The Dog People (The Colter Saga Book 4) Read online

  “Ah… Now that you mention it,” Andrew said. “That barn idea seems like a really good one. Just go around the house, and the barn is about a hundred yards down on your right. Maybe you should make sure your dogs go with you too.”

  Chapter 4

  Both Molly and Shannon were still saddle sore. Knowing they still had a long and dusty road ahead of them, they enjoyed the respite and soaking in a hot bath. Shannon still wasn’t showing except in her imagination. Molly noticed Shannon was smiling a quiet smile now days, but didn’t want to be nosy.

  Jezebel had told Shannon she was pregnant a few days after she’d conceived. This was just before they left New Liberty, a month ago. Shannon and Jezebel walked a short ways into the woods that day, to the ledge where Shannon had sat waiting for Dalton to return from the west.

  “Are you sure?” Shannon had asked.

  Yes Jezebel said, looking up at her.

  “Will it be a boy or a girl?” Shannon asked.

  I can’t tell now, Jezebel said. But I’ll be able to in a few weeks.

  “Well, don’t tell me,” Shannon said.

  Okay, Jezebel said.

  “No, tell me,” Shannon said.

  Okay, Jezebel said.

  “Wait, don’t tell me,” Shannon said.

  Jezebel stood, looked at Shannon for a moment, and slowly walked away.

  Shannon thought at first, Jezebel had rolled her eyes at her. But that couldn’t be, she thought. Or could it?

  ***

  The next morning, the dogs left Harmony before first light. They weren’t seen for all of the three days the family stayed in the village. The horses got a much needed rest, and some good grain. Dalton made sure they got to stand in water to cool off their hooves. The Colter men were able to help raise a barn. They were invited into some of the homes in the village, once the dogs were gone.

  “Speaking of dogs, where did your dogs go?” Andrew asked the next morning.

  “They left,” James said. “They do that every once in a while.”

  “Where did they go?” the little boy with Andrew asked.

  “They’re probably on our perimeter, watching,” James said.

  “I don’t think so,” Matthew said. “The dogs headed further west. They needed to get away from Harmony. I’m not sure of the reason. Besides, Luther was tired of sitting around waiting for us. Jezebel just came back into camp and is over with Shannon and Dalton.”

  Andrew stared at Matthew with a strange look. James could tell he was more than a little curious as to how Matthew could possibly know that much about the dogs. Matthew had done this sort of thing before, but never in front of strangers.

  “Matthew,” James said thinking quickly. “I told you not to make up stories about the dogs.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Matthew said. “I forgot other people don’t know about the joke.”

  “Sorry, Andrew,” James said. “Ever since Matthew was a little boy, he’s pretended he knew what the dogs were thinking.”

  “He’s good at it,” Andrew said, smiling and shaking his head. “He really had me going there.”

  James thought it a good idea to change the subject.

  “Andrew,” James said. “There is something I’ve wanted to discuss with you. In our travels, we came through the town of Memphis. Things were terrible there. We talked to some of the children that were almost running wild. They said that a group called the ‘mission’ came in and ended up killing almost all the people living there. “Have you heard of them?”

  It was obvious from the look on his face that Andrew was familiar with the group.

  “Yes,” Andrew said. “I’m familiar with them.”

  “Well?” James said.

  “You’re going to make me talk about it,” Andrew said. “Aren’t you?”

  “Not if you don’t want to,” James said. “Andrew, you’ve been a wonderful host. I don’t want to intrude. Forget I even asked.”

  Andrew looked at the floor for a while, before answering.

  “Yeah,” Andrew said. “I know the mission people. As evil a group as you ever laid your eyes on. They came through here four or five years ago. I buried six of them myself out behind the barn in that big pasture. Grass wouldn’t grow there for two years.”

  What was their story?” Dalton asked.

  “There was no one specific holy roller in charge of them,” Andrew said. “There were three or four as near as I could tell. They were all the same anyhow. They seemed nice enough to begin with. Then they started making strange demands. Most involved our wives and daughters.”

