Page 89 of Blacktail

“They will?”

“Yes. I’ve seen it.”

“I would never have thought such.”

“Me neither. Not until I saw it done.”

“They hunted you?”

“Yes. Many-many of them.”

“But you…how? How did you survive it?”

“I had help,” Blacktail said, a tad bit curtly this time. “Without it, I would not have survived. Come along, before the vultures notice the bodies. Once that’s done, we might spend the day sunning ourselves on that fine rock and give your wound a chance to heal. No pleasure like a full belly, is there?”

“Please believe me when I say that you have no idea.”

They sunned themselves on the rocks not for one day, but two. Chester made frequent journeys to Pooping Gorge, as they came to call it, to groan and emit bad smells. Blacktail poked fun at him, asking whether he had come too late to save Chester’s heart, or perhaps it was his lungs? Surely something inside him was dead, to make such a stink. Chester laughed and waved his ass in Blacktail’s face as he walked by. Sometimes they wrestled, though Blacktail was careful not to wound him accidentally. Chester was still very thin, and the wound in his side worried them both. But all in all, it was a pleasant time.

On the third morning they began to grow hungry again.

v

Does it mourn? Chester wondered.

They lay on the bluff overlooking the flat, gravel-covered clearing that Chester had come to think of as Car’s den. It was midmorning, with a few more clouds than usual, and smelled a bit like rain. The Car of the first two-legs had not moved since they died. Chester thought it looked rather sad, sitting there alone.

His ears perked up. He listened for a moment, then spoke. “I believe I hear another one,” he said softly. “Perhaps our dinner has arrived?”

“Yes,” Blacktail said. “I heard it not long ago. It carries five, I think. Do you have the strength to take one of them down on your own? Take care to answer true. It is important that none escape.”

“I think so. Yes.”

“Good enough, good enough. Come, hunter. Lead me to the bluff above the trailhead. We’ll pick up the scent there. Mind you take care not to be seen.”

He called me “hunter,” Chester thought dazedly.

They let the two-legs pass, then fell in behind them. This time, Chester knew without being told to follow Blacktail and do as he did. There were five of them, right enough. Chester was nervous, but also excited. He was growing attuned to the hunt. He felt sure he could bring down one of them on his own, perhaps even two. At the same time, there was little doubt in his mind that Blacktail could kill all five and more besides if it came to that. Each time he closed his eyes, he saw those burning red eyes and heard the terrible roar.

Blacktail still had his terrors at least once each night. Worse, the stink of his illness was in his every breath, every piss. It oozed from the fur of his neck. But Chester said nothing about any of this. He understood little of what was happening. He was coming to think that was for the best.

The small pack of two-legs moved swiftly. They broke away from the trail and struck out through the open desert. Chester was surprised by this, for all those that came before had stayed close on the trail. “Do you think they’re moving toward something, or do they simply wander?”

“They’re moving toward the large mesa, over yonder. At this pace they’ll make it before sunset.”

“When shall we strike?” Chester asked. “Car can’t save them anymore. They’ve come too far out.”

Blacktail didn’t answer at first. After a long moment he spoke softly, almost to himself. “We may not strike at all. I don’t like this.”

“What?”

“They know we’re here. They pretend not to, but they know.”

Chester looked down at the two-legs. Nothing stood out. They bore bundles on their back. Some of them walked with sticks in hand, but not the kind that brought gunshots. All of them were draped in those ridiculous second skins. “How do you know?”

“I’m not sure. There’s…it’s something in the way they glance about but try to hide it. Or perhaps it is in their scent. It doesn’t matter. They know.”

Chester sniffed. “Do they have the gunshots thing? I can’t tell.”