Wolf Hiding (A Wolf in the Land of the Dead Book 2)

by Boughton, Toni

  There was movement on the highway behind the semi-circle of white-clad gunmen. As Nowen watched, a tall, almost skeletally-thin man with deep brown hair and beetle-green eyes walked up from the road. He wore a long, navy-blue coat that just reached the tops of his polished black boots. In one black-gloved hand he held a silver-topped cane. In the other hand he held the ends of three short lengths of thick chain. The other end of each chain was wrapped around the neck of a wolf.

  Vuk! Anger and fear fought for supremacy in Nowen’s mind. She spared a glance down at Suzannah’s body and used that fleeting image to feed her fury. Vuk had stopped some distance away from both her and the people in white. Nowen noted with interest that the other New Heavenites seemed to pull away from Vuk. Or is it the wolves they’re scared of? Now she turned her attention to the animals that snarled and lunged at the end of the chains. The three wolves were of similar height and weight, though to her eye they looked scrawny and underfed. They were all variegated shades of browns and greys. She looked in their eyes of hazel and green and saw some small part of their humanity. Vukodlak.

  One of the wolves, the smallest and thinnest, stumbled into one of the other wolves. In an instant the bigger animal turned on the smaller one in a flurry of snarls and bites. The third wolf eagerly joined the fray. Nowen smiled a little as she watched Vuk beat at the wolves in an attempt to break them up. The gunmen had turned their attention to the wolves; an idea bloomed in Nowen’s mind and she leaned down and quickly whispered instructions to Sage.

  The girl gave a quick nod of understanding and Nowen looked back at Vuk in time to watch him bring the young wolves under control. She waited until the tall man looked at her and then she let a slow, insulting grin spread across her face. His face, in turn, flushed red in anger. Nowen squeezed Sage’s hand hard and then eased her hand free of the girl’s loosening grasp. From the corner of her eye she saw the girl’s wiry body slowly move up into a tensed crouch.

  Nowen smiled even wider at Vuk. “So,” she shouted, “was that an example of the control you offered to teach me? Because I’m not impressed!”

  Vuk bared his teeth in a grimace as feral as he accused Nowen of being. He roared inarticulately and dropped the chains he held. In a flash the wolves were racing across the snowy prairie.

  “Now!” Nowen screamed and Sage was on her feet. The girl turned on a dime and disappeared behind Nowen; she could hear the fast-moving footsteps heading toward the church. Nowen looked at the vukodlak. The first wolf was almost to her and she pulled herself up into a crouch and braced for impact. The wolf leaped over one of the oddly-shaped humps in the thin snow.

  A grey-green hand shot up in a blur of white flakes and latched on to the wolf’s tail.

  The beast went down in a flurry of snow and wildly-thrashing limbs. Nowen wrenched her gaze from the sight of a Rev dragging its body toward the wolf to see that, all over the open area in front of the church, Revs were rising from the snow. Gunfire erupted but the New Heavenites were firing blind, tearing chunks loose from Rev bodies but leaving the heads intact. Vuk was screaming incoherent orders. The first wolf was wrestling with the Rev that had grabbed it, and the other two wolves had veered off from their headlong charge to turn on the Revs.

  It was chaos and in the midst of it all one word suddenly belled through Nowen’s brain: Sage! Rising to her feet Nowen whirled, one hand outstretched futilely as she screamed “Don’t!”. But it was too late.

  Sage was at the door of the church, doing her part in the diversion Nowen had whispered to her. She would open the door and release the trapped Revs and, while Nowen led the undead toward the vukodlak and the New Heaven gunmen Sage would run for safety around and to the back of the church.

  But now Revs were everywhere, rising from where they had died the first time, and while Nowen could see there was no safety now on either side of the church Sage couldn’t.

  The girl kicked open the door.

  The massed Revs poured out of the church and down the steps, drawn by the sounds of gunfire and screams. Nowen, already running, watched as Sage leaped over the side of the small porch’s railing. The girl landed between two of the still-covered Revs. The snowy lumps started to move and then a firebolt of agony lanced through Nowen’s leg.

