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Given her vantage point, Abby couldn’t see behind her. She vaguely knew the devil hadn’t left, and that made her uneasy. In all her hunts, she’d never been injured this badly. Every inch of her hurt. The pain radiating from her arm made it such that she couldn’t pinpoint where the actual bite was. It could have been anywhere in that side of her torso, and she would have believed it. She shouldn’t have been terribly surprised. This thing had killed the love of her life, and severely injured Beatty. Why did she think she’d fare any better?
When she’d first started in the business, she made it her priority to learn as much about the animal kingdom as she could. She focused on big game. The animals that could really hurt you if you didn’t play your cards right. Lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos. Things like that. She’d never really studied otters, but did remember coming across an article talking about some of the more dangerous animals, pound for pound. Ones that didn’t pose a serious threat to humans, but only because of their smaller size. At the top were things like the wolverine, the honey badger and Tasmanian devil. And somewhere, further down—the otter. Not surprising really. It was in the same family as the wolverine and the honey badger.
Even a tiny river otter could cause some serious damage to a human if it felt threatened, and now Abby found herself squaring off against one the size of a grizzly. Easily six hundred pounds or more, and a length far exceeding any bear thanks to the long, slender form. Probably ten feet at least. Clearly, Abby was no match for it. She’d lost two encounters now. The first cost her Beatty and the second might have cost her the whole job. She’d be okay. Whatever damage she’d taken was mostly superficial, something that would heal over time. But in the here and now, she had a hard time seeing how she was going to kill one of these things.
She’d never failed a job. The rumors about those that had weren’t pretty.
Abby heard feet crunching against the ground, moving towards her, long before the girl arrived. When she did, she stayed behind Abby, looking down and making it difficult for Abby to get a good look at her.
“If he dies, I’m going to kill you,” the girl said.
Abby didn’t try to hide a chuckle. “If he doesn’t die, I’m dead anyway.”
“That sounds like a no-win situation, then.”
“Yes it does. If I have to choose, I’d take my chances with you killing me.”
“Why’s that?”
“Have you ever killed anyone?” Abby asked. “Or anything, for that matter?”
The girl didn’t answer, which served to confirm Abby’s suspicions. Most likely, she was dealing with the type of person who took spiders outside and shooed cockroaches away instead of stepping on them. Despite her harsh profession, Abby wasn’t completely without empathy for animals. But they were, in the end, animals. Humans had hunted and killed them for hundreds of thousands of years. If anything, Abby had just joined a grand tradition of the Homo sapien experience.
“How is he?” Abby asked, trying to fully size up her situation.
The girl looked back for a few seconds, then back down. “I think he’s okay. I think at least one of them was just a graze, and the two others didn’t seem too deep.”
Made sense. With all the muscle, and undoubtedly strong bones, Abby would need to get much closer to fire a shot that would seriously injure the thing. Her plan had been to slow it down enough with the first shot to eventually overtake it and finish it off. That plan clearly hadn’t worked—yet. If it was injured enough, perhaps she’d have the upper hand in her next encounter. The pain quickly reminded her that another encounter was extremely unlikely.
“What’d you call him?”
“Kawa.”
“So, what’s your story? You the devil whisperer or something?”
The girl finally came around and sat on the log, facing the same direction as Abby. Now it felt more like a real conversation.
“These are my woods. I spend a lot of time out here, and over time, I guess they grew comfortable with me.”
Abby suppressed a smile. They. It’s not that Abby didn’t suspect there were more devils out in the woods, especially after having found what seemed to be babies, but now she wondered exactly how many there were. Perhaps Abby didn’t have to kill this one. Maybe there were smaller ones, or weaker ones. Or less aggressive ones.
“Why Kawa?”
“Kawauso,” the girl said. “It’s Japanese for otter.”
“I’m Abby, by the way.” She considered offering a handshake, but the pain would be unbearable. Either way, she didn’t think this girl would take her up on the offer.
“Kim.”
“Well, Kim. This has been one cluster of a mission.”
“You’re telling me. If I’d had it my way, no one would have seen them at all. And now...”
Abby waited for Kim to finish the thought. When she didn’t, Abby replied, “Seems like no one’s getting what they want so far.”
Kim nodded without reply. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Abby heard the unmistakable sound of rain, plops hitting the canopy above. Behind her, she could hear—no, feel—the devil moving.
Kim stood and moved away.
“You okay, Kawa?” Then: “Good idea. Let’s stay dry in the cave.”
Abby looked up and let the drops splash against her face. It was cold, stinging, uncomfortable. But somehow refreshing, as if it could wash away the failure and give her new hope. Or maybe it could wash away her sins and give her a new lease. The things she’d done could never be forgiven, though, and, as she’d always told herself, it would be worth it—if only to get closure for Ben.
Not revenge. Closure.
As Kim and Kawa sat nice and dry inside, Abby resigned herself to the cold, wet rain.
“Come on,” Kim said suddenly. Abby was surprised to hear her so close. “Can’t be good for you to get this cold in your condition.”
Kim knelt and threw Abby’s good arm around her shoulder. Kim lifted, but Abby barely budged. Kim was a wisp of a girl. By comparison, Abby looked like a mountain.
“Gonna need your help if we’re gonna get you inside.”
Abby didn’t think she could do it. She couldn’t take the pain of moving. One ankle was beyond useless, and the other didn’t seem like it was at full strength. Kim pulled again, and Abby pushed against the ground anyway, grimacing against the onslaught of hot needles shooting up her leg. Yes, her “good” ankle wasn’t in the best of shape either.
“You clearly eat your Wheaties,” Kim said as she started to move.
The going was slow, Abby being dragged more than helped towards the cave. Her pulse raged, working to give her all the power it could to complete the task. Her head swam. The forest started to spin. She forced her eyes open, even as they desperately wanted to close. The cave grew closer. Abby blurred in and out of consciousness. Maybe moving wasn’t such a great idea.
The next thing Abby knew, she felt the stone against her butt, jarring her eyes back open. In the back of the cave, Kawa showed his displeasure at her presence.
“It’s okay, Kawa,” Kim said, holding up a hand as if she could physically keep Kawa away.
The reassurance only calmed the beast a little. It would certainly be ironic if all of Kim’s work to get Abby dry ended in Kawa eating Abby for dinner. Though at least then, the pain would end.
So. Much. Pain.
Kim knelt in front of her. “You all right?”
Abby nodded. At least, she thought she nodded. She was having a hard time distinguishing between reality and fever-dream. Kim was nice. Nicer than Abby probably deserved. But it didn’t change anything. Abby still had a mission, and that mission was in direct conflict with Kim’s.
After a little rest, Abby told herself, she’d be able to think straight and formulate a better plan. And her ankles would be better. And the sting of the bite wound would lessen. Yes, she just needed to sleep.
And sleep she did.
