Wild Dog City (Darkeye Volume 1) (28 page)

The hulker gave that awful eerie laugh again.
It had started to rock again on its hands and knees. Mhumhi got a
sense of strange sickness from it. For once his instincts were not
telling him to kill, but to flee- to flee as far and as fast as he
could from this strange monstrosity.

The hulker giggled and crawled backwards.
Through the hole he had ripped in its shirt, Mhumhi could see tufts
of dirty gray hair growing on its scabbed ribs.

"Mhumhi!"

Mhumhi risked a glance back to see Kutta
limping around the corner towards them. The strange hulker looked
too, thrusting its chin forward, and then dragged itself to its
feet. It broke into a shambling run away from them and disappeared
around the corner out of the hall. Without thinking Mhumhi gave
chase.

The hulker sprinted ahead of him out into the
reservoir, loud with rushing water, and catapulted over the
railing. Mhumhi skidded to a stop and stuck his head underneath
just in time to see it land with a mighty splash in the filthy
water far below.

For a moment there was no sign of it, just
the water roiling from the impact. Mhumhi felt Kutta come up next
to him by the rail, but he did not dare take his eyes away- there!
The hulker's dark head had emerged near the edge of the pool, and
it kicked and thrashed its way to the edge and climbed out.

"Should we go after it?" Kutta said, but
Mhumhi did not answer. The hulker was climbing into a pipe- the
very pipe he and Kutta had entered the reservoir through the night
before. It wriggled inside, its flat feet the last things to
disappear.

Mhumhi felt a chill at the sight. He glanced
at Kutta, who was panting hard.

"It's not safe here anymore," she said.

They went back to the corridor. Maha was
still crouched down on the concrete, hands clamped to her head, and
without conferring Mhumhi and Kutta went on either side of her.

"Come on, puppy," said Mhumhi, and he licked
her forehead. It tasted salty.

Maha put one hand on his neck, curling her
fingers into the thick fur there. He winced but tolerated it. She
rose and he led her back into the little room.

A Clean
Face

"What was the matter with it?" Kutta asked,
as soon as they were all safely inside, with the door shut tight.
She had collapsed at once onto the quilt, looking weary, but more
alert than she had been. The meat and the sleep, it seemed, had
done her some good.

"You mean with the hulker?" said Mhumhi, who
was pacing on three legs by the door. His bad leg was flaring up
with pain again after the struggle.

"That wasn't a hulker," said Maha.

They both looked at her. She was sitting with
her arms around Tareq, hugging him close. Tareq looked like he
didn't have any idea what was going on, but he seemed pleased about
the attention.

"No, it wasn't," Mhumhi agreed, after a
moment. He thought Maha was reacting to her fright at the
experience, but he also thought she was right. The thing had not
moved, sounded, or smelled like any of the hulkers he had come
across.

"Was it a new type of hulker?" asked Kutta.
"One we haven't seen before?"

"Maybe," Mhumhi allowed. "But did you hear
the sound it made? It sounded like a- like a hyena."

Kutta said nothing, but Mhumhi could sense
her discomfort. He went over and licked the wound on her
shoulder.

"Do you remember the first hyena we saw? The
one with the hulker hand?"

"It couldn't have been a hand," said Kutta,
her ears going back.

"It
was
a hand," Mhumhi insisted. He
noticed Maha's eyes tracking him curiously. "It had a hulker hand
instead of a paw on its foreleg. And this hulker- it laughed like a
hyena, and it had fur."

"It didn't have fur," Kutta broke in.

"It did! Not everywhere, but I could see it
in some places-"

"Adult hulkers have got more fur than the
puppies," said Kutta.

"But did you look at her eyes? Do adult
hulkers have dark eyes like that, Kutta?"

Kutta made no response to this, just favored
Mhumhi with her own yellow-eyed stare.

"What are you trying to say, Mhumhi?" asked
Maha.

"I don't know," Mhumhi admitted. "Only it
seems like- it seems almost like-" He paused. The words he wanted
to say would sound foolish, and he could picture what Kutta's
scornful reaction would be. He glanced at Maha.

"It seemed like that hulker- like it was
becoming a hyena."

