In the unnerving quiet of a hundred people holding their breath the sound of horses’ hooves on pavement and the jingle of harness bells was very loud. The crack of scattered rifle shots broke the mood, but Dempsey smiled and turned his beatific countenance on the people. “Those are our people, delivering the wretched unclean from their unfortunate existence.” The crowd sighed together in relief, a sound like the wind through the forest. Nowen felt the fine hairs on her arms raise.
The lookout said something to Dempsey and he turned to the people in front of the gate. With a motion of his hand the group split and formed two crowds on either side of the gate. The large wooden panels drew pack on themselves, and Humanity’s Saviors entered the Fort.
Chapter Eleven
The first thing Nowen noticed was that the new arrivals were all armed. Four Saviors, two men and two women on horseback, came through the gates first. Next came a flat-bed wagon pulled by a team of massive grey horses. On the back of the flat-bed a large square-shaped object sat, covered by a faded blue tarp. Bringing up the rear came four more riders, armed like the other members of the convoy were. Nowen had no idea what type of guns they were, but there were all equally long, black, and menacing. The riders held the reins of their mounts with one hand and their weapons with the other, barrels pointed at the sky but fingers near the triggers.
As the progression passed through the crowd, Dempsey leading the way to an open area used for the nightly meetings, Nowen ran her eye over the Saviors. There was none of the color-coded outfits and severity that had marked New Heaven. These people, while well-groomed and well-fed, wore clothing as varied as themselves. The riders smiled and waved at the Fort citizens, and one of the male riders dismounted his horse and set a little girl in the saddle. The squeals of her delighted laughter mixed with the rising murmur of the crowd and the jingle of harnesses as the flat-bed wagon was turned in a semi-circle in the clearing and brought to a halt.
Nowen’s attention was drawn to one of the Saviors who sat on the wagon next to the driver. She studied him; he was average on all accounts, with the kind of looks and height that would make him unnoticeable in any crowd. And yet, she was sure he was the leader of this group. The riders looked to him before they began to dismount and lead their horses away. The driver leaned over and listened to him before she leapt from the wagon and started removing the harnesses from the big grey horses. And Dempsey pushed through the crowd and spoke to the man before he too turned away and began to issue orders to the Fort citizens.
Nowen felt the wolf’s interest climb with her own. Something was odd here but she couldn’t put her thumb on it. No matter how kind and entertaining they seem, remember what you saw in Sheridan. The crowd was now organizing themselves into loose rows. The last of the grey horses was led away, and the armed riders were positioning themselves in a rough circle around the wagon. Nowen looked up at the tree against which she leaned and saw a bare branch just overhead. She jumped and pulled herself up; the branch was a thick offshoot of the main trunk and she could stand on it easily. From this perch she had a clear view of the crowd, the armed riders, and the wagon. She looked over the mass of people and saw first Everett’s gunmetal-grey hair, near the back of the gathering. She searched for Sage and finally located the girl on the far side of the group, standing with some other young people.
Dempsey had been motioning for silence without much luck. The average-looking man on the wagon leaned down and handed Dempsey a megaphone. There was an electronic squeal that instantly brought quiet. The big man brought the megaphone to his mouth and began to speak, his amplified voice rolling like thunder over the people. “Brothers and sisters rejoice, for this is a glorious day! Ever since God allowed the plague of the risen dead on this sin-filled world we have fought to survive. We fell so far from what God wanted that He had to teach us the error of our ways. For was it not indiscriminatory, the Flux? Did it not strike down the holy and the unholy, the good and the bad, the young and the old alike? But look up with joy, now! We, those of us who stand here and those of us who still live and fight, are truly God’s Chosen! We are still here! We have passed through the cleansing fire of God’s wrath and now the world is ours to rebuild in His image!”
Dempsey paused and waited for the murmuring crowd to grow still. Nowen was listening to the big man’s words but watching the Saviors’ leader. The non-descript man was staring blankly out at the crowd and every aspect of his body language spoke of boredom, of a job done again and again until tedium had set in. As Dempsey continued with his speech the leader yawned and closed his eyes.
“The year-and-a-half since we claimed this fort and made out home here has not been easy. We have lost many of our friends and family to illness, the dead, the evil lure of suicide. But now!” The megaphone raised Dempsey’s shout to something akin to an explosion. The massed crowd jolted as one, and here and there hands were raised to the sky. “But now, we have come through to the other side. The risen dead are dying, returning to that state that is natural to them. The ones that are left are slow, and easily killed. We have made new friends with other survivors. We have settled trade agreements with these other survivors. Our own efforts at self-sustainment are improving, and we now have the luxury to enjoy the life that He has made for us! Surely we are approaching the arrival of a true Kingdom of Heaven on Earth!”
Again a pause, this time for fervid shouts of ‘Amen!’ from the crowd. Nowen’s sense of unease was slowly but steadily growing. More arms were raised to the sky, and while the armed Saviors seemed to be watching the event with an easy cynicism she found she couldn’t do the same. Dempsey was a natural at this, and there was a strange undercurrent to the energy building in the crowd in response to his speech.
Now the tone of Dempsey’s voice changed, fading from exultant to sorrowful. “And yet...Satan’s minions are afoot in the world. God does not restrain the Devil, for He wishes us to see and recognize the true face of evil. For we are to repay God for His goodness by doing His work on earth. Like Saul on the road to Damascus I had a similar experience on the road from Big Horn back to the Fort. Like Saul the scales fell from my eyes and I was blind no more! I have long believed that the unclean living dead were the Devil’s minions - but no more! I have seen the glorious truth. These good people, these Saviors of Humanity, showed me the true agents of Satan! And now, they will show you.”
Dempsey lowered the megaphone as the cheers of the crowd rose. They sound like Revs - hungry and savage. Nowen shifted against the rough bark at her back. Her nerves were on edge and her skin twitched and jumped. The unobtrusive leader of the Saviors took the megaphone and waited patiently for the Fort to quiet. Finally the noise level lowered and the man began to speak.
“Hi, all. Thank you, and thanks to Dempsey, for that great welcome. My name is Paul Robertson.” There was scattered clapping. Even his voice is average. “I want to tell you a little about me, so bear with me. Much like your leader I was unaware of the true, uh, evil that walks this earth. I was living in Colorado when Flux killed everyone I knew. Somehow I survived, and as I wandered in the ruins I met someone incredible. Zee. Zee showed me that there were worse things out there than even the Fluxers, and I vowed to fight this scourge that wanted nothing more than to wipe out the last remaining humans. I was tasked with showing other survivors - uh, God’s Chosen - these abominations.”
Robertson had none of Dempsey’s ability to draw a crowd in. The intense electric energy was fading, and Nowen could see that Robertson realized it. He began to speak louder and faster. “This will sound fantastic, but having seen the dead rise up and walk nothing should be unbelievable. There are creatures that have lived among us for centuries, hiding their humanity behind masks.”
Nowen’s heart began to beat faster.
“They are people who, uh, sold their souls to the Devil in exchange for power!” Robertson was reaching for the revival-like cadence of Dempsey’s speech. The crowd began to respond. “They exult in the downfall of human
s, they created and released the Flux to remove those who would stand against them, and they work to change people against their will into more, uh, minions of Satan!”
Cold sweat spread across Nowen like a second skin.
“These devils capture humans, torture humans, force humans to do their bidding! They are actively working to wipe us off this earth that God created for us!”
Nowen dragged her gaze to the tarp-covered object, ignoring the armed Saviors who were laughing at the gape-mouthed crowd. There was a sick thudding in her ears. Robertson’s voice was muffled, as if she were hearing it from a deep snowbank from which she could not escape.
“I would not expect you to believe me without proof!” Robertson was into the role now, marching back and forth across the top of the tarp-covered object. The driver of the wagon had moved to one end and held a rope that connected to the tarp. “There is true evil out there - cohorts of Satan, men that walk in the skin of animals and exist only to destroy God’s Chosen! And here they are!”
