“Enjoy your meal,” Donna said, taking the order pad out of her pocket and going across to the counter to serve a trucker who had just come into the diner.
Carter smiled at her and took a forkful of the fluffy, honey-drizzled scrambled eggs and placed it into his mouth with a sigh of appreciation as his taste buds sent pleasurable signals to his brain. Al was more than just a cook, he was a culinary artist.
But even the delicious meal didn’t lighten Carter’s spirits. He had an ominous feeling that some big change was about to come into his life.
He was almost certain that it was coming this way right now.
2
Mia King opened her eyes sleepily and looked at the road ahead. It was night time already. How long had she been asleep? She turned to Jake, her cameraman, and asked, “How long have I been asleep?”
“A few hours,” he said. “But you haven’t missed anything. There’s nothing around here but small towns and trees. Lots of trees.”
She sat up in the passenger seat of the van and blinked a few times. Jake was right; dark woods reached to the edge of the road on both sides. In the full moonlight, the trees looked ghostly.
“Maybe we should stop at the next town,” she said. She needed to stretch her legs and sleep in a real bed. And the van smelled like corn chips, an atmosphere Mia was keen to escape. The empty corn chip bag lay on the seat next to Jake, as well as a balled up Baby Ruth packet and a half-eaten Twinkie. Mia wondered how his wife put up with Jake’s untidiness. Maybe he was only like this when he was on the road doing a job. When he was at home with his wife and daughter, he was probably perfectly tidy.
Jake glanced down at a paper map he had unfolded on his lap. “There’s a place called Belladonna Falls ahead. They must have a motel or something.”
“Fine,” Mia said. “Do you want me to read the map?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Why don’t you get GPS? That’s a thing now, you know?”
“Nothing wrong with a good old paper map.”
“Until you stare down at it on your lap and drive us off the road. I don’t want to spend the night in the woods.”
“Don’t sweat it, Mia. I know what I’m doing. I’ve never crashed yet, have I?”
“There’s a first time for everything,” she said as she cracked her window to let the corn chip infused air out into the night. The warm air that rushed in to replace it smelled of pine. That was much better.
Their trip from Washington to Montana had been a total waste of time, and Mia just wanted to get home to her cozy apartment in Olympia so that she could forget about the whole thing. She rued the day she had read reports on the Internet about a strange wolfman creature that had been sighted in the woods near a tiny town called Broken Rock.
She should have realized the story was probably a hoax instead of calling Jake and suggesting they drive to Montana in the van to check it out. Jake, always a sucker for a conspiracy theory or monster story, had agreed immediately despite his wife, Karen, saying that the monster of Broken Rock was probably fake.
They should have listened to Karen. After an eleven hour drive, which they had split into two days by getting rooms in a motel on the way, they had found nothing in Broken Rock that would be worth selling to even the smallest TV station. They had interviewed a few witnesses and shot some footage in the woods but there was not a single scrap of evidence to support the existence of the wolf-like creature that had supposedly been seen by the residents of Broken Rock.
In fact, the residents of Broken Rock seemed to be trying to create a tourist industry by selling wolfman key rings and trinkets in the town’s stores. Whether the creature really existed or not seemed to be secondary to the residents’ desire to make a quick buck from new arrivals to the town.
No self-respecting TV station would purchase a story that led nowhere, so Mia and Jake had eventually admitted defeat and headed for home empty-handed.
Mia was beginning to think that her dream of being interviewed by famous TV personality Marilyn Hart on her hugely-popular night time show Hart was never going to come true. For years, Mia had harbored a secret desire to sit on Marilyn Hart’s sofa and tell the show’s millions of viewers about how she had broken a huge story and reported it to the world.
There was just one problem: a big story had never materialized.
She had managed to eke out a living by reporting local crime stories in Washington but it was hardly the career she had envisioned when she’d become a journalist.
And now she was trying to get stories by travelling to Montana to chase monsters. She must be crazy. What was her next career move going to be, looking for Bigfoot? Maybe she should fly to Scotland and search for the Loch Ness monster.
She didn’t even believe in monsters, which made her journey to Broken Rock in search of a wolfman even more illogical.
She looked over at Jake. He was consulting the map on his lap again. “Jake, you were so busy looking at that map that you didn’t see the sign we just passed.”
The irony was lost on him. “Oh? What did it say?”
“It said Belladonna Falls. So you can put that map away and keep your eyes on the road.”
“Sure thing,” he said. But he took his eyes off the road to look down at the map while he folded it.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mia saw something in the road. At first she thought it was an animal that had wandered in front of the van but as she turned toward the windshield, she saw something that made her blood run cold. It was a wolf but it was bigger than any wolf Mia had ever seen. It was like the huge wolves in movies but they were CGI. The creature in the road was no computer effect; it was a huge bundle of muscle and gray fur and its eyes were yellow and malevolent as they stared at her through the windshield.
“Jake, look out!” Mia shouted, reaching over to grab the wheel.
Jake looked up, saw the creature, and gasped, “Shit!” He slammed on the brakes and wrenched the wheel to the left, sending the van skidding over the center line and across the road toward the trees.
