Wolf Hiding (A Wolf in the Land of the Dead Book 2) (23 page)

She sighed and sat up, wrapping her blankets around her. The fire was down to embers and the night’s chill had soaked the cabin. She glanced at the kitchen window and the soft pearly light visible outside.
Make that the early morning chill.
She inched toward the stove and stoked the fire, adding chunks of wood until the flames blazed.

Nowen looked around the interior. Suzannah was stretched out on the recliner, only the top of her head visible. The cot was empty, the pile of quilts thrown back.
Sage.
Nowen struggled to her feet, trying to simultaneously keep warm in the blankets and stay on her feet. She shuffled to the kitchen area and the only other door in the cabin.

She was reaching for the door handle when it turned and the door was flung inward. Sage squeaked in surprise and Nowen took in her flushed cheeks and wide-open eyes. The girl was dressed in her ‘outside’ clothes and snow fell from her boots as she stood in the doorway. “Nowen!” she said.

“Where were you?” Nowen asked.

“Outside, of course! I had to go pee. But listen-”

“You know better than to go outside so early by yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but listen-”

“Sage, I’ve told you to get me or Suzannah. What would have happened to you if you’d fallen and hurt yourself?”

Sage groaned and rolled her eyes. “Listen to me! I just-”

“Don’t roll your eyes. This is important. A twisted ankle could mean death in this weather. If you’re outside and no one knows where you are and you can’t make it back to the cabin-”

“Shut up!” Sage said with a vehemence that took Nowen by surprise. She shut up. “Finally! Come here and look at this - no, you don’t have to get dressed, just come to the door - and tell me what you think.” Sage grabbed Nowen’s arm and dragged her forward. They stood side-by-side in the door frame and looked out at the clearing.

The early morning light was soft and strange, laying a faint pink-and-purple glow on everything. The air was bitingly cold and the faint breeze carried a scent of pine from the forest surrounding clearing. Sage pointed at the trees at the farthest point of the open area.

A wolf stood under the trees and stared at them.

Chapter Twenty-three

The wolf was large. Its thick, heavy fur was a near-uniform gunmetal grey, lightening around its neck and belly. From this distance Nowen couldn’t see the color of the grey wolf’s eyes but she could see that it had only one; a long black scar bisected the wolf’s left eye and continued down the cheek to curl under the jaw.

“Is it a
vukodlak
?” Sage whispered.

Nowen shook her head slowly. “I don’t know.”

Sage grunted. Then, before Nowen realized what she was up to the girl had plucked a piece of wood from the pile by the door. Sage took two quick steps through the snow and flung the wood as hard as she could at the grey wolf. The wolf jinked to one side as the missile landed in a puff of snow, then turned and fled back into the woods.

Sage turned to Nowen with a grin. “Answered that question, huh?”

Nowen just rolled her eyes and ushered the girl back into the cabin. But as she followed Sage she paused for a moment and glanced at the spot where the grey wolf had stood.

The storm that had trapped Nowen away from the others for two days seemed to signal an end to bad weather for a while. The days were warm and sunny, and when three days had passed of good weather Nowen turned to Sage and Suzannah and agreed that it was time to go.

They left the cabin early the next morning. Nowen stood in the open door and looked around to make sure that nothing had been forgotten. The stove was cold and dark; the more-easily transportable blankets were bundled with the tote bags of food and waiting on the little porch; nothing edible had been left in the kitchen. With a deep reluctance she closed the door, still not convinced that leaving was the best idea.
But what do I know? I’m afraid of my own shadow lately; of course I’d want to stay here and never move again.

Nowen picked up one of the bundles and strapped it around her waist. Sage and Suzannah grabbed their own bundles, and then the three of them buckled on their skis and, with a last adjustment of hats and scarves they set off.

The dirt path they had taken to the cabin months ago was, of course, buried by snow. The few signs that marked the path were still visible, and Nowen took the lead, moving smoothly over the ice-crusted snow. The three of them skied through a still and quiet landscape. Only the calls of a few early-morning birds broke the silence.

The trip down from the ski resort to Highway 15 took only a couple of hours. As the sun rose, however, the going became more tiring. The temperature warmed up greatly and the top of the snow layer began to melt. ‘Skiing’ become more like ‘plowing’. It was on aching and trembling legs that Nowen and the other two finally reached the flat uniformity of the highway.

