Running With the Pack (37 page)

You start to whimper. You whimper even more loudly when a car pulls into the driveway on the other side of the house, but you stop when you hear a female voice, because you want to hear what it says.

“So terrible that your wife left you. You must be devastated.”

“Yes, I am. But I’m sure she’s back in Europe now, with her family. Here, let me show you the house.” And when he shows her the family room, you see her: in her twenties, with long black hair and perfect skin. And you see how Jonathan looks at her, and you start to howl in earnest.

“Jesus,” Jonathan’s guest says, peering out at you through the dusk. “What the hell is that? A wolf?”

“My sister’s dog,” Jonathan says. “Husky-wolfhound mix. I’m taking care of her while my sister’s away on business. She can’t hurt you: don’t be afraid.” And he touches the woman’s shoulder to silence her fear, and she turns towards him, and they walk into the dining room. And then, after a while, the bedroom light flicks on, and you hear laughter and other noises, and you start to howl again.

You howl all night, but Jonathan doesn’t come outside. The neighbors yell at Jonathan a few times—
Shut that dog up, goddammit!
—but Jonathan will never come outside again. You’re going to die here, tethered to this stake.

But you don’t. Towards dawn you finally stop howling; you curl up and sleep, exhausted, and when you wake up the sun’s higher and Jonathan’s coming through the open glass doors. He’s carrying another dish of Alpo, and he smells of soap and shampoo. You can’t smell the woman on him.

You growl anyway, because you’re hurt and confused. “Jessie,” he says. “Jessie, it’s all right. Poor beautiful Jessie. I’ve been mean to you, haven’t I? I’m so sorry.”

He does sound sorry, truly sorry. You eat the Alpo, and he strokes you, the same way he did last night, and then he unsnaps your leash from the pole and says, “Okay, Jess, through the gate into the driveway, okay? We’re going for a ride.”

You don’t want to go for a ride. You want to go for a walk. Jonathan promised you a walk. You growl.

“Jessie! Into the car, now! We’re going to another meadow, Jess. It’s farther away than our old one, but someone told me he saw rabbits there, and he said it’s really big. You’d like to explore a new place, wouldn’t you?”

You don’t want to go to a new meadow. You want to go to the old meadow, the one where you know the smell of every tree and rock. You growl again.

“Jessie, you’re being a
very bad dog
! Now get in the car. Don’t make me call Animal Control.”

You whine. You’re scared of Animal Control, the people who wanted to take you away so long ago, when you lived in that other county. You know that Animal Control kills a lot of animals, in that county and in this one, and if you die as a wolf, you’ll stay a wolf. They’d never know about Stella. As Jessie, you’d have no way to protect yourself except your teeth, and that would only get you killed faster.

So you get into the car, although you’re trembling.

In the car, Jonathan seems more cheerful. “Good Jessie. Good girl. We’ll go to the new meadow and chase balls now, eh? It’s a big meadow. You’ll be able to run a long way.” And he tosses a new tennis ball into the backseat, and you chew on it, happily, and the car drives along, traffic whizzing past it. When you lift your head from chewing on the ball, you can see trees, so you put your head back down, satisfied, and resume chewing. And then the car stops, and Jonathan opens the door for you, and you hop out, holding your ball in your mouth.

This isn’t a meadow. You’re in the parking lot of a low concrete building that reeks of excrement and disinfectant and fear, fear, and from the building you hear barking and howling, screams of misery, and in the parking lot are parked two white Animal Control trucks.

You panic. You drop your tennis ball and try to run, but Jonathan has the leash, and he starts dragging you inside the building, and you can’t breathe because of the choke collar. You cough, gasping, trying to howl. “Don’t fight, Jessie. Don’t fight me. Everything’s all right.”

