Overwinter by David Wellington

Author:David Wellington [Wellington, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2010-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

50.

The others returned a little later, Dzo holding up a flap of seal skin that was the dome’s door while Powell and Lucie squeezed inside. Powell proudly brandished a string of lemmings, the great hunter returning. “Hungry?” he asked Chey.

“I’m actually kind of full,” she told him. Truth be told, she didn’t feel that great. Her mouth still hurt. It felt like she had gargled lye or something. Her teeth felt loose and fragile. “I had some … blubber.” Saying the word aloud made her stomach turn. She still couldn’t quite believe it. She’d told Nanuq how much her mouth hurt and he recommended she try some of the whale fat. It didn’t require much chewing, he told her, which had turned out to be incorrect. Maybe if your teeth were the size of Chey’s thumbs. Then there had been the taste. It had tasted a little like clams, but the consistency had made her want to gag. Somehow she’d managed to swallow several mouthfuls of it.

“She’s been keeping me company,” the giant said, struggling to rise from his chair.

Chey shot Powell a quizzical glance. She still had no idea how she’d ended up in Nanuq’s dome house, or exactly what kind of creature the giant was.

“You’re … probably wondering what’s been going on,” Powell suggested, and she nodded in agreement.

“Well,” Powell said, sitting down on one of the oversized beds, “it wasn’t good. Apparently there was a huge storm—the world out there is about ten feet deep in snow. Then we got in some trouble. When I woke up, when I woke up human, I found Dzo waiting for us and he brought us here. We were all hurt. Lucie and I weren’t in great shape. Nanuq was kind enough to take us in. I’m still not entirely clear on what happened. It all occurred while the moon was up, so my memories are pretty fragmentary. But I know the hunter tried to kill us again.”

“Lots of explosions. Like American TV,” Nanuq said, nodding his big head. “Guns and snowmobiles everywhere.”

“People …?” Chey asked. “Like, multiple people? Not just the blue guy?” Her blood turned cold.

“Yep,” Dzo said. “I was watching you three when it happened, just like I promised. And I told you I would do something to help. I went and found my old buddy here, because I thought he might be useful. At first he didn’t want to help.”

Nanuq shrugged. “I said what the hell did I care, but eventually Dzo convinced me you could use some help, so I pitched in.”

“He saved your butts,” Dzo said.

Nanuq shrugged again. “Mostly I think I just scared them. I didn’t kill anybody.”

“Oh, you didn’t?” Chey asked, with growing hopes.

“Nah. That was all you three. You tore their guts out pretty good.”

No. Oh, no, Chey thought. No no no, not again. After what had happened at Port Radium, she thought that kind of violence was behind her. She couldn’t bear the thought of killing another human being. And yet she knew, with real certainty, that her wolf felt differently.

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