Snow was starting to fall and the mid-afternoon sky had turned as dark as twilight by the time Nowen reached the gas station. She paused at the edge of the cracked pavement of the lot and took in the scene. The place looked to have been abandoned long ago, with even the gas pumps gone. The small building of the station itself looked intact so Nowen trudged over to the front door and peered in the dirt-filmed window. In the fading light all she could make out of the interior were the vague outlines of empty shelves and bare walls. A thick layer of dust coated everything that she could see.
“Sage.” she said, and shrugged her shoulders.
“What? What is it?” The drowsy voice was flavored with alarm.
“Camp for the night. Can you walk?”
“Of course.” Sage sounded indignant as she slid down Nowen’s back. At a gasp from the girl Nowen whirled and caught her as Sage fell forward. “I can stand! My legs just fell asleep!” Sage said as she struggled to stand upright.
“Sure you can.” Nowen grinned at the dirty look Sage gave her. She helped Sage limp over to the door. She turned the door knob. “Locked.”
Sage made a sound, a grunt of laughter and pain mixed together. “Remember Anton on the highway, trying to find a car? What’d he say...something like ‘Who locks their door in the middle of an apocalypse!’”
Nowen smiled. The memory was bittersweet. Anton had given her over to the New Heavenites, but then had lost his life trying to free her. She turned away from the memories. “I’m going to look around and see if I can find a way in.” She eased out from under Sage’s arm. The girl leaned back against the front door, pulling her thin jacket closer around her as the wind screamed past. Nowen looked at her.
“Don’t go anywhere - I’ll be right back.”
Sage laughed and waved an arm around. “Well, there’s so much to do and see, it’ll be difficult not to wander off!”
Nowen headed out into the storm. The snow was falling heavily now, thick sheets of white that shrouded the prairie. The cold wind sucked the air from her lungs and threw snow in her face. Her wolf perked up; the wild of the storm called her like the bugle of an elk. Later, I promise. We have to get the pup under shelter first.
Nowen kept one hand on the rough wall of the station and walked the perimeter. There was a door on the back of the station but it, too was locked. On the last wall before she reached the front again she found a window high up on the solid concrete that looked to be cracked open just a little bit. Using a dumpster that she dragged over Nowen was able to push the window open and hoist herself over the frame and into the store.
She landed on the dusty counter where the cash register stood, a lonely sentinel. A puff of dust flew up and Nowen sneezed as she looked around the interior of the gas station. She pulled a slim flashlight from her coat pocket and shone it around. There was nothing left in the store to scavenge. One short hallway at the back led to restrooms and an office. Of more interest to her was the unmarked dust layer everywhere. No one’s been here in a long time. It’s safe.
Nowen hopped to the floor and crossed to the door. A flip of the latch in the doorknob and then Sage was stumbling inside, trailing cold air and snow behind her. The wind set the bell over the door singing. She led the limping girl to the office, which turned out to be small but snug and surprisingly warm, sheltered as it was by the rest of the building. A battered loveseat, a desk, two filing cabinets and a couple of chairs were all crammed into the space.
Sage fell onto the loveseat with a groan and eased her sneakers and socks off. Nowen grabbed a couple of flashlights from the girl’s backpack and set them up around the office to provide some illumination, then pulled a chair over to the loveseat and looked at the wounded heel; what had started as a blister had turned into a bloody patch of torn and traumatized skin. She grabbed the first-aid kit and cleaned and bandaged the wound. When she was finished she eased the foot onto the loveseat and looked at Sage.
“You need to stay off that foot for a couple of days or it’ll never heal.”
The girl tilted her head back. Her voice was weary when she spoke, the words trembling on the edge of tears. “I’m sorry, Nowen. Tomorrow I’ll try changing.”
We could go so much faster as wolves. But I don’t want to force her. Nowen laid a hand on Sage’s leg. “I’ll look for a car, or maybe some bikes. There might be a farm or house nearby that could have something. Plus, we could be stuck here for several days with this storm. Don’t worry about it.” Sage made a small sound of thanks.
