Beneath a Winter Moon (26 page)

In the werewolf movies, there was usually one werewolf against a town. The townspeople were picked off by said werewolf one creepy, foggy, moonlit night after another, until a hero arose to slay the beast with some silver bullets.

Could there be two
?

Alan’s legs had finally succumbed to the orders from his brain…and he ran. Now he was moving, but not thinking. For if he had been thinking, he would not have headed out into the open, away from the cabin and toward the forest. He was obeying the only command that he’d given to his body, and he would not look back.

The tree line was perhaps fifty meters away, now. Perhaps he could hide somewhere in the thick trees and escape the jaws of the thing…the werewolf. But the snow was slowing him down. He had some hope as he cleared another ten meters in just a few strides but then he heard the howl behind him.
Gotcha,
the howl said.
No need to run
, the howl said.
Just relax…it will be easier for all of us
, the howl said.

The werewolf landed like a cat, settling gracefully into the snow in front of him. It had to have leaped completely over him to land so perfectly in front of him. Alan brought pistol up. At least he could shoot it once before it was on him. But his hand was empty…the weapon lay in the snow near Jaffey’s body—right where Alan had unknowingly dropped it.

The werewolf turned to face him. It had landed with its back toward Alan…which seemed to also indicate its undeniable superiority in every way. So, it turned, and Alan wished he could just die now and not have to suffer through the next moments. Moments that he knew would be beyond horrific. The werewolf seemed to smile at him.

Alan considered bolting to the right, but the werewolf leapt first, keeping its distance, but cutting off any escape. He tried left, with the same results…except this time the werewolf not only cut off his escape, but moved a little closer as it did. It was five feet away from Alan, now.

Alan screamed at it. He didn’t know why…and was just as surprised as the werewolf was when it happened. So, he did it again. This time he put some effort into it, not screaming like a girl, but gritting his teeth and roaring with all his might. The werewolf cocked its head to the side.
Just like a dog
, Alan thought. Just like a puppy who was curious about that farting sound you were making with your hands. Just like his dog had cocked its head sideways when he had released air from a balloon by stretching the rubber so that it squealed. Was that a good thing? He wasn’t dead.
Couldn’t be bad, right
?

Alan roared again.

The werewolf snarled and leapt in closer, swinging a powerful handful of claws down across Alan’s chest. The werewolf was more than familiar with the next scream that came from Alan. A scream of pain. But, just as the werewolf was about to end the silly game with the human, the Beast burst from nowhere, slamming into him, full-force.

The Other knew it was in trouble. It had managed to survive against the Beast only by sheer will and determination. But now the Other saw that its own chest was ripped to pieces, and the Beast was on him now, tearing at his throat. How could the Beast defeat him so easily now, when he had failed so many times before?
Had the Beast let him live all those times before
?

A hole filled with black nothingness was coming toward the Other, now, as it felt the jaws of the Beast around its throat. It felt the pain, but the Other was used to pain. But then, strange images passed through the Other’s mind. Human images.
A female, green grass in the summertime…sunlight…a female child in a yellow dress
. The Beast wrenched once, the sickening crack resounding in the cold night air. It wrenched again, and the Other’s head fell away from its neck and rolled aside. The black nothingness enveloped the Other, completely.

Alan was running again, running with all that was in him. He was in the forest, blindly charging through, pushing through branches brambles as if they were not there. He leapt deadfall. He fell time and time again only to jump to his feet and continue on. His face was torn. His arms were bloody. His chest and shoulder were ripped open and gushing blood as he ran—but he did not tire and he did not stop.

The Beast, its territorial dispute over, its prowess unmatched, stood to its full height and howled. The life-orb was no longer visible in the sky and he felt the sorrowful tug inside him. Although it was over and the Other was gone, this territory, though defended successfully, was no longer his. He understood that it was lost. He could not remain. He howled again, longer, louder.

Alan heard the howl far behind him and amazingly he found the strength to pick up the pace. He should have been dead or at least unconscious from loss of blood, he knew. He also knew that he should be in horrible pain, if not from the sucking chest wound, then certainly from his torn shoulder. Never mind that his skin was being scratched and torn by everything as he ran.
I’m going to live
. He thought. He could feel it.
I’m not going to die!
He would not be killed by the first creature. He’d be somehow saved by a second werewolf, and he was not going to let either of them find him again.

The werewolf held its head high, testing the frozen night air for signs of the last human. He knew the man was running and was badly wounded…but instinct called for him to leave the human—and to escape back into the heart of his territory before it was once again time for him to sleep. He could not stay here. He looked down at the now-human, headless form at his feet. There had been another time when he had to defeat one of these things…and the same thing had happened…the thing died, and a human lay in its place afterward.

He cocked his head sideways for a moment, trying to comprehend but it was beyond him. He shook once to free himself of blood and gore, then loped into the forest not far from where the human had entered.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Delmar and Thomas found Jenny perched on a makeshift stretch of nylon on part of the aluminum pipe framing that used to make up one of the aircraft benches. She held her knees to her face and cried softly. Both men somehow knew Steven was dead. They saw it in Jenny’s face before they were all the way inside the twisted wreckage.