Nowen leaned on her ski poles, breathing heavily, and looked at the path ahead. The highway led south and west away from where she stood. It followed the ups and downs of the land, so in some places the snow was entirely melted and in others there was no way to tell the difference between pavement and prairie.

Sage slid up next to her, and a few moments later Suzannah joined them. The red-haired woman swept off her ski cap and ran a hand over her head. “Whew! I ain’t used to such exercise! Like to kill me.”

Nowen shot her a glance. “It’s not too late to go back.”

Suzannah laughed, but Sage looked at Nowen with an uncomfortably astute gaze.
She knows I wasn’t teasing.
“Nope,” Suzannah continued, “we’ve come too far. Look, it’s only downhill from here, right? Gotta be easier going.”

Nowen turned her gaze on the landscape below. There was no sign of human life anywhere.
Well, no living human life, anyway,
she thought as her eye picked out the few cars that studded the highway. Further down the curving prairie she could just make out the snow-shrouded roofs of buildings. There were a couple of groups of these on either side of the highway, set back from the road itself. Circular formations puzzled her for a moment. Then, it clicked.
Corrals. And those are farms. Or ranches.
She pointed at the nearest ranch, one that looked to be about three or four miles away. “Let’s head for that place, see what we can get.” Sage and Suzannah nodded in agreement and followed Nowen as she set off down the highway.

At the ranch Nowen paused only long enough for a good look before she moved on. All three buildings that she could see had burned sometime in the past; only the shell of fragile walls remained. She pointed at another set of buildings further down the road and led her companions onward. The going got harder the lower they went. The plains below the resort were warmer and more snow was melting away, and Nowen found it increasingly more frustrating to move across the slush. Finally she slid out onto a bare stretch of highway and stopped to remove her skis.

Maybe I’ll just toss the damn things away and continue on foot.
Her enjoyable contemplation of watching the skis arc through the blue sky to disappear forever was broken by someone nudging her arm. Nowen turned to see Sage right beside her. The girl was looking off to the right and Nowen followed her gaze.

A green metal sign stated ‘Butte 15 miles’. Hung from the bottom of the sign, attached by what looked like rusty coat hangers, was a large piece of plywood. Faded black letters marched across the placard. “Fellowship of Christ Church of the Woods. Salvation and refuge in these End Times. All are welcome to be saved in the Blood. Two Miles Ahead”. Sage finished reading the sign out loud and looked up at Nowen. “What do you think?” the girl asked, squinting against the bright sun.

“I doubt there’s anyone there.” Nowen said.

“Well, it can’t hurt to check, right? There could be supplies there, too.”

Suzannah slid up on Nowen’s other side, panting heavily. “What are you guys talking about? Are we taking a break? Please, tell me we’re taking a break.”

Sage pointed at the sign. “Want to go check it out?”

“Whoo! Seriously, exercise sucks.” Nowen eyed her as Suzannah silently read the placard. The red-haired woman drooped on her poles. Her normally pale cheeks were flushed crimson, and she dragged her hat from her head wearily. Her spiky hair was damp with sweat.

She needs a break.
Nowen started speaking before Suzannah had finished reading. “Ok, let’s go take a look at this church. It could make a nice place to rest for awhile.”

Sage, she noticed, had already stepped out of her skis and was now helping Suzannah out of hers. Once her feet were free the woman straightened slowly, grimacing. Nowen plucked both her and Suzannah’s skis off the ground, resting them on one shoulder. She gave the red-haired woman a grin. “You up to two more miles?” Suzannah’s only response was an obscene gesture.

A half-hour’s hard push brought the church into view. From the outside the white clapboard building didn’t look that big. There were a couple of snow-dusted cars parked on one side, just behind a wood sign that repeated the message from the highway placard. A gravel road peeked out from beneath the melting snow, and spare patches of grass dotted the thin blanket of white that swept from the highway to the church.

