The Desert Ch. 02

"Why?" Joe's voice was as cold as a polar bear's asshole and left no doubt about what he meant.

Stephen snarled at him and gave a short, disturbing laugh. "I was sent for the whore."

Jackie's face went white as a ghost and she had to steady herself on a chair to keep from stumbling. She had thought that they forgotten about her by now. It had been over two weeks since Joe took her from that awful place and when no one came for her that first week, she thought they had just moved on and left her. Obviously she had been mistaken. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she could feel her throat closing up as it became increasingly difficult to breathe.

Joe looked over at her, greatly concerned about this turn of events. He didn't want to worry her but, after seeing her face he wasn't sure anything he might say could make it worse. He had lived with a woman long enough to know better than to actually test that theory and kept quiet. Instead he turned his attention to their new prisoner, who had somehow managed to sit up and was looking at Jackie.

"You can't run away from them! Wherever you go, they will find you and bring you back! They own you!"

Joe shut the boy up by giving him a kick in the ribs, hard but not one that would cause any real damage. He was still going over the alternatives in his head. Somehow they had to get rid of this boy while making a very clear statement to his gang that there was nothing to be gained from bothering them again. He looked over at Jackie, who was beginning to get her senses back.

"What do you think we should do with him?" Joe's voice revealed great concern but the cold determination underneath removed any doubt he would do what was necessary to keep them safe.

Jackie looked back at him, surprised at being asked for her opinion on the matter. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "Sending him back would get him killed but they'll just send someone else eventually. Killing him could buy us a couple of days before they figured out something was wrong, but they would probably send more people next time. So unless we go hunt them down, I don't know if we have many viable options."

They stood in silence, pondering their options and listening to the manic cackle that was supposed to be a laugh coming from Stephen. Even though he sat bound and immobile on the floor, just the sound of that laugh was enough to scare Jackie. He was clearly not of sound mind. She shuddered at the thought what might have happened if Joe hadn't come when he did this morning.

After giving the matter serious thought, and because he was getting tired of hearing the high pitched cackle coming from the bound boy on the floor, Joe decided on a course of action. He lifted the boy up, threw him out onto the hard sand outside the cabin and motioned for Jackie to go after him. She hesitated slightly, not really wanting to be that close to the cackling maniac, but did as she was bid and went through the door.

Joe followed them out and untied the boy's feet. He then told him to go back to wherever it was he came from and tell them that any future attempts wouldn't end so peacefully. Not that he thought the threat would do any good, but at least it would buy them a day or two, and he wouldn't have to waste any ammunition by shooting this idiot.

Stephen started to stumble away from their camp. Joe looked over at Jackie who had a puzzled look on her face. He smiled and nodded at her but he was pretty sure she wasn't buying his calm and confident act. They both kept their thoughts to themselves as they waited for the boy to get out of sight, then they went back inside and sat down at the table to have breakfast.

"You know they'll be back right?" Jackie spoke calmly in spite of the fear in her heart. "A little empty threat won't scare them off. I've seen what they do to people Joe and it's not pretty."

"I know they'll be back." He tried to sound as confident as he could even though he felt nothing like it. "We won't be here when they return."

The look on Jackie's face as she heard his last few words almost made him choke on his mouthful of beans. Her eyes were bigger than the plates they were eating from and her mouth hung wide open. If it wasn't for the fact that he was coughing up beans, he would have had a hard time keeping from laughing. Eventually he got himself under control and thought he'd offer up some further explanation.

"We've been holed up here for far too long already anyway. It's time to get moving again and see if we can't find somewhere a bit more hospitable to settle down, together. Besides, this place is way too small for the two of us."

As he spoke, Jackie collected herself enough to see the truth in what he was saying. Moving on was the smartest thing they could do at this point. Even if they wouldn't have anyone after them he was right. This place wasn't really an ideal place to settle down and build a life. Even if she managed to get some sort of water supply, their food supply was depleting and they would have to go looking for more soon. Reason enough, they decided, to follow it and see where it might lead them.

*

Author's note: Any and all comments made in this story by its characters are the opinions of those characters and not to be taken seriously in any way shape or form.

Also. This is not my first rodeo, but it is, however, my first story published in English. Comments, feedback and stars will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!