Apex Predator

by S. M. Douglas

  Outside the stillness of the night was broken only by the occasional light breeze rustling through the leaves, and the deep serenade produced by thousands of frogs. Inside, the sounds of two summer lovers made their contribution to the night’s rhythm, until it was upset once more.

  “What’s that?” Anna stopped moving.

  Liam ignored her, sliding his hands up to her gently swaying breasts.

  Anna moaned, her worries pushed back by his soft touch. She ground down once more in response, but a warning nagged inside her head.

  “The frogs.” She whispered, easing up. “They’ve stopped.”

  Liam lifted his head off the pillow.

  A twig snapped outside.

  Adrenaline flooded their systems as they fumbled for their clothes. The plan in such circumstances was simple. Stay put, stay safe and call it in. But then—

  “Quiet,” Liam hissed.

  “What?”

  He held his finger up to his lips, and pointed to the trap door.

  Anna kneeled and cracked the door open, translating as she listened. “Hard to understand, a man, voice faint, an accident, he was hiking and fell, hurt his leg.”

  “I’ll check it out,” Liam said as he finished tying his shoes.

  Ice coursed through Anna’s veins.

  Liam kissed her, and slid outside before she could stop him.

  Anna stepped out onto the walkway surrounding the observation platform. The whimpering sounded clearer, but there was an underlying darkness to it. The back of her neck prickled in response. “Liam stop!”

  He had just stepped off the ladder, his hand braced against the oak tree.

  The man groaned louder, well inside the forest.

  Anna peered over the railing, face shining white in the moonlight.

  “I’ll be okay,” Liam said, ignoring her look of worry and plunging into the woods. He crept toward the insistent moaning, pausing every so often to catch his bearings. He had just reached out to move from his path a dimly seen branch when he paused. Something soft rubbed between his index finger and thumb.

  What the…?

  Liam’s free hand fumbled for his smart phone.

  The moaning sounded closer.

  He swiped his thumb across the screen, nearly dropping the phone, his hands shaking as his fingers danced in a coordinated rhythm of swipe, press, and swipe. His flashlight app clicked on and the forest around him came alive with a harsh white light.

  Liam strained to see, the sudden brilliance jarring as he directed the phone’s aperture toward the branch. His throat dried up at what he saw, the blood pounding in his temples.

  He blinked.

  It was still there.

  A tuft of fur nestled in his palm.

  Like what one would find from a dog, or a wolf.

  A breeze ruffled the silky hairs. Goosebumps broke out on Liam’s arms as he realized the branch that snagged this fur was approximately six feet off the ground.

  No wolf was that big.

  Then again, another part of him knew better, the reptilian primitive part.

  What if the hair came from something worse than a wolf?

  Liam recoiled, physical movement done unconsciously, as was the second step back. The third was not. A rivulet of sweat ran down his neck as he backed away. The man’s cries became louder, more insistent, and ever more off. The voice sounded throatier, deeper, menacing. Not human, but not fully that of an animal. Liam’s teeth chattered uncontrollably. Patience lad. The fear reached deep into his brain, a whimper escaping his lips.

  A barely constrained growl resonated through the trees.

  Liam bolted.

  A deep snarl rumbled forth in response, an angry sound that for eons had triggered a near universal response in any human unfortunate enough to hear it.

  “RUN LIAM, RUN!” Anna screamed.

  Branches stung Liam’s face as he fled, hands groping wildly, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He stumbled but caught his footing. Ahead a thin beam of light slashed through the trees, guiding him. Anna, thank god. A volt of energy shot across his tingling scalp as he realized someone or something was loping along to his right. A dark shape dimly glimpsed from the corner of his eye, swift in spite of its terrifying size, drifting closer.

  Liam’s guttural cry of terror carried through the night. His pumping legs carried him past the final grasping trees, and into the moon swept clearing. His vision tunneled in on the steps nailed into the tree trunk, chest heaving, hands grasping, first foot up, finding purchase, second foot stepping, tears streaming down his face, scrambling higher…

  The trap door banged open. Anna! Pupils white, she stared past him at something looming below.

  “CLIMB, LIAM! DON’T LOOK! CLIMB! FASTER!”

  “Help!” Liam bleated, his foot skidding off a rung “OH LORD JESUS!” The rope ladder bridging the final feet to safety twisted wildly in his sweaty grip. He grabbed for Anna’s outstretched hands, clambering inside, his body thumping hard onto the floor, pulling his legs up behind him as fast as he could.

  Anna yanked the rope ladder up in one great heave and slammed the door behind.

  Liam shivered uncontrollably, struggling to stop his fear from turning into overwhelming panic, eyes searching Anna’s face. She saw it. He cupped her cheeks in his hands.

  “It was big. Fast,” She said, pupils dilated. “Bigger than any wolf I’ve ever seen. But not a wolf, the way it moved. Oh Liam, it stood on two feet, and its eyes. Like a man…”

  Another shudder racked her body, a horrific vision seared in her mind’s eye from when she had scanned down its massive frame.

