"I'm sorry, Leo," I whisper and rub his huge ears.
I look around at the room—cats, dogs and wolves. I can't risk letting the wolves out; they aren’t Leo. They're real wolves. I jump up and let out the cats and dogs. The room starts to fill with panicked animals. I notice a back door. I run to it and open it. It's a long set of stairs going up.
"Anna, let the dog and cats out the door we came in."
She hugs him once more and then jumps up and frees them all. She makes kissy noises and the cats and dogs follow her. All but the golden dog. He wags his tail and stays with me. I roll my eyes and sigh.
I look at Leo, "Take your new friend here and go to that door." I give him my look and then the door. He's up and at the door before I have to repeat. He still speaks to me in our way. It makes me smile. He speaks me and I speak him.
I point, "Anna, stand inside of that doorway with Leo. Don't let him come back in this room okay. Don't close the door completely. Just open a slit."
She looks confused but does it. The golden dog follows her to the stairs. He pants and wags and doesn’t seem to notice where we are.
The three of them slip into the stairwell. I see her blue eyes in the crack of the door. I take a deep breath and hold my gun firmly in my hands. I click the first lock on the cage to one of the three wolves. I walk backwards and click the second lock. My heart is pounding in my chest. I try to control it and walk backwards. The first wolf nudges his door. He starts to slip his huge body through the opening. I click the final one and leap for the door as the first wolf jumps at me.
Anna opens the door and slams it as I land in the stairwell.
She pants and looks up at me, "That’s some trap you just set."
I nod and take a huge breath, "I know. Whoever opens that—is dead."
I look at Leo and notice the shaved spot on his side. He has sores that match the golden dog's. I wince but his eyes catch mine and refuse to let me be sad. He nudges me and whines.
Anna starts up the stairs. She gets to the top, turns the lock, and then the handle. I've never been more grateful to see sunshine in all my life.
"It's the side of the building; the one we came in from," she whispers.
The golden smells the air and tries to get through the crack that she has the door open. She shoves him back, "Back, Buddy. Let me see if it's safe."
Leo whines again. I nod, "Just go. It's gonna be bad here in like two minutes."
She scowls, "I can't see anything."
I point at the dog, "Let him out."
Her look doesn’t improve.
I shrug and finish climbing the stairs. I look out the crack and open the door. I look at Leo. He crouches and crawls from the door. The golden follows, not crouching.
I follow them, holding my gun and looking around. I see the movement on the roof, but he's looking the wrong way. He doesn’t see us yet. I wish I had my bow.
"Where is the meeting place?" I look back at her.
Her face turns red, "The camp. There is no meeting place. That was a lie for the doctor." Her words make me sick. Jake and Will are in the city somewhere.
We creep along the wall. I hear a truck.
"We gotta run for the forest," I say and whistle, making Leo dash. He runs as fast as he can for the woods. The golden follows him, thank God.
Anna smirks, "That dog is as bad as Jake."
I laugh, regardless of the fact we are more than likely about to die.
"Walk casually," I mutter and fight my smile. The truck comes around the corner. They wave at us and continue along.
I'm pouring sweat and aching ridiculously.
I glance back at Anna, "Turn for the woods." We cross the immaculate street and head for the road that leads into this area. It's a small road, single lane. It's opposite the city. I don’t need to see Leo to know he's in there waiting for me.
We walk casually, but the sound of my heart tells me that we are anything but casual. Not to mention, Anna's increased breathing.
The road is so close, but it and the forest, feel so far away.
I glance back at Anna, her blue eyes are huge.
"We got so lucky," she says.
I nod, "Too lucky," and keep looking around. I feel like her words jinxed us. The golden comes out of the woods, wagging his tail. I'm sure Leo is in the bush watching this, shaking his head.
Anna nods, "Yup, Jake."
We drop down into a ditch. I lie on my belly instantly and peek up over the side of the ditch. The rooftops have movement, but it's still casual and relaxed. No one has noticed us.
"You think it's an act?" she whispers holding the gun tight to her.
I swallow and watch them milling about up on the rooftops, "Not sure. I want to say no, but I have a terrible feeling." I look at her and fight the memory of opening the door to the cabin. I don’t regret it, but I hate that I could be there. I could be safe. I miss that feeling.
