by Amy Cross
“Does anyone want to volunteer to take her place?” Sophie asks.
Again, they all stand in silence for a moment.
“What did they do to your parents?” one of the others asks, turning to Lily. “Did you see?”
She nods.
“And do you want them to pay for it?”
She nods again, with tears in her eyes.
“If you really can't do this,” Sophie says finally, “then maybe -”
“Give me the gun,” Lily whispers, before stepping toward her and holding her hand out. “If they're all asleep, it'll be easy, right?”
“But -”
“Just give me the gun!” she snaps. “Before I change my mind!”
She takes the gun from Sophie, before turning and limping out into the rain. Despite the fact that she's obviously in pain, she manages to walk tall, silhouetted against the moonlit rain.
Everyone else stands in silence, glancing nervously at one another, listening to the sound of rain beating down against the shed's roof.
“Are we really innocent?” one of them asks. “I mean, Lily's the one who's going to pull the trigger, but the rest of us... We still know.”
“Poor Lily,” Sophie whispers. “She's the last one who -”
Suddenly there's a loud shot outside, followed quickly by three more.
I turn and look at Harry, hoping that he'll tell me what to do, but he's just as ashen-faced as all the girls.
A moment later, Lily returns, soaked now from the rain but with the gun still in her trembling hand. Whereas before she was walking fairly steadily, now her legs seem somehow stiffer and her eyes are open wide with shock.
“They were...”
She pauses, staring down at the mud.
“They were asleep, like you said,” she stammers finally, holding the gun out. “They were drunk. Only one of them had time to wake up, but he didn't manage to...”
Her voice trails off.
“It was pretty easy, actually,” she continues, with tears in her eyes. “I just... did it.”
“Thank you,” Sophie says, before turning to the others. “Now we have to get out of here. We'll go somewhere else, but we can't stay here. They have partners, remember? Other people who'll come eventually and find out what's happened. We have to get far away from this place, and head west.”
They start limping out into the rain. I turn to follow Harry, but a moment later I sense movement nearby. Turning, I see that the other man, who was knocked unconscious earlier, is now stumbling to his feet, while trying to get a knife loose from his belt.
Barking, I race toward him and sink my teeth into his ankle, biting down as hard as I can manage. He screams as my fangs scrape against bone, but a moment later he rips me away and slashes me with the knife, causing me to cry out as I feel a sharp pain against my left leg. As I'm dropped down into the mud, I hear another gunshot ring out, and the man slumps down dead next to me.
“Ben!” Harry shouts, hurrying over to me.
I try to get up, but it takes a moment before I'm steady again. Glancing toward the exit, I see that Lily is still holding the gun as the other girls start stumbling outside.
“Where did he get you?” Harry asks, reaching down and picking me up. He holds me carefully and carries me out, but I struggle to get free and I can see blood pouring from the knife wound that runs all the way up my left leg from the ankle to the hip.
I can taste the man's blood, too, but at least I know I got him before he could hurt anyone else.
“Go up the hill!” Sophie shouts to the girls, as rain crashes down all around us. “We'll find shelter in the forest, but we can't stay here! We'll stop in the forest and come up with a better plan!”
Harry holds me tight, carrying me through the darkness, and finally I stop struggling. My leg hurts too much, and I know I'd find it hard to walk now. All I can manage is to curl against his chest and listen to the comforting sound of his heartbeat. My body is trembling and I don't want to show pain or weakness, so I just have to hope is that my leg will be better soon. If it doesn't heal, I won't be able to hunt anymore.
Closing my eyes, I realize I can feel my warm blood still running from the wound, pooling in my fur.
Chapter Fifty-Two
The morning sun brings light and warmth, although the land is still wet all around us. Having walked all through the night, the girls have finally stopped at the edge of a field, and some have gone to look for food in the forest while others are too exhausted to do anything other than sit and hope.
Harry has carried me all the way, and although I can tell that he's tired, I feel safe in his arms. Finally, however, he gets down onto his knees and sets me on the damp grass.
I immediately get to my feet, although the pain in my injured leg is intense. I slip and have to get up again, and then the same thing happens.
“Easy, boy,” Harry says. “Don't struggle.”
I try yet again to get up, and this time I just about manage. I'm getting old now, and all the wounds I've picked up since leaving Jon's cabin have begun to take their toll, but this fresh injury to my leg is the worst yet.
“You'll be okay,” Harry continues, forcing a faint smile. “You're a tough boy, Ben. Your leg's already stopped bleeding, so you'll just be left with a cool limp. One day we'll find you a lady dog, and you can impress her with all your war stories.”
He reaches out and ruffles the hair on my flank, and I sit in an attempt to take the weight off my leg. After a moment, I start licking the wound, and I find that blood is dried in my damp, matted fur.
“We didn't find anything,” Sophie says a short while later, as she and some other girls emerge from the forest. “No berries, nothing edible. No water, either.”
