by Angela White
Dog noticed the gun was still in her hand, but it was no longer pointed at him.
“I have to give you shots,” Sally stated, slowly laying the gun down so that she could fill all the syringes she would need. “If we can get by this part, you won’t feel the rest.”
She held out the needle for the wolf to sniff, as she did with all of her patients. “It will sting a bit, but then your leg will feel better.”
Dog liked the sound of that and refused to flinch when she used a fast movement to stick him. The medicine was working before she drew back to protect herself from any reaction and Dog groaned again, body relaxing.
Better!
Dog’s vision blurred and he struggled to stay alert as the woman stuck him again, though this time, he didn’t feel it. He also didn’t feel her touch as she rolled him onto his side and carefully arranged his head and leg so that he was breathing clearly and she had access to his injury.
Sally worked fast, not confident that the amount of painkillers she’d used was enough to keep such a large animal out for very long. The fact that his eyes were still open and almost alert was enough to convince her that haste was needed.
The break wasn’t bad, but it did require putting the bones together and she did it with a practice born from years of experience. The most common injury for domestic animals allowed outside was a broken or bitten limb. She’d fixed hundreds of them during her time as a veterinarian’s assistant.
Sally had the leg finished and casted in less than ten minutes, proud of herself for helping another innocent creature. She put away her supplies and cleaned up, gun now in her hip holster. She’d only had to use it a few times, but those awful moments had been enough to convince her to keep it handy.
Sally rotated to check on the wolf and found him on his good feet, sniffing at the cast.
Sally’s hand went to her gun, but she didn’t draw it yet. “That might itch a little. Try to leave it alone for a week or two and you’ll be as good as new.”
Dog was grateful the pain was gone, and he slowly limped toward the woman’s porch, still blurry.
He curled up carefully under her porch swing, almost hidden by the vegetable plants in pots and bags. He faded off to sleep right away.
Sally glanced from the wolf to her barn, where she had cages for the animals until they were ready to be out on their own. There was no way she could get him in there if he didn’t want to go, but later, when he was hungry and thirsty, she could drug him then and use the sled to get him to the barn.
Content she had things under control, Sally went into the house and resumed sewing on the blanket she’d had in her lap when the howling started. Winter would be fierce this year, but she would be ready to last. Let the other survivors fight and die together. She had her cabin, her cellar, and her animals. I don’t need anything else.
9
“I don’t think I can do this, momma.”
“She has food. We need food.”
“But she’s that sweet lady from the vet’s office! She don’t mean no harm to anyone.”
“She has food. Are you hungry?”
“Aw, ma, you know I am!”
“Then shut up and do as I told you. Get on up there and knock.”
Dog’s fur bristled in anger as the pair came from the dusk shadows, the smaller girl limping.
“Hey! Can you help us?”
Dog understood it was a trap and inched from under the swing. The pair didn’t notice him.
“Who’s there?” Sally called from behind the door. She’d been sleeping peacefully, comforted for some reason by the thought of a wolf on her porch.
“We need help. My leg is hurt.”
Dog heard the lock click on the door and saw the taller woman’s hand behind her.
Sally pushed the screen door open, peering through the shadows. “Do I know you?”
“We seen you at the vet!” the younger girl stated eagerly, taking a step forward. “You were always so nice.”
“I thought your leg was hurt,” Sally commented, flipping off the safety on her gun.
“Down!” the mother ordered and the younger girl dropped to her knees.
Dog lunged at the mother.
Sally retreated into the house at the sight of the woman’s gun and she started to aim her own at the wolf, but couldn’t. He was right and they were wrong. Judgment had been passed.
Dog felt no sympathy for the screaming woman now trying to shoot him and squeezed his jaws together around her neck. He increased the pressure until blood flowed and she stopped moving.
The younger girl screamed in rage and grief, hands going for weapons, and Sally put her gun to the girl’s head and pulled the trigger.
Dog flinched, but held his ground as the healer holstered and then stepped around the bodies. That was a Safe Haven reaction.
Dog found it soothing.
When she strode to the shed, he watched curiously.
Sally brought out the large sled and a bottle of bleach, walking by Dog without any hesitation. He was like the few others on her homestead that had eventually chosen to stay with her–different.
Sally rolled the mother’s body onto the sled and dragged it toward the barn.
Managing his pain like he always had, Dog limped after her.
Sally unlocked the doors and threw them open wide so that she could tug the heavy sled inside.
Dog followed, noting healthy, bored animals in padded cages with food and water. It was indeed a kennel, but much nicer, and Dog gently sat down in the doorway, recognizing excitement in the air.
He surveyed the cages, noticing intelligence and fear. The ferrets were especially alert, heads swiveling from the human to Dog and then back in perfect unison.
“Those are the twins!” a loud voice brayed in his ear.
Dog spun awkwardly to discover a raccoon holding onto the cage bars, nose twitching in excitement. “Oh, yes! Here it comes!” The raccoon’s drool hit the wooden floor near his paw and Dog flinched away in disgust.