  Anna’s became glassy, as if transfixed or slipping into shock. Liam gripped her hands and squeezed, screaming her name. Anna heard Liam yelling, and pulled back from the abyss. She had seen what it wanted. She shivered again, the god awfully obscene image grotesquely stuck in her mind.

  An eerie howling cleaved the silence outside. Loud, immediate, and angry, the noise penetrated the observation platform’s thin wooden walls.

  Anna’s fingernails dug into Liam’s shoulders.

  When the next howl erupted it sounded quieter, the savage sound mercifully moving away.

  “Where’s your phone?”

  “I dropped it.”

  Anna ripped her smart phone from the overnight bag, marching to the window. She flung the wooden shutters open. They thumped loud against the outside wall, cool night air streaming inside.

  “Anna!” Liam exclaimed, huddling in the corner.

  “Shhh!” In spite of her racing heart she leaned out, phone in hand, recording as the howling echoed off the hills.

  A few seconds passed and the howling cut off.

  After a much longer moment the frog’s croaking cacophony enveloped Anna and Liam once more in welcoming safety.

  ------------------

  The great beast lowered his muzzle, his last blast slipping into the wind.

  It had been too long since he fed. The humans, their fear, his hunger...

  Saliva dripped from his tongue and lower jaw.

  It had nearly killed him not to run the man down and tear his panicked, juicy flesh to pieces. There was nothing like the taste of meat after a good chase. Teasing, tantalizing images danced through his mind; flayed open salty skin, the enticing strips of subcutaneous fat cradling the chunks of fibrous muscle clinging to bone.

  It was too much, the moon, fresh meat, and her.

  Blinded by his extraordinary appetites his momentum had carried him into the clearing. There her intoxicating scent had mesmerized him with an aching all-encompassing lust. In the woman’s eyes he saw uncomprehending terror cascading over in all its mouthwatering sweetness. His blood had rushed through his body in response to her pulsing fright, bringing him painfully erect.

  No�
�No…NO!

  By sheer agonizing force of will, he had bounded into the woods. There in the dark, he had prowled back and forth until the yearning awakened by the female receded. At that his massive shoulders shook, knowing what he faced. There was bad news to report.

  They would not be pleased.

  ------------------

  Ernie rushed outside, leading the way, smart phone to his ear. A collective wave of relief spread through them when Anna picked up the call. Owen and Tanya rousted the local doctor while Brody, Cindy, and Ernie rounded up a rescue party.

  In less than two hours they had shepherded Anna and Liam to Ernie and Owen’s pension. The doctor was waiting and pronounced the students physically sound, but for symptoms of shock; treated with a mild sedative.

  At daybreak, Owen led a group out to pack up the field lab and the remains for shipment to Krakow. Though everything went smooth, by mid-afternoon Owen’s nerves had gotten the best of him. He drifted back to the pension where Cindy, Ernie, and Brody waited for Liam and Anna to awaken.

  Cindy and Brody sat in the kitchen, making whispered small talk between Brody’s incessant phone conferences with his boss. Each call leaving him looking more stressed than the last. Cindy glanced out the window, watching with helpless dread as the sun began its afternoon descent, the thought of the oncoming night almost too much to bear. “You know that professor from Michigan State University, Martin.”

  “How’s he doing?”

  “He stopped returning my phone calls, emails, you name it. It’s like he vanished.”

  The sounds of Anna and Liam awakening filtered into the kitchen. After what seemed like an eternity, they crept down the pension’s narrow creaking stairs, easing into seats at the small kitchen table. Ernie placed sandwiches and glasses of fresh juice in front of them, along with a bottle of vodka. Brody and Cindy settled in opposite the weary students. Owen and Ernie hovered in the background.

  “Why don’t you tell us what happened,” Brody said.

  “You aren’t going to believe us,” Anna responded.

  “Try me.”

  “What do you want to hear?”

  “The truth.”

  Anna gave a short, derisive laugh, but bit it back as she took in Brody’s kind expression. After another moment she began to speak, slowly at first, then faster. At times, Liam chipped in. Anna finished their story with the howling, the dredged up memory of the night unsettling even in daylight.

  She fell silent.

  Brody let the quiet drag on.

  “I saw it,” Anna exclaimed, rewarding Brody’s patience.

  “You mean the wolf,” Owen said.

  Brody cursed under his breath.

  “It wasn’t a wolf,” Anna said, trembling. Only with great effort did she still her shaking legs. For a long moment, she stared at the floor.

  The clock ticked on the wall.

  Brody struggled with his emotions; stricken by the thought his life was about to change forever. Anna lifted her head. Darkness danced across her face, twisting it into something ugly.

  “It was a werewolf.”

  Chapter 17

  August 2016 – Dibrovno, Western Ukraine

  The word werewolf hung in the air, its very utterance throwing reality back centuries in time as Anna described a creature that more than any other personified one’s deepest darkest fears. Brody listened; reeling with a freakish curiosity at the possibility Anna saw a monster.

  A gust of wind rattled the kitchen window.

  Six pairs of eyes jumped. Anna’s and Liam’s by far the most haunted. As Anna finished, Brody realized he had been holding his breath. A single tense voice broke the incredulous silence.

  “We know,” Cindy said.

