Without Law 13

by Eric Vall

  I checked the roof then and saw that Joe was on guard duty, so I waved to him and told him to come get me if he saw anything.

  It was already late out, so there was no way for us to start making fire lines at the campus until the morning. Between the animals that were fleeing the fire and the darkness, it was too dangerous to be out in the woods at night. I couldn’t have anybody getting attacked when they couldn’t see. Most of the civilians weren’t extremely well equipped for an attack even in the daytime, but at night the animals would definitely have the advantage.

  My body was exhausted as I made my way to the dorm room I shared with the girls, but my mind was still racing. Neither of the scenarios that Paige had pitched were good. I wouldn’t even consider the best case scenario, there was no point to. Nine times out of ten, the best case scenario never saw the light of day. Besides, with how massive the fire was, and the fact that it had probably already grown since we last saw it, there was no way that we would get completely missed. That thing was headed for us, there was no doubt in my mind.

  I woke the next morning feeling groggy and sore. My muscles were on fire from our day of chopping trees, and with the news that Paige had given us, I hadn’t slept well.

  I hadn’t wanted to sleep at all, all I had really wanted to do was head up to the roof and keep an eye out, or work more on the fire lines, but my body was exhausted and if I ran myself ragged then I’d be of no use to anyone. Sleep was what I had needed, even if it was shitty sleep.

  I looked out the window to see that it was still dark outside, but I hopped out of bed anyways and got dressed.

  I left the girls and Winchester asleep in the dorm common area, then I headed downstairs and slipped my boots on by the door.

  “Hey,” I heard a female voice whisper, and I looked up to see Bailey fully dressed. She stood near the couch and looked at me with gray-blue eyes filled with concern.

  Winchester stood beside her, but when I looked up he came over to me and rubbed his head on my hand.

  “What are you doing up?” I asked.

  “I know you,” the blonde said with a small smile. “You were going into the woods alone.”

  I had to smile back because she was exactly right. I was going to head to the stream to check the water level to see if it had dropped any more. We were already running low, but if we could stockpile enough water for us to drink for a few days then maybe we could use the rest to water down the areas on campus and at the farm. The less tasty the crops and trees were to a fire, the better.

  “Guilty,” I admitted.

  “I figured I’d come with you,” Bailey said.

  “I’d like that,” I told her, and I finished tying my boots.

  I opened the door, and Winchester ran out into the courtyard while Bailey and I stepped out into the coolness of the morning. The sky was dim and murky, and I could smell smoke more than I could the day before, which meant the fire was definitely closer. It was barely light out, and I figured I’d let the civilians sleep while I checked on the water. Everyone was already exhausted, and an extra few minutes of sleep might help them keep up with the physical labor of the day ahead.

  “Hey,” Joe called down from the roof. “Tav, is that you?”

  “Yeah, it’s me and Bailey,” I answered with a wave of my hand. “Any signs of anything last night?”

  “Not that I could see,” he said. “Definitely nothing to indicate flames.”

  “Alright,” I agreed. “Everyone should be up soon and we’ll get you down from there.”

  “Sounds good,” he said. “Be careful, whatever you’re doing.”

  “We will,” I assured him.

  Bailey and I headed into the woods, and Winchester walked alongside us as we went. Normally he ran around and did his own thing when we went for walks through the woods, but this time he stayed close. I figured that his instincts told him something wasn’t right. If I could smell the smoke, then he most certainly could, and he stayed close to try to protect us. Or protect Bailey at least. We all knew that she was his favorite.

  The sun started to come up further as we walked, but between the smoke and the earliness of the morning it was still incredibly dim out.

  “How are you going to check the water line?” Bailey asked. “Did you mark it?”

  “I used a stick and some fabric to make a measurer,” I explained.

  “If it has gone down then what does that mean?” the blonde asked.

  “It just means that it’s hot as hell,” I chuckled. “But we already knew that.”

  Bailey flashed me a small smile to humor my attempt to lighten the mood.

  If the water had gone down any more, then we might have to just fill up water bottles and leave campus unwatered. The farm had fire lines up already, but we wouldn’t be able to make the same lines on campus with all the trees and the steepness of the hill. The area just wasn’t built for tractor made lines, so we’d have to cut and pull everything back by hand.

  It was going to be a lot of work.

  As much as I wanted to protect our campus, I knew that the farm was the higher priority. It would be better to have the crops and nowhere to live than to have a place to live but no crops. Without that food we wouldn’t have enough supplies to make it through the winter. I could hunt, sure, but relying solely on hunting was a dangerous game that I didn’t want to play. Especially in the dead of winter.

  Especially after a fire had come through and either killed or scattered all the wildlife.

  We’d done what we could to prepare the farm for the fire, though, and if I felt that checking the water was unimportant, or that we could somehow improve the lines that we’d made at the farm, then I wouldn’t be out in the woods. Right then, though, we needed to keep track of our resources and figure out the best way to allocate them.

  Plus, a little walk to clear my head always helped me think better.

