The Werewolf of the Mojave
1. Storm after a Nightmare
The loud sound of the drums, the heartbeat imitating pulsation, the shouts, cries and in the end: a head, the head of a wolf. Melinda Tuesday was waking up from this nightmare almost every night. The wolf who's laughing at her, with his sharp fangs, who had human body under his animal head.
She dreamed the same thing every night, how the beast grabs her throat and doesn't let go. She tries to hold on, but she loosens more and more of her breath with the time being.
She wakes up from the nightmare soaked in sweat.
Then she looked out on the window. The moon made some eerie shadows in her dark room.
The coyotes were howling just outside. The predators often came near the small ranch. They smelled the longhorners from far away, and they wanted their share from it. But of course, they didn't get it.
Melinda wasn't sure in the fact that the nightmares were from the howls or were ended by it. Just one thing was sure: she wanted no one of them either.
After the bad night, a beautiful morning had come, but Melinda was up before sunrise. Her dog, Simple lived a more comfortable life. But the old girl had the right to do so, she had twelve years, and despite her age she was a good shepherd dog.
The small farm was secured by the predators, on the south side of the desert. The raiders evaded the region mostly because of the present of fire geckos, the giant ants and the coyote's large presence.
And because of this, Melinda's life was no easy as well. When she had to herd some of her animals to the city market, she had to face a big danger. One day before she always slaughtered a longhorner, which meat she used to keep away the predators from her animals on the journey. Of course, Simple's presence was a big advantage as well. The St. Bernard was an old but experienced shepherd dog.
In the noon they arrived in Nipton. The small town was an original city of sin. In many people's opinion the city exceeded New Vegas as well. However, the small town doesn't had even one single casino.
Melinda often wondered that it would be better to move from the small town. She did not like to go or to business with the people from that city.
The people living there wanted the best of everything, but do not like to pay for anything. Of course they promised everything, but Melinda has learned from her father, how to barter with bandits.
The old man was experienced in that, but unfortunately, despite all his talent, he one day did not manage to conclude a good deal. Back home, after two days waiting, Melinda found the man at the outskirts of the town. He was shot to death from behind, and the identity of the culprit never came to light.
Then, she soon lost her mother as well. The woman fell ill, knowing that she let her husband to travel alone on that tragic morning.
But what possibly could she do? - She asked herself often, but couldn't found peace of mind, because after the night of her mother's death, the terrible childhood nightmares returned. Those still haunts her every night.
But Melinda's daytimes were not about nightmares, and when she someday forgot about this, she put every effort to remind herself of the lecture what she learned from her parents: that the dreams are for night!
The time spent in the market was in the end rewarded, she managed to sell all the animals, and there were also a fair number of costumers for the next week as well.
It's a thing to mention that Melinda had her current clients, and even though many people told her to hire man who brings the good to the city, she didn't want to let strangers on the farm.
It was already afternoon when Melinda finished her affairs in the town, and went back to the farm with her loyal dog.
She decided to shorten their way, not far from the town, she chose to go through a minefield.
Melinda has been well acquainted with the terrain. It was not her first time when she went through it.
Although she did her best to stay on focus, in a moment she realized that the sound of an explosion was the one, what pulled her out from the clutches of the werewolf of her nightmares.
The voice came from her left, and as she turned her head that way, not far off a dust cloud appeared in front of her.
Simple began to bark, but Melinda shushed her, while she carefully, but accelerated her pace.
Ten to fifteen feet away, beyond a dune, she saw a body on the ground. A man lay face down on the ground, his right leg was surrounded by small pools of blood, while around him was still putting up a dust induced from the explosion.
Melinda ran beside him, and as she bent down beside him, she noticed that the short, dark haired man is still conscious. At least he had enough strength to glance toward her, when her shadow was projected above him.
He tried to sit up, but once moved, he felt a sharp pain in his ear. He groaned in pain, and when he turned onto his back, the pain became so unbearable that eventually lost consciousness.
Melinda knew she had to act rapid, if she wants the guy to survive. The very first step was to stop the bleeding. To do so, she needed something like a tightening strap. She soon found a suitable tool for the purpose. She took the knife and cut off the two straps from the man's backpack. She used up those two. After that she took out a bottle of vodka from the backpack, and she splashed a part of its content on the wound. When she was done with this, she carefully wrapped the wound with a clean cloth.
