Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,201

ran to Tobias.

“Oh gods,” Zeke said, looking at Jana.

“Can’t wait for the ambulance,” Tobias said.

“Come on. Larry! Spread some of those bedsheets we picked up yesterday.”

As Tobias and Zeke lifted her into the van, Jana groaned in pain.

Snarling, Virgil shifted to Wolf, ready to deal with any human who hurt the wolverine.

Then Zeke jumped out of the back of the van and Tobias said, “Virgil? You coming?”

He hesitated. No answer. No answer.

Yuri called.

He didn’t want to say more, didn’t want to think. He leaped into the back of the van, careful not to step on Rusty’s human mom, who was bleeding again.

Zeke closed the doors. A moment later, the van jolted forward, almost throwing Virgil off his feet. He lay down on the other side of Jana, giving her the only things he could—warmth and companionship.

* * *

* * *

Jesse approached the station platform. She hadn’t seen Tolya as she and Tobias made their way from the southern end of Bennett’s town square to the northern end. Tobias had headed off to help Jana. She continued on her own to the train station.

How many terra indigene had fought here? She stepped around dead men, automatically moving weapons out of easy reach as she went. She didn’t think all these kills had been made by Elders. The bodies were too intact to be the work of Namid’s teeth and claws.

Someone groaned inside the part of the station that stored packages and other freight.

Judging by the smashed boxes, a part of the fight had happened here, and the fighting had been fierce.

She found Hawks, Crows, and Ravens. Some were in their feathered form. Others were mostly human in shape—if you didn’t look at the heads with beaks or the feet that had talons large enough to gut a man. All were dead from gunshot wounds.

Then she found Nicolai Sanguinati. One side of his face was masked by blood, and his breathing was harsh. He stared at her and slowly bared his teeth, revealing a fang that had broken at some point.

“Nicolai.” Jesse kept her voice firm, just as she had the time Tobias had tried to ride a green colt and ended up with a broken leg. “It’s Jesse Walker. Do you remember me?”

Could a Sanguinati have a concussion? Or brain damage? Nicolai looked like he’d taken a terrible blow to the head, but he could be paralyzed from some injury that she couldn’t see. And what she could see of him would haunt her dreams for a very long time.

“I … remember.” Every syllable took effort.

“Good. I’m going to step outside for a minute and find help. Then I’ll come back and stay with you.”

A quick look around confirmed that the telephone that had been on the counter had been smashed and the cord had been pulled out of the wall. Jesse took a couple of steps toward the passenger side of the station, then shook her head. Even if the phone worked, she had a feeling that there wouldn’t be anyone answering phones today.

Standing outside the station, she whistled—the loud, sharp sound she’d mastered years ago to call a boy to supper.

Birds circled above her. Ravengard maybe. Vultures, more likely. But the vultures were ordinary birds, not terra indigene, and nothing responded to her whistle until …

She didn’t recognize the man and woman who approached her cautiously. No visible wounds, but she figured the majority of the folks in Bennett weren’t used to handling guns and would have stayed out of the fight. Not like in the frontier stories where citizens grabbed shovels and pitchforks to help defend their town. But the hard truth was that any human who had picked up a weapon today would have been seen as an enemy.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Craig and Dawn Werner,” the man replied.

“You hurt?”

They shook their heads as they stared at all the bodies on the platform.

“I need you to find one of the Sanguinati. Any one of them will do. Try the hotel, the mayor’s office, or the saloon. If you can’t find one of them in those places, keep looking. Tell them Nicolai is at the train station and needs a little help.” Nicolai needed a lot of help, but she was certain Tolya would prefer having injuries downplayed.

“Okay,”