Chapter 3
It begins to snow. Little Wolf sits in the doorway and watches the frozen droplets of water cover the ground and she frowns. Khan smirks at the child in amusement. He should be the one who's upset about them not continuing in their travels to Riverweed, not her.
"Oh, stop pouting!" Sharp Quill hits her sharply in the side with her cane. The girl yelps in surprise and springs away. "Make yourself useful and gather some wood—we're going to need it. Winter came early."
"What was your first clue? The radical drop in temperature or the snow?" Khan asks, feigning innocence.
The old woman turns to glare coldly at him before walking into the kitchen. It is humorous to Khan to that the woman thinks she could intimidate him. Had she known who he truly was, the old woman would be trembling with fear.
His smirk grows wider.
...
Three young children wrapped tightly in rags walk down the dirt road towards the hut and Little Wolf suddenly jumps to her feet and waves excitedly at the newcomers.
"Friends of yours?" Khan purrs under his breath. Little Wolf beams up at him.
"Yup. That there is Hawk, Fawn, and Beaver. They are the same as me: they are The People, too."
"What people?"
"My People. The People. That's our name. We used to live in The Village but we don't now."
"Why?" Khan sits down on a chair beside her and yawns.
He hadn't slept so well last night since he had to be on the lookout for deranged children with duct tape and cantankerous old women who'd desire revenge.
"It broke and now it's all gone." Little Wolf yawns too.
"Like your family?" Khan asks softly.
"You're mean. I don't like you anymore, John. Go away." She turns away from him and sticks her nose high in the air.
Her eyes are closed and her arms are wrapped over her chest in irritation. Her anger was kind of cute in a strange way. An Augment would have simply punched him the throat for offending them. Khan, in turn, would have broken their arm and made them beg for mercy.
This childish pouting was...strange to say the least.
"I'll give you a cookie." He offers.
"What kind?" She looks at him carefully with narrowed, suspicious eyes
"Chocolate chip." Khan raises an eyebrow.
Who knew the exchange of a snack could be so serious and demanding? He felt like if he answered wrong, no matter how unlikely it was, a sniper would cut him down where he sat.
Her nose wrinkles adorably in consideration. Surprisingly, the typically hyper child stares into his eyes for a full minute without fidgeting or running off to complete some mundane task: "Okay."
Khan hands her the treat he had swiped (unnoticed) from the kitchen earlier. When she thinks he isn't looking, she breaks it into half and eats the smaller of the two pieces before handing Khan the larger one. His icy heart melts a little at the small gesture of kindness.
"Sorry we can't get to Riverweed. It's too dangerous to travel that way when there's snow on the ground. There are bombs in the ground that we can't see if they're covered by the snow."
"It's fine." It didn't matter to him when he saved his people so long as the deed was successfully completed.
For a brief moment, he considered the idea of bringing the girl along but quickly dismissed the idea. She was too young and the task far too dangerous. It didn't matter if she was a good companion or not: she'd only slow him down and jeopardize his mission…and the lives his family.
The children approach and Little Wolf talks to them in their native language which, infuriatingly, Khan doesn't understand:
'Hello!' Little Wolf says excitedly.
'You're back!' A boy with dark brown hair and pine green eyes—Hawk—wraps her into a hug. Little Wolf's cheeks turn red and she smiles widely.
'I've missed you! How was your journey? Does the deer run well in the West? What of the invaders? Are they still out there?' Little Wolf says quickly.
'The Invaders are getting worse. They just keep coming. Soon, every village will be full of them. This winter is early. Do you think they somehow caused it?' A girl-Fawn-asked.
'I don't think so.' Little Wolf frowns.
'Who is this?' Hawk looks at Khan warily
'This is John.' Little Wolf nods to Khan.
'Is he safe? Is he one of them?' Hawk continues to eye Khan. Khan glares at him in response.
'No. He's fine—really. He's just like a baby. He doesn't know much anything.' Little Wolf shrugs.
'Why is he here?' Fawn frowned.
'His ship crashed so I'm taking him to Riverweed to get a new one.'
'They'll kill you! It's too dangerous, Little Wolf!' Hawk yells.
'But I have to. I made a promise and The People never go back on their word. You know that. I've got to keep it, but don't worry: I'll be careful. I promise.' She smiles a little and Hawk sighs.
'Okay.'
One by one, they introduce themselves to John in broken English: a small girl with long, curly blond hair and kind brown eyes (Fawn), a one year old baby with blond hair and freckles (Beaver), and the last one: Hawk. He was a month or so older than Little Wolf and had dark brown hair, light olive skin, and pine green eyes. Sharp Quill comes by and ushers them in and coaxes warm soup into their shivering little bodies.
Khan looks at Little Wolf expecting her to be happy to have other children to play with. Instead, she looks troubled and her eyes fly to the trees beyond the hut as if looking for unseen enemies. Her eyebrows turn down in concentration as she searches for her invisible foes.
The children are polite towards Khan but warily keep their distance from him as if he were a wild animal ready to lunge for the life pumping vein in hidden beneath the delicate skin of their throats. Well...the analogy wasn't completely incorrect.
"What's wrong?" Khan looks at Little Wolf and she shrugs.
"The Invaders."
"Where?" Khan looks outside and scans the nearby area. His advanced senses reach out to comb through the trees and foliage but he finds nothing to worry about.
"They're everywhere, John. There's more of them now."
"Are they the ones who broke your village and took your family from you?" Khan asks and he receives a tearful glare from the girl: yes.
"I need to gather wood." She stands quickly and rushes out into the cold with only her thin black jacket to protect her from the howling wind and the freezing snow. Fawn, dressed no warmer, goes with her.
…
He is sleeping in the living room. His back sinks into the soft easy chair near the window, and the roaring flames in the fireplace send comforting waves of heat across his chilled skin. Khan can still feel the ghost of the ax in his hand from chopping wood block after wood block all those hours ago.
"John! John! John! JohnJohnJohnJohnJohn! It's Little Wolf! He's hurting Little Wolf!" Fawn shakes his shoulder urgently. Hysteric tears stream from her fearful brown eyes. Khan is on his feet in a moment; his previous exhaustion suddenly forgotten.
He follows the small girl's footprints in the snow and leaves Fawn sobbing inside the hut, with the other children and Sharp Quill to comfort her as he seeks out his young friend.
…
"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?" A loud thud. "You pathetic little abomination! You should have been destroyed with the rest of your kind!"
Khan arrives in the clearing just in time to see a man, with his hand clasped tightly around Little Wolf's throat, throw her to the ground. She gasps for air and stares up her enemy fearfully.
"You don't deserve to live!" He screeches as he descends on the small girl.
His boot crashes into her skull and sends her flying backwards into the frosted mud of the partially frozen river bank. Little Wolf shivers from cold and terror, but she doesn't cower away as the man advances. For a moment, the coward fumbles with the waistband of his pants before pulling out a gun. The ancient weapon glitters in the sunlight as he points it at the small girl. Time slows down for Khan when he suddenly rushes towards the man.
His opponent hears him coming and turns to meet Khan. A frenzy of burning bullets flies towards the enraged Augment but none of the panicked shots hit their intended target. Little Wolf tries to stand and scramble away but the man kicks her savagely in the stomach and she falls backwards.
Khan snaps the man's neck just as Little Wolf's head vanishes beneath the thin sheet of ice.