by Teagan Kade
The older man shakes his head. “Kits will not survive without mother. They are not weaned, need her milk.”
“Then get him on the line, huh? In the meantime, I gotta clean up this mess with those campers. Coop, go get yer dog and find ’em.” Red Vest nods and walks away.
Cripes! There went my chance of getting them all together. I should have made my move. Maybe if I just wait another minute…
The two men in black exchange looks. “Our deal—” the older man starts to speak up.
“Yeah, yeah I know y’all don’t want to be around for that. Don’t worry, this shit won’t come back on you.”
“Your man Fish promise this can be done without leave evidence, no authorities to be involving. Dead person is evidence.”
My ears prickle… Come on. Keep talking…
Flannel steps up now. “Trust me, ain’t gonna be nothing left for evidence when we’re done here. Now go back to your tent and do as my brother said.”
The two men shake their heads and stalk off, muttering angrily to each other in a language I can’t decipher. Red Vest comes back with a tired looking bloodhound.
Potbelly squats down and grabs the cut rope, handing it to Red Vest. “Smell it Dale, smell it.” He offers the rope to the bloodhound, who wearily sniffs.
My blood runs cold. My scent is on that rope just the same as the campers.
“Find it!” he orders the dog, and I watch as the rangy creature lowers its head and floppy ears to the ground, smelling.
I start to back further into the woods, clutching the remote in my hand and preparing to trigger the smoke bombs. I was waiting for them to all be in the same spot at once, but it looks like I won’t have that luxury.
Before I can press the button on the small grey remote in my hand, the dog bays and it sends chills up my spine. Through the dense needles I can see it walking forward, towards me. Its growl is low but impossible to ignore.
I scramble backwards faster, but my heel lands on a rock and my ankle gives. I lose my balance and tumble, the remote bouncing out of my hand and a dead branch crackling as I land hard.
“What the fuck was that?” one of the men shouts.
“Someone’s in the tree there! Wooooheeeee, we’re gon’ have some fun, boys! Get it, Dale!” another calls out.
Oh shit…
Boom!
An explosion sounds, sending a spray of dirt and debris into the air. The vibration rattles through the ground and my ears ring for a moment.
Boom! Boom!
Two more. The three men go running and the dog yelps, following.
I have no idea what that was, but I’m not going to sit and wait for them to come back. I run out of the tree where I was hiding and start retreating, grabbing the remote as I do.
I jog up the hill a few yards.
Pop!
A gun shot sounds and something about it twists in my stomach. I turn around and angle behind a tree trunk, trying to get a look at what’s going on.
“Well, well, what have we here, boys?” Potbelly’s voice breaks into a loud whoop of laughter. I can make out the tops of their heads over the line of a tent, but nothing else. “If it ain’t the pride and glory of Tamanass itself!”
No… Deric.
“So you’re the one’s been leading that little Fed bitch around, huh?” Potbelly pauses to spit loudly. “Damn, here I was hopin’ you died last night, but you’re like that half-breed your slut sister went and married—fuckin’ cockroaches just keep popping up.”
“You run your mouth like a man with a lot more spine than you’ve got. Put that gun away, you cumstain, and face me like a man.” Deric’s voice is low and garbled, the way someone sounds when there’s blood in their mouth. My stomach clenches when I hear him grunt, knowing he’s getting struck somewhere.
No, no, no! This is all wrong, damn it!
“What is going on?” the older man with the accent demands loudly, sounding alarmed from the commotion.
“Ain’t nothin’ concerns you, go on back and do what I told you to while we catch up with our buddy here, the Halbbitter spawn himself. Come on, let’s go have us a little chat, huh?” Potbelly walks ahead and I catch a glimpse as they move between the tents.
Flannel and Red Vest are half-dragging him, and I can only see his back. There’s blood on his clothes and an evident limp as he tries to propel himself forward. My throat closes off seeing him hurt like that.
I sneak quietly along the tree line, following them and getting within ear shot again.
