by Susan Lowry
“You can come home with me if you want. You’re not ready just yet, are you? Well, you will be one day. I’m going to bring Lucy next time. She’ll love you as much as I do! Goodbye Angel.”
Travis couldn’t resist one last hurl of a stick and sent it as far as he could.
“Fetch Angel!”
She bounded across the tracks over to the edge of the woods to retrieve it and then stood grinning with the branch protruding from one side of her mouth. Travis laughed, glimpsed back at her a final time, and began to walk away, wondering if she would be brave enough to follow.
If he wasn’t careful he’d lose track of time.
He was only a few yards over the river when he heard her yelp. Travis spun around to see what was happening but Angel seemed to have disappeared and he began to pace back to the start of the bridge. As he drew nearer he saw that she was laying in the dirt not far from the track.
“What’s wrong Angel?”
He continued towards her approaching cautiously. She jumped up like she was attempting to run from him, but was jerked back to the ground by something he could not yet comprehend. In shock, he watched as she frantically began to pull from one side to the other with her front leg extended in front of her, struggling to yank her paw free. She twisted her body in various contortions desperate to escape and finally, panting and confused, she stopped.
Travis had gotten quite close to her now and her lip began to curl back exposing her teeth. He stopped, just a few yards away. But she continued to glower at him with a deep throaty growl.
“I need to see what’s wrong Angel… don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you!”
But panic was beginning to cloud the wolf’s perspective. She no longer felt safe and Travis realized his pings were useless. With her warning snarls he didn’t dare try to get closer and he understood her fear, as he felt the pain that was shooting up her leg – a strong, gripping bite into her flesh. Suddenly it hit him that a hunter’s leg-trap must be clamped onto her paw.
“Angel, you have to let me get that off of you!” he cried. But she growled more vehemently – the trust he’d built over such a long time had completely vaporized.
So steeped in emotion, Angel was not able to listen to him. She sensed it was a human device hurting her and Travis had no doubt that any effort to pry her free would be risking his life. He was not even certain how much strength it would take to wrench open a steel jaw. He’d worked so hard to develop muscles, exercising and rowing the boat, but that had barely done a thing.
He despised himself for having to leave Angel alone. She was so vulnerable. But there was nothing more he could do.
“I’m going to get help Angel, Jack and the astronaut will know what to do. I promise we’ll be back soon!” he cried, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. As he started off toward the bridge again, her intense alarm hit him.
Despite her loss of faith in him, her fear of being abandoned in such an exposed predicament was far worse. She’d started to tug so violently that her flesh was beginning to tear and the pain in her paw nearly knocked Travis to the ground.
He let his bag slip to the ground.
Angel needed her leg to survive. Clearly, she was about to do irreparable damage. If he stayed, at least he might be able to keep her distracted.
He would ping Lucy, who was the only one with the slightest chance of understanding the complexity of the situation. They’d probably need to bring equipment, something to hold Angel still while they worked, and with so little time to explain, he was certain his instructions would be misconstrued. But at least she would do something.
First, Travis had to stop Angel from hurting herself further. He left his backpack on the bridge and went over to where he was just out of her reach. Distracted by his sudden change in direction, she ceased her pulling and watched him in a confused daze with her long tongue wavering through her teeth as she puffed breathlessly.
He needed her to relax so he could concentrate on pinging Lucy without having to worry that she would damage her leg even more. If she couldn’t listen to him telepathically then surely his reassuring words, which she’d become accustomed to after hours of play, would help.
“It’ll be okay Angel,” he said gently.
But that had been a mistake. She’d been side-tracked for a moment by his unexpected actions, but his voice seemed to grab her back to her terrifying reality and she began to wrench her leg with all her strength, the searing pain no longer taking precedence as the jaw ripped open her fur and tore at her tendon. Travis writhed with the pain of what she was doing. She jarred to one side and then aggressively to the other. Certain her bone was about to snap he fell to his knees.
“Angel, don’t be afraid of me, I didn’t do this. You’re hurting yourself! Please keep still and let me help.” He crawled a few feet closer.
“I’m going to get you free; so, please just calm down.”
Angel showed him her teeth to let him know exactly her intensions but in spite of this, Travis kept on moving toward her. She growled viciously with unrecognizable eyes, darkened with fear and anger.
He had to do something. The worst thing that could happen to her now was to be abandoned and feel so vulnerable that she would do herself harm. He remembered the suffering she’d been through in their early relationship and how he had eased it. There was only one thing to do. He needed to put all of his energy into one intensive pain-alleviating ping like the telepathic massages he used when first gaining her trust.
He closed his eyes to focus and pulled all the affection he had for her into a laser-beam of soothing energy which he sent sailing toward her. When she had grown quiet, still kneeling in the dirt, he crept a few inches closer.
It was working.
He could not even hear her panting. She seemed convinced. But he needed her to feel the sensation of being safe with him again, comfortable with his physical presence right by her, the way she had felt for hours in the field, playing and touching and lying in the grass, together.
