Mostly the warriors slept, taking turns on watch. It had been a long night and then there was nothing to do all day.
When night thankfully fell, the workers left the fields and streamed past on their way to find food. Terry didn’t know what they ate since the field that was ripest hadn’t yielded more than a couple bushels full of vegetables.
“Do you have an idea how many people are in this group?” Terry asked.
“What did we count before we hit it—two hundred, three hundred? I’m seeing barely more than a hundred now. Did we kill that many?” Char wondered.
“I don’t think that was it. I think the gang war hurt them. Wouldn’t be the first time that gangs tried to take over New York, would it?”
Char smirked.
“Something like that, but they didn’t have us here, did they?” Char asked, although it wasn’t a question. “It’s a whole new world with you and your code of honor setting things right. Just a question—are we torturing prisoners now?”
“Only those who spit on me,” he whispered, although he felt the sting from Char’s tone. “We shouldn’t. We shouldn’t torture prisoners, or kill upstarts, no matter how much they beg for it. I’m going to have to talk with Gene about that.”
Terry tried to keep it light, but the warriors watched every move he made. It wouldn’t take much before they’d be executing prisoners. He had to have rules that applied to all, because not everyone had his moral compass. He couldn’t do something different from what he expected of his people.
“No, we can’t be torturing prisoners or turning them over when we know they’ll be killed. That was pretty crappy.” Terry hung his head in shame.
“We understand, sir,” Sergeant James interjected, standing up to join the conversation. “We were put in the middle of a bad situation. Making the best of it meant that people were going to die. You had the job of picking which ones. I can’t imagine how much that sucks. Every time, you’re the one who makes the life and death decisions, and usually that means you are first in the line of fire.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Terry said slowly.
Corporal Heitz joined them. “There’s nothing to say. It is what it is, sir. That’s why you make the big bucks.”
James didn’t understand, but to Terry and Char, that was a bullseye to defuse the tension.
Gene bear laughed, which meant he snuffled and growled with his lips pulled back. No one else understood why Terry, Char, Max, and Gene were laughing.
The pod seemed to appear out of the darkness, close enough that when the ramp dropped, they ran aboard. Ten seconds after touchdown, it took off again.
***
North Chicago
Kiwi rode to get Ted, while Pepe and Maria headed for the building where Ted’s room was located.
Ted dropped everything he was doing the instant he heard. Kiwi helped him onto the saddle behind her and they rode together, but not too fast despite Ted’s urging. Her horse had split its hoof along that stretch quite some time ago and she remained wary.
They rode through the gate and she heeled the horse into a faster run once soft ground was beneath her. Ted jumped from the saddle as they approached and ran toward his room.
He was almost in tears when he saw the pack. They flocked around him as he petted and caressed each one. “What did this to my babies?” he cried.
“Two wolverines,” Kiwi said firmly. “They paid with their lives for what they did.”
Ted nodded as he looked at the most seriously injured. One was able to crawl from the cart, but the other three whimpered. He lifted them carefully, one at a time, and carried them into his room to put them on the bed. He used his flask to give them water.
“We need meat, as much as you can carry, fish if the boat is back,” Ted said, waving his hand dismissively. Kiwi checked her horse’s hoof before climbing into the saddle and riding quickly to Claire’s.
The boat had come in and the fish had been delivered, but the haul was minimal.
Claire didn’t care. “When we have anyone in need, we give them the shirt off our back,” the old woman declared. “How much do you need, Kiwi honey?”
“Twenty? Two for each wolf, and do you have any jerky?” Kiwi felt bad for asking, but seeing one of the pack die would be worse.
Claire waved at one of her helpers to get the twenty biggest fish they just brought in. He nodded and ran off. “We don’t have any jerky, but we have some venison that was overcooked and is inedible, for humans anyway.”
The young man delivered a bag that he struggled to carry. Kiwi looked at it.
“You help her carry that, you cretin!” Claire bawled, digging for her wooden spoon so she could wave it menacingly toward his face. “Where are the gentlemen when you need them?”
Antioch stuck his head out of a backroom. “I’m here, my love!”
“Get back in there, you old fool. That bag will snap you like a twig.” She smiled at her husband, before turning back to the distraught young woman before her. “Off with you! Go save those wolves!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“You saw what, and you forgot to tell me?” Terry was on the verge of coming completely unhinged.
“I don’t know why everyone’s making such a big deal about this,” Anne said, shaking her head.
Terry took a deep breath and tried not to yell. “Because four out of the last five groups that we’ve run across tried to kill us. It might even be eight out of the last ten. That’s why. This world is a violent place. My job is to make sure you don’t see that part of it, and I guess I’ve insulated you too well. Maybe you should talk with Mayra about the evil that’s out there.”
Anne remained unconvinced. “You told me it was my boat and my crew, but Billy forced me to take Adams. Since he knows what he’s doing, I guess that’ll be our compromise.”
Terry felt a throbbing in his temples. “What would it take to convince you to be a little more suspect of the unknown?” Terry tried to reason.
She shrugged.
He wanted to choke her, but pulled her into a hug instead. “Then I will continue to do my job in such a way that you feel this safe always. It makes me tingly all over.”
He hurried away before his head exploded.
Char, Aaron, and the kids were waiting for him. “You really don’t understand her, do you, TH?” Char asked.
“Not in any way, shape, or form,” Terry admitted. “Doesn’t mean she’s not good people. Billy put Adams on the boat,” Terry said. “Adams will watch out for us, and he’s best suited to know what kind of danger we’ll be facing. I guess everything will be fine.”
“There’s one more thing!” Anne called, jogging to join them.
Terry’s hand started to shake.
“We found a marina with quite a few boats we can recover. It’s in Racine, south of Milwaukee. Lots and lots of boats and boat supplies. We recovered a sail that I think we can use as our jib. I would ask Ted to help us put it on, but he needs to take care of the injured wolves. Maybe you can help us?”
“What happened to the pack?” Terry asked. He and the tactical teams had returned later at night and hadn’t met with anyone yet. Terry, Char, Aaron, and the kids began their day with a stroll to check on the boat and that was how they ran into Anne.
They’d moved the sailboat to the small marina behind the power plant and one of the housing units where Terry, Char, and the Were folk lived. It made sense since it was closest to the diner where the catch of the day was delivered.
From where Terry and Char were staying, it was only a couple hundred yards away. Terry liked to start his day looking at the lake, smelling the water, feeling the breeze—all the things that made him feel one with Mother Earth. Having his family by his side kept him grounded with what made life worth living.
“They ran into a pair of wolverines out by the fields, I guess. I didn’t hear too much. You’ll have to ask Ted.” Anne waved happily as she continued to her boat. She was alone.
; “I wonder if she fired Alex,” Terry whispered.
“Stop it!” Char said, slapping his arm while she bit her lip to keep from laughing. Then she turned instantly serious. “We need to find Ted.”
They hurried away with Kim and Kae running to catch up. The two always seemed to be running, but they had a great deal of energy and their parents kept a fast pace.
Cory wanted to get down, but as usual, they were in a hurry.
Less than a minute later, they were outside Ted’s room. The guest quarters billeting in this area were one-story, like an old-time motel with each door opening to the outside.
Part of the wolf pack was outside. They rose and greeted the incoming group warmly. Terry and Char wondered how they’d missed the injured pack the night before. Char should have been able to sense them. Both were upset that they missed such an emotional upheaval so close to where they slept.
Aaron kept his distance as the wolf pack remained skeptical of him, although they were growing more tolerant with each day.
The two uninjured and three of the lesser wounded animals stood together as Terry and Char examined them. Kaeden and Kimber waded in, scratching ears and necks, completely unafraid of the born killers.
Char shook her head at the torn flesh and scabs. Ted’s door was open. Terry tiptoed in to find Ted on the floor with one wolf and the other four hogging his bed. In the room’s darkness, Terry’s enhanced eyes helped him to see that the mattress was ruined from the blood, but the wolves were alive.
Ted roused, seemingly unfazed by the fact that someone was in his room. He looked to the pack, checking one then another, relieved that they’d survived the night.
“Fill these,” Ted ordered, handing two flasks to Terry. He took them without question and ran for the lake. Before the fall, the water would not have been palatable, but more than twenty years after the loss of technology, the lake had recovered on its own.
Char and the kids entered the room, cautiously. Ted picked up the worst injured of the animals and carried her outside. She licked his face and he had to blink the tears away. He helped her as she peed, then carried her back inside. The bites on her leg had gone through muscle and clipped the tendons. They had no way to repair those if they were torn all the way through. All he could do was help her keep the stress off so they wouldn’t tear further until her muscles were healed enough to help carry the load.
She’d also lost a lot of blood.
“Where is he?” Ted scowled. Terry jogged in moments later and handed the flasks to the waiting man. He gave each of his patients a drink then handed the empty flasks back. “More.”
Terry raised one eyebrow before turning and darting out.
“What’s wrong with our friends?” Kae asked in his small voice, holding onto Char’s hand with both of his. His sister hung on to his shoulders as she peered around the boy’s head.
Ted was completely absorbed in the pain and suffering of his pack and didn’t hear.
“Some vicious animals showed up and the pack protected us,” Char explained, unsure of what happened. “The pack loves us. This is what we do for you and what the wolves have done for us.”
Char kneeled to put Cory down. The baby stood on her own and staggered to Ted’s side, leaning on him as she looked at the wolves. She reached a small hand to the injured side of one of the animals.
She rested her hand on the injury, and her fingers started to glow a light blue, faintly, until the wound glowed, too. Then the glow faded. She used her other hand to touch another wolf and the same thing happened again.
Terry arrived to see his small daughter among the injured. He thought he saw a blue light, but it disappeared when he tried to look more closely. The baby sighed deeply, then curled up against the wolf and went to sleep.
“Holy shit,” Char whispered.
***
Chief Foxtail intercepted his granddaughter as she ran out of her home. “The morning is too beautiful to race through it, Kiwidinok.”
“I’m sorry, Father, but I want to check on the wolf pack and Ted. I got them injured and it’s tearing me up.”
“Did you get them injured? I thought they hunted on their own, but I may have been mistaken, knowing so little of wolves and ravens,” the chief said mysteriously.
“They found the wolverines on their own, and they fought them, but I couldn’t help them with my sword. It only bounced off the hide of those horrible creatures,” she cried, leaning away from the chief to hide her tears, shuffling her feet as she wanted to go.
“You treated the injured and brought them back here?” the chief asked, remaining where he was, pointedly looking at her and the ground in front of him. She hung her head as she returned and stood before her father.
“Yes, all of that. I would never leave a wounded animal, especially not one I would call a friend.” She threw her shoulders back as she tried to stand tall. It didn’t help. She still felt guilty.
“Let us see your friends then, and ask Mother Earth to help them on their journey in this life,” the chief said softly, crooking his elbow for Kiwi to take so she would walk at his pace.
One tended to miss the important things when rushing, he thought, but didn’t need to say aloud.
***
“Debrief!” Mark told Sergeant James when he saw him in the hallway of the barracks. He hadn’t realized the pod and the tac teams had returned, because he was exhausted. He stood a shift on the beach with two others in the middle of the night. He didn’t trust anyone to stand watch alone because the siren’s call to sleep was too strong.
“Yes, Lieutenant,” the sergeant replied easily. “Overall, the people of New York City are doing fine, those who are left, anyway. Some of those that the vamp hadn’t sucked on had taken over. They were farming and doing what they needed to do, but then there was this gang moved in next door. We kind of got in the middle of that because those lousy fuckers came at us. We put them out of their misery, expended a bit of ammo, four forty-millimeter grenades and nearly four hundred rounds. I think the major emptied a magazine or two of nine-millimeter. Total of forty-seven enemy killed and wounded, no injuries on our side, although Gene got himself shot, but you know how they are.”
“Good report,” Mark confirmed as he processed the information. “How did Bennie do?”
“He is a crack shot. I watched him. He fired the least number of rounds, cool and calm-like, and no one walked away once they were in his field of fire. And here’s an important safety tip for future planning.” The sergeant looked around to make sure no one was listening. “If the colonel picks your observation post, make sure you have a backup. He put us in a house that they’d turned into an outhouse. Bennie puked his guts out. I could barely breathe, and then there was Heitzy. He ate his lunch in there without batting an eye. I tell you those old dudes are hard as woodpecker lips.”
“Well done, James. Sounds like a great time. I’m sorry I missed it, but you know, duties and shit.” Mark turned serious. “Did Akio happen to mention when the next op goes down?”
“No one told me anything, but I get the impression that it’s going to be soon.” James waited, but Mark didn’t reply as he was lost in thought. “If it’s okay, I’m going to hit chow. Missed a couple meals out there. That outhouse thing was some grisly shit. Didn’t feel like eating, but now, the engine needs fuel, you know what I mean, Lieutenant?”
Mark nodded and waved him away. “Good job, James, and thanks for the update.”
The lieutenant listened and could hear people stirring. “CHOW!” he bellowed, smiling as his call echoed down the hallway. He had a training plan for the day, but was ready to adjust based on what the colonel needed. In between, he had to make sure the warriors were ready.
***
Ted looked at the two wolves, heavily scarred but the redness around the wounds was gone and the flesh had grown back together. Ted stroked the baby’s arm, hoping she’d wake and heal the others.
He didn’t seem bothered by the how or the wh
y, but embraced the result.
“Hey! Let her sleep, Ted. She probably needs it after that, but she only sleeps for fifteen minutes at a time. Still.” Char shook her head while watching her daughter.
Terry turned to his wife, “I guess she was more than a gift to just us.”
“That was neat! I wanna do that,” Kaeden cried, straining to be turned loose to try his hand at healing.
Kimber joined him, but Char had a firm grasp on each. “I wanna try, too,” Kimber said, a little louder than her brother.
“We don’t know what it is, darlings, but whatever it is, that was something special to watch. Until then, we’ll have to wonder how Cordelia did it. She can’t talk so she can’t tell us.” Char held her hand on the children’s chests, showing them that there wasn’t a glow.
The two healed wolves got up and walked outside. Cory remained asleep.
They heard Kiwi’s startled cry when she encountered too many healthy animals out front.
Terry and Char left the room, hauling Kae and Kim with them and leaving Cory sleeping between three wolves with Ted watching closely. Aaron had been leaning in the doorway the whole time and was still trying to understand what had happened. He finally resigned himself to being amazed. Some things were best left to wonder.
“Good morning, TH, Char,” Chief Foxtail called, embracing Terry as the close friends they’d become. He leaned back to look at the wolves. “It appears that everyone is worried about the wolf pack, but maybe our worries were more than they should have been?”
“There was plenty to worry about, but that’s another story. We’d like to know what happened,” Terry replied.
“It was my fault,” Kiwi blurted out. The chief rolled his eyes. She delivered her explanation for the second time that morning.
“Yep, I’m sure,” Terry said, nodding and stroking his chin. “I’m sure that it wasn’t your fault, and the only reason we didn’t lose one of these fine creatures is because of your actions. If you weren’t there, would they have fought the wolverines?”
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