“What was with the dynamite?” A voice that sounds like Flannel asks. “Answer me, you cocksucker!” I hear the thwack of knuckles on skin and wince. “I asked you, why’d you set off those sticks of dynamite?”
I hear Deric’s voice and it squeezes at my heart. I can’t make out his words through the tent, but I can make out the tone and I can tell he’s giving them some smart answer.
Another smack. These thick-skulled hicks can’t put it together, but I know why. He set it off as a diversion for me. They would have had me in a few more seconds if he hadn’t set off that explosion and as I listen to him enduring their strikes, the taste of bile rises up from my throat.
My mind races… What to do? If I set off the smoke bombs, they might just shoot him point blank. The thought of that turns me cold.
Come on, Edie. Think!
“Coop, you take Dale and go track them campers. They’re still out there. Bobbyjon and Hank, go look around. I bet that Fed bitch this fucker was with is out there sneakin’ around too.”
Time’s up. I’ve got to act.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
DERIC
My jaw is on fire. Or maybe it’s my cheekbone. I can’t really tell at this point. It’s all one painful, swollen throb. My leg is peppered with buckshot and the warm trickle of blood into my boot just adds to the painful jumble of sensation bombarding me right now.
Brody lowers into a squat in front of me as the men filter out. “We’ll have that little bitch tied up in here with you soon. Those campers too. You know, for a moment there, I was thinkin’ we shoulda clipped them when we had the chance, but now… now I think we’re gonna have ourselves a real party.”
They’ve tied my hands and feet together and I’m in the middle of one of their tents, immobilized so I can’t pummel Brody’s ugly, fat face when he cracks into a yellow-toothed smile.
He chuckles, brandishing a hunting knife from his boot and raising it to my throat. “You know I’ve gutted and skinned my share of animals out here, but I ain’t never done it to a human. Killed some, sure, but I think I’m gonna take my time with you after all the shit you’ve kicked up for me. You just had to keep bitchin’ about your stupid fucking tours being interrupted to Jasper, had to bring this Fed whore out here too. It was you two who set that first wolverine loose. You almost cost me big time, you know that? You and that whore. I bet you fucked her too, didn’t you? ’Course you did. Good. When I fuck her in front of you, I want you to know how good it feels.”
I glare back at him with all the anger building inside of me. “I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to finally losing your virginity, Brody, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.” Rearing back an inch, I spit blood into his face.
He freezes for a half second, then laughs and wipes it off. “Still acting tough, huh? We’ll see how tough you feel when you watch me drain the blood out of that little bitch and you can’t do shit to protect her, you fuckin’ loser.”
I’m about to answer when another man comes in—tall, with grey hair and looking a lot less backwoods than Brody and his boys.
His gaze combs over me with a look of disgusted disapproval.
“You come in here to jerk me off, Ignas? I told this ain’t none of your business. Now what do you want?” Brody snaps irritably.
“I have boss on line. If you not so busy still acting like animal, he is willing negotiate cost for kits.” Ignas turns away, avoiding looking at me.
Brody looks
back at me and smiles. “Alright, this fucker ain’t goin’ nowhere anyway.” He kicks the buckshot wound on my leg. “Stay, dog.”
I bite back my response and focus instead on figuring out how to work my wrists together to loosen the knots around them once they leave.
The coarse rub of the rope is eating away at the skin of my wrists, but I keep struggling anyway. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to put all my effort into it.
“Here, let me,” my eyes fly open at the soft sound of Edie’s whisper. I was so focused I didn’t even hear or notice her slip into the tent.
With one quick slice of a blade she cuts through the rope. I rub at my freed hands. “Thanks.”
Her eyes are big and watery when she looks at me. “Right back at you.” I can see her swallow and she blinks rapidly, driving away the emotion painted in her expression. “Now, so we’re clear, don’t get any ideas about me leaving now. I’m taking these assholes out. I can and I have to.”
I nod, knowing this is the decision point. “I know. I trust you.”
