Hunger of the Wolf

by Francene Carroll

  Amber put her hand on her friends arm and led her up the path towards the house. “No, it’s not Chris. Well, actually it is Chris but he hasn’t had an accident.”

  Kat stopped dead and pulled her arm away. “What is it Amber? What’s going on? You’re really starting to scare me now.”

  “Just come inside and I’ll tell you.” This time Kat let herself be led inside the house. She sat nervously on the edge of the couch, fiddling with her car keys as she waited for Amber to speak.

  “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come right out and tell you what happened.” Kat looked like she was close to tears. “Chris did turn up here last night and everything was fine at first, but then I noticed he was drinking a lot.”

  A look of intense relief crossed Kat’s face and she let out her breath. “Is that all this is about? You really had me worried there, Amber. I know Chris has been drinking a bit more than he should lately, but he’s been under a lot of pressure at work. He’s promised me he’s going to cut back, and I know he’s really been trying. When he’s not on the road so much it will be easier.” She sank back on the couch and put her hand on her heart. “I didn’t know what you were going to say. I thought Chris had tried to hit on you or something.” She laughed at the thought, but when Amber didn’t laugh with her she sat forward on the couch again. “That’s it, isn’t it. Chris put the moves on you.”

  “Please, just let me finish.” She took a deep breath. “I said to him that he shouldn’t be drinking so much and that’s when things began to get scary. He told me that I sounded like you, and then he started going on about how unhappy he was in his job and how….” She hesitated because she knew her next words would break Kat’s heart. “How unhappy he was with you. He said he never really loved you.”

  Kat began to cry softly, and Amber knew she had to continue before she lost it too. “He claimed that it was me he always wanted to be with, and he told me that now that I was single again we could finally be together. Of course I told him he was being ridiculous and that he had just fixated on me as the answer to his problems, but he wouldn’t listen to anything I said. He pushed me up against the wall and tried to kiss me, and I had to slap him across the face to get him to wake up to himself.”

  By now the tears were flowing freely down Kat’s face, and she was deathly pale. “He apologized and told me he would leave me alone. I went up to bed but he kept on drinking, and just after one o’clock he came pounding on the door. Before I could do anything he opened it and got into bed with me. He climbed on top of me and I couldn’t move.” He voice broke and she felt tears spilling down her own cheeks. “I really thought he was going to rape me, Kat. I only got away because I kicked him in the groin, otherwise I hate to think what could have happened. I ran over to Jesse Davidson’s cabin and stayed there for the rest of the night, and this morning I went into town and pressed charges. There’s a warrant out for his arrest, and the police are looking for him now.”

  When she had finished there was a stunned silence. Kat opened and closed her mouth a few times but no words came out. “I’m so sorry, Kat, but there was nothing else I could do. The policewoman at the station told me he has already been charged with assaulting a woman six years ago but the charges were thrown out when she didn’t show up at court. This isn’t the first time he’s come onto me either. When we went on holidays last year he told me then that he loved me and tried to kiss me on the balcony when you and Dominic went to bed. At the time I didn’t say anything to you because I thought it was just the alcohol talking, but this time I couldn’t ignore it. I think he’s dangerous, and I couldn’t live with myself it I let him get away with it.”

  Kat stood up abruptly and Amber stood up with her and reached out to take her hand. Kat pushed her away. “Don’t. Don’t come anywhere near me. Don’t touch me.”

  “Please Kat, let me help you through this.”

  “How could you, Amber? How could you do this? You’ve ruined our lives.” She walked towards the door.

  “I didn’t have a choice. You would have done the same thing.”

  Kat spun around to face her, and Amber had never seen her so angry before. “I would never have gone to the police the way you did without talking to you first. I would never do that to a friend.”

  “I tried to ring you.”

  “You could have waited until I got here. You could have waited till I talked to Chris. It’s all just a big misunderstanding. He was drunk and just didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t hurt you, look at you, you’re fine but now you’ve gone and destroyed everything. I hate you Amber. I hate you, and I never want to see you again.”

  She ran down the path to her car, and Amber followed her halfway before stopping because there was nothing more she could do. “I’m sorry,” she called weakly. “I’m so sorry.” Kat was about to get into the car but she stopped abruptly and stood still for a long moment before turning around slowly and walking back up the incline. Amber’s heart began pounding in her chest as she came straight towards her with an unreadable expression on her face. She had no idea what her friend was going to do, and she was extremely relieved when she put her arms around her and pulled her into an embrace.

  “Don’t apologize, Amber. You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. Chris is the one to blame here. I know you would never lie to me about something like this. He’s done similar things with others friends, but I didn’t want to believe it. I just need to be alone for a while to think things through. I’ll be back later.” Her voice was choked with emotion.

  “But where will you go? It’s getting dark, and you don’t know these roads very well. Please stay.”