  It was a quiet walk to the creek, and I enjoyed Bailey’s company. She was a shy and sweet girl for the most part, but her presence was comfortable. She didn’t make you feel as though you needed to speak or fill the silence. It was okay to be quiet around her, and that was one of the things that I loved most about her. I think it came from how much time she spent in nature both as a kid and once she got to college. Most people who enjoyed nature tended to understand the importance of being quiet, and the sweet solitude that it brought along with it.

  I know that I’d been quiet in the woods for so long during my one year journey, that hearing my own voice out loud had almost felt foreign to me when I got back. There hadn’t been much of a need to speak in the wild, though I did from time to time, but no more than a sentence or two when I was talking to myself.

  I’d always found the sounds of nature enough to calm and soothe me, and I knew that Bailey felt the same way.

  There weren’t many sounds that morning, though. There were no sweet bird chirps coming from the trees like usual, and it seemed eerily quiet as we walked. The only sound was our boots crunching the pine needles below them.

  We were almost to the stream when I heard something move nearby. Bailey looked over at me, and I gestured for her to be quiet and follow me.

  I slunk down low and moved through the trees with Winchester at my side until I got a good view of the small waterway.

  There, at the water on our side of the stream, were several deer getting a drink. It was still quite dark out, but I had a good view of the area, and even from the small part of my measuring stick that I could see, I knew the water line had dropped. If I hadn’t known from that, then I would have known by how low the deer had to dip their heads down in order to get a drink.

  They hadn’t noticed us, not yet at least, or if they had they obviously were too thirsty to be concerned with us. The six deer that were there drank heavily and greedily, but I didn’t blame them. This was probably the first water they’d seen in quite a while, and while I had no idea how far they’d come from, I figured it was several miles at least. Some o
f these animals had probably come from all the way up north in an attempt to escape the flames, and I wasn’t going to stand in their way of a water source.

  As much as we had to worry about ourselves, we had to do our part to help preserve nature as well. We couldn’t be greedy with our resources.

  Just then, Winchester let out a low growl and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. The deer at the creek lifted their heads, but I quickly put my hand on the black headed dog’s back to quiet him.

  Winchester went silent, but his hair still stood on end and he was in a stalking pose.

  Bailey looked at me with wide eyes. We both knew from experience that Winchester didn’t growl at just anything.

  I scanned the area quickly and followed his eye line to find a large wolf in the trees behind the deer. It was across the water from the herd, but it was quite large and definitely hungry. Its yellow eyes were intent on the deer, and it was stalking them.

  From the wetness on the deer’s legs, I knew that they’d crossed the stream and stopped to get a drink. It had gotten quite low, and it wouldn’t be difficult for the wolf to cross it, either, which just added to my concern.

  On top of that, if there was one wolf here then that probably meant that there were others. And they were probably quite hungry after traveling so far.

  We had two choices: We could either hold our position, or we could try to flee. I didn’t see the other pack members yet, and if they were across the water as well then that might give us a better chance of fleeing, but I wasn’t sure if I trusted that or not.

  The deer might be enough to keep the wolves distracted, but if they happened to get away, then we’d be the next best thing, even if we weren’t their original targets.

  I looked at the alpha once more, and its position in reference to the herd, then I scanned the area more closely. There were two other wolves on the other side of the creek as well, one on each side of the alpha. As I continued to search for more wolves I came across one on our side of the water, just through the trees to our right. It had seen us already, but it hadn’t made a move since we weren’t the true target.

  The gray wolf’s yellow eyes darted between us and the deer, and I knew it was waiting for its alpha to give the signal. If there was one to our right, though, then that most certainly meant that there was one to our left as well. That put the count up to five. Three across the water and two on our side. I didn’t think the water would slow down the wolves much, though, and the one to our right had already spotted us, which meant we had to fight. There was no running from this now.

  We had walked right into their hunting formation and unknowingly become part of their prey.

  I locked eyes with Bailey, then, and she looked from me to the alpha wolf so I knew she’d already seen him. I nodded and gestured slightly to our right to alert her to the fact that there was one closer to us.

  The blonde looked at me coolly. She’d been in situations like this before, and she knew that the best way to get out of them was to remain calm.

  I gave her a quick nod, then I reached for my pistol, and she began to reach for her own as well. I used my head to indicate that I would go for the wolf on our right, and that she should look to our left.

  My sniper nodded her understanding and slowly spun around to get a better look through the trees.

  Someone moved then, wolf, deer, or one of us, I couldn’t be sure, but it startled the deer, and they skittered away from the water. I saw the alpha lunge forward, but I quickly turned my attention back to the wolf on my right.

  The large beast snarled low as he stalked toward me. I raised my pistol, and he began to run, but he didn’t get far before I pulled the trigger and he went down with a quick yelp and a bullet to the skull.

  Winchester snarled and barked then, and I spun around to see the Alpha make his way across the low stream. The water only came up to the top of his legs, and he didn’t appear to have any trouble getting across. I raised my pistol at him, but then I noticed the other two wolves in the water beside him.

  Bailey’s pistol sounded, and she whipped around to face the same direction I was, but the deer were gone. We were the only targets these hungry wolves had now.

