After The Virus (Book 2): Homesteading

by Archer, Simon

  “We haven’t looked in the house,” I said thoughtfully, turning my gaze that way.

  “Might as well have a look,” Jackie said, pushing up out of the chair and wading through goats towards the house.

  I followed, a hand resting on my Les Baer.

  The door opened outward, and she took a position to open it while I readied myself for whatever might be beyond. At my nod, she turned the handle and pulled the door all the way open.

  Eyes glittered in the shadows beyond, and dark shapes scuttled for cover. Raccoons and maybe a possum or two had managed to get into the rickety structure and made it home. So much for hiding out in here to wait for the coywolf. They’d probably ruined the furniture and most everything else if the smell of musk and urine was any indication.

  “I think,” I said, covering my face with a sleeve as the stink wafted out the open door. “That we have a change of plans.”

  Jackie almost gagged and let the door swing closed.

  “Agreed,” she said. “I don’t think hiding in there is any kind of feasible unless you remembered the Vick’s.”

  “As a matter of fact,” I said with a slight grin. “I did. But it’s a bit pungent for hunting, isn’t it?”

  “Oh,” she said, blinking. “Probably.”

  “I’m thinking the sheds or the Camaro,” I suggested as we walked away from the tainted house.

  “Is the Camaro safe?”

  “Well, it might have squirrels,” I mused. “Jim was really careful about it, though, but we should check.”

  The Camaro in the shed sat securely on blocks, windows rolled up and intact, while the engine rested, as it had, in a slightly rusted hoist. It was in decent shape for a mid-70s car owned by a poor guy who’d gotten his friends to help rebuild it.

  I tested the passenger door and found it unlocked. The interior smelled a bit stale, with maybe a hint of mildew, but it was a far cry better than the house. Maybe it was the fake leather seats and waterproof carpeting, or maybe it was just a lucky break for us.

  “That’s a lot better,” Jackie observed, leaning over a bit to sniff at the opening. “No back seat to speak of, though.”

  I glanced down at her and found her looking up at me with that bright, teasing grin on her face.

  “Is that all you ever think of?” I asked with a grin of my own.

  “No,” she replied. “Sometimes, I think about food.”

  We had a good laugh at that and went back out to the fire barrel to sit. There were still hours to go before it would start getting dark.

  “I know it’s a bad idea,” she said after we sat back down. “Especially here and now. I just like to tease to lighten the moment, you know?”

  “Sure,” I grinned sidelong at her. “That’s one way some soldiers deal with stress, too.”

  “Sex?” she asked, eyes going wide.

  I laughed and shrugged. “Some of them,” I replied. “Most of the time, it’s jokes and pranks, giving each other a hard time. Then we all pull together when the chips are down.”

  “That’s the important part, isn’t it?” Jackie asked. “Being able to trust each other.”

  “Exactly,” I replied and twisted a bit in my chair to study her. “You’ve been pussyfooting around something all day, too. So out with it.”

  “Oh.” She blushed furiously and put her hands between her knees, gazing down at them behind a curtain of hair. “A couple of things, really. It might not be the right time or place, though.”

  I just stayed silent and watched her. There really was no better way to get someone to talk than implied guilt.

  After a while, she sighed and looked over at me.

  “Well, first,” Jackie murmured. “Angie was supposed to talk to you about Estelle. Did she?”

  I had a feeling that I knew where this was going.

  “No,” I replied.

  “She-- The doctor asked if we shared,” the young woman blurted out. “Angie was supposed to tell you.”

  I laughed and shook my head.

  “You know, I was going to feel you two out about making that offer to her,” I said, continuing to chuckle. “What do you think?”

  “Oh! I like the idea,” she replied. “Estelle’s really nice after you get past the prickly bear parts.”

  “We’ll all talk when we get back,” I said. “Then we’ll talk to her.”

  “Good,” Jackie said and lapsed into silence.

  “What’s the second thing?” I prodded after waiting for a few minutes while she looked down at her feet. Up on the roof, the two goats watched us, their jaws working as they chewed their cud.