Daniel was not in good shape. The initial shock had worn off and the adrenaline no longer masked the pain. Thomas and Delmar constructed a makeshift cot from the pipes and material from the cabin benches. It took some effort and caused Daniel a lot of pain, but they moved him from the wreckage onto the cot. Thomas closely examined his leg and checked him for other wounds. He was sure that Daniel had a concussion—but it was the broken tibia that might quickly become life-threatening. The bone was broken so badly that Thomas had a difficult time believing that Daniel had managed to move at all after the helicopter had fallen The leg was purple from the ankle to the knee, and a splinter of bone was pressing upward, trying to push through the skin.

Delmar comforted Jenny and searched the helicopter for useful items. He freed the rest of their hunting gear, piling it outside, and was ecstatic to find that Steven’s massive first aid kit contained morphine serrets. They were the combat-style serrets reminiscent of World War II and
Viet Nam
. Each serret contained enough morphine to take the edge off of the pain, and using multiple serrets could completely eliminate pain altogether, usually rendering the patient unconscious. In the wrong hands, however, the serrets could do more harm than good. Thomas and Delmar were both cross-trained as Army Combat Lifesavers, and were well aware of the dangers.

Jenny said that Steven had twice been trapped with injured travelers and had sworn he would never fly or lead hunts without the ability eliminate the pain of the wounded. Making it out of the mountains with someone badly wounded was a nightmarish struggle at best, but became impossible if the person was in unbearable pain. She smiled at the memory and then double checked the rifle and stared out into the forest.

“Good man,” Delmar said softly as he examined the serrets. “Damned good man.” He stood up. “We’ve got a great kit, here, Thomas. There isn’t enough bandaging to use with a splint, but there I’ve found duct tape and electrical tape to make up for it. They will make all the difference.”

“Good. Daniel is going to need one hell of a setting if we’re going to move him.” Thomas had hung his flashlight in a tree so that the light shined down on Daniel, who did his best to handle his pain.

“The sun will be up in less than an hour,” Thomas said. “Let’s have this leg splinted and ready by then if we can. The sooner we get to some real shelter, the better.”

The wind had already begun to pick up, which was not a good sign. Strong gusts of wind forming before the sun came up were a sign of bad weather anywhere. High in the mountains of the north in early fall snows, the predawn gusts often meant that another storm would be there soon.

They had decided to try to once again head for Jeremiah’s cabin. They could not make the much longer trek to the lake and could no longer afford to wait with the wreckage in hopes that they would be missed—Daniel needed help. Sepsis would set in, fast, especially in the icy cold. There was also chance that he would go into shock as time passed and the pain intensified. Shock was a death sentence out here. They had to get him to warmth and shelter.

Jenny and Daniel had painted a strange picture of the events that led them to the fall over the cliff. The two could only agree that the creature was bear-like in the way it was built, but thinner and with more muscle…and that it had the facial features of a
wolf
. Thomas had glanced at Delmar as they described the creature, and later they had all agreed that they would have to let it go for now and focus on getting them all safely back to civilization.

Jenny’s steely calm worried Thomas, but he could not afford to spend time analyzing her. She had Delmar’s rifle and sat on top of the wreckage keeping watch while he and Delmar completed the splints for Daniel, who was unconscious now. Thomas hoped he would remain that way as they applied the splint to his badly broken leg.

The sun finally peaked over the horizon but the warm glow was accompanied by more winds and high, rolling white clouds. Thomas and Delmar worked together to splint Daniel’s leg and by the time the sun fully-lit the valley, they were finished and had placed Daniel on a sturdy pole-litter that had been put together with the same aluminum bench framing nylon seat webbing with which the cot had been made. Daniel was strapped securely onto the litter, zipped inside his sleeping bag and its water-proof Gore-Tex covering. Delmar also strapped a large oval-shaped piece of the helicopter’s plexiglass windshield under the rear of the litter, giving it a more sled-like form. Through all of this, Jack had remained close, never straying more than a few meters from the wreckage. The Husky seemed to keep constant vigilance, as if he too were on watch.

Jenny strapped Daniel’s backpack on her shoulders, the first aid supplies, the flare gun, and a pair of night-vision goggles packed inside. They began their journey by making their way up the treacherous path to the top of the cliffs. By the time they reached the top, all three were exhausted and had to rest. Heavy snowfall and high winds soon pressed them onward.

They had not counted on the near white-out conditions. The heavy snow and the frequent need to stop to adjust the litter exhausted them all. By the time they reached the same rocky shelter that had protected Thomas and Delmar during the night, the companions could barely stand. They decided to rest for two hours, and all four huddled together under the large rock outcropping. The snowstorm did not let up. Thomas thought that it might have actually worsened as the afternoon approached.

Thomas looked around for Jack and saw that he had wandered off. Thomas cursed himself for letting him off of the leash while they rested. He called out for the Husky, and became worried as time passed without the dog’s return. Frustrated and refusing to listen to Delmar, who insisted he not move from the camp, Thomas took his rifle and tried to follow the dog’s quickly disappearing tracks. Thomas followed them until he came across a shallow opening in the side of a large cliff facing. He called out once more and felt a wave of relief to see Jack stick his face through the small opening.

