Wolf Running (16 page)

She nodded silently.

“Your friend is probably dead.” Zoe said bluntly.

“Zoe!” Lennon turned to face the teenager, a world of anger in that one word.

“What?! Come on, face the facts!” Hazel eyes seared into Nowen’s amber ones as Zoe continued. “You ran off and left your friend months ago, which says a lot about you, frankly. And now you think you’re going to go traipsing back into the city and find her all alive and well! You’re delusional.”

Nowen held up her cuffed hands to stop Lennon from speaking. She leaned forward slightly, returning Zoe’s spiteful gaze. “You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know. So why are you doing this?”

“I guess I’m just surprised to see that you care about someone. You haven’t seemed to care about any of us, with your crack about the children that first day. And let’s not forget yesterday, when you were just standing there next to Tuck and you didn’t even try to warn Lennon about that dead-head!”

“Zoe, please. There’s no point to this.” Lennon said, calmly.

The young woman looked at him, anger evident in her every movement. She ran her hands through the tangled mess of her hair as she replied. “Yes, there is a point to this! Lennon, she was going to let you die! I
watched
her -she stood there like a block of ice and did nothing! And please” and here she held up a hand to stop the young man from speaking, “don’t bring that argument back up that ‘she doesn’t know us’. Screw ‘knowing us’! How about common human decency?”

“Will you all just shut up!” Hank Roberts shouted from the back of the camper. “My family is trying to sleep!”

Zoe looked back over her shoulder. “Why don’t you just shut the hell up!” Lennon placed a placating hand on her arm, but she furiously shook it off.

The wolf stirred, reacting to the rising aggression. Nowen could almost taste it herself, sour and biting, flavored by despair. Less than a week trapped together, all normalcy gone, kept under armed guard - these people were on the edge of snapping.

“Listen, fat man, I’ve just about had it with you. Mouth off to me one more time-”

“And what?!”

“I’ll shut you up permanently!” Venom coated every word Zoe said.

A startled hush fell over the group. Lennon stared at the teenager, his mouth gaping open. Mr. Roberts, wide-eyed, looked as scared as his daughters, who were clinging to their mother. Nowen noticed that Mrs. Roberts
Carla
was the only one who seemed unaffected. Her arms were draped loosely over the thin shoulders of her children but her gaze was turned to the wall, and stayed there.

Lennon broke the silence first. “Ok, everyone, we can’t turn on each other. The only way to get through this is to work together.”

Zoe wasn’t ready to calm down, as evidenced by her next words. “Get through what? We don’t know what they want with us, or even where we’re going.”

“Have you asked?” Zoe turned her furious gaze on Nowen at this. “No, we haven’t. After seeing what happened to the others who talked back to Tuck, we decided not to take a chance on getting killed ourselves!”

Nowen saw Lennon bite his bottom lip and turn away at this. “Then I’ll ask.” she said.

Zoe was startled into silence for a moment. “Why?” she said, when she regained her voice.

“I want to know.”

“Tuck might kill you.” Lennon said.

“Either I get information or I don’t. No way to know until I try.”

The young man furrowed his brow, thinking, but whatever he was preparing to say next was interrupted by a banging on the door.

“Breakfast and bathroom break! Step back from the door, now!” Oliver’s voice, still slightly nasal from his broken nose, echoed through the interior. Nowen watched as an almost palpable sense of despair swept the group. Even Zoe, just a moment past on the edge of physical violence, deflated, drawing into herself.
And here’s the other side of the coin. These people are ready to give up completely. They won’t turn on their captors, but they will turn on each other.

Oliver opened the door without waiting for an affirmation. Soft morning light poured into the camper as he motioned with the ever-present shotgun for the people inside to step out. As they passed him the big man exaggeratedly waved his hand in front of his face. “Whoa! You all stink! Maybe I need to turn the hose on you guys! What do you say, sweetie? What would you do for a shower?” He ran his free hand down Zoe’s arm as she passed. Zoe shot him a look but kept silent. He turned his head and looked up at Nowen, grinning smugly but not quite meeting her gaze. The bruising around his eyes was still there, faded to yellows and pale purples.

Nowen leaned casually against the door frame, letting her disdain for Oliver show through in her very body language. “Didn’t your boss tell you not to mess with us anymore?”