With a flourish the tarp was pulled away, revealing a large cage of thick iron bars. Three ragged, rough-coated wolves cowed at the back of the cage, and as the crowd laughed one of the thin beasts urinated on the floor. Robertson smiled thinly at the laughter as he hopped down from the cage. Nowen was frozen in place. Her wolf’s sense of smell was hyperactive, and the scent of the wolves’ fear was overpowering. No. Vukodlak. Those are vukodlak, and where the hell did these people get them?!
The driver of the wagon was doing something now at the back of the cage. A long metal rod with wires attached to one end was handed to Robertson, who pulled on a thick blue glove before he carefully took the rod. He turned to face the crowd, that thin smile still pasted to his face, looking down at them from the edge of the flat-bed wagon. He raised one hand and the noise subsided. “I know, I know. You expected to see a horned demon with goat legs or some other nightmare animal. But the Devil clothes his evil in the guise of innocence. These,” and here he motioned with the metal rod at the wolves, “are not ordinary beasts. They have been known by many names throughout history. Names passed down in children’s stories and fairy tales. You might know some of these names.”
Robertson drew the rod down the row of bars that formed the front of the cage. Blue sparks flew through the air like fireworks, and the crackle of lightning filled the void of the Fort’s sudden silence. The captive wolves howled. Nowen bit down on her bottom lip so hard blood dripped down her chin.
“Skin-walkers.” Robertson said into the megaphone, and dragged the bar across the cage again.
“Loup-garou.” Lightning flashed across the clearing.
“Lycanthrope.” Neon-blue fireflies exploded above the cage.
“Werewolf.” One last sweep of the metal across the bars. In the quiet that followed Robertson’s last word the terrified howls and whines of the wolves rose to the sky. Someone at the front of the crowd, a man with dark skin and hair, stepped forward.
“Dempsey! I don’t know what these charlatans showed you, but I’m not going to stand here and watch these poor animals be tortured!” the man shouted.
Dempsey’s voice climbed higher than the wolves’ noises. “Raphael. I ask you to trust in God!”
Robertson spoke through the megaphone. “I understand your confusion and anger. Remember, however, that these are not animals. They are unnatural creations of the Devil.”
Raphael’s snort of laughter was loud enough to be heard by Nowen. “Save the holy bullshit for some other rube, pal!”
The thin smile disappeared from Robertson’s face. Without a word he turned and looked at the wagon driver. She nodded her head and moved to the end of the cage where she opened a door. The driver pulled a length of rope from a pocket of her pants and moved toward the wolves. They bared their teeth at her but made no other move, and with the ease of practice she leashed one of the wolves. Roughly she dragged it out of the cage and around to where Robertson stood. The Fort was quiet again, a deep and anticipatory silence. Robertson studied the wolf as it cowered before him. Abruptly he raised the metal rod he held.
Nowen launched herself from the branch and hit the ground running, covering the space between the tree and the edge of the crowd before Robertson finished raising his arm.
There was a flash of blue light. The wolf screamed and the crowd did too, creating a noise like a thousand Revs shrieking. Waves of black fur rose and fell on Nowen’s skin as she plowed through the mass of people. Her path wasn’t toward the flat-bed, though; she arrowed toward the last place she had seen Sage. She heard the wolf howl again - and the pure animal sound changed and ended on a human cry of agony. The crowd screamed again, this time in fear and horror. “See!” Dempsey’s voice called to the heavens. “See the work of Satan!”
Panicked people were suddenly everywhere. Nowen was shoved first one way and then the other. Glimpses of wide eyes and open mouths flashed before her. There! A glimpse of russet-colored curls. Nowen put her head down and bulled her way forward.
As if realizing that danger was in their midst the people near her melted away. She stumbled free and, looking up, saw Sage. The girl’s arms were wrapped around herself and tremors shook her thin body so fiercely that as Nowen watched Sage could no longer keep her feet. She collapsed in a heap to the rough ground as Nowen dove for her.
She threw herself across the girl’s trembling body, holding Sage down as the tortured vukodlak’s cries echoed above the crowd. Strained growls, forced through clenched teeth, were rising from the girl. Got to get her away. Got to get her away now! Nowen raised her head and looked desperately for some safe place nearby.
