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

by Toni Boughton

  The quarter-moon had crested the horizon and meandered half-way across the sky when the wolf finally stepped from the grasslands onto the gravel surface of the rest stop. The mottled pickup was tucked away next to what looked like a storage building, and as she came to a weary halt by the back of the truck the dark-furred human stepped out of the shadows.

  A bundle flew through the air to land at the wolf’s feet. “Your clothes.” The human said, and the wolf could tell by the sound of his voice that he was facing away. Nowen concentrated, pulling the wolf’s body back into hers, gritting her teeth as bones shrank and joints popped. She stood upright under the pale wash of moonlight, pulling the clothes on as a last few ridges of black fur sunk beneath her reddish-brown skin.

  She took the hand that Benjamin offered, her legs unsteady in their weariness, and let him help her to the truck bed. Benjamin dropped the gate and Nowen stretched out on her back, legs dangling off the gate. Benjamin heaved himself up next to her. She rolled her head to the side and met his gaze.

  “I found Everett.” she said. She could feel him waiting to hear another name; she shook her head. “I followed a car from the hospital out to an airport. There I saw vukodlak - poor, scrawny things - thrown into a corral with Revs. They didn’t know what to do. The Revs killed one of them. And then Everett was sent into the ring. He destroyed the Revs.”

  “And you didn’t see Sage?”

  Nowen turned her head to look up at the sky. Against the black depths of space the stars seemed utterly indifferent to the small life forms moving on the earth. “No. I saw several cages, but they were all covered - no idea what might be in them.”

  Benjamin stretched out next to her. “So, she could be there too, with Everett. Right?”

  Nowen grunted non-committedly. Her mind was running over everything she’d seen at the airport, trying to make sense of the events.

  As if reading her mind, Benjamin asked: “What are they doing out there?”

  Nowen answered slowly, laying the pieces down so that they fit. “I’ve been thinking of it as a ‘corral’; it’s more of an ‘arena’, I think. Vuk wants to make more vukodlak, and that arena is his way of training them. Or testing them? The ones I saw tonight and the ones he had with him back at the little church were not...hmm, I guess you’d say ‘good specimens’?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Thin, uncoordinated, uncontrolled. One I saw tonight tried to shift between forms and couldn’t. The vukodlak I saw at the church were leashed, and once they were let off they didn’t listen to Vuk; they just ran wild.”

  “Is that normal?” Benjamin asked.

  Nowen looked at the young man. “I have no idea. No one raised me or showed me what to do. I’m what Vuk called a ‘feral’, someone turned without anyone to guide them. I’ve met very few other vukodlak, and of those only Everett and Sage weren’t trying to kill me. Maybe what Vuk is doing in the arena is what is necessary.”

  “Did Everett go through all that?”

  Nowen paused. The answer was on the tip of her tongue, but she found it hard to say. “I don’t know. I never asked him about his life.”

  Benjamin raised himself up on an elbow, and the look he gave her was incredulous. “Really? Man, if I found someone else who could tell me why the hell I could turn into a wolf I’d, I don’t know, tie ‘em up ‘til they told me what they knew.”

  Nowen pulled herself up into a sitting position, tamping down the anger she felt at me, not Benjamin and the unanswered questions she had long denied. She drew her knees up to her chest and looped her arms around them. “It’s not important right now. We need to get Everett out and find Sage.”

  “Well, I still say my plan is the best one. I’ll get into the hospital and see what I can find.” Benjamin said from behind her.

  Nowen searched the horizon until she found the faint glow that marked the airport. “Fine. I’ll keep watch on the arena.” She glanced back to see Benjamin nod and yawn. “Get some sleep. I’ll take first watch.” She turned her gaze back to the dim flicker of torch light and planned.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The wolf pricked her ears at a soft rustling sound. She tensed, tracking the tiny movements that set the grass swaying. Her body stilled, every muscle poised, her eyes searching for her prey. A single moment were everything grew quiet - and then she pounced.

