by J. T. Cross
* * *
Victor sat slumped in the helicopter seat eating a sandwich. The pilot had landed the helicopter as soon as he could see the ground. When the sun came up the next day, Victor planned on having him fly them in below the clouds and continue the search.
If and when they spotted the downed helicopter, Victor decided he would have the pilot land away from the downed helicopter. He didn’t need the man sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong, and he certainly didn’t want him seeing them complete their business at the crash site.
The satellite phone rang, and he picked up the handset.
“Hello?”
“It’s Serena. I have some good news.”
“I could use some about now,” he said in a sour tone.
“I just talked to Luc Moon’s girlfriend, Kate. She says he’s on his way to the village campground and thinks he knows where the copter is.”
“How in the hell would he know that?”
“She... it’s complicated, but he’s sure he can find it. They plan on riding into the eastern mountains tonight. All you have to do is follow them in.”
Victor found it hard to believe that Luc would try to start a search at night. Then he looked out the window and saw a full moon beginning to rise.
“Okay, we’ll be waiting. I’ve got the night vision equipment. We’ll be able to follow them to the helicopter without them even knowing.”
He hung up and turned to the pilot. “Remember the campground we flew over?”
“Yes.”
“Head back there now. We got a request to meet another team a little north of the campground. They want to go in tonight.”
Within minutes they were in flight. Victor instructed the pilot to land a half-mile north of the camp, just west of the rift. Once on the ground, they unloaded the ATVs, unpacked their supplies, and strapped them to the utility racks.
He went back into the helicopter and grabbed one of the spare satellite phones. In the cockpit, he pointed its short antenna at the pilot. “I’ll contact you later and give you further instructions. Until you hear from me, stay put.”
“How long should I wait?” the pilot asked.
“There’s enough food in the copter to last several days. If we’re not back by Sunday evening, fly back to the airport and let Roland Valenkamp at Northern Energies know what happened.”
He climbed back out of the helicopter and shut the door. Picking up his backpack, he stowed the satellite phone in a pouch on its side, then strapped it securely to the utility rack.
He climbed on the ATV and studied the display of the GPS that was attached to the handlebars for several moments to get his bearings. The engine roared to life as he turned the key. After flipping on the lights, he led the men for a short ways eastward until they reached the rift, after which they headed south toward the campground.
They reached the edge of the campground fairly quickly. Two tents and a pile of firewood was all he saw under the moonlight. He figured he had at least an hour to wait before Luc Moon and the others arrived.
Victor scanned the nearby hills for a good vantage point from which to observe the search party when it arrived. Just northwest of the camp he saw a bluff that overlooked the area. He decided it would be a good spot to wait.
He rode slightly north of the bluff and then circled back and climbed a slope that led to its top. They parked the ATVs well back from the edge and waited for Luc and his party to arrive.
Victor looked at his watch and saw that an hour had gone by. He was beginning to get cold. His men had also complained about the cold, and he had told them to do push-ups if they had a problem. He didn’t hear any more complaints.
He zipped his jacket up tighter around his neck and noticed a glimmer of light in the distance. He watched as the lights gradually got nearer and two pickups pulled into the campground.
Once in the campground, Luc and his party began unloading the ATVs and supplies. Picking up his pair of binoculars, he focused on the largest man and identified him as Luc.
“We’ll probably be moving out within the hour,” Victor said softly. “Whatever you do, don’t turn on the headlights. We’ll use night vision goggles only while we’re following them.”
He reached up and flipped down his goggles. The dark landscape erupted in a clear and detailed image formed in pale shades of green. He turned them back off and flipped them back up and out the way.
No use running the batteries down, he thought. He brought his binoculars back up and began waiting patiently for Luc’s team to begin their search.
Chapter 14
Christie sat in the back of the cabin listening for any sounds coming from the outside of the helicopter. A flurry of sudden activity occurred up front in the tree branches.
She felt a vibration course through the helicopter cabin as something pushed against the tree branches. She would’ve sworn she heard a grunt. She guessed the wolf had jumped out of the tree branches and hit the ground hard.
A howl came from just outside the hatch confirming her suspicion. The animal had left the tree branches and went back to the hatch.
She assumed that the animal trying to gain entry into the helicopter was a large wolf, but she had never directly seen it. She was afraid if she moved to a window and tried to look out, she might make a sound that would encourage it to try harder to gain entry into the cabin.
For the last few minutes, the animal hadn’t made a sound. She inhaled deeply and held her breath as she listened intently.
The sudden concussion of a gunshot rang out in the distance, and she jumped. She moved Stuart and Kelly aside and slipped out from behind the conference table. A second shot rang out and then a third.
“It’s Marcus,” she said with a gasp of joy as she turned the flashlight on and ran to the hatch. She placed the flashlight up against the window and moved the beam around the clearing. It was hard to make anything out because a fog had fallen over the area. She could no longer even see to the edge of the clearing, which was no more than twenty or so feet away.
