14. A Walk Through the Countryside

Within fifteen minutes of starting their walk, Scarlett and Roger lost sight of the church or anyplace remotely familiar. The teen stopped briefly, looked back, then turned around and walked on ahead.

All she could see around was a part of the road itself and trees everywhere else. That made her feel more alone than she wanted and she moved slightly closer to Roger.

"Still thinking about them, huh?" he asked and smiled at her.

A small smile appeared on her face, then disappeared. "Were we right to leave them?" she asked as she looked down at the ground. "I'm not totally sure now."

He said nothing at first, then asked her, "Well, how would you have felt living there with them?"

The redhead swallowed and finally shook her head. "I don't think so. They were nice to us, you know, but I - we - didn't fit in there."

The man looked back for a second, then glanced ahead and shook his head. "I just hope things get back to normal soon," he said, "for their sake. Especially with the phone lines and the emergency services."

They walked on for several more feet, then Scarlett said, "Smokey? How are you doing, girl?"

Apparently being able to communicate with the human girl did a lot to calm the cat, for she was half asleep and yawned inside the cat carrier. --Wake me up when we get somewhere.--

"Scarlett?" Roger asked and the teen looked at him. "Not that I want to be rude or anything like that, but I don't think we should say much until we stop for rest, and then after that when we stop for the night."

She blinked and asked, "What do you mean 'for the night'? I thought that we'd be in Taylorsville by then."

"That's thirty-five miles away," he said and smiled. "I did a walkathon once back in '88. I walked twenty-three miles and was wiped out by the end of the day. And my route that day was pretty flat." He pointed ahead at the curved road, the trees and the uneven landscape. "Given the uneven lay of this land here, I'll be real happy if we make ten miles today."

The girl looked at her companion and frowned. "Where will we stay, then?" she asked.

He cringed and looked away from her face. "I...figured that we'd check on the churches between here and there."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, lovely."

"I'm sorry, Scarlett, but the churches would be the best bet for personal safety." He glanced at her. "A large gathering of people is generally a safer place to be in a crisis. Now, the reason I think we shouldn't say much is because our voices will carry. Someone could hear us before we hear them."

"We could whisper," she suggested, looked at him and kicked a pebble. "After all, I like talking with you."

The man smiled and looked at her briefly. "Thank you," he said. "I like talking with you, too. But even a stage whisper can be heard some distance away." He shook his head. "If we were talking, there could be some bad guys ahead who hear us and set up an ambush. I know that we're both armed, but I really don't want us to get into a gunfight if we can avoid it." He pointed at the now sleeping cat. "Besides, we'd freak her out if we start shooting."

"O.K.," she said. "If I need to stop, I'll clear my throat, or something."

"I have a better idea," he said. "Touch my arm and give it a small squeeze. If I need to stop, as well, I'll do the same thing."

Scarlett reached over and touched his right forearm, then squeezed it. "Like that?" she asked and he nodded. "Good. Suppose we don't find a church by nightfall? What then?"

He smiled. "This area of the country is rather thick with small churches, Scarlett. Don't worry about that."

"What I'm worried about is coming across a group of 'believers' who would burn me at the stake," she said. "Or, more than likely, hang me. After all, some people in Lawndale believed that I was a witch, and Lawndale was a fairly modern community."

The private detective blinked as he remembered the Lindner Corner men warning him about Hammersville. "Are you a Wiccan?" he asked.

The teen shook her head. "No, I'm not anything, actually, though I do kinda lean towards the pagan lifestyle." She touched the ankh and rubbed it. "This, to me, means peace and harmony. But my worries are because I know that a lot of people who claim to follow Jesus would rather act like Moses when it comes to girls like me."

"I will not put you in that situation, Scarlett. I promise you that."

She nodded and smiled briefly. "Thank you, Roger."

Then the two walked on silently.

oooooooooo

At one point, the road went down a hill at a steep incline, crossed a culvert and then went up another hill. They stopped briefly and looked at it.

"Man, haven't they ever heard of bridges?" Scarlett frowned as she asked aloud.

Roger glanced at her. "Haven't you ever heard of taxes? This road is a chip-and-seal cheapo job and that culvert itself is cheaper than building a bridge connecting the two hills." He pointed at the other hill. "Let's get across that and take a breather off the road."

The two walked on ahead and she sighed. "I just hate walking up and down all the time like this," she complained. "I keep expecting to see Ms. Morris behind me at anytime."

"Ms. Morris?"

"My gym teacher at Lawndale." The teen grimaced. "She was a slave driver. Plus she used to watch us when we took showers."

"Oh?"