She glances at Harry, and I can see the fear in her eyes.
“What do we do?” one of the other girls asks. “There are twelve of us. Where are we gonna go?”
“Eleven,” someone else says.
Sophie turns and starts counting the girls.
“Where's Lily?” she asks finally.
“She was with us when we left the barn,” another girl replies, before holding up the gun. “She asked me to carry this. I noticed she seemed to be drifting away from the rest of us, but I thought she still...”
Silence falls for a moment.
“Did she just go off by herself?” Sophie stammers. “Why would she do that?”
“She shot those men,” another girl points out. “She basically executed them. Maybe she just... Maybe she didn't feel like she fit in with the rest of us anymore. I'm kinda... I mean, I know this sounds bad, but after she did it, she seemed different. Maybe it's better that she's gone.”
“We could just stay here,” the girl next to her suggests. “It can't be completely beyond us to find something to eat, and then to grow more food. I saw some sheep not far away, maybe we can herd them together.”
“And then what?” Sophie asks.
The girl hesitates for a moment. “Eat them?”
“That's gross,” another girl says, scrunching her nose up. “I can't kill a sheep.”
“We might not have a choice,” Sophie mutters, before looking over at a few other girls who are resting on the grass. She seems lost in thought for a moment. “I could do it,” she adds finally.
“Do what?” the girl next to her asks.
“Kill a sheep. I don't want to, but I could do it if it's the only way to eat.”
“Me too,” Harry adds, still stroking my flank as I continue to lick my injured leg.
“We can all take jobs,” Sophie tells the others. “I'm sure everyone here has something they can contribute. We can learn to farm, and we can figure out the details later, but we're not idiots. We can do this. We just have to be patient.”
“We need food now!” the girl behind her points out, her voice filled with fear. “Not in six months' time, not next week, not tomorrow... We need it now, and we need water too, or people are going to start dying.”
“At least we were fed back in that barn,” someone says quietly. “Even if we had to...”
Her voice trails off, and everyone sits in silence for a moment.
My leg is hurting more and more, but I know I can't whimper. I can't show them that I'm weak.
“What's that?” a girl asks suddenly, with a hint of concern in her voice. “Look! Over there!”
They all turn. When I follow their gazes, I see a plume of smoke in the distance, heading this way.
“It's a train,” Harry stammers, getting to his feet. “I saw one yesterday. There's a train-line, and someone's got some steam trains running. I almost... I almost thought it was a hallucination.”
“Where do they go?” Sophie asks. “Where do they come from?”
“I don't know,” he continues, turning to her, “but someone threw some food out the window for me. That must mean they're friendly, right?”
“Do you think they'd take us with them?” another girl says, as she and all the others slowly start to stand.
Some are too injured to stay up unaided, but they're given help.
“There's a bend in the track over there,” Harry continues, pointing past the trees. “The train has to slow there, we could jump on.”
“And go where?” Sophie asks.
“Anywhere! Away from here! Somewhere better!”
She turns to him, her eyes filled with shock. “But what if -”
“It can't be worse than starving in a field!” he shouts. “I'm not saying the rest of the world is back on its feet, but someone somewhere has got things running, and all the evidence so far makes it seem like they're friendly! Come on, if we don't take this chance, we might not get another!”
“Sounds good to me,” another girl says, as she helps a friend start limping toward the train-line.
“Me too.”
Slowly the girls starts heading across the field, as the train gets closer and closer.
“We don't know what we're getting into,” Sophie stammers. “Those trains could take us somewhere horrible!”
“They could,” Harry replies, helping another girl up, “or they could take us somewhere we won't die of starvation. I'm willing to take that risk. Bring Ben. You'll need to carry him.”
With that, he turns and starts struggling after the others, helping the limping girl. I try to follow, but my leg is too painful and I can't quite keep up with him.
“Bring the dog,” Sophie tells one of the girls finally, before turning and helping one of the others.
Over the next few minutes, they all stagger toward the bend in the train-line. I hobble along with them, just about managing to keep pace with the slowest, but I'm starting to panic as I see Harry getting further and further ahead. My injured leg is starting to sting, and I feel as if it might buckle at any moment.
The fastest girls are at the bend now, waiting as the train races toward them, and a moment later I hear a screeching sound as the engine slows for the bend.
“Jump on!” a man shouts from a window at the front of the train. “We'll take you to the city!”
The train creaks and groans as it takes the bend, and the girls start running. One of the wagons has an open door on the side, and already a couple of the girls have managed to jump onboard. Turning, they lean out and start helping the others.
“Bring Ben!” Harry yells as he helps the injured girl onto the train and then climbs up.
“Bring the dog!” Sophie shouts.
Everyone's running now. Even the sick and wounded are being helped by the other girls, and I have to dart between their legs to avoid getting trampled. There was a time when I'd have been able to easily outrun them all, but my legs are hurting and I'm starting to feel old, so right now even the walking wounded are able to go faster. They're all so focused on the train, they haven't noticed that I'm struggling.