  Luckily their pack was down by two, but there were still at least three in front of us, though I couldn’t be sure there weren’t more as well.

  Winchester snarled again, but I didn’t bother to stop him this time. We’d already been spotted, the war had already begun, and the black headed dog had gone up against wolves before, so he knew exactly what he was up against. Still, he was a protector if nothing else, and I knew he’d jump in if we needed it, but I’d try to make sure we didn’t.

  I locked my pistol on the alpha, but it let out a vicious bark and darted toward where Bailey and I stood.

  I let off a shot, but the wolf zig zagged as it ran, and it managed to avoid my bullet. These creatures had to be desperate with how they were pursuing us, and I not only had the alpha to worry about, but the two that had crossed the water with him had split up. One had gone to the right by me, and the other to the left by Bailey.

  Bailey let off another round, and I heard a small yelp a split second after.

  “On your right!” the blonde called, and I spun my pistol to see a large brown wolf just a few feet away from me.

  I fired a shot, but the damn thing dodged again and lunged up at me. Luckily I was prepared, and as it flew into the air I side stepped and kicked it hard in the ribs.

  The creature tumbled to the ground but quickly stood up and shook itself off with a low snarl.

  Winchester snarled right back, and I stepped in front of him so that he didn’t try to jump in the way.

  Bailey’s pistol went off again, but I heard her let off a curse afterward.

  I couldn’t look back to see how she was handling the alpha until I took this brown wolf out, so I lined up my shot and took it.

  The creature moved just in time, but I caught him in the shoulder and he let out a loud squeal and stumbled. That was enough for me to be able to get another shot off and take him down. He wound up just like his pack member, with a shot to the head.

  “I can’t get a shot on him!” Bailey hollered, and her voice was panicked.

  I turned around to see the alpha pacing in front of the stream. It was after Bailey, I knew from the way it eyed her, but every time she lifted her pistol at him he would move a little faster.

  We’d taken out his whole pack, so this alpha really had nothing to lose, and he had to have come from quite a ways away. I wouldn’t doubt it if the whole pack hadn’t eaten in days. In times like this, getting out of danger became priority number one, even before eating, though that meant that when they did stop to eat they were particularly hungry.

  All of the animals we’d encountered lately had been extremely hostile, and these wolves were no exception. The fire had everybody on edge, even the wildlife, but unlike the bear, this beast wasn’t going to give up.

  We were each at least halfway through the magazine we had in our pistols, and we needed to get this sonofabitch, and fast.

  I quickly pulled my weapon up and let off a round in the hopes of surprising the beast since his eyes were so intent on Bailey, but the thing managed to dodge it and it turned its sights on me.

  The alpha lunged toward me and began to run at full speed.

  Before I could get my shot aimed, Winchester snarled, snapped, and ran toward the creature.

  “Fuck!” I shouted. I needed him out of the way. I knew he was trying to protect us, but if he got tangled with the wolf, then I wouldn’t be able to get a good enough shot.

  Just then Bailey’s pistol sounded again, and the large gray wolf went down with a red spray of blood coming from the neck.

  Winchester skidded to a halt as the wolf, still snarling, tried to get up, but it was no use. I walked over and quickly put a bullet in the side of its head to put it out of its misery.

  “Are you alright?” I asked as I rushed over t
o Bailey.

  “I’m fine,” the blonde breathed, but her body was hot, and her breath was ragged from adrenaline.

  Winchester ran over to us then and let out a low whine.

  “I’m okay, boy,” Bailey said as she leaned down to pet his head.

  “Oh buddy,” I cooed as I reached down to pet him, too. “You gotta stay by me, I can’t have you getting hurt again.”

  “I was worried about that, too,” Bailey said, her grayish-blue eyes filled with concern.

  “We’re alright,” I told her, and I pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head.

  The sound of vehicles broke up the moment, and we both began to look around, curious where it was coming from.

  “Is that… the ATVs?” Bailey asked.

  “I think it is,” I agreed, and a split second later I saw Anna and Paige on one, and Tara on the other. They waved to us as they made their way through the trees.

  “We heard shots,” Anna said as she stopped the machine and hopped off. “Are you guys alright?”

  “We’re fine,” I assured them. “Thank you for coming, though.”

  “What happened?” Paige asked.

  “We ran into some wolf troubles,” I said.

  “Oh,” the redhead said, and she looked around and spotted the alpha on the ground several feet away. “I see.”

  “Wait, are you serious?” Tara asked, and she covered her mouth as she tried to stifle a giggle.

  “Yes,” I said with a straight face. “I don’t see why that’s funny.”

  “I’m sorry,” the platinum blonde said. “It’s just… It’s always Bailey!”

  “Hey!” Bailey exclaimed indignantly. “It’s not my fault!”

  “No, but you are always the one who gets attacked by wild animals,” Anna said with a shrug.

  “It does seem rather odd that it’s always you,” Paige said with an amused look.

  “It’s not like I’m doing anything to attract them,” Bailey scoffed. “I mean, I love animals! Why is it always me?”