  “I assume you asked them to move on?” James said.

  “It wasn’t so much asked as demanded they leave,” Andrew said. “They murdered two of our citizens, so we taught them a lesson. If you’re going to start a fight with someone, you may want to look outside the state of Arkansas. We’re armed to the teeth, and not going to walk away from a fight.”

  “Well,” James said. “That must be why you live in a place named Harmony.”

  “Yeah,” Andrew said smiling. “We all live in Harmony.”

  ***

  The alpha male of the wolf pack was agitated. He’d known the dogs had been in their territory for three days. His mate watched as he paced to the edge of the cliff where the rest of the pack rested. There were eleven adults and seven whelps in his pack. This was almost twice the size of most wolf packs. This alpha was large for a wolf, almost two hundred pounds. He was also smarter than many of his peers. He was a good provider and his pack had prospered.

  The dogs had come into his territory and stayed. Normally he and his pack would have gone out and simply killed the dogs. But these dogs were different. Alpha wasn’t frightened of the dogs. But for some reason they made him uneasy. In the same way, humans made him uneasy.

  He had taken Mate and Beta to find the dogs, when they first arrived. Beta was almost as big as Alpha, but they had settled who was leader when they were little more than pups. Mate was his chosen and lifelong companion. Because the dogs seemed different, Alpha led the others some distance away. He then approached the dogs alone and at a distance. He’d watched the dogs from a rise, hidden by a group of small pine trees.

  Alpha could see the two deer feeding in a small glen, and knew the dogs were hunting them. The deer were nibbling the tender shoots off a willow tree, unaware of the approaching shadows. The wolf turned his massive head in curiosity, as the dogs crept forward, fanning out in a semicircle. They moved as one, like black smoke creeping across the forest floor.

  The deer died in silence, the snap of their necks the only sound. Alpha was again surprised when the dogs formed a circle around the fallen deer and sat waiting for some sort of signal from the massive dog standing in the center of the circle. The dog glanced up at the group of pines where Alpha lay watching.

  The circle broke as each dog moved to form a line in the forest facing the Alpha’s clump of pines. It confirmed for wolf, these dogs were very dangerous. Alpha crawled back out of the clump of pines, gathered his companions, and raced for where the rest of the pack waited. Alpha knew there was something unnatural with all of this, and for the first time the wolf was afraid. What was even worse for the wolf, he wasn’t sure why.

  ***

  The Colter group mounted their horses, said their goodbyes, and headed west out of Harmony. They rode for several hours before turning south towards the Arkansas River. From there, they traveled until they were about a hundred and fifty miles from the Oklahoma border. The dogs hadn’t rejoined the group when they set camp up that night along the river. Dalton brought down a deer, dressed it, and had a haunch roasting over the open fire in a spit.

  The Arkansas River was swift flowing at this point. James was glad they decided not to cross it. He knew that Jake and the other adult dogs could make the crossing easily, he wasn’t sure about some of the younger ones. He wasn’t even sure where the dogs were. Except for Jezebel, the dogs had disappeared about three days ago. James walked ove
r to where Shannon and Jezebel sat waiting for the venison to finish roasting.

  “Shannon, do you or Jezebel know where the dogs are?” James asked.

  “No,” Shannon said. “They are either too far away or masking their thoughts.”

  “Why would they mask their thoughts?” James asked. “Do they do that often?”

  “Of course they do,” Shannon said. “They only communicate when they want you to know something. “

  “I don’t understand,” James said.

  “Suppose you said out loud, every thought you had?” Shannon asked. “It would be chaos, with people blurting out whatever weird thought came into their head. Instead, you choose what you want to be heard by others, and then say it aloud. It’s the same with the dogs. They communicate only what they want you or others to hear.”

  “What about when all the dogs are close by?” James asked. “Do all of them communicate with you whenever they want?”

  “No,” Shannon said. “Usually it’s Jake or Jezebel who communicate with us. The other dogs channel through those two as a rule. It wasn’t that way when they were puppies. Matthew and I thought we’d go crazy until they finally worked out a filtering system.”