She furrows her dark eyebrows, "Stop giving me that look. Just say what you're gonna say. I know I messed up."
I frown, "Huh?"
She sighs, "Jake and Will… I know I screwed that up."
I bite my lip and look back at the rooftops. The men are gone.
"Shit." I jump up and run for the woods. Her feet behind me are faster than mine. She beats me across the street and into the woods.
Our feet move fast. The golden runs around us, he thinks we're playing. I could throw up, I'm so nervous.
We run hard and far until I gag into the bush, just like I did the first time I ran for my life. I grip the branch next to me and shake. My body isn’t strong anymore. I spent everything I had, freeing Leo and running from the infected. Or I'm infected.
I wipe my mouth and try to catch my breath.
Anna and Leo look the same. Same worried eyes.
I shake my head, "I'm fine. Just exhausted or infected."
She shakes her head, "He wasn’t lying. You can't get it. He told me he spent the first few days you were there, trying to infect you. You're immune and can't even carry it."
I shrug, "We'll see in a couple days." I put the back of my hand to my forehead, "I think I have the fever."
She rolls her eyes, "You're sick, dummy. But only from being weak." She turns and continues up the huge hill. I have no idea where we are.
"So you really have no idea where Jake and Will are?" I'm so angry with her for that, I could spit fire.
She shoots me a glare, "I told you, we got separated. I think they'll go back to the camp."
I run my hands through my hair, scratching my scalp, "I need a swim or something. I'm funky and gross. We gotta find some water. Look for fir trees."
She gives me a look and rolls her eyes, "Is that even true?"
I ignore her and walk behind Leo. I've been watching his ears and tail. He always knows when there's trouble. I keep looking back, but no one is there. They weren’t chasing us. They were no doubt busy, saving whoever opened the wolf trap.
Leo's pace picks up. I try to keep up, but I'm nearly wheezing at this pace. The golden runs around us, sniffing and peeing. He is so Jake that it would make me laugh, if I wasn’t near death.
"Can you find the camp from here?" I ask and gag again.
She shakes her head, "You asked that ten minutes ago and I said yes to it then. You're driving me insane."
I'm about to snap on her, but the forest gets dark and blurry. I stumble and fall into the bush next to me. The smell of the bush is the last thing I register.
I wake with a start, seeing the forest.
Lifting my fingers to the back of my head, I feel the bark of the tree I'm against. I move my other fingers and smile when they dig into his thick, downy fur. He nuzzles into me and makes one of his noises. I glance down and everything feels alright with my world. I don’t know how long it'll feel this way, but I'm grateful I feel this way now. I feel like right now is pretty important, because my body is shutting itself down. I'm dying. But the wind is on my face and his fur is in my fingers, so it's okay if I die. I've been waiting days for it to come and I think it has.
I swallow and look around. My eyes adjust to the bright forest, the morning forest. Where is Anna?
I look back at Leo and wonder if she's left me and Leo stayed to guard me. I snap my lips together and try licking. My throat is thick. She's left me because the infection is hitting me. My spit is thickening and my skin is aching.
I slide my fingers into his fur and grip on almost. I knew I could feel it. I knew I could sense, I was going to die. I've feared it my whole life, ever since I read that pigs have a heightened sense of their own demise. I read it and had a bad feeling that I was like the pigs, somehow.
I hold him and wish I could tell him to eat me when I turn. I don’t want to wander and kill. I've done enough of that.
The light from the sun filters through the huge canopy high above us. I close my eyes and see the light of it through my eyelids. I can almost feel the warmth of the morning sun.
Vincent's words start to creep around in my mind. All those women, children, babies, people… all hurt by my father. Sickening sadness rolls in like a thick fog. My baby. It's not something I ever thought about, not really. But now that it's gone, it hurts a bit. More than a bit.
Leo senses it. He shoves me and nips at my arm. I don’t know how to make it hurt less.
My evil brain flashes images of the little, white-haired brat at the retreat. I laugh, but it comes out as a cough. I glance down at the yellow eyes that are watching me, "I think I might have dodged a bullet there."
He cocks his head and pants. He probably doesn’t remember the evil little brat.
"We don’t want to have something like that to be responsible for. You and I both know, Meg is enough trouble."
He nods and I swear he remembers the name.
I laugh at him and cough again.
A voice breaks my self-pity, "Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness."