Lone Wolf: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (America Falls - Occupied Territory Book 1) by Scott Medbury

Author:Scott Medbury [Medbury, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2019-02-23T22:00:00+00:00

23

Katie fell asleep not long after they began driving again and when she awoke, the car was stationary. She looked around. The sun was going down and they were parked in a roughly circular clearing with trees on all sides. She opened her door and got out of the car on shaky legs. The dirt road they’d traveled in on, sliced its way back into the forest 30 yards behind the Mazda. Jack was nowhere to be seen.

She called his name.

There was no answer and Katie’s heart began to beat fast. She ran to the back of the car. The tailgate was up and some of the items had been removed and placed on the ground.

“Hello pretty,” said a strange voice behind her. She jumped, whipping around with her hands raised in defense. There was no one there.

“Hello pretty,” the voice repeated.

This time her eyes found the culprit. She lowered her hands and let out a long exhalation.

“Jesus, Katie. Get a grip,” she murmured.

Thirty feet away on the branch of a tree, staring right at her, was a big white bird with a bright yellow comb of feathers on its head. She recognized it as a cockatoo, and most definitely not a native of the El Dorado Forest.

She took a step towards his tree and he began preening his wing unconcernedly.

“Hello pretty,” she said.

It looked at her then went back to its preening as if it was the most pressing matter in the world. Katie smiled.

“You’re a rude little thing, aren’t you?”

“Who are you talking to?”

Katie jumped again. She turned quickly to face her brother. He had emerged from the trees in front of the SUV and was carrying a tomahawk and some rope.

“Don’t sneak up on me Jack!” Then more softly, “I was talking to my new friend.”

“Hello pretty,” said the cockatoo, right on cue.

“What the hell?” Jack laughed. “Is that a parrot?”

“I think it’s a cockatoo, like from Australia or something.”

“Gidday mate,” said Jack, dropping his gear on the ground and joining Katie.

The cockatoo, apparently even more disinterested now, began to peck at the bark of the branch it was sitting on. Katie’s smile disappeared, the brief diversion giving way to the trauma of the last few days.

“What were you doing in the bushes?” she asked Jack.

“I’ll show you in a minute. First, we need to change your dressing. Come and sit down.”

He carefully unwrapped the bandaging on her hand and inspected it. It looked terrible, but he thought the overall swelling might have gone down a little. The wound on the back of her hand looked like a small volcano. The rim of the jagged circular sore was pink and puckered, but inside the opening her flesh glistened red. At least it had stopped bleeding. He turned her hand over. The wound on her palm was less ragged and more like a puncture. It had also not crusted over. Worryingly, it was weeping a translucent fluid and the skin around it was swollen.

“Can you wiggle your fingers?”

Katie pulled a pained face but managed to wiggle all of her fingers.

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