Horton, who was positioned above them, said, “What do we do now?”
“We should be safe here,” Infinity replied. She gazed down at the creatures below. Some of them were already dispersing, moving back toward the hillside, but there were still several hundred staring up at the humans and pacing about. “If we have to, we’ll stay in this tree until bridge-back.”
“Jesus!” Horton exclaimed. “Until 7:00 PM tomorrow?”
Infinity didn’t reply. She estimated it was getting close to noon—thirty-one hours until bridge-back. She sighed and leaned her head against the tree.
Tequila said, “First thing we gotta do is get higher. We’re barely out of their reach.”
Infinity scanned the branches above. “Shouldn’t be a problem. There are several places up there where we could wedge ourselves in.” She spoke to Horton and pointed to a spot above his head. “I want you up there. Take your time and be damn careful.”
But Horton didn’t appear to be listening. He was staring past her at the ground below. “What are they doing now?” he asked.
Infinity looked down. The remainder of the pack had backed off a few feet, and five coyotes were standing with their butts toward the tree, kicking their hind legs, flipping sticks and leaf litter toward the trunk. Already, the debris was piling up around the tree’s base. Three coyotes with sticks in their mouths pushed their way through the dense pack and deposited them onto the growing pile.
“No,” Tequila said. “No, no, no, this is not happening.”
Infinity snapped her head up and looked toward the hill. Most of the coyotes that had been returning to the hillside had now stopped and were watching two others as they trotted directly toward the humans, each carrying a burning stick in its mouth.
Infinity could only watch the scene unfold in disbelief. How was this happening? Dogs didn't know how to build fires.
The pack of coyotes parted, and the two fire-carrying dogs trotted over to the base of the tree. They swung their heads to the side and inserted their sticks into the pile of twigs and leaf litter. Then they held their noses near the smoldering sticks as if to smell them. The two dogs snorted almost simultaneously, expelling sharp puffs of air. The sticks’ red glow brightened for a second. The dogs snorted again, and then again, until flames ignited. Within seconds, the pile of debris was engulfed. Several other dogs started bringing forward more sticks and dropping them onto the fire.
Infinity closed her eyes, her heart pounding furiously. She had to think. The tree was alive, but it would probably burn anyway if the coyotes kept adding fuel until the fire got hot enough. The four humans wouldn’t be able to fight off hundreds of these creatures. She opened her eyes and looked toward the river. Its closest bank was at least fifty yards away. She could try to get Horton and Jarvis to another tree, but that would only buy them a few more minutes, since the coyotes would just start another fire. She swallowed hard and growled a curse. Otters or no otters, the river was their only hope, assuming the dogs were slow or reluctant swimmers. Which was a big if.
As if he had been reading her mind, Tequila said, “We have to get to the river.”
She nodded grimly. “Yeah, we do. But getting there’s going to be a bitch.”
Tequila closed his eyes and winced as he shifted positions to take weight off his injured leg. Smoke rising from below curled around his face, making his expression seem even more wretched.
He opened his eyes, and they seemed hollower than they had only a few seconds ago. “I’m going down first,” he said. “I’ll keep the damn dogs occupied while you get the clients to the river. Swim to the far shore and find shelter. I’ll catch up.”
Infinity knew what he was suggesting, what he meant by ‘keeping the damn dogs occupied.’ She shook her head. “No! That’s not happening, old man. There’s got to be a—”
“Passie! Heart to blood, muscle to bone, client flesh above my own! This is what we signed up for, remember? These clients have to bridge back alive. I’m already injured. I don’t know if I can even run! It’s gotta be me.”
Infinity racked her brain furiously—there had to be another way. She wiped tears from her eyes. “Damned smoke!” she said.
“Maybe we can use the fire to our advantage,” Jarvis said. “Obviously the dogs aren’t afraid of fire, but they must have learned to be cautious of it.”