Marcus needed help. She was sure of that, otherwise he wouldn’t be firing the pistol. She couldn’t just stand there doing nothing.
She ran back to the conference table and picked up the pistol then returned to the hatch door. She prayed the wolf was nowhere close then lifted the latch and slowly pushed open the door. Damp foggy air flowed past her and into the cabin.
She swept the light across the clearing one more time, just to be sure. Seeing no trace of the wolf, she carefully stepped down out of the helicopter. She walked out to the middle of the clearing so she could see up the slope Marcus had climbed when he had left.
She directed the flashlight beam up the long slope, looking for any sign of him. She heard his voice before she saw him.
“Help. Open the door, they’re after me,” Marcus yelled.
Then she saw the faint outline of movement halfway up the slope.
She waved the flashlight back and forth and yelled, “Marcus, over here. The door’s open.”
Within seconds, he was close enough that she could tell he was running for all he was worth, despite the fact he was stumbling and on the verge of losing his balance.
She moved the flashlight down, so it wouldn’t blind him.
“Get inside,” he screamed.
She ran back to the helicopter and scrambled in. She turned around just in time to see Marcus running full speed toward the hatch door with three of the largest wolves she had ever seen, close behind him.
When he was five feet away, he dove toward the hatch door. She jumped aside just in time to avoid being hit. He flew past her, colliding with the opposite side of the cabin. She grabbed the handle and pulling the door as hard and fast as she could, slammed it shut. The sound of the wolves running into the outside of the door filled the cabin.
The sound of growls and snarls rose to a fevered pitch as the animals, suddenly deprived of their prey, turned on each other. The confusion lasted only a moment.
Then the fighting and snarling stopped.
Christie stared out the hatch window. Her jaw dropped open. The animals she saw were not ordinary wolves. These were bigger and more massive than even the largest of modern-day wolves.
Marcus got to his feet and joined her at the window. “They ran me up a tree about a half-mile from here and kept me up there for hours. When they finally lost interest and left, I climbed down and hightailed it back here.”
“But they were after you,” Christie said in a questioning tone.
“Yeah. They’re smart. One stayed just out of sight and waited for me to climb down from the tree. As soon as I did, it signaled the rest of the pack. That’s when I started running for my life.”
“You’re lucky you made it. You weren’t being chased by ordinary wolves.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were almost caught by one of the most successful predators of the Pleistocene era. You should pat yourself on the back, you just outran a pack of dire wolves.”
“What the hell’s a dire wolf?” he asked.
“Imagine a large gray wolf on steroids. That’s a dire wolf. It has larger and stronger jaws than the modern gray wolf, longer and more massive teeth, and shorter more powerful legs. It’s almost the perfect killing machine.”
“I’ve never heard of that kind of wolf.”
“And for good reason, they’ve been extinct for over 11,000 years.”
He looked at her somewhat confused. “You better tell that to them,” he said, then walked to the back of the helicopter and sat down
Christie couldn’t stop watching them. Where did they come from, she wondered as she watched them walking back and forth in the clearing, sniffing the ground, and looking at the helicopter. Not only were they not extinct, they looked bigger and fiercer than any of the artist renderings she had ever seen.
Suddenly, a tremendous fight among the wolves broke out somewhere in the fog. It sounded like a fight to the death was taking place.
She looked back and forth trying to determine what had set the wolves off, but she could see nothing. Gradually, the sound of fighting began to subside, and she saw most of the wolves walk to the side of the clearing and sit. Then she saw something that chilled her to the bone. One of the largest wolves pulled Lackland’s body into the clearing and plain sight.
Now she realized that the fighting had been over food. The largest males had won the right to eat first. She watched in horror as two large wolves tore into the body, each at an opposite end. The other wolves kept their distance, waiting for their turn.
The macabre scene was too much for her to witness. She turned and walked to the back of the cabin, sat down on one of the chairs, and began to cry.
She couldn’t get the image of the wolves tearing into Lackland’s body out of her mind. She knew that the dire wolves, with their massive teeth, would probably even eat the bones.
It wasn’t long before the other wolves began to join in and the sound of fighting started. It went on for at least 30 minutes after which things became quiet. She glanced over at Marcus. He was fortunate to have slept through it all.
With a sense of dread, she got up and went back to the hatch and looked out the window. She saw some wolves circling around the clearing as if confused or unsure what to do next. Leave, that’s what you should do, she thought.
She slowly backed away from the window and returned to the back of the helicopter where she saw Marcus awake and eating a protein bar. She sat down in a chair next to him.
“If we’re quiet, maybe the wolves will leave,” she whispered.
“It would help if they did. We really need to be building another signal fire. There could be aircraft out searching for us right now.”
“I know at least one person who’ll come searching for us,” she said.
“And who’s that?” Marcus asked.
“My ex-husband, Luc. There’s no way he would leave Stuart and Kelly out here.”