  “Harper!” The wolf’s head jerked up at the whispered word, the code word decided by her human and the dark male. She trotted toward the fence, gulping down the crushed remnants of a couple of field mice. Slow. The wolf shook her head at her human’s unneeded warning. In the week they had been holding their vigil she had learned the patterns of the pack enemies as well as her human had.

  The wolf slowed as she approached the hospital. It turned out there were barriers to keep the dead-not-dead at bay, but only at a couple of points. One was near the spot where cars and trucks left and returned to the hospital. Another was on the same side but at the back of the hospital, an area a quarter the length of the building. It was where refuse was burned and was protected by concrete dividers, trailers, massive metal pipes - anything that could be stacked into a stable barricade.

  A shambling figure appeared on her right and the wolf dropped to her stomach and crawled under a bullet-pocked ambulance on her left. She could smell the rotten-meat stench of the dead-not-dead on both sides of her now. The wolf pulled herself to the front of the ambulance, spotting another car not too far away. With a frantic lunge she shot out from under the ambulance. Two leaping jumps brought her to the car, and another leap got her to the roof.

  The wolf looked back at the dead-not-dead, who seemed not to have noticed her at all. She bared her teeth at the shuffling creatures before she turned and leapt down from the car. A slow and watchful minute later she was at the barrier, whining softly next to a double stack of concrete dividers.

  “Nowen?” The whisper was followed by the red glow of a flare and the acrid scent of gasoline. A moment later flames could be seen leaping high above the top of the dividers. “Over here.” Benjamin said, moving away from her, and the wolf followed on the outside of the barrier until she reached a small gap between sets of dividers. The space had been filled with wire fencing set in multiple layers, and behind it crouched the shadowy shape of the young male, backlit by the roaring fire. The wolf came to a stop just before the fence and let the change rush over her.

  “Nowen, thank God! I have a lot to tell you...” Benjamin’s voice trailed off as she walked up to the gap. “Oh, man, you’re naked!” He turned away from her quickly.

  Nowen rolled her eyes. “The wolf doesn’t wear clothes. Don’t be foolish; it’s been a week since we’ve talked. What have you found out?”

  The young man kept his back to her as he talked. “There is some weird shit going on here. Now, I don’t have clearance for some parts of the hospital. When I got picked up by that patrol on the highway I told them I wanted to join up and fight the demons. The guards laughed and said I had to start at the bottom. And they weren’t kidding! I’m on the cleaning crew -that’s what I’m doing now, burning trash and...other stuff. Me and the rest of the cleaners stay mostly on the second floor. All the crap to be burned is sent down to us. We also get to distract the Revs whenever patrols come in or out, organize supplies, boil water for drinking and-”

  Nowen wrapped her fingers through the chain link fence. Her words were precise, clipped, and seething. “Benjamin. Is Sage in there?”

  He turned and faced her. “I don’t know.”

  “What the hell have you been doing this past week?!”

  “Gathering information!” Benjamin flinched at his own loud voice and looked back over his shoulder. After a moment he brought his gaze back to Nowen. “You know what I’m burning there? Paper towels, bloody scrubs, shit, food scraps - but no bodies. People die in that hospital, and the bodies are thrown out the windows to the Revs. We get these bundles, wrapped in paper bags and newspapers and old clothes and
we toss them out to those things. I was curious, so I looked at some of them. The bodies... weren’t always human. Some were, yeah, and others were, like, nightmares.”

  Benjamin fell silent. Nowen waited, sensing that he was gathering his strength. When he spoke again his voice was low and halting. “People that looked like, I don’t know, like some kid’s drawings of monsters. Bodies with patches of fur and misshapen heads with teeth sticking out everywhere. Half wolf, half human, with big claws and broken legs. Other bodies, human bodies, were covered in scars and bruises. Most of the ones I saw were older, like in their twenties. Some-” Benjamin paused, taking several deep hitching breaths. “I saw a few that were young, younger than me. Younger than Sage! They were kids, and they were all beaten and cut up and stuff. I mean...”