  “Well,” she replied. “I’ve been keeping up with my pill, and Angie has an IUD, so… if I wanted to have a baby with you. It’ll be easier for me to start with, and I’m young and healthy.”

  Maybe I should have seen that coming, too. It was my turn to go quiet, and I looked off into the treetops for a moment while I collected my thoughts. No major objection sprang immediately to mind, but for one.

  “I’m good with it,” I said, looking over at her. “Happy, even, but we need to take a little while longer to get everything established. If we have a kid, I want it to have the best of everything we can offer, okay.”

  Jackie sniffled and nodded, smiling at me with gleaming, liquid eyes. I reached over and squeezed her hand.

  “What?” I asked. “Did you expect me to say no?”

  “A part of me did,” she said with a shrug as she squeezed back. “But the hopeful part has seen you with Irene and Tommy and really wanted you to say yes.”

  “I’m also fine on waiting a little longer,” she continued. “Especially with all the work ahead of us. I want to make sure I can pull my weight.”

  “I know how strong you are,” I teased. “I’m pretty sure you can at least do that.”

  Jackie laughed and reached over to punch me in the shoulder. She was getting better at that. I didn’t even have time to dodge out of reach.

  We settled back after a few more minutes, then chatted about random things as the day wore on. There wasn’t a lot to do, and we had our plan, so it was all about the waiting now.

  Maybe we shouldn’t have relaxed nearly as much as we had, but at least we hadn’t completely dropped our guard when there came a long, low howl that trailed off into a series of yips. The goats chose that moment to just go nuts and started charging around the yard.

  I swore loudly and grabbed up my pack and rifle.

  “They’re coming already,” I snapped. “Let’s go.”

  Jackie was to take the Camaro while I hid in one of the sheds. The goats were all in the way, but they’d distract the pack if nothing else. We had no idea how close the coywolf and its followers were, but hopefully, we had the minute we needed to get undercover.

  She grabbed her gear and hightailed it for the car while I bulled through the milling goats to shut myself in the shed nearly opposite her. Fortunately, we both had windows we could watch through. Unfortunately, the shed I was in only locked from the outside.

  It would have to do.

  7

  We made it to our hiding places mere minutes before a group of medium and bigger dogs, mutts all, galloped into the yard. I couldn’t count them, but I didn’t think there were more than eleven or twelve. With them were four, yes, four coyotes. Out of my sight behind the shed came the low howl and yip of the coywolf.

  The pack herded all the goats together, except the pair on top of the roof, and kept them all under control in an incredible show of tactics. I’d seen what sheepdogs could do firsthand, as well as military working dogs and others. The coywolf’s pack did a decent job showing that level of skill.

  If they weren’t so damned dangerous to my little family, I’d be impressed. As it was, I grew even more concerned. Very slowly and quietly, I readied the heavy rifle I carried. I had five shots. That would do for about a third of the pack, and then I’d have to switch to the Les Baer and its eight to finish the job.

&nbs
p; Of course, that was assuming one shot, one kill, and I was neither a sniper nor a close-combat specialist. If I’d been thinking, I’d have brought one of the automatics that Bruce gave us, or Angie’s M27. A high rate of fire and a large magazine would have been really nice.

  I’d promised to follow Jackie’s lead in this, so I sat tight with my rifle ready while the dogs and coyotes culled out three of the goats and killed them in short order. They were a lot more efficient than when they’d tried for one of our pigs, but then again, there wasn’t a pack of larger dogs and three armed humans in their way, either.

  Another howl from the coywolf rose, closer this time. The packs all fell on two of the carcasses while the goats, freed of the ring of snapping teeth, scattered to the four winds. Up on the house, the two that chose that vantage just watched and chewed their cud like they were eating popcorn at a horror movie.

  Still, the leader hadn’t made an appearance, and that was what we waited for. Minutes ticked by, the dogs and coyotes tore at their meals, occasionally growling and snapping at each other over some choice bits. I was on the verge of breaking my promise and taking a few shots when the coywolf trotted around my particular shed and into the yard.

