I became a scout. He looked at his hands wrapped in the cloth Millie had tied. They used me to find the camps, to find the people who looked like my grandmother. They said it was duty. They said it was for the safety of the territories.
He fell silent, the weight of the memory pressing down on him. "And you believed them? " Millie asked softly. I was young, Jonah said, and I was hungry. By the time I stopped believing them, I had seen too much blood. It does not wash off.
Millie, you can scrub until the skin is raw, but the stain is under the surface. Millie looked at him. She saw the lines of guilt etched into his face, deeper than the scars. She realized then that his silence was not emptiness. It was a heavy curtain drawn over a room he could not bear to look at.
"We are a pair, aren't we," Millie said, a sad smile touching her lips. "A ghost and a mapmaker with no country. " The blizzard broke two nights later, but the danger did not. The clear sky brought a cold so profound it cracked the trees, and it brought the wolves. They came after midnight, drawn by the scent of the hair Jonah had dressed. At first, it was just a sound, the crunch of paws on the crust, the snuffling at the door.
Then came a low, vibrating growl that seemed to come from the earth itself. Jonah was awake instantly. He rolled out of his blankets, grabbing the Winchester. "Stay down," he commanded. Millie sat up in bed, clutching the quilt to her chest.
"How many? " "Enough," Jonah said. "They are hungry. They smelled the meat. The scratching at the door grew frantic. A heavy body slammed against the wood.
The latch rattled. Jonah moved to the window. He scraped a small hole in the frost. Outside in the moonlight, he saw them, five of them, gaunt, gray shadows circling the cabin. One was digging at the foundation logs.
If they get under the porch, they will tear the floor up. Jonah said. He checked the load in the rifle. I have to go out. No, Millie said, her voice rising.
Jonah, do not. If I do not, they will be here all night and more will come. He pulled his heavy coat on, jamming his hat low. He looked at Millie. Bar the door behind me.
Do not open it unless you hear my voice. If something else tries to come in, you shoot it. Do you understand? Millie nodded, her face white as the snow outside. Jonah slipped the latch and kicked the door open.
He stepped out into the biting air. The rifle raised. The wolves turned as one. The leader, a massive male with a scarred ear, snarled and dropped low. Jonah did not hesitate.
He fired. The crack of the rifle echoed off the cliff face like thunder. The leader yelped and spun, biting at its flank. The others scattered, but did not run. They circled, emboldened by starvation.