"Mhumhi, don't be ridiculous," said Kutta at
once.

"I thought so too!" said Maha, hugging Tareq
to herself. Kutta glanced at her, then gave Mhumhi a fierce
look.

"You're going to give the puppies
nightmares!"

"It seemed like it, though," Mhumhi argued.
"I know it makes no sense, but it would explain why that other
hyena had a hulker hand."

"What, because the rest of it used to be a
hulker? Are
you
sick-silly?" Kutta paused to cough.
"Creatures don't just change into one another, Mhumhi."

"Well," said Mhumhi, looking away, "how would
you explain it, then?"

"I don't know," said Kutta. "And I'm not
going to try. Whatever that hulker was, it was just
bad
. And
we should avoid it."

"It wasn't a hulker," said Maha, but quietly.
Kutta did not seem to hear her, for she was putting her head down,
looking weary. Mhumhi could tell she was tired, and beginning to be
cross, so it would be better for her to be left alone. But he
didn't think his idea had been
that
far-fetched.

He took himself to the bathroom to avoid
being frustrated in front of her, and paced in front of the sink.
There were so many strange things he did not understand… He allowed
himself to utter a little whine. He and Kutta were always going to
be at odds with each other, by themselves, and neither one of them
really knew what was going on… they needed Sacha. Her head, her
wit, her understanding of what to do and when to do it…

He whined again, thinking of her. He wished
he had not. Every moment he was not thinking of her, it seemed like
she was still there, still waiting somewhere… Every time he thought
of her, he had to remind himself that she was dead.

Had the hyenas that had eaten her once been
hulkers?

He reared up at the sink, his bad leg
trembling, thinking he'd better get a drink of water. He happened
to glance at himself in the mirror and got a shock.

His face was still coated in the blood of the
hulker. Long since dried, it had left his fur coarse and saturated
all around his muzzle and eyes. He looked wild and savage.

Frantically he pawed at the handle of the
sink, clawing at it, but it was a smooth knob and his claws could
not grip it. His bloodied face bobbed in front of him in the
mirror, mocking. He uttered a whimper, scratching and scratching,
but the handle would not turn.

"Mhumhi?"

He hesitated, then fell back on all fours.
Maha was standing in the bathroom doorway.

"Yes?" he asked, keeping his voice even. Maha
looked unusually timid.

"Are you trying to get some water? Are you
thirsty?"

He did not answer. She crept past him and
used her hand to turn on the water.

"There you go, there it is…"

He looked at his paws a moment, then reared
up to lap at the little trickle, his leg shaking.

"Mhumhi?"

He paused, feeling impatient, as the cold
water ran over his nose. "Yes?"

"Can I… can I wash your face?"

He let himself drop down again. She was
sharp-witted, this little hulker, this puppy.

"All right."

To his surprise, Maha turned around and left
the doorway, but she reappeared just a moment later with the yellow
bowl and a rag. She filled the bowl with water again and then
dipped the rag into it.

Mhumhi had assumed, perhaps naively, that by
washing she had meant she was going to lick him, but of course she
was a hulker and he'd never seen a hulker actually lick
anything
. He was still somewhat startled when she put the
wet rag on his muzzle, and jerked away.

"It's cold!"

"Sorry," said Maha, and she reached out and
stroked his forehead for a moment with her hand. "I'll be quick,
okay?"

Mhumhi was having mixed feelings, as
mollified as he was feeling by the gesture, but he held still and
let her grip his lower jaw as she passed the rag over his face.
Water dripped through his fur from the first few strokes. He
blinked rapidly and winced- her scrubbing was becoming more
enthusiastic as she went on. Between rubs he could see her little
face wrinkled together, her brow furrowed down, her eyes focused on
the task.

"That's better," she said, and dropped the
rag in the bowl. "Look now, Mhumhi!"

With some misgivings, he rose up to the sink
again and looked. To his surprise his face looked damp, but
correctly colored again. He wagged his tail- it felt like the first
time in a while.

When he got back down on all fours Maha was
smiling at him.

"Were you grumpy because your face was dirty,
Mhumhi? I hate that feeling too."

Something seemed to perceptibly soften inside
of him at this. "That must have been it," he said. "I'm sorry I
growled at you. I didn't mean it."

