Cowboy necromancer 4 nov.., p.39
Cowboy Necromancer 4: Novella Compendium: (A LitRPG Apocalypse), page 39
“I can’t—”
“I got you, Dusty.” Sterling released his hold over the Chronicler. “Get ready, Zee!”
Ka-thunk!
His soul powered grenade hit the Inquisitor Godwalker and tore through its protective outer casing. A turquoise-hued explosion rippled down its metal appendages as Zephyr took full control of the craft. As she had done with the forest fire around the centipede amalgamation, she used the wind to intensify the damage of Sterling’s attack at the same time that she forced the Godwalker away from them, so it wouldn’t disrupt what needed to happen next.
The craft hit the ground and exploded, somewhere far enough away that Sterling could feel the ground shake but not actually see the Godwalker in its final resting place.
Zephyr landed, her eyes bloodshot, brow furrowed. “It’s done. Now we do this.” She motioned to the Blade that Pierced the Stars.
“Rox?”
The female gunner lowered her weapon.
“Dang, Rox, you know I goddamn love you,” he said, suddenly overcome with emotion.
Sterling knew why she was doing this, and he also knew why the Sunflower Kid had turned away from them. He hugged Roxie back, and was stepping away when Zephyr came in for a hug as well.
“Might as well,” he said, trying to keep it light and failing.
Paco stumbled forward and gave both of them a hug, his skin still hot to the touch. “Damn, y’all,” Sterling muttered after he finally let go. He stepped past Maron, turned to the technomancer, and gave him a hug as well.
Then there was the Chronicler, who was just getting up. “It’s fine—”
Sterling offered the researcher his hand. “You did good back there, Dusty, real good. Sorry about draining your soul and whatnot.” Sterling hugged him and summoned Buster. “Actually, that’s a good idea,” he said as the dog barked excitedly for a moment. “Y’all listen up. Summon anything you want to keep because our lists might be going away. No telling.”
The group murmured as Sterling and Buster approached the Sunflower Kid. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Dad.”
“You don’t want to say goodbye?”
She turned to him, her eyes wet. “I do, but I don’t know if I can.”
“So you’re going to do it then, huh?”
“I am.”
“Where?”
“Here. After I pull the plug.”
“A Redwood?”
“How did you know?”
“I figured as much. Not a bad place to…” Sterling felt himself choke up. “Nope, not doing that. What I was saying was this ain’t a bad place for a final resting ground. But we don’t know if that is going to happen or not. What you’re about to do is permanent.”
“It is.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“You’re the only one that can make that decision, Angel.”
Her throat quivered. “Where will you go? Back to T or C?”
“I wish I could take you—” Sterling squinted at his daughter. “Maybe I can.”
“But how will you handle what needs to be done here? How will you remove the stone and return it?”
“We’ll figure something out, something with heat and wind. But I ain’t leaving you here. Nope, you’re from New Mexico, and that’s where you belong, human or… otherwise. You can become a big tree all you want, but you’ll do so in a place where I can take care of you. I told you once and I’ll tell you again: I support you no matter what, and equally important, in my mind at least, I’m never going to be without you in my life again. Rox—”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her eyes wet.
“Rox,” Sterling called over his shoulder again.
“It is.”
“I know, and we will. Soon as we wrap up here. Don’t you worry about that part. I need you to take the Kid back to our home in T or C. I need you both to stay there.”
Roxie nodded.
“Y’all got five minutes.” Sterling summoned a watch from his inventory list. The time wasn’t correct, but it ticked, and he’d know when five minutes was up. “Kid, Angel, say your goodbyes. We’ll handle it from here. And take Buster with you.”
Five minutes later, the group had everything they wanted from their inventory lists lying around them. Sterling had chosen his weapons, his peppers, and his book of desert haikus just in case…
“Are you ready?” Zephyr asked.