Sally drew the sled to a rusty concrete area that had a drain and flipped the bloody body onto it.
The instant it was on the ground, the other animals in the cages peered out, chattering.
“We had another one,” Sally stated, pulling her cleaver and apron from the wall holder. “You guys get meat tonight instead of vegetables. How’s that sound?”
The animals went wild, jumping, banging, chittering eagerly.
Dog retreated to the doorway as the woman began to chop up the body.
Because of his friendship with Marc, Dog tried to feel some anger or even revulsion, but couldn’t. Man was the enemy to every animal here, including the woman.
“It’s good that you helped her.”
Dog found a medium-sized coyote on a short leash inside the barn door.
“She is one of us.”
Dog didn’t doubt that as he watched the woman hack apart an arm to split between two snake cages.
Dog swept the smaller female. “You are almost healed?”
“Yes,” the female simpered. “And my pack is near! I heard them today! I can’t wait to be with my boys. I miss their feel and their weight.”
Dog rolled his eyes. That’s how you got so many pups.
Using her penlight for illumination, Sally finished with both bodies and then used the bleach to scrub away the mess, humming to herself. When she finished and went inside the house to clean up, she paused on the way to rub Dog’s ears. She no longer had to guess about his intentions and he knew she would kill him if she had to.
It should be fine, she thought, and left him loose to monitor the property.
Dog, proud, lingered near the open barn doors to eavesdrop on the chatter of the animals now enjoying their dinner. All of them appeared to be going north, like the others that Dog had met so far, and he listened with growing concern for the humans. The war still wasn’t over.
Chapter Four
The First Morning
1
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br /> One of the hardest things to confront after a volcanic eruption is the flood of refugees. Thanks to the war, we won’t be hit as hard, but we will be hit. I have estimated the numbers based on the average total of refugees we’ve taken in per state. Only 1/100th of those hiding ever came out or were found. We averaged eighty contacts or new members a month. Then, I added the organized people and groups that we didn’t pass close enough to or those who were flushed into the Midwest because of the war we had with the government. As many as ten thousand refugees from Yellowstone may make it across the Mississippi and that, you can’t prepare for. You must get the herd out of the way or lose roughly 50% to disease, fighting, and eventual starvation. I pray this never happens, but we know nature loathes humans and what better way to finish destroying us, than to set off a chain of events that will finally lead to our long-dreaded nuclear winter?
Angela let the book shut, slightly stunned. Adrian’s notebooks had all been scary, but most of it, she could do something about. This last notebook, titled ‘Volcanoes’, was horrifying. Ten thousand starving, sick, desperate survivors? Not a chance.
Is he wrong on the numbers? the witch asked from a distance. She was staying back to help Angela conserve energy.
Angela considered it from her own view. Was 1/100 right? That would mean only an average of eight thousand survivors per state, in places where the population had been millions…with no direct bomb damage.
“No,” she moaned, making Marc jump. “It’s too low.”
Angela rose from the mattress, pulling on her guns as she ducked out of the tent.
Marc stretched, hand brushing the book and he felt no guilt about flipping to the last page she’d been on. Lying next to her in the dawn chill, he’d already been catching bits and pieces of information for the last hour.
Marc read the passage without rancor or surprise. After she’d gotten the books from Adrian, his own mind had already come up with this problem, though he hadn’t estimated the numbers as high. He’d been out in those places since the war and Adrian hadn’t.
Then why is she concerned? the demon queried.
Marc ran it again and still didn’t see how there could be so many or how Adrian would have sensed them without Angela’s gift. But she hadn’t known and she’d been searching their surroundings actively after becoming a rookie. What was he missing?
Marc followed a sentry’s direction to discover Angela standing near the new shooting range, staring at the sky to their east. It was cloudy, almost hostile even, but not more so than usual.
“What is it?”
Angela was still scanning and she let Marc into the smallest area of her mind that she could close. It took too much energy to let anyone in all the way right now.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Marc groaned in annoyed frustration.
Angela gently pushed him out and felt her muscles ease. It had only been a few days since she’d been belowground with Donner and the effects of that ordeal were hitting her harder than she had expected.
“What’s the plan for this one?” Marc demanded. “He’s had a plan for everything else.”
“Not for this,” Angela answered distractedly. “He left it for his successor because it was too big for him.”
Marc stared at her worriedly. “You’ve got it covered?”
As much as she wanted to say yes, Angela couldn’t. “This is beyond me as well.”
Her thoughts went to the few members who might have the minds for the problems they were about to face, but she didn’t think there was anything that anyone could do at this point. The reactors were melting down. Even if they had ten trained, equipped teams, they still couldn’t reach all of them. The time for generators and final attempts had all been passed before Safe Haven arrived in these mountains. The remnants of the East Coast were going to be wiped from existence and she didn’t have the energy to call out and warn anyone.
“I led them into a future radiation zone,” Angela stated, voice shaking. “And he let me!”
