Isabel and the Wolf: (Part 3)

by Ariana Hawkes

  “So what’s been keeping you so busy?” she asked, when they’d enquired how the other was doing.

  “There’s so much stuff going on with the wolves at the moment. The one I told you about looks to be the tip of the iceberg. We’ve come across four more that seem to be unrelated to the local packs. They’re quite significantly bigger, and their coats are different – we’ve seen two more like black bears, one brown, and one that was almost white, which is pretty much impossible. They’re not Mexican grays, that’s for sure. If I didn’t know better, I’d say someone with an exotic – and highly illegal – collection had released them into Gila. Two out of the four we shot didn’t even get knocked out by the dart – they just ran off with it stuck in their hide. With the most recent two, we managed to take blood and measurements and tag them. But what’s weird is that, within 30 minutes of releasing them, the tags stopped emitting a signal. It’s possible that one of them could have malfunctioned, but both? It just doesn’t make sense.” Rob paused and massaged the back of his neck. “And what’s even weirder is that the photos I took of them didn’t come out – not even one.”

  “I’d put it down to Rob’s camera skills, but the fact is, you can’t go wrong with the digital camera he uses. It’s just point and shoot,” Josie added.

  “So they came out blurry, or what?” Isabel asked.

  “Have a look at them.” Rob retrieved his laptop and turned the screen so they could all see it. There were twenty or thirty photos, all of the forest floor, and all perfectly in focus. Almost all of them featured a dark shadow in the center, in the approximate shape of a wolf, as if the wolf had been between the photographer and the camera’s focus, so only the shadow was visible.

  “How would you get that angle, though?” Isabel said. “The sun would have to be really low in the sky, and shining clearly through the trees, which doesn’t seem to happen much in Gila’s dense foliage.”

  “That and the fact that the wolves were lying down, out cold when I photographed them.” On five of the photographs, there was no shadow, but a bright flash of light, as if the sun had hit the lens directly, obscuring the image. The edges of the shot were blurry gray, with no sign of foliage.

  “These are equally bizarre. I look in the viewfinder as I take the photos – as you might imagine – and I would’ve noticed if I’d been blinded by a flash of sunlight.”

  “And again, the angle’s all wrong,” Isabel said.

  “Nothing adds up here. And to tell you the truth, it’s been keeping me awake at night,” Rob said, his forehead furrowed.

  “I can testify to that,” Josie stage whispered.

  “Sorry, honey,” he draped an arm around her shoulder.

  “I’m only kidding, babe,” Josie said, and puckered her lips towards his for a kiss. “I wake up when you get out of bed, but only for a moment.”

  “I’ve been in touch with all the conservation centers across the US, Canada, and even Mexico, and they’ve had nothing similar going on. They have to have been imported from somewhere, but that doesn’t explain the photos.”

  “There’s a lot about the world that we don’t understand,” Josie said, resting a hand on his arm. Isabel did a double take. What was it with the people in this town, and their higher-knowledge hippy values?

  “Trey and I are heading out to do some more tracking now. You can come if you want, ladies? You might have more luck with the camera than I did.”

  “I don’t have anything better to do,” Josie said.

  “Sure!” Isabel agreed. Rob led them over to a pick up truck.

  “Are you ok sitting out back?” They nodded enthusiastically, clambering onto the open truck bed, while Rob and his colleague climbed into the front. Isabel used to love bumping around in the back of her grandfather’s truck when she was a child, her back against the cab and the wind whistling past, blowing her hair everywhere.

  “Hold tight, it can get pretty bumpy!” Josie said, and they each clung to the sides as the truck started moving along the rough dirt tracks.

  “Rob seems pretty stressed,” Isabel said.

  “He’s having such a hard time now,” Josie replied. “He loves nature because it all makes sense – unlike people, he says! So being confronted by something like this, that defies logic, has totally thrown him. Every minute that he’s not here, he’s on the internet, researching, trying to find out if anyone has encountered something similar in the past.”

  “Poor guy,” Isabel said. “Let’s hope we find something today that starts to make sense.” The truck went over some particularly bumpy ground, and they levitated a few times, landing back down with a bump. Isabel’s still bruised ass wasn’t enjoying it at all. “Why nothing better to do today? Don’t tell me you’ve got writers’ block?”