“Let’s do this.” Paco began to heat the rock, which would cause it to expand. Zephyr took over from there, creating thermal currents that spiraled up and down the stone. The spiked stone trembled. Zephyr hit it with a cold breeze, causing it to cool rapidly.
Sterling watched all of this take place as he stood side by side with the Chronicler and Maron, their heads bowed. He only looked up once, after the rock was dislodged. Zephyr hovered in the air so it would fall back into the hole once the ritual was done.
Sterling gasped as the world transformed. A swirling galaxy of incandescent stars and vibrant nebulae spiraled into the hole, a cosmic dance in the blink of an eye. They came coupled with full-sized Godwalkers that shrunk to the size of marbles as they were all banished, hundreds of them.
He was about to shout for her to plug it when the funnel reversed. Zephyr lost control over the large stone plug.
It sealed the hole and settled to the side, the sudden action coupled with a flood of memories that had Sterling’s head pulsing.
It had him on his knees moments later as he remembered everything.
Everything.
All that had happened over the last five years, and everything that had happened before. Sterling rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky, his heart thrumming in his chest, tears streaming down his face.
“Isabelle,” he whispered. “I remember it all…”
He started to laugh, and a few of the others joined him.
“That was fucking crazy,” Zephyr whispered. She was also on her back, looking up at the deep blue sky above. She raised a hand into the air. “No powers. You?”
“…Nope.”
“None,” Paco said, his voice hoarse.
Maron grunted in agreement.
“Memories?”
“Goddammit,” Sterling said as his head pounded. “You good, Dusty?”
“I… I think. I think I’m good.”
“Hell yeah… amigo.”
“I guess all we got to do now is get back to New Mexico,” Paco said after a long pause.
Sterling laughed through more tears. “Shee-it…”
.Epilogue.
A year passed in the way that years do. Much of it was a blur as civilization continued to rebuild. The United States would never look the same again, especially with the factions that had done what humans continued to do—form alliances. In the southwest, the alliance that had started between the Serpents of Paradise, the Hashknife Outfit, and the Comanche had spread into northern Mexico. It had blazed through the entire west coast and pushed toward the border of what was once Canada, moving as far east as Montana.
Now, there was the Midwest to northern Canada to deal with, which from what Sterling had heard was called the Maple and Corn Republic. There was also an alliance that spanned from Texas to the southeastern portion of the United States, the Magnolia Confederacy, and one in the northeast that pushed all the way up to Nova Scotia, the Maritime Union of the Carolinas. South of them was a loose grouping of central American states, La República de la Nueva Mesoamérica.
True unions would take decades, and as far as he could tell, it wouldn’t involve him this time.
“Another day, another pepper,” Sterling said the next morning as he got out of bed. He had the immediate urge to smoke a cigarette but didn’t. Instead, he slipped into a set of terrycloth robes and headed into the kitchen.
Buster barked.
“Morning, buddy,” he said as he pet the dog.
Sterling turned on the gas stove and boiled water that he’d prepared the night before.
The sun cast an arc of light into his living room, but it wasn’t enough to warm the place. Spring would come to Truth or Consequences in the coming weeks, but it was still plenty cold.
Sterling didn’t mind.
Usually, he’d get a fire going at night and it would warm the house enough for him to fall asleep.
By the time the water was boiling, he had his book of desert haiku tucked under his arm and a knit hat on his head, one he had picked up in California. That had been quite the journey. He didn’t think about the trip from Mount Shasta back to Truth or Consequences much, a journey taken without his mancer powers, but it had been grueling, and it had taken months to get home.
That was another reason his world felt like it was spinning faster. By the time Sterling had reached T or C, it was already pushing toward summer and he was exhausted, weary from the overland travel.
Then the fall had come, a whirlwind of activity as people began to prosper. Looking back, it made sense that people had moved so quickly with the oppressive power of the Godwalkers on their backs. But at the time, Sterling had thought they should slow down.