Her eyes narrow and she surveys me suspiciously. “You do? Did they hit you in the head?” Her hand goes to my leg, where the fabric is sticking to the bloody, torn up flesh. “Oh my god, were you shot?”
“I’ll be okay. It’s just buck shot.” I wince as she helps me to a standing position and test the weight. “I can keep up.” I thread my fingers through hers. “And yes, I do trust you. Now, what’s your plan?”
She seems unsure but explains quickly about finding the smoke bombs and how she’s stationed them in a perimeter around the camp and between the tents. She tried to jimmy rig the electric wires the poachers brought with them but couldn’t make it work and came up with an alternate course of action. I listen to the quick details and can’t help but marvel at her ingenuity. It takes a moment before I notice suddenly that’s she’s lost a few layers of her clothing.
“I was hoping to confuse the hound,” she explains. “I’ve also set a few of their steel traps here in the camp, so follow me when we go out of here. Step only where I step.”
She slips out of the tent entrance and I hobble behind her, ignoring the pain in my leg as we sneak over to the center of the camp. She ducks behind an ATV and I follow her.
Edie hands me a handgun and there’s a steely drive in those dark eyes that sets my nerves on fire. “It’s loaded with tranqs. Once the bombs go off, it’s going to be chaos. We need to act fast. Can you handle that?”
I nod at the challenge in her question. “Can I handle shooting these fucknuts full of holes and knocking them on their asses? Yeah, I think I can handle that just fine.”
She lets out a breath I’m not sure she realized she was holding and her expression sets with calm. I lick my lips, bracing myself against the thrill of seeing Edie like this. The panic that swept her up when they fired on us at the campground is gone and in its place is a focus, a seriousness that leaves me in awe.
This is her element and I can’t believe I ever doubted that.
“I’ll cover the tents, you cover the tree line. Get ready,” she says slowly, quietly, taking the safety off her tranq gun. “1… 2…” She mouths three and depresses the button in her hand.
Chaos fills the air and my ears hammer with the hiss-bang of the smoke bombs going off. Then everything happens in slow motion. Bobbyjon and Hank coming running first, their figures cutting through the wisps of smoke as they emerge from the tree line.
I aim at Hank first, the big boy in flannel. The tranquilizer dart hits him in the inner thigh… unfortunately. I was aiming for his dick. Bobbyjon, a lanky teen trips over Hank’s tumbling form. I tag him in the arm.
The two of them pile in a heap fifteen yards away as they struggle to fight against the tranquilizer’s sedating effects. Hank’s struggling to get his rifle, so I dive for it first, getting it out of his reach as I watch his angry expression slowly close off with the heaviness of chemically induced sleep.
I hear Edie firing behind me. I spin around to see Ignas and another similarly dressed man, ducking behind a tent, the smoke billowing up to hide their retreat. Edie motions silently for me to go around the other side as she creeps forward.
Trusting her, I do. Quickly steeling myself against the pain of jogging on my injured leg, I round the corner of the tent and collide with the two men. The younger already has a dart in his shoulder and the older man throws a left hook.
“No! I work too hard for this animals!” he cries in a strangled, angry voice. I step back just enough to evade it and fire a tranq dart into his foot and he crashes into the tent, the canvas swallowing him up as he falls into it.
“Edie?” I look around. I thought she was coming around the other side but she’s not here. “Edie, where are you?”
“She’s right here, dickwad.” Brody’s laughing voice sends a shiver of fear through me.
I turn around to see Edie’s back pressed against his chubby form, one of his forearms looped around her neck and a hunting knife in front of her throat.
“That’s right. I have your little bitch. You really think you could outsmart me and my boys? You? The wheezy wannabe firefighter and this toothpick half-a-cop? Neither one of you has what it takes to make it out here, you pathetic fuckers. One of you can barely breathe right and the other is a fucking woman!”
I can see the angry fire in Edie’s eye as she balls her hand into a fist and I smile, nodding. “No, Brody, you’re the pathetic one, you stupid piece of ignorant shit.”