  “Uh huh. It’s not just a myth of the pretentious,” Josie replied, eyebrow arched. “I really want to get going with my new novel, but nothing’s right.”

  “Is it ok to ask what it’s about?”

  “Of course! To be honest, I’m not sure. And I think that’s the problem. I’m setting it right here, in Silver City, and I want it to bring out the spirit of the place, but so far, I’m having a hard time constructing the plot.”

  “Who was it who said that all the stories in the world have been told already, it’s how you tell them that counts?”

  “I don’t know. Some wise person, a very long time ago. Even Shakespeare borrowed all of his stories from older tales – except one.”

  “Which is?”

  “The Tempest. And what a crazy, trippy play that is!”

  “I should give it a go. I’ve never enjoyed Shakespeare to be honest. I think my English teacher ruined it for me.”

  “You and too many others. Start with watching one of his comedies. A good production will bring it to life and you’ll actually laugh at the jokes.”

  “Thanks for the tip!” Isabel said, looking at Josie with something approaching admiration. Josie never failed to surprise her, revealing a new dimension to her character every time they met. Isabel knew she was a writer, of course, but somehow hadn’t expected her to be so bookish. She mentally ticked herself off at her own narrow-mindedness. She glanced at Josie again. Now was the moment to ask her about Peter. Her heart beat fast. Josie had already denied knowing him, so she was basically about to call her out on a lie.

  “Hey, you know the guy I said I was dating?” she began. Josie’s expression changed, a shutter coming down, blanking out the brightness in her eyes.

  “Yeah,” she said, a little too casually.

  “Turns out you do know each other!” Isabel heard the slightly manic tone behind the enthusiasm in her voice. “I was just telling him about the cool people I’d been meeting since I’d been here, and, when I mentioned your name, he said you were cousins!”

  “Oh! Răzvan!”

  “No – ” Isabel was more confused than ever. “His name’s Peter.”

  “Petre,” Josie said, and the word sounded foreign in her mouth. In fact, quite similar to Peter’s accent. Josie laughed. “Răzvan is his first name, and Petre is his middle name. He probably introduced himself to you with his middle name, as he thought his first name would sound too out of place.” Isabel smiled thinly, feeling stupid that she hadn’t known his first name. But, first name, middle name, whatever, Josie had known who she was talking about in the diner. “We’re not first cousins, though. We’re like third or fourth, or something,” Josie continued.

  “Yeah, Petre said that. So, you are part Romanian?”

  “In terms of blood, almost completely, actually. But the culture has mostly been lost through my family line. I don’t even speak the language, apart from a few words.”

  “Shame, it sounds beautiful, at least from what Peter’s been saying to me.” Josie’s face twisted, barely perceptibly, but Isabel knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that her initial suspicions of jealousy had been correct. The truck came to a stop, cutting off their conversation. Rob and Trey jumped o
ut.

  “Wolves are primarily nocturnal,” Rob said. “Although the strange ones we’ve been seeing recently have all been spotted hunting during the day.”

  “How do you normally track them during the day, then?” Isabel asked.

  “We have to find their lairs first. Then we have to encourage the pack to come out. It’s a painstaking process. First we use this device.” He showed her something that resembled a gun from a bad sci-fi movie. “It emits a series of sounds that are very irritating to a wolf’s ears, although we can’t hear it at all. This wakes ’em up, and the pack’s alpha comes out to investigate. We shoot him with a sedative and carry him some distance away. After we’ve taken our usual measurements, we wait. When he doesn’t return, the betas of the pack go out to look for him. We shoot them too, and repeat the process. This gives us enough genetic information about the pack, so we don’t usually hang around to shoot the omegas.”

  “So, now we’ll be looking for lairs?” Isabel asked.

  “I’m not sure, to be honest. Since we found the others by chance as they were hunting, I’m not sure what our strategy should be. This area is close to where we saw some of the others, so I guess we’ll cover a section of the forest each, and look out for tracks and any other signs.”

  “Do we get to use guns too?” Josie asked.