  She grunted in pain and fell, landing on her side, seeing a flash of russet curls moving away and disappearing behind the church. She got away she got away. Nowen looked down at her leg. The biggest wolf had sunk its teeth deep into her calf. Hazel eyes glared at her and Nowen could so no trace of human in them, only the ferocity of a wild animal. The animal growled and shook its head, sending more fiery pain through her leg.

  “You son-of-a-bitch, let go of me!” Nowen screamed, and slammed her free foot against the wolf’s head. The animal yelped in surprise and let go. Nowen had no time to escape - the wolf was leaping at her again and she was just able to bring her arms up in front of her before its body landed on her chest.

  The wolf’s head darted forward and the flashing teeth snapped shut inches from her nose. Her hands were clenched as far around its neck as she could get them and she dug her fingers into the brown and grey fur, holding on with a grip like death. The animal snarled. Bloody froth dripped from its mouth to spatter across Nowen’s face. The animal fought for balance and she screamed as its thick claws scraped across her chest.

  One chance. Maybe. She raised her legs and wrapped them around the wolf’s lower body and then she threw herself to the side with all the strength she had. The wolf was taken by surprise and in a moment Nowen was on top of it. She kept her hands on its throat and pressed down. The wolf thrashed and snarled in its fury to get free, but she gripped its body harder with her legs and held on, staring down into the crazed hazel eyes.

  Nowen couldn’t avoid its paws as it fought to free itself. The wolf’s hind legs kicked along her sides, shredding her coat. A front paw slashed down the right side of her face and she gasped at the stinging pain as her skin split open. Still she kept her grip, pushing down on the furry throat beneath her hands. Come on, die already!

  Something gave beneath her hands. The wolf coughed - once, twice -and then it began to choke. She could feel the straining of the chest under her as the wolf fought to breath. Nowen pressed down harder; the animal thrashed violently and then was still. She waited a moment, to make sure that it was dead. She pulled her aching hands from its throat and rose to her feet. Blood dripped from her face to stain the snow below.

  The body shivered. Nowen watched as, in death, the wolf gave way to the human. When the change was complete she looked at the thin and scarred body of a boy, not much older than Sage, that lay before her. Vuk. I’m going to kill you.

  Nowen looked up. Her fight with the vukodlak child felt as it if had gone on for hours, but it could have been no more than a few minutes. The battle between the gunmen and the Revs was still going on. The powerful weapons were slicing through the undead, spraying chunks of flesh everywhere. But few of the Revs were headshot, so even bodies that were missing limbs or cut in half continued to move toward the white-clad New Heavenites.

  Nowen swept her gaze across the churchyard-turned-battlefield, searching for the black coat of Vuk. There! He was backing away from the fight raging in front of him, taking slow steps backwards toward the highway. One of the vukodlak tore free from a Rev and raced toward Vuk, whether for support or to attack Nowen couldn’t tell. Vuk pulled a pistol from his coat pocket and fired. The wolf collapsed at his feet, and Vuk raised his eyes and stared at Nowen. She bared her teeth at him in a feral grin, and relished the fleeting glimpse of true fear that flashed across his face. Vuk turned in a swirl of black fabric and ran toward the highway.

  Nowen ran after him. A gunman came at her from one side. She didn’t know if he was running away or trying to stop her, and she didn’t care. She swung her arm out and slammed it against his throat. He dropped like a stone and she kept running.

  Between her and the path to the highway she saw three Revs huddl
ed around the body of a gunman, ripping strips of flesh from his arms and face. Nowen plowed through their midst, her gaze searching for and finding the fleeting black dot that was Vuk. Without warning she found herself falling, landing on the frozen ground with a grunt. A cold hand tightened around her ankle and pulled.

  Nowen flipped over onto her back and kicked at the Rev that had brought her down. Her foot connected with the dead woman’s face and the mold-colored jaw tore free from the decayed skin. The Rev’s hand slipped away, but by then the other two were on her.

  A young man with leaf-yellow eyes and grey-green skin lunged for her throat. Nowen grabbed a handful of the Rev’s matted hair in one hand and yanked his head away from hers. She drove her fist into the center of his face and the thin flesh tore like paper.

