I can make it. If I throw everything I have into climbing this hill—I can make it. But Dellas and her child are doomed. The pack knows this. I cannot leave them to die. I grab a rock and pelt the German shepherd with it to minimal effect. Throwing the rock buys Dellas a second, nothing more, but a second is all I need to grab Rhodesia. The dogs are all around us, jaws snapping, leaping, and colliding with each other. They crash into me; I grip a clump of grass to save myself from tumbling into their midst. Should I fall I will never rise again. From above, Gwen and Pamela heave rocks onto the pack. Dellas screams in pain; the jaws of the lead hound sink into Della’s exposed calf. A well-delivered stone from Gwen smacks the big dog on the skull. Stunned, it releases Dellas.
I am nearly at the top. Two dogs try to pounce on me, but the soil crumbles beneath them and they slide away. Pamela reaches for Rhodesia and I hand her off. Bleeding profusely, Dellas begs for help. Tears stream from her eyes. I jump to her side and kick one of the hounds away, and then together we reach the top of the hill.
There is no tree to climb, nor building to take refuge in, but a minivan, the type used to transport guests to the resorts, lies one hundred yards away on the side of the road. Gwen is already halfway there. There is no way Pamela can outrun the dogs and reach the minivan while holding Rhodesia.
“Go, go,” I yell to Pamela. “Give me the baby.”
Without hesitation, she passes the little girl to me. Running for the van, I turn to see the German shepherd clear the hill. It looks both ways, no doubt verifying the whereabouts of its prey, and then lopes after us. In a second, the other dogs clear the hill and join the chase. Gwen cannot get into the locked minivan. She grabs a chunk of asphalt from the side of the road and smashes the driver side window. She rushes into the minivan—Pamela and Dellas immediately follow. The German shepherd is close enough that I can hear it panting and the click of its claws on the road.
Gwen hangs out the driver side door, waving frantically for me to hurry. Almost there. I find a last reserve of strength, nearly throwing myself forward, and dive into the minivan. The massive hound comes with me, fangs lunging for my face. Rhodesia falls to the floor, out of the animal’s reach.
“Shut de door!” Dellas screams.
“I’m trying!” I shout, kicking and punching the dog, and punctuating each kick I yell, “Get! The! Fuck! Out!”
The dog falls out of the car. I slam the door shut. Determined not to let me escape, it jumps at the window, thrusting its head in, but I beat it back with several kicks. The rest of the pack swarms the car, climbing on the hood, bounding at the windows, barking and snapping. A stocky, shorthaired hound climbs on the hood of the van and throws itself at the windshield. Gwen shrieks. Unable to break the windshield, the dog snaps at the air, throwing spittle on the glass. The van shakes from their assault. Face up on the floor of the van, Rhodesia cries with wild terror. Dellas picks her up. In the back of the minivan, Pamela yelps each time a dog leaps at the window, crawling from one side of seat to the other. The glass holds. Legs up in the air, I dare not take my eyes off the broken driver side window for a second.
The lead dog tries to enter via the driver side again, but the space is too small, my defense too vigorous, and reluctantly, it backs off. Gasping for breath, too terrified to speak, we watch the dogs circle us.
Chapter Twelve
The sun must be directly overhead now, turning the inoperable minivan into an oven. Rhodesia, too hot and exhausted to cry, falls into a dangerous, groan filled sleep, the kind from which I fear she may not wake. I am sweaty and shirtless; my shirt donated to make a bandage on Dellas’s calf. Pamela, held tilted on the back seat, drapes an arm over her face. Gwen sits in the front of the van with me.
Under the shade of a small tree, the dogs are a hundred yards away, lounging in dust on the side of the road.
“It looks like the lead dog is asleep,” I remark to Gwen. “He’s sprawled in the dirt, passed out.”
Gwen shakes her head. “It’s a trick. They are just far enough away to encourage us to leave the safety of the van. They know we’re trapped. Look at our options: die of dehydration in here or get ripped to pieces out there. They can afford to wait; it’s only a matter of time.”
I try to think of a way out of this. “Maybe someone from the town will come and chase the dogs away.”
“Nobody come from de town,” Dellas waves a scrap of paper left in the van over her baby’s face to circulate the air. “If dey foolish enough to come de dogs will eat dem. Only de gangstas can stand up to de dogs.”
“I’d rather deal with the dogs than the thugs,” I reply. “At least the dogs can’t open the doors.”
Gwen breathes slowly, her eyes drooping with fatigue. “There’s got to be some way to get this van started.”
“There is no way,” I answer. “It’s dead—that’s why the driver left it on the side of the road. We could wait till dark and try and make a run for it.”
“Run where?” Gwen gestures to the empty, open countryside. “We wouldn’t get twenty feet. Maybe if we ran in different directions—split up…”
“Some of us would get away, but one of us certainly wouldn’t,” I note with grim certainty. “No, we stick together.”
“We might not have a choice, Phillip,” Gwen counters, exasperation in her voice.
“No, Gwen,” I shoot back. “We have a choice. We’re human beings, for God’s sake, not sheep to be separated from the herd and picked off one by one.”
Chastened, Gwen drops the idea and looks through the dirty windshield. “What’s on the road up ahead?”
I peer through the glass. “Nothing. Open road without a tree to climb or a house in sight.”
“But the road dips down,” she is suddenly hopeful. “Phillip, we’re near the crest of a hill. A hundred feet ahead the road drops. The van is dead, but the tires aren’t flat.”
My eyes widen as I grasp what she implies. “If we can put the van in neutral and push it over the edge we can coast away.”
She smiles. “It’s our only shot. We’ll have to get out of the van and push. What about the dogs?”
I look back at the pack. “If they come for us we’ll have enough time to hop back in the van.”
I slip the car into neutral. “I’ll do it now—while I still have the strength. Get behind the wheel so you can steer.”
Instead, Gwen grips her door handle. “You’ll need my help to get this van rolling. Don’t think you can do it on your own.”
Pamela pushes her head between us. “I’ll steer.”
As usual, there is no point in arguing with Gwen. She is determined to push the van with me.
“Okay, fine,” I look at Gwen. “But the second the dogs start running for us you get your ass back in the van.”
“You, too,” she admonishes. “Don’t be a hero.”
I grin with dark humor. “Don’t worry about me. I wasn’t put on this earth to be Puppy Chow.”
I crack my door open. The dogs do not move. Gingerly, I put a foot on the road and inch out of the car while Gwen does the same on her side. My eyes never stray from the dogs, looking for the slightest sign of their movement. I reach the back of the van at the same time as Gwen. With our backs to the van, we face the dogs. The lead dog is motionless, but his eyes watch us, waiting for one of us to run from the safety of the van.
Without saying another word, we brace ourselves against the van and begin pushing. It does not move. My pulse is weak. My knees shake. A trickle of sweat runs down my face. Gwen grunts and pants next to me.
“It won’t budge,” Gwen rasps between clenched teeth.
“It’s got to. C’mon, Gwen, push,” I rasp and dig my heels into the cracked asphalt.