*****
When Shannon woke up, she was freezing. Her teeth were chattering. It was still dark. She wished she had her phone, at least she could have checked the time. She couldn't remember the last time she had her phone. As the sun came up, Shannon got a better perspective of the situation she was in. She was in deep shit.
The ledge she was on was just that, a ledge. It was about twenty feet in length and five feet at its widest point. It dropped off at both ends. There was nothing she could do but wait for someone to come. She looked below; any other time she might have considered the view beautiful. Now it was a treacherous drop to uncertain injury and possible death.
As she looked below, she saw the wolf. He was on the other side of the river, meticulously searching for her scent. He must have gone down river, and when he didn't find her, he doubled back. Suddenly, the wolf looked up and saw her. She quickly pulled back to avoid being seen, but it was too late.
The wolf considered swimming across the river, but it was too treacherous due to the spring thaw, he would have to go back to where he crossed during the night.
Shannon watched him, hoping he would jump into the river and drown. No such luck. The wolf ran upriver, looking for another place to cross, only to return a while later and continued the way he had come.
Shannon had no idea how much time she had before the wolf would be staring down at her from above. She had to get out of there. She was thirsty and the sun was climbing higher in the sky; it was hot for a spring day. She tried to climb but it was no use. Between her sprained ankle and the large wood sliver in her thigh, her legs wouldn't hold her.
“This is ridiculous. I'm a soldier, I'm a rescuer, I should be able to get myself out of this.” She examined the rocks above her carefully, trying to figure a way to climb to safety. She didn't have a lot of time. Before she could start, she heard the wolf snarl above her.
“Wow, I didn't expect you back so soon. Tell me, do you have any idea how to get me out of here?”
The wolf snarled again and was joined by a second. It didn't take long for Shannon to realize that there was a pack of real wolves above her.
“Well, if I can't climb up, I don't imagine you guys can come down.”
She tried to look up but couldn't see them.
“Maybe you can introduce yourselves to Weston when he gets here?”
That made her chuckle to herself. What she would give to see him get his ass chewed up by a pack of wolves. She took a deep breath and leaned against the cliff, blowing the air out with a sigh of frustration. She looked up, not a cloud in the sky.
She heard a sound in the distance. Whoop – whoop - whoop.
“That's a helicopter,” she whispered, as if she might alert the wolves if she spoke in a normal voice. She shielded her eyes trying to see who was coming; she didn't care who it was, as long as they found her.
“Oh no, they'll never see me.”
Shannon knew how hard it was to see someone from the air. She looked around for something she could use to signal them. Nothing but rocks. Even if she had a way to start a fire, she had nothing to burn. She felt all her pockets; nothing. Suddenly, she remembered her dog tags, she always wore them. She pulled them out and tried to polish them against her jeans. It wasn't much but she had to try. She still couldn't see the chopper, but she started to reflect the sun anyway. She could miss her one chance if she waited until they appeared.
Chapter 26
Fletch and Kenney flew towards the town of Warren. They knew they were in trouble when Gary tried to reach them on the radio, warning if they didn't return to base immediately, they would both be out of a job. Kenney turned the radio down so they couldn’t hear it. If he had to, he could say it wasn’t working. He knew it was against regulation to fly without the radio, but what the hell, they were already fired.
“How much further to Warren?” Fletch yelled: they didn’t have any headphones to block out the noise. The old headphones had died long ago from sitting in the sun and lack of use.
“We should be coming up on it anytime now.”
Neither Fletch or Kenney were looking for anyone on the ground. They just assumed they would find Shannon in the ghost town of Warren.
Fletch happened to glance at the forest below and saw something flash. On closer inspection, he saw a pack of wolves. They had already passed the point where they could have seen Shannon.
“Kenney, swing around, I want to check on something.”
Fletch had let Kenney pilot the chopper so he could watch for things below.
“Are you sure? We’re almost there.”
“Swing around, please.”
“What did you see?”
“I’m not sure. Something shiny and then I saw a pack of wolves. They could be attacking Shannon.”
“Okay – okay.”
Kenney swung around in a large circle. This time they both looked to the ground.
“There!” Fletch shouted.
He could see the wolves. They were so intent on looking at something, they paid little attention to the helicopter hovering above them. Suddenly, they saw her. Shannon was frantically waving her arms, trying to get their attention; she also got the attention of the wolves.
“There she is!” Kenney shouted. “I’ll get lower and you can drop the basket.”
Fletch looked at him like he was nuts.
“We don’t have a basket!” he shouted back.
Grumpy wasn’t equipped with any rescue gear; they didn’t even have a rope.
“Find a place to land, I have to get down there.”
Kenney had spotted a road about a mile from their current location when he swung around. It was the best he could do. They would have to go the rest of the way on foot. Fletch wasn’t happy about it. He quickly stripped out of his clothes and put them in the backpack he always carried.
“What are you doing?” Kenney yelled over the noise.
“I can get to her faster on four legs then I can on two.”
Kenney agreed by giving him a thumbs up. He looked for the widest place to land on the old road to Warren. He didn’t think there would be any traffic on the road until the police and the rest of the crew caught up with them. Once on the ground, Fletch jumped out.