  “I never thought about it like that,” James said. “Are you or Jezebel worried that we haven’t seen the dogs for three days?”

  “No,” Shannon said. “The last we heard, there was a pack of wolves shadowing the dogs. The wolves decided not to tangle with Jake and company. The dogs considered hunting the wolf pack down and killing them. But since they were just passing through, it didn’t seem to be worth the effort.”

  “Well,” James said. “If you’re not worried, I’ll let it go.”

  ***

  Two days went by, and everyone was feasting on a steady diet of fish. Willie turned out to be an excellent fisherman and taught Shannon most of his secrets. Jezebel paid close attention to everything that was going on, and Willie found it all a little unnerving. He still wasn’t happy about the relationship between Matthew, Shannon, and the dogs. He thought the whole thing was a little unnatural.

  “Now this time of day,” Willie said. “You can see the water bugs flying close to the surface. If you watch carefully, you’ll see a big bass lives in the cove over there. He’ll come right out of the water after one.”

  He and Shannon stood and watched for a few minutes and sure enough, the big bass broke the surface and took the bug right out of the air. The splash was audible when the bass hit the water.

  “See, Shannon,” Willie said. “No point fishing with night crawlers, if they’re biting on something else. See what I mean?”

  “What should we use?” Shannon asked.

  “You can use your cane pole,” Willie said. “Just use bait that looks like a bug and floats on top of the water like this one.”

  Will held up a water bug lure and tied it to the end of Shannon’s line.

  “Now throw it out so the first thing that hits the water is the lure,” Willie said.

  He watched as Shannon executed the throw and the lure landed close to where the bass had jumped. A few seconds later the bass broke the surface, and took the line and bobbin under water in a deep dive. Shannon squealed with delight, as she fought the weight on the end of her line. Finally the big fish tired and Willie scooped it from the water with the landing net he’d fashioned out of willow limbs.

  “That’s what I’m talking about, girl!” Willie exclaimed. “You’re a natural at this. You stick with it, and you’ll never go hungry.”

  Just then Jezebel looked towards the north, and the woods on the far side. Shannon turned and took several strides towards Jezebel, a look of concern on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” Willie asked, following Shannon back towards camp.

  “We’re about to be attacked by wolves,” Shannon said.

  Chapter 5

  Alpha decided they should return to the den. He knew it would be foolish to take on the dogs directly. There were too few adults in his pack to attack so many dogs. Typically, a single wolf was worth three or four dogs in a fight. But these dogs seemed different, somehow.

  The wolves were exceptional hunters, highly coordinated, and focused. Each knew his or her role in the hunt, and coordinated with each other well. Alpha sensed the dogs he saw in the valley, were just as disciplined.

  They may have taken it a step further. No, Alpha thought, he and the pack would do what they had done before, when faced with a dangerous adversary. They would track it to its den. There, they would kill the offspring and foul the den.

  The scent of the dogs was easy to follow. The trail led slightly northeast, through territory the wolves had avoided for some time. Humans lived there. The wolves knew it was best not to confront the humans. They were weak and puny, but they had ways to kill at a distance, the wolves didn’t understand or want to risk. Besides, except for the little ones, they tasted funny and weren’t all that good to eat.

  Alpha came upon the sign of a single dog and several horses. They were headed southwest, towards the river. The pack of wolves turned quickly and hurried on the trail. The spoor indicated several humans were with them, as well.

  The dog was female and in heat. The wolves moved through the forest quickly and quietly. They came to a spot where the humans dismounted. Alpha counted six humans, two of them were female. One of the males seemed either sick or injured.

  The pack of wolves picked up the pace as they closed on their quarry. They followed the humans towards the river that ran through this part of the country. Alpha paused when they came to the place the humans had camped. He and Mate crept forward and watched the humans below. One of the females and the old male were missing. The dog must be with them.

