Wolf Hunting (A Wolf in the Land of the Dead Book Book 3)

by Toni Boughton

  “Yes, he told me, but that’s not the point!”

  “Then, what is the point?”

  Sage grunted in frustration and turned away from Nowen. The girl stomped over to the far side of the camper and then whirled around and stomped back. “The point is, you were gone for so long! I didn’t know where you were...anything could have happened to you, Nowen. Vuk could have caught you, or, or, something could have killed you, and I wouldn’t have known!”

  Nowen wondered if her confusion was visible. “Sage, any of those things can happen at any time. I don’t know what you’re upset about.”

  The girl just stared at her for a minute, her dark eyes getting wider and wider. “You really don’t get it, do you?” she finally said. “Why do I even try?” Sage brushed past Nowen and, grabbing her coat from a chair near the door, left the RV just as Everett was coming in. He looked from the empty door to Nowen, bewilderment on his face. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Nowen moved to a window and searched for Sage. The girl was a few feet from the camper, walking back and forth, anger evident in every motion. From the white plumes that followed her Nowen could tell that Sage was talking to herself. She looked back at Everett. “I don’t know. She’s upset that I was gone all night, I guess.”

  Everett looked thoughtful as he shrugged off his coat. Pulling a plastic bottle that was equal parts snow and water from his sweatshirt pocket, he twisted off the cap and took a drink. Nowen shook her head when he proffered the bottle. Everett capped it and began to slowly roll it back and forth in his hands. Nowen waited; finally he spoke.

  “She woke up from a nightmare last night, and looked for you. I told her you had gone out for a run; she got very quiet and then went back to sleep. I think. I’m beginning to suspect she stayed up all night waiting for you.”

  “But, why?”

  Everett sighed and set the bottle on a nearby counter. “Sage is still young, right. What is she - twelve, thirteen?” Nowen nodded. “She’s told me some of what happened to her, both before and after she met you.”

  Nowen frowned. “And?”

  “Life hasn’t been easy for her. No matter how well she seems to be handling everything, she’s still a child. She’s going to act out occasionally.”

  Nowen looked at him. “Life hasn’t been easy for anyone.”

  Everett stared at her for a moment. Then he gave a rough chuckle and shook his head. “You told me once you weren’t any good with children.” She narrowed her eyes at this; Everett didn’t seem to notice and kept talking. “Do you really not see how important you are to Sage?”

  Nowen gave a startled snort. “What? No. I don’t think she particularly likes me most of the time.”

  Everett threw his hands up. “That’s a teenager for you - they can swing from hot to cold at a moment’s notice.”

  “It doesn’t make any sense. Why can’t she just say what she wants to say? I don’t understand it.”

  “All I’m saying is, give her a break.” Everett turned away and moved to the pile of blankets on the RV’s floor. He dropped to his knees, grabbed one at random and began to roll it up. After a moment Nowen joined him.

  A few minutes passed before Everett spoke again. “Why doesn’t Sage want to change?”

  Nowen sat back on her heels. “She’s afraid.”

  “Of what?”

  “Of losing control. Of losing herself. The first time she changed she attacked me. Not out of maliciousness. Her wolf was wild and scared. And then, when we met you, she couldn’t stop her wolf from coming out.” Nowen raised her head and looked at Everett. “I’ve tried to train her, as best as I can. But it doesn’t seem to do any good. All I have to go on is my experience with my wolf, and it hasn’t always been pleasant.”

  Another thoughtful expression crossed the grey-haired man’s face. “Why do you say, ‘my wolf’?”

  Nowen reached for another blanket. “What do you mean?”

  “The way you say it, it sounds like a separate creature.”

  She gazed at him. “She is. My wolf, I mean.” Something Sage had said came to her. “Isn’t it like that for you? When you change, aren’t you kind of a...I don’t know, passenger in your wolf’s head?”

  Everett shook his head slowly. “No. When I change, it’s still me. I’m in a wolf’s body, in control, seeing with a wolf’s vision but thinking with my brain.” His single copper-colored eye studied her. “But that’s not what you experience.”

  Nowen returned his gaze. “No. My wolf is like a separate consciousness in my head. For so long I fought her for control. And I didn’t always win. Once, when I was injured, she took over and I...disappeared. For months.” Her thoughts turned to another time when the wolf drove her away in the grip of madness. The memory was still tender; she left it alone.

  Everett started stuffing their supplies into one of the backpacks. “Harp - Nowen, who made you a vukodlak?”

  “I don’t know, Everett. Just as I don’t know who I really am.”

  “Who made Sage, then? Vuk?”

  “No. I did. When we were attacked at the churchyard, the place where Suzannah died, Sage was bitten by a Rev. That’s how she lost those fingers on her hand. The only way I knew to save her was to try and change her.”

  The grey-haired man motioned at the bundled blankets near Nowen. “Toss me some of those, please.” She did, and as he tied several of them together with a strip of sheeting he spoke. “That’s an incredible story. And even more incredible that it worked.”

  Nowen nodded.

  There came a banging on the wall and Sage shouting. “Come on, are we going to hang around here all day?!”

  The weather was as unpredictable as Sage’s moods, Nowen thought later that afternoon. The sun rode high in a cloudless blue sky and the temperature rose with the sun. The snow was melting quickly, bright spears of new green grass dotted the dead prairie, and as Nowen trudged down the highway she seriously contemplated dropping the heavy backpack of blankets. No, don’t do that. It’ll probably freeze again tonight and snow again before the week is out. But take off your coat, at least.

  She did just that, stopping next to a sign that pointed the way to Sheridan, a couple of hours behind them. Nowen shucked off the backpack and her coat, closing her eyes in sheer bliss as the lightest of cool breezes swirled around her. She heard the approaching footsteps of Everett and Sage but kept her eyes shut and her head tilted up to the sun. The footsteps stopped in front of her.

  “Do you need a break, Nowen?” Nowen opened her eyes and gazed at Sage. Something about the girl’s tone of voice set her teeth on edge. “No, I’m fine. How’s your heel?”

  The girl’s lips set in a thin line and her dark eyes shifted from Nowen’s face to some point on the horizon. “It’s, like, almost all healed.”

  “Don’t overdo it. If you need a lift, let me know.”

  Sage rolled her eyes. “I’m good. I can walk.”

  Everett stepped up and threw an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Nowen. I’m keeping an eye on her.”

  “Yeah, Nowen, Everett knows if I’m having any problems.” Sage, her eyes still on the horizon, slid out from under the man’s arm and stalked down the highway. Everett hurried to catch up to the girl, and as he passed Nowen he threw her an apologetic look. Nowen watched them go, the girl and the man, their heads tilted towards each other and the low murmurings of their conversation carried back on the breeze. What is going on? She had no answer.

  The backpack nestled between her shoulders, her coat stuffed into the top of the bulging pack, Nowen followed her companions. For a while she tried to listen to what they were talking about; it turned out to be more reminiscing of the times before Flux, and she tuned them out. Her own thoughts turned to the journey, the distance she had traveled and the distance she still had to go, the obstacles that lay in her way. And her desire to tear Vuk’s throat out.

  The startled flight of a flock of birds drew Nowen back to the world. She bli
nked as the black birds with white wings flew overhead, crying out in distress. She traced their path back to the prairie that rolled unevenly to the eastern horizon, slowing without realizing it to watch as the earth itself on the side of the highway seemed to rise.

  Hummocks tore themselves free of the cold ground. Melting snow and mud sloughed off decaying bodies, the undead drawing themselves upright with hitching movements. Revs. Damn. How are they still mobile? The Revs, five in all, were about seventy-five yards away. Nowen watched their jerky, unbalanced shuffling as the moldering creatures took several halting steps in no particular direction. The capricious breeze chose that moment to sweep from behind Nowen straight across the snow-wet earth to the Revs, and as Nowen looked on the Revs froze. Slowly their heads turned in her direction and then, as if controlled by a single mind, they began to stagger across the prairie towards her.

  Nowen watched them come, a distant part of her brain analyzing the Revs. More decayed. Slower than I’ve seen, I think. One of the Revs went down in a heap of frayed clothes and mold-colored skin. With noticeable effort it grabbed at the dead grass and pulled itself onward in its single-minded purpose. Are they finally running down? Or is this just because they’re cold?

  “Nowen!” She turned at Sage’s shout to see the girl looking off to the west, pointing at more Revs rising from the ground. Nowen jogged over to where Everett and Sage stood. “See that?” Sage said, and Nowen took in the girl’s wide, frightened eyes. One of her thin hands was rubbing agitatedly against the stumps of missing fingers on the other hand. Nowen reached for Sage and then stopped. What do I say to calm her down?

  “There’s a few more behind us.” At the girl’s gasp Nowen quickly added, “It’s ok, Sage. Look at them. They’re slow. If we can avoid being surrounded or outnumbered too badly we’ll be fine.”

  The girl’s horrified eyes shifted from the Revs to Nowen’s face. “What?” she stammered.

  “Well, we don’t know how many are out there. If our luck holds and the Revs stay uncoordinated I’m sure we’ll be ok.”

  Sage looked dumbfounded. What? What did I do wrong? Nowen thought back over what she had said. Too honest? Everett had moved up to Sage’s other side while she talked, and Nowen saw him take the girl’s damaged hand in both of his. “There aren’t that many, Sage. Like Nowen said, we can avoid them. We just need to walk a little faster than they can move.” His voice was calm and low, even tones that Sage seemed to respond to. The girl looked at him. “So, we walk. Right? Just a little faster than the Revs move.”

  Sage nodded and turned away from Nowen and the sight of the Revs. Everett still held her hand as he led the girl along the highway, and as Nowen followed she heard the soft scuff of bone on pavement. She looked back over her shoulder; the first Revs were stumbling out of the dead grass. It was almost impossible to tell which of the undead had been male and which had been female. The familiar grey-green flesh was wrapped so tightly around the bones that the Revs looked like ambulatory skeletons. Most of their clothing had rotted away and as their bodies withered they became little more than husks. And yet their leaf-yellow eyes shone bright with their endless hunger.

  On the smoother surface of the highway the Revs walked a little faster. We can evade them. Still... Nowen hurried up next to Everett and whispered: “We need to speed it up.” His only response was a tight-lipped nod, but as Nowen fell in behind she saw his hand slide from Sage’s hand to her elbow. The girl responded to his urgency. The Revs fell further behind.

  Nowen scanned the prairie on both sides as she went, looking for more of the undead. The question of how the Revs had gotten here puzzled her for a while, until the memory of a winter spent in a little house, recuperating from broken ribs, came to her. She had seen Revs then, moving with a kind of purposeless purpose, along the highway and over the grasslands. Where they were going and what drove them on she had no idea. But something similar could have happened here. Revs just moving, following the track of some prey that was long gone? And then, winter, and they dropped where there stood when it got very cold.

  Nowen looked back over her shoulder. The road ran straight and smooth behind her. The wavering shapes of the trailing Revs were small specks now, and she wondered if they would eventually give up their futile pursuit on just keep walking for eternity.

  Nowen turned to face the road ahead and stumbled into Everett’s broad back. She rubbed her aching nose and looked at the man. Both he and Sage were standing stock still and seemed to be waiting for something. “What’s going on?” Nowen asked.

  Everett was swiveling his head back and forth and she knew he was using his wolf’s senses. She glanced at Sage. “I smelled something, and he heard something.” the girl said.

  “What, and what?”

  “Barbecue.”

  “Music.”

  Everett and Sage spoke at the same time and it took Nowen a moment to untangle their words. When she did, her first instinct was to tell them they were both crazy. Instead, she concentrated. Her hearing grew sharper, her sense of smell stronger, as she blended the wolf’s senses with her own. For a few moments there was nothing. Then the breeze shifted around and brought the savory odor of cooked meat to her. Far less important were the faint notes of music carried across the quiet land.

  Nowen licked her lips and looked from Sage to Everett. “Is that...beef?”

  Everett nodded. “I think so. Should we go find out?”

  Nowen glanced backwards again. The Revs were so far behind they were almost invisible. “Yes.”