“You go ahead,” Kenney yelled, “I’ll catch up.” He had to shut down the chopper before he could leave it unattended.
Fletch took off in the direction of Shannon. He could run up to thirty miles per hour on flat ground but going through the underbrush in the woods was slowing him down; he did the best he could. One thing for sure, Kenney would have no problem following the trail he left behind.
He finally got close enough to hear the wolves fighting amongst themselves. They were fighting each other to gain the best position to attack the helpless girl when she climbed up; if she climbed up.
The wolves were having second thoughts when a black bear came storming through the trees, but they weren’t going to give up easily. The leader of the pack faced the bear with his pack behind him. Fletch didn’t even slow down, he plowed right down the middle of the pack, sending them flying in every direction. There was nothing he could do to help Shannon until the wolves were eliminated.
One wolf tried to jump for the bears throat, but the bear hit him with such force, the wolf sailed over the cliff and landed in the raging river below. Another was thrown into the trees. The rest of the wolves, after several attempts to take down the bear, limped off into the woods. Fletch quickly shifted and called to Shannon.
“Shannon, are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“Fletch, help me. I can’t climb up. I’ve injured my leg.” Shannon was sobbing. “Please, get me out of here before Weston comes back.”
“Weston? Is he here?”
“Yes. He thought I fell into the river and went looking for me, but he saw me and was on his way back.”
Just then, a snarl came from the woods. Weston’s wolf slowly started to approach Fletch. Unfortunately, there was nothing betwee
n Fletch and the wolf, the edge of the cliff was at his back. He couldn’t shift fast enough to avoid the wolf’s attack. He considered jumping to the ledge to join Shannon. Before he could move, a behemoth Kodiak bear came barreling through the woods and slammed into the wolf as he was about to pounce on Fletch. They fought, but the wolf was tired and had had enough. He managed to get away.
Kenney shifted and asked Fletch if he was okay.
“Yeah, I'm okay. Holy shit, your big.” Fletch was referring to his bear. “We have to help Shannon.”
“You better get dressed.” Kenney looked over the edge. “Shannon, hang on, we’re working on getting you out of there.”
“Hurry, please.”
Off in the distance they could hear another helicopter.
“Here comes the Calvary,” Kenney announced, he heard the helicopter before the others. “Fletch, I can’t let anyone see me like this, I have to go back and get my clothes.”
“Kenney, wait. Shift to your bear, they’ll know who you are, right?”
“Yeah, but what if there are other people with them or it’s someone else, they might try to shoot me.”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“Just give me your shirt, I’ll wrap it around me. After we rescue Shannon, I can go back and get my clothes.”
“Wait.” Fletch pulled a pair of sweatpants out of his pack. “Here, put these on.”
The helicopter finally arrived and hovered above them. Gary spoke over the loudspeaker.
“SHANNON, IF I DROP YOU A HARNESS, CAN YOU GET INTO IT BY YOURSELF?
Shannon nodded her head vigorously and waved her arms for them to drop the harness.
FLETCHER, WHEN I DROP THE HARNESS, GRAB THE CABLE AND KEEP IT STEADY FOR SHANNON.”
Fletcher gave them a thumbs up. When he grabbed the harness, he wanted to ride it down to Shannon, but Gary was a step ahead of him.
“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. SHE CAN DO JUST FINE BY HERSELF.”
By the sound of his voice, Fletch figured he was in enough trouble already and better do what he was told.
Shannon was able to put the harness around her. If Fletch hadn’t been holding the cable steady above her, it might have been impossible. When she was ready, she gave the signal to pull her up.
Fletch had to let go. He stood there and watched as Shannon slowly rose up and continued up to the chopper. Stan was there to pull her in. Once she was safe inside, Gary spoke again over the loudspeaker.
“YOU TWO GET YOUR ASSES BACK TO BASE. NOW.” With that said, Gary turned the helicopter towards home and left them standing there.
Shannon was shocked.
“You can’t just leave them there.”
“Why not?”
“They are part of our crew.”
“Not at the moment.” That was all Gary would say.
Shannon looked at Stan. He shook his head as he gave her a cocktail shot of antibiotic, pain killer, and a mild sedative. He could tell by the looks of her leg; she was going to be in a big hurt in short order.
They headed for the hospital.
*****
“Well, I guess that’s that.” Fletch remarked.
“I guess so.” Kenney was about to take the sweats off. “Aren’t you going to shift?”
“No, I think I’ll just walk back like this.”
“Come on, man. You don’t really think he’ll fire us, do you? I mean, we did save Shannon from the wolves. We would have gotten her out of there somehow if they hadn’t showed up.”
“I don’t know. You might still have a job, but I haven’t been here long enough for it to count. You know what? Why don’t you go ahead, take the chopper and go back to base; I think my bear and I need to spend some time out here in the wilderness.”
“No way! I’m not leaving you out here.”
“I’ll be fine. When I’m ready to face the consequences, I’ll find my way back. Don’t try to contact me, I’m turning off my phone to save the battery.”
