The Howling Trilogy

by Gary Brandner

  “It’s just a slight sprain from the looks of it,” the boy said, “but it’s too painful to walk on unless it’s wrapped up.”

  “I lost the first-aid kit with my pack when I fell,” the girl said. “We probably should have stayed on the easy trail up the mountain, but I wanted to try the hard way.”

  “Come inside,” Karyn said. “I have some bandages and things.”

  “We’d appreciate it,” the boy said. “This one doesn’t look very heavy, but I don’t think I could carry her much farther.”

  The girl made a face at him as he lifted her gently and carried her inside to the sofa.

  The young couple introduced themselves as Neal Edwards and Pam Sealander. They lived together in Santa Barbara and often went backpacking in these mountains. They were a bright, attractive pair, and Karyn felt refreshed by their company.

  Karyn found a package of Epsom salts with the medical supplies, and prepared a solution in a deep basin.

  “Soak your foot in this,” she told Pam, “and the swelling is supposed to go down. Don’t ask me why, but it works.”

  Meanwhile Neal went outside and came back with a stout forked branch. He used a hatchet to shape it into a serviceable crutch.

  “Now we’re all set,” Neal said. “As soon as the swelling goes down we can tape up the ankle and Pam should be able to walk all right with the crutch.”

  “There’s no hurry, is there?” Karyn said. “I’m glad to have some company. Why don’t I make some sandwiches?”

  “We sure wouldn’t turn them down,” Neal said, grinning.

  Karyn prepared a tray of sandwiches and a pot of coffee. The three of them sat together at the table eating and enjoying the cool afternoon.

  “It’s lucky for us somebody was living here,” Pam said. “This house has been empty for years.”

  “Yes, I know,” Karyn said. “My husband and I just took a six-month lease on the place.”

  “I didn’t think you looked like regular Drago people,” Neal said.

  “Oh? Why not?”

  “It’s hard to say exactly. They’re… different. I guess part of it is living in this isolated valley out of the mainstream. And maybe it’s a heritage they bring from the old country.”

  “Old country?”

  “I just meant that most of the people in Drago seem to be from the same European background. They’re sort of a closed society.”

  “Some of them seem quite friendly,” Karyn said. “I’m sure they are once you get to know them,” Pam said. “A lot of people are prejudiced because of the stories.”

  “What stories?” Karyn had an uncomfortable feeling she had been in this conversation before.

  “Just a lot of tall tales,” Neal said. “The kind of thing kids make up around a campfire. Nothing you’d take seriously.”

  “Maybe you wouldn’t,” Pam said, “but I’d give it a lot of thought before I came into this valley alone. They say people disappear here without a trace.”

  “Sure, it’s the Haunted Forest,” Neal said, laughing. He put an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “Anyway, you’ve got big strong me along for protection.”

  Pam laughed with him. “I’m so lucky.” Karyn was relieved that the conversation had turned away from things she did not want to hear. She excused herself for a moment and took another tranquilizer. She forgot what it was that had disturbed her. It didn’t matter.

  The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. The young couple told Karyn about their life in Santa Barbara, and she told them about growing up in New York and how different it was in California. Before anyone realized it the sun was gone and the mountain shadows had reached into the valley.

  Neal looked out the window, then checked his watch. “It’s getting late. How’s the ankle, Pam?”

  The girl got to her feet and took a few steps with the makeshift crutch. “It feels a lot better. I can make it all right if we go slowly.”

  “You’re welcome to spend the night here,” Karyn said. “There’s an extra bedroom.”

  “Thanks,” Neal said, “but we really should be getting back. There’s a path through the woods not far from here that will take us into town faster than your road.”

  “Yes, I know the path,” Karyn said. Neal wrapped Pam’s foot and ankle tightly with adhesive tape, and they said goodbye to Karyn, telling her to look them up if she came to Santa Barbara. With Neal’s powerful flashlight showing the way, they moved off toward the path. Karyn watched until the light disappeared among the trees. Then she bolted the door, took a sleeping pill, and began to prepare for bed.

  * * *

  Neal and Pam were about halfway to the village when Pam stopped suddenly. Resting on her makeshift crutch, she put a hand on the boy’s arm.

  “What is it?” he said.

  “I thought I heard something. Out there.”

  “Heard what?”

  “Listen.”

  Silence for a moment, then a sharp rustling of the brush as something moved toward them. Something big. Neal beamed the flashlight into the darkness toward the sound.

  It came at them fast, bright-orange eyes reflecting the light.

  “Neal, what is it?” Pam cried.

  Instinctively, Neal placed himself in front of the girl. “I don’t know.”

  Heedless of the heavy undergrowth, the beast crashed toward them. From ten feet away it sprang, and for an instant seemed to hang in the air––thick fur bristling, muscles tensed, black lips drawn back along the muzzle showing vicious yellow teeth.

  “My god.” Neal gasped, and the beast was on him. It hit him high on the chest, the forepaws bearing him to the ground. The boy had time for one terrible scream before the teeth tore into his windpipe.

