17 Bullets: becoming the Werewolf Queen

Chapter 27: An Alpha Command

34 BULLETS

We started walking back Maza's way, though I refused to ever acknowledge that we were going to Maza. In my mind we were heading to Molly and her kids. And that was all.

We had barely made it to midday when the wheelbarrow finally fell from my grasp. My shoulder had been screaming for the last hour. I took a tumble over it and got a few bruises, but nothing serious.

Tell that to Thann.

I might as well have jumped from a plane without a parachute.

He dropped my boxes and ran to pick me up from the fall. "El? Hurt?"

I instinctively bent into him and nodded. "Shoulder. My shoulder hurts. I don't think I can carry the wheelbarrow anymore with my arm like this."

I was sure an ice pack would be better for muscle pain like mine, but heat would help my sanity, so I grabbed his hand and placed it over the shirt at my shoulder.

"Help. Hand, stay," I told him and he rubbed softly as I bit my lip. "That's okay," I nodded, eyes closing in hurt.

After a few minutes of his warmth, I got up and took another ibuprofen. But as I downed it, I knew the wheelbarrow was toast. I broke the nails out of the handle and crunched half of the vines to hold the items in. It was fixable, but I knew it wouldn't matter. With my jacked up shoulder, I couldn't hold it anymore anyway.

So, I pick and chose what to keep from my tools and said goodbye to the rest, like I said goodbye to my truck. Goodbye hammer. Goodbye handsaw, shovel, and screwdrivers. I think I can make do without you.

Thann put my sleeping bag in his basket, and I carried my thermal cooker with my good arm. My left shoulder was bound to get tired with carrying both the rifle and cooker, but I was not leaving my cooker.

I moved most of the things from my purse to my pouch and abandoned it and Jia's bags. My second change of clothes and a few other supplies were already in the second bin, but I feared that maybe coming back to get my supplies was a stupid idea.

If I couldn't carry them, should we have really trekked a whole week out of our way? Molly and the other ladies were probably fairing just fine without Earth stuff.

Maybe I didn't need mine either.

With the lack of extra weight on my arms, we were able to move faster than before. Scratch that. I was able to move faster. Thann was still going strong at whatever tempo my walk was at.

When dusk was moving in, Thann's ears perked and he stopped us.

"What is..." was all I got out, before one of his hands held up to quiet me.

He slowly put down my bins and rolled the basket off his back, so I followed suit and put down my cooker and readied my rifle.

"Come," he whispered and stepped through the underbrush like a ghost.

Every step of mine crunched some leaf or twig, but he didn't complain, he just inched us forward through the forest.

He had guided us about fifty yards away and peered around one tall evergreen tree. He caught my eye and signed. Meat. El kill. He then pointed around the tree.

I made a hesitant face.

He was hoping that I'd shoot something for dinner, but my aim was not up for the count anymore.

However, I guess I'd have to relearn sometime. I nodded my understanding and peeked around at the animal.

There was a large antelope deer thing nibbling grass, some hundred feet away. He was tall and had wide antlers like an elk, with a small head and pointy cheeks, but a long thin neck. Vertical stripes of wide brown and red crossed his torso and he wasn't paying me any attention.