Nowen and Sage shared a silent meal of water and granola bars. The girl drifted off to sleep and Nowen left the office to wander around the rest of the station, shining her penlight around at the empty shelves. She felt super-charged, her body twitching to change and run through the wild night, and she ended up at the door, nose pressed to the cold glass.
Outside the storm raged on. Snow fell in a blinding fury, skeins and veils of white thrown about by the wind. The sky, seen through gaps in the snowfall, was a solid dark grey. It called to her, to her and her wolf. The screaming wind would fill her nose with crisp air and the clean scent of snow, would run its invisible fingers through her fur, would lend her speed as she ran over the wide open prairie. The night would enfold her in its secrets and the storm would give her freedom. Nowen’s arms trembled, the black fur itching to rise through her skin and pour over her like a waterfall. Wait, wait.
She returned to the office to check on Sage. The girl was still asleep. Nowen draped her coat over the thin and wiry body. Sage stirred in her sleep but didn’t waken. I need to leave her a note. The desk yielded a note pad and a handful of pencils. Leaning over the desk Nowen scribbled a quick explanation of where she was going and left the slip of paper propped where Sage would see it, if she should wake before Nowen returned.
Nowen started unbuttoning her shirt. The urge to change was very strong now, and it was a combination of both her and her wolf’s desire. The wind howled around the building and it was all she could do not to howl back.
The jingling of the bell on the gas station’s front door rang through the empty station. Nowen paused with her fingers on the second button of her shirt. Stupid! I didn’t lock the door! She looked at Sage; the girl was awake and looking back at her, wariness in her dark eyes. Nowen held a finger across her lip. Sage nodded and began to pull herself upright on the loveseat.
“Hello?” Male. Stranger. “I know you’re here - I saw your flashlight!” Nowen ignored the startled look Sage gave her and moved silently to the office door. Her wolf strained to come out. Not yet. If this is a dangerous person with a gun, we won’t have much room to maneuver in the station.
“Look, I don’t want trouble! I’m just looking for shelter from the storm!” Nowen could hear the man’s tentative footsteps; he didn’t seem to be moving closer to the office but toward the opposite wall instead. She slid down the small hallway, one wall against her back. The darkness of the station opened up before her, and she drew on the wolf’s vision to see through the gloom. In the familiar dim and muted colors she could see the stranger standing near the lone register. His back was to her, and he shone a flashlight over the dusty surface of the counter.
Nowen took a step out of the sheltering hallway, and just before the cold barrel of a gun pressed against her head she caught a whiff of sour sweat and body odor. The holder of the gun spoke. “Don’t move.”
Chapter Four
Nowen’s body screamed at her to do a thousand different things, to drop into a crouch or let her wolf out or strike out at the man with the gun - but there was no real option available. The gun barrel was pressed flush to her head and she was certain any movement on her part would be fatal.
“Who else is in here with you? And don’t lie.” the man next to her said. Nowen didn’t answer. The icy barrel dug into her temple. “Who else is in here with you?” the stranger said again. The other man had joined them by now, and he shone his flashlight into Nowen’s face. She blinked rapidly, blinded
by the intense light. “Len, it’s a woman!”
Len chuckled. “Well, whatta ya know! That’s a nice surprise for me. Maybe she has a boy somewhere in here for you, huh, Keith?” A heavy hand ran across Nowen’s chest. Len leaned in close to her ear. “Don’t think I won’t fuck you if you’re dead.” She heard the sound of metal rasping against metal. “Now don’t make me ask again.”
There came a rattling thump from the office. Nowen felt the gun slide through her hair as Len automatically turned toward the sound. Now! She lunged toward the man holding the flashlight. “Hey!” Len shouted from behind her. A thunderous explosion rang through the store. By that time, however, she had tackled the one called Keith.