  “I have to go. Please don’t try to stop me.” Kat moved towards the car like she was in a trance. She got in the car and gunned the engine a couple of times. The ancient car backfired loudly, and then she was gone. Amber went back inside and locked the door before sinking down onto the couch in a state of complete exhaustion. She had thought about following Kat to make sure she was okay, but she knew her friend well enough to realize that it was better to leave her alone for a while. She prayed that Kat would be careful out there in the dark because she was not a very good driver at the best of times.

  Amber did not bother to turn any lights and she lay on the couch for hours watching the shadows deepen as she waited for Kat’s return. At the back of her mind was the thought that Jesse could be out there in the woods plotting to do God knew what to her, but there was no way she could leave until Kat came back. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her mind on positive affirmations from one of her books, but all she could think about was how heartbroken her friend had looked as she drove away. She tried to shake the terrible feeling that she would never see her alive again.

  Chapter 11

  She must have drifted off because when Amber opened her eyes again it was pitch black, and it took a moment for her vision to adjust. She got up to turn the light on, but a noise from outside caused her to stop just before she flicked the switch. As she crept towards the window she heard it again, the unmistakable sound of footsteps on the front porch. At first she thought Kat must have returned, and she was about to open the door when her sixth sense told her not to. She parted the curtains slightly so she could look outside, but the porch was empty, and Kat’s car was not in the driveway.

  She remained frozen for what seemed like an eternity with her ears strained for more sounds, but she heard nothing except the slight whistle of the wind through the trees. Telling herself it had just been another animal looking for food, Amber switched the light on and filled the kettle to make a cup of tea. She was standing near the window waiting for it to boil when the silence was shattered by an explosion of breaking glass. Amber felt something fly past her head as splinters of razor sharp glass landed all over her. Someone was screaming hysterically, and it took Amber a moment to realize the screams were coming from her.

  When her initial shock had worn off she was still unable t
o move for several seconds as she tried to come to terms with the fact that someone had hurled a rock large enough to kill her through the kitchen window. It had come dangerously close to hitting her, so whoever it was out there meant business. They were clearly not going to be held back by doors or windows, and Amber realized she had to do something to save herself.

  Springing into action she picked up her cell phone and tried to call the police, but as usual it had reception. “You useless thing,” she yelled, throwing it on the floor in her panic. She had no choice but to bide her time and try to get to her car as soon as she could. She moved into the living room and was searching frantically for her car keys in her handbag when of the windows at the front of the house shattered. Again the rock came very close to hitting her.

  Through the jagged hole in the glass Amber saw a figure running into the woods on the far side of the cabin. She knew this might be the only chance she got to make a dash for the car on the other side of the house. It was a big risk but she had no choice. She was nothing more than a sitting duck if she stayed inside. Before she lost her nerve she armed herself with a kitchen knife and then opened the front door. She quickly made her way down the stairs and around the side of the cabin so she could keep her back to the wall while she scanned the trees for any movement. When she saw nothing she took a deep breath and raced towards her car.

  No one tried to stop her, and despite her shaking hands she managed to get the key into the ignition. To her horror the car would not start when she turned it. In her panic she had not even considered the possibility that the engine had been tampered with. Now she was trapped with only the fragile glass of the car windows between her and the psychopath who was stalking her. She had no idea what to do next, and she didn’t have much time to think before another rock hit the windscreen. Thankfully the Jeep’s glass was shatter-proof, but it did not provide much protection for her against a person who seemed intent on killing her.

  Wrenching open the car door, Amber ran back towards the house. She had just slammed and locked the front door behind her when the remaining window in the living room exploded. This time her tormentor stayed out in the open, and she could see a figure dressed all in black with a mask on advancing towards the house. The cabin offered no more protection than the car, and she knew she had to get out of there fast if she was going to survive. As she slipped out the back door she heard the sound of crunching glass as someone stepped through the broken front window. She had locked and closed the back door quietly behind her hoping her tormentor would think she had gone upstairs to hide. If she was lucky they would look for her up there, giving her time to get a good distance away before they realized she was gone.

  Once in the woods Amber ran as fast as she could until she was sure she was a long way from the house. Only then did she stop and catch her breath. She listened intently but could hear no footsteps behind her. It took forever for her heart rate to slow down, but once her breathing was back to normal and her heart had stopped pounding she was forced to face the reality that she was completely lost. She had tried to follow the paths she knew, but in the dark it was impossible. She had also dropped the knife when she’d stumbled on a rock, and now she had nothing to defend herself with. She knew it was pointless to try to find her way back to the road in the dark, so she had no choice but to bunker down and wait it out until daybreak.

  She found a spot beneath a tree and sat down with her back against the trunk. She was wearing a lightweight shirt and jeans, and before long her teeth began to chatter. She tried hard not to think about the vicious wolves that roamed these mountains at night, but every time a twig snapped or a leaf moved in the breeze she believed it was either her attacker or a wolf sneaking up on her. Although Amber was aware that finding someone in the woods in the middle of the night would be like finding a needle in a haystack, this knowledge did not help to calm her much. Time seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly while she waited for the sun to come up, and she had ample time to think about who had attacked her.

