Ninety Degrees Out

“Dear God, Arimina! Do you know what you’re doing with that rifle?”

Olivia’s shocked question made her giggle.

“I do. It’s just a twenty-two. Little bullets for a little girl. I need to clean it though. And I need to take care of the lynx kittens. We have two,” Arimina told the woman in the bed.

“Are you going to carry that gun around or put it down?” Olivia knew things were different in Alaska, but this little one couldn’t be more than six years old.

“I’m going to put it behind the door. That’s where it lives in my bedroom at Daddy’s house, but I keep it beside my bed at night. I feel better with it there.” Arimina checked the chamber to clear it, and propped the rifle on its stock, leaning its barrel into the corner behind the door.

“Do you know if there’s anything to eat? I woke up and now that I know I’m not going to be sick, I’m hungry.” Olivia ran a hand through her hair and winced. The bruise on her temple throbbed and she reminded herself not to do it again. Was there a comb or a brush around?

“I’m going to keep the door open for you while I look in the fridge. Sometimes my Grandma Akira puts some sandwiches out here for Dr. Mike and Dr. Anya.” Arimina pulled on the door until it clicked and stayed open.

“You seem awfully young to be taking care of wild lynx babies,” Olivia said between mouthfuls of some sort of sliced roast meat with lettuce and tomatoes on a sourdough of some sort. The mustard was just the right tang to complement the meat and she could smell the sour vinegary scent of pickles.

“I’m almost six.”

Olivia almost choked at the girl’s matter of fact tone. Sipping more water, she listened as Arimina chatter on.

“I ate before we went for our ride. Did my lessons on the computer ahead of lunch. I love math. I’m learning ratios and percentages right now, and multidigit multiplication. But I like the stars, like Daddy. He showed me the constellations last night. We can’t see the big dipper anymore.”

Olivia thought over her lesson plans. This child was way past her age level.

“So, tell me how you came to be in charge of raising lynx kittens.”

“You can call me Ari, almost everyone does. Mommy calls me Arimina if she wants to talk about something important or if I screwed up.”

She listened as the golden skinned girl with black ringlets talked about Missy and Lexi the lynx kittens and half dozed when she went out to feed them.

The roar of a motorcycle engine startled her, and she let out a short scream.

“Ari, where are you?” Olivia yelled.

Silence greeted her. Where was the girl. If those two from the highway were here, they were in serious danger.

Ari slipped out of the shadows behind the door.

“Hide this under your pillow.”

Olivia took the radio Ari handed her.

“Mommy said the bikers are coming. I’m hiding under the bed. I’ve got my gun. I hope you don’t hurt your ears. I will keep us safe.” Her voice shook, but she went down to her knees. “Ask them who they are. I know one guy who should be here on a bike, that’s Aaron. But he usually rides a horse.”

“Quiet, Ari. I hear the outside door.” Olivia slipped the two way handheld under her blanket. She could still throw a mean fastball and the little unit felt about right.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Anya mixed water and charcoal into a black slimy sludge.

“I’m jamming a tube into her stomach. No different than putting one to sleep for surgery. You hold that high, and we’ll let it drain. It’s all we can do. She’s already vomited most of the stuff up, which is lucky. We might have a chance.”

“Chay and Hakan are weighing the cubs. They’re fat considering how lean the food sources were when they came out of the den. Is there anything I can do to hurry this stuff up?” Alicia had the plastic bag of activated carbon solution above her head.

“Jiggle it a bit. But we have to patient. This will hopefully absorb the rest of the strychnine. I’m damn sure of it. I’ve seen enough wolves go down to it. Ranchers are pretty generous with the stuff when they have raiding packs on their property.” Anya put her stethoscope to Ursa’s throat, listening for her pulse. “This bear is strong. She should recover. How much of that is left?”

“Almost half a bag,” Alicia said.

Anya scanned the den area, looking for the men. They backed away from the opening, and came across the little meadow.

“We’re going to drag that carcass over to my place and toss it into the burning barrel. There is much there, just a fawn really. Hardly a mouthful for a bear with four cubs.” Chay said.

“Take it and make sure nothing else gets at it. Jazz or Blue wouldn’t be this lucky. Small body mass would make the poison act a lot quicker.” Anya warned them as the last of the medicated sludge ran out of the bag Alicia held.

“All we can do now is wait and see. We’ll check on her tomorrow.”

The four of the froze at the faint roar of motorcycles.

“I’m calling Ari, they sound like they’re on the path down to the ranch.” Alicia picked up her two way radio.

Rifle shots cracked through the muggy evening air.

“Shit, I hope they’re okay at the Markham place. The smoke went away, so fire isn’t the problem,” Hakan said. “I’ll keep an ear on the radio. You two back to your place, Chay and Alicia. Get rid of that carrion. We’ll get our defense plan rolling.”

“Dammit, this is the last thing I wanted. Ari is alone down there with a sick patient for company. I’m not sticking around up here. I’ve got to get down there to help her.” Alicia took her tranq gun and shoved several loaded darts in her pockets. “These will work on people about the same as the cubs. They’re close to the same weight now.”

She swung up into Dolly’s saddle and was gone before Chay could blink.

“Damn her. I wanted us together in my house to face them,” his agonized words tore at his throat.

“We’ve got to make the best of it.” Hakan put the radio to his ear. He listened for a few seconds and then said, “Randy took out two of them. Eight in total. Five of them went back out to the highway, one went down the path to the ranch.”

Chay dragged the wrapped fawn carcass over to Bingo and swung it up behind his saddle.

“If anything happens to my girls, I tear Rico limb from limb. A bullet is too good for him.”

“Go in silence. Leave Bingo in his stable. Come back like the warrior you are,” Hakan said as he clasped his brother’s arm.

“You too, brother.”