Then, he realized that he was the one who should slow down. Sterling had done enough. Some people, like his buddy Kip, knew what he had done in the west and with the Terminals. But most didn’t. Newcomers in T or C might never even see Sterling unless they just so happened to be at a bar on a night he felt like raging.
That happened too.
Through his journey back to New Mexico, Sterling had been occupied with his companions, all of them processing trauma together. But once he was finally alone in his home, he had briefly turned to the bottle to help him deal with all that had happened.
Another reason the fall was a blur.
But those days were over now.
Sterling had a ‘healthy enough’ relationship with alcohol, and he’d even quit smoking. That had been easier than he had anticipated. A couple weeks ago, he just decided he would do what his daughter had suggested multiple times. He simply gave up smoking and hadn’t looked back. Besides, someone had to be around to take care of her tree…
Once the water was boiling, Sterling made himself a cup of coffee using some technique he’d learned in town. He added a single spoonful of sugar and headed out to the front porch with Buster.
“Morning, Rox.”
Sterling sat next to what was once the love of his life, now a metal statue seated on a bench outside his home. Buster hopped up onto the bench and nuzzled in between them.
As he did every morning, Sterling placed the book of desert haiku in her lap while he looked out at the pinyon tree growing in his front yard.
“Morning, Kid.” He raised his mug to his daughter and took a sip. Sterling smacked his lips. “Too much sugar.” He took another sip anyway as the sun continued to rise over the horizon.
After a little more coffee, Sterling set his mug down and grabbed his book of desert haiku.
“Which one do y’all want to hear today?” he asked Roxie and the Sunflower Kid. As he thumbed through the pages, he stopped on a haiku he had written years ago, when he was still getting the hang of the practice.
Rabbit in a hole,
The sting of a scorpion,
Desert’s secret told.
Sterling skimmed it, nodded, and smiled up at the tree, what was left of his daughter. “How about this one?”
The end.
Author’s Note
Shee-it,
I guess this is the end of the Cowboy Necromancer series. I think everyone got what they wanted in the end, but I can’t be certain. Hopefully, Don Gasper gets another puff of the good stuff, and Sterling’s next crop is the best yet.
Please take a moment to review the book, and let other readers know that this is a journey worth taking. If you really want to go above and beyond, review the first book because that’s where most people start.
As Yours Truly, I have plenty more books to write; and for you, I have plenty more books to read. I don’t really have anything as of this writing in April 2024 that is in the same post-apocalyptic vein as Cowboy Necromancer, but I will in the future. That series will be called Doom System, and to be notified of its release (likely 2025), follow my Amazon profile.
If you are the deep dive type, and you want to really dig into some of my earlier work, I wrote a prototype of Sterling named Sterling in an unfinished trilogy known as the Zero Patient that no one read. Probably because I wrote it in 2016. An early version of the Sunflower Kid makes an appearance here as well.
As for Cowboy Necromancer, I’m proud of the story I told and still excited about the places it took me. I visited nearly every location in the Southwest for research, and I tried to pick up as much as I could along the way, from park maps to souvenirs that later made their way to be some of Sterling’s charms.
If you are reading this from America and haven’t been to New Mexico, do so. I lived in Texas for 28 years of my life and only visited New Mexico in the end. I wish I had visited much more often. Colorado is beautiful, although not a big player in this series, and the landscapes in Utah and Arizona were stunning. Visiting New Orleans was amazing and insightful, and I wish I could have spent more time in the text there. The Redwoods still sit with me to this day and I hope to go again soon.
Get out and explore if you can, even if it’s your own backyard.
You never know what you’ll find.
Yours in Sanity,
Harmon Cooper
P.S. If you go to New Mexico and visit a restaurant and they ask you ‘red, green, or Christmas,’ the answer is always Christmas. <3
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Harmon Cooper, Cowboy Necromancer 4: Novella Compendium: (A LitRPG Apocalypse)
