Orion's Belt - A Dark Sci-Fi Western Romance

We ride for three more days without incident. At least, without incident to ourselves. News comes over the radio every few hours, more chaos in increasingly far-flung places as the boys go mad with the effort to ensure that they’re drawing the Imperium away from us.

Our plan is working. Law enforcement is stretched thin, and every time the boys move, they get drawn further and further away from our actual location. I hope the men are having fun. I bet they are. Once upon a time, I would have felt I was missing out on all the chaos and carnage and feel an irresistible urge to go join them. But things are different now. Josie matters more than giving the Imperium a bad day.

I am starting to feel hopeful in a way I have never felt before. I thought the life of a normal man was forever barred to me, but now simple things like falling in love, taking a wife, and making a family with her seem almost within reach, if I had the courage to reach out and take them.

“C’mere,” I say, waving her over a ridge.

“Isn’t this off the track? Don’t we need to keep heading North?”

“This is a detour,” I tell her. “Gets us out of the way, and I reckon the two of us are due a break.”

“A break? I thought we were riding as hard and fast as possible to the farm so you can get the land and I can get the hell off this planet.”

She’s been a little sassy since the night we spent together. I wouldn’t say cold, per se, but a little distant. I put it down to being worried about being caught by the sheriff and murdered before she can escape Cabbage Patch, but maybe that’s not the problem. Maybe it’s something else, something between us. I don’t know what could have happened. That night we spent together was like nothing I’ve ever done before. Maybe it wasn’t as good for her as it was for me. Maybe she can’t wait to get her butt off planet.

“I just reckon we need a rest. Can only run the horses for so long. Follow me.”

She obeys, though there’s some reluctance there I’d like to get to the bottom of. This isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. It might be the hardest. The horse could ride another day without a break, but she doesn’t know that, and she doesn’t need to.

“This is a nice little place,” I say, leading her through a narrow path. “Not many people know about it.”

“Another one of your hideaways where you go when you want to avoid consequences for things you’ve done,” she says, unimpressed.

“Alright, what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing is going on with me,” she says, staying up on her horse as I get off mine. She looks down at me with an attitude, her lip curled, her pretty eyes narrowed.

“Git off that horse and follow me,” I order, becoming more curt to meet her energy. I know women can be moody for a lot of reasons. There ain’t no fathoming the inner workings of a woman. She might be coming up on her monthly time, or maybe it was something I said, though I can’t guess what that might have been.

Josie does as she’s told, but she doesn’t look happy about it.

“Why are you sulking?”

“I ain’t.”

“Seems to me like you are.”

She shrugs and I leave it. “Bring yer horse through these trees. They grow thick in here, so be careful. Mind yer head.”

I wanted to show her this place because it is one of my most closely guarded secrets. Hidden away in bushland, past the desert plains and the rocky terrain, the land starts to get lush again. Most of Cabbage Patch is still uninhabited. A good fifty percent of this rock doesn’t have anything living on it at all. As outlaws, we’ve found places other people didn’t have time to find. One day, I bet this is going to be a popular spot. The Imperium will probably build one of their fancy roads out here, cut down these trees, charge people to get near the beauty that’s hidden here.

“Do we always have to tramp through the filthiest, worst places ever?”

Josie pipes up behind me with one of those whiny comments she’s been throwing out for the past few days.

I decide not to respond. Not much I can say to her to refute that. It’s been a dirty, hard, dusty road, with the exception of the spring we swam in together before we had sex for the first time. Her first time, I’d wager. I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but she changes the subject every time. Water seems to put her in a good mood, so I think she will like this.