  The bone of the nasal cavity and eye sockets gave way with a sound of broken eggshells. Nowen felt a cold and spongy mass surround her fist. She grasped a handful of brain matter and tore her hand free of the Rev’s head. The Rev fell forward over her chest. She worked her hands under the body and threw it away from her. A snarling from her other side caught her unawares. The third Rev! Nowen turned her head and looked straight into the dead eyes of the woman that was reaching for her.

  A tree branch erupted from the Rev’s face. Pine needles, some coated in black ichor and brains, showered over Nowen. The Rev’s mouth fell open in a silent cry. Nowen looked up to see Sage. The girl twisted the end of the branch she held, pulling the Rev’s body to one side. She dropped her makeshift weapon and met Nowen’s gaze with her own calm, steady one.

  Nowen pulled herself to her feet and looked around the churchyard. The battle was over, it seemed. The bodies of white-clad gunmen, Revs, and a thin and scarred young woman, the last vukodlak were strewn through the clearing. She looked toward the highway. There was no sign of Vuk. Very faintly she heard the sound of a truck, moving away from her.

  “Sage, come on. I don’t want that bastard to get too far away.” There was no answer. In a panic Nowen swung round, looking for the girl, and found her near the church’s porch. Nowen walked toward her, picking her way across bodies and pieces of bodies. A Rev grabbed at her and she took a moment’s pleasure in stomping on its head. Near the church steps she stepped over a pile of dead Revs and, crouching, ran the back of her hand down Suzannah’s cold and pale cheek. You deserved better than this.

  Sage knelt near Suzannah’s head and ran her thin hand through the pale-red hair. Tears slipped down the girl’s face to land like diamonds in Suzannah’s hair. Nowen and Sage sat in shared mourning for a few moments. Then Nowen rose to her feet and offered Sage a hand up. The girl reached for it.

  And screamed.

  It was a cry of pure pain beyond comprehension. Nowen grabbed Sage by the hand and pulled her upward without thinking. The Rev attached to the girl’s other hand, no more than a head and a torso in the remains of a black suit, bit down with his jagged yellow teeth and before Nowen’s horrified eyes ripped the last two fingers off of Sage’s right hand.

  Nowen roared. She lunged forward and slammed her fist against the Rev’s nose, shattering bone and driving fragments up and into the brain. The Rev collapsed and it was only Sage’s pained gasps that kept Nowen from tearing the undead thing apart with her bare hands. She turned back to the girl.

  Sage lay on her back in the bloody snow, her injured hand clamped to her chest. Her dark eyes were wide and shocked, and her breath rasped harshly from her gritted teeth. Nowen heard the moaning of the Revs, drawn by the sound of Sage’s scream. She scooped the girl up in her arms and, sparing only a glance at the remaining undead as they dragged their destroyed bodies toward her, ran.

  Got to get her somewhere safe. Nowen sped past the church; there was no guarantee that the place was clear of Revs. She swung around the side of the building. There were stands of trees here and the snow was deeper. A hill rose up at an angle to the church, topping out at, Nowen guessed, about ten feet high. Revs can’t reach us there. She held Sage tighter and headed up the rise.

  The going got harder the higher Nowen went. Her legs trembled with each lunging step and Sage lay very still in her arms. Nowen kept her eyes on the top of the hill, afraid to look down at the girl. With one last, desperate push she reached the top.

  The trees thinned out and she dropped to her knees in a little clearing. Gently she lowered Sage to the snow-covered ground. The girl’s body shook with tremors as Nowen carefully eased her injured hand out to look at it.

  Ragged stumps were all that remained of the ring and pinky finger. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but as Nowen tilted the hand and examined it in the sunlight she saw that blood still dripped - but it was dark and thick. She lowered Sage’s hand back to her chest and then looked at her face. The girl’s eyes were closed. Nowen thumbed one of the eyelids open; the dark brown iris was shot through with yellow threads.

  Nowen fell back on her heels. How fast does the virus spread? How long did it take those other people you saw, back in Colorado, how long did it take them to change? Think, damn you! She couldn’t. Her thoughts were scattered, running aimlessly though her head, battering against the walls of her mind like frightened animals. What does it matter how long it took those other people? Sage is going to die. She’s going to die, right here, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

  Nowen stilled. There was something she could do. Or try, at least, try and hope that it worked. She rested one hand on Sage’s forehead, beaded with sweat even with the snow and cold air. “Sage, hold on. Hold on as best as you can.” Nowen closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts before turning them inward.