Suddenly Everett was there, kneeling before her. “Help me!” Nowen grunted. He reached for Sage and, between the two of them, they got the girl to her feet. “Hang on Sage, hang on.” Nowen whispered, and felt a wild relief when Sage managed to nod in response. She could feel the silky fur tearing through the girl’s skin as Sage fought to keep from changing.
“Over there!” Everett shouted. Nowen saw the Education shed and headed toward it. Sage groaned. The girl’s head dropped forward and Nowen winced as teeth bit into her arm. Human teeth, though. Everett kicked the door of the shed in. Nowen dragged Sage into the welcoming semi-darkness of the interior.
“Take her!” Nowen said. Everett wrapped his arms around Sage. The girl’s body writhed in his arms as the wolf fought to escape. “Where are you going?” he hissed.
“To get some answers.” Nowen replied. She plunged back through the open door and slammed it shut behind her. Someone’s watching. She looked up; the one called Benjamin stood a few hundred yards away, staring at her. What did he see?! She ran toward him; he turned on his heel and was gone, back into the shifting crowd. Damn it! Go after him, or get some answers? A crackle of lightning and the howling of wolves made her decision for her.
The Fort had quieted for the most part and the gathered mass was moving back toward the Saviors’ wagon. Dempsey’s amplified voice was urging calm, and as Nowen worked her way through the people she could feel the energy changing. Gone was the eagerness for a show, gone was the pure unthinking fear; the humans around her were coming together as one being, all their attention concentrated on the flat-bed wagon.
Nowen made it almost to the front of the crowd and then could go no further. She could see Robertson standing over the limp form of a naked woman. The woman’s body was scarred and the bones of her rib cage and hips could be seen jutting out beneath her white skin. The vukodlak woman didn’t seem to be breathing. As Dempsey continued to calm the crowd Nowen watched as Robertson turned to the wagon driver and motioned to the body of the vukodlak. The driver dragged the woman away.
Dempsey was winding up, telling the assemblage that God would reward them for their service. The megaphone was handed back to Robertson and as he raised it to his mouth the driver dragged another wolf out of the cage.
“Now you see that Dempsey was telling you the truth.” Robertson said as he paced back a
nd forth in front of the cage. “But I’m sure you’re asking yourself how you can help drive the Devil’s minions from this earth. Well, you can! Each and every one of you can help Zee and Humanity’s Saviors in this great work. The good news is that there aren’t that many of these demons here on earth. The bad news is that they can, and do, pass for human. With great ease and the sly use of lies and trickery they pass for human.”
Robertson pointed at the leashed wolf. “What you have to remember is that the Devil will not hesitate to try you, to use the most innocent of forms to turn you to his ways.” He nodded at the driver; the woman jabbed the wolf with the metal rod and the wolf’s shrieks set Nowen’s teeth on edge. Another jab, and the vukodlak changed. The crowd around Nowen gasped in a kind of horrified awe as the wolf gave way to a young boy who looked to be no more than ten years old. The child, as scarred and thin as the other vukodlak, huddled on the wagon, his thin arms wrapped around his head.
Someone in the crowd cried out in outrage as the wagon driver brought the metal rod down against the child’s back. Robertson held his hand up. “Do not be fooled! This is no more a child than I am. This is a person who sold their soul to the Devil, and in exchange was granted power and the ability to change his shape. Watch!” Another jab of the rod, and the child disappeared into the wolf.
One of the armed guards tossed Robertson a small bag. The bag writhed as Robertson turned back to the crowd and spoke. “Never forget - these things are killers. They unleased the Flux. They have wiped out entire settlements of survivors. Their stated goal is to destroy all that is left of humanity. Even this one, that wears the guise of a child - he’s a killer too.” Robertson reached into the bag and pulled out a young hare. He tossed the wriggling animal at the leashed vukodlak and the crowd surged back as blood and fur flew. The thin wolf devoured the hare in less than a minute, and as he was dragged back to the cage Robertson addressed the Fort.
Wolf Hunting (A Wolf in the Land of the Dead Book Book 3) Page 10