  The scent of food proved elusive. By the time the sun was sliding behind the mountains the source seemed no closer. Sage had started limping about halfway through the day, and now she rode on Everett’s back again. Nowen, from her position behind them, kept an eye on their surroundings. During the afternoon she had seen more Revs rising from the prairie. Some of the undead noticed Nowen and her companions and started to follow. Their movement attracted more of the Revs, and now a good-sized group staggered down the highway in their wake.

  She glanced back and estimated how far away the leading edge of the horde was. Getting closer. They’re not faster - we’re slower. As if waiting for that realization a sense of her own weariness filled her. Her tiring legs pushed harder against the pavement and she moved up next to Everett. The wind brought the sweet smell of meat to her nose again.

  “We have a following.” Nowen said.

  “How many?” Everett asked.

  “Twenty or so. Start looking for some shelter.”

  “Hey, look at that.” Sage pointed toward the western horizon, where a bright glow was visible against the gathering darkness. “That’s gotta be where the music and stuff is coming from.”

  “Hmm. Looks like just a few miles if we cut across the prairie.” Everett said.

  Sage shook her head. “Uh-uh! There’s probably more Revs out there - we can’t see them in the dark.”

  “I agree. We should stay on the highway until daylight.” Nowen said. She slipped the backpack off as she walked and fished through the blankets for the flashlight. Twilight had laid a layer of soft unfocused light over everything, and the ground blended into the mountains until all was an indistinct blur. The harsh cone of light from her flashlight was garish against the darkening world but it brought the road back into focus before them.

  Guttural moans rose from the horde of Revs and Nowen whirled around and passed the light over them. The strange autumnal color of their eyes glowed like small fires. The group was closer now, no more than thirty feet away. Nowen faced front again and shone the flashlight over the immediate surroundings. Damn! This stretch of highway ran for miles through an empty landscape. She tried to remember the last abandoned car she had seen - at least an hour ago, she thought. “We’ve got to hurry, Everett.” Nowen said. In the glow of her light she could see beads of sweat on his forehead. He nodded grimly and started walking faster.

  His harsh breathing whistled through his nose. Nowen trained the ligh
t on Sage. “Can you walk for a while?” The girl’s eyes were shimmering dark pools in her frightened face but she, too, nodded.

  “I can carry her, Nowen.”

  “You need a break. Sage can walk for a bit, and then I can carry her if need be.” Everett opened his mouth, whether to argue or agree Nowen didn’t know, but the Revs’ moaning filled the momentary quiet and instead he slowed long enough for Sage to slide down his back. Nowen grabbed the girl’s hand and pulled her into a steady jog. Everett moved up on Sage’s other side and fell into pace.

  In less than ten minutes Nowen knew their luck was running out. Sage continued to jog but little gasps of pain escaped her and she lurched almost as much as the Revs. Everett had fallen back some, although Nowen could still hear the sound of his footsteps close behind. And as for me... The study thud of her heart in her chest seemed to echo in her head. And still the Revs came, the sound of their eager moans drawing other Revs from the fields. If only it would get colder; that would slow them down. Ok. One more thing to try.

  “Everett!” she called back. At his answering grunt she continued. “Keep an eye on Sage. I’m going to change, see if I can draw the Revs away.” Sage’s hand tightened abruptly on hers. Everett didn’t answer but she heard him move up next to Sage. She eased her hand from the girl’s, replacing it with the flashlight. The backpack she handed over to Everett. “Keep moving, no matter what happens.” she said, and slowed her pace to fall in behind them.

  A sound screamed over the prairie. Nowen, her hands at the hem of her sweater, froze for a moment. Fast Revs? The sound came again and she thought she recognized it as some type of siren. Underneath that unnerving wail she could make out the sound of car engines. Her first thought was of New Heaven, and she hurried to rejoin Everett and Sage.

  In the small handful of seconds it took to reach them the engines had come closer. There was no time for a warning; she shoved Everett and Sage into the grassy verge of the highway. She landed in a heap next to them, quickly rising to her knees and whirling to face the road. Brilliant headlights pierced the night as a huge van sped past, followed closely by a couple of cars.