Just as good as you

Chapter 5 - New Life in the Mountains My Dear?

It had been two weeks since Elizabeth had fled to the mountains, and she was running out of food. She suddenly awoke to howls, growling and whining. She cracked open the door and saw five grey wolves surrounding her stolen nag, the wolves were pouncing onto her horse and ripping off chunks of its flesh as it was bucking. The crying horse managed to buck a small wolf pup out of the way and into the side of the shack, Elizabeth jumped back and slammed the door shut when she heard the thud of its small body against the wood. She cowered inside in horror not knowing what to do, she ransacked the cupboards until she found a shotgun and a rifle. She had used a shotgun and rifle only once each before, when she went shooting with her father and his colleagues, she wasn't so good then.

"Fuck it, maybe I've gotten better with age" she exclaimed and popped the chamber of the shotgun open to fill it with shells, she cocked the shotgun and crept to the door.

She threw it open and fired a bullet in the direction of one of the wolves, it ploughed through its head causing blood to splash everywhere. However the recoil from the shotgun caused her to lose her footing. Now she had the wolves attention, she cocked the gun again and fired a second shot prepared for the recoil.

"Shit!" She exclaimed "Missed"

She hoped the gun fire would scare the wolves away but it did the opposite, they were coming for her. She slammed the pump back and fired another shell, it tore through its chest, that wolf ran. Slamming the pump back again she fired another, this time grazing the wolf's big grey ear, it ran too.

"Okay one more Elizabeth you can do it" she egged herself on and rammed the pump back once more, she fired again, hitting the remaining wolf straight in its black eye, it stopped dead in its tracks and plummeted into the snowy ground.

Elizabeth lowered her gun, she was breathing heavily, her heart pounding in her chest. She walked over to her stolen horse, it was torn up, blood soaked into the snow around it.

"Sorry girl, thank you for getting me to safety" she grieved as she gently cocked another shot into the chamber, she positioned the gun on the horse's head and looked away as she pulled the trigger.

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and turned back to the shack, the wolf pup was lying limp on the ground whimpering.

"Your family left too huh" she sighed, picking up its fragile body. She took the pup inside the shack and laid it in front of the fireplace. She threw a match on the remaining wood and watched as the flames tore through it.

The next morning Elizabeth woke, she immediately turned her attention to the wolf pup laying motionless on the floor in front of the burnt out fire, she wandered over to it and placed her hand on its fur.

"Sorry I couldn't save you, little one," she sniffled. However her grieving for her horse and the wolf pup was cut short as she heard shouting that sounded close. She quietly slipped outside and listened through the icy wind.

"John?" A rough voice shouted "Where are you, you son-of-a-bitch?"

"Over here" a raspy voice replied.

Elizabeth put her hand above her eyes to shield them from the bright sun,

"Where are you?" She said to herself, she raced back inside and grabbed both the rifle and shotgun, and ammunition for each. She wasn't dressed for the cold, she still had on the same clothes from when she arrived in America, however her grey, lace dress now frayed and muddied at the bottom. Elizabeth didn't mind the cold, it reminded her of England, it was rarely warm in the city, even when it was warm, the heat made the streets smell awful, and that smell made her sick.

Elizabeth had walked a few miles away from the shack when she heard more shouting a little further down the hill. She ran through the snow, her feet soaking wet and freezing. Suddenly another shout, this time closer, she looked to her left down the small drop and saw three men, two on one horse and one on another. Surrounded by wolves.

"Shoot them" an accented voice shouted, Elizabeth had not heard this accent before.

"What d'ya think I'm doing" an angry voice boomed over gunshots.

"There's too many of them," the accented voice shouted again.

The wolves drew in closer to the three men, their growls growing more vicious and hungry.

Elizabeth drew her rifle and aimed it at one of the wolves, she pulled the trigger and watched the bullet travel and connect with one wolf's head, it fell, dead. She fired again and again till six wolves were on the ground and the rest scampered away.

Breathing heavily she began to feel nauseous, she hadn't eaten in three days and all the shooting had made her burn her last shred of energy.

"What in the hell?" She heard one of the men say through her ringing ears "Take Marston back to camp, I'll be right there"

Elizabeth opened her eyes enough to see one of the men galloping towards her on his bay coloured horse, then she collapsed, her legs buckled under her and she smashed her head on the cold ground.

Elizabeth opened her eyes and groaned, her head was pounding.

"You okay back there miss?" A husky voice asked

"No" Elizabeth said bluntly, she quickly regained consciousness as the smell of tobacco filled her nostrils, "Can I have one?"

"Sure" the voice said, handing back a cigarette and a match. Elizabeth put it to her lips and struck the match on the sole of her now tattered high heels.

"I'm Elizabeth" she lit the cigarette and inhaled her sweet relief and exhaled allowing smoke to escape her mouth.

"Arthur" the husky voice said "Can I just ask where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?"

Elizabeth giggled "Back home I went shooting with my father, only once, but guess you never forget" she explained her voice silvery.

"Back home? Yeah you don't sound like you're from here" Arthur said

"England, London" she elaborated

"What is it then?" He pressed "New life in the mountains my dear?"

Elizabeth had to gather herself, "my dear?" She thought to herself.

"England to Saint Denis, Saint Denis to here" she continued "where are we" she noticed the horse had pulled into an array of small wooden shacks with people dotted around.