Everything’s not all right. You can smell Jonathan’s desperation, can taste your own, and you should be stronger than he is but you can’t breathe, and he’s saying “Jessie, don’t bite me, it will be worse if you bite me, Jessie,” and the screams of horror still swirl from the building and you’re at the door now, someone’s opened the door for Jonathan, someone says, “Let me help you with that dog,” and you’re scrabbling on the concrete, trying to dig your claws into the sidewalk just outside the door, but there’s no purchase, and they’ve dragged you inside, onto the linoleum, and everywhere are the smells and sounds of terror. Above your own whimpering you hear Jonathan saying, “She jumped the fence and threatened my girlfriend, and then she tried to bite me, so I have no choice, it’s such a shame, she’s always been such a good dog, but in good conscience I can’t—”

You start to howl, because he’s lying,
lying
, you never did any of that!

Now you’re surrounded by people, a man and two women, all wearing colorful cotton smocks that smell, although faintly, of dog shit and cat pee. They’re putting a muzzle on you, and even though you can hardly think through your fear—and your pain, because Jonathan’s walked back out the door, gotten into the car and driven away, Jonathan’s left you here—even with all of that, you know you don’t dare bite or snap. You know your only hope is in being a good dog, in acting as submissive as possible. So you whimper, crawl along on your stomach, try to roll over on your back to show your belly, but you can’t, because of the leash.

“Hey,” one of the women says. The man’s left. She bends down to stroke you. “Oh, God, she’s so scared. Look at her.”

“Poor thing,” the other woman says. “She’s
beautiful
.”

“I know.”

“Looks like a wolf mix.”

“I know.” The first woman sighs and scratches your ears, and you whimper and wag your tail and try to lick her hand through the muzzle. Take me home, you’d tell her if you could talk. Take me home with you. You’ll be my alpha, and I’ll love you forever. I’m a
good
dog.

The woman who’s scratching you says wistfully, “We could adopt her out in a minute, I bet.”

“Not with that history. Not if she’s a biter. Not even if we had room. You know that.”

“I know.” The voice is very quiet. “Wish I could take her myself, though.”

“Take home a biter? Lily, you have kids!”

Lily sighs. “Yeah, I know. Makes me sick, that’s all.”

“You don’t need to tell me that. Come on, let’s get this over with. Did Mark go to get the room ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. What’d the owner say her name was?”

“Stella.”

“Okay. Here, give me the leash. Stella, come. Come on, Stella.”

The voice is sad, gentle, loving, and you want to follow it, but you fight every step, anyway, until Lily and her friend have to drag you past the cages of other dogs, who start barking and howling again, whose cries are pure terror, pure loss. You can hear cats grieving, somewhere else in the building, and you can smell the room at the end of the hall, the room to which you’re getting inexorably closer. You smell the man named Mark behind the door, and you smell medicine, and you smell the fear of the animals who’ve been taken to that room before you. But overpowering everything else is the worst smell, the smell that makes you bare your teeth in the muzzle and pull against the choke collar and scrabble again, helplessly, for a purchase you can’t get on the concrete floor: the pervasive, metallic stench of death.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

P
ETER
B
ELL
is a historian, living in York, England. He is a member of the Friends of Arthur Machen and the Ghost Story Society. He writes for
The Ghosts & Scholars M.R. James Newsletter
, and the magazines
Wormwood
and
Faunus
. His stories have appeared in
All Hallows
;
Supernatural Tales
; Swan River Press’s
Haunted Histories
series; the Ash-Tree Press anthologies,
Acquainted with the Night, At Ease with the Dead, Shades of Darkness
, and
Exotic Gothic II
; and in the Ex-Occidente Press anthology
Cinnabar’s Gnosis; a Homage to Gustav Meyrink.
A collection of his stories
The Light of the World & Other Strange Tales
is to be published in 2010 by Ex-Occidente Press. An article on
Beasts
by Joyce Carol Oates is in the forthcoming
Twenty-First Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels since 2000
.

M
ARIE
B
RENNAN
is the author of the Onyx Court series of London-based historical faerie fantasies:
Midnight Never Come, In Ashes Lie,
and the upcoming
A Star Shall Fall
, as well as the Doppelgänger duology of
Warrior
and
Witch.
She has published nearly thirty short stories in venues such as
On Spec, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
, and the acclaimed anthology series
Clockwork Phoenix.
More information can be found on her web site: www.swantower.com.

M
IKE
B
ROTHERTON
is the author of the science fiction novels
Spider Star
(2008) and
Star Dragon
(2003), the latter being a finalist for the Campbell award. He’s also a professor of astronomy at the University of Wyoming, a Clarion West graduate, and founder of the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers (www.launchpadworkshop.org). He blogs at www.mikebrotherton.com.

J
ESSE
B
ULLINGTON
is the author of
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart
and the upcoming
The Enterprise of Death
, as well as several short stories and articles. He lives in Colorado and can be found online at www.jessebullington.com.

S
TEPHANIE
B
URGIS
is an American writer who lives in Wales with her husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, their son, and their dog. Her YA Regency fantasy novel
The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, Book One: A Most Improper Magick
will be published in 2010. Her short fiction has appeared in several magazines, including
Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
, and
Fantasy Magazine.
To find out more, please visit her web site: www.stephanieburgis.com

A
MANDA
D
OWNUM
lives near Austin, Texas, in a house with a spooky attic, and works at a bookstore in addition to writing, cat-herding, and falling off rocks. Her short fiction has appeared in
Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy
, and
Weird Tales
.
The Drowning City
, first of the Necromancer Chronicles, is available from Orbit Books; the second volume,
The Bone Palace
, is forthcoming in 2010. For more information on Amanda or her writing, visit www.amandadownum.com.

S
TEVE
D
UFFY
’s stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in Europe and North America. Two new collections of his short fiction,
The Moment of Panic
(which includes the International Horror Guild award-winning tale, “The Rag-and-Bone Men”) and
Tragic Life Stories,
will be published in 2010. He lives in North Wales.

K
AREN
E
VERSON
is a jack-of-all-arts. She has published fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Recent publications include “Support You Local Werewolf,” another Olwen story, in Esther Friesner’s anthology
Strip Mauled.
Her current writing projects include a fantasy novel,
Crown of Shadows,
and a paranormal romance centered on Olwen and her family. In addition to her writing, Karen runs Moongate Designs, a small business showcasing her art and needlework designs. She lives in Michigan with her other great passions: her husband Mark, her daughter Caitlyn, and numerous pets.

J
EFFREY
F
ORD
is the author of the novels,
The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Girl in the Glass,
and
The Shadow Year.
His short stories have been collected into three books—
The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, The Empire of Ice Cream
, and
The Drowned Life.
He lives in South Jersey and teaches Writing and Literature at Brookdale Community College.

L
AURA
A
NNE
G
ILMAN
started out on the editorial side of publishing, but went freelance in 2003. Her urban fantasy
Staying Dead
(Luna) came out in 2004, followed by
Curse The Dark, Bring It On, Burning Bridges, Free Fall,
and
Blood From Stone.
The first in a spinoff series,
Hard Magic
, was published in May 2010. The first book in The Vineart War trilogy,
Flesh and Fire
(Pocket), was published in October 2009. The second book,
Weight of Stone
, will be available October 2010. She is also the author of the Grail Quest YA trilogy for HarperCollins (2006), and as “Anna Leonard” writes paranormal romances (
The Night Serpent
and the forthcoming
The Hunted
). She also writes short fiction, and as part of Book View Café (www.bookviewcafe.com), is involved in expanding the definition of publishing beyond traditional models. More information available at lauraannegilman.net

G
EOFFREY
H. G
OODWIN
is a writer who lives near Boston, Massachusetts. He has two degrees in literature and has spent most of his life working in bookstores and comic book shops. Geoffrey’s fiction has appeared in
Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Rabid Transit,
and Prime’s
Phantom
anthology, among others. He has also contributed nonfiction to
Bookslut, Weird Tales,
and
Tor.com.

After traveling the world in search of the perfect Bunco group,
S
AMANTHA
H
ENDERSON
settled down in Southern California. Her short fiction has been published in
Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Fantasy,
and
Chizine
, and her 2008 dark Victorian fantasy
Heaven’s Bones
was nominated for the Scribe Award. She is currently the treasurer of the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

N.K. J
EMISIN
’s work has appeared in
Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons,
and
Postscripts
, and ranges across science fiction, fantasy, erotica, and sometimes a bit of all three. Her first novel,
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
, first of the Inheritance Trilogy, is out now from Orbit Books. She lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY.

