Chapter Twenty
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VICTORIA WOKE UP FEELING tired and sore. Her wounds had healed, but she was constantly exhausted from pushing herself too hard. “Food time,” she said, trying to dredge up some enthusiasm. Eating canned food was getting old. She longed for fresh, juicy meat.
“I’d fudging kill for some fries,” she said wistfully. Apparently, she was craving salt as well.
She devoured a few cans of fruit and chowed down on a few energy bars, then filled her duffle bag with provisions. Houses were few and far between this close to the wilderness. It was a long hike just to get back to the freeway.
Victoria settled into her usual steady jog, scowling when it began to rain a couple of hours later.
She ignored the weather and stopped at a gas station for lunch.
Straight away, she knew something was horribly wrong.
A fresh body was sprawled on the ground near the building.
He looked like he’d only been dead for a day.
He was lying face down, so she couldn’t see what had killed him.
A pool of blood had spread around his head and torso.
“What fresh fudging hell is going on here?” she murmured uneasily.
Turning in a circle, she couldn’t sense anyone nearby. The glass door had been shattered and the place had been looted. Some items had been left behind, so she crunched her way over the glass to enter the place.
“There’s slim pickings,” she complained softly as she perused the shelves.
Unpopular bottles of soda were in the fridge.
All of the water was gone. So was most of the food.
She grabbed a bag of chips that had fallen behind a shelf and opened it.
“Still fresh,” she said in approval and stuffed a handful into her mouth.
A low growl had the hair on the back of her neck rising when she finished her snack.
Turning around slowly, Victoria saw a mangy tan colored dog standing in the doorway.
Its eyes were horribly bloodshot and drool dripped from its mouth.
Its lips were wrinkled back to show its teeth and it was making a weird face.
“Uh, oh,” she said beneath her breath. “That furry shizbag is rabid.”
The dog barked savagely, then raced towards her.
Victoria had no idea if she could heal from rabies and she had no intention of finding out.
She didn’t have time to shoot an arrow at it.
Taking off, she pulled an empty metal rack to the floor behind her, hoping to slow the animal down as she headed for the back exit.
Snarling and barking, the mongrel cut its paws as it ran over the glass, but it didn’t seem to feel the pain.
Victoria burst through the back door and looked around wildly.
She saw a shed over to the right and ran over to it.
Stumbling over something, she picked it up and spun around.
The dog leaped towards her and she hurled the object at it.
She only realized it was a pitchfork after it speared into the animal.
The tines lodged into the dog’s side, sending it flying backwards. Mortally wounded, the animal snapped and snarled, flinging foam and saliva everywhere. Victoria took pity on it and used her sickle to chop its head off.
“Poor pooch,” she said regretfully. Going rabid was a horrible way to die.
She held her weapon out so the rain could wash it clean, then wiped it on the grass. Trudging back inside, she’d lost her appetite after the unexpected encounter and gave up on searching for food. She returned to the freeway and continued her long trek.
The rain turned into a storm, forcing her to stop an hour earlier than usual. Hail began to fall and she hurried over to the trees.
“Standing beneath a tree in a storm,” Victoria said dourly. “What could possibly go wrong?”
The answer was a low, guttural growl. Unfortunately, it wasn’t her stomach this time. Again, Victoria turned slowly to see a menacing animal staring at her. It wasn’t a rabid dog this time. Instead, it was a black bear.
“You’ve got to be shizzing me,” she groaned.
Rearing up onto its hind legs, the bear roared at her angrily. She roared back, hoping to scare it away. It dropped back down, then charged at her.
“Fudge!” she shouted and took off running.
It followed her onto the freeway, gaining speed.
She was drained from running all day and couldn’t go any faster.
Fumbling with her duffle bag, she unzipped it and pulled out an item.
Turning to face the animal, Victoria drew her arm back and threw the can.
It hit the bear in the head, knocking it out cold.
“Saved by a can of apricots,” she said in shaky relief.
Leaving the dented can behind, she hightailed it away from the bear’s territory.
She veered off the freeway half an hour later when she saw a large hollowed out log.
“Perfect,” she said in relief and hurried over to it.
With effort, she rolled the log over so it was facing away from the freeway.
She crawled into the opening and awkwardly changed into dry clothes.
“What a shizzy day,” she grumbled, searching for something to eat. “Ew, Spam,” she said, wrinkling her nose as she examined the can. “Why the fudge did I bring this with me?” It was better than nothing, so she cracked it open and forced it down, trying not to gag at the taste.
It was warmer than she’d expected under the log.
The rain and hail drummed down, lulling her into a drowse.
Something furry brushed against her face a few hours later.
She woke up with a jerk, realizing she’d fallen onto her side.
A pair of yellow eyes blinked at her as a young bobcat examined her.
Deciding she wasn’t dangerous, the wild animal curled up against her side.
Victoria stared at the bobcat in wonder. It was probably riddled with ticks, but she didn’t care. She wanted to pet it, but she also didn’t want to scare it away. If social media had still existed, she would have filmed it. Her fans would have eaten this up.
Grinning like a fool, Vic’s hopes that the world wasn’t completely fudged beyond saving increased.
After killing dozens of people by now, she figured her soul had to be black.
She’d needed a sign that she could be redeemed.
Maybe this was it. Animals could sense danger, especially wild ones like this.
If the bobcat thought she was harmless, then perhaps she wasn’t as far gone as she’d feared.
Again, she found herself dreaming about the handsome, hulking blond guy when she fell asleep. This time, she maintained control of the dream. “How did you break free the last time?” she asked as she circled around him. His gorgeous blue eyes stared blankly at nothing and he remained unresponsive.
Victoria tried to touch his face, but her fingers passed through him as if she was a ghost. Her talent to manipulate her dreams used to freak her out.
Now, she found it more entertaining than anything.
Except when she had nightmares, of course.
At least she could wake herself up from them when she wanted to.
She couldn’t become trapped inside her own mind.
Spending an unhealthy amount of time gazing at the man who’d risked his own life to rescue her, she wished she hadn’t run away so quickly.
“Who are you?” she asked. “What do you want with me?”
He’d called her a strange word, but she couldn’t remember what it was. Running the dream backwards, she paused it at the moment when he’d first spoken to her.
“My cambion,” he declared, but the word meant nothing to her.
The look of pure satisfaction in his eyes made her shiver.
He’d told her she was his and he’d saved her life.
“That doesn’t mean I owe you anything,” she said, forcing herself to end the dream.
Her gut told her they would meet again. Next time, he would hopefully be able to speak to her using more than just one or two words at a time.
She shifted to a different dream, putting her arm around her furry companion. The bobcat nestled against her, seeking warmth and safety while they both slumbered.