by Mark Gordon
Chapter 42
Dogs
Matt raced the quad bike down the hill as fast as he could. Gravel spewed from the tyres and every bump he hit sent the bike into the air. He could hear the screaming more clearly now that he was closer to the bottom of the hill, and he couldn’t help but imagine the scene he might find when he got to the girls. Why had he left them alone? He should never have expected that they were safe just because it was daylight! If either of them were killed or injured because of his lack of care he would never forgive himself. He prayed for a miracle and gave the throttle more power.
He reached the bottom of the hill in only a minute or two, but he knew that it might still be too late. He was close now and as he steered the bike around the corner of the house to the source of the screams, he prepared himself for the worst. The sight that greeted him, however, was not the one he expected. There were no feeders in sight. Instead, Montana was standing, with her back to the fence beside the vegetable patch, swinging a garden spade at a pack of three ferocious dogs that were trying to find a way to get their teeth into her and Gabby.
Matt brought the quad-bike to an abrupt, skidding stop on the grass and leaped off as he swung his shotgun around in one fluid motion. Gabby was screaming as she held onto the back of Montana’s t-shirt, while the dogs worked to find an opening to attack the younger girl. Matt raised his gun at the dogs but realised that a shot at the pack would surely hit the girls as well. He advanced toward the animals yelling and waving the gun around in an effort to scare them off, but they paid him no attention whatsoever and continued their coordinated assault. As Matt raised his gun to fire a warning shot, the lead dog, an emaciated Rottweiler, got around behind Montana and lunged at Gabby’s legs. Montana spun around and swung her spade savagely at the animal, but the dog bounded out of the way and the blow missed. Immediately the other two dogs sensed an opening, and struck at Montana’s legs from behind, causing her to scream as blood poured from a wound in her upper leg. Montana maintained her defence of Gabby, however, and continued to swing the spade at the Rottweiler as it crouched and prepared for another attack. Matt watched all of this happen, in just a few chaotic seconds, then fired his first warning shot into the air.
While it didn’t have the effect he’d hoped for, it gave him a fraction of a second to seize his chance as the dogs flinched from the explosive sound. He lowered his weapon, aiming it at the emaciated cattle-dog that had released its’ grip on Montana’s leg and had moved slightly away from the pack. He fired his second and final shell. Unlike his shot at the feeder in the forest the day before, this one was on target and the animal took the full force of the shot in its’ chest. It collapsed onto the ground in a bloody mess and was no longer a threat. There were still two dog posing a threat, however, and Matt knew that the only chance he had was to strike before they had an opportunity to regroup. He gripped his shotgun’s barrel in both hands and stepped into the fray, bringing it down like a club into the middle of the Rottweiler’s back as it was about to plunge its teeth into Gabby’s neck. Matt heard a crack as the dog’s spine snapped and it fell to the grass in a heap. The third dog retreated a few steps from the fracas, realising that it had been defeated by a stronger and braver pack. It gave one last yelp and bounded away into the forest as Montana threw her spade tiredly at its retreating flanks. Matt rushed to Gabby.
“I think I need to sit …” she, moaned, before collapsing onto the ground unconscious.
-
A few minutes later she was on the couch in the house and Matt was washing her face with a cool cloth.
“Ooh. I’m woozy.”
“Just lay there and relax, we’re okay; Gabby’s in the bedroom reading. That was too close, though. I’m so sorry I left you alone. I should have known better.”
She looked at him and smiled weakly. “Matt, it’s fine. You can’t be with us all the time. It’s just one of those things. How’s Gabby?”
“She’s okay. She’s so tough. She was actually worried about the dog that ran away; not scared, just wondering if it could survive on its own.”
“My god, does anything upset that girl?”
“I don’t know. She’s pretty resilient? Maybe Kate was right about her. Being special I mean.”
“We’ve been trying to tell you!” she said smiling.
“Mmm. Anyway, on a different subject, I really need to look at that leg. It’s bleeding a lot.”
“Yeah, it’s really throbbing too. Let me get these off.”
Matt turned his back while Montana wriggled painfully out of her jeans, and dropped them to the floor. He passed her a towel. “Press that to the wound while I get the first aid kit.”
When Matt returned, Montana was sitting up, with a cushion from the couch on her lap to protect her dignity - an act he found touching and endearing at the same time.
“Okay, I need to see that bite,” he said. “I really hope it doesn’t need stitches because I have no idea how to do that.”
“Go right ahead,” she instructed, sounding much braver than she actually felt.
Matt gave her a half-hearted smile and lifted the towel from her pale leg. After a quick glance, he replaced the towel and looked at Montana.
“Well?” she said, “How bad is it?”
“I’m no doctor, but it looks pretty ugly. There’s a lot of blood and some pretty deep teeth marks, but I don’t know if it needs stitches. A doctor probably would stitch it, but with a really good bandage we can probably make do.”
“Okay, let’s do it then. We don’t really have much of a choice do we?”
“I guess not.”
Matt cleaned Montana’s wound he was a surprised to see how deep the bite marks were. He bathed the area in antiseptic solution, and Montana winced, but didn't complain. He packed the wound with a thick gauze pad and wrapped the bandage tightly around it, before giving her some strong painkillers and antibiotics that he’d found in the kitchen from a flu he’d had earlier in the year. Tomorrow in town he would raid a chemist for fresher supplies of medicine and first aid necessities. Once Montana’s leg was done Matt and Gabby made preparations for dinner. Matt supervised Gabby while she washed the lettuce and tomatoes and marvelled at her outlook.
“Is Montana hurt a lot?” the little girl asked.
“Just a little bit,” he said. “But she’ll be okay I think. Were you scared when the dogs attacked you sweetheart?”
“Yes, but I knew I’d be okay when you came.”
“But I was scared too.”
“Yes, I know, but you don’t have to be yet.”
Matt was perplexed. “What do you mean?”
“Um, we shouldn’t be scared now because it’s not really scary yet. It’s going to get really scary later. There’ll be worse things that scare us.”
“How do know sweetheart?”
She looked at Matt and shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know how. I just do. Can we cook hamburgers now?”