  Alpha led the wolves around the camp, picking up their scent on the other side. The wolves covered the several miles to the river at a steady trot. They came to a small wooded rise above the river, and watched the scene below. A large dog was there. Her scent was strong and Alpha decided he would breed her after they killed the humans. From this distance, the wolf couldn’t tell if the old male was sick or just injured. If he was sick, they would leave the carcass. The female was young. Her, they would eat.

  ***

  When Jezebel saw the wolves were on the rise, she knew Shannon was in danger. She wasn’t sure what she should do. Jezebel hadn’t heard or seen the other dogs for three days. They had to be out of range. She had no choice and sent out a call for help to the other dogs and Matthew.

  Matthew heard the cry for help. He relayed the call to Jake and the other dogs, hoping they were close enough to respond. He told Jezebel they were on their way. She knew the wolves would attack, and the Matthew would be too late.

  Jezebel looked back over her shoulder. The wolves were coming out of the woods and starting down the ridge. They headed directly toward where Shannon and Willie stood. Then Jezebel saw a large wolf and two others, circling out from the rest of the pack in her direction. She knew they were coming for her, and that she could easily out run the wolves and escape.

  Instead, Jezebel turned to defend Shannon from the pack.

  ***

  Matthew was some distance from the camp, and even further from the river. He and Dalton had been hunting all that morning. The warning from Jezebel came to him like a scream, stopping him dead in his tracks. It said a wolf pack was about to attack Shannon. Jezebel said there were many wolves. She said the humans were unarmed and backed up against the river.

  No one knew for certain where Jake and the other Colter dogs were. Matthew had relayed the warning from Jezebel to the other dogs, as best he could. He sprinted for the camp at a dead run, yelling to Dalton that Shannon was in trouble. Dalton followed in close pursuit. They both ran with the desperation of someone who knows they won’t get there in time, but ran none the less.

  Matthew was breathing hard, as he and Dalton reached the camp, and saddled their horses. James and Molly learned what had happened, and mounted up with Matthew and Dalt
on. All were heavily armed, and riding hard towards the river.

  ***

  The wolves were in no rush. They took their time. The semicircle closed on the old man, woman, and dog. The three continued retreating toward the river bank. Alpha knew if they went in the water to escape, they would find the bodies downstream. The pack had drowned their prey before in this river. The current at this spot was deep, fast, and treacherous.

  The dog took several steps toward Alpha and snarled in defiance. One of the smaller males approached Jezebel with its head low, its snarling lips pulled back from long teeth, and making a low growl. Most dogs would have rolled on their backs in submission, at such a ferocious display by a wolf.

  Jezebel attacked.

  The threatening wolf took a step back in surprise. It turned his head expecting help from Alpha or one of the other wolves. Jezebel, in a blur of speed, seized the throat of the wolf before it could turn back. With a bunching of the muscles in her neck, she ripped his throat open, shook her head, and threw the hundred pound dead wolf over her shoulder.

  The dying wolf lay shaking with seizures, until it bled out on the ground in front of the pack. Alpha and the other wolves took several steps back, as if reassessing the foe they faced with new respect. They took another step back, when Jezebel began to transform.

  Jezebel at first paced back and forth in front of the two humans, as if daring the wolves to attack them. Blood of the first wolf, ran over her muzzle and down the front of her chest. Her eyes turned a pale shade of red. Then they deepened to a dark glowing red, as blood coursed through her body. She turned those eyes on the wolves. They took yet another step away from her.

  Shannon could feel the waves of rage coursing through Jezebel, and knew she was no longer a dog. This was something else. It was a primeval rage. The rage came from the inner depths of what made the Colter dogs different. This was a rage that gripped the soul and consumed the spirit.

  Jezebel was transforming into a killing machine.

  ***

  Jake and Luther sensed Matthew’s call for help as a scream from some distant place. Without thought or coordination, all the dogs turned as one and started towards the camp and the river. They knew they were miles from those being threatened. All knew what it would require to save or revenge, Jezebel and the Colter family.