17 Bullets: becoming the Werewolf Queen

Chapter 10: Fire from her Fingers

"I ate one of those cool carrots, but do you need to eat?" I pointed to the other bin where his leftover pig was.

"Eat. Yes." He reached for the bin and grabbed his roast. He held it out in offering with a smirking grin.

"No!" I laughed, holding my hands up. "That thing could have worms or diseases or something. I'll cook my meat." I grabbed a rambutan and sat back to eat it. I peeled away the sharp skin to expose the white creamy fruit inside.

He laughed and dashed glances, smiling at the flower every so often.  I may have even winked once.

I pointed to the bags. "We need water today." Three fingers tapping my chin. I pointed the pathway down to the lake.

He nodded with another bite of some rib thing. "Water."

Hopping off the truck, I grabbed the bags. "Ready?"

His face fell with a growl. "No El."

"No El? Yes El!" I whined. "I'm not staying at the truck like a prisoner."

"El car." He stated stoney.

I pouted. "No car."

"El safe car." He tucked my flower back at my ear before it fell.

"Please, water El and Thann."

"Safe car, Thann water," he spoke softly. Then his eyes popped to mine as if he just thought of something. "No safe. Werewolf."

"Werewolf!" I screamed and then quieted. "Water werewolf?" I mean, I guess it made sense. There were probably lots of predators hanging out at the local watering hole ready for their munchies.  That's where I first saw the grey blurs of the sabretooths even.  It made me shudder to think how often Jia and I hung around there and randomly avoided them.

A single nod.

I groaned and dropped the bags like a huffing toddler. "Fine. No water El. Car El."

He stood from the back to full height. Then he patted my head. "Human female safe."

"Yeah-yeah-yeah. Get out of here." I shooed him away.

He chuckled and grabbed my bags and bucket.  "Ngizobuya kungekudala sthandwa sami."

"Sure, sure. Sami, sami. Whatever you're saying." I grumbled, but he was already taking strong steps and disappearing to the path.

I figured I better get working on building my wagon. Maybe divide and conquer was better in this situation anyway. Not that I'd admit that to him.

The sun was high in the sky when I had a crudely woven wagon basket made. I stopped for lunch and gnawed on a potato when I heard grunting coming from the tree line. It didn't seem like it was a sound Thann would make, so instantly my senses heightened.

A roar like thunder pressed on my ears and a spined panda broke through the tree line standing to its full height on back legs. The scream fired out of me as my rifle was twisted from my back. The panda sank forward, coming towards me when the bullet hit skimming just along its forehead.

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I cursed.  Remember to adjust for close range Eleanor!

The creature roared its fury and leapt forward, taking its bounding steps straight for me. Another millisecond later a bullet went between his eyes and he tangled down into the electric fence wire, dead. Only feet from my dangling legs.

Dang.

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I fell back trembling against the truck, heart racing with adrenaline, chest pounding air in.