Savage Dawn Read Online Free Page B

the highway. The hard part was over.
    Now all that lay ahead of his was the long drive to
South Dakota, a thousand miles.
    Chris removed the bandana, wiped away the sweat from
his face and took several deep breaths before smiling.
    You’re gonna get the burial you deserve mom.

Chapter
Six
     
    Exhausted from his long journey, Chris finally
reached the Whayani Indian reservation after driving
day and night, stopping only for a brief nap in the parking lot of a diner in
Wyoming.
    He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open,
but he knew he had to find his grandfather quickly.  During the long
drive, his mother’s body had been unpreserved and nature was taking its
course.  The heat hadn’t helped matters.
    This burial had to be performed today .
    The Whayani reservation
wasn’t very large and a helpful map aided Chris in navigating his way
around.  He had vague memories of many of the buildings he was
seeing.  It wouldn’t take him long to locate his grandfather, he
thought.  However, as Chris drove along the main street in town he
realized that things had changed drastically. The roads and sidewalks were
littered with rubbish and the buildings that had once been proudly maintained
were now falling into disrepair, as though the people had lost their spirit and
the pride that had once been prominent in this society of warriors.
    Those roaming the streets of the reservation’s main
town eyed his car suspiciously as he drove by them, many of them sallow faced
and hollow-eyed as if a virus had smothered the area like a blanket, turning
them into sickly zombies. Here and there, he occasionally saw signs of his
people’s culture, buildings adorned with Indian beads and dream-catchers,
blowing gently in the wind. Few still wore clothes that faintly represented
their heritage and those that did, tended to be congregated in the same areas,
as though segregated from the rest.
    Chris was saddened by the changes he was seeing in
the reservation.
    Pulling into a parking lot outside the monstrous
casino that swallowed up the other buildings in its shadow, Chris prepared
himself mentally for the apathy that he would no doubt encounter from many as
he attempted to locate his grandfather. Before exiting his beaten up vehicle,
he glanced in the mirror and flinched, as though struck. His face resembled
that of many of the reservation townspeople, eyes dark and unnaturally wide as
if he’d been pumping the same poison into his system that had taken his mother.
    He reminded himself that when it was all over, ‘if’
he wasn’t in handcuffs, he would have to get some sleep.
    Expecting the same treatment he had received all
those years before, during his Uncle’s funeral, Chris stepped out of the car
and headed across the half-empty parking lot.   His eyes watched for the tell-tale signs that confirmed
he was entering unfriendly territory. Around the entrance to the casino, a few
shady looking characters loitered in the shadows, eyeing him as he made his way
towards the doors and he wondered what they were doing until one called out to
him, “Hey, kid. What you looking for?”
    The voice had an unfriendly quality to it and Chris
turned towards the sound, expecting to be berated for being different or
encroaching upon land that he didn’t belong on, but instead the figure, wearing
jeans and a baggy shirt waved him over.
    Chris stood where he was, unmoving.
    “ You looking for some
ice?” 
    The man, who looked just as pale and goggle-eyed as
many of the other residents he had seen, smiled.  Chris saw he was missing
his front teeth, making him appear much older than he must have been.
    Chris shook his head, shocked at what he had just
heard, “No, I don’t do that shit!” He turned and walked off, pushing through
the double doors into the casino, feeling anger boiling up through his veins.
It seemed everywhere he went; his people were willingly filling their bodies
with poison. He didn’t see the attraction himself, but