Nowen paused, one foot on the pavement, one foot on the gravel. She looked at the area in front of the church. Irregular humps in the snow cover were scattered at odd intervals. Something was familiar about the sight, but she couldn’t pin down what it was.
I’ve seen this before, right? No...not exactly like this. But similar.
She searched through her memory, trying to pin down what was so familiar.
Rocks under the snow. A truck. A snowstorm, and a shed for shelter-

Someone bumped into her and the thread of memory fled. Nowen bit back her angry frustration and whirled to see who it was. Suzannah stood next to her, gulping deep breaths. Sage stood next to Suzannah and they looked at the church in silence. Sage sighed. When she spoke, her voice was tinged with disappointment. “I guess you’re right, Nowen. Doesn’t look like anyone is still here.”

Nowen looked at the snow blanket. There were animal tracks across the whiteness, trails crossing and re-crossing each other until it was impossible to tell what had been here. But no human tracks.

“Well, let’s go take a look inside. I could fall asleep on a pew with no problem.” Suzannah said and trudged her way up the gravel path. Sage followed and Nowen brought up the rear. She glanced at the odd lumps again as she passed; a nagging sense of something familiar
wrong
tickled her brain. She joined the other two on the small porch. Suzannah had her hand on the smooth brass-colored doorknob and at Nowen’s nod she turned it and opened the door.

The white wood door swung inward easily, only a slight creak from the hinges that was swallowed by the silence of the church. There were tall windows on either side of the building but months of rain, snow, and windblown dust had darkened them. In the gloomy half-light Nowen could just make out the rows of pews that marched up either side of the center aisle toward a large podium. Above the podium was a cross, wreathed in dried flowers.

Nowen fumbled in her coat pocket for her flashlight. The head was caught on something, and by the time she pulled it free and turned it on Sage and Suzannah were halfway up the aisle. She shone the light at them. “Hey! What are you guys doing?” she said, following them.

“Looking around. Whad’ya think we’re doing?” Suzannah said.

“Over here!” Sage was waving from the far right side. Nowen joined her to see a stack of boxes, about five in all, against a wall. A couple of empty cans sat next to the stack. The girl opened the lid of the box on top. It was packed full of church flyers that looked to be repeating the same message as the sign on the highway. Sage huffed in disappointment. Nowen shone the light on the other boxes. Scrawled on the outside of each one was one word: ‘Flyers’.

Nowen tugged gently on one of Sage’s russet curls. “Come on, let’s look around some more.” She headed back to where Suzannah still stood by the podium. Sage groaned from behind her. With a rattle of metal on wood a can shot past Nowen. It bounced off the base of the podium and tumbled down the main aisle of the church.

Nowen turned and glared at Sage. The girl rolled her eyes, her shoulders hunched and her hands tucked into her coat pockets. “Sorry.” she said. Nowen opened her mouth to say something, and then froze. She’d heard something, and by the widening dark eyes on her face Sage had heard it too.

A moan.

Nowen turned to look at Suzanah. The red-haired woman was idly flipping through the bible on the podium. She didn’t seem to have heard the moan. Nowen grabbed Sage’s hand and led her back to where Suzannah was. She had just reached the podium when she heard another moan. This one was louder and echoed through the church.

Nowen glanced at Suzannah. The woman looked carved out of stone, one hand stilled in the act of turning a page, her eyes huge green pools in her face. Nowen looked out at the pews, moving her flashlight from one spot to another in search of the noise. The fall of harsh light fell on the last few pews on the left side of the church, and the Revs that sat there.

In the illumination of the flashlight the Revs’ yellow eyes shone like rotten leaves. Jaws in their mold-colored faces were moving in almost perfect synchronization and the moaning doubled and tripled. Other Revs, as yet still unseen, were responding to the call. As Nowen watched, an undead man in a black suit began to ratchet his body upright. She thought she could almost hear the stiff tendons and muscles stretching as the Rev gained his feet.

Nowen still held Sage’s hand in one of her own; now she reached out with her free hand and latched on to Suzannah. “Go!” she shouted and took off running.

Suzannah stumbled and Nowen felt for a moment that her arm would be yanked out of its socket. She tightened her grip and kept going. The moans of the Revs were louder now, bouncing off the walls in a din that made it impossible to hear anything. The door was almost in reach. A Rev in a flowery dress crawled out from the last pew on Nowen’s right. She slowed only long enough to kick the creature in the head. The skull cracked loudly and the Rev collapsed to the floor.