C.E. M
URPHY
is a writer, mostly of novels, but sometimes of comic books and short stories. Born and raised in Alaska, she now lives with her family in her ancestral homeland of Ireland, a magical land where winter never arrives. More information about her writing and witty banter with the author are available at her web site, www.cemurphy.net.

S
USAN
P
ALWICK
is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she teaches literature and writing. She has published three novels, all with Tor, and a story collection with Tachyon Publications. She is currently working on a mainstream novel under contract with Tor. Susan’s writing has been honored with the Crawford Award from the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, with an Alex Award from the American Library Association, and with a Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. She has also been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award.

M
IKE
R
ESNICK
is, according to
Locus
, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He has won five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the USA, France, Spain, Poland, Croatia, and Japan, and has been short-listed in England, Italy and Australia. He is the author of sixty-one novels, over 250 short stories, and two screenplays, and has edited more than forty anthologies. His work has been translated into twenty-three languages. In his spare time, he sleeps.

L
AWRENCE
S
CHIMEL
has published over one hundred books as author or anthologist, including
The Drag Queen of Elfland
(Circlet),
The Future is Queer
(Arsenal Pulp),
Things Invisible to See: Lesbian and Gay Tales of Magic Realism
(Circlet),
Two Boys in Love
(Seventh Window), and
Fairy Tales for Writers
(A Midsummer Night’s Press). He has twice won the Lambda Literary Award, for
First Person Queer
(Arsenal Pulp) and
PoMoSexuals
(Cleis), and has also won the Spectrum, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Rhysling, and other awards. He lives in Madrid, Spain, where he works as a Spanish-to-English translator.

M
ARIA
V. S
NYDER
switched careers from meteorologist to novelist when she began writing the New York Times best-selling Study Series (
Poison Study, Magic Study
and
Fire Study
) about a young woman who becomes a poison taster. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria dreamed of chasing tornados, but lacked the skills to forecast their location. Writing, however, lets Maria control the weather. Her new Glass Series (
Storm Glass, Sea Glass
, and
Spy Glass
) combines two out of the three things Maria loves: the weather and glass. The third is dogs. Readers are invited to read more of Maria’s short stories on her web site at www.MariaVSnyder.com.

M
OLLY
T
ANZER
is the assistant editor of
Fantasy Magazine.
Her interview with Garth Nix appeared on the
Fantasy Magazine
site, and her nonfiction article “On Books and Animals” appeared in
Herbivore Magazine
. You are always welcome to visit her at www.mollytanzer.com. She knits, but never with wool.

G
ENEVIEVE
V
ALENTINE
’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in
Clarkesworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, Fantasy Magazine
, and in anthologies
Federations, The Living Dead II
, and
Teeth.
Her first novel, about a mechanical circus troupe, is coming in 2011 from Prime. She has an insatiable appetite for bad movies, a tragedy she tracks on her blog at www.genevievevalentine.com.

C
ARRIE
V
AUGHN
is the bestselling author of a series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. The seventh installment,
Kitty’s House of Horrors
, was released in 2010. T.J. in “Wild Ride” is a character from the series. Carrie’s first young adult novel,
Voices of Dragons
, is also due to be released in 2010. An Air Force brat, she grew up all over the U.S. but has managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado. Please visit her at www.carrievaughn.com for more information.

E
RZEBET
Y
ELLOW
B
OY
is the editor of
Cabinet des Fées
, a journal of fairy tale fiction, and the founder of Papaveria Press, a private press specializing in handbound limited editions of mythic poetry and prose. Her stories and poems have appeared in
Fantasy Magazine, Jabberwocky, Goblin Fruit, Mythic Delirium, Electric Velocipede
and others. Her second novel,
Sleeping Helena
, is scheduled for release in 2010. Visit her web site at www.erzebet.com.