Marc wasn’t positive that Adrian had known, and didn’t respond to that part. “You can only cover so much. You have to forgive the errors and go on. You know that.”
Marc slid an arm around her shoulders and Angela leaned against his comfort, but she didn’t take the words to heart. Marc would do anything to ease her pain, no matter if she deserved it or not.
“Yes, I would, but you don’t deserve the guilt for this one. There is nowhere else. The west is heavily contaminated where it isn’t destroyed. We barely survived the Midwest and nature’s anger. Now we’re in the last place we can run to and we…”
Angela’s guilt increased at the open pain ripping through Marc. He was quickly reaching the conclusions she had as soon as she realized the numbers didn’t include zones from the north, south, and or the east. Adrian had known, and let them come here anyway.
“How could he do that?!” Marc growled.
“He knew it would push them out instead of staying here for the winter.”
“What’s wrong with wintering here?” Marc questioned angrily. “We all need a break.”
“Because then we’d never leave,” Angela answered gravely. “And that will wipe us out.”
“How? If we make it through the winter, we can survive here. We don’t need to leave.”
“We won’t.”
“Won’t what?” he asked.
“Survive the winter. We’ll starve.”
“But we have all those new ideas for–”
“For a year?”
Marc knew she’d never been wrong and now he understood why she was so concerned. “A full year?”
Angela trembled as the wind blew against them. “More by a couple of months. We’ll be reduced to eating our dead. Then, each other.”
“We have to find a new place.”
“Yes, but not here,” she stated, glad most of the ash was gone. “It’s time to go south.”
Marc opened his mouth to deny that and Angela walked away without saying anything else. Marc’s instant need to fight the idea was a common one in Safe Haven. They’d beaten the government and were now at the top of the food chain. Few people understood why they needed to leave and unless she could make them, they wouldn’t budge from US soil.
Marc would have followed her, but his demon brought up another fact.
She isn’t going to tell them yet. She’s taking them into the caves.
Why? Marc asked, confused. If we have to go, why do all this anyway?
Because it’s the only way these sheep will leave, the demon replied sadly. She will have to watch them die by the hundreds before the truth can be accepted.
She can’t take that, Marc protested.
She has to, the demon replied gravely. Our very existence depends on it.
2
“We can’t do it in that time period. You have to make her understand.”
“Right,” Kenn snorted, gathering the equipment for the day’s labors. “‘Cause she values my opinion.”
Kenn was scheduled to mark off tent spaces. Tomorrow, he would get their activities and classes running. The medical bay and Eagle training tents were already open for use. It would be a busy week.
Theo’s brows scrunched together. “I mean it, Kenn. We can’t run the pipes, set up power, and get everyone inside in ten days. No one can.”
Adrian could, Kenn thought and wisely kept that to himself. “Shortest time?”
“A month,” Theo shot back immediately. “We haven’t even been in the cave yet and the clock is already rolling on day one.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Kenn said. “But don’t expect it to matter, is all I’m sayin’. She does as she sees fit. You know that.”
“And normally I respect it, but this time, she’s asking too much for the skills we have here.”
Kenn left the building tent without any of it showing in his expression. He hadn’t thought it was doable either, but Angela was forever surprising him. Maybe she had this covere
d.
Kenn took a minute to survey the area Angela had led them to last night. It was a relatively flat spot surrounded by trees on two sides. The south was rocky roads and the north was a mountain, right up close and personal. Kenn could discern the bird nests in the crags and the gaping hole their men would soon descend into. It was humbling and haunting. He wasn’t one of the people who were happy about going underground. He didn’t fear the walls closing in. He feared falling.
Kenn spotted the Point man and approved the change from Allan. That man had been switched to radio coverage for the day. Angela had turned the radio over to Kenn and Tonya when they arrived here, saying they needed to search through the Eagles and find at least two more people to cover the airwaves. Kenn liked the idea of being Safe Haven’s mouth, as did Tonya, and they’d stayed up late discussing how to do it. They’d gotten so involved that they’d crashed without having sex. It was a big adjustment that Kenn had never thought he’d be happy with. He liked a knockout at bedtime, but things were shifting rapidly in this new life and he was learning to handle it without the anger.
Kenn spent the next hour traversing the camp to make sure everyone knew where they were supposed to be. At lunch, he would have Allan announce the schedule over the radio in code. It would cover all the shifts, since everyone was here right now.
Except Adrian, Kenn corrected. He was hoping Theo was wrong and that it could be done in ten days, because Kenn planned to ask that Adrian be pardoned. And considering some of the other requests Angela was likely to get for their rewards, Kenn thought his might be the easiest to for her to grant. What Cynthia desired didn’t even seem possible to the Marine, despite all the proof of the magic around him and Kendle wanted time alone with Marc. Kenn mostly expected Angela to welch on the offers, but he wasn’t entirely sure. If it were bad enough, she would give Kendle a night with Marc to save these people.
“You think so?”
Kenn flinched. He hadn’t heard her come over.
Kendle snickered and remained by his side. After waiting a few seconds, she repeated her question.