  “Unfortunately you need a license to use them, so the answer’s no.”

  “So we’re just here for decoration?”

  “No,” Rob grinned. “I’ll need to rely on your photography skills if we catch any, and you can help us out by looking for tracks as well.” Isabel rubbed her foot into the earth. In the depths of the forest, the ground was slightly damp, but she doubted how long tracks would survive before turning to dust. “And not just footprints – look out for signs of what they’ve eaten – bones or fur, and what’s passed through their bodies as well. We’ll split up, and maybe you ladies want to stay together?” He passed them a walkie-talkie each. “If you find anything, tell me, and I’ll come find you. Josie’s phone is linked with mine via GPS, so I’ll always be able to figure out where you are.”

  “Ok, let’s go!” Josie shouted, and skipped off into the woods, in the opposite direction from the two men. Isabel followed her. “There’s no way we’re going to find anything, by the way,” Josie said. “Rob’s just getting desperate, and clutching at whatever straws he thinks will help him solve the mystery. And, if we do see a wolf, by the time Rob comes with his gun, it’ll be long gone.”

  “Yeah, this had occurred to me,” Isabel said.

  “He just wants to keep us entertained, and any time someone shows an interest in what he does, he can’t help but try to engage them even further.”

  “Can’t say I’m complaining,” Isabel said. “It’s so nice to be out here.” She’d watched the route as they’d driven there, and, as far as her limited knowledge of Gila stretched, she judged that they were nowhere near Peter’s campsite, and, for that, she was grateful.

  Isabel and Josie walked for maybe an hour, Josie leading her deep into the woods, into places where the undergrowth was very dense and they had to pick their way. They found nothing at all to indicate that a wolf had passed by. Josie stopped and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

  “Well, I think I’m just about done,” she said.

  “For the past five minutes that’s exactly what I’ve been hoping you’d say,” Isabel replied. “Now, how the hell do we get back to the truck?”

  “Oh, it’s this way,” Josie said, and strode ahead, weaving in and out of trees. Isabel stumbled after her. Not long afterwards, the truck came into view.

  “How on earth did you do that?” she exclaimed.

  “Call it a good sense of direction!” Josie said with a smile. They climbed into the front of the truck, eager for the comfort of actual seats.

  While they’d been chatting away about this and that for the past hour, Isabel had been thinking about Josie’s reactions to Peter.

  “Did you and Peter know each other as children?” she asked, hoping the element of surprise would prevent Josie from obscuring her true feelings. Josie didn’t answer immediately, but, when she did, there was a new hardness to her tone.

  “We never met, but I’d heard about him. He was this wonderboy, back in my family’s ancestral lands. Everyone talked about him as if he was some kind of prince.”

  “You met him for the first time quite recently?”

  “Yes.”

  “And did he live up to the legend?”

  “He did.” Josie’s eyes were brighter than ever. “He’s an incredible person. As soon as we met, I forgave him all the jealousy his existence had caused me in my childhood.” Isabel looked at her wordlessly. There were so many questions she wanted to ask. Like, what makes him so incredible (apart from his abundant good looks and sexual talents)? Or, what kind of work does he do to keep himself in brand-new Harley Davidsons? Hell, even his last name would be good to know!

  “Are you still finding Petre intense?” Josie asked, sounding like she had to force herself to ask the question. Isabel nodded, not wanting to reveal too much. “He comes from a very different background, with very strong traditions and beliefs. Sometimes that can be difficult to meld with modern USA.”

  “I can imagine,” Isabel said. The look Josie gave her was full of pity.

  “If only you could,” she said, at last. Isabel turned her thoughts over.

  “He had some kind of family emergency last week?” she said, half statement, half question.

  “Yes it’s very sad. His family is sick, and they thought there was a ray of hope, but it turned out to be nothing.”

  “I was sorry to hear that. Is it his immediate family, or is your family affected too?” Isabel asked carefully.

  “My family shares the same – genetic limitation.” The pitch of Josie’s voice lifted and the sentence ended in a bitter laugh. “But it’s been pretty much bred out of my branch of the family.” Josie had been staring out of the window, but now she turned her glittering-coal eyes on Isabel. “Look, Rob doesn’t know that Peter and I are related. Doesn’t even know he exists. And I don’t want him to know. I hope I can count on you to not mention it to him?”