She drove the man to the dusty floor, straddling his waist as he fell. He landed with a loud grunt and the flashlight fell from his hand. Nowen scooped it up and threw it at Len. The hard plastic bounced off the man’s forehead and he dropped the gun. The business end of a push broom shot out from the hallway and sent the gun spinning away into the darkness of the station. Nowen caught a glimpse of Sage lying on the floor of the hallway and swinging the broom at Len’s ankles. Suddenly fire bloomed across her face as a fist slammed into her jaw.
Before she had time to react another blow landed, this time on her abdomen, and she hunched forward. A third blow connected with her left eye. Pain arced through her head and Nowen flung herself back and away. Her vision was useless, all streaks and starbursts, and she couldn’t see anything. She kicked out blindly with her legs as she dragged herself backwards across the floor. There was a sense of motion above her. Something heavy landed on her, and the stink of body odor and sweat flooded her nose. Nowen’s wolf was howling to be let free. Ok, let’s do this- A hand sank her into her hair and yanked her head up off the floor. “Bitch, you got this coming!” Keith said from the haziness above her. Steel spikes of pain filled her body as the man’s fist smashed into her face.
The world went away in a cascade of darkness. The sound of shouting drew Nowen back. Sage? Her one good eye fluttered open on a scene half-lit by flashlights. Someone Keith was holding her upright. Her neck was in a vise of the man’s arm. A wobbly cone of illumination shone down the hallway that led to the office, where Len was pounding on the closed door. She’s safe. For now. She reached for her wolf.
There was a moment of sheer burning fear when the wild presence couldn’t be found. Not again! Nowen reached deeper. There! Her wolf raised groggy eyes- the blow that knocked Nowen out had affected the wolf, too. Get it together - we’re going to start some trouble. “Listen to me, you little cunt!” Len roared from down the hall. “Open that god-damned door right now or I’ll kill your friend!”
There was a shattering of glass. Keith whirled around and Nowen was dragged along to see a gunmetal-grey wolf ride the storm in through the broken front door. Someone cursed - Nowen didn’t know who. Nor did she care. As the grey wolf landed in a swirl of snow and glass she brought her hands up to the arm around her neck and dug her claws in. Keith screamed in her ear and tried to pull his arm away. Blood flew through the air as Nowen gripped harder with her clawed fingers. Bones creaked in her face as her jaw stretched forward to make room for the sharp new teeth sprouting from her gums. She lowered her head to the man’s arm and sunk her teeth in to the gum line.
Keith shrieked. Nowen felt a glancing blow from the flashlight hit her head, and she tightened her jaws. Above the panicky, painful screams of the man behind her she heard screams and the snarls of the grey wolf. She swept her good eye around the station’s interior and saw a rolling, tumbling blur of wolf and man near the front door. A blow of the flashlight against her ear brought her attention back to Keith.
Nowen let go of the man’s arm and whirled to face him. She latched onto the back of his neck with one hand and held the clawed fingers of her other hand up to his face. Keith’s eyes widened in fear. She grinned, blood dripping from her teeth, and drove her hand for his throat. His larynx collapsed beneath her blow and she dropped him to the floor, watching as he thrashed and gasped for air.
Everett spoke from next to her. “Damn. I wanted to question one of them. Did you have to kill him?”
“Is the other man alive?”
“No.”
“Did you have to kill him?”
There came a low chuckle from Everett. “Touché.”
Keith’s body arched up from the floor in one last, desperate grab at life and then was still. Nowen turned to look at Everett. The wind sweeping in from the door blew his long hair around his face. She glanced over his shoulder at the shattered glass. “You broke the door. Now the cold will get in. Was there no other way for you to make an entrance?” she asked as she stepped around Everett and headed for the office.
“You’re welcome!” he called. Nowen could hear glass crunching under his bare feet as he followed her to the office door. She rapped on the wood. “Sage? It’s all clear now.”
The door swung open and Sage’s face lit with alarm as she took in Nowen’s condition. “Oh my God, look at you!” The girl limped towards the backpack. “Sit down, Nowen, and I’ll clean your face.”
“See if we have any clothes that will fit Everett.”