Kenney hadn’t known Fletch for very long, but he knew it was useless arguing with him, he could tell he had made up his mind.
“Fine. At least tell me where you’ll be if I need to reach you.”
“I don’t know where I’ll be. Look, I’m out of a job. Right now, I need to spend some time figuring out what I’m going to do. Don’t bother looking for me, I’m going to travel as far away from civilization as I can get. When you see Shannon, tell her I’m sorry and I'm glad she’s okay.”
Kenney knew it was no use, he just nodded his head. They finally reached the helicopter, Kenney got dressed and Fletch kept on walking.
“Fletch, wait a minute.” He handed him back the sweats, he knew he was going to need them.
“Take care of Grumpy and Gramps for me, I’ll be back for them.”
“I will.” Kenney embraced him in a bear hug. “Take care, man. You know where to find us.”
With that said, he let him go.
Chapter 27
Kenney flew back to base. When he arrived, Captain Miller was waiting for him. The other helicopter hadn’t returned yet.
“Hey, Captain.” Kenney called as he climbed out of the chopper. “Have you heard from Gary?”
“Yup. Shannon is going to be fine. She’s in surgery right now to remove a piece of wood from her leg. I didn't quite understand what Gary was saying, he just said she was going to be okay.”
“Good. The bastard got away.”
“What!”
“Yeah, I should have chased after him, but we wanted to help Shannon.”
“So, you’re saying Shannon is still in danger.” Kenney nodded. “Where is Fletch?”
“Gone. He said that since he no longer had a job, there was no point in coming back.”
“Why wouldn’t he have a job?”
“Gary fired us. Technically, I don’t have a job either.”
“You know Gary would never fire you. He might be pissed off and ground you for a few days, but you’d still have a job.”
“That’s what Fletch said, but he didn’t think it held true, in regard to his situation.”
“So, you left him there to go after that psychopath on his own.”
“No, he said he needed some time to be with his bear….”
Kenney looked at Frank.
“That son-of-a-bitch, that’s exactly what he did, isn’t it?”
Frank nodded his head.
*****
Gary, Stan and Shannon finally returned from the hospital. Stan carried Shannon into the break room.
“You know, if you keep doing this, we’re going to have to invest in a wheelchair,” Stan laughed.
“I don’t plan on making it a habit. It’s not a bad idea though, I can’t picture myself carrying you if you’re off your feet. Thanks Stan. Do you know if Fletch and Kenney are back yet?”
“If you’re okay here for a few minutes, I’ll go check. I know the other chopper is back.”
“Go ahead, I’ll be fine. Hand me a bottle of water before you go.”
Stan did what she asked and then went to find Fletch and Kenney. When he walked into the hangar, he saw Kenney talking to the boss. As he headed toward them, a vehicle honked outside.
“Stan, can you check on that,” Gary shouted.
“I got it.” Stan went out to check. It was a medical supply company dropping off a wheelchair, it made Stan laugh. “Oh, she's going to love this.”
He headed back inside and was about to go into the break room.
“Hold up, Stan,” Gary called. “Don't take that in there, yet.”
Stan veered off and went toward them.
“Hey, Kenney, where's Fletch?”
Kenney kept his eyes to the floor and didn't answer.
“Boss, where's Fletch?”
“He's gone.”
“Huh, I could have sworn you said ‘gone'.”
“I did. He used the excuse he was fired to leave. Frank and I think he's gone after the wolf.”
“Fuck,
I forgot all about him. I just assumed they got him.”
Kenney shook his head and still stayed silent.
“What are you going to tell Shannon? She asked about both of them just now.”
“I don't know,” Gary said in a frustrated voice.
“You had better tell her the truth.” Frank told them. “You can't let her think she's safe, because she's not. The wolf is out there and probably crazier than ever.”
“What about Fletch?”
Kenney finally looked up and confronted his boss.
“What about him?” Gary replied.
“You're just going to let him go after the wolf alone?”
“He chose to go after the wolf. We're not even sure that is where he's gone.”
“But you think he did, you just said so.”
“Yes, I did, and I still do.”
“I want to go with him, he needs help.” Kenney was beside himself.
“Absolutely not.”
It was Captain Miller that replied.
“You have a job to do, you are needed here. Shannon will be laid up and with Fletcher gone, you can't leave the team shorthanded.”
“I've been fired, remember?”
“Not officially, you still have a job, but don't test me. I had better break the bad news to Shannon.”
Gary blew out a breath and walked to the break room. He dreaded telling Shannon that Fletcher was gone, even more than telling her that the wolf was still out there and could return.
Stan quickly jumped into the new wheelchair, whipped around the group and wheeled the chair into the break room.
“Shannon, look what I’ve got,” Shannon watched as Stan spun around the table, “just for you.”
He stopped directly in front of her and hopped out of the chair.
“Your chariot awaits.”
He held the chair while Shannon carefully moved from one chair to the other.
“Where did this come from?”
“Just delivered.”
“The hospital made the arrangements,” Gary informed her as he walked into the room.
“Wow, at least, now I can move around. Thank you.”
Haunted by the Wolf- Shannon Page 14