Part 8 (2/2)
”Use your rifle b.u.t.t!” barked Valentine.
Other, distant wails answered the ghostly cry.
”Five,” counted Eveready. ”One for each of us. Hope that's luck, not planning.”
The clouds thickened and dropped, bringing the horizon to a few feet from their faces.
Aghast, Valentine brought his palm to the sky, barely able to see its outline.
”How the h.e.l.l... do they do that?” Burton asked, puffing between strokes.
”I'd rather know how they knew we were going to hit this stretch of the river,” Valentine said as he paddled.
Even in their current perilous situation, Eveready had lessons to teach. ”They're disrupting your minds, not the weather. This could even mean a Kurian himself is around or working us from his Seat of Power. I've heard they can make a city seem to go up in flames, or a building catch real fire, just by willing it.
”They're reading us somehow. One or more of you might be giving off lifesign. While the swamp is full of it, if one of them were close to us, they might have picked up on ours, kept their distance, and just plotted where we were going. We'll never know for sure. The good news is that while they can swim the river, it'll take 'em a while. We can be across and separate, and head for the New Arkansas Post like h.e.l.l. They'll go after whoever they can pick up on, and with luck the rest of us will make it back.”
”Jesus, that's cold,” Burton gasped.
”Makes sense to me,” Alistar said.
Valentine swallowed his fear. ”Can't do it, Eveready. We're Wolves-”
”I was a Wolf before you were born, son, and-”
”Then you should know,” Valentine interrupted right back. ”We stay as a team, whether it's two or two hundred. Only the dead get left behind.”
”Whoever's giving off lifesign is dead already, Val,” Eveready argued, trying to pierce the black curtain behind them. ”Maybe not tonight, but some other trip in the future.”
”We don't know they're reading lifesign. Maybe they tracked us the old-fas.h.i.+oned way.
There are sniffer-Grogs, I'm told.”
”Sorry, kid. I've got experience, and you don't. Gotta be lifesign.”
Valentine broke the glum silence. ”I say we put it to a vote. Every man for himself, yea or nay. If we decide to stick together, we put you off on the west sh.o.r.e. Alone, the way you like it.” Valentine feared he might have pushed the old Cat too far. Maybe the vote would go four to one against him again, but he needed to try.
”No, no votes. Not with five Reapers on your tail,” rasped Eveready. ”This isn't about you anymore,” said Burton. ”It's for us to say.”
”Have it your way. Idiots. You know, if one Reaper catches up with you four, just one, you'll all be dead in twenty seconds. Five seconds each.”
”Okay, lets take a breather,” Valentine ordered, turning himself around in the boat to face his fellow Wolves. ”Tradition. Youngest first. Hernandez? Every man for himself: yea or nay.”
Valentine expected the sixteen-year-old to glance around at the others, or at least Alistar, for approval. But he looked squarely into Eveready's eyes. His hero. The man he called sir despite Eveready's repeated commands to knock it-off.
”Nay.”
Valentine's heart leaped. He could have hugged the skinny youth. ”Alistar?”
The tawny youth, who thought himself the leader of the Wolves through this summer, shook his head at Valentine, a half-sneer on his face. ”Yea.”
”f.u.c.k you, Al,” Burton spat. ”Nay. And f.u.c.k you again, in case you didn't hear me the first time.”
”Nay,” added Valentine, trying not to grin in triumph. ”Al-istar, you can get off with Eveready, if you like.”
”You bet your a.s.s I like.”
”Can we get moving, Valentine?” Eveready asked.
The four rowed with renewed vigor. Valentine, feeling the energy of vindication in his limbs, dug his paddle deep into the water. Burton poured out his fury on the other side, and the canoe sped through the night.
Within five minutes, the western sh.o.r.e loomed out of the darkness. Alistar buckled on his pack, and Eveready jumped out and held the canoe steady. Hernandez started to put on his pack.
”Wait, Hernandez. We're staying in the boat,” Valentine ordered.
”What's that?” Eveready asked.
Valentine put his oar behind his back and stretched. ”Burton, let's switch places so I can use some different muscles. Eveready, you said they don't swim too fast, right? We head downriver, with the current. We'll hear any patrol boat. Go all night if we have to, then start moving overland at dawn.”
”h.e.l.l, kid, if you had a plan, you should have said so. You're still taking a risk that the Reapers don't have another boat.”
”You said five. This boat fits five easy. Can you still draw one off?”
Eveready smiled, apple-whitened teeth the brightest thing Valentine had seen all night, like a beacon of hope. ”If one is still following me by sunrise, it won't live to see another nightfall.”
”Alistar, last chance,” Valentine called to the receding figure. ”You'll be bled out before dawn, Valentine,” Alistar said. He turned. ”Hernandez, this is your last chance, too.”
The teen shook his head. ”Sorry, Al. The pack stays together.”
Alistar tightened his straps, managing to put contempt in the gesture. ”Hope you make it anyway. I'll wait for you at Arkansas Post.”
Eveready stepped closer to Valentine. ”David, give me your gun.”
Valentine reached into the bottom of the boat and brought up the single-shot breechloader.
”Why's that?”
”We're gonna swap. I don't know if you have more guts than brains, or more brains than guts, but Trudy can pump five shots into a Reaper faster than you can count. You shot her pretty good this summer. You may need her tonight.”
”Aren't you worried you'll never see her again?”
”Just don't let some Quisling mother take her off your body. Bury her at sea when she's empty. You know what I mean?”
The men exchanged rifles and ammunition. ”I know what you mean. See you in h.e.l.l, Cat.”
”I'll be waiting, Wolf.” Eveready shook his hand, then gripped his fingers in a curious gesture. ”David, if you make it, tell your CO about how you sensed that Hood. That's unique. They'll want to know more about it, and you.”
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