Feral

by Jami Lynn Saunders

  “What hunch?” Abby asked.

  Tanner took a deep breath. “What I found in Pippa’s DNA makes me think the werecats may hold the key to returning the ferals to sanity, if not normality.”

  “Are you saying I hold a cure to this mess?” Pippa asked.

  “I’m saying all werecats may hold the cure. That’s why I wanted to come with you. If we reach your safehold, I can work to create a cure.”

  The group set out again, each occupied by their own thoughts, not yet ready to share their feelings about Dr. Tanner’s revelation. They set a steady pace, stopping every hour to rest and taking their nourishment in small quantities. At one point, Abby’s asthma began to affect her breathing, but Dr. Tanner gave her an ionized inhaler, telling her he had a spare.

  Day turned to night and they trudged on. They planned to walk all night and rest during the next day. It began to rain, lightly at first, then more heavily. By the time they found shelter under a bridge, the rainstorm had become a torrent. They ate a full meal while they waited for the rain to stop, but an hour passed and the rain showed no sign of letting up.

  Pippa felt her hairs stand and her senses sharpen. “We can’t stay here.”

  “Ferals,” Hyena Boy said as he sniffed the air. “A few miles behind.”

  They struck out again, trying to ignore the downpour.

  “They’re getting closer,” Hyena Boy said after a few miles. He looked up and sniffed and then pointed through a stand of nearby trees. “There’s a river through there.”

  “It must be the Little Scioto,” Abby said. “It flows into the Ohio.”

  “Maybe we can find a boat,” Aiden said.

  “Let’s go,” Pippa said, and the six headed through the trees.

  They made it through the woods and reached the river-bank minutes later. They spotted an old rowboat, but it was too damaged to be used.

  “Maybe we can fix it,” Aiden said.

  A pack of ferals burst out of the woods screaming. Pippa looked at Hyena Boy and they both morphed. They ripped the boat apart, breaking off planks of wood and hurling them into the river. Abby, Aiden, Tanner, and Keenan dove in, and each grabbed a plank. As Pippa broke one last piece, a feral launched itself at her, but Hyena Boy intercepted the thing and snapped its neck before it reached her.

  Pippa and Hyena Boy dove into the water and grabbed the last two planks. They kicked toward their friends, who were headed for the middle of the river. The current picked them up, and the six travelers began drifting south, the howls of the ferals echoing in their ears as the beasts ran along the riverbank.

  They drifted through meanders, and the bank became thick with weeds and underbrush, finally blocking the ferals’ way.

  “How long to the Ohio?” Pippa called out. She had returned to human form.

  “Maybe a few hours,” Abby yelled. “I don’t know how long I can hold on.”

  The sound of splashing resounded above the rainstorm as Hyena Boy made his way to Abby. He slipped off his plank, which was bigger than hers, and helped her slide onto it. Then he took the one she’d been using and paddled close to her. “Don’t worry, Abby,” he said. “I’ll stay with you.”

  They came to the juncture with the Ohio soon after sunrise and made for the shore when they spotted a small bridge. The rain had stopped, but they shivered as they crawled up the riverbank. Wordlessly, the six sojourners huddled together under the bridge, trying to ease the chill that seemed to penetrate their bones. Warmth eventually spread through their bodies and the shaking subsided. They soon fell into a deep sleep, hoping they were hidden from unfriendly eyes.

  Pippa woke first. When she opened her eyes, she saw more than two dozen men with bows and arrows surrounding them. A gray-haired man with a long gray beard stepped forward.

  “Good morning.”

  Pippa rose to a sitting position, nudging her friends as she did. They woke up and stared at the company of armed men.

  “Don’t worry,” the leader said. “We don’t mean you any harm, but you can’t be too safe these days. Name’s Al. Al Anders. And you are?”

  “I’m Pippa Reyes. This is my sister Abby, our friend Aiden, Dr. Jack Tanner, Keenan, and Hy—”

  “Don’t use nicknames, Pippa,” Abby interrupted. “It might be considered disrespectful to our new acquaintances not to use our real names.” She turned to Al Anders as she gestured toward Hyena Boy. “This is Salvatore.”

  “Pleased to meet you all,” Anders replied. “We saw you floating down the river last night and kept an eye on you. Once you came ashore we figured we better let you rest.

  Where you from?”

  “Various places,” Dr. Tanner replied. “Pippa, Aiden, and Abby are from the New York safehold, Salvatore comes from the upper northern region, and Keenan and I are from a safehold in Athens.”

  “What brings you here?”

  “Feral attack,” the doctor replied. “These young people were visiting us, and they were with me on a short trip to gather medicinal herbs.”

  “You’re a long ways from Athens,” Anders said.

  “There was no help for it,” Tanner said. “Once the ferals attacked, all we could do was try to get away as best we could.”

  “We sort of got lost,” Abby said.

  “I guess you’ll be heading back soon, eh?”

  “Actually, no,” Pippa said. “My friends and I were only staying in Athens for a short time. I have family out west, and we’re going to join them. Dr. Tanner and Keenan decided to join us.”

  “That’s right,” Tanner said. “I hope to pass along my medical knowledge to other safeholds.”

  “You can stay with us at our marina for the day to eat and rest up before you head out,” Anders said.

  “Thank you,” Pippa said. “That’s very kind of you.”

  The community turned out to be a collection of boats tied together and anchored in the river near the mouth of the little Scioto, which fed into the Ohio. The residents used rowboats and canoes to ferry people to the shore as needed, but otherwise the population spent its life on the river, protected from ferals.

  The travelers spent the better part of two weeks there, living on a boat that had been unoccupied. Dr. Tanner and Keenan spent the time training a group of people in ways to aid their sick and treat their injured. Pippa and Aiden helped clear brush from a small park that overlooked the river village, while Abby and Salvatore helped a group of workmen with boat repairs. The work gave Abby an idea, and she discussed it with her five colleagues early one evening a few days after their arrival.

  “They have quite a few extra boats here,” she said. “So many that I’m thinking maybe they wouldn’t mind parting with one.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” Dr. Tanner said. “As the community grows, they’ll need all the boats they have.”

  “You might remind them that without the medical training you’re giving them, not as many would survive,” Pippa said.

  Tanner nodded. “But it’s their call.”

  “One of the extra boats is in real bad shape,” Salvatore said. “It’s obvious no one has tried to repair it. We could ask for that one, tell them we’ll fix it up.”

  “Yeah,” said Abby. “Offer to take it off their hands. I doubt they’ll miss it.”

  The next day, they made their pitch to Al Anders. “It’s all yours,” he told them. “We’re just as happy to be rid of it. I just hope it doesn’t sink out from under you.”

  Their new conveyance was a roomy, if dilapidated, pontoon boat. It had a heavy tarp to protect against the elements and plenty of room for storage. Dr. Tanner and Keenan continued to spend their time with the class, but the other four spent half their days working on the boat. Abby figured out how to retrofit the boat’s engine and fuel supply with makeshift solar panels, and Salvatore helped her with the work. Most of the other labor was grunt work, but everyone pitched in, and the boat was soon seaworthy. Dr. Tanner had imparted all the medical knowledge he could, and the other boats
were in good repair. Even the work on the park was complete. All that remained for the six travelers was to pick a time to leave.

  On the day of departure, most of the community stopped their work to bid goodbye to the six sojourners. Many villagers had parting gifts for them, including fishing poles and nets, bows and arrows, and plenty of food.

  The six shared a final breakfast with Al Anders and his family, then boarded the pontoon boat. Aiden started the motor they had rebuilt, and they listened to it purr.

  “We’ll miss you folks,” Al Anders said. “It’s been a pleasure.”

  “We feel the same,” the doctor said, and his five companions nodded in agreement.

  The boat pulled slowly away from the community, everyone waving goodbye. Tears stained the faces of more than a few of those who were leaving and those staying behind.

  Abby brushed away a tear and felt an arm go around her waist. She turned to see Salvatore, who was looking at her. He bent down and kissed her, and she kissed him back. Then she kissed him again.

  “I think I love you,” Salvatore whispered.

  Abby looked into his eyes. “I think I love you, too.”

  Aiden, at the wheel of the pontoon boat, laughed as he guided the vessel back into the middle of the river.

  The river came to seem like a friend as it took them closer to their destination while protecting them from ferals and providing a respite from the exertions of trekking through rough terrain. They soon began to relax in its presence. Abby followed their course on her maps, pointing to where they were and what was next. From her recollections of the countless books she’d read at the Hunter Library, she regaled the other five with stories about the ruined towns and cities they passed along the way.

  Pippa was happy for Abby and Salvatore, whose relation-ship blossomed during the river trip. With Abby spending as much time as she could with Salvatore, Pippa found herself spending more time with the other three, especially Aiden, who had been her rescuer on the fateful night that marked the beginning of the adventure. Clearly, he had no interest in her, at least not the kind of interest Salvatore had in Abby, and that was fine with Pippa—she had a job to do and would focus all her strength and will on it. One romance was enough for one small group of sojourners.

  And yet she found herself growing curious about this young man who was always there to protect them, who never complained about his disability, and who had a sly but appealing sense of humor. He had also been part of a brutal militia and been both the victim and the perpetrator of violent acts. But he had also quit that militia on principle. And he liked to call her kitty cat. At least he used to.

  She asked him about that one warm, lazy afternoon when the others were busy or resting. “How come you never call me kitty cat anymore?”

  “Thought you didn’t like it.”

  “I said I didn’t mind. Remember?”

  “I do remember.”

  “Well?”

  His expression turned serious. “Kitty cat’s a name for a girl. After all we’ve been through, I don’t think of you as a girl anymore.”

  That surprised her. Perhaps there was more to this seemingly uncomplicated young man than she had suspected. “So what do you think of me as?”

  “I think of you as a young woman.”

  “I like that,” she said. “But you can still call me kitty cat—if you want to.”

  He grinned. “Okay, kitty cat.”

  They stopped talking and watched the river for a while, until Pippa broke the silence with another question. “Did you ever have a girlfriend, Aiden?”

  “Yeah, sure, I’ve had a few.”

  “But nothing long term, huh?”

  “Nope.”

  “None of them good enough for you?”

  “Other way around,” he said.

  “What?”

  Aiden’s expression turned serious again as he raised his right arm. “I’m not exactly every girl’s idea of Prince Charming.”

  “No, you’re wrong,” Pippa said fervently. “You’re brave, kind, funny, and smart. You’d be any girl’s idea of Prince Charming.” She felt her cheeks warm slightly at her unplanned lecture. “Or Prince Not-Half-Bad, anyway.”

  Aiden chuckled. “You forgot good-looking.”

  She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, you’re kind of sort of good-looking—in a goofy kind of way.”

  He scooped up a handful of river water and tossed it at her. She ducked and picked up a short length of rope that was lying on the deck and flipped it at him. He caught it in his left hand, and they both started laughing.

  They lost track of the days. The boat drifted past the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to the north and Kentucky to the south, and Abby solemnly informed the group each time they passed from one state to another. They saw no ferals and no other communities. Sometimes it seemed as if there was no one and nothing left in the world except for them and their river. Pippa wished it could take them all the way to their destination, but she knew it wouldn’t.

  One day Abby announced that they had come to the end of the Ohio River and were entering another, called the Mississippi. They drifted south on the Mississippi, which Dr. Tanner said was an Indian word for “great river.” He said that it more or less divided the country in half. They had come far but still had far to go.

  Before long, the plant life along the riverbank began to change character, and in places the banks were almost swampy.

  “Do you smell that?” Pippa asked after they’d been on the Mississippi for a week.