“Everything is going to be all right,” he pinged, “just let me get close to you again –”
Travis suddenly sensed a quick movement toward him. His eyes opened just as her head was a mere inch away. He caught her wildly livid glare and the flash of her sharp fangs striking him, sinking deep and ripping through the flesh of his upper arm.
***
“Kevin, they aren’t attacking you darling,” Lucy attempted, holding a platter of cookies before him. “We just want to understand since, you know – your situation was a little different than ours. That’s all.”
Kevin could see that she was on his side. He felt a little sorry for her actually, as she was very uneasily trying to intercede and protect him. Her next move was completely unexpected. It was after a round of questioning she knew was inappropriately threatening to Kevin that she turned on Chris in an eruption of sarcastic rage.
“Well, thanks so much Christopher! You are rushing this, in case you didn’t notice!!! He isn’t ready, so could you back off a little? We didn’t call a meeting to interrogate Kevin. Or, did we?”
***
Travis had leapt back out of the wolf’s grasp and was gapping in utter shock at the blood seeping past his elbow and onto the ground. Then dizzy with fear he shuffled backward on his knees until he was stopped by a hard tree trunk against his shoulder. He stared at the gory wound for a moment, wrapped his hand in his shirt, and squeezed his arm tightly.
Blood oozed through the material and made his fingers red and sticky. He felt sick, and also, stupid. But he needed to be calm, and to shut off both his and the wolf’s anguish, so he could ping Lucy for help. He needed to stop hyperventilating.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, held it, a little longer and then blew it out through his lips; he repeated this again and again until his pulse had settled a little. It would still take a moment before he was ready – his story had just become even more complicated.
But he couldn’t seem
to relax, couldn’t stop peering down at his wound which stung like fire. He clutched it and squeezed hard alarmed by the growing patch of red staining his shirt.
Then a new horror took his attention hopelessly away from reaching Lucy. Angel was not going to quit. He could feel her lips splitting open as she began a desperate attempt to gnaw through the metal. It was too much for Travis.
“No! You can’t!” he shouted.
She ignored him this time. Determined to get herself free, her muzzle contorted over the terrible jaw that held her perilously out in the open, prey to hungry predators.
“You can’t bite through it Angel!” he cried, slumping back against the tree, faint with defeat, pain, and frustration. He did not know what else he could do for her.
But as Angel continued to gnaw the hard metal the electrifying agony of exposed nerve brought Travis to his feet. Angel’s tooth had snapped to the root and yet she continued. Travis knew she was not going to be able to survive in the wild with the harm she was doing. He had to distract her.
He did not even have to make a move, Angel sensed what he was about to do and began yanking again, straining her leg so it was hideously stretched out from her body. Her shoulder was going to pull out of its socket. It would have, but the chain securing the trap to a tree broke loose.
For a moment Angel didn’t realize she was free. Expecting to be met with resistance, she tugged and fell. She rose immediately and confused, started for the safety of the bridge with the heavy trap still clamped around her paw and the broken chain rattling between her paws, tripping her.
“Angel!” Travis cried. “Don’t run away! You’ll die… ” He started after her. She continued several yards onto the bridge and seeing that he was following, backed up against the railing. Again she began to gnaw at the metal this time yelping at it in pitiful frustration.
“Stay Angel,” he said, pinging to her as he slowly approached, “I’m going to get it off, okay? That’s a girl.”
Travis sensed that Angel wasn’t afraid of him anymore, not like before, not now that she could limp away from him if she wanted to. Even disabled by the clumsy contraption, she knew he was easy prey… if he threatened her. She hadn’t wanted to hurt him.
But the continual pressure on her paw was making her insane. Yet, she managed to hear his ping. Her ears flattened and then pricked. She was listening, finally understanding that only a human would have the capacity to remove such a torturous thing.
Travis heard her plea for his help.
“You know I’m your friend,” he said telepathically.
Yet, as he moved toward her she stepped back and the charcoal tips of her fur brushed up against the red steel fence. Travis did his best to draw the throbbing pain out of her and to send his most soothing pings. Only slightly wary now, she lowered her head watching his approach.
But when he reached out to stroke her she decided she wasn’t quite ready and wanting to shuffle a few feet out of his way until she was sure, the weighted paw slid under the narrow gap between the fence and the concrete ground and was stopped by a closely positioned vertical post. She twisted, which wedged the contraption more tightly and no matter how she struggled it would not move. She yelped a long pitiful cry of pain and frustration.
Travis stood at the railing studying the position of her paw and the trap, which were jutting out the other side of the fence. He scanned the ledge all the way back to where the bridge met the slope. Then he gazed down the gorge to the foamy water crashing over the rocks. Finally, he had a feasible plan.
Wasting no time he ran to get his backpack, unzipped the pocket, and pulled out his camera with the thick leather neck-strap he had strung through it months ago for his boat outings with Lucy. He fastened the sturdy band through the belt-loop of his shorts.
“It’s going to be okay Angel,” he shouted, racing, with the camera bouncing against his hip, to the end of the bridge and out onto the ledge overlooking the gorge on the other side of the fence.
