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 daughter 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 why, 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?”
“But they wouldn’t have been there! They followed me,” she cried.
“Then the wolverines could have attacked Pepe, Maria, Mayra, or any of the others who were out there. You didn’t cost us lives. You saved lives,” Char suggested.
“Aaron?” Terry looked at the tall Weretiger. “Why don’t you go eat breakfast? We’ll wait here.”
“I wouldn’t miss this for anything!” Aaron exclaimed. Everyone wanted to see what the baby would do when she woke up. Kiwi played catch with the wolves, throwing a hide-bound stick for them to run after. Everything stopped when they heard Clyde braying in the distance.
Cory yawned and smacked her lips, which pulled everyone back to the doorway. She sat up as Ted stared at her. She crawled off the mattress and tottered toward her mother. Char picked her up and looked into the baby’s big blue eyes, the eyes of her father.
Terry hadn’t said anything, but Char knew he was disappointed that she didn’t have her mother’s purple eyes, but when they looked closely enough, they could see purple flecks.
“How did you fix the wolves’ ouchies, honey munchkins?” Char said softly, making a face. Cory showed her hands and put them on her mother’s chest, then clapped them together. Terry clapped with her.
“Can you show us again? Please, for your mommy?” Char cooed and smiled. Cory looked at Ted suspiciously.
“Okay, Sir Theodore, that’s enough staring. How about we stand over here?” Terry bodily moved Ted to the far side of the room.
Char set Cory down by the bed. The baby dropped to her butt, then crawled onto the mattress.
It was like watching the winning touchdown drive in the super bowl. Seven pairs of eyes were fixed, unblinkingly, on a child that was three months old. She looked much bigger, more coordinated, older, but that was from the enhancements she’d inherited from her parents.
Come on, little sweetheart, there you go, Terry encouraged in his mind. His daughter had always been special and would always be special, but this was something far beyond a parent’s belief that his kid was the best.
She put a hand on the worst wound, startling the wolf. The injured animal raised her head, tongue lolling as if drugged, but as the glow began, she leaned back and rested as the pain left her bod
y.
Cory helped the second wolf, while the third kept them company. Cory looked tired again, but she put both hands on the last animal. There was barely a glow as Cordelia struggled. Once the glow passed, the baby flopped down, too tired to lift her head up.
“We’re going to the diner, now,” Char declared, entering the room and picking up her daughter. “Let’s feed those hybrid nanocytes of yours, shall we?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Japan
Akio looked at the imagery for the fourth time. The army looked like it was getting ready to move. Hundreds and hundreds of soldiers had been consolidated into a single camp, not far from Baoding, on the outskirts of the small town of Poshangcun.
“The areas outside the big city have not changed since before the fall. Xidayang Reservoir continues to provide water and power for the rural population. It is from these working people that the Forsaken draws his power,” Akio said in Japanese.
Eve watched the information that Akio had on the screen, but she was linked with the computer systems and processed input directly. She stood in silence while Yuko sipped her tea and looked on.
“It is not just those people, Akio-chan,” Yuko said, using the affectionate title. “It is circumstance and promise.”
“You are right, of course. It is the combination of events which the Forsaken exploits. We need to go today, if we are to arrive before they move, while they are still vulnerable.”
“We must before it does irreparable damage wherever it intends to take that army,” Yuko agreed.
“That’s the question that I can’t answer,” Akio said softly. “The Forsaken has scoured the countryside, consolidated the people. There’s nothing left for a hundred miles in any direction and after that, there isn’t much. Do you think he might be headed for Shanghai or a port city, to launch attacks by sea?”
“There is a seventy-one point three percent chance that is his goal,” Eve intoned.
“Thank you, Eve,” Akio said pleasantly, before picking up his communication device and calling Terry.
Nomad Omnibus 02: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (A Terry Henry Walton Chronicles Omnibus) Page 52
