Page 18 of Keeping Amanda
About two feet away from their heads was a fox. It was lying on the ground, ignoring the rain that was falling. It had its head on its paws and was staring at them with unblinking eyes. It was matted and dirty, and it seemed to have some sort of injury on its head. She could see what she thought was blood near its ear.
But it wasn’t moving. Wasn’t growling. Wasn’t acting aggressive in the least. It was simply lying there, staring at her and Nash.
The angle Amanda had wasn’t great. Not with being on her side as she was and smooshed up against a rock.
“Nash,” she whispered, not wanting to agitate the fox if she could help it. If it decided to attack them right now, they’d be fucked. They couldn’t exactly fight back in the tight space.
Amazingly, her soft whisper immediately woke Nash. His arm tightened—and then she felt every muscle in his body tense against her back.
“There’s a fox,” she told him, not wanting him to think the rebels were there or anything.
She felt him lift his head to see what she was talking about—and to her surprise, he whispered, “Hey, boy. What are you doing here?”
Amanda frowned in confusion.
Thankfully, Nash kept talking.
“It’s not a fox. It’s a dog. I saw it when I went to get supplies at the camp. I don’t know if he belongs to one of the rebels or what. But he didn’t look like he was in great shape then, and even less now.”
“How did it find us? Do you think it tracked us? Are the rebels on our heels?” Amanda asked, not able to keep the panic from her voice.
In response, Nash wiggled his way out from between therocks. To her surprise, even though she immediately felt cooler, Amanda also felt…adrift.
The dog had quickly scurried backward when Nash moved, out of reach. But it didn’t run off. Amanda scooted out of the shelter of the rocks, arching her back to stretch her achy muscles. She was getting used to sleeping on the hard ground, but that didn’t mean she liked it.
“What’s it doing? Do we need to get out of here?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but I think we’re okay. From what I saw, no one paid any attention to the little guy. I highly doubt they trained it to track people. Hey, boy, you hungry? You look hungry,” Nash crooned.
Amanda swore her lady parts twitched in her pants. Listening to this skilled pilot talk baby talk to the pathetic-looking dog was sweet.
Nash glanced at her. “When we stop again, I’m going to set up some traps, see if we can’t get some fresh meat. But I’d be more comfortable setting a fire to cook meat once we put more distance between us and that camp.”
The thought of fresh meat made Amanda’s mouth water with anticipation. She wasn’t a huge meat eater, but right now, her body was craving fat and protein. She nodded in agreement.
“For now, it’s going to be a breakfast of canned…whatever. And water.”
Nash went around the rocks, making the dog back up a little more at his movements, and came back holding two cans full of rainwater.
It was a little silly to get so excited about something as boring as water, especially when it was falling steadily from the sky, but seeing him holding those cans as if they were delicate glasses made Amanda feel more human than when she’d had to slurp water out of her hands back at the rebel camp.
Looking inside her can, she saw the water looked clear and fresh,unlike the stuff that had been collected by the rebels. They’d had a system for catching water, but it was always full of dirt and leaves. And they didn’t allow her or the children to use the cans as cups.
Today’s breakfast was olives for her and more beans for Nash. They were saving the canned chicken and spam for a time when their bodies really needed the nutrients.
The dog didn’t move from where it had lain down when they began to eat. But its eyes followed every movement their hands made.
Amanda couldn’t stand it any longer. She leaned forward and held out an olive. “You want some, boy?”
The dog licked its chops but didn’t make any kind of move to take the food from her.
“He was probably abused by the rebels,” Nash said softly.
“Yeah,” Amanda agreed. “You want to try?”
“Sure.” But the second Nash knelt next to her and held out his hand, the dog sat up and backed away. “Shoot, it’s more scared of me than you. Probably because I’m a guy. You keep trying.” With that, Nash backed up toward the rocks where they’d spent the night.
“It’s okay, he won’t hurt you,” Amanda said softly to the dog. To her relief, it lay back down again instead of running off into the trees. “I know you want this olive. It doesn’t taste that great, but when you’re hungry it doesn’t really matter, does it? Watch, I’ll eat, then it’ll be your turn. Ummmm, yummy. Here…now you take one.”
