Rogues

Mariel paused to admire the sunlight filtering through the last leaves of autumn. Winter was coming soon and the abandoned car she’d shared with her younger brother wouldn’t be warm enough for long. She’d been hiding money from her job washing dishes in the torn headliner through the summer and fall and she didn’t know if she had enough to pay deposits on an apartment and utilities yet but she had to find something soon. Without a wolf he wouldn’t survive the freezing nights, even snuggled into her side. ‘Mariel?’ he called, peeking out the window. She quickly shifted and pulled on her jeans and hoodie behind a tree. She brought him the rabbit she’d caught so he could skin and gut it while she built the campfire back up to make stew. This would be so much easier if they could only find a real home. She’d had no idea how hard life would be outside of a pack when she’d left. She’d only known that her brother was going to be banished when the alpha found out he was wolfless and she couldn’t let him go alone. She didn’t understand how her parents could let this happen. Why didn’t they stand up for him? After spending the summer washing dishes at a truck stop diner, dodging creepy old men who thought they’d sweep her off her feet with an offer of dinner and a night indoors, and learning to get around a human town, she understood why they’d been scared. It didn’t make her any less angry that they’d been willing to send Jonathan away to do this on his own though. To get a decent job she’d have needed a social security card, a working car, and at the very least a high school diploma. She’d had none of these things. To get Jonathan registered in school she would need an address, a birth certificate, shot records. Nope. To get an address she’d need a few thousand bucks and a bank account at least. She was working on the former and had a vague idea that she’d need a social security number for the latter. Another dishwasher at the truck stop said he could introduce her to someone who could help her with the latter so she was just waiting for Jonathan to go to sleep so she could slip out and take care of that. It was going to be a long, nerve wracking evening. She hauled the battered Dutch oven out of the trunk and carried their kettle to the stream. She’d never gotten sick from stream water in her wolf form but learned quickly that Jonathan couldn’t handle unboiled water when he’d been so sick at his stomach that she’d feared he would die the first week after they left. She’d spent a terrible weak trying to cool his fevered body down while he vomited up everything she could find to feed him. Finally she realized that his weaker body couldn’t handle the fresh water and raw meat she craved and that she’d have to learn to feed him like a human or she’d lose him and her exile would be for nothing. Ever since then she’d been careful to boil enough water to refill his canteen every night. She brought home soda from the truck stop for treats too but she couldn’t bring herself to spend money on bottled water. It’s not like they had curbside recycling in their rusted old Dart. Keeping their campsite clean would make it easier to hide anyway. She didn’t want any nosy humans to start asking questions about the boy with the big gray dog they saw hanging around the nature preserve. Keeping the car looking abandoned was crucial. Mariel tucked the rabbit pieces in the Dutch oven with carrots and onions she’d begged from one of the cooks at work and nestled it under a log just beginning to catch fire. ‘Let’s go wash up while we wait,’ she reminded him. They hiked together to the stream that had been their lifeline. Washing their hands and faces with the same bottle of antibacterial soap they used for their clothes and dishes, the siblings shivered in the brisk air. It was too cold for water fights and swimming now. It was time to join the human world.