been trying to explain that "the law" was no longer quite the barrier that it had been before the wars began, and then he'd lost service, and now not even the radio phone was getting a signal.

He pulled Stud to a stop and squinted past the trees to the building a little ways off the road. The windows were boarded up, the door was hanging off its hinges, but he didn't move and simply stared at the old house, his eyes moving over every inch for some trace of occupants.

There was a noise from behind him, and with a slight grimace he remembered another contributor to his headache.

[Julissa Ortega]

“Flick your ears at me all you want, I still won’t call you Commander.” Julissa’s heightened position atop her horse amplified her voice. “Really, I’ve told you once, twice, thrice, fouri…and I’ll tell you again-ice,” she giggled, “Commander is not a proper name. Not even for a horse. Especially not for one like you.”

She’d been doing that most of the day. Talking to Isaac was hard when she rode behind him, that and he wasn’t good at conversing. His blue eyes were a little creepy when turned on her for too long, and when he did open his mouth he usually said something that didn’t make much sense or that she already knew and didn’t need to hear again, sheesh. So because her only human companion didn’t intrigue Julissa, she had instead taken to speaking at her horse. It was enough for her.

“That’s why I call you Isaac.” Julissa smiled to herself, leaning onto the horse’s neck in attempt to reach his cheek with her palm. Her eyes snaked over his head to spot Isaac, seeing if he had heard. “Good Isaac.” This time she said it louder. If he looked she would quickly turn her attention to the horse. If he ignored her…there would be hell to pay.

[Isaac Rhys]

With a slow blink he turned his head sideways and down, resting his chin against his collarbone and stealing a glance without raising his eyes. He was a little surprised that she had managed to keep the pace. They'd used cars and trucks up until recently, when their primary clientele changed to the east coast invaders and it was more practical to keep horses than to cart all the fuel they'd need. Not that he hadn't secretly wanted to ride horses all day since he was a little kid or that he didn't like not having to deal with Julissa's driving. It was a win-win situation for everybody.

Except Commander, he suspected.

Isaac turned his gaze back to the house, then frowned and pulled Stud's head around so that he could see both the house and Julissa at the same time. "What'd I do?"

[Julissa Ortega]

Julissa’s large brown eyes zeroed in on Isaac as Commander walked her up to her partner.

“What did you do--?” She asked innocently. His response would have been lost. Her attention was abruptly turned to the house with the boards on the windows. From a quick glance one would suspect it had been deserted. Then again, that’s the look someone might have wanted it to have. It wasn’t uncommon for humans to stay in their respective areas and cope with what came. Not everyone ran for the hills.

“Let’s go see who’s home, shall we?” Julissa’s horse was moving before she’d finished her sentence. After a brief pause she turned in her saddle, “You come too, Isaac,” with a glance down at Commander she added, “the human.”

[Isaac Rhys]

Isaac's eyebrows dropped into a glower, but he kept his mouth shut and watched the woman head for the house. She rode well, he had to admit, and that was probably more due to natural talent than his teaching. She'd been the absolute worst student that he'd ever had. He'd asked himself why he worked with her more times than ever before, even during the rocky first year after the first few weeks of rightness had worn off. But there he was, and there she was, and once again she was charging into the fray without making sure that there wasn't a landmine waiting to blow up in her face.

"Julissa," he said, practically making the word a firm command. "Don't forget where we are."

But he had learned in their time together the stupidity of trying to tell her what to do. He looked up again at the building, squinting as his eyes swept the structure one last time, and then he clucked his tongue at Gator and used his knees to move Stud after her, his right hand resting high on his thigh and close to the gun under his jacket.

[Julissa Ortega]

Julissa sighed loudly and rolled her eyes, lapping at the air as she mocked Isaac’s words.

“You are such a stiff person. I’m surprised you aren’t bent over and turning white.” She snorted and shook her head, flipping her long black hair—currently with highlights—around her shoulders as if to rid her of Isaac’s scent. She tilted her heads as her words caught up to her, and then added, “Whiter.”

The house began to loom as she got closer. Commander’s ear twitched in annoyance. Julissa was too busy digging in the sack by her knee to notice. She murmured angrily,

“Where did I put that sucker…?”

[Isaac Rhys]

Stiff? Him? He pursed his lips and rubbed the back of his hand along the bristly stubble on his jaw. His father's beard had been the first to go silver; he hadn't seen a mirror recently enough to know if he was starting to go grey. He was a little worried, though; Julissa had been especially generous with the age-related insults in the last few days. Isaac wondered if he ought to start paying attention.

He gave a minute shake of the head and nudged Stud into motion. What did it matter? It wasn't like he could do something about his age. He was thirty-two, practically middle-aged, and his lifestyle didn't quite cater to relaxation.

Not since the wars had started, at least. They'd been making good money--very good money. They'd only worked together a year before he had almost enough money to buy a little land and start up the ranching business he wanted. Then business had bloomed, and he had the feeling that he wasn't going to be getting that ranch any time soon. Julissa was as tireless in her business as she was in her complaining.

Besides, he had to admit that the job was kinda fun.

"Gator, stay." The white horse trailing behind him stopped walking, ears perked up with curiosity. Isaac pushed Stud into a trot and headed in a wide circle, staying within the trees, around the side of the house, keeping an eye on Julissa as long as she was in his vision.