Sage, her arms buried in the pack, looked up with surprise. “Everett?”
“Yes.” Nowen caught the jeans and flannel shirt Sage tossed her and handed them to Everett. She left him in the hallway and sat on one of the office chairs. Sage hopped over to her, a white box in one hand. The girl started rifling through the contents of the box.
“We’re going to need to find another kit soon. Running low on bandages and gauze.” Sage held up a small plastic packet and examined it in the glow of a flashlight. “And these alcohol wipes...how long do they last?” Nowen watched the girl approach her with a half-full bottle of water and a handful of gauze. “We’ll just have to use up the rest of the antibiotic spray.” Sage said, and pulled the other rolling chair next to Nowen’s.
Nowen raised her hand. “Save the spray for your foot. If I change, most of these injuries will be healed.”
Sage leaned back in the chair. “Well, why haven’t you?”
“She still doesn’t trust me.” Everett said. Nowen narrowed her eyes as the man entered the room and sat on the loveseat.
“No, I don’t. It was awfully convenient that those two men found us in the middle of this storm, and then even more convenient that you arrived in the nick of time.” Nowen said, keeping her gaze pinned on the grey haired man.
“There’s no conspiracy or evil plan. I’ve been following you two since you left New Heaven. Those two men started following you right before the storm hit.”
Nowen sneered. “That’s impossible. I would have seen them.”
“You had just started carrying the girl.” Sage had started daubing at Nowen’s face with a damp piece of gauze; when Everett said this Nowen felt the girl’s motion still for a moment. “I was about a half-mile back, staying off the highway.
Do you remember passing an overturned station wagon?” Nowen nodded slowly.
“That’s where those two were hiding.”
Against her will Nowen was beginning to believe Everett. “They started following us.” she said, wincing as Sage starting cleaning around her injured eye.
“They might have passed this place by if they hadn’t seen my penlight.”
Everett shrugged. “Probably not. They were looking for shelter, too.” Nowen crossed her arms and studied the man. His single copper-colored eye returned her gaze with equanimity. “Ok. I’m willing to believe that you don’t work for Vuk.”
The gunmetal-grey-haired head dipped in acknowledgement. “Thank you.” he said.
“That just means I won’t kill you - yet. I want to know what you want from me.”
Everett leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. “I don’t want anything from you. I want to help you kill Vuk.”
“So, go kill Vuk.”
Everett laughed,
a harsh bark devoid of humor. “After his run-in with you and then the destruction of New Heaven, you don’t think he’s going to be well-armed and well-prepared? I’ll bet anything he’s ramped up his vukodlak program. He knows you’re still alive, right? Knowing what Vuk knows of you, do you think he’ll take a chance that you’ll forget about him and wander off to live in the woods?” Everett sunk back against the loveseat. “You can’t be the lone wolf all the time. Sometimes, you need a pack.” I’ve never needed a pack. “And, admittedly, there is one more reason I’ve been following you.”
Nowen’s hackles rose. “And what is that reason?”
The look Everett gave her was of such burning intensity that she almost flinched away. “Because I know you.” he said.
This again. “You don’t know me.”
“I do, Harper. I do, and to find someone I knew before Flux, before everything went to hell... Everett looked away and ran his hands through his hair. “I walked through the streets of the dead, bodies piled in heaps or scattered where they had fallen. I ran from the dead that shrieked and howled and wanted nothing more than to drag me down. I nearly lost my mind. Vuk found me, and gave me a new life. But you, Harper,” and here his eye, ghost-haunted, returned to Nowen’s face, “finding you was like finding a piece of home.”
Nowen shot to her feet, sending bloody bits of gauze flying. Faintly she heard Sage squeak as the girl’s chair was sent rolling across the office. “I’m not Harper. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. If you want to travel with us, fine. But call me Nowen or don’t talk to me at all. Understood?” She waited for his nod. “Good.”
Wolf Hunting (A Wolf in the Land of the Dead Book Book 3) Page 3
