“You don’t hear it?”
John shook his head. But he put his rabbit meat down carefully on the ground. He looked around, but he didn’t see anything.
A split second later, something came running into their little camp.
It was a huge furry dog, a German Shepherd, tan and black, with pointed ears.
John pulled out his gun.
“What are you doing?” cried Cynthia. “You can’t shoot it.”
John had never been an animal lover, but on the same token he wasn’t going to relish shooting a dog. But if it was a danger to them, he wouldn’t hesitate.
The dog didn’t seem interested in attacking them. Instead, it went straight for John’s rabbit meat.
“No!” shouted John, swatting at the dog’s face and pulling the meat back up into his arms.
The dog sat down, obediently, as if it had been given a command. It looked up at John with pleading eyes, patiently waiting.
Cynthia started laughing. “It just wants a little rabbit. Can you blame it? It must have smelled it.”
John didn’t laugh. Instead, he cast his gaze around into the surrounding trees.
“Someone’s here,” he whispered.
Cynthia’s hand went to her own gun.
“How do you know?”
“This dog is trained. It’s someone’s dog.”
“Maybe he’s on his own. His owner might have died.”
“Look at him. He’s clean and well fed.”
Cynthia nodded, and stood up, ready to take action if needed.
“Kiki!” came someone’s voice. A deep male voice.
The man emerged from behind the trees. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a sizeable beard, trimmed. His hair was thick and streaked with gray, short, but wild-looking even so.
“Don’t move!” shouted Cynthia, pointing her gun right at the man’s chest.
John did the same, and he kept his eyes on the surrounding area, in case someone else appeared.
“Whoa, whoa!” said the man. “I’m just looking for my dog. Not looking for any trouble.”
His voice was deep and pleasant, and it sounded trustworthy. Not that that was anything to go by.
“Who are you?” shouted Cynthia.
John and Cynthia had their guns trained on the guy, but he didn’t look scared. The jovial expression didn’t leave his face.
“Dale Baughner. I know, hard to pronounce. Most just call me The Bastard.”
“The Bastard? What kind of a name is that?”
“Just a joke between me and my friends. Of course, I don’t see them much these days.” With that, he gave a deep laugh that came up from his stomach. “Don’t worry, though. It wouldn’t be a very good nickname if I really was a bastard. It’s funny because I’m anything but.”
“Are you armed?”
“Armed? Of course I’m armed. Don’t you know what’s happened?”
“What do you have?”
“Two pistols on me. And the rifle on my back, if you hadn’t noticed.”
John had been so overwhelmed that he hadn’t noticed the rifle. He felt like an idiot. He saw it now, a well-worn strap over Dale’s shoulder.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, I was walking Kiki here. Surveying the land, you know. And Kiki must have smelled the rabbit you were roasting there. Normally she’s very well behaved, but hell, I guess when there’s rabbit involved, there’s no telling her what to do. It’s her instincts, you understand?”
Dale had an interesting, colloquial kind of way of talking. It made John feel like he already had known him for a while. He simply seemed to be the type of person who was always comfortable, no matter who he was talking to. He seemed sure of himself, more than most.
There wasn’t a trace of fear in his voice. But John know that Dale wasn’t the type to be oblivious to his surroundings. Beneath all that hair, partially hiding near the big beard, Dale’s eyes were sharp. And they moved around, studying the little campsite that he and Cynthia had constructed.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” said Dale, in his great scratching, booming voice. “What the hell happened to your shoulder there?”
“Little misunderstanding,” said John. “It couldn’t be helped.”
“And what are you doing out in these parts?”
“Long story,” said John.
“Very long,” said Cynthia.
“Well,” said Dale. “Tell you what. Why don’t you two follow me and Kiki back to my cabin? It’s nothing fancy, but I’ll feed you some proper food. Believe it or not, there’s better stuff out there than wild rabbit.” He laughed, as if this was the funniest thing anyone had ever said. “Kind of tough unless you cook it the right way. Real gamey. Now I like it fine, but it’s not normal for you city folks.”
“How can you tell I’m from the city?”
“It’s written all over you. I can read people just like you read the phonebook. Easy for me, always was. I can tell you’re good people.”
“How?”
“Well, for one thing, if you weren’t, you’d have shot me by now. But here I am. Come on, put the guns down and let’s get moving. You look like you could use a good place to rest for a couple days. Nothing permanent, understand? But I’d enjoy the company, to tell you the truth.”
John glanced over at Cynthia. She raised one of her eyebrows, as if asking a question.
John gave her a little nod, and she gave him a smile. He could see in her eyes that she wasn’t concerned that Dale would harm them. With some people, you just knew. There wasn’t anything of the slick self-promotion that Drew exuded. People who wanted to trick others always gave themselves away, in some way, shape, or form. No matter how good they were, they’d always slip up, even in the tiniest way.
John re-holstered his gun, and Cynthia did the same.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Dale, walking over and extending a hand to Cynthia and John each.
John and Cynthia introduced themselves, and Dale in turn introduced them to Kiki, his German Shepherd, who licked their hands and sat obediently.
“Maybe your new friends will give you some of the rabbit bones. What do you think, Kiki? They seem like nice people, right?”
“Sure,” muttered John, taking one final bite off his rabbit leg and tossing the bone to Kiki. Kiki caught it mid-air.
“That a girl, Kiki,” said Dale, laughing uproariously.
“We really appreciate the offer,” said Cynthia. “About staying at your place. How far away is it, though? John here lost a lot of blood. He was lucky to live. I don’t know if he’ll be able to make it.”
“About five miles away. But he’ll make it, trust me. You’re a strong one, aren’t you? For a city guy, that is.”
John didn’t know what to say. He and Cynthia started gathering up their gear and getting ready to head off.
“I’d better take that pack of yours, though,” said Dale. “You’ve still got your sea legs, so to speak.”
“Uh, thanks,” said John. He didn’t relish the idea of another man, a stranger nonetheless, having to carry his pack for him, but he was pragmatic enough to realize that he needed the help.
“Come on,” said Dale. “Let’s get a move on it.”
It was strange how much John and Cynthia already trusted Dale. But it would have been hard not to.
“You sure about this?” whispered Cynthia, as they started off, Dale and Kiki plenty of paces ahead of them. “Can we really trust him?”
“Yeah,” said John. “I’m good at reading people, too, just like him. There’s just something about him.”
“I get the same feeling,” said Cynthia. “But what if we’re wrong?”
“Don’t worry, we’re not. The only problem with him is that he talks really loud.”