  He was an impressive beast by any metric, probably half-wolf at least, standing taller at the shoulder than the other lanky coyotes, and heavier built than most of the dogs. In coloration, he was mostly brown, ticked with gold, although there were highlights in his fur that did more than just hint at his lupine ancestry.

  At his appearance, most of the dogs cowed and showed their throats or bellies. The coyotes, though, came up and fawned over him, licking at his muzzle and whining in what I imagined was sheer adoration.

  I almost felt guilty for wanting to shoot the bastard.

  My eyes flickered in the direction of the Camaro as I heard a door open, then slam loudly. All the dogs and coyotes bounced up to focus on her as she stalked purposefully straight at them. The dogs themselves, still with memories of humans, perhaps, shied away from her, eyes wary. A few tails wagged tentatively.

  The coyotes backed away a little and looked from her to the big coywolf. I could hear her talking but couldn’t make out the words where I was. The tone of her voice was calm, even reassuring, but she herself didn’t flinch, not even when one of the dogs suddenly charged her.

  Jackie just turned and locked eyes with it, standing her ground. The animal skidded to a halt and barked madly at her before backing slowly away. My heart surged with pride, although I’d almost ruined the whole thing by putting a 6.5mm round through the dog.

  The other dogs fell back even more, though they kept between her and the ravaged carcasses of the two goats. Instead of moving towards those, Jackie headed for the untouched one. Once again, the four coyotes all looked to the coywolf, whining and yipping.

  Finally, he moved, bowing up his back and sidling towards the dead goat as well. Jackie just shifted her own stance to match his. This was some kind of posturing and staredown, I figured. I caught a glimpse of the Glock in her right hand as she changed her posture and grinned to myself. It certainly wasn’t the knife I’d expected, but it would do.

  The girl and the coywolf zigzagged and circled closer to the goat carcass until they faced each other from opposite sides. I couldn’t tell if Jackie was bigger, or if the canine was. They seemed to be pretty close in size, but he could definitely hurt her before she brought the gun into play unless she moved fast. The space between them wouldn’t be enough for me to shoot before they were tangled.

  “Oh, Jackie,” I whispered. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  The two postured at each other while the dogs and the other coyotes paced around and watched. It was almost eerie how well she mimicked the canine’s body language, despite not having pronounced ears or a tail.

  This kept on long enough that I couldn’t resist another scan over the rest of the pack. They stayed back and out of it. At least the dogs seemed cowed by both Jackie and the coywolf, and the coyotes themselves just wanted to stay out of it.

  I couldn’t blame them.

  Then, just like that, it was over. Jackie broke the pattern and did a little half-charge at the big coywolf, who danced back with a surprised yip. Something broke in the pack just then, as if the pack leader had just been holding onto his position by a narrow thread, and the moment of weakness caused it to snap.

  The four coyotes scattered as the dogs flipped out. Some of them charged at the coywolf, but Jackie got in the way and brought the Glock to bear. One of the ferals went down, but the others took her legs out from under her and kept going.

  Reacting quickly, I picked off another, then shot one of the handful that were hesitating. That sent them racing back into the trees and behind the house. Jackie was on her knees when I burst out of the shed, trying to draw a bead on the three dogs savaging the coywolf.

  A pistol was definitely better in this situation, so I swapped weapons and took aim as well.

  “Don’t kill him!” Jackie shouted. “Please!”

  Way to make things easy for me.

  One of the dogs got knocked sprawling by the thrashing of the other three animals, and I took that shot, putting the feral out of its misery. One of the other dogs was on top of the coywolf, teeth locked on the back of his neck, while the former pack leader had the last dog pinned, with his sharp teeth at the feral’s throat.

  I circled in. Maybe I could get close enough to take a point-blank shot on the dog without hitting the coywolf. Jackie struggled to her feet while the animals fought, keeping her Glock trained on the melee while I moved in.

