Page 13 of His to Take

7

“I thinkwe should head out now,” John said a few hours later. “I don’t think we should stay here if those soldiers are around.”

“No, you’re right. We can walk until we find another town. There’s another one not far away, isn’t there? Some houses or something?” Stephen looked as if he was trying to remember exactly, his eyes far away. It had been a long time ago, after all.

“There are, yes.” John nodded, and they all stood up to put their packs back on their backs.

Ann wasn’t paying attention, her brain was on the soldiers, something about them had reminded her of her dream man. Maybe it was the broad power they displayed in that armor, made all the broader because of that armor. They’d been huge, much bigger than most men she’d ever come across in the time before.

With a sigh, she stood up and followed behind the others. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she should be afraid; she’d seen apocalypse movies. Men were dangerous in this new world, or so movie producers always seemed to think. They would all turn into savages that treated women horribly, as she’d read in so many books on the subject. Women would become little more than cattle, as Rex had already hinted at.

She stared at the back of his head as they walked and wondered what the future would bring.

* * *

They spent two more days walking before they even caught a hint that there might be others alive. They saw the glint of a fire, quickly hidden in a dark building. It was night, and things like that would easily catch attention. A curtain must have blown around in the warm wind that blew in the valley.

It had only been a momentary glimpse, but it had been enough for Ann. She whispered her observation to her father and they all stopped to stare at the building. It was a small, two-story building with a cluster of houses around it. The sign outside had been scrubbed clean of any print long ago, but it didn’t look like a shop. Maybe it was a clinic or a dental office, they couldn’t tell.

“I think…” Amanda paused as they all huddled around and stared at the building. “I think they may be like us, like Stephan, Rex, and I.”

“Wolves?” Mary asked, and her gaze shifted to her husband.

There had been reports, early on, before the radio signals started to go silent, that some of the people left outside had turned and that violence from them was incomprehensible. They’d murdered those that hadn’t changed, feasted on their bodies, and had then moved on. Plenty had died as the world turned cold, but those first few weeks had been a nightmare for those left outside and above ground.

“Yes,” Amanda finally agreed; her face certain now. “I can smell them.”

“Should we approach them?” John hissed at her quietly, his eyes on his daughter and wife.

“Let me go. I sense females, so maybe I’ll be okay. You all stand ready, though, just in case.” Amanda gave them each a calm smile and then walked out of the darkness behind the house where they were hidden. She looked before she crossed the street to the house, an old habit that died hard, and then she walked to the glass doors of the first floor. Somehow, the glass was intact in some of the buildings, but not in others.

They all waited, and Ann was sure that every single one of them held their breath, as the door opened slightly. Amanda said something to the person behind the door, and then the door opened wider. Ann and the rest of the group relaxed for a moment.

The wind shifted at that moment, and they all gasped as something disgustingly awful scented the air.

“What the fuck is that?” Rex gasped as he covered his nose and mouth.

“Something dead,” Mary said quietly. “There are bound to be bodies of animals and, um, other things that weren’t buried. Well, they were buried under the snow, but now they’re exposed. It’s probably best if we don’t investigate.”

Ann had to agree and covered her face with a scarf she’d found in one of the houses they’d searched. It was red, pink, and green tie-dye, a cloud burst of colors that she hadn’t been able to resist after 5 years of dark blue boredom. She’d also found a pair of blue jeans in a dresser that fit her, and a green t-shirt that was much softer than the rough material of the coveralls. They’d all managed to find things to change into, and even if they were slightly big, it didn’t matter.

She turned her eyes back to the building and waited. Amanda was gone for a very long time, but none of them had a watch and the battery in Rex’s phone had lost its charge on the first day. They couldn’t tell how long it had been, but luckily, Amanda came out as the other members of their group started to get restless.

“It’s safe, we can go in for the night,” she said as she approached them. “There are only two old women, and they’re looking after a young boy that they hid with down in the cellar. The one woman’s husband died. He was some kind of survivalist and they all lived down in the basement until he ran out of his heart medicine and died. That was the only reason they knew the snow was gone. They’d come up to bring his body outside.”

“Oh, that’s so sad!” Mary said, and Ann clasped her hand.

“They’re wolves, but safe. They aren’t those feral kinds of wolves.”

Ann had to wonder how Amanda would know the difference but didn’t ask. The matter was private, and Ann didn’t want to be rude, so she kept her mouth shut. The fact that it all sounded a little fishy to her wasn’t something she was going to mention either. Two old women and a little boy?

Where had the little boy come from? Where were his parents? Dead was the most likely answer, but until she knew for sure, she wouldn’t feel safe.

She had a feeling her parents felt the same way. She could sense tension in the way they held themselves, in the tightness around their eyes. Rex, Stephan, and Amanda all seemed to be relaxed, but they hadn’t had to live with a deadly threat for the last five years. Not like Ann and her family had.

The Adamses had all become used to the Wolfsons and the way they shifted over time. It was a part of their lives now, no different than getting a period or having to go to the bathroom, but from someone else?

They all walked into the building and followed Amanda back to a room that had only one window. That one was covered in a thick blanket, to hide the light from the camp-stove flames. Two small, elderly women with white hair huddled around the flame, as if it was cold, despite the warmth of the air. They looked like twins, both round with pale white skin and dark brown eyes.