Page 41 of The Last Sanctuary
Raven held her breath. Sticks and twigs and rocks dug into her spine. A spider crawled up her forearm. Still, she dared not move.
Luna snorted and trotted away from Raven, toward the far side of the clearing. Seeming to ignore Raven altogether, Luna turned in a tight circle and settled onto the ground.
The fight seemed to be over. For now, at least.
Shadow also ignored Raven. He sank down beside Luna and buried his muzzle in the soft fur of her neck. She, in turn, rested her head on his back.
Raven wasn’t sure what she should do now. Not move for hours, until the wolves retired to their den? Or could she safely get up now? Did they want her out of their territory, or would her movement activate their prey drive?
Cautiously, her gaze on the wolves, she raised one hand and flicked the spider from her upper arm.
The white wolf fixed her unblinking amber eyes on Raven.I’m watching you, her wolfish expression said.And I don’t like what I see.
Raven stayed on the ground. She wrapped her arms around her rib cage, unable to stop shivering. Hunger gnawed at her empty stomach. Her mouth was so dry it felt caked in sand. She coughed.
The wolves didn’t move. They didn’t react.
Raven, however, was flushed with fear. A single cough didn’t mean anything. Did it? She wasn’t getting sick. She didn’t have it. She was just nervous after the scare with the bikers and then the wolves. People coughed all the time. She needed to clear her throat. That’s all. Nothing more.Please, please be nothing more.
She closed her eyes for a moment, mentally counting the days. Four days since exposure to the Hydra Virus. The cold symptoms should’ve started yesterday. If she were infected, she would know soon.
Raven opened her eyes and stared up at the sky through the tangle of branches overhead. A bird drifted high, some kind of raptor. Maybe a hawk.
Dread sprouted in the pit of her stomach, an ugly fear spreading black roots. She couldn’t waste energy on worrying about whether she was sick or not. Worrying wasn’t going to stop it or hurry it along, either way.
She had more pressing concerns. The bikers would be back soon. She had to figure out a plan.
Beyond the nature preserve, there were too many towns, too many people. What were the towns like right now? Macon, Atlanta, the suburbs? All of Georgia? The country? What about the world?
Were most people sick or dead? Had law and order truly fallen? And if it had, then anyone not sick would be either desperately out for themselves or actively preying upon others to take whatever they could.
She only knew that Forsyth had been an incredibly dangerous mistake. She had to be smart. She might not outlive another mistake like that.
Anywhere people were located was dangerous. So, if she was supposed to avoid towns and cities, then what could she possibly do? Where could she go that was safe?
The cabin. Her grandfather’s hunting cabin was located somewhere about a hundred or so miles north of here, well past Atlanta, Marietta, Alpharetta, Canton, Cumming, and Gainesville.
The map to the cabin was folded safely in the inside zippered pocket of her backpack. She couldn’t find the cabin without the map. The Chattahoochee National Forest alone encompassed over 750,000 acres. The Blue Ridge Mountains stretched over 34,000 miles of dense wilderness, of mountains, forests, valleys, streams and rivers, and ravines.
That was after she navigated the hostile highways and dangerous cities between here and there. And she would have to keep well east of Atlanta and the surrounding suburban sprawl, as well as Gainesville.
The threat of roving gangs, thieves and raiders, terrified locals, and of course, Raven being a lone young woman made things even more dangerous.
Before her mother left, they had visited the cabin every summer with her family. She closed her eyes, envisioned the rough-hewn walls, the worn pine floor, the peeling cabinets in the kitchen, and the farmer’s sink with the gingham curtains she’d sewn herself when she was twelve.
It was a safe place. The cabin had a fresh creek running through the forty-acre property for fishing, solar panels for electricity, a hand-pump for the well, plus a stocked larder. Nestled in a small valley surrounded by looming hills, it was as isolated as it was beautiful.
She would have food, water, and shelter. Most importantly, it would be worlds away from the dangerous bikers and the virus.
But that also meant leaving the animals behind. The thought made her sick. The cabin was her eventual destination, but she couldn’t leave the area completely, not while the Headhunters were still here and the animals weren’t safe.
But she needed to escape the zoo for now. If she had to, she could hide out for days in the woods of the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge and nature preserve. They wouldn’t find her. She would be safe while she waited for them to get bored and leave.
Once they were gone, she could return to the zoo. This was temporary. She promised herself it was only temporary. She would return, and the animals would still be okay. Hungry and grumpy, but okay.
There was one big problem, though. Her backpack was still in the lodge.
She had to retrieve the pack, and not just for the map.