  The most obvious person was Jesse Davidson. She figured the police had probably been in contact with him about the clothes she had seen in his closet, and this was his way of getting revenge on her. There was also a possibility he had been planning to terrorize her all along and he’d only been nice to lure her in. It was hard to predict exactly what went on in a twisted mind like his. She prayed that Kat had not turned up while he was still there.

  Amber was rubbing her arms to keep warm when the leaves around her began to rustle more insistently and the creatures of the night grew silent. She was on her feet in a second and ready to run again. The only problem was she could not decide which way to go because whatever it was out there in the darkness seemed to be circling her. Then the bizarre heavy breathing sound she had encountered when she was lost in the woods the first time filled her ears. I must be losing my mind, she thought before she saw the glint of an animal’s pelt through the trees and she knew she wasn’t crazy at all. It was definitely a wolf out there.

  Amber had a strong feeling of de ja vu as she looked around for some kind of weapon to defend herself with. She didn’t have time to pick anything up before the animal moved into the clearing. Her eyes had adjusted completely to the darkness by now, and she could see it clearly. It did not look friendly at all. Its hackles were raised and its teeth were bared as it crept towards her. If she tried to run it would just come after her, and she didn’t stand a chance against it. Her best course of action, she decided, was to stand completely still and pray that it left her alone. She had used this tactic before when confronted with a dangerous snake, and it had slithered right across her foot and then gone on its way.

  She closed her eyes as the wolf got closer, and she had to stifle her screams when she felt it sniffing her. Then to her surprise it buried its wet nose in her hand and when she looked down it was wagging its tail. It wasn’t a wolf at all, it was a dog. On closer inspection she saw it was wearing a collar that had the name Shadow engraved into it. It was Jesse Davidson’s dog.

  Her first thought was that Jesse had sent the dog in search of her, and she expected him to emerge from the darkness at any second, but after a long moment had passed she relaxed a little and sank back down onto the ground. From what he’d told her, Shadow spent much time wandering through the woods alone, so it was not unusual for him to be out here tonight. The dog began licking her face, causing her to smile despite her badly strained nerves. He was still breathing strangely, like he had some kind of asthma condition, but it was obvious that the greatest threat she faced from him was being licked to death.

  “You sure gave me a scare there, boy.” She patted his head. “You really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that, you know.” The dog looked at her with its head on the side as if trying to understand her words. “And what were you thinking following me the other day? I got lost because of you.” After staying with her for a while Shadow got to his feet and began walking back into the woods.

  It occurred to Amber as she watched the dog disappear that he would be able to lead her to the cabin. She had no intention of going back inside, but if she could orient herself then she would be able to find the road and flag down a passing car.

  “Wait boy.” Shadow stopped till she caught up and, when she was almost level he continued walking. He seemed to understand that he was leading her. He obviously knew the woods well and moved very fast, but every time he got too far ahead of her he stopped and waited for her to catch up. Before too long she saw a clearing ahead and lights shining in the darkness. Shadow had let her straight to Jesse Davidson’s house.

  She shivered when she remembered his graphic story about a young woman being devoured by a serial killer, and she was about to turn around and search for the road when she noticed his silhouette at the window. If Jesse was inside his house that meant she was safe for the time being. She was deciding what she should do next when a blood curdling scream pierced the night. It was a woman’s scream and there was no doubt i
t came from his cabin. Her first thought was of Kat.

  Shadow began barking loudly, and the chickens in the hen house joined in with their squawks. For a moment it was chaos as Amber tried desperately to think of what to do to save her friend. Against all of her instincts to run away she moved towards the cabin, making sure to blend into the woods so she could not be seen. When she reached the kitchen window she peered inside. The room was empty and she was about to move to another window when Jesse came in.

  Amber gagged at the sight of him. The front of his white t- shirt was covered in blood and his hands and arms were coated with it. He went to the sink and washed his hands before rummaging through drawers and cupboards looking for something. He seemed to be in a great hurry, slamming things closed and muttering to himself. Eventually he pulled out a large knife, and he was about to leave the room when Shadow, who was right beside her, barked loudly. Jesse looked at the window and for one terrifying second Amber thought he had seen her before she ducked down. He seemed to be debating whether to come over and take a closer look, but he decided against it and turned away.

  He disappeared into the adjoining room just as another scream split the night. Amber had to cover her mouth to stop her own screams from escaping. Her only hope, she realized, was to go back to the cabin and retrieve her cell phone to call for help. She would have to walk until she had reception or a car came along. She could hardly burst into the cabin unarmed and attempt a rescue on her own or they would both be killed. She prayed it would not be too late by the time the police arrived.