Infinity considered this. Perhaps they could intimidate the coyotes with fire, just enough to make an escape. It seemed like a long shot, but she was out of ideas. And maybe the tree wouldn’t even burn at all. Maybe the coyotes would try for a while and then give up. She looked down. The tree’s base had already ignited, and the flames were quickly moving up the trunk.
She shifted, using the branch she was on to shield her body from the rising heat. “Give me that other spear,” she said. Horton passed his weapon to Jarvis, who handed it to Infinity. She then lowered the two spears and held the ends in the rising flames.
“Okay, we’ll use the fire,” she said. “If we wait until the flames force us to climb higher, that won’t end well. We have to jump to the ground before that happens. And we each need to be ready with a piece of wood that’s burning.”
A loud crack came from above. “Here, this might burn.” Horton said, passing down a dead limb he’d broken off.
Tequila took it and lowered it down into the flames. “Great! See if you can find another one.”
“Nothing else big enough,” Horton replied. “Unless I go higher.”
Infinity glanced up at him. “No, stay where you’re at. We’re getting out of this tree.”
The two spears and the dead limb were only starting to burn, but the heat from the engulfed trunk was becoming unbearable.
“We’re going to jump,” Infinity shouted. “Once Tequila and I are on the ground, you guys move to this position as fast as you can and drop down beside us. Get ready!” She held the spears in the fire a few more seconds, until she felt like the skin on her hand was starting to boil.
Her eyes met Tequila’s through the rising smoke. “This is it,” she said.
“We should have never left Phoenix,” he said, shaking his head.
She handed the two flaming spears up to Jarvis. “Give one of those to Horton. You two fight for your lives. We all stay together, back to back. Kill every goddamn dog that gets in your way. We’re going for the river.”
Tequila shoved the burning limb into her hand. “Take this,” he said, and then he jumped.
16
Water
“Wait!” Infinity cried.
But it was too late. Tequila was already dropping feet-first into the mass of snapping coyotes. He landed with a thud, causing several of them to yelp, and then stumbled before balancing himself. As the pack converged on him, he scooped up an armload of burning sticks and leaves from the base of the tree and flung them into the creatures’ faces. The dogs scattered.
“Now!” Infinity shouted as she launched herself from the flaming tree. She hit the ground next to Tequila and began swinging her flaming tree limb while he picked up another armload of burning debris and hurled it at the surrounding dogs.
Jarvis landed beside Infinity with a grunt, immediately stabbing one of the coyotes with his flaming spear.
The barking and snarling became deafening, but so far the creatures were staying out of the weapons’ reach. Infinity realized her stick’s flames had been extinguished, so she held it to the flames for a few seconds until it had reignited.
She glanced up at Horton, who was still positioning himself to jump. “Hurry!” she shouted.
“Oh God!” he cried just before leaping from the tree. He hit the ground next to Jarvis and collapsed into a heap, dropping his spear.
While Horton was struggling to get up, a coyote darted in, snapping at his throat. Jarvis ran his spear into the creature’s side, driving it away but smothering the flames on the weapon.
“Relight it,” Infinity commanded. “We’re going now!”
&n
bsp; Tequila grabbed one more armload of burning sticks and threw it, cursing as it burned his skin. He picked up the spear Infinity had dropped before climbing the tree. “Move!” he cried. “To the river!”
Horton grabbed his spear, and they began moving in a tight formation toward the water.
To avoid extinguishing her weapon’s flame, Infinity held the stick out ready to jab rather than swinging it. But this didn’t matter—the fires on all the weapons were already going out. If the flames were keeping the coyotes away, then it wouldn't be long until the creatures started closing in. “We need to move faster,” she said.
“Then run,” Tequila said. “I’ll keep them off your asses.”
She glanced at him.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not sacrificing myself. I’m too pissed at these things now to provide them with a meal.”
Infinity nodded. She turned to the clients and said, “Move it!”
The three of them began jogging, threatening the coyotes in front of them with their smoking weapons, forcing the creatures to yield.