The van shook as it left the road, throwing the map and Jake’s food wrappers off the seat. Mia gripped the dashboard tightly, her body being tossed around, the seatbelt digging into her shoulder and hip.
Jake struggled to control the van but didn’t seem able to hold the wheel steady. The vehicle’s lights swung back and forth wildly, illuminating thick tree trunks. They hit one with a jolt that knocked all the air out of Mia’s lungs. The front of the van crumpled and they came to a dead stop. A hissing sound came from somewhere and steam began to rise from under the hood into the night air.
“You okay?” Jake asked Mia.
She nodded. “I think so. Just a little shook up.” That was putting it mildly. She felt on edge and jittery.
“What the hell was that thing in the road?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know.” She unfastened her seatbelt and opened her door. “But you need to get your camera and we need to get back there. Maybe it’s still around.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said.
“Jake, this is the story we’ve been waiting for. We came to Montana to find a monster and now we have a chance to get one on film.” She could imagine herself telling this story to Marilyn Hart in front of the cameras.
“That’s right, Marilyn, Jake didn’t want to go back there but I convinced him and that’s how we got the footage your viewers have just seen.”
“I’m going to call 911,” Jake said, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“What? Why?” If he didn’t get out of his seat in the next few seconds, she was going to get the camera out of the back of the van herself. Couldn’t he see how important this was?
“There’s a wild animal back there. It could be dangerous.” He thumbed his phone and held it to his ear.
Mia went around the back of the van and opened the rear door. If Jake wasn’t going to help her shoot the biggest story she had ever had the opportunity to report,
she would have to do it without him. She climbed into the back of the van, which was lined with steel shelves holding everything from battery packs to jumbled wires to spare cameras, and found a video camera that was fully charged.
She went back outside and looked toward the road, shivering in spite of the night’s warmth. What the hell was that thing that had stared at her through the windshield with yellow eyes? It was no ordinary wolf, that was for sure.
Jake appeared beside her. “I called the police. They’re going to send a patrol car out here.”
“Then we need to get the creature on camera before they get here,” she said. She wasn’t going to let some small town sheriff come blundering out here and shoot his gun at the creature, scaring it off before Mia got the footage she needed for her story.
She handed the camera to Jake. “We just need to get some raw footage. I’ll stay out of shot. We can edit my parts in later.” She was dressed in a comfortable sweater and jeans, a far cry from the smart pants and blouse she normally wore when she was being filmed. Anyway, all they needed were some shots of the creature; it wasn’t like she was going to interview it or anything.
Jake nodded. He looked nervous.
Mia realized she was breathing fast. Her hands were shaking. “We can do this,” she told Jake. “Don’t be scared. Just focus on good thoughts like being on Hart and telling this story to millions of viewers.” She was trying to calm herself just as much as she was trying to calm Jake.
From the road up ahead, a roar pierced the night. The sound was wild and angry and made Mia’s blood run cold. Then she heard the creature coming toward them, its heavy footfalls crunching over fallen leaves, its huge shape coming closer and closer.
“Get in the van!” she told Jake.
They both scrambled into the rear of the van and closed the door. Sitting in the dark between the tangle of wires and shelves of video equipment, they listened the heavy footfalls approach. Even through the metal body of the van, Mia could hear the creature sniffing the air.
It can smell us in here, she thought. We’re stuck in here like doggy treats packed inside a tin can. All it has to do is find a way in and eat us.
She picked up a heavy tripod and wielded it like a baseball bat.
“What are you doing?” Jakes asked.
“If that thing tries to get in here, I’m not going down without a fight.”
“You think it’s going to try to come in here?” he asked.
As if in answer to his question, a loud bang came from the side of the van. The wall buckled inward slightly, throwing cables and cameras off the shelf onto the floor.
“Yes,” Mia said. “It's trying to come in here.”
3
Carter pushed the empty plate across the table and finished his coffee. It was almost ten thirty, time to begin his shift. He threw some bills on the table, got up, and went to the door, waving at Donna as he opened it. “Tell Al the eggs were delicious as always.”
She smiled. “I’ll do that, Chief.”
He stepped out into the warm night and went to his patrol car. As soon as he was inside with the engine idling, a call came over the radio from Lily, the dispatcher at the station.
Carter pressed the button that allowed him to talk with her. “What is it, Lily?”
“Chief, there’s a 911 call regarding some kind of wild animal on the highway to the north of town. Just inside the town limits.”
“Okay, I’ll check it out.”
“Sam’s already on his way over there,” she replied.
“I might as well join him. If it’s what I think it is, it’ll be too much for Sam to handle alone.”
“Yeah, It’s a full moon,” she said.
“It is. Over and out.” He drove out of the parking lot of Molly’s Diner and put the police lights on but left the siren alone. He wanted other drivers to get out of his way if need be but he didn’t want to go spooking the “wild animal” when he got close. He hoped this wasn’t going to end in bloodshed, but if it was a werewolf out there on the night of the full moon, the encounter was not going to be pretty.
