Seneca Rebel

THE GHOST BARRELS’ grim aftermath filled my head with sludge– fumes that stank like burnt egg and gas, dirt and debris that were caked in my nostrils and my snarled hair. I realized that I was too exhausted to stand so I lowered myself to a rigid roadside seat. Hugging my arms around my shins I dropped my head to knees. Soon, the sound of my own breath overtook the distant pounding of the Ghost Barrel fleet. I rested my cheek against my thigh, and looked over in Dom’s direction. He was still laid out flat, his chest rising and falling like a pneumatic drill. He finally pushed his body up to sit, looked back at me and softly shook his head in disbelief. It was a miracle we’d made it, but it wasn’t over yet.

We were beaten up, but not broken down. His intense eyes found their way to mine and held on unwaveringly, re-igniting the conviction we felt and the stamina each of us needed to keep on.

He made his way over to me. “You’re bleeding pretty bad,” I told him.

Dom wiped his fingers across his temple and looked at his hand, unfazed by the blood. He took off the t-shirt he had on underneath his hoodie, ripped it into a rag, and wrapped it around his head like a warrior.

My flexer was still in sunglass mode, wrapped around my eyes with coordinates pulled up for Claytor Lake in the upper right corner of the black lens. It was the only Seneca entrance point for which I had location data. This would be our one shot. My air keyboard still floated there in front of me. I stared it down, knowing exactly what I needed to do. “I’m locking our position to the drones, and we’re outta here.” Dom nodded, and let me do my thing without uttering a word.

I concentrated on getting the coordinates right. Within seconds, the hovering drones amped up, and buzzed back in the direction they’d come from. Just like that, nemesis was repurposed into ally. Whoever said mine were idle hands could kiss my butt. My shoulders loosened up. I cracked my neck. My tech work here was done... for now.

“Let’s go.” Dom nodded toward the southwest. I didn’t question him. It was his turn to fuel this unpredictable ride. He started into the woods and I was right there, in mutual stride.

As we trekked along, the only sounds we heard were the crackle of twigs and rocks under our feet, and the faint howl of winter winds blowing in. We came to a stream, maybe four feet across, caked over in a thin layer of misty ice. Dom brightened up when he spotted it, and stomped a hole in the ice with his heel. “Ladies first.” And they said chivalry died long ago.

I knelt down palming the cool, clay-colored earth, and lowered my face to the dark blue, rippled reflection in the freezing water. I could see the pain in the mirror image that stared back at me. I smashed into it with my fists, cupping the water back up to my mouth. I gulped and gulped with my eyes closed. I ran my hand along the ice and then over my face to wipe away some residual grit. Invigorated, I turned back to Dom. He was transfixed, watching me with those tiger-eyes of his.

“Sorry, I’m hogging all the water.”

“Girl, you can have all the water that you want.”

Dom had my back, and I was certain that, by now, he knew I had his. “I’m parched like crazy. You must be, too.”

“That’s an understatement.”

He moved in next to me. Plunged his face into the water, submerging his head for five, ten, fifteen seconds... at twenty he flung it out, sending a fan of icy water into the frigid air, “Woooooha!” He vigorously rubbed at his head and face that had taken on a stubbled, rugged hotness. It made me feel less like the warrior I’d been all of twenty minutes before, and more like a girl. Just a girl. But I wasn’t just a girl. How did he do this to me? I blinked hard to bring my brain back from Mars. He put his hand in the small of my back, making my return from outerspace that much harder. “You all hydrated and ready?”

“You know it. I take it you have a new transportation plan?”

“Do I ever. We’ll be off our feet within an hour.” He said with confidence.

In just under an hour we had trudged through Shenandoah National Park. The rocky and frosty sapphire terrain of the Blue Ridge Mountains was draped in a soft gray-blue sky. It was the middle of the day but the sun wasn’t shining. It was muted, as was our mood, in anticipation of a long, frigid winter.

Dom and I were lugging ourselves along as we descended the chilly foothills. Evening began to roll in. I could smell a campfire but couldn’t see it, or even another soul. We were starving, cold, sore. My face stung, fingers raw and numb.

And then, just as Dom and I hit our last peak, the sight of a sprawling pasture below us boosted our moods. We rushed down the hill and stood side-by-side, resting our elbows on a white post and rail fence. We watched some horses nibbling on stubbles of yellowed fescue grass poking through the hoarfrost. The one closest to us lifted his head, ears pointed curiously in our direction. “That big guy there, he’s a bay.” Dom said.

The fairytale-like scene of beauty and eloquence profoundly moved me. “And I thought horses were extinct.”

“That’s what they tell you in Los Angeles, eh?”

“Not exactly, but we definitely don’t have horses.”

“Well, you’re not in LA anymore, Dorothy. Ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“To hitch our ride.” Without missing a beat, Dom hopped the fence and turned back to offer his hand. Without a thought I hurdled the fence by myself. We were on their side of the fence now. Dom and I stared down the horse that seemed the most intrigued by our presence.

“How about we call him Buck?”

“Works for me. I hope Buck doesn’t bite.”

Dom chuckled as if I were kidding. I was only kind of kidding. “Are you sure about this? I don’t know–”

“Man, you really are a city girl. Time to get you a good dose of horse country.”

“I think maybe we should find a flighter I can get us into.”

“Way too risky. This way we can cut through the backwoods to Anika’s farm near Charlottesville.” Dom slipped into a slow, confident walk towards Buck. He went right up to him and extended the back of his hand to the horse’s nose. This richly dark brown beauty had big black eyes and a warm, strong spirit. I folded. Dom was right. He would be a great addition to our roller-coaster mission.