  The flashlight rolled crazily along the path, throwing leaping shadows among the trees. Pam, her mouth open and dry with terror, used her crutch to club at the dark snarling form that crouched over Neal’s body. The jaws worked and there was a sickening crunch of bone.

  Again and again Pam struck at the animal without effect. At last the crutch broke in her hands and the beast raised its head and looked at her. The muzzle was dark and dripping.

  “No! Oh, no!” the girl screamed. She turned to run, but the ankle gave way and she stumbled and fell forward. The animal landed on her back, blasting the air from her lungs. Her last sensation was the powerful jaws clamping onto the base of her skull.

  12

  Karyn awoke slowly, reluctantly from the drugged sleep. Outside the morning was bright and fresh, but to Karyn the world seemed to exist on the far side of a gray scrim curtain. Her mouth was stale. It was an effort to move her limbs.

  She put an arm over to touch Roy, but his side of the bed was empty. It was several minutes before her sluggish mind recalled that Roy had spent the night in the city. It would have been sweet just to lie there in bed, thinking about nothing. Pull the comforter up over her head and shut out the morning. Karyn sighed. She really ought to get up, she told herself.

  Getting out of bed was so much work that she had to sit on the edge for a minute and rest. At last she stood up and went to the closet. She pulled on an old bathrobe of Roy’s. It was too much bother to think about a shower or brushing out her hair.

  She went into the kitchen, but fixing breakfast held no appeal. There were dishes unwashed from the day before, but they could wait. She walked into the living room and sat in the chair by the window and looked down at her hands.

  She was still sitting in the chair at eleven-thirty when a car pulled up outside. Footsteps crunched across the drying grass in the clearing. Someone knocked at the door. With a heavy sigh Karyn rose from the chair and walked over to see who it was.

  Chris Halloran stood in the doorway looking casual and fresh in checkered slacks and a brown pullover sweater. The smile of greeting he had ready stiffened when he took a look at Karyn.

  “Why, Chris, what a surprise.”

  It took him a second to answer. “Hello, Karyn. I had a couple of da
ys off, so I thought I’d drive out and see how you guys are doing.”

  “That’s nice.”

  He waited for her to say something else. When she didn’t, he said, “Is it all right if I come in?”

  Karyn put on a smile. It felt lopsided. “Yes, of course, please come in, Chris. I’m a little slow this morning.”

  Chris came into the room, keeping his eyes on Karyn. “Where’s Roy?”

  “He went into the city. It seems he has to spend more time in Los Angeles than he thought he would. Isn’t that interesting?”

  “Karyn, are you all right?”

  “Why? Is something the matter?”

  “You look a little… tired.”

  Karyn looked down at the old robe she was wearing and put a hand up to touch her unbrushed hair. “Oh, you mean this. I hadn’t gotten around to getting dressed yet. What time is it, anyway?”

  “Almost noon.”

  “Really? I must have dozed off in the chair.”

  “I should have let you know I was coming, but I didn’t decide myself until this morning.”

  “No, that’s all right. I’m always glad to see you. Can I get you anything?”

  “I’m fine, Karyn. Sit down, please.”

  “I think I will, if you don’t mind.” She returned to the chair by the window and eased into it. It was true that she was glad to see Chris, but keeping the conversation going was an effort.

  Chris perched uncomfortably on the edge of the sofa. “So tell me what’s been happening.”

  “Not very much. It’s a quiet life up here. We lost Lady.”

  “Lost her? What happened?”

  Karyn looked out the window, her face empty of expression. “Something caught her in the woods and killed her.”

  Chris leaned forward, staring at her. “What are you talking about? What caught her?”

  Karyn shrugged her shoulders. She felt loose and disjointed wearing the oversized robe. “I don’t know what it was. The sheriff––but he’s not really a sheriff––says it was a coyote. Or maybe it was an owl.” She giggled suddenly and put a hand over her mouth like a little girl caught laughing in class.

  Chris got up and walked over to her chair. He looked down into her face. “Karyn, what’s the matter? I told you that you look tired, but you don’t. You look sick.”

  “I’m all right. I have some pills that I take for my nerves and to help me sleep. I’m all right.”

  “What kind of pills?”

  “Who knows? Dr. Volkmann gave them to me.”

  “Who is Dr. Volkmann?”

  “He’s just Dr. Volkmann. He lives in Drago. He came out when I was sick.”

  “I don’t know what he’s giving you, but it doesn’t look like it’s helping a lot.”

  “Is that a comment on the way I look?”

  “Karyn, I’m serious. We’ve been friends long enough so that I shouldn’t have to play games. I think you should have another doctor examine you.”

  “Dr. Volkmann is a good doctor.”

  Chris started to say something more, then seemed to think better of it. “I’m sorry I missed Roy. We must have passed each other on the freeway.”

  “I don’t think so. Roy drove in yesterday.”

  “And left you here alone?”

  “It didn’t matter. I had a nice young couple for company.”

