Chapter 20: Sophia

 

"Motherfucker!" Eli roared and stumbled two steps back, crashing into the open door behind him. 

With his free hand, the one not clutched in the jaws of a ravenous wolf, he jerked the large hunting knife out of it's sheath on his belt. In the same instant, a metallic flash from his right thrust into the neck of the beast latched onto his leg. His knife held in a firm reverse grip, he hammered a flurry of rapid stabs into the wolf holding his left arm. Neck, side, back, blood dripped from the wild animal through a half dozen deep wounds before it finally loosed it's jaws. 

The beast sprang back, snarling and furious, and stood menacingly beside it's decapitated kin. Unfortunately for the wolf, Julie had already drawn her pistol and lined up a clear shot. Three blasts of explosive gunfire rang throughout the cramped kitchen, and Eli's ears could hear nothing but painfully high-pitched ringing. The top of the remaining wolf's head disappeared, along with a sizable chunk of it's gray brain, and it dropped like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Eli!" Julie cried, rushing to his side as he replaced his knife and drew his own pistol, just in case.

"I'm fine." He answered, putting some weight on his injured leg to test it. "I've got the door covered. Check the walk-in."

"The what?" Julie asked, whipping her head around, searching for more threats.

"The steel door in the back wall. The walk-in freezer." Eli pointed to the half-open freezer door.

"On it." Julie said.

Her gun was raised and ready as she rushed to thick steel door. The door sat partially open, allowing Julie the opportunity to lean around enough to use one eye to look inside. She jerked her head away from the opening, took a half step back, then kicked the door closed with all the force she could muster. A loud bang and a pathetic whining sound followed her kick. The heavy door bounced off the head of a wolf who was presumably waiting to ambush her, and she gave it a second hard kick, eliciting a second bone-crunching thump and yelp. She shifted to the right so she could aim a shot through the narrow opening, then dumped two rounds into the creature hidden inside the walk-in.

"It's clear." She said.

"The kitchen is." Eli said, motioning for her to follow him. "We need to check the restrooms though."

Julie didn't follow Eli, opting to move in front of her injured son. They cautiously stalked out of the kitchen and made their way around the bar area, toward the restrooms at the opposite end of the diner. The plaques which would normally mark the rooms as either male or female were long gone, but it didn't really matter anyway. Eli walked with a slight limp as blood began soaking through his sock. Blood was also trickling down his left arm, the wolf's jaws were strong enough to penetrate the thin armor of his forearm guard. The rush of adrenaline was the only thing dulling the inevitable pain from the attack.

Julie methodically checked both tiny restrooms, waving Eli back when he was about to check one. After clearing the second one, she rushed back to Eli and pulled his right arm over her shoulder to steady him. Without waiting, she steered him toward the exit and marched him out of the decrepit restaurant.

"How bad is it?" She asked.

"It's not completely mangled, so not too bad. But it needs to be cleaned ASAP, infection is my main concern right now."

"Well, there should be some emergency antibiotics in the med kits." Julie offered helpfully.

"Antibiotics don't work like that. They're not a one-size-fits-all medicine. You have to treat an infection with a specific antibiotic, otherwise it's just a waste of medication. Hell, taking the wrong antibiotics can actually make an infection worse by causing a secondary inflammatory response, or worsening a fever, or......never mind. No antibiotics we have would work against any disease a wild wolf would carry, they're just for endemic diseases of Lancaster."

Julie's eyebrows were knit together in deep thought, with a hint of confusion and concern.

"More knowledge you don't remember how you know?" She asked.

"No, that knowledge is courtesy of Dr. Riley and the Lancaster Militia Medical team." He quickly lied. Basic knowledge on antibiotics in Lancaster was severely lacking, and Dr. Riley actually laughed at him when he brought up the issue, claiming she knew better than him because she was the doctor and he was just a Sweeper. How many people had she made sick from administration of improper medication? How many people had she unintentionally killed? It was an infuriating experience to have life-saving information denied without consideration.

"I always thought Dr. Riley was an incompetent jerk." Julie said as they approached the motel. "I guess she knew more than people gave her credit for."

Eli chuckled, then sucked in a sharp breath as his ankle throbbed painfully. They shuffled to the door of their room and Julie pushed it open after holstering her pistol. She guided him inside and sat him down on one of the chairs by the window. Eli pulled off his right boot, the blood-soaked sock beneath, and rolled up the bloodied, tattered leg of his pants to expose his wounded ankle for treatment.

"Holy shit, that looks terrible. What happened?" Vivi dropped the wet shirt she was holding onto the bed and hurried over to check on Eli.

"Wolves are really good at hiding." Eli grunted as he removed the armor from his injured arm. "Two of them got me before I could see them. It's not that bad, though. I just need to clean it really well and I'll be fine."

"Here, sweetie." Julie placed the case that contained medical supplies on the floor beside Eli's chair. Eli mumbled his thanks and bent down to collect some of the alcohol pads.

"What do you mean 'it's not that bad'? There's so much blood, we might need to stitch it closed." Vivi said.

"It's just bleeding a lot because of my elevated heart rate, the wound itself isn't actually very deep." Eli said, tearing open a disinfectant cloth and dabbing it against his ankle, hissing and swearing at the intense sting of distilled alcohol in the open wound.