  “Of course,” Isabel replied, noting the slight narrowing of eyes that made it more of a threat than an entreaty.

  At that moment, Isabel’s head jerked to the right, as something moved at the edge of her vision. She and Josie both screamed as the something streaked in front of the truck, and leapt on top of it. Isabel shrank back in the car seat, trying to move as far away as she could, as the thing was revealed to be a huge wolf, with black fur and yellow eyes. At least, it looked like a wolf, but wolves weren’t that big. Its hind legs were on the ground, and its front paws touched the base of the windshield, the black, gleaming points of its claws just visible. It had long, velvety ears and sharp, pure white teeth. Isabel was barely aware that she was making a sound of terror, a low whimper, as the wolf stared at them.

  “It’s ok,” Josie murmured. “It doesn’t mean us harm.”

  “How can you tell?” Isabel said, in a tight voice.

  “Look at it. Does it look like it wants to eat us for dinner?” Isabel forced herself to focus on it more calmly. Its mouth was open, and its tongue was almost lolling between its teeth. In fact, it kind of looked like it was grinning at them. The wolf glanced away. Isabel’s fingers loosened their grip on the sides of the car seat, and she became capable of tearing her eyes away, risking a quick look at Josie. Josie didn’t seem terrified. Instead, her face was radiant, like a little girl waiting for a birthday cake to be put on the table in front of her. The wolf’s huge head swung back, and it was looking directly at Isabel. As she stared, her heart throbbing in her chest, its tongue slid out of its mouth, and, she swore, it licked its lips. Then, it jumped down from the truck and bounded off into the forest, agile and powerfully muscled, its long tail fanning out behind. Isabel let out a ragged moan. At that moment, Josie’s wa
lkie-talkie crackled loudly. She snatched it up and adjusted the volume and frequency.

  “What was that?” she hollered into it.

  “Rob… knocked down… not hurt bad… coming back… be careful,” what seemed to be Trey’s voice said.

  “Did you get that? Something’s happened!” Josie yelled. She opened the door and got out of the car.

  “Josie, get back in! It’s not safe!” Isabel screamed. But Josie ignored her. She started running in the direction that Rob and Trey had headed off. Isabel’s hand was poised on the door handle. Her instinct told her to follow Josie, but her fear kept her rooted to her seat. Trying to calm herself down, she watched as Josie disappeared around a turn, and kept her eyes trained on the furthest spot she could see.

  Within minutes, she saw the flash of clothing through the trees, and all three of them came into view. Josie was hooked under Rob’s shoulder, her arm wrapped around him, and Trey was carrying all their stuff. Isabel jumped out.

  “What happened?” she yelled, running towards them. Rob was pale, but otherwise looked uninjured.

  “A wolf jumped me,” he said. It came from behind, so neither of us saw it. It pretty much pounced on me and knocked me to the ground. It jumped on my back, and closed its jaws on my neck. To be honest, I thought I was a goner, but it didn’t really bite me.” He turned around and pulled the neckline of his polo shirt down, to reveal an unmarked neck. “It just gave this deep, long growl. Then, it picked up my sedative gun that I’d dropped in the shock, and it crunched it in its jaws.” Trey held it up as evidence. It was broken in half.

  “It all happened so fast. I couldn’t do anything,” Trey said, shame-faced. “Even if I’d been able to shoot it, I was so shocked, I probably would’ve missed my aim and shot Rob instead.”

  “Don’t worry, dude. There’s nothing you could’ve done. And I’m fine. I’ve got a couple of skinned elbows and I’m a bit shaken up, but that’s all.”

  “Are you sure, honey?” Josie said, putting her hand to his cheek. “You didn’t hit your head?” “No, not at all,” he said, smiling down at her. “I’m ok, I promise.” She stood on tiptoes, and they touched lips. Isabel watched them, struck once again by the intimacy between them. She was waiting for Josie to tell them about their experience, but when she didn’t, Isabel said,