“We thought it was just pups,” Deeke said, pressing the bandage hard against Louie’s belly. The blood he wasn’t stopping flowed dark, almost black; a vein tear for sure. I’d seen bites that deep before. Was an ugly way to go. Be kinder for Deeke to ease up on the pressure and let Louie pass out and die in peace, but Deeke would never do that. He was too soft-hearted. Even Mama said so.
Doc looked up and glared, her dark eyes hard enough to make Deeke flinch. “You heard pups and ignored them? How stupid can—Shawna, hand me that clamp—how stupid can you be?”
I handed Doc her clamp from the tray by the examination table, careful not to bump her. Wasn’t a whole lot of room in the clinic, but it was the only room in the hotel with enough cabinets for all her supplies.
“Need more gauze?” I asked. The bloody pile was getting large.
“No, I’m good. Well, Deeke?”
Deeke licked his lips and glanced down, so I knew he was about to fib. Not an outright lie though or he’d be scratching his ear. “They were just yippers, and Louie said—”
“Oh, Louie said, did he?” Doc scoffed. “What’s the first thing you learn about pups?”
Deeke winced. “Where there’s pups, there’s dogs.”
“Yet you ignored that ’cause Louie said.” She blew out a sigh. “Y’all know better, Deeke. Even Shawna knows that.”
I frowned. Well, yeah. Carrot Jane’s toddler knew that, and she was too crazy to teach him anything else. Just ’cause Deeke was being stupid didn’t mean I was.
Deeke nodded longer than was needed. He was hiding stuff for sure. “I know. We just saw something is all, and we thought we had time to snatch and run.”
My ears perked up. “Whatcha see, Deeke?”
He glanced at Doc, but it wasn’t like she cared what hunters found—unless it was medical supplies. “Rot along the wall at one of them Underground stores on MLK Drive. Louie sai—Louie thought it might be rotted enough to break through to the coats.”
“The good ones?” Papa Ray had been talking about those coats my whole life. Said coats locked up behind steel were some damn fine coats. Winters were getting colder every year, so we could sure use some damn fine coats. The hunter who brought those back could pick any block they wanted as territory for next season. They might even get to claim a whole new neighborhood.
“Yeah.” Deeke grinned, probably imagining the treasures he could find, same as I was. More ammo from Fort McPherson, books from Emory, maybe even some forgotten sodas from the Coke Museum. Most of the good areas had been picked over, but you still found stuff from time to time. And once in a while, you found a place that you expected to be empty, but wasn’t. Like the Underground. We hadn’t explored much yet, at least not the shops below ground. Just too dark and dangerous down there. Almost as bad as the MARTA tunnels.
I glanced at Louie’s bites. Some so deep you could see the muscles beneath. Yeah, way too dangerous.
“Shawna doesn’t need her head filled with fancy,” Doc said, stitching Louie’s insides shut. “She has to focus on her medical training here.”
I rolled my eyes. Deeke winked and kept talking.
“We had the sledges with us and put a hole clean through the wall, but…” His grin faded.
“The pups found you?” Doc asked softly. Right now, Louie needed her attention more, but Deeke had his own share of bites. Nasty ones, the bite arc almost as big across as my hand, the teeth punctures thick as my fingers.
I sucked in a breath. I knew what he was hiding.
“No. A juvie,” he said softly.
“Juvies!” Doc swore and stripped off her gloves. “God, Deeke, you’re just telling me this now?”
I jumped out of the way before Doc ran me flat. Deeke stood there, his mouth hanging open.
“You’re in so much trouble when Mama hears about this,” I said, chasing after Doc.
***
They rang the warning bell on the watchtower out front, the sharp double clangs hurting my ears. I stuck my fingers into them and claimed a good spot on the hotel drive—up on the left column base by the main entrance. You could see just as well from the right side, but that was still in the shade.
Folks came out of the lobby and in off the court fields, though no one was leaving the stadium yet. People had been saying for years we needed a new bell that would reach across the street and through the bleachers, but the bells that were loud enough were just too big to haul down out of the church steeples. Deeke always thought the stadium farmers pretended not to hear the bell so they didn’t have to listen to the often-boring speeches.
I couldn’t argue one way or the other about that. The stadium stank to high heaven so I didn’t go inside unless I had to.
Abbie jumped up beside me a few minutes later, his cheeks red from running. He worked on the court fields behind the hotel. “What’s going on?”
“Deeke and Louie got attacked by juvies.”
He gulped. “Are they okay?”
“Deeke is.” I looked around for Doc, but didn’t see her. It was possible Louie would hold on ’til she got back, but I doubted it. No one survived a belly wound like his. Waste of supplies to even try, Doc told me once. She was always telling me stuff like that, even though I didn’t want to be a doctor. Worst job on the block.
