Cruel World(94)

The rifle boomed and water flashed in the air, droplets catching the sun.

Quinn pulled the gun away from his cheek and watched as two darting shadows flew away down the stream, vanishing in an instant. Silt churned up from the bottom and clouded the water as he watched.

The white belly of a fish bobbed to the surface.

“Yes!” Quinn said, scrambling down the bank. He stepped into the water and grasped the trout, pulling it from the stream. It was over a foot long, its body a deep green, speckled with dark spots. Its gills worked feebly, opening and closing several times before stilling. When he turned its slippery length over, he could find no wound where the bullet had entered its body. The concussion of the shot had killed it. Quinn smiled, raising his eyes to the far bank.

A wolf watched him from its edge.

He froze, taking in the stark outline of its tall ears, the long snout, watchful eyes. Its coat was black with tan splotches on its chest and flanks. Its mouth opened, its tongue appearing to swipe at its chops. His fingers flexed on the rifle, and he took a step back out of the stream.

The wolf spun and bolted away, gone before he could fully register that it hadn’t been a wolf at all. It had been a dog. A huge dog with a winking collar at its neck.

He jogged all the way back to the glade, a branch scratching his cheek as he went, but he didn’t slow down until he was beside the small pile of branches and leaves Ty and Alice had built in preparation for a fire.

“There’s gotta be a house nearby,” he said, breathing hard.

“What? Where did you get a fish?” Alice said, pointing at his hand.

“Huh?” Quinn looked down at the trout, having forgotten it with the appearance of the dog. “Oh, there’s a stream not too far. I shot it.”

“You shot it?” Alice said, raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah. Anyways, when I looked up at the other side of the stream, there was a dog standing there with a collar on.”

“A dog?” Ty asked, gaining his feet.

“Yeah, a big one. German Shepherd I think.”

“Cool,” Ty said.

“Where there’s a dog, there’s got to be a house. Can’t be too far away,” Quinn said.

“You’re probably right,” Alice said, setting the tinder aflame with her lighter. “But can we cook that fish before we leave, or are we having sushi?”

~

The trout was delicious. They cooked it on a flat rock beside the small fire, and even without any spices, the meat was rich and flavorful. When they had eaten their fill, Alice wrapped the small remainder in a large, dry leaf and tucked it away in one of her pockets. They didn’t speak, each content with having a full stomach, and Ty leaned against his mother and fell asleep in the sunshine that drenched the glade. After a time, Quinn glanced at Alice and drew a line in the dirt with one finger.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask how you two found me at the compound,” he said.

“It wasn’t that hard.”

“But I went to Foster’s first and then came this way.”

“I know. We went back to the house where we left you, and when you weren’t there, I figured that would be the next place you’d go. The directions were in the center console. So we went there and saw you’d been there, or somebody had. I was sure it was you, so we took the most obvious route west. The bridge you crossed was the only one for twenty miles. We got there as they were hauling you and your truck away, so we went farther north and found a place to cross before coming back down to The First Church of Eternal Salvation.” She said the cult’s name in a sarcastic voice and made quotation marks in the air. “Bastards even had the name plastered on the side of the van they put you in. After that we waited until dark and idled along in low gear next to their stupid fence until I could see that crucifix over the top and stopped there. It wasn’t long until they brought you out.”

“That’s amazing.”

“No, what’s amazing is Ty wouldn’t shut up about going back to find you. Just so you know, that’s the only reason I decided to come back.”

“I never meant to endanger him at that house. I had no idea the woman wasn’t immune.”

“I know. But you trusted someone.” She readjusted Ty where he leaned against her and glanced over at him. “Just don’t do it ever again, okay?”

“Okay.”

They woke Ty a short time later and set off again. After crossing the stream, Quinn managed to find the dog’s footprints in a stretch of mud leading into denser forest. Without a machete, there was no possible way for them to move through its tangle, especially with Alice’s wound that had begun to weep blood again. She waved off his offer to carry her when he mentioned it.