As the humans approached the river, the dogs in front of them scattered, and Infinity, Jarvis, and Horton waded directly into the water. The coyotes behind them seemed to realize what was happening. They rushed forward, attacking Tequila and knocking him to the ground at the water’s edge. They were on top of him in an instant.
“Swim!” Infinity screamed at the clients. Without waiting for them to comply, she began sloshing back toward Tequila, swinging her stick. Her first swing connected with one of the coyotes on top of her partner, hard enough to crack its skull. She swung again and again, knocking the creatures away one at a time.
Tequila cursed and struggled, trying to keep the dogs away from his throat. At least ten coyotes were still latched onto his flesh, trying to tear him to shreds. Infinity was fighting a losing battle.
A spear was suddenly thrust in from Infinity’s left, catching a coyote in the neck. Another came down hard from the right, striking a dog’s back with a dull thud.
For a split second, Infinity considered screaming at the two clients again to start swimming, but instead she gritted her teeth and lit into the coyotes with every ounce of her remaining strength. All three weapons pounded and stabbed the creatures over and over, forcing them one at a time to release Tequila.
Jarvis grabbed Tequila’s arm and yanked him into the shallow water. Grunting from the effort, the anthropologist kept pulling, dragging the bridger into deeper water as Infinity and Horton continued striking the last coyotes clinging to his flesh until they finally let go.
The coyotes, having lost their prey, backed off, leaving five or so of their companions injured or dead at the river’s edge.
Infinity backed away from the creatures and turned to the river.
Jarvis, now in up to his waist, was still dragging Tequila, the bridger’s wounds leaving swirling eddies of red blood in the green water.
“Jarvis!” Infinity shouted. “Let him get up.”
The anthropologist glanced back at her, his eyes wide. He then stopped. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I’ve never been this scared in my life.” He grabbed the bridger by the armpits and helped him to his feet.
Tequila stared down at his torso. “Oh, man, look at me now.” Blood was trickling down his wet skin from countless bite wounds. His chest and arms were covered in raw burns from having picked up so much flaming debris.
Infinity and Horton waded out to his side.
“No time to assess the damage,” Infinity said. “We have to get to the other side. Can you swim, or should we carry you?”
He looked at Infinity, and she noticed that his scalp had been bitten several times. Blood was running down his face between his right eye and his nose. “I ain’t done yet,” he said. “I can swim.”
“Um, maybe we should hurry?” Horton said. “River otters, remember?”
Infinity looked across at the far shore, at least a hundred yards away. She scanned the river and saw two islands, one upstream and another a short distance downstream. The downstream island was at least as large as the one where they had landed when they bridged to this nightmare world. She pointed downstream. “That’s where we’re going. We can rest on that island before going on.”
Tequila gazed at the island. “Yeah, resting sounds good.”
Infinity looked back at the pack of coyotes. Most of the creatures were sitting on their haunches at least ten yards from the riverbank, watching the humans as if they were well aware of the danger lurking in the muddy water.
The group began wading toward the island. About twenty yards into the channel, the riverbed dropped off, and they were forced to release their weapons and swim.
Infinity stayed beside Tequila in case he needed help. She turned to him. “Sidestroke. Takes less energy.”
He nodded and rolled to his side. Blood was still running down his face and into the water.
As Infinity swam, she divided her attention between watching for otters and keeping an eye on Tequila. She was worried he was losing too much blood. He was already slowing down, obviously fatigued. Jarvis and Horton were swimming ahead and seemed to be doing fine.
“Twenty yards to go, partner,” she said between strokes. “Swim, old man!”
His eyes flicked in her direction, but he didn’t answer. Not a good sign.
Only ten more yards. Ahead, Jarvis and Horton stopped swimming and stood up. They trudged onto the island and turned back to check on Tequila and Infinity.
“Oh, shit!” Horton exclaimed, and both men pointed behind the bridgers. “Hurry!”
