Ashes (Ashes Trilogy 1)

The crazy man let go of a high, gargling scream and began backpedaling, crashing against a tree, twisting and turning, spinning in a wild, jittery dance.

In the next instant, Alex heard the unmistakable sound of a bolt being thrown and then a commanding rap: “Call off your dog!”

Across the river. Alex saw another man pushing from the woods, rifle held high. He was much younger, closer to her age, and his face was streaked with grime, a slick of brown curls plastered to his forehead. “Call it off! Do it now! Hurry!”

“Mina!” Alex shouted, and then, desperately, “Mina, come, off, off!”

Incredibly, it worked. Mina bounded away, lunging for her and then, spinning around, pressed against Alex as if to stand between her and the crazy man. Dropping to her knees, Alex threw her arms around the dog, fisting her hands into the scruff of the dog’s neck. “Good girl, stay, stay!”

The crazy man bellowed. His face twisted; his eyes shone from his bloody face like beacons, unearthly and mad.

“Jim!” shouted the man with the rifle. “Jim, over here, here!”

The crazy man—Jim—whipped around to face him. The reek of death and insanity steamed from his pores, wreathing him in a thick, choking stink as tangible as smoke. Throwing his head back, Jim bayed, a weird, eerie howl that spiked her brain: a sound she would never forget.

“God forgive me,” the young man said, and squeezed the trigger.

The slug drilled Jim between the eyes and exited in a mist of blood and brain and bone. Jim’s arms dropped limp and lifeless to his sides, as if he were a marionette suddenly without his puppeteer, and then his legs folded and he toppled from the bank. His head struck a boulder and then the current grabbed him, sweeping him downstream. The water might have carried him to the shallows, but his foot wedged in a rock tumble and held him there. A few moments later, the water bled in a swirl of burgundy red that widened to the black maw of a whirlpool as Alex’s vision began to fade and her mind wobbled.

“Alex?” Ellie’s voice sounded very far away. “Alex, are you okay?”

No, I don’t think so. Alex began to fall as the whirlpool sucked her down, dragged her under. I think I’m passing—

22

When she woke, the light was gone, the darkness was heavy and hot, and her head was splitting. She couldn’t move, couldn’t see, and she thought, This is it; I’ve stroked out and I’m going to die. She let out a long, low moan.

“Alex?” A metallic snick, a spear of white light, and then she felt the girl’s arms thread around her throat. “Alex?”

“Ellie,” she breathed in relief. Her own arms were snarled in a tangle of oversize flannel shirt, and she had to work to shuck free of the sleeping bag. The movement made her head ache, but she didn’t care. “Hey,” she said, hugging the girl close. “You okay?”

“I’m f-fine.” Ellie’s head moved against her neck and then Alex felt the splash of tears. “I was so … so sc-scared that maybe you were d-dead….”

“Hey, it’s okay, we’re okay.” Right about then she realized that other than the shirt and panties, she was naked and her skin was slick with sweat. The dull red eye of a catalytic heater glowed in one corner, and she thought, Tent. I’m in a tent.

Everything came back then: the pack of wild dogs, the river, that choking stink of death, Jim, and … “Ellie, where are we?”

“In Tom’s tent. Don’t you remember?”

“No. Well, I remember the guy with the gun—”

“That’s Tom.”

“Tom.”

“Yeah, Tom Eden. He carried you back and fixed up your head. He said in the army, you learn how to do a lot of stuff.”

“My—” Her hand crept over her hair to a rough square of gauze bandage, with something prickly beneath: stitches. She must’ve been really out not to have felt those. “How long have I been asleep? What day is it?”

“Thursday. You were asleep for all of yesterday and today.”

“Two days?”

“Uh-huh. Tom said you had a concussion. He said it was a wonder you hadn’t passed out way before you did. He’s outside, making dinner. I came in to see if maybe you were awake.”

“Where are my clothes?”

“Right here.” Ellie aimed the light to the right. The hiking pants and underwear were Alex’s, but the rest—a forest green turtleneck, a set of long black underwear, a pair of wool socks draped over her hiking boots—was not. The flannel shirt she wore was probably Tom’s, too, which meant a whole bunch of other things—all of them boiling down to his having undressed her, like, completely. Which she just didn’t want to think about, much less try to remember.

“Okay,” she said. “Tell him I’ll be right out.”

Mina spotted her first. Her tail thumped, and then she was heaving to a stand. Her left leg was splinted, but she pranced over to Alex, who dropped to her knees and wrapped the dog up in a hug. “Good girl,” she said. “You are such a good girl.”

“Welcome back.” Alex looked up to see Tom by the fire, poking at something sizzling in a cast-iron skillet. “How are you feeling?”

The questions were in her mouth, but then she caught a whiff of frying meat and sputtering fat that made the words drown as her mouth watered. “Oh my God, that smells great. What is it?”

“Raccoon and white beans, and there’s tea.”

“Raccoon.” She saw Ellie put a hand to her mouth to cover the giggles and then looked back at Tom. “Like, you caught it?”

“Well, it sure didn’t get Fed-Exed. Besides, the dog needs the meat … Look, sit before you fall down.”

“Ellie said you think I have … had a concussion. Aren’t you not supposed to sleep if you’ve had a concussion?”

“Well, I guess you had other ideas,” he said, and she decided Tom Eden had a very nice smile, especially that dimple on the left. He wasn’t that much older either. Maybe … nineteen? Twenty? She wondered if there was a graceful way to figure that out, and then wondered why she was wondering.

Tom said, “How does your head feel?”

“Like someone bashed it with a brick.”

“I’ll bet. I’ve got some ibuprofen, but you should get something in your stomach.” He aimed a knife. “Med’s in that canvas bag over there, and you can use that jacket. It’ll be a little big, but it’s better than nothing. Sorry about your sweatshirt, but it was pretty badly ripped and I used it for the dog’s splint.”