The teen nodded and blushed. "She claimed that she wanted to make sure we got ourselves clean," she said.

"Sounds like the girl's gym teacher my sister had in Virginia," he said. "Except she also liked to watch the boys in the shower, too. At least, that was the rumor."

Scarlett shuddered and looked at him. "I may have gotten clean, but feeling her gaze always made me feel dirty."

Roger looked at her briefly, then motioned to the side of the road. "Let's go in the woods here," he said. "We'll sit and take a break."

The two left the road, climbed over a ditch and moved into the woods.

oooooooooo

Five minutes later, the two were about a hundred yards off the road and sitting on a somewhat flat boulder that stuck out of the ground.

Smokey was let out of the carrier, but kept in the immediate area of Scarlett and the carrier itself. --I'm scared.--

"Stay around us," the teen told the cat. "You'll be safer around us, and we'll move on later."

Roger handed Scarlett a bottle of water and opened one for himself. He watched the girl as she drank some water, then looked away and smiled.

She felt his gaze and blushed. "What?" she asked. I wish that I could read you, but I do get the feeling that you're 'interested.'

He still smiled. "Nothing," he said. "Just trying to relax."

Uh, huh. Right. Tell me another tall one. "O.K.," she said. "Sure."

"Well, it is cute watching you talk to Smokey like that. Then seeing her 'listen' to you."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "Cute?"

He looked her in the eyes and nodded. "Yes. Cute. But I'm kinda glad that you can't read my mind."

Scarlett's blush deepened and she swallowed nervously. "Roger, I have a question for you."

"Sure," he said.

"What if we do run into a gang out there? What do we do if we can't get away from them?"

He took a big drink of water and wiped his forehead off as he thought. "Be prepared to let Smokey out so that she can get away if we have to fight. That way, if we die, she'll at least have a chance to survive."

"I don't like to think about it, but I'm afraid to be unprepared, too, you know?"

Roger handed the girl a granola bar from his backpack, then opened one for himself. Then he handed her a small paper plate. "Give Smokey some cat food," he said. As he watched her do that, he continued, "Can you sense any other thoughts out there?"

She looked up at him and shook her head. "So far, just Smokey's," she said. "But since I can't sense yours, and a lot of John's thoughts were somehow blocked, there have to others I can't read, either." She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Several days ago, all I worried about was whatever I had to deal with at school. Now, I'm afraid of dying all alone out here, and I miss my parents."

He touched her left shoulder and she looked back at him. "Why don't you tell me about your folks? I'd like to hear about them."

She poured some water in her hand and held it down for the cat to drink from. For several seconds, Smokey did drink from Scarlett's hand, then rubbed against her legs. --Thank you.--

"Anytime," the girl said and wiped the corner of her right eye. "My parents were named Conrad and Jenny Hawkins," she said. "They were married at least five years before I came along. I was born in Columbia City, Indiana. My dad had an office job in Fort Wayne, while my Mom worked part time at different jobs so that she could be there for me."

Roger nodded. "How did you end up in Maryland?"

She sighed and sat down beside him. "Dad got transferred to Baltimore a little more than two years ago." She looked at him sadly. "I really hated it at first. But then I met Kristy Barton and we became good friends. I'm glad I met her, you know, but if we had stayed in Indiana, Mom and Dad would still be alive." Tears ran freely from her eyes. "I wished that I had died with them."

"But you didn't," he said and shook his head, "and I really doubt that your folks would appreciate you saying that. Remember what I told you on Sunday night? That I'm glad that I had met you?"

She nodded.

"I wasn't lying. Scarlett, you're still alive and I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you that way."

"Why?" she asked. "You don't know me, not really. I really don't know you that well, either. What's to keep you from abandoning me and Smokey if things get too bad out there?"

"I'd have to live with myself," he said. "I couldn't abandon you - either of you, actually, despite my misgivings about the cat. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not a coward. I'm a man who lives up to his responsibilities, and you are my responsibility right now."

"You make me sound like a child when you say that," she said, a frown on her face.

He shook his head. "You're not, but you still are, too." He reached out and took her right hand in his left. "I wasn't lying when I said that I like having you around me."

Scarlett looked at him, her face red again. Before she could respond, Roger kissed her lips briefly.

He broke the kiss and smiled at her. "If that...bothers you, I won't do it again."

The girl's response was to return his kiss and grip his hand tightly. Then more tears ran from her eyes and she whispered, her voice whiny, "I miss my Mom and Dad!"

She started crying and the man guided her face to his right shoulder. He held her securely as she cried and patted her back gently.

Smokey moved around her legs again, then strolled back into the cat carrier.

(To be continued...)