"Here, let me do that, you can do your arm." Vivi said, opening another alcohol pad.

"Thanks." Eli said and leaned back in the chair to focus on cleaning his left arm.

When Eli's injuries were treated and bandaged, Julie carried the used medical supplies outside to dispose of in the fire. Vivi placed a gentle kiss on Eli's cheek and sat in the chair beside him.

"Well, looks like we're trading duties." She said, nodding at his bandaged ankle. "You shouldn't walk too much right now, so I'll go with mom to check the diner since it's cleared."

Eli sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll work on the laundry while you two search the place. But take the rifle and shotgun, just in case. The wolves in the diner weren't monstrously big like the one from last night, but there could be more lurking around, especially in the truck stop."

"Of course. I'm glad you're okay." She patted his thigh, kissed him softly on the lips, and started gearing up. Julie came back inside as Vivi slung the rifle over her back.

"Grab the shotgun, mom. Eli wants us to be fully armed to continue searching the diner and truck stop." Vivi said, strapping Eli's pistol to her thigh.

"Vivi..." Julie said, raising an eyebrow at her daughter, "...are you suggesting we take all the weapons and leave Eli with no means of defending himself except a knife?"

"Uhh, but Eli said-"

"I'm sure he's worried about our safety, but I'm also worried about his. Leave the pistol for your brother." Julie said, pointing at the gun strapped to Vivi's thigh.

"Yes ma'am." Vivi pouted. "I'm worried about him too, you know..." she mumbled as she removed the holstered weapon and passed it to her brother.

"We'll try to be quick with the search, sweetheart." Julie said, kissing Eli before grabbing the shotgun.

"Rather than quick, just be safe." Eli replied.

Vivi, still pouting, followed Julie out the door, and they headed over to search the now-empty restaurant. Eli sighed, leaned back, and rubbed his neck in thought.

Shit. I can't believe I let myself get ambushed by wolves like that. It's been too many years since I've been hunting, or even seen a wild animal. Thankfully it was normal sized wolves, and not behemoths like the other one, otherwise I'd have lost my leg entirely.

Eli rubbed his face and tried to ignore the dull throbbing in his ankle as he stood from his chair. He limped into the bathroom to pick up where Vivi left off with the cleaning. A washboard was propped up against the inside of the tub, with a small pile of clothes and towels sitting in a few inches of water. He knelt down, hissing as the skin of his ankle stretched, and pulled one of the towels from the pile to start scrubbing.

The rhythmic sound of cloth scraping against washboard slats echoed off the walls in the tiny room while he scrubbed. Julie and Vivi briefly returned to report that they found nothing of any value in the diner before leaving to search the station across the street. Eli finished cleaning their laundry and hung everything over the shower curtain rod to dry. Satisfied he got everything as clean as he could with their extremely limited water supply, he sat on the side of the tub and stretched out his back, which was getting sore and stiff from being hunched over for nearly an hour.

He placed his hands on his knees and was about to stand when a faint metallic click came from the motel room's entry door. The sound was soft, like when someone tries to sneak into a room. He looked out the bathroom door, a thin line of daylight slowly appeared across the floor, and was half-broken by a moving shadow. Someone was sneaking into the motel room. Eli quietly drew the pistol from it's holster and clicked the safety off as he stood to crouch by the bathroom doorway. He kept his breathing even and silent, waiting to face the potential attacker.

"I can hear you back there." A husky female voice said from the main room, "Identify yourself and come out slowly. And leave any weapons you have on the ground."

She can hear me? Bullshit, there's no way she knows someone's in here, she's just bluffing. It's a nice tactic to flush people out though.

"I won't ask twice. Identify yourself and come out slowly, without weapons." The demand was accented with the noise of a round being loaded into a rifle.

What the fuck? I guess she really can hear me...

"Identify yourself first." He called.

"A man?" The voice sounded genuinely surprised. "What's a man doing all the way out here by himself?"

"We can talk after you introduce yourself." Eli insisted.

A tense moment of silence followed before the voice responded.

"Fine. My name's Sophia. I'm a scout for a trading caravan from Mist Harbor."

"Mist Harbor? Is Lauren part of your caravan?" Eli asked.

"You know my sister? Yes, I'm with her caravan. Now, who are you?"

"I'm Eli Hawkins. I'm coming out now. I'll lower my weapon, but I'm not leaving it behind, I'm sure you understand my wariness."

"...fine." A small click resonated from the source of the voice, like a gun safety being switched on. "My weapon is lowered as well. I don't want unnecessary trouble here."

"Neither do I." Eli said.

He cautiously stepped out of the small bathroom, into the sunlight streaming through the open door. He was greeted by a woman standing at the foot of the bed, holding a SMG at her side. Slightly taller than Vivi, she had straight, smooth hair the color of fresh green leaves, cut just below her jaw line. Her face was beautiful, with high cheek bones, a delicate chin, and full, plump lips. Her eyes were a startlingly clear green, half a shade lighter than her silky hair. She wore gray pants that sat low on her shapely hips and a dark green tank top that showed off her firm stomach and perky breasts. She was built like an Olympic runner; lean, muscular, athletic, and perfectly tanned. And her long, tapered ears came to a fine point. Eli couldn't help himself, he stared at the exotically beautiful young woman with his mouth slightly open.

"Um...", he said "...hi?"