"It's all right," said Maha and she went and
hugged him, a motion that was becoming all too familiar to Mhumhi
now. It was almost pleasant, really. He wagged his tail again,
though he stopped when he saw the bowl on the ground behind Maha.
The rag was turning the water yellow-brown.

He gently pulled back from Maha's embrace,
licking his lips.

"I was wondering," he began. She sat back on
her haunches and looked at him with that particular wide-eyed
expression, and he felt the need to turn away briefly to master his
embarrassment.

"I was wondering," he began again, "if you
could build another bridge for me. At another place."

"At another place?" Maha looked eager.
"Where? With what?"

"I don't know with what," said Mhumhi, "but
there's another way Kutta and I get into the sewers- the way we
used to get in- under a bridge by a big, broken grate. I'm afraid
to go that way now, though, because the water's so dirty and I'm
wounded."

"Why's that a problem?" Maha interrupted.

"Because getting a wound dirty can make it
worse," Mhumhi explained. "It can get infected, and that's real
bad. Anyway, I think I'll have to go that way if I want to get meat
tomorrow, so I was thinking-"

"Why can't you go the way you went today?"
Maha interrupted, again, and Mhumhi cringed internally. He had been
hoping she wouldn't ask that question. He entertained the macabre
thought of what her reaction would be if he told her the truth:
Maha, I watched a group of wild dogs kill a hulker like you, and
then I put my head inside his chest and ate his heart.

"Because… because I got into that fight, so
now I'll probably get into more trouble if I go back."

"Oh," said Maha. "Were there police?"

"A lot of police," Mhumhi confirmed. "I'm
sure they'll recognize me if I go back. It's better to stay away
for now."

"But will you be able to get meat from
this
dispensary? Won't they recognize you here?"

She was certainly asking all the right
questions. "I think it's been long enough," Mhumhi lied. "I'm sure
they'll be focused on other things. I'll be able to slip in and out
quickly. But that all depends on whether or not you can make a
bridge for me."

"I can do it!" Maha said, jerking her head.
"I know that grate. I know how I can get you through it."

"Good, Maha!" said Mhumhi, wagging his tail
vigorously. "Then we can go tomorrow!"

"Yes!" said Maha, smiling, but then her lips
turned down. "Will you share the meat with me this time?"

"I promise I will," said Mhumhi.

They went together back into the main room
and Maha left him to snuggle Tareq again. Mhumhi went to Kutta's
side and hesitated. She was curled up, her nose tucked in her thick
tail, and breathing deeply.

He wanted to confide in Kutta what his plan
was, but now he was having misgivings. She might say it was too
dangerous, or worse, she might refuse to cooperate with him. Mhumhi
had instinctively held it back from Maha for the same reason.

But if he and Kutta were going to survive,
they had to get rid of the hulkers.

He did not like the fact- considerably less
so than he would have a week ago- but it was the truth. The longer
that he and Kutta were bound down in the sewers, the more dangerous
it became. Their hideaway had already been discovered by the
strange hyena-laughing hulker, and he was afraid that she would
return with reinforcements. The longer they stayed, the more his
anxiety would mount. It was not
safe
.

And Kutta was sick. The cold and filthy
surroundings would not help her.

And- there was yet something else- the longer
they stayed hidden away, the less chance they had of ever finding
Kebero and Bii again. He felt a little pang for Kebero especially.
He had not allowed himself to entertain the idea that the little
puppy was
dead
, but… where could he be?

He shook himself, trying to rid himself of
terrible thoughts, and went and sat by the door, panting. Being
attached to the hulker puppies was too dangerous. Tomorrow, if Maha
could open a safe way for him back into Oldtown, he would seek out
the only lead he had- the adult hulker in the school. And he would
deliver the puppies into its care. And they would be free
again.

Mhumhi Goes to
School

The next day Mhumhi left Kutta with Tareq
again and took Maha out to the giant grate.

He had only told Kutta he was going to get
food again, not the where or why. She was in no state to make sense
of it, anyway- her sickness had taken a turn for the worse, and she
could only lay there, half-delirious, lapping weakly at the bowl of
water Maha brought for her.