TWO DAYS LATER WE left Dodge’s Log Lodges. There were approximately 175 of us: 125 Less Thans and Sisters, and another 50 or so Hunters.
“If you’re thinking of leaving the Western Federation Territory, you’ll never get out alive,” the Man in Orange said as we shackled him and the other prisoners together.
“We’ll see,” I said, trying to sound confident. But it was hard to disagree with him.
We retraced our steps from a lifetime ago, back when we’d rescued the Sisters from the death march. Around the lake, through the woods, down one gravel road after another. For obvious reasons, we avoided Camp Freedom. The town of Bedford, too. Crazies lived there. And we wanted nothing to do with them.
“Hey!” one of the Hunters shouted at dinner one night. He was a round man with a square head and triangle ears. Like the others, he reeked from not bathing. “You expect us to eat this swill?”
“It’s the same swill we eat,” Sunshine said. The rest of us had pretty much learned to tune the Hunters out.
“What is it?”
“Rabbit stew—what do you think it is?”
“It looks like shit to me. Tastes like it, too.”
“It’s better than what you had on the ice,” Sunshine said. “Which was nothing.”
“Sounds like something a Less Than would say. A Less Than who’s used to eating shit.” Triangle Ears slung his stew across the fire, and it landed with a splat on the LT’s face.
Sunshine jumped to his feet, ready to fight, and Cat and Red had to restrain him.
“Don’t,” Cat said. “It’s what he wants.”
“He can’t get away with that! It’s not right!”
“Let it go.”
Sunshine’s eyes darted back and forth between Triangle Ears and Cat. When Cat finally got him to sit back down, the Man in Orange spoke up.
“Hey, Limp,” he called out. “You really think you can make it all the way to the next territory?”
“We did it once,” I said.
“Yeah, but I bet you didn’t have wolves trailing you the whole time.”
He picked up on my surprise.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t hear the howls this morning,” he asked. “They’re close. Real close. I’d say you all are sitting ducks—unless you release us and let us help you fight ’em.”
“Not likely,” I said.
“Suit yourself.”
I tried to concentrate on eating, but all I could think about was wolves. Had I really missed hearing them, or was he just making it up?
“What’s your deal, anyway?” he asked.
“What’re you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Limp. You and the chick with the Xs on her face. I’m guessing you want her, but she wants nothing to do with you. Am I right?”
He laughed, and the food got lodged in my throat. I felt heat prickling the back of my neck.
“I got news for you, sonny boy. You ain’t gonna get her. She’s got eyes for ol’ One Arm over there. In fact, I think I might’ve seen ’em kissing behind the shed at your little hideout.”
Cat reached out a hand, but there was no stopping me. I threw down my food and went racing across the circle, lunging on top of the Man in Orange and hitting him as hard as I could. He was tied up, so I had no problem getting the better of him—one punch after another, slamming my fists into his face until my knuckles bled.
But Cat was right; it was exactly what the Man in Orange wanted.
Once I started hitting him, the other Hunters made a break for it. Some of them had managed to loosen their knots, and there was suddenly chaos—Hunters running in fifty different directions, and LTs and Sisters fumbling for weapons and racing after them.
The snow allowed us to track them down, but even then, the Hunters were big and strong and didn’t go down without a fight. There were bruises and bloody noses on both sides, and only the threat of knives and arrows convinced the Hunters to finally give up. It took us a full hour to corral them all.
The Man in Orange’s face was a bleeding mess, but he didn’t seem to care. Just the opposite, in fact. His smile, showing bloodstained teeth, mocked me as though the Hunters were the ones who’d just won this latest skirmish.
“Let it go,” I heard Cat say, but whether he was talking about the Man in Orange or him and Hope I didn’t know.
I shook off his grip and hurried away, wondering if the day would ever come when the Hunters would be punished for what they’d done to us. Wondering also if what he’d said was true: Was I really wasting my time with Hope? If so, why did I even bother?