Not that that had stopped Doc from forcing it on me anyway.
“Look,” said Abbie, pointing to a runner heading for the stadium. “Must be big news if they’re fetching everyone.”
I kept my mouth shut. Wasn’t my place to start rumors, even if I knew they was true.
By the time Mayor Yang walked out from the lobby, all ninety-eight of us were there. Well, ninety-seven with Louie down. Guess we wouldn’t be hitting the one-hundred mark this year like everyone was hoping.
Mayor Yang carried the speaker’s box all by himself instead of waiting for an aide to bring it. That hushed everybody fast. He set the box down and climbed the three small steps to the top. “The juvies are early.”
It took a second for folks to realize that was his announcement. Most were probably waiting for him to snooze us with a speech first like he usually did.
“But it’s only March!”
“Was there an attack?”
“Was anyone hurt?”
Mayor Yang waved his hands at us, patting down the shouts and questions.
“One juvie attacked two hunters in Underground Atlanta. It was near some yippers, so it’s gonna be a long spring, people.”
Nervous murmurs all around. I looked over at Mama, her head close to Daddy. They’d lost nine chickens last year to a juvie, and she’d been swearing to all who’d listen she didn’t plan to lose a single one this year. Be hard to keep that promise though. Chicks went through chain link like it wasn’t there, and with juvies out, it’s not like we could go and fetch them. Wasn’t too hard to scare off pups, but juvies ran the streets like they had something to prove.
Which I guess they did if they wanted to leave the city and claim territory of their own. Adult dogs and their packs owned the suburban areas and they didn’t take kindly to trespassers—dog or human. We’d had matriarchs fighting over territory a few years running now, and the bigger those packs got the more juvies we had to fret over.
“We need hunters, and extra watchers on the hotel and fields.”
The regular hunters stepped forward right away: Miguel, Sarah, Tonzo, One-Eyed Pete—who really had two eyes, but had whined all winter for the nickname until we’d given in. It took Deeke an extra minute to get there, still bleeding a little from a bite on his shoulder.
With Louie down, they were one regular hunter short.
“I’m volunteering,” I said softly.
Abbie touched my arm. “Shawna, don’t, that’s crazy.”
“Deeke says hunters need to be a little crazy. So see? They have to take me this time.”
“They don’t have to do anything. You’re Doc’s apprentice. They’re not going to risk you hunting.”
I snorted. “I want to find supplies to help us survive, not spend the rest of my life deciding if someone is worth spending those supplies on.”
“Shawna—”
I jumped off the column and stepped forward. “I volunteer.” I almost added to take Louie’s place, but I didn’t know if Doc had told his sister yet. That was news you wanted to get in private.
Deeke shot me a look almost as bad as the one Doc had shot him earlier. Mama grabbed Daddy’s arm, her eyes wide. Whispers ran through the crowd, some shocked, some awed, some mocking.
“You’re not eligible, Shawna,” Mayor Yang said, his eyes soft on me, but hard on those who should have stepped forward, but didn’t.
I folded my arms across my chest. “We break rules in emergencies all the time. Juvies in March—that’s an emergency if I ever heard one.”
Amens, un-huhs, and that’s the truths echoed in the crowd behind me.
“You’re also too young.”
“I’m fourteen. One-Eyed Pete started at fourteen.”
Damn near every pair of eyes on the block turned to stare at Pete. Then they swiveled back to me.
Maybe not the best comparison I could have made. Pete was sixteen now and had twice the weight I did, plus a good foot of height on me. I looked scrawny as a cat next to him. My knees wanted to give way, but I held my ground, even if my mouth had gotten away from me.
“I’m fast,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “And I can climb better than anybody here. I’m good as Deeke with the javelin and even better at trapping.”
“No one’s denying that.”
I looked at Deeke. His face was sweaty, and he wasn’t looking at me anymore. Just stared at his feet as if he wanted to stay out if it.
“Deeke and I won’t even be on the same team.”
Mayor Yang shook his head. “You know the rules. One active hunter per family. No exceptions.”
“It’s not fair.”
“Maybe so, but it’s right.” Mayor Yang nodded slowly, then turned his hard glare back on the rest. “Of course, if no one besides a fourteen-year-old girl steps forward, I may have to make an exception.”
He’d said it to shame the others, but my heart still flipped with hope all the same. Maybe he would give in and let me go. I could set traps, follow tracks, do all the things a hunter needed to do to come back alive. Mama had started teaching us everything she knew when we turned six, and she’d been a strong hunter in her day. She’d found the old zoo medicines and supplies, helped put down the last pack that tried to get at the herds in the stadium. Never been bit once. Was a lot safer for me to go than, say, one of the Rodriguez brothers. All they knew was farming and backgammon.
Abbie stepped forward, his face tight, his eyes scared. “I’ll go in her place.”