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kerosene, jet-fuel, even alcohol. It could be converted to run on natural gas easily. Someone had installed a wood gas generator in the back of the truck, similar to the ones Matthew, a blacksmith and preacher, was building back at Adrian’s home, Fort Brazos, for trade.
    The wood gas generator was sort of like a large double cooker. It consisted of a container that held wood, in this case made from a water heater tank. Below that you built a fire that heated the wood inside the tank. As the wood heated it released carbon gasses that were captured by a tube welded to the tank’s removable top and led into another small closed tank full of water. The water cleaned the gas of most of the tars in the fumes before piping it to the engine’s intake. Elegantly simple, wood gas generators had been used during WWII by farmers and other rural people when fuel had been strictly rationed. The US government had even printed a pamphlet on how to make them back during the war.
    Adrian checked the wood tank, it was full. He started the fire, then went back to the house. As he arrived Racy was coming back out. She stepped over the body in the doorway without a glance.
    She looked exhausted. She should be exhausted. It’s after midnight and she probably got up well before daylight and went to work in the kitchen making breakfast. Then a full day’s work out in the field, and then this. If she isn’t physically exhausted she must be emotionally exhausted.
    “There’s a ton of stuff in here,” she said. “All kinds of food. Bunch of guns and ammo. Enough for a small army.”
    “Start hauling it all out onto the porch” Adrian said. “I’ll bring the truck around as soon as I can get it fired up, then we’ll load up and go.”
    “I found bullets that fit Reggie’s pistol. I reloaded; you can have your pistol back now.”
    “Thanks. You okay?”
    “Sure, I’m okay. Help me drag his body out of the doorway though, would you?”
    After they had dragged the body out the way, Adrian returned to the truck to check on the fire. Before he had gone ten feet he heard a yelp from Racy in the living room. Adrian spun on his heels and rushed back to the house.

Chapter 6
    R acy was pointing the pistol at Bear.
    “Whoa! Don’t Shoot!” Adrian yelled at Racy. “That’s my wolf, he won’t hurt you. He followed us.”
    “Shit, Adrian! He scared the crap out of me! I’ve never seen anything like him before. I sure didn’t see him following us.”
    “Well he doesn’t follow right behind like a regular dog. He generally stays way off to the side where he can’t be seen. He moves ahead now and then checking for bad guys. If he finds any he lets me see him; if I don’t see him, it’s good news and clear sailing. Sorry, forgot to tell you about him.”
    “I didn’t hear him come in, I just turned around and there he was, staring at me.”
    “He won’t hurt you. He’s seen me being friendly with you, so he knows you’re not an enemy. Unusual of him to come into the house after you like that though, he generally stays outside. He must like you quite a bit to come in like this. But don’t try to pet him, he doesn’t like it. You can talk to him, throw him scraps of food now and then, but don’t hand him food—you might lose a finger. He’s a wild animal, a full-blooded wolf that I found as a puppy and raised up. He’s not my pet, he’s my companion, but only as long as he wants it that way. He can leave whenever he wants to, and sometimes does for a day or two. Someday he’ll get tired of me and go back to the wilds; until then he’s a valued friend.”
    “You talk about him like he’s human or something.”
    “He’s not human, but he’s smarter than some humans I’ve known, uncanny smart. Seems to understand most of what I say, and I haven’t spent one second on trying to train him. What he knows, he just knows. Watch—Bear, guard the house.”
    Bear ran out the door and disappeared into the darkness. “He’ll be