“I ain’t ignora—” Brody’s words are cut off as Edie’s fist swings into Brody’s groin.
She places her hip in front of his, anchoring herself and pulling him with quick, violent force as he hunches forward to cup his injured ballsack. The result is Brody flying ass over head onto the ground.
“Fucking bitch!” Brody growls, but I toss Edie the tranq gun in my hand and she shoots him in the ass cheek before he can get up to his knees.
The smoke is still swirling around us and we’re both heaving. For a moment, even the sky is blocked out above us. It’s just the two of us and Brody’s wounded ass cheek suspended in this gray cloud around us.
I move towards her and she moves towards me. Everything else, the pain, the fear, the frustration, the anger… It’s all forgotten as I take her into my arms and she gathers me close, our mouths meeting and reassuring each other that we’re here, that the other is safe.
God, she tastes good. No. Not good. Perfect. She’s perfect.
The smoke is settling and Edie breaks the kiss first, putting a hand to my chest. Her big eyes look up at me and it feels like the kind of moment to make a declaration, some beautiful speech where I tell her everything I realized in the last few hours.
Shit… I’ve never done that before. How exactly do I do that?
Before my brain fills in the answer, a dog barks and Edie turns her head, barely skipping a beat as she fires the last tranq gun at the man racing towards the camp with the hound.
As soon as the man falls, the dog runs to him, licking at his face and standing guard.
Edie looks back at me. “We need to get these men secured before they come to. I don’t know how long they’ll be out exactly.”
I nod.
Damn. I guess that moment will have to wait.
We drag them all back to the center around the smothered firepit and Edie makes quick, thorough work of tying them each up in an intricate series of knots. I follow her lead and it’s not long before we’ve got them tied together.
Wiping the dust off her hands and propping them on her hips, she looks back at me with a look of satisfied accomplishment.
“So, what now?” I ask, needing an answer to that in more than one way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EDIE
I can hear the grumbling as the tranquilizers are starting to wear off, but I ignore them as Deric helps me carry the cages out of the tents.
The furry balls in the smaller one are mewling and restless, agitating their moth
er. I still can’t believe they caught a mother and her kits, but the fact we’re here in time to save them fills me with relief. They might have ended up ill-advised pets, in deplorable conditions, or worse, they might have been harvested for their organs to be used in some kind of esoteric medical curative with their stuffed bodies on display somewhere.
I’ll never understand what drives people to take animals like this. They see something beautiful and rare and instead of admiring it, witnessing it from a respectful distance, they barge in and seize it, no matter the harm to the animal or anyone else.
We set the cages down at the tree line and I use a long metal pole to lift the latch on the cage to the kits. They tumble out like chubby little furballs. They’re impossibly cute. I count four of them. It’s an impressive sized litter and they seem to be in good health.
Their mother chitters and I do the same to her cage. She rushes out, posturing and false charging at us, driving Deric and I to back up as her kits gather behind and around her.
“Guess she wants her space.” Deric remarks, as we slowly step away from the family. He sighs and lets out a breathy laugh. “Been getting a lot of that lately.”
I look up at him to respond, but I don’t know what to say. I’m still not sure what to do with him saying he trusts me. It’s new and strange and unexpected. I want to feel good about it, but I can’t pretend that our fight in the cave didn’t happen either.
“You motherfuckers!” a sleepy voice shouts.
“Ah, our sleeping fuglies have fully awakened,” Deric, says as we watch the wolverine family disappear behind the ferns and leafy plants of the forest floor. He recognized several of the men and explains who they are to me. I’m surprised and disappointed to learn one of them is a Park Ranger.
We walk back to the tied-up group and Brody, the chubby Ranger, speaks first. “You’re dead, you know. Folks we work for gonna see to that.”
I squat down to his level. “You might be right. I am just a ‘toothpick half-a-cop,’ after all. But then, that didn’t stop me from kicking your ass, now did it? How does your ass feel, by the way?”
