Wolf Running

by Toni Boughton

  A cracking sound, and something small and hot passed so close over the wolf’s head she could smell the crisped fur it let in its wake. A startled yelp escaped her. Run! She laid her ears flat to her skull and ran for the safety of a large wooden box that sat next to a scattering of metal barrels. She ducked behind the box just as another gunshot echoed through the lot.

  The wolf, panting heavily, moved to the far end of the box and chanced a look around. The group of Revs, close to twenty strong by now, were continuing their single-minded journey toward Tuck’s car. They were moaning and growling in concert, but rising above that was another noise. She cocked her head inquiringly. That’s an engine. A big one. What the hell-

  Around the far side of the white-domed center came the RV, moving fast, trailing a herd of fast and slow Revs in its wake. The RV plowed into the other group of Revs at speed. Bodies flew through the air or got ground underneath, and the cracking of bones was almost as loud as the shrieking Revs.

  The RV swung sharply to the left and drove straight at Tuck. The truck jolted forward a spare moment before the RV got there. The larger vehicle hit the curb and slewed sideways, rocking up on one side before settling back on its wheels. The horde of Revs swarmed around the mobile home, shrieking and roaring with a noise like a demonic tornado.

  The wolf watched as the truck sped off, only to stop about forty feet away from the RV. She could see Tuck looking out the opening in the side, watching the larger vehicle. She turned her attention to the RV to see it pulling away from the curb slowly. Something was wrong with it; it was limping, like wounded prey. Flat tire. Maybe more than one. The RV sat still for a moment, facing the truck. To the wolf, it was as if she was watching a predator trying to determine if the chase was worth it. Finally the RV turned in a wide arc, heading back the way it had come. The remaining Revs followed it.

  The wolf rose to her feet, her sharp amber eyes tracking the RV as it drove away. No. Let that one go. She growled at this, at the presumption of the other to keep her from her enemy. No! It’s too dangerous - there are too many Revs. There is another one.

  She turned her head quickly, searching for the truck. It was moving again, slowly, coming toward her. She dropped to her stomach, sliding backwards along the length of the wooden box. Let’s be ready to run. The truck kept going, however, rolling quietly past her hiding place. What’s he doing? Oh, no.

  The truck came to a stop near the car in which the female human was sitting. The grey-furred male leaned out the side opening, pointing the gun at the wide-eyed human. “Where are you, you bitch!” the male shouted. “Come out, now, or I’ll put a rather large hole in your friend’s head!”

  Ok, you bastard. Ok. The wolf shivered at the cold tone of the other’s voice. Let’s go get him.

  The truck was facing away from her. She darted out from the shelter of the large box and ran, making it to the truck in the time it took her to take in one breath. She jumped up and into the flat back of the truck, her paws barely touching down before she jumped again to land on the roof of the truck.

  “What was that? What are you trying to pull, bitch?” Tuck shouted. The wolf could almost taste the nervousness in his voice. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a silent snarl. She dropped to her stomach and crawled along the roof until she could lean her head over the edge. The gun was right below her, but Tuck had pulled himself back inside. Got to draw him out.

  She dragged her claws across the metal roof once, and then again. She could hear the male moving beneath her. She did it again, adding a whine this time, and finally she saw his head poke out of the opening below. He twisted around to look up and his eyes widened when he saw her. The smell of urine came from the inside of the truck.

  Now! And the wolf shot forward, mouth agape. Tuck had no time to react, no time to get away. She slammed her jaws shut on his head, her teeth slicing through the skin of his temples and cheeks. A muffled scream escaped him, rising on a desperate breath the wolf inhaled as she bit down harder. The gun fired once before it fell from his hands. In his twisted position they could only beat uselessly against the truck.

  She bit down more, savoring the warm, rich, alive blood that flowed into her mouth. She could feel the other enjoying this too, this power over the one who had challenged them. The wolf held the male’s head in her jaws and lingered like that, listening to his rapid heartbeat and the rolling waves of fear and pain that poured off of him. She closed her jaws just a hair more and his entire body twitched and jumped.

  Enough. The wolf snorted at this, but knew it was time to finish her prey. She braced her legs against the roof and brought her jaws together. Bones splintered and flesh shredded beneath the force of her bite. Blood flooded her mouth and dripped down the side of the truck. The male was gasping desperately. She tightened her grip and let herself fall forward. The momentum of her body twisted his head all the way around. His neck snapped with an audible crack and she relaxed her hold to land gracefully on the ground.

  The wolf could hear the female screaming as she looked at the dead human. The taste of his flesh and blood was stoking her hunger. She rose up on her hind legs and reached for the soft cheek. No. She snarled, viciously. No. We’ll be leaving soon. You can find other prey. One last thing to do here. Reluctantly the wolf switched her grasp to one of the dangling arms and with a lot of effort pulled the body from the truck. She dragged it a few feet away before dropping the arm and going back to the truck. At the urging of the other she leapt inside and searched for something the other was showing her.

  She found it, a collection of shiny metal things all bound together. Holding the keys in her mouth she left the truck and moved to the car where the female human was hiding. The wolf jumped on the hood and dropped the keys. She looked up to see the female staring at her. “Don’t hurt me! Please, don’t hurt me! Just go away!” the female cried.

  The wolf gazed at her another moment longer. Then she turned and hopped down from the car. She paused and looked around. There were two or three Revs that she could see, but they were some distance away and posed no danger to her. The wolf looked at the grassland beyond this place of death. Yeah. Let’s get out of here. She trotted off across the hard ground and didn’t look back.

  Chapter Twenty

  Now

  Nowen stood in the grassy field and looked at the hospital. It looked pretty much the same as it did months ago, except for the ragged and dirty white sheet hanging from an open window on the top floor. There were no Revs in the back lot, just a few scattered bones and cars, all lightly covered with the dusting of snow that had fallen overnight.

  She was too tired to climb over the wire fence that separated the alley from the field. An experimental tug on a section of fencing showed that she wouldn’t have to climb over; the rough wood-stake-and-chicken-wire structure hadn’t made it through the winter unscathed. A stretch of fence, some fifty feet long, fell over without much effort on her part. She stepped across the loose wire and walked slowly through the parking lot.

  The wolf was asleep. The run to Exeter had been rough. It had taken her two days to get here, hampered by more of the fast-moving Revs then she had ever seen. Six hours spent hiding under an overturned dumpster behind a hardware store, while Revs rampaged up and down the street looking for her, had convinced both Nowen and the wolf that traveling through the cities was a mistake. A long detour back to the highway while outracing groups of Revs had been exhausting. The highway, however, had gotten them to Exeter without much further trouble.

  The wolf had almost eagerly given up control. On the outskirts of the suburb Nowen had stood on shaky legs, staring at the outline of the hospital half a mile away. She had scavenged clothes from an empty thrift store; jogging pants, t-shirt, a ratty pair of sneakers. Behind the counter she had found a sleek black handgun. A little intense study and she figured out how to check for ammunition (fully loaded) and the safety (turned off). She kept the gun in her hand as she left the store and headed to the hospital.


  Now she stood at the base of the hospital wall, looking up at the staggered tiers. She could hear the noise of Revs somewhere, accompanied by the harsh calls of crows. Trash and storm debris had collected along the wall, two or three feet deep in places. A dull metallic glint shimmered beneath a drift of long bones, and Nowen nudged it with her foot, meeting something hard. It was the ladder.

  She dragged it free of the litter and leaned it against the wall. Setting one foot on the bottom rung she paused, then dropped her head against the rung at eye level. She’s not going to be there. “Shut up.” she whispered. This is a fool’s errand. She’s not going to be there. “She could be.” If she’s there, then she’ll probably be dead. “She could be alive.” Does it look like anyone is in the hospital? You’ve come all this way for nothing, and you knew it would be futile weeks ago.

  “Oh, just shut up.” She wasn’t arguing with the wolf; the voice in her head was her own. “Even if she’s not there she might have left something that could tell me where she went.” She slammed a door closed on that part of herself and climbed up the ladder. The metal was cold and slick under her hands.

  Less than five minutes later Nowen was climbing through the open window from which the ragged sheet flapped. She caught the fabric in her hands, examining it for a message of some sort, but there was nothing. She let it go and watched it soar away like a strange bird. She looked at the hospital room. It obviously hadn’t been touched in months. Dust lay in a fine layer over the beds and equipment. A scattering of leaves trailed off across the floor. They crunched underneath as she moved to the doorway and looked out into the hall.

  Everything looked very much like it had the last time she had stood here. Except for the dust that coated the hall, unmarred. The sky was cloudy and dark, heralding a storm on the way, and so there was little light in the hallway. Nowen concentrated and shifted into night vision. At first the scene didn’t change.

  And then she saw it.

  A chair was placed in the exact middle of the hall, just past the nurses’ station. A body was in the chair, the head tilted forward, wispy hair trailing down the shoulders. Nowen took a deep breath and approached it.

  The dust muffled the sound of her footsteps. She reached the chair and stopped, looking down at the body. It had been a woman, and still wore grimy blue scrubs. Nowen bit her lip against the sudden threat of tears. She laid her hand gently on the rough blonde hair, feeling the shape of the skull underneath her palm. “Oh, Jamie.” she whispered.

  At her soft words the body jerked. Nowen pulled her hand away as Jamie’s head lolled back, the deep yellow eyes in the blue-grey skin locking onto her face. A weak groan rose from the sunken chest. Jamie raised a shriveled arm, bony fingers grabbing at the air. A flap of skin dangled from a gash on the inside of the wrist. Her mouth fell open in a faint growl and her jaws worked under the parchment skin.

  Nowen caught the wavering hand with care. Jamie had been here for a long time, maybe even since they got separated, and in her starved condition was no danger. Nowen held the fragile hand gently in her own strong, reddish-brown one, raising the gun in her other hand up at the same time. “I’m so sorry, Jamie. Forgive me.”

  A crow hopped through the disturbed bones along the back wall of the hospital, chasing a large insect. A flat, loud cracking sound startled the crow into flight, and the bird flew upward to land on a swaying tree branch. The wolf leapt out the open third-floor window and quickly reached the ground. She didn’t pause but turned her head north and ran.

  Some time later

  The wolf trotted through the early sunlight, heading for her den and welcome sleep. Even in the midst of summer the air was chilly most of the day, this high up in the Vedauwoo Mountains, and it wasn’t unusual to have frost-tipped grass first thing in the morning. She yawned as she moved through the damp grass of this little plateau she had claimed as her own. Surrounded on all sides by boulders and only accessible through a small opening where two rock formations almost-but-not-quite met, it was safe and secure.

  The wolf headed toward a small copse of trees. Underneath the trees a battered tent slumped against a couple of backpacks. A long-unused fire ring sat some distance from the tent.

  A strange, unknown scent came to the wolf. She stopped in her tracks, all of her sense searching for the source. Someone or something had been here, in her den. She growled softly as she approached the tent on stiff legs.

  She found the source of the scent. A piece of cardboard lay on a rock just outside the tent. Black markings were scrawled across it. The wolf drew the scent of the cardboard deep into her nose. She could tell nothing from the smell. The other would have to come out.

  A half-minute later Nowen stood on wobbly legs in the clearing. It took her a few moments to gather herself. She had been deep in the wolf for a long time. Finally she knelt in the wet grass and picked up the cardboard. Something was written on it.

  I know what you are.