  “You knew,” Anna said, “and you let us sit there anyway. Like bait!”

  Brody winced.

  “It’s not like that,” Ernie said. “We thought this was about a killing from years ago. You need to understand how unbelievable this can seem.”

  “I need to understand?”

  “You have every right to your feelings,” Brody said. “However, had Ernie come to you and stated ‘you know we think a werewolf might be responsible for the deaths of these soldiers’ what would you have thought?”

  “Yea, that would’ve been something,” Anna said, wiping away her tears with the back of her arm.

  “Now what?” Liam raised his drooping head, eyes glassy.

  “You did fine,” Brody said. “Most people would’ve just folded up and quit in the face of what you two dealt with out there.”

  “But like he said, now what?”

  “The dig’s over,” Brody put a reassuring hand on Anna’s shoulder as his other handed her a tissue. “Just about the entire crew is scheduled to leave.”

  Everyone felt it. Ernie was no longer the leader.

  “As for me,” Brody’s voice hardened, “I’m going hunting.”

  Ernie, Owen, and Cindy all offered to stay on and help a grateful Brody. He conferenced with Vance, who agreed they couldn’t report anything as of yet without looking like fools. After his call Brody pulled Anna and Liam aside, insisting they remain silent. Liam just shrugged, but chilling Brody to the bone was her response.

  “Don’t you know?” Anna said.

  “Know what?”

  “They’ve always been here.”

  Ernie held open the kitchen door as Anna and Liam left an ashen faced Brody behind.

  Cindy slumped at the table, eyes downcast.

  Owen fidgeted nervously.

  Brody fell into a chair, rubbing his temples.

  “How many scratches did we see yesterday morning?” Ernie stared at the door.

  “Five,” Owen said.

  Ernie counted ten.

  “Why didn’t you push Anna harder?” Owen said to Brody.

  “She was positive.”

  “You’re an FBI Agent,” Owen said. “Yet you just sat there while Anna rambled on about seeing a werewolf.”

  “That’s enough, Owen,” Brody said. “There’s a lot more going on.”

  “Like what?” Ernie said, turning from the door and motioning Owen to quiet down.

  “I don’t know.” Brody thrummed his fingers on the table, his leg bouncing underneath. “I mean what Anna said,” He trailed off, voice cracking.

  “It’s ok,” Cindy said, encouraging him to speak.

  Brody looked away, thinking of what had happened to those two college kids. It had reminded him of something he had hoped to keep locked up forever.

  Cindy reached out, her hand warm as it slid over his, gently squeezing.

  Brody stared at her hand, and then into her eyes.

  Cindy smiled.

  His reticence gave way, a feeling that he could trust his new friends granting him strength to tell them something that he had never told anyone else, “I was nineteen…”

  He was at a house party in the next neighborhood over from his parent’s place, getting tanked on Molson Canadian. He thought he had it all figured out. He drove a Camaro upgraded with an aftermarket turbo muffler and Alpine stereo. He lifted weights to look like his idol, of all people Arnold Schwarzenegger. He had a leggy girlfriend with stand-at-attention-tits, and an appetite for his cock that even he could scarcely believe. In retrospect, he was almost a first rate asshole, but not quite all the way there. That’s because sometime after House of Pain’s “Jump Around” had made its fourth turn on the CD changer and he decided to leave, he at least acknowledged that he was too drunk to drive.

  He had dropped his jingling key chain into his pocket, smiling at the sight of the moon shining bright. In childhood he and Chris had explored every trail cutting through the quarter mile wide forest separating the neighborhood he was in from the one where he had grown up. However, he had never been on the trail
s at night.

  Full of a sense of adventure and nostalgia he had marched off into his woods. Except that night, they weren’t his woods at all. He was stumbling along, noticing how beautiful the silvery blue trees appeared in the cold moonlight when the hair had risen up on the back of his neck.

  He had glanced to his right, but nothing stirred in the quiet trees.

  To his left flowed a narrow creek creasing the bottom of a five foot embankment.

  Then he had heard it again, a heavy footfall on the other side of the creek.

  He had picked up his pace. Part of him felt he should look, yell, and confront his stalker. He couldn’t. A voice told him not to, told him he would be better off if he didn’t. Then he heard crunching dry leaves and twigs snapping underfoot on the other side of the creek. Saturday afternoon horror movies danced through his mind. Panic lanced his chest and he had broken into a flat out run. Though intoxicated, he was young, fit, and fast. Within moments he had burst from the woods and across a football field wide easement for the electric company, racing under the latticework of power lines before shooting through a narrow glade of trees surrounding the baseball diamond and park marking the western edge of his neighborhood. He sprinted past the first row of homes and crossed the street, his breath ragged. He hit his driveway, taking the concrete porch steps in one stride, fumbling for his keys, lock clicking open, squeezing past the door, slamming it tight, fighting back against his terror as he peeked through the living room curtains and out into the night…

  As Brody trailed off Cindy stared at him in astonishment. The similarity to what had happened with Liam and Anna was entirely too real. Nevertheless, the rational part of her mind recognized that what happened to the graduate students was something different. That had been a message. In Brody’s case…