Bane

Reuben Bane sat with his back to a tree and stared into the embers, their gentle crackle like distant gunfire. Reverently, he lowered the ancient, battered, priceless e-reader and focused his attention on the blackness beyond the little clearing.

Fools! Didn’t he have enough blood on his hands already? Every death, whether deserved or not, took a piece of his soul with it, so that he wondered whether there was anything left of the man he had once been. The good man.

All he wanted was to get to Jackson in one piece, pick up some supplies and continue his journey leaving as little evidence of his passing through as possible. After all, he had hunters on his trail.

But rather than getting some much needed sleep, he would have to deal with the rank amateurs hiding in the trees, waiting for their leader to spring the trap. He must have looked like easy pickings, a man travelling with no company but his big, black gelding.

Smart bandits would have stopped to think whether this truly was a lucky chance of whether he was alone because he didn’t need the protection of numbers. But the collective intelligence of a group like this was never greater than those of its leader, and this one was about to make a fatal mistake.

Reuben wrapped the blanket around himself and noiselessly drew back the hammer of the revolver in his left hand, before repeating the action with the right.

He didn’t stir as a large shape emerged into the dim red light of the dying fire.

“Don’t move, Mister,” the man said, pointing the business end of a shotgun at Bane.

Reuben’s eyes swivelled upward. “I’m not moving. Now, why don’t you put the gun down and sit by the fire? You’re welcome to share what’s left of my supplies.”

“Oh, am I, though? That’s mighty generous. Considering I could just take it for myself and not share it with no one.”

He was trying to sound confident. A performance for the men hidden in the trees.

“What is your name, friend?”

“Name’s Crow, and I ain’t your friend.”

“Well, Mr. Crow, my name is Reuben Bane and I’m going to do you a kind deed. Go back the way you came and trouble me no more and you will live.”

The big man roared with laughter. It was a good act, but an act nonetheless. “Seems to me you got this all kinds of wrong. I’m the one with the shotgun. And you clearly ain’t noticed that my boys have got you surrounded.”

“On the contrary, Mr. Crow. I know exactly where each of your four, no five, men are.” Bane made a show of looking around the clearing as if his eyes could penetrate both darkness and trees.

Crow blinked in obvious surprise, but then recovered. “Then you know you ain’t got no chance. Make a wrong move and my boys will open fire.”

“Maybe, but that won’t help you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll be dead.”

At that, Crow’s fingers curled around the trigger and the silence was shattered with an ear-shattering boom.

The bandit leader froze, looked down at his chest and folded up, hitting the ground as the echo disappeared.

There was a moment’s silence.

Then, splinters exploded from the tree behind where Bane had been sitting a moment before. He brought his arm up, rolling onto his side and sending a volley into the trees. Someone yelled and fell forward, half emerging from within the branches.

Reuben crouched in the shelter of the tree and called out, “Any of you feel like living through the night, you take your friends and go. I’ll give you ten seconds to show yourself.”

He tensed as she counted down, eyes scanning the gloom beyond the embers. Five to one they’d have the sense to do what he said, but he wasn’t about to rely on those odds. He’d learned over the years never to underestimate sheer dumb stupidity.

As it happened, he only got to seven before a man emerged, hands held high, two other shapes lurking behind him,

“That all of you?”

“Yessir,” the first man said. He was young and good-looking, and Reuben guessed it was he who’d made the decision to quit.

“What’s your name, son?” Bane said, keeping his revolver trained on the speaker.

“Shawn Hill, sir. And this here’s Tyler and Lennie James.”

Reuben nodded. “I’m Reuben Bane. You won’t forget that, will you?”

“No, sir.”

“Drop your weapons and drag your friends away. Bury them down the slope a little.”

Hill looked at the two shapes on the ground and nodded.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Shawnie?” one of the two men behind said, grabbing Hill by the shoulder and pointing down at the body of the second man to die. “He just killed Del. What kind of friends are we if we don’t do nothing about it?”

Bane got to his feet, sliding one of the two revolvers back into its holster. “You’ll be the living kind.”

“But he had a wife and a kid!”

“So did I, once,” Reuben said as he began to feel the adrenaline tide go out and the darkness gather. “Look, I’m sorry for your friend, but most men don’t get even one chance to take a shot at me. I will help you give him a decent burial.”

He took a stride toward the fallen man, but Shawn put his hand out. “No, we’ll handle it. Lennie’s right, we owe it to his wife.”

“And the man you followed?” Bane said, gesturing at the corpse of their leader.

***

“Leave him lie.”

Reuben rubbed his back as he stood by the graveside. He’d dug a hole for Crow helped by the third of the gang, the twin of the argumentative Lonnie. Tyler, however, had dug in silence as his twin brother and Shawn made a grave for their friend, working in the light of Reuben’s oil lamp.

Together, he and Tyler then dragged the body into the trench, then helped to carry their friend to his final resting place. Bane was in the blackest of moods by the time they began filling them back in.

“Anyone know any words?” Shawn said when they’d finished.

Reuben sagged as he felt their eyes on him and, with a sigh, spoke. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”

When he’d finished, Shawn turned to him. “You said that from memory?”

“I have buried many,” Bane said. “Now, I will go on my way. Do not follow.”

“But it’s after midnight. You shouldn’t be travelling in the dark.”

“Why? In case I come across bandits like you? I can handle myself.”

Shawn shook his head as they walked back up the slope toward where Lucifer waited patiently. “We were wrong, I’m sorry.”