  The coywolf suddenly released the pinned dog and performed something that almost seemed like a half-flip, tearing the back of its neck from the jaws of his assailant. The surprised feral dog went sprawling, and I took that shot too, feeling a bit guilty that I was protecting the wild animal from the former pet.

  Still, the dogs really were the bigger danger, since they really had little fear of humans. I hoped Jackie had me doing the right thing in this case.

  The last dog scrabbled back and started to flee. I swung around to shoot it, too, but Jackie interrupted me.

  “Let it go, Henry,” she called out. “They’re broken.”

  She crouched in front of the panting coywolf, out of lunging distance, but closer than I was really comfortable with.

  “We saved him, Jackie,” I told her. “What now?”

  The Les Baer was warm in my hands, and my ears rang from the shooting. If we hadn’t needed to hear for this to listen for the canines, then I’d have insisted on protection. Maybe next time I would.

  Our former nemesis crouched, panting, in front of the young woman while she slowly holstered her pistol. I kept my own sidearm pointed at the coywolf, just in case it decided to leap at her.

  Fortunately, the animal didn’t seem to have much leaping left in him. Blood matted the fur at the base of his skull and dripped onto the torn-up ground beneath his front paws. He just panted and tried to squirm backward as Jackie locked eyes with him.

  “It’s okay,” she said soothingly. “I didn’t mean to break your hold on them quite like that, and I’m really sorry you got hurt.”

  He growled softly, then wagged his tail twice. One of his ears had been laid open, too, and one hind leg was bleeding.

  “Henry?” Jackie asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “Please get me a first aid kit.”

  “You’re seriously going to touch that thing?” I exclaimed.

  She looked back at me with a “well, duh” expression.

  “Of course I am,” she replied. “He’s done. If we don’t help him, he’s going to die.”

  “Fine,” I grunted, not liking this one bit. I kept telling myself to trust Jackie, but she really didn’t make it easy. Still, she’d worked wonders with the other animals, and if she could maybe tame this particular creature, I supposed I wouldn’t ever question her abilities again.

  I took the ultimate step
and holstered my pistol as I went back to get my pack and the small first aid kit I carried. When I turned back, my jaw dropped.

  Jackie wasn’t just touching the coywolf. She was well within biting range and was exploring his injuries with gentle fingers while she talked to him. The big canine rested his chin on her shoulder and rolled his eyes to look at me as I approached. A low growl started in his throat.

  “No,” she said firmly. “Henry is a friend. Be nice.”

  The coywolf backed his ears, and then his tail thumped once. I moved up slowly and knelt down as well, despite my urge to keep my distance. This really wasn’t any worse than running willingly towards the sound of gunfire, so I sighed and joined her.

  “How bad is it?” I asked.

  Jackie made a face and looked at me with worry in her pretty eyes.

  “I’m not a vet,” she explained, “but I think it’s pretty bad. He’s losing a lot of blood from his neck, and I think that hind leg might be broken.”

  “Do you think it might be better to… you know?” I wanted to know.

  She shook her head and took the kit from me, then started tearing through it until she had gauze pads and coagulant powder.

  “Help me hold him,” she said firmly.

  “If he bites me, I’ll never believe you again,” I said, only half kidding.

  “If he’s going to bite anyone,” she said seriously. “It’ll be me, and I’m not worried. He knows we’re trying to help him.”

  Once again, the coywolf’s tail thumped the ground a single time.

  “I swear I think he understands you,” I observed.

  “He does,” she said. “Ready?”

  “I guess so.” I reached over and did my best to pin the animal gently.

  The coywolf whimpered softly, then let out a yelp and struggled as Jackie applied the styptic powder to the bleeding bite wounds on the animal’s neck. This particular brand had benzocaine in it, so after the initial burn, it would numb the injury a bit. The leg, though, was going to be a problem.

  “Once we’ve got him stabilized,” I said. “I’ll radio Angie and get her to bring my truck. Hopefully, she’s back at the house by now.”