Out of nowhere, a heavy gust of wind caused the truck to rock.She stopped.
It had been an otherwise still night.Where had the wind come from?Since they came out to live under the second sun, the Earth had been hot, dry, oppressive, and without a breeze most days.She leaned forward, glanced up toward the sky, and tried to gauge if a storm current was coming through.There hadn’t been one in months.It was so dark.She couldn’t make out anything.She sighed.She didn’t have time for bad weather and needed to find the elusive wolves.So, she would run out of fuel and have no choice but to search on foot.That would be next to impossible with Morlie incapacitated.Her only option was to lock Morlie in the truck and go alone to seek help.
She started to ease off the brake only to slam her foot down on it again.“Shit!”
Before Kai stood a man caught in the beam of the solo light that still worked.She squeezed the wheel tight, hard; the pressure made her palms ache and her fingers throb, but she held firm.If she let go, she would start to freak out at the fact she’d almost run him over.It didn’t matter that he was the size of a recovery machine—over six and a half or seven feet in height.The breadth of his shoulders expanded practically to the width of the truck hood, and he was standing some distance away.
Did he leave the containment area, too?“Or is he a survivor?” She shook her head.The catastrophe had been all-consuming.
“Why is he just standing there?”The big man wore a simple dark vest and pants.His clothes seemed decent, better than what she and Morlie wore.So, he either recently came through the walls or managed to amass provisions in the Great Unknown.
Kai reached over and placed a hand on her sister’s arm.Her skin was frail and thin.Morlie was running out of time.She eased the gear into PARK and took a breath.Morlie needed help, and this man was the only prospect she’d encountered in hours.
“Hello?”The old metal of the door groaned as she got out.The words of the medical attendant came back to her mind as she took a hesitant step toward the man.Perhaps she had been wrong.The wolves must have been a surname—a group of people.Survivors!
“Mr.Wolf...can you help us?”
He tilted his head as his brows drew tight and deep.A sound came from him.A rumble heavier and louder than the ancient engine of the truck.The vibrations of it somehow crossed the distance and sent trembles through her body as if she weren’t flesh and bones, only to return and settle low in her core.Quaking.
She swallowed and balled her hands into fists to control her fear.The effect was simple; it leashed her emotions.Is he shocked that I know who he is?
“Can you help us?Please?”Kai moved toward him again, not caring if he heard the pleading in her voice.She’d come this far to seek care for her sister, and nothing would deter her.Not even this giant of a man.
“Who sent you?”
Blink.
Now, he was there, before her.
“What?How?”I’m delirious.No way.She stumbled back.Up close, the man was at least two feet taller than her.And bigger.Just bigger in every way.She wondered what the hell people were eating in the wild of the Great Unknown to grow so huge.
He closed the gap again.“You don’t have permission to be here.Have you chosen this as your day todie?”
His words were equal parts growl and thunder.If a person could harness the warning echoes of a pending storm, it was this man.Cinnamon and sulfur ribboned through his breath.The scent filled her nostrils and cloaked her as if he were burning the spiced bark inside him.Oddly, both frightening and...comforting.A part of her had the urge to lean forward and burrow her face into him and inhale more.
She shook herself.
“No.I...No one is dying today,” she declared.Kai prayed her voice had more strength and confidence than she felt.Her mouth was dry.She licked her lips, barely moistening the peeling, cracked flesh.
Radiant, turquoise-opal eyes zeroed in on her lips and tracked the slight movement.
Heat brushed her lips.She rolled them in and stepped back.What is it with this man?Better question, ‘What is with me?’
“My sister.”She gestured across the hood to the slumped form of Morlie, her sister’s head barely visible.“She needs care.”
His eyes shifted in the direction of the passenger seat through the windshield.He inhaled.“Sickness.”
“Yes!”Urgency filled her veins.Kai stopped herself from rushing forward.“Can you help us?Do you have medicine, Mr.Wolf?”
“Aodh.”
Instantly, she slapped a hand on the truck and braced herself.Ground tremors hadn’t happened in her lifetime, but she’d learned about what started the Great Catastrophe.
Nothing.Nothing was shaking, and the ground beneath her feet was still.When she glanced up at the man, he’d cocked a brow and stared at her.
Before the rumbling, he’d spoken.Kai had the odd sense that what she’d just heard had come from one source—him.“What did you say?”
“Why do you proceed in calling mewolf?”he sneered.“I am Aodh.”There went the sound again.