Infinity didn’t bother to look back. “Faster!” she grunted at Tequila. “Move!”
Seconds later her toes touched sand. She gathered her legs beneath her, grabbed Tequila’s arm, and started dragging him toward the shore.
The chest-deep water became belly deep. Still focused on the shore, Infinity saw Horton and Jarvis each grab a length of driftwood. The two men plunged into the water without hesitating and started wading out.
Sensing immediate danger, Infinity let out a primal scream and pushed herself even harder to pick up her pace as she dragged her partner. The waist-deep water became thigh deep.
Abruptly, she was yanked back by Tequila’s arm. Trying to keep a grip on his wrist, she fell backwards and her head went under. She came up sputtering. Jarvis and Horton were on either side of her, holding their new driftwood weapons high, ready to strike.
Tequila’s arm yanked her back again, this time nearly pulling loose from her grip. She managed to get her other hand around his wrist as she struggled to position her feet beneath herself. Again she was plunged into the water as Tequila’s body was pulled away from the shore. She gave up on trying to stand and focused all her efforts on keeping her grip on his arm.
A voice shouted, “Let go, dammit! Let go!”
Infinity’s head went under again before she could figure out who was shouting. She had glimpsed two sticks rising and falling, striking something in the water, before she was pulled under.
Abruptly, the force pulling on Tequila’s body relaxed. Infinity rose to the surface.
“Grab him!” Jarvis shouted. “Get him to shore.”
Infinity coughed out a mouthful of river water as someone pulled her to her feet. She was still holding on tightly to Tequila’s wrist. She blinked and saw that Horton had Tequila’s other wrist. Jarvis was holding her arm to help her stand. “I’m up,” she said, shaking him off. She and Horton then dragged Tequila up onto the rocks while Jarvis held his weapon ready to strike if the threat returned.
Tequila retched and coughed, trying to expel the water he’d sucked in.
“Pick him up,” Infinity ordered.
Horton started pulling Tequila up, but then he paused and stared. “Oh, Jesus.”
Infinity followed his gaze down her partner’s leg and then inhaled sharply. Tequila’s left foot was gone. It had been chewed off at the ankle. She stared at the raw end of his le
g. Blood was flowing out, creating a puddle between two rocks.
“You guys, it’s still out there,” Jarvis said.
Infinity pulled her eyes from Tequila’s leg and scanned the channel. An otter’s head was slowly moving upstream about twenty yards out. The creature swung around and started drifting downstream, like it was pacing back and forth, waiting.
“Pick him up!” Infinity said again. She and Horton lifted Tequila’s arms over their shoulders and hauled him over the rocks that lined the shore. They laid him on his back in the tall grass that covered most of the island.
Tequila gazed up at Infinity, his face surprisingly relaxed. “Nice work, bridger,” he said, his words slurring. He looked at Horton. “I was supposed to be the bridger, but you saved my ass, man.” He then closed his eyes and let his head fall back onto the grass.
Infinity put her hands on her knees and tried to focus. How was she going to fix this? How was she going to keep everyone safe? How could she possibly get them out of this situation? Finally, she bit down on her lip until she tasted blood. She savored the pain for a few seconds and then raised herself to her full height. “Jarvis! Gather some of those pieces of driftwood—small ones we can use for weapons. And all the bigger ones you can find. Pile them here.” She pointed to the ground. Then she turned to Horton. “You pull up as much grass as you can—the tall stuff. Pull it up from the root, so it’s as long as possible. I’m going to use some of it to make a tourniquet.”
Horton nodded and started gathering grass.
Infinity scanned the water again but didn’t see the otter. She kneeled and wiped some of the blood from Tequila’s face.
He opened his eyes. “Clients come first,” he grunted. “Get them to the far shore. You can’t stay on this island until bridge-back.”
She shifted position, gripped his ankle stump with both hands, and squeezed to stop the bleeding. “The hell we can’t. I’ve got a plan.”
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