Wolves In The Woods

The fire crackled and spit. John had a bad habit of putting wet logs in the flames.

I’ve told him several times that the dry wood was on the right, but John is both dull and lazy so now I get to watch for popping embers. One ember shot in between Jesse’s feet. She was also sometimes dull, but was much more palatable than her boyfriend.

“You need to stamp that out,” I said.

“Relax man. It’ll go out,” John said.

“There’s a fire warning.”

“What are you Smokey the Bear? It’s fine.”

The ember glowed for a half a minute, and then died without causing a forest fire, which proved John right, and I silently cursed that ember. I didn’t hope for a conflagration, but something big enough for John to get unreasonably hot would’ve been nice.

“He’s probably closer to Yogi Bear anyway,” Emma said while smiling at me. Emma was kind of my girlfriend. The subject is never quite clear to me. She doesn’t like labels, and mostly I just do what she tells me to do.

“Is there anything left in the cooler?” John asked.

“No I’m pretty sure you drank it all,” I said.

I asked my parents if we could borrow the cabin for the weekend. I’m pretty sure they didn’t know that John was borrowing things from his parents’ refrigerator.

“Well we know you didn’t drink any,” he said. My apprehension for underage drinking was well documented among our group.

“Knock it off, John,” Emma said.

John went to say something, but we heard a long piercing howl in the distance.

“Was that a wolf?” Jesse asked.

“It was probably a coyote,” John said, “there aren’t many wolves around here.”

“There are a lot of wolves around here,” I said, “they’ve been growing in numbers. The elk population is down this year.”

“I forgot your dad’s an animal cop,” John said. My father was a conservation officer, but John’s parents were bankers. He liked pointing it out.

“Should we go inside?” Emma asked.

“I think we’re fine. It was far away and they won’t come close to the fire,” I said.

“Did you learn that pulling over moose with your dad?” John asked.

“Yes,” I said, “because that’s what we do.”

The three of them nearly jumped when something rustled in the woods. Another howl punctuated the night time air.

It was louder this time. John scooted his chair closer to Jesse. He didn’t think I saw, but I did.

“I think we need more wood,” I said, “the fire’s going down.”

“Well go get it.” I said.

“You go,” he said.

“Are you scared?”

“No…just” he kept hesitating.

“Oh jeez, I’ll do it,” Jesse said, “quit being a baby.”

John glowered at me, but I just kept smiling. I accomplished what I wanted.

Jesse got up, leaving the firelight. She traipsed over to the woodpile while clicking on her phone light. It was far enough away that I could hardly see the glow, it was like a candle in the window on dark street. Logs knocked together as she picked through the wood selection. At least she knew not to get soggy firewood.

I heard Jesse drop the logs. The woods rustled and she started screaming, and I could hear things running through the woods, at least three of them. They snarled and barked and howled. Her screaming stopped and it was replaced by the sounds of something being dragged through the woods.

“Oh my god,” Emma said.

“We need to find her,” I said. I pulled a flashlight out of my pocket.

“Are you nuts?’ John said.

“Just go you baby,” I said.

The woodpile was covered in blood. There were tracks everywhere, but not like anything I’d seen before.

“This is where her body was dragged,” I said pointing to the trail of matted down grass and blood.

“Are you following it?” Emma asked.

“Yeah we should find her,” I said.

“We should call the police,” John said.

“It’ll be hours before they get out here. We’re the only chance she has.”

We walked single file along the trail. It was everything I could do short of holding his hand to keep him in the woods.

We searched and searched. At first the large splashes of blood were unmistakeable.

We walked further into the forest.

We walked with only the narrow beam in front of us.

The moonlight made is easier, but it was still difficult to get through the woods. Finally the blood was letting up, and the forest opened to a small clearing.

There was a drop of blood and…something else.

I reached down for it.

“What is it?” Emma asked.

I shined the light on it, “I think it’s Jesse’s hair,” it was hard to tell really what the mass was.

We could hear a scream in the distance.

And barking, and howling.

A deep, dark voice spoke behind us. “You’re not going to find much of her.”

I was making fun of John all night, because he’s a wimp in the woods. I spent half of my nights out here. I’d seen bear, mountain lions, and wolves. I’ve never once thought twice about it. But…that voice… that voice forced a chill through my spine.

It also came behind us. I never heard a trace of anything in that direction. I turned, pointing the flashlight at the speaker. A shadow materialized from the woods. He was nearly pure black, with yellow eyes, and at least ten feet tall. Without making a sound, he continued towards us. The figure looked like a wolf, but he walked on two legs and his torso looked like a man’s.

“Who are you?” I asked. Before the figure spoke, two more maybe a half a foot shorted showed up next to him.

“You know what we are,” he said, “we come come from your nightmares, and you’re stories. But, we’ve always been here, in the shadows. Hunting your woods. Biding our time. We’re the wolves scratching at your door…”

“You’re werewolves?” John said, “you’re not real.”

He moved too fast to see, but John’s throat ripped open. He dropped to his knees, coughing and sputtering blood.

“Tell me cretin,” the wolf said, “does that feel imaginary?”

John just kept coughing.

“You’ve hunted out little brothers all these years. We’ve been watching. Soon we’ll quench our blood thirst.”

At this point I was squeezing Emma. Neither of us wanted to move.

“But, we are not unsporting creatures. We’ll give you a head start.”

He was smiling when he said it, a line of jagged white teeth among the sea of black fur.

“I suggest you run.”