  She traveled far down through the echoing depths of her mind. She knew what she was looking for: a cave, dark and deep, set in a mountainside. The outside world was gone; all there was for Nowen was the blackness inside. There was no way of knowing how much time was passing. She followed the thought of a thread of a memory until she finally stood before a towering black mountain.

  She walked up to the cave at the base of the mountain but didn’t go in. There was no outward indication that what she searched for was here, but she knew without knowing how that it was. She reached for her wolf.

  I know you’re there. I know you’ve been hurt. I know I am as much to blame for that pain as Vuk is. I was afraid of your - no, our - power, afraid to give up control, afraid of losing whoever I am. I fought you, and you fought back in return. You didn’t want to be caged, to be locked away in the human. And so, in our fighting, we made ourselves weak.

  And our enemy took advantage of that.

  We can’t fight against each other anymore. Together we can be stronger than anything in this world. You need me. And I need you.

  I need you, now. Please.

  Please help me.

  Please.

  There was no response. Nowen stared at the cave opening and let her tears fall as despair swept over her.

  And then wild amber eyes opened in the darkness.

  The old crow perched on the skull of a white-clad body and snipped bits of flesh off a ragged gash in the forehead. A bigger, younger crow challenged him for the dead man, cawing in success when the older bird took to the air. The elderly crow rose up and alighted on the peaked roof of the church. Movement from the forest below caught his eye and he stalked to the roof’s edge for a better view.

  A large black wolf emerged from the covering trees. The wolf stopped and scented the air, then looked back to the trees and barked. A smaller wolf, russet-colored fur shimmering in the evening sun, stepped out of the forest and limped over to the black wolf. The wolves touched noses for a moment, and then the black wolf turned and headed away from the sunset. The russet wolf followed, and together they disappeared into the fast-approaching night.

  Some time later

  Nowen kicked at a burnt piece of timber. The shard of wood crumbled into a fine charcoal dust which the wind picked up and swirled around her head. She coughed, waving the black particles away, and looked aro
und at the remains of New Heaven.

  The storage sheds, the huts and cabins, the log house where the leaders of New Heaven had lived - all had been burned to the ground. The clearing, close to three acres wide, was covered in scorched wood, fabric, and metal. The forest that surrounded the clearing showed the after-effects of the massive fire that must have raged here, with blackened tree trunks and limbs.

  Nowen turned at the sound of foot-steps on burned dirt to see Sage walking toward her. The girl held something in her hand that, as she got closer, Nowen could determine used to be a pair of pliers. With a grunt of disgust Sage tossed the warped metal aside. She dusted her hands off on her jeans and looked up at Nowen. “What a mess! This couldn’t all have happened from that flare that Suzannah threw, could it?”

  Nowen shook her head. “Notice what’s missing? All the vehicles.” Sage looked around, surprise evident on her face. “They packed up everything they could take and burned what they couldn’t.” Nowen said.

  “But, why? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Nowen shrugged. “I don’t really care why. I just want to know where they went. Where he went.”

  Sage sighed. “You still want to find Vuk, huh?”

  Nowen turned away from the disappointed look on the girl’s face. “I haven’t changed my mind. He has a lot to answer for.”

  Sage threw her hands up. “Well how are you going to find him now?”

  “I can help you with that.” Nowen whipped her head toward the source of the unknown voice. From the corner of her eye she saw the girl move into a crouch, ready to change into a wolf at a moment’s notice. Nowen focused her attention on a stand of trees near where she stood.

  With a slight rustling of leaves a man stepped out of the forest. He looked as tall as Nowen was, and his skin was lightly tanned. His gunmetal-grey hair fell past his shoulders. His face was all harsh and angular planes, and one copper-colored eye shone beneath thick grey brows. The other eye, his left eye, was gone. The healed-over socket was bisected by a long black scar that continued down his cheek and curled under his jaw.