He put his foot down and left the lights of Belladonna Falls behind, the road taking his car out onto the dark highway that ran through the woods. The red and blue lights on the roof of the patrol car lit up the trees in an eerie flashing pattern.
A couple of miles out of town, Carter saw a similar set of lights up ahead. He had caught up with his deputy, Sam Harper. Together, they drove toward the town limits until they reached a long set of skid marks on the road.
Carter pulled over and got out of his car, leaving the lights flashing.
Sam joined him, gun drawn. Sam was in his early twenties and fair-haired. Although he was younger than Carter, the two of them worked well together policing Belladonna Falls. Sam was a wolf shifter, so he had as much empathy for the shifter residents of the town as Carter, but he was also tough when he needed to be.
Like now, when they were tracking a rogue wolf shifter. Carter could smell the scent of the werewolf on the night air. Some idiot hadn’t worn silver tonight and had gone rogue. It was a terrible situation because the monster they were hunting was probably a law-abiding citizen of Belladonna Falls. It was probably someone that Carter and Sam knew.
A loud bang came from within the woods, sounding like something heavy thumping against metal.
“Let’s go,” Carter said, taking the silver-loaded revolver from the holster at his hip.
Holding the gun in both hands, he stepped off the road and onto the grassy area at the edge of the woods. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw the bulky shape of a white van among the trees.
Then a huge werewolf stepped from around the side of the vehicle, its hateful yellow eyes fixed on Carter. It snarled, lips drawn back from long, sharp teeth.
Carter aimed the gun at the creature and took careful aim. Once a wolf shifter had gone rogue on the night of a full moon, they would be rogue and out of control overtime they shifted after that. The only way to prevent that was for them to never shift again, or do so in a controlled environment such as in a cage, or shackled by chains.
For most shifters, death was preferable to never again experiencing the freedom that came with shifting into wolf form. But Carter couldn’t bring himself to simply execute the creature in front of him. If it attacked, he would shoot to kill, but he would rather force the werewolf to shift back to human form by putting a silver bullet into its body in a non-lethal area.
Once it had become human again, it was up to the shifter to decide what to do with their life; whether to resist shifting ever again or do so only when locked away. Sometimes, they simply chose to go rogue and Carter would have to hunt them down again, this time with fatal consequences.
He aimed for the creature’s front leg and fired. The sound of the shot cracked through the moonlit night. The werewolf let out a sound that was somewhere between a roar and a scream and disappeared behind the van.
Carter moved forward quickly, the gun still raised. Sam followed close behind.
When they reached the van and looked around the other side where the creature had been, all they found was a dark stain of blood on the ground.
“Damn it,” Carter said in frustration. The silver bullet had hit, and forced the werewolf back into human form, but then the human had run away into the woods.
“You start tracking him and I’ll see if there are any survivors in the vehicle,” he told Sam.
Sam nodded and set of through the trees.
Carter checked the front of the van. There was nothing there except a mess of candy wrappers and a map on the floor. He went around the back and knocked on the door. “Is there anyone in there?”
“Who’s that?” a woman’s voice called from inside. She sounded scared, and Carter couldn’t blame her. One side of the van had been battered by the werewolf and had almost caved in completely.
“It’s the police,” he said.
The sound of muttered voices came fr
om inside the vehicle, and then the door opened.
When Carter saw the stunning blonde inside, his breath caught in his throat. She was beautiful and curvy and her green eyes held a look of fear and defiance as she wielded a camera tripod as if it were a weapon. Carter’s instant attraction to her went deep. His inner bear felt like it was clawing at him. He felt a surge of sexual energy in his body. He let out a breath, and realized that he had forgotten to breath since laying eyes on this beautiful woman.
He had heard tales of The Call, the physiological event that happened when a bear shifter met his intended mate, and he knew that he was experiencing The Call right now.
Damn it, this was the last thing he needed in his life.
He also knew that a bear shifter who rejected The Call ran a risk of going rogue.
Well wasn’t that just great?
“My name is Mia King,” the woman said, climbing out of the van and extending her hand.
Carter shook it. Her skin was warm and soft, her hand small in his. “Carter McClintock,” he said. “I’m the chief of police in Belladonna Falls.”
“This is Jake Simpson,” she said, indicating a bearded man who was climbing out of the vehicle. “He’s my cameraman.”
“Cameraman?” Carter asked Jake as he shook the man’s hand.
Jake nodded. “We’re a freelance news crew.”
“So what are you doing in Belladonna Falls? There’s nothing newsworthy happening here.”
“We’re just passing through,” Jake said.
“We were just passing through,” Mia said. “But we’ve found something worthy of our attention now, Mr McClintock. There’s a huge beast roaming these woods.”
Carter attempted a chuckle of disbelief but he didn’t think it would fool Mia King. “We have wolves here, sure. It looks like you swerved to avoid hitting one and ended up hitting this tree instead.”
“It was more than an ordinary wolf,” Mia said, pointing at the crumpled side of the van. “A wolf can’t do that.”
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