บท 14: Chapter 14: Decisions and Consequences, Part 1
As Carmella lay curled on the porch, eyes glazed in grief, she felt something soft and warm rub against her legs. The tears had stopped some time ago, but she was still unable to pull herself together. The depression ran so deeply that she couldn't stand.
Her eyes moved to the sight of a wolf lying against her legs. It wasn't Wolf. The she-bitch? She looked at Carmella and whined. Carmella reached out her hands, and the wolf licked them. Carmella felt her eyes sting with renewed tears, only this time it wasn't because of grief.
II
When Wolf awakened, he groggily ignored the chicken butts as he stumbled out the door and began sniffing around the yard. It was a long time before he was satisfied that the alien was gone. He marked the porch with several smelly streams of piss and tried to mark inside the house, but Carmella drew the line and wouldn't let him. Only then did he drink and eat.
Carmella could see by Wolf's panting that he was exhausted. Wolf came to where she was rocking in her porch chair. He whined tiredly and then rested his head in her lap.
"Poor baby." She rubbed between his ears as he sighed and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Wolf and his wife stayed for nearly a week, longer than he had ever stayed before. It was nice having him help her herd again. At night he slept on the porch and watched the fields and woods intently, and every day he circled the house and barn repeatedly marking his territory. Carmella wondered at his endless supply of pee, and soon the yard began to take on a strong musky odor.
He took great pains to mark the yard and to make sure his was the dominant smell. Whenever the she-wolf peed, he would immediately pee over hers.
Carmella cackled. "He's a chauvinist, isn't he, girl?"
Carmella truly cared for the she-wolf, and she named her Girl. Sometimes it took pain to bring family closer, and she guessed she had proven herself to the female.
Running low on dog food, she decided to make a run into town. Both wolves climbed into the truck. Girl was skittish, but Wolf stuck his head out the window. Girl followed suit and began to relax and enjoy the ride.
In town, Carmella got some supplies and decided to hit the Harley Dealership for another motorcycle. She didn't know much about motorcycles or "hogs," but she selected one that wasn't too big and hoped that once she gassed it, it would run. She rolled it up a metal ramp into the back of the truck while the wolves chased down some squirrels and had a quick snack. Afterwards, they returned to the farm.
As she pulled the truck to its position on the side of the house, Wolf gave her a swift lick in the face. He jumped to the ground, sniffed the air, and headed for the woods. Girl looked from her mate to her mother-in-law indecisively.
Carmella held her breath. Would she stay?
Evidently Wolf knew that she would follow him because he didn't look behind him. After giving Carmella one last look, Girl followed her mate.
Carmella grimly went about her task of putting away her supplies, unloading the motorcycle, siphoning out any old gas, and cleaning everything well before she filled it with fresh fuel. She climbed onto the bike and started it on the first try.
She triple-checked that her guns were loaded and then checked the animals. When that was done, Carmella returned to the house and sank onto her couch. She stared into the empty space before her, lowered her head into her hands, and wept.
III
A few nights later Carmella had a nightmare.
She dreamed she was sleeping in her bed and had heard the sound of her front door opening despite being securely locked. She reached for her gun, but when she looked up a shadowy figure was in her doorway. She screamed and fired off a shot, but the shadow moved quickly and pinned her to her bed.
That was all she remembered of the dream. The next morning she awoke and cuddled comfortably in her bed, the memory of her nightmare fading as the sun shone through the windows.
"Damn!" Carmella jumped out of bed. She had overslept. She had to milk the cow and collect the eggs. The animals needed to be fed—
She rubbed her side when a dull ache bloomed in her belly. It wasn't time for her period. She would take some ibuprofen later. Carmella made up her bed and splashed her face, brushed her teeth, and used the slop bucket. After dressing, she decided to save breakfast for later and went about her chores.
Carmella had an odd feeling while she did her work. She looked over her shoulders often. She couldn't understand why it felt as if someone was coming toward her even though she neither heard nor saw anything. She thought briefly of that alien, but the alien no longer scared her. It certainly would have killed her or taken her by now if that was its plan. She shrugged off the feeling and continued with her chores.
Back in the house she cracked two eggs to make scrambled eggs, but the gelatinous yolks made her ill and she threw them out. Instead she made a cup of hot tea and nibbled on day-old bread. She didn't feel like baking today. Oversleeping had completely screwed up her schedule. She was supposed to do laundry but didn't feel like doing that either. She didn't even feel like reading. Carmella climbed the stairs wearily and decided to take a nap.
When she woke, she felt better and was ravenously hungry. She opened a can of Spam because the stuff never went bad and made herself a fried Spam-wich with the last of the bread. She felt tons better, and the queasy feeling in her stomach went away.
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