The man had tremendous luck, since the shaft was activated somehow that it not take his foot off, only one of them was hurt badly by the splinters.
Melinda worked for more than half an hour to put the man into a state to transport. The man doesn't wake up, so the woman had to make a stretcher on which she transported the man to the farm.
It was not easy to pull him between the deadly traps to safety, but when they finally entered the farm, she lowered the door, to which she tied the unconscious man, and after she freed him, she brought him into the house. She took him in the bedroom of her parents.
There she put him on the bed, cleaned his wounds, and when she was done, she went out to prepare some branches for the fire.
She does not like the heat, but the patient needed it. While Simple skillfully replaced the water in the animal's pen, she stowed in after that three bales of hay as well.
It's true that the dog was not as thorough as her owner, but the longhorners could not complain, a true buffet was waiting for them.
The dog was so much into the volunteer work that in the end she carried the rest of the branches into the room. After the last pieces of wood were put next to her owner, she ran over and sat at the foot of the bed.
Melinda looked worried at the man's shoulder. There were scars, which seemed deep enough, but none of them seemed fresh. When she turned him on his stomach, on his back were cut marks and other wounds.
After little thought Melinda realized where she saw similar. Once, long ago she traveled with her father in an area invaded by the Legion. There she saw a crucified man, with similar wounds on his back, who was whipped to death.
Melinda felt sorry for the stranger. She did not know from where he came, but his body told a lot of suffering.
After some time she went to the kitchen. The first who got its portion was Simple. The big girl pulled her bowl, full with food, to the next room. Apparently she took the role of the nurse.
Melinda was confident that the patient wakes up to the smell of the fried meat, and was not wrong. When she opened the door and peeped in, the guy opened his eyes and looked toward her.
The influx of the light hurt his eyes, but after a short time the silhouette of the woman became recognizable for him.
His last blink kept a little bit longer, but at this time Melinda leaned closer to him.
"How do you feel?" she asked quietly, because she was afraid that the guy hurt his ears in the explosion, but he does not react in any negative way, so she thought that sense of his was not damaged.
"Where am I?"
"In safety" she replied, and than she really realized how much risk she assumed when she decided to take home the stranger. "Do you remember what happened with you?"
"I stepped on a mine and failed to disarm the thing in time" replied the man, out of which it is clear how he got away so easily in the accident "tell me how much time I was lying here, unconscious?"
"I found you in the afternoon."
"Yeah…"
The guy nodded as he looked out the window and saw that is still dark outside. In fact, just in that minute started the coyote chorus their nightly serenade.
Melinda stood up angrily, after that she went to the window, nervously pulling down the blinds, so only the light from the kitchen came on.
"We cannot have even a minute of peace from this bastards!"
Melinda grumbled visibly, but quickly calmed down after she turned back and saw that the man turns his head sideways, while his Adam's apple jumped.
He was still weak. It was a miracle that he survived, and another that he recovered so quickly.
He went back to sleep, and Melinda let him alone that day.
Next morning she entered her parent's room with a washbasin of water in her hands.
Simple, just like the day before, was lying at the foot of the bed, faithfully supervising him.
Her last memory came to Melinda's mind, when she woke up in the middle of the night at Simple's barking, who growled the man into the girl's room, who has risen because the nature called him.
The poor guy had in his back a St Bernard, and in front of him a woman, who sat on her bed, breathing heavily and sweating in her sleep.
Melinda had a nightmare again, but now Simple's deep voice awakened her. She opened her eyes tiredly, wiping off the sweat from her forehead with one hand.
Suddenly she didn't know where she is, when she was sitting up, and her gaze ran up to the man's. He was leaning against the doorjamb stuck between the woman and the dog.
The two of them went through a very awkward situation, thanks to the old, furry beast.
Melinda decided in the next morning to lead him around the house to avoid the dog's next helping mission.
She had no more confidence for the man as yesterday, but after she brought him home, it was no other option but this.
The man apparently healed well. His young and strong organism only helped him, though she did not kept home any artificial medication, because she was visited at night earlier by some drug addicts. So she kept at home but herbs, nothing else.
At their first breakfast Melinda learned that the man does not consume alcohol. The more time they spent together, the more she started to like the handsome man.
She doesn't want to accept, but she knew deep inside that after his recovery their paths will separate.
Melinda was still confident that this will take place later, probably several months later.