“What about you? Are you chopped liver or something?”
“I’m the Or Something,” she said, softly.
“Why’s that?”
“I divorced him.”
Marcus looked up at her. “Why?”
“Because I couldn’t stand living in the sticks... I wanted to get a doctorate in paleontology.”
“Oh,” he said, and continued eating his protein bar.
* * *
Scratching sounds on the nose of the helicopter caught her attention. Marcus turned his flashlight on and moved to the front of the helicopter.
She turned to the children. “Stay back here and don’t make a sound.”
She flipped her flashlight on and went up front with Marcus.
He directed the beam of light into the branches that protruded into the cockpit. They were thick, thick enough to block the wolves from getting inside, she hoped.
“I don’t see anything,” he whispered.
He moved the beam out the unbroken right-hand side of the window, and once again, she saw Philip’s body impaled on the sharp branch that stuck out from the left at an odd angle.
“How did he even get out there?” she asked softly.
“The first thing we hit was a tree branch farther back up the hill. It took out the left side of the window. When we got down here we hit a second tree. I think that’s when he flew through the broken side of the windshield and got impaled on the branch. The helicopter must’ve kept moving until it hit the other trees. That’s when the branch with Philip was probably pushed to the right.”
She looked at him hanging from the branch, his feet dangling in mid-air. Marcus’ explanation seemed so cold and analytical, but she guessed it made sense.
She screamed as a wolf suddenly jumped up and grabbed onto Philip’s pant leg. It hung swinging back and forth for a moment until it let go and fell back to the ground. Another wolf jumped up and did the same, this time ripping the cloth.
She moved back from the window and watched as, one after another, the wolves launched themselves into the air and grabbed a part of his body. They each took a turn ferociously tugging and jerking on the body, then dropped to the ground to do it all over again.
Their efforts first broke the branch then quickly worked his body loose. She felt like she wanted to vomit and turned away as his body fell to the ground.
The intensity of the wolves’ howling and yapping rose again as they began fighting for the second time over a body. She sat down on the nearest seat, putting her face in her hands.
She lifted her head up for a moment, looking at no one in particular. “He didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve to die that way and he didn’t deserve his body to be eaten by wolves.” She buried her face back in her hands and cried.
She saw Marcus move next to her and felt him caress her shoulder. Thank God he was there, she thought. She knew she had to toughen up and be strong for the children. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly then stood back up.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be sorry. You have every right to cry. Philip was your husband. We’re in a tough situation, but we’ll get through it,” Marcus said.
“Maybe we should go to the back and lay low,” she offered.
“Sure thing.” He followed her back and they sat down next to each other across from the children who were still sleeping. She couldn’t believe they had slept through all of the madness.
They sat in the darkness, not even whispering, waiting for the wolves to leave. Gradually, the snarling and yapping grew softer, giving way to occasional growls and brief fights. After that, the night became silent.
“I think they’ve left,” Marcus whispered.
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that. They’re some of the most intelligent predators of all time,” she said.
“I’m hoping they’re dumb and leave, if it’s all the same to you,” he said.
Maybe he was right, she thought. She began to relax as the minutes rolled by without a sound from t
he wolves. Just as she made a conscious effort to let down her guard a little, a wolf jumped back up on the front of the helicopter.
Rustling and tearing sounds began to fill the cabin as it worked at tearing its way through the branches to get into the cockpit. As it dug, it emitted a low and persistent growl, much as a hound would while digging a rabbit out of its den.
Then the helicopter shuddered as a second wolf jumped into the branches, joining the first. She felt her heart skipping beats. She didn’t move, nor did Marcus.
Now there were two wolves furiously digging. Their separate growls combining into a single horrific chorus that generated a picture in her mind of a prehistoric digging machine coming to get them.
Marcus stood up. “We’re going to have to work together to keep them out!” He turned on his flashlight then picked up the ax that was lying against the side of the cabin wall.
Christie turned her flashlight on and found the machete. Picking it up, she followed Marcus to the front. The sound of digging in the branches stopped. They stood together with their weapons raised, ready to do battle.
As she silently prayed that the wolves would leave, another one jumped up on the nose of the helicopter. She shined her light through the unbroken right side of the window and saw the massive face of a dire wolf staring straight at her.
The wolf’s eyes picked up the reflection from the flashlight and glowed like burning embers. It couldn’t have been more than two feet away from the other side of the glass.
She watched, almost in a trance, as it bared its teeth and began to growl. Without warning, it lunged at the cockpit window, its face smashing into the glass.
Christie screamed, jumped backward, and tripped, falling to the floor. The wolf moved back from the window and continued its low growling.
The sound of digging in the tree branches started again, this time with even more intensity.
Chapter 15
After Yudi had pulled into the campground and parked, the men had worked quickly to unload and ready the ATVs. The full moon had risen before they had arrived and provided ample light by which to work.