  Salvatore sniffed the air. “It smells like hyenas.”

  Aiden, Tanner, and Keenan shook their heads, unrespon-sive to the scent in the air, but Abby thought she caught a whiff, which surprised her.

  “It’s heavy,” Pippa said. “Must be a pack of hyenas close by.”

  As day turned to night, the scent grew stronger. Pippa knew they were being followed—or hunted. As twilight fell, she scanned the surrounding tree lines for signs of life. “There,” she whispered to Salvatore.

  “I see them,” he replied. “Definitely hyenas. My kind are territorial, so maybe they’re just watching to make sure we’re moving along and passing through their area.”

  When morning came, the scent of hyena still clung to the air, but not as strongly. At mid-morning, Aiden steered the boat toward shore, bringing it to rest in a small lagoon. Straight ahead was a dam, blocking their path. They had managed to operate a number of locks on the river, but when Aiden and Dr. Tanner inspected this one, it proved inoperative. Their boat ride was over.

  “Guess we’ll gather up what we can carry and head out,” Aiden said.

  “You think it’s safe?” Keenan asked. “Are those hyenas still following us?”

  “I think they’ve backed off,” Salvatore said. “But it’s best to keep moving.”

  They were not keen to leave the river for the hazards of the trail again, but there was nothing to be done about it. The boat had become their home and refuge, but its service had come to an end. There was a place for sentiment, even in such a desperate world, but sloppy sentimentality would get them nowhere.

  The trek was difficult. The terrain became thicker and swampier, and Abby often had to use Excalibur to carve a path through the swampy brush. Roads were cracked and broken and so overgrown that they often couldn’t be seen until the group was nearly on top of them. Whole towns seemed to be slipping back into the wild. Some cities were so heavily infiltrated by giant weeds and brush that they were barely recognizable as cities.

  In one such city, they came to an abandoned hospital, marked by a caduceus at its front entrance. Several vehicles were lined up on a drive just outside the entryway. Aiden and Salvatore examined them, but none were in driving condition. Dr. Tanner announced that he wanted to explore the hospital to see if it held anything useful. They agreed to stop there for the night.

  Inside, the hospital looked as if it had been vandalized. Most of the windows had been shattered, and bits of
broken glass and pieces of hospital equipment were strewn about the floors. The place was nearly devoid of furnishings.

  They found a wing on the third floor with usable beds, and Dr. Tanner discovered a cache of intact and usable supplies. There was nothing else of any use.

  After a meal, they secured the building’s entrances as best they could and retreated to the third floor. One wing of the third floor was wide open, and empty beds lined the left wall. The group chose six adjacent beds for added safety. Pippa took first watch, sitting on a small ledge outside a glassless window while Abby slept not five feet from her.

  Pippa never woke her friends that night. She was too focused on the slithering creatures lurking in the shadows near the building.

  When Abby woke up, she saw Pippa sitting on the ledge outside the window, fully morphed.

  “Pippa, what’s wrong?” Abby asked as she approached the window. When she looked down, she had the answer to her question.

  Pippa stepped back into the room and morphed into human form, then pointed at the creatures below. They appeared to be semi-humanoid reptiles with dark green skin and snouts like those of alligators. They were slithering back and forth, but they seemed to be concentrating on the hospital.

  “They think we’re their next meal,” Salvatore said as he came up behind Abby, wrapping his arms around her as he peered out the window.

  ‘What are they?” Aiden asked. He was close to Pippa, and Dr. Tanner and Keenan were looking over their shoulders.

  “They look reptilian,” Abby replied. “But that doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I agree,” Dr. Tanner said. “The biological weapon that caused the Final Cataclysm was based on a feline mutation. Maybe these creatures are the result of radiation poisoning.”

  “The question is, what do we do about them?” Keenan asked.

  For the moment, no one had an answer.

  The group checked all the doors and made sure they were secured and blocked, then ascended to the roof to get a better view of the terrain and look for potential escape routes.