“Having compassion and empathy for victims of brutality is not cowardice,” I insist.
Rainer sighs, nodding.
“Feel like walking a little more today?”
“Yeah,” he answers and gets to his feet. “Back to the road?”
I look at Kaida, knowing if any of us are going to have the best idea for direction, it’s going to be our pretty little pet. She raises her nose to the air, her head turning as if she’s determining whether or not she has an idea.
When she meets my eyes, I get the impression she doesn’t smell anything yet.
“Yes,” I answer. “Back to the road.”
NOTTO
Rule No. 976,432.1: Sometimes karma needs a little help.
Kaida tracks the scent of the pod the next morning as soon as we set out. Since Rainer was the only one who slept last night, I don’t think the appearance of the pod’s scent was because they’d gotten close. I think the wind shifted.
Though I could be wrong, I’m choosing not to be wrong. Yes, we often become a little distracted with each other, but I’d like to think that we’re at least a little observant and have enough of a sense of self-preservation to take notice of our surroundings when we’re close to an active hunting pod.
Then again, we don’t know that they’re still active. It’s been many years since Rainer has been here. He left as soon as his parents were killed and has wandered the country since. Has it been two years? Ten? More?
I don’t ask. Time is easier to track in the North where there is a distinct passing of seasons. You don’t miss the snow on the ground. In the South, there’s a change in weather, but it’s notanywhere near as distinct as it is in the North. We found Rainer far enough south that he was no longer in obvious weather-changing territory. How long had he been that far south?
None of it matters. We know that at one point, they’d been hunting humans. That’s enough that we should keep our guards up.
We follow Kaida through the trees. At the edges of the city, trees continue to creep in. They’re pushing their way up through the expansive concrete parking lots, growing over short buildings and vehicles. Perhaps one of the most striking trees we pass is growing straight up through the engine block of a truck. It pushed the hood open and dislodged the engine. Parts of the engine have been swallowed by the trunk and now stick out of the tree like a disease.
I stare at it, smirking. Humans always thought they tamed the wild, but wherever humans struggle to maintain their grip on the world, nature is actively undoing what they created and swallowing it whole. It’s beautiful.
Kaida follows along the edges of the city. She doesn’t pause or waver as she follows a trail that only she sees or smells. She veers south again at one point, leading us into the trees once more.
When she stops abruptly, I think that she’s lost. Rainer digs his fingers into the back of her neck as Kaida stares straight into the trees.
“That way?” Keary asks.
Kaida bows her head and picks it up again. Her stare doesn’t waver from the direction she’s facing.
“I’m going to check it out,” Keary says, glancing at the sky.
I follow his gaze, knowing he’s determining the strength of the sun. How long will it be out? Should he travel through it or walk?
The sun’s light brightens over us, making me squint, and Keary disappears into it.
Rainer shakes his head. “I’m never going to get used to that,” he murmurs, leaning his hip against Kaida. “Good job, girl,” he murmurs, burying his face into her fur-feathers.
Hmm. “When did you find Kaida?” I ask.
“A couple days after my parents were killed,” he answers. “Right after I dropped my little cousins off with the closest human colony.”
I examine the lut. We both know that she could have led him right to the pod back then. There’s a challenge in her eyes as she watches me. Am I going to share that information with Rainer? We both also know she didn’t lead him there because it would have meant his certain death. Even worse, it meant a shortened life filled with torture so awful that he’d beg for death.
No, I’m not going to tell him that she might have purposefully steered him wrong.
“Clever girl,” Drystan murmurs, likely coming to the same conclusion I did.
Kaida huffs and turns her attention to Rainer.