Thomas ran to Jack, leaned over and playfully cuffed the dog behind a furry ear while criticizing him in a tone he thought might suffice as stern. Jack replied by wooing and growling playfully as he backed deeper into the hole. Thomas cursed aloud but was not angry at Jack’s inquisitiveness, it was because knew that he would have to either bend over and crawl, which he did not want to do, or take the time to pull away the old vines, deadwood, and snow that blocked the entrance. He chose the latter and kicked and pulled and yanked the entrance was wide and tall enough for him to fit through by merely stooping over.

Thomas was at once amazed by the cave. Calling it a cave was a disservice, as it was truly cavernous. The cavern was at least eighty or ninety meters front to back and the domed ceiling reached twenty feet or more in some places. Thomas thought it surprising that there were no animals, particularly that there was not a bear inside, bedded down for a long winter’s nap. Using his flashlight, he explored the cavern in greater detail and as he neared the rear wall, he came upon a large hole in the ground. The pit was perhaps ten feet across and was at least twenty-five feet deep, perhaps more.

“Whoa,” he said to himself as he sat on his knees shining the beam of light into the pit. Jack came to stand beside his kneeling form and look down in the pit, his tongue lolling. To Thomas it was as if Jack were saying
see what I have found for you. What other dog could lead you to such new and exciting wonders of the mountains?
“Careful, boy. Wouldn’t want you to fall in there. But I guess if you did, you’d have bones to chew on for quite a while.”

Thomas could see many animal bones on the pit’s floor and could not help but imagine the horror that the poor creatures must endured after falling into the massive pit. If they survived the fall without broken bones, they would have succumbed to starvation or thirst in that lonely, dark place. Freedom a mere thirty feet above them. He stood up and took one last look around. Stalactites and stalagmites covered the floor and ceiling and there were several pools of crystal clear water, but it was the constant mild temperature that impressed Thomas the most. Though he had only been inside perhaps five minutes, he had become so warm that he felt he would have had to remove a layer of clothing if he planned on staying any longer…but he had to go. He needed to get back before Delmar became concerned, so he commanded Jack to come with him and they both left the cavern, woefully stepping back out into the snow and gusting winds.

“I am so sorry about Steven,” Delmar said, as soft as he could over the noise of the wind. He had seen Jenny slip away into herself, her eyes blank and staring. “I’m sorry we had to leave him…but you have my word that we will get him out of there as soon as we can. I promise you that.”

Jenny lowered her head, pulling the poncho liner over her face, protecting from the icy cold as well as hiding her eyes. She was grateful to see Thomas step into view.

“Look whose back,” Delmar said. “I was getting worried.”

Thomas saddled up next to Jenny, scooting back so that he was as far under the outcropping as he could get. “Well, Jack’s been busy exploring a nice warm cavern not too far from here. It’s huge and it has all the trappings. Stalactites, stalagmites…and a constant temperature that is well above freezing. No one has claimed it…not even a mouse.” He looked over to Delmar, “It would be a great place to shelter from this storm.”

Jenny sat upright. “You think that we may have to
stay the night
out here?”

Thomas tried to steal a glance at Delmar, looking for some help from his friend, but Jenny caught the look. “That’s what you are saying, isn’t it?”

“We don’t want to, Jenny,” Thomas said. “But there is no way that we can make it to Jeremiah’s cabin anytime before sundown.”

Delmar had understood Thomas’s glance. Finding the cavern changed things for them. It had taken them all day to get to this point and the sun would go down long before the companions made it to Jeremiah’s cabin. They would have pressed on, he knew, had Thomas not retuned with the news of the cavern, but now with a perfect shelter from the incredible snowstorm, it made more sense to wait it out. He spoke up to voice his opinion. “This storm may very well be the end of all of us if we get caught in it during the night. Walking through this deep new snow is slowing us down as it is never mind that we can’t see more than fifteen feet in front of us. Try to imagine it in the dark during this storm, not even our night vision would help.”

“You try to imagine what will happen if that creature comes calling in the night, Delmar.” Jenny paused, turning to look at both of the men. “You didn’t see
it
…”

“Relax, Jen,” Thomas said. “There’s no indication at all that the…
animal
…has been anywhere near this cavern. In fact, the only signs of any animals at all were from long ago. The entrance has been pretty well covered up, I think.”

“I’d rather take my chances.”

Thomas sighed. “I would too, Jenny. Especially considering we need to get Daniel some real medical attention as fast as we can. But, at the same time, dragging Daniel through this storm is difficult enough…and if it gets dark on us…”

“If it gets dark and that thing comes to attack us in the cavern…” Jenny started.

Thomas saw an opening there, and pounced on it, interrupting her. “Exactly. If we are dragging Daniel’s litter, carrying our packs, the storm on us like it is now—
and
we are in the dark,
out in the open
…it would have the element of surprise and we’d be so encumbered we’d be lucky to defend ourselves. With the night we lose the advantage of having weapons if we are encumbered and can’t see a thing due to this storm.”