“Hurry!” Sophie yells. “It'll start speeding up soon!”
Ahead, the rest of the girls are finally managing to clamber up into the wagon.
I'm running as fast as I can manage, but I feel as if my chest is going to explode. One by one, the final couple of girls are helped up, and a moment later the train starts to accelerate as it passes the final part of the bend. Only one girl is still running now, and she's already way ahead of me.
“Ben!” Harry shouts suddenly, and I see him up ahead, leaning out of the train with his hand reaching toward me. “Hurry!”
The last girl is struggling slightly, but Sophie grabs her arm and drags her onto the train, leaving me half running, half limping as fast as I can manage. The wind is rippling through my fur, but my legs are spitting pain through the rest of my body and the train is getting faster and faster.
“Get Ben!” Harry yells. “Somebody get Ben!”
He reaches toward me and I start running faster, desperate to get closer so he can haul me up into the wagon.
At the same time, the train picks up more speed and starts to out-pace me, pulling ahead no matter how hard I try to keep up.
“Ben!” Harry shouts, his voice sounding much further away now.
I can see him up ahead, with his hand still reaching out, but the train's wagons are rushing past me. Finally the last part of the train pulls away and I'm left running next to an empty track. I keep going, but my tired, injured legs are already slowing me and finally I come to a halt. Desperately out of breath and panting, I watch as the train speeds away.
“Ben!” Harry carry calls out, but now his voice is mostly just lost on the wind.
The tracks next to me are still humming as I stand panting, watching the departing train. As the hum fades, however, I'm left all alone, and the only sound now is the rustling of nearby trees.
Everyone's gone.
Watching the train, I'm shocked that I wasn't able to keep up. Then again, my legs are hurting so much, there's no way I could have run any faster. I remember when I used to run for miles and miles with Jon. I could easily outpace him, and I used to have to stop and wait for him to catch up. We'd go all around the lake near the cabin, running and walking for hours, and I swear I never once felt weak or tired.
Those days are long gone now.
And as the train races in the distance and disappears from view, I think of Harry in the wagon and I realize one more thing.
He'll be fine.
I don't know where he's going, but nothing about the train gave me reason to worry. There was no scent of blood, or fear, Wherever it takes him, and wherever it takes his sister and those other girls, they'll be safe.
I watch the horizon for a few more minutes, just in case the train comes back, but then finally I cross the tracks and limp out across the next field. After running alongside the train for so long, my body aches like never before, and I'm still out of breath as I make my way down the sloping hill. I stumble a couple of times, and my collar jangles slightly, reminding me of the times Jon used to put it around my neck whenever I'd had a bath. I used to hate baths, and once they were over I used to race around the apartment at full speed, trying to get dry. And Jon would laugh at me.
When I get to the bottom of the hill, I find myself at the edge of another field. I stop for a moment, but my leg is still throbbing with pain. Ahead, several sheep are grazing, and a couple of them glance at me as I step forward and start limping through the grass. My plan is to keep going, to cross this field and then find another, and maybe to discover a place where I can hunt rabbits, but my bones are aching and I have to sit down for a moment once I reach a patch of grass near the sheep.
I've been tired before, but never like this.
This feels different.
Finally I have no choice but to settle down and roll onto my side. I'm still panting, and my body is starting to feel so much heavier than ever before.
I should have got my breath back by now.
A sheep comes closer, clearly curious about me, although it doesn't seem threatened. It simply chews on some forbs and grass, while keeping its eyes fixed on me. A
moment later, I hear another sheep nearby, but I don't have the energy to turn and look. They certainly stink, and for a few seconds my nose is filled with fresh scents, but slowly I realize that several other smells are tugging at my senses.
I can smell Jon.
Not just him, but his cabin.
And his old jacket.
And his car.
And my basket at his house in the city.
Even that old giraffe toy I had as a puppy, the one that I eventually tore to pieces.
And I can smell Julie too. Her perfume and her clothes.
The wind ripples through my fur.
I'm still out of breath.
I close my eyes. Not to sleep, just to rest. I just need to stay here for a few minutes and get my breath back, even if my eyes already feel so heavy. The memories of old scents now flood my senses, and I feel a wave of contentment as I realize that it's almost as if I've made it back home. Jon's scent is so strong now, and Julie's too, that with my eyes closed I can almost believe that I really have made it back to the place I want to be more than any other in the world.
My breathing is getting shallow, but that's okay. I don't even mind the sheep as they continue to chew grass next to me.
I'll open my eyes again soon.
For now, though, I just want to keep them closed while the scents of my old life wash over me. And as those scents become stronger, all the pain seems to life from my body.
And somehow, even with my eyes shut, and even as the sheep continue to graze all around me, I can see Jon again.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF
“We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”
When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.
A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.