[Julissa Ortega]

Julissa found the sucker. Whipping the lollipop out of her sack, she quickly rid it of its clothes and stuck it in her mouth. Satisfied slurping followed. The woman held her find with two fingers, twirling the red ball of goodness in it’s position between her lips.

I wish my horse did that. She thought jealously as she turned in her saddle to witness a horse ‘staying’. Commander was such a forward horse, yes he is, always wanting to walk behind Isaac, as if he was used to being that man’s right hand. An absent-minded hand drifted to the horse’s mane, and Julissa’s long fingers began to twirl themselves in the coarse hair.

With little instruction Commander turned away from the house and started in a straight path towards Isaac. Julissa frowned.

“Why are you going around?” She called. Lifting her voice, “Isaac, why are you going around?”

[Isaac Rhys]

The house was a three-story prefab, with faux-stone facade and floor-length mirrors scattered almost randomly across the back and sides of the building. The back corner of the roof had caved in, but for the most part there seemed to be little wrong with it. It was like a rich suburbanite had moved to the wilderness and missed their cookie-cutter rectangle abode. But he was biased; he'd always preferred ranch houses. Or at least cabins.

And the further along the side, the easier he could see that someone had built a ridiculous picket fence, white and cheap-looking, that spread out about fifty yards from the back of the house. He forced himself not to frown as he drew nearer. There was something stacked in the yard; he could see sooty smears on the cement that extended out into the grass. A barbecue?

Julissa's voice made his head whip sideways; his frown reappeared as he saw her riding practically across the front yard in his direction. And she was hollering. So much for a safe approach.

He frowned in her direction, not caring if she was close enough to see the warning squint of his eyes, and kneed Stud forward. The dappled horse's ears went back, and Isaac blocked Julissa from his mind as the stallion hesitated before obeying the command. Stud's shoulder was even with the side of the house when Isaac stopped him, a slight tug on the reins and a faint curse that accompanied his face's sudden paleness.

Bodies. Lots of bodies. Stacked up on the back porch and burned like an unfinished cremation. He inhaled despite himself; was that what human flesh smelled like when it cooked?

Isaac set his jaw and wheeled Stud around. The horse was only too happy to head in the other direction; he tossed up his head and broke into a trot without being told to, nipping at Commander's bridle as they passed the pair--too close; Isaac ducked his head to keep his face from showing to Julissa.

"Let's go. We'll find somewhere else."

[Julissa Ortega]

Julissa wrinkled her nose at Isaac. Bossy butt, she thought petulantly, he can’t just take a peek and not expect me to. While Isaac trotted in the opposite direction, Julissa steered Commander towards the back end of the house. The horse responded much like Stud, growing tense, ears pressed back against his scalp, his breathing picking up pace and volume. His hooves danced a bit as he walked forward, and it was all Julissa could do to keep in her saddle. She dug her heels deep in his sides and pulled hard on the reigns, irritation plain on her face.

“Really, now, I should have gotten a more obedient steed.” She threatened Commander. He huffed loudly as if offended and trotted forward, now completely behind the house. Looking up, Julissa instinctively pulled the horse to a stop and sat upright, her face going pale.

She’d never seen death before. True, the supernaturals had began their takeover when she was sixteen, but however graphic and startling the images on TV had been, the screen was only as far as they’d gotten. The expansion had not reached the west and that was where she’d grown up. This…this was…

The woman’s shock was so intense that when Commander, startled by a sound behind him, skittered forward Julissa was not equipped to stay in the saddle and toppled to the ground. While it was a long fall, her hands jumped out to catch her body, cushioning impact for everything except her arms. Bolts of pain traveled their way up her hands, through her elbows, and to her shoulders. She may have heard a snap but it wasn’t felt or remembered past her involuntary puking.

[Isaac Rhys]

He had made the mistake of assuming that Commander would follow. Julissa could sit the horse, but he'd assumed that if they were smelling death and already itching to go, there was little that the woman could do to keep him moving forward.

Then again, he wasn't thinking very clearly to begin with. His stomach burned, his throat was dry, and he kept his eyes on the space between Stud's ears as he headed back--

Alone.

A high-pitched whinny--Commander--made Isaac inhale for the first time since passing Julissa. He spun in the saddle, swinging his right arm back and then forward, head tilting minutely to the right, and then sat still, reins held loosely in the fingers on his left hand, shotgun braced on the back of his left wrist, and his eyes scanning the house through the tiny hole in the shotgun's sight.

Nothing. But there was movement in the trees to the rear of the house; he needed only to listen for a moment to recognize Commander's crooked gallop. Running through trees? He must have bolted.

With a curse Isaac dropped the shotgun to its sling on his back and kicked Stud forward, ducking low over the horse's neck to avoid the branches that clawed at his head as Stud ran after Commander. He'd taught Julissa to hang on if the horse bolted, to sink in and glue her butt to the saddle, because her jeans would rip for sure if she let him sling her around.

She may not have been very good at following directions, especially his, but she sure as heck was good at keeping her clothes in perfect condition. Isaac squinted for a glimpse of the Appaloosa's spotted rear and spurred Stud on faster away from the house.