“Is this the part where you claim it was all Crow’s fault? He led you astray, did he?”

Reuben swung around to look at the young man who hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “No. We followed him willing.”

Good, the boy had some integrity.

“You’re not a fool, Shawn, but you know this kind of life only ends one way. Why?”

“Come back to our camp and let us feed you, will you? It’s late to be riding tonight and we’re not the only …”

“Bandits? Brigands?”

“Yeah. There’s more out there. You’ll be safe with us.”

Reuben examined the young man’s face but saw no deception. And, after so many years as an exciser, he knew a lie when he saw one.

“What about Lennie?”

“He’ll be okay. Del was a pal of his, but he knows you had no choice.”

“Oh, I had a choice alright, but I can’t die yet. I’ve got one last task to accomplish before I can rest in peace.”

***

Reuben sat beside the fire and ate his beans as the twins pointedly ignored him.

“Good beans?” Shawn said, putting the ladle back in the little cauldron and settling down beside him.

Reuben nodded. “They are, thank you.”

“My mom makes them. Says they’re almost as good as the ones in the old times.” He looked sideways in Bane’s direction, raising an eyebrow.”

“Almost. And yes, I’m old enough to remember when beans came in a can.”

“I heard tell that a factory over in Pittsburgh makes them that way.”

“Sure.”

“You think one day everything will be back like it was? Everything in cans? Then we could have apples all year round. And meat that keeps forever.”

Reuben smiled. Humanity had fallen so low that this was the limit of a young man’s vision. From Shawn’s perspective, canning promised the end of the cycle of feast and famine that had plagued his life. It had been so long since the collapse of mankind that even Reuben craved the most basic technological recovery, and canned meat would be a major advance on how things were right now. But he also remembered a time of conspicuous plenty where he hadn’t given a thought to where what he ate came from or when his next meal would be.

“Mom’s got a collection of jars. Don’t tell no one, they’re worth a fortune. She cooks this catchup and seals it. Most of it, she sells, but she gave me a jar to come away with, and a bag of dried beans.”

“Does she know you’re a brigand?”

Shawn reddened and shook his head. “No. Crow came into the village and said he was lookin’ for help on his farm. Said it was down Raymond way, but we hadn’t been gone for more than a couple of days when he said he knew an easier way of makin’ money for thems who was willin’ to bend the rules. Del, he was dead set against it, but me and the twins, we couldn’t go back empty-handed. None of us has got two cents to rub together and the blight knocked us for six. Besides, Crow said we was just going to ambush a tax wagon and take back what was owed us.”

The words were tumbling out now, so Reuben stayed quiet while the young man spoke.

“And we did it. We took out the tax wagon, but it was … it was … not what I thought. They were only folks like us, grateful to have a job. But we killed them all. I was so scared, Mr. Bane. I don’t know what came over me, but I did my share of the killing. And then we figured we couldn’t go back anyways, not until the fuss had died down.”

Shawn subsided, breathing out a lungful of air as if unburdened.

“How long ago was this?”

“A month.”

“And how many others have you ambushed? Before you tried to do the same to me?”

“Five or six. But most folks gave up when Crow told ‘em to.”

“Most?”

He nodded, eyes cast down. “Ma will never forgive me. She thinks I’m making an honest wage. But if I hadn’t gone with Crow, we’d have all starved come winter.”

“It’s only the spring, plenty of time to plant and harvest.”

“You gotta have something to plant. We got the blight, lost most of the crop and had to sell what was left. We only saved a little, and most of that got the weevil. Government’s quick enough to take our taxes, not so fast to help us out when we need it.”

Reuben finished his beans and put the pan down. “Government was never much good at that. Just be grateful the Foundation doesn’t rule here.”

“I heard their people never starve.”

Bane chuckled mirthlessly. “Depends on who you mean by their people. There are plenty of fat brothers in Boston, but a hundred times more starving unsaved toiling in the fields to feed them.”

“It’s hard to believe nobody starved back in the old times.”

“Oh, plenty did. Especially in other countries. Now the whole world shares the misery. So, I guess, in a twisted kind of way, that’s progress.”

He got to his feet and washed his pan in a small stream on the other side of the camp before returning to the fire and holding out his hand to Shawn. “It’ll be dawn soon enough and I have to get moving, but thanks for your hospitality.”

Shawn stood and shook. “Thanks for not killing us. I think you could have shot us all without much trouble.”

“I’m glad. I have enough blood on me as it is. And I’ll give you some advice before I go.” He walked to where Lucifer waited before climbing into the saddle with a groan of effort.

“I’ll be glad to hear it,” Shawn said.

 Reuben looked down at him, then at the twins, glowering in the firelight. “You’re not fools, so stop acting like you are. Go home and find a way to make an honest living.”

One of the twins got to his feet. “You want us to tell them we ambushed the wagon?”

“A lie of omission. Just say you’ve been sent home from Crow’s farm and know nothing about the ambush.”

Shawn sighed. “Even if they don’t string us up for that, we’ll die with all the others when winter comes.”

“Then you’ll die honest,” Reuben said, marveling at his own hypocrisy. “That is my advice, but you’re under no obligation to do as I say. It’s up to you to make your choice.”

He nudged Lucifer away and, with a final farewell, guided the horse through the trees and back onto the highway.

Ten minutes later, he heard the faint echo of a gunshot and his heart sank. “I guess someone’s made their choice,” he said to himself.