  The young man’s head fell forward against the fence and his shoulders heaved with silent sobs. Nowen slid her arm through the fence and laid it as gently as she could on the bowed head. She stood like that for a couple of minutes, offering Benjamin what succor she could. At last his body stilled and he straightened. She pulled her arm back through the fence and waited for him to continue.

  “Anyway, uh, I’m not cleared to go above the third floor. I did anyway, a couple of nights ago. Snuck up the emergency exit stairs to the fourth floor. Armed guards are everywhere and I almost got caught a couple of times, but lucky for me the guys weren’t paying that much attention. The fourth floor is where the lights are at night. That’s where the Saviors do whatever the hell it is they do. It’s something bad, though, Nowen. I heard screams. And howls. Wolf howls.”

  Nowen tried to process all that she had heard. “They must be making new vukodlak up there.”

  “Or trying to. And from what I’ve seen, not having too much luck.”

  She nodded. “I think you’re right. New wolves are made here and taken to the airport to be tested and trained. Weak ones are culled.”

  Benjamin stared at her. “Is that what you’ve seen out there?”

  “Yes.”

  “And Everett?”

  Nowen tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. “I haven’t seen him since that first time.”

  “Do you think he’s still alive?”

  Oh, I hope so. The thought of Everett dead was like a black hole inside her. She set the thought aside and brought her gaze back to Benjamin. “Do you know for certain that Sage is not in there?”

  He shook his head and glanced back at the fire. It was starting to die out. He turned to Nowen. “I can’t stay out much longer. But no, I don’t know for certain that Sage isn’t here. I can’t exactly go around asking for her by name. What do we do now?” Even in the waning firelight the desperate expression on his face was easy to see. “What if she’s up on the fourth floor? What if they’re doing experiments on her?” Without warning he slammed his hands against the fence, setting the chain link structure jingling. “Fuck, Nowen, what if one day her body comes down to me to be thrown out the window?!”

  A low moan, almost sub-aural, caught Nowen’s attention. A Rev somewhere near had heard the noise. “Calm down, calm down. Think, Benjamin. Is there anyone you trust enough to ask?”

  Benjamin ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know. Maybe. There’s a guy, Ramos. He’s seems ok. But I don’t know! Uh, I can try to get up to the fourth floor again. Sneak up there when the guards are distracted. Or I could ask for a transfer to another floor. But that could take time. Like, another few days or even weeks.”

  At this Nowen’s nerves tightened. Another week. Or longer. No. I need to do something now. “Benjamin, give me a day to think about all this and come up with a plan. Can you meet me back here tomorrow night?”

  The young man nodded.

  “Ok.” She started to turn away, and then thought of something. “Do you know if Vuk is here? Do the people call themselves the Saviors or New Heaven?”

  Benjamin gasped, a sharply indrawn breath. “Oh, fuck! I can’t believe I forgot - but I’ve just been thinking about Sage - she’s stationed here! That woman you know, the one who took them!”

  “Zoe’s here?” Nowen took a step back from the fence and looked to the left and right, searching for a way through the barrier. The closest she could see was the gap in front of her. Her hands clamped onto the wire and began to pull. “Benjamin, help me with this. Get me in the hospital - Zoe will know where Sage is, and Everett.”

  “Whoa, wait! She’s not here right now.”

  Nowen paused. “What do you mean?”

  “This afternoon a big patrol, two cars and a Humvee, left the hospital. I was down in the ambulance bay boiling water when I saw them leave. Ramos was with me; I asked what was up and he told me that it was Zee and her soldiers going out on a mission.”

  Nowen let her hands fall away from the fence. “Do you know when she’ll be back?”

  “Not for sure. Ramos said she’s never gone for more than a day or so. I kinda got the impression she doesn’t trust anyone else to run the hospital.”

  Her thoughts were racing now as the beginning of a plan began to unfold. “Ok, this is what we’re going to do. I want you to go on as you have been. Don’t ask about Sage or anything; don’t draw attention to yourself. Keep an eye out for Zoe’s return. I’ll watch the airport for any sign of Sage or Everett. We meet back here every night if we can to let each other know what’s going on.”

  “Ok.” Benjamin said. Somewhere behind him a voice, deep and male, called his name. “Shit. I gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

  She watched him as he headed toward the hospital. When he had moved beyond her sight she turned away from the fence and, dropping to all fours, changed.

  Under the rising full moon the black wolf loped away through the high grass.

  Nowen lowered the binoculars and rubbed at her eyes. The strain of staring through the binoculars hour after hour, watching every movement around the arena, searching for a flash of gunmetal-grey or russet fur - by the time the sun set her eyes felt like they were full of ground glass. She stretched and sat up. Today had been uneventful, like the previous two days. Uneventful in that only the same horrible things happened again. Her temples ached but no amount of pressing against them would drive away the memories of terrified vukodlak facing hungry Revs - and almost always losing. Where are they getting all these people? And who is changing them?

  Nowen started to rise and then paused. There was that one wolf. Big, healthy, willing to fight the Revs. The image of the dark brown vukodlak lingered with her as she stood and started walking toward the city. That one was...different. It went after the Revs. Took out three of them before the rest were shot by the guards. So, something has changed. Either that human took to the change easily, or whatever is being used to create the vukodlak has gotten better. In the distance Nowen saw the lights on the top floor of the hospital come on. She picked up her pace. Tomorrow I’ll see if there are more of the ‘improved’ wolves. For tonight, I’d settle for Benjamin having some information.

  Upon reaching the hospital Nowen headed toward the trash-burning area. There were a handful of Revs that were easily avoided, and soon she was crouching by the gap between concrete dividers. She waited, listening to the moans of the undead as they mingled with the calls of night birds. Above all that, above the rustling of the grass and the hollow whisper of the wind over metal, there was a wide and bottomless silence that stretched over the land. It drew Nowen in like a warm den on a snowy night, that deep quiet brought on by the absence of humans, and she closed her eyes and felt something close to peace.

  At the sound of a door opening nearby Nowen snapped to attention. She listened to the approaching footsteps. They were hurried, and she moved further back into the shadows. Tonight there was no fire, and she drew on the wolf’s vision to peer through the darkness. A figure was heading directly toward the gap, and she stepped up to the fence as she recognized the familiar shape of Benjamin.

  Nowen tensed at his gasping breaths. Before she could open her mouth his ragged
words were spilling forth. “She’s here! She’s here!” Benjamin said, and then leaned forward, coughing harshly.

  “Who? Zoe?” Nowen asked, her tone brusque.

  Benjamin nodded. He straightened, pulling something out of his jean pocket. With a click a small flashlight illuminated his face. His eyes were wide and staring and he seemed to fight to speak. “Zoe’s here. Got back this afternoon. But Sage is here too.”

  Nowen grabbed the fence, her hands tightening into fists. “Are you sure? Benjamin, are you sure?”

  Another nod. “Overheard some women talking in the stairwell. They were surprised that they were getting such good results from ‘that red-headed spic girl’ - their words, not mine. Who else could it be, right?”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  Benjamin took a deep breath before he answered. “Gotta be the fourth floor.” He coughed again. “What now, Nowen?” he said.

  Nowen looked up at the hospital. Against the dark night the line of lit windows looked like the bars of a cage. The wolf was awake inside her. No more delays. No more waiting. “Now we go get our pack mates.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nowen stepped through the door that led into the hospital with Benjamin right behind her. .the hallway was bathed in bright light from Benjamin’s flashlight. “This way.” he whispered, and started down the dark passage, the cone of light bouncing with every step. Nowen followed, her wolf’s senses dragging every bit of information from her surroundings.

  The air was stale, smelling of old oil, dirty clothes, decaying paper; it reminded Nowen of the smell inside Eli’s house. The white tile floor was covered in a thick layer of dust, except for the track of footprints and strange, straight lines. Both walls were cluttered with discarded objects. As she followed Benjamin down the hall her eyes ticked over file cabinets, stained mattresses, broken ceiling tiles, large two-wheeled plastic carts - it was these, she guessed, that had caused the tracks in the dust. The carts stank of old blood and rotted flesh.