He slid his mirrored sunglasses on before he answered. “I had a talk with Tuck. I let him know that you’re an instigator, determined to stir up trouble. I said we ought to just kill you now, but Tuck’s nicer than me.”

Nowen slowly raised one eyebrow. “
You
gave advice to Tuck?”

A red flush spread across Oliver’s shaved head at this. Angrily he motioned with the shotgun. “Get down here. Now!”

She straightened slowly and started down the few steps. On the last one before the ground Oliver suddenly slid the gun in front of one of her legs. She fell, throwing her cuffed hands out in front automatically.

She landed in a snow bank, feeling the cold moisture sink through her jeans and sweater almost instantly. Behind her Oliver laughed. She drew herself up to her knees and looked back at the big man. As he continued to laugh Nowen noticed Tuck and Matt coming up behind him.

“Oliver.” Tuck’s quiet words stopped the laughing immediately. “Would you care to tell me what happened here?”

Nowen stood up, brushing the melting snow from her clothes, listening as Oliver stammered out something about her stumbling over her own feet.

“Is this true?” Tuck turned his attention to her.

Nowen rolled her eyes. “Of course not. Oliver tripped me.”

The flush grew deeper on Oliver’s head as he lunged at her, growling unintelligibly. She waited until the last minute, then side-stepped his charge neatly so that he stumbled and nearly fell. As he righted himself and turned back toward her she braced for his next rush.

“Enough!”

Oliver stopped, his massive chest heaving in anger and frustration. Nowen kept her gaze on him, not willing to turn her back on the big man yet.

“Oliver, go watch our guests so that they don’t wander off.” Nowen watched him stomp off before she turned to Tuck. The slight man stood waiting patiently for her full attention before he began to talk.

“Follow me, please.” Tuck turned on his heel and walked away. Nowen watched him go for a moment.
If I took off running now, how far would I get?
She looked around and saw Matt watching her closely. He held his weapon in front of him.
Not far.
She shrugged and followed Tuck, taking this time to examine their surroundings.

Their little convoy had spent the night at a self-storage place, kept safe behind a tall wire fence. The spare handful of Revs that were found here had been swiftly dispatched, and a quick search had turned up no other immediate dangers. As the weather warmed up the further south they went, the group saw more Revs, and the Revs saw them, attracted by the sounds of the engines. Now the snowplow blade on the front of the blue pick-up was splattered with dark blood and bits of flesh. Still, their progress was slow. Abandoned and wrecked vehicles had necessitated leaving the highway for detours down side streets and through neglected neighborhoods. Consequently, the mood among Tuck and his guards had darkened.

They had seen no living people.

Walking now in the bright sun that teased spring while a crisp breeze spoke of winter not yet gone, Nowen looked around and got her bearings. Almost due south of her and about two miles away the high arcs of multi-lane highways curved away into the depths of a good-sized city. The skyline looked familiar; tall buildings but no skyscrapers, the ragged edge of the Rocky Mountains rising from the flatland off to the right.

“That’s Ft. Collins, right?” she asked.

Tuck moved up next to her, looking in the same direction. Nowen watched him from the corner of her eye; the breeze strengthened momentarily and wrapped his clothes tight to his body.
Ok, he only looks slight,
she thought, taking in the sharply delineated outline of muscular arms and legs.
Add strength to his ability to intimidate - he might be more of a problem than I thought.

“Yes, that’s Ft. Collins.”

“And where are you headed, exactly?”

Tuck turned his graying head to look at her, and Nowen took a small moment’s pleasure in the fact that he had to look up. His mirrored sunglasses threw small sparks of light into her eyes. She waited for an answer while he seemed to be studying her intensely. Finally he spoke. “Colorado Springs.”

From memory Nowen brought up the parts of the Colorado map she had pored over. Colorado Springs was below Denver. Exeter was to the northeast of Ft. Collins. “What’s there?”

“Air Force bases.”

“And?” she asked, half-listening as she searched for a road sign that mentioned Exeter.

“Curious, aren’t you? Very well. Perhaps there is still some military presence there, in which case we’ll find safety. If there isn’t any military left, then we will at least have found weapons, food, and shelter.” Tuck crossed his arms as he finished speaking.

Nowen turned her attention to him fully. “And if all these bases are overrun with the dead?”

“I will deal with that problem if and when it arises.” The certainty in his tone implied he didn’t think there would be a problem.

“What, exactly, are you up to? And why are you keeping those people prisoners?”

At this Tuck sighed and uncrossed his arms. He turned and walked away, and Nowen was forced to follow. There were approaching the end of a long string of storage units. The vehicles and the people were several hundred feet away at this point. Tuck came to the wire fencing that bordered this area and stopped, facing a wide swath of overgrown grass that led down to several weather-beaten shacks. He waited until Nowen was near before he spoke again.

“People are often their own worst enemy,” he said, “and cannot always see the big picture over their own petty concerns. I’ve seen this. I’ve seen how people wander, lost, in need of leadership.
Strong
leadership. This...virus, or flu, of act of God, whatever you want to call it - it’s a blessing in disguise.” His calm, even voice was rising as he spoke. His hands curled through the gaps in the wire fence. “The slate has been wiped clean. The chaff has been winnowed from the wheat, and those who can lead will take control. The strong will follow, and the weak will serve.
I
am that leader. I have been waiting for this opportunity to present itself, and now that it has I will not falter!”

Nowen looked at the shorter man. He was facing the empty city but seemed to see something else, some grand design only for his eyes.
He’s insane.
“So, what happened? Didn’t get made Troop Leader?”

Tuck whirled on her, his face flushed with anger. The wolf eagerly shifted, ready to teach this challenger a lesson. “Do not mock me! I am the one in charge here! Me!” He paused, breathing heavily, fighting for composure. When he spoke again he seemed to be in control of himself again. “It’s better for all of you to be under my protection. You have food and shelter and safety; what could be better than that? I provide those things and in return you follow my leadership. Causing distractions and seeding unrest among your fellow travelers can only lead to problems. And those problems can only have unpleasant solutions.”

He’s talking about me.
Her thoughts were proven true when Tuck removed his sunglasses and fixed his gaze on her. “Unpleasant and
permanent
solutions.”

She met his eyes, amber against ice-blue.
Careful
, she cautioned herself, but couldn’t stop the words that came out on a snarl. “I don’t take well to threats.”

Tuck didn’t blink. “I don’t want to kill you.” he replied. “I actually like you. I’ve been watching you.”
Lot of that going around, evidently.
“You have what it takes to make it in this new world. I would prefer to have you on my side than arrayed against me.” His voice was smooth and even. There was no sign of the anger of a few moments ago.

“Then remove the cuffs.” Nowen interrupted.

A thin smile spread across his face. “You have yet to prove yourself loyal. Do you like being stuck back there, among the sheep? I don’t think you do. So, let’s talk openly.”

Movement drew Nowen’s attention, and she looked at the grassland past the fence. Two Revs had staggered from behind one of the tumble-down shacks and started up the slight hill that led to the self-storage, led on by the human scent carried on the wind. She glanced back at Tuck; his back was against the fence and he seemed oblivious to what was behind him. “Ok. What do you want?”

Tuck raised one hand before him, and then curled his thumb against his palm. “One: stop fighting with Oliver.” The index finger folded down next. “Two: stop fighting me and my leadership.” The other fingers dropped as he continued. “Three: let me know if your fellow travelers speak out against me. Four: let me know if your fellow travelers plot against me. Five: prove you want to be a member of my team.” He dropped his hand back to his side. “Any questions?”

Nowen cast a quick glance back down the hill. The Revs were still approaching. Ragged clothes flapped around their mold-colored limbs. Yellow teeth that almost matched their eyes had begun to chew the air as the scent of prey continued to flow over them.
If I can keep Tuck right there just a little longer...
“When do the cuffs come off?”

Again the thin smile. “Let’s see how you’re doing in a week.”

The shuffling of the Revs was muffled by the overgrown grass. Gaping holes in their throats kept them from making any sound. Nowen thought their clothing looked like postal service uniforms. They were closer to the fence now, but not as close as she needed.
Stall!
She gave Tuck her full attention. “So you need a spy and a right-hand man. Oliver and Matt not quite cutting it, huh?” No response from Tuck, just that same constant gaze. “How do you know I won’t turn against you?”