  “Overnight?”

  “No, they had to leave.”

  Chris shook his head slowly, but said nothing. He made several more attempts to kindle a conversation, but Karyn found it hard to concentrate on his words. She felt one step removed from everything that was happening. In a way it was a comfortable feeling, but in the depths of her consciousness she knew something was very wrong.

  After a while they ran out of words and Chris moved toward the door. “I guess I might as well be heading back to L.A.”

  Karyn rose to walk out with him. She looked into his eyes and saw herself reflected in the pupils. There was something she would like to tell him, but it seemed too much trouble to put it into words. For some reason a tear formed in the corner of one eye and rolled down her cheek.

  Chris took a step toward her. “You’re not well. Let me take you to a doctor in Los Angeles.”

  She shook her head without saying anything. The tears came freely.

  “Karyn, please, you’ve got to let me help you.” He reached out to her, grasping her shoulders, and pulled her against him.

  Since the day she had been assaulted in the apartment no man but her husband had touched Karyn. Now, through some trick of the mind, she was back there. The gentle face of her friend Chris Halloran twisted and changed like a rubber mask into the foul leering thing that had attacked her. Chris’s hands on her shoulders became the rough, grasping hands of the rapist. She pulled her head back to look into his face. He was saying something, but all she could see were his teeth. Teeth like those that had torn the flesh of her thigh and left her scarred town there.

  “Get away from me!” she cried. “Get away! Don’t touch me, you filthy animal!”

  Instantly Chris pulled his hands away and stepped back. “Karyn, what’s the matter with you? What are you saying?”

  She balled her hand into a fist and swung at him. In his astonishment, Chris made no move to avoid the blow, and her fist smacked into the corner of his mouth, slicking his lip with blood.

  He seized her wrists. “Have you gone crazy?”

  “You’d better get out of here,” she said, her voice rising hysterically. “If my husband finds you here he’ll kill you!”

  Chris touched the corner of his mouth and looked at he blood on his fingertips. “All right, dammit, enough. I don’t know what’s happening to you up here, Karyn, but if this is the way you want it, it’s your business. Excuse the intrusion.”

  He sidestepped her and shouldered out through the door. Karyn heard the car door slam. The engine roared to life and the Camaro spun away in an angry burst of gravel.

  For several minutes she stood by the door, breathing raggedly, feeling her heart pound. The fog that had clouded her mind throughout the day had been shredded by Chris’s sudden anger. She walked into the bathroom and ran the cold water. She caught it in her cupped hands and dashed it into her face. The cold shock helped to clear her head even more. She looked into the mirror and saw the pale, unkempt creature Chris had seen. What had come over her to act the way she had? For a terrible few seconds Chris had seemed to become the rapist. She had screamed at him, hit him, sent him away. What was happening to her?

  13

  Karyn took a long steaming-hot shower, then forced herself to stand for twenty seconds while the water sprayed icy cold. She rubbed her body dry with a big rough towel and went out to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. While it percolated she put on a clean pair of jeans and a light sweater. She drank the coffee black and strong, then brushed her teeth until her gums tingled. For the first time in days her body began to feel strong, her mind clear, with only traces of cobwebs. It was two o’clock when she left the house and walked briskly down the lane toward Drago.

  By the time she had reached the blacktopped main street Karyn’s legs ached from the unaccustomed activity after days of little exercise. Still, she felt refreshed and alert. The scent of the pines washed out her lungs as she swung down the drab street. Some movement down the street on the other side caught her eye, and she slowed her pace.

  A tow-truck was pulled up there in front of a metallic blue van. The driver was out of the truck attaching a cable to the front of the van. Something stirred in Karyn’s memory. She walked over to where the tow-truck driver stood between the two vehicles.

  “Are you towing this van away?”

  “That’s right. You the owner?”

  “No, but I think I know who is. Why are you taking it?”

  “The Highway Patrol got an abandoned vehicle report. When that happens we pull ’em in.”

  “Where did the report come from?”

  The driver pul
led a sheet of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “Report phoned in by Anton Gadak. You know him?”

  “I know him. Is he around?”

  “He was here a few minutes ago to sign the tow-away order. I think he went in the tavern up the street there.”

  Karyn hesitated for a moment. This was really none of her business. Yet in a way it was. She had liked young Neal Edwards and Pam Sealander. She thanked the tow-truck driver for the information and walked up the street toward the tavern where he had said Anton Gadak could be found.

  It was dark inside. Most of the overhead bulbs were burned out, and the flickering beer signs behind the bar only deepened the shadows. The air was stale with old beer, the floor gritty beneath her feet. Karyn stood for a moment inside the door until her eyes adjusted to the gloom.

  Anton Gadak sat midway along the bar with a glass of beer in front of him. On the next stool sat a paunchy man in overalls. They were the only customers. The bartender sat dozing in a wooden chair at the far end of the bar.

  Karyn walked up behind Gadak and cleared her throat. “Excuse me.”