Angel seemed further along than he’d expected. He had never liked heights and the dizzying plunge was making him shake. He held the fence on his way over to her and only looked down once, focusing instead on Angel until he was able to crouch down and touch her paw.
“How does this thing open anyway?” he muttered. Still holding himself close to the railing, Travis glanced over his shoulder at the couple of feet between him and the drop. Knowing that he would need both hands free, he carefully secured himself to the fence with his camera strap.
***
Lucy’s eyes were beginning to fill with anguish.
They wanted to know about the period during the plague and the aftermath that led Kevin to Moonstone. He knew they suspected he’d been with Hannah, although they’d never accused him of it, or even mentioned that she’d gone there. He was perfectly well aware she’d sought their help and died at Moonstone. She had left a note explaining her intensions the night she’d been sick.
But, if he admitted the two of them had been together they’d want the grizzly details. He would have to remember that murky-black horror, and return to a time and place that was still beyond his comprehension. He didn’t know what happened – that was the truth! And so, he was not going to dig up events he could not explain.
Anyway, they had a lot of nerve questioning him. If anyone’s story did not add up, it was theirs!
How could they expect him to believe they’d all found each other by coincidence… from such a long distance? He was being fed ludicrous crap and they knew he didn’t believe them anymore than they believed him. Yet, they had the gall to continue questioning him. There was too much pretense going on in this forced-together group and he did not like the fact that he was outnumbered.
***
There were two flat levers on either side of the trap. Travis pressed on one of them and Angel yelped and tried to pull away. Up close he could see the blood soaking her fur.
“Don’t move Angel; this is going to be harder than I thought.”
He needed to get the contraption flush with the ground for leverage. Gently edging it down with both hands, he gripped the fence and put one foot each on a leaver so he was straddling her paw. He shuffled his weight until both levers were pressed fully down expecting the jaws to open, but, there was more to it than he’d hoped.
He stepped off the trap onto the ledge. Then kneeling, he attempted to pry the jaws apart again, but they would not budge. Poor Angel whimpered and then she howled.
“I know this hurts but… hold on I — I think I get it now.”
He stood firmly on top of the levers once more and carefully began to lower himself down to a squat. He needed to get to the trap while keeping the levers depressed with his weight. His delicate fingertips went white as they dug into the lips of the jaw and slowly began to force them apart.
Angel could not tolerate what Travis was doing a moment longer. With her wholly determined wolf-strength she heaved against the support of the railing post. For a short, imperceptible moment the trap tipped forward with her heavy bulk. Angel’s fur ripped through the serrated edges of the slightly opened jaw and her paw snapped free of its grasp. The sudden release sent the contraption along with Travis, backward. The stitching of his belt-loop tore and he was set free, to hurdle off the ledge.
***
Lucy saw the shock in Kevin’s eyes.
“Tell me what is wrong Lucy!” he was saying while gently shaking her.
“It’s Travis!” she gasped, feeling as if she’d been held underwater and had begun to drown.
Kevin stared at her, speechless.
Then Kate cried from the other end of the table, “Travis!! He’s been hurt!!!”
“He’s fallen!!!” Rose shrieked, clutching her mouth and gazing back at Lucy, completely shaken by the horror of what she’d just felt.
For a moment all of them sat at the patio table, looking at each other, stunned. Together they’d felt the gut-turning fall, and then, the violent sequence of hits a
s Travis crashed down the bank.
Kevin blinked in astonishment at the lot of them, shifting his gaze from one person to the other and then back to Lucy.
***
Time had slowed to a near halt on the tumble toward the rocks. A switch had burst open in Travis’ mind allowing his panic to pour out to his loved-ones with no control whatsoever, and at the same time it occurred to him that he was never going to see them again.
When he struck the bank everything inside of him exploded. A great tsunami of fire torched his spine and brain and sent hellish flames all the way to his fingers and toes as he bounced from one hard place to another. Yet, within those moments of terrifying agony there was a sweet, fleeting second in which Travis found Lucy.
Chapter Nineteen
Rescue Squad
(October 27th, Year Two, PA, Evening)
He awoke, shivering, as misty gusts glazed his skin in a cold, inimical film. Grappling for his blanket he felt tufts of grass slide between his fingers from the wet grit beneath his palm. There was a horrible itch on his cheek which began to bite and sting under a sticky, crusty coating.
From out of the darkness came the roar of water which made no sense. He knew only that something was wrong, and he wanted to scream. But he was immobilized.
And then he felt nothing at all…
***
Kevin had begun to demand an explanation for all of their startling behaviour and when he was ignored, expletives were mumbled beneath his breath. But Lucy barely heard him. Every part of her was focused on the swirling jumble of terror and information that had flooded into her from Travis. It had to be harnessed, immediately – before it was lost!
Preserving that untethered slice of his memory was all they could count on now. It might, if they were incredibly fortunate, lead to his rescue, but only if Lucy, who barely had anything close to the skills necessary, could salvage the bits of information and manage to make sense of them.