Poppy Wilde and the Wild Thing

by L A Moore

  “I’m here Samuel, what do you want? Where are the girls?” Ari asked, dressed in the ghilli suit.

  “I want you to walk through town with me so everyone can see I’m no liar, that I didn’t shoot a man in cold blood, but an animal!” Samuel stated with disgust.

  “I’m no animal Samuel. I’m flesh and blood just as you are and the same as my Daddy. What about what I want?” Ari asked.

  “You take that walk with me and I promise to tell you where they are when we get to the center of town.” Samuel promised.

  “See, that’s not good enough for me Samuel. I want to know where they are now.” Ari called out as his team began to move in from their various locations.

  “Oh yeah, well what are you going to do about it?” Samuel asked, pulling a gun from his waist band of his pants.

  Just then the team descended onto him, surrounding him with guns aimed, ready to fire.

  “Drop your weapon!” Number 1 commanded.

  Samuel took a look around and realized that he had walked straight into a trap. Slowly, he lowered his gun and, just before he laid it on the ground, he jerked it up and fired at Ari, hitting him three times before the team could jump on him and restrain him, taking the gun from his hands.

  They marched him down the mountain and down to Ari’s barn, where they hung him from the rafters by his feet and gagged him, with his hand bound behind him.

  “Remove the gag and let’s see if we can make him squeal.” Number 1 commanded.

  Number 2 walked over and removed the gag roughly.

  “OK you son of a bitch, tell us where the girls are and we don’t hurt you.” Number 1 said.

  “Fuck you, you stupid motherfucker!” Samuel replied.

  Number 1 walked over and took the baseball bat he had in his hands and swung it, hitting Samuel in the ribs and was rewarded with a few clicks of broken ribs for his efforts and several expletives from Samuel. “I ask you again, where are the girls?” Number 1 asked calmly.

  “You can beat me all you want but I’ll never tell you where they are.” Samuel said, laughing.

  Number 2 stepped forward this time and, instead of hitting him with a baseball bat, he took up his knife and cut Samuels’s throat - just enough that he would bleed out if he didn’t get medical help fast, but not enough to immediately kill him.

  Samuel screamed out and begged him to stop but still did not say where the girls were.

  “I ask you one last time, where are the girls?” Number 1 asked calmly again as number 2 stepped back into place.

  “In hell I hope, the stupid bitches.” Samuel said. “Now get me down from here before I bleed to death.” His plan had failed and now all he could hope for was his life, or what was left of it.

  “You mean you don’t know?” Number 1 asked curiously. It had taken a lot to get Ari to stay in the house while they interrogated Samuel but, in the end, he had seen reason and stayed in the house in case the sheriff came. Number 1 wasn’t looking forward to telling him that Samuel didn’t know where they were and had lost them.

  “The bitches got away from me. Ran off into the woods,” Samuel said “Now get me down damnit!” he added.

  “You’re going to show us where you lost them!” Number 1 stated.

  “Like hell I am.” Samuel said.

  Number 3 stepped forward and pushed a red hot bucket of molten metal just under Samuel then proceeded to walk over and lower Samuel towards the bucket, head first.

  “Oh, God! No! I’ll show you, I’ll show you, but please let me down!” Samuel begged, wiggling to and fro, trying to keep his head out of the bucket as his blood dripped down and hissed into the molten mixture.

  Number 1 signaled Number 3, and Number 3 moved the bucket and let Samuel down.

  “Now, you listen to me you piece of shit, if you lie or lead us on a goose chase, I swear to you I will drag you back here and cut you to pieces. But not before I dip your head in that molten bucket of metal, do you understand?” Number 1 asked as he stood over Samuel, who was laying face first in the dirt.

  “Yes sir!” Samuel said.

  Number 2 jerked Samuel up, and Number 3 began untying his feet. They left his hand bound and walked him towards Ari’s place.

  “It appears the girls got away, but Sam here is going to show us where he last saw them, aren’t you, Sammy boy?” Number 1 said.

  “Yyyyeeesss sir.” Samuel stammered out, thoroughly afraid of the man.

  They all climbed into Ari’s truck and Poppy’s SUV which had been brought back to Ari’s’ after it had been searched and headed off, following Samuels directions.

  He led them to the first cabin and pointed off into the woods where he had last seen Avianna. “She ran that away last time I saw her.” Samuel explained.

  “Number 2 and Number 3 took off, looking for clues and sweeping the area. The plan was to split up in pairs, to search the area that Samuel led them to, and then they were to report back with any information they had every half hour.

  Next, Samuel led them to the second cabin and pointed down the road. “She ran that way, I think. I fell and lost track of her, but I’m fairly certain she ran that way.”

  “Well then, you lead the way.” Number 1 said and pushed him in front of him, keeping the gun firmly in check in his back.

  Samuel led the way in a no hurry pace with Number 1 pushing the gun into his back and demanding he move faster.

  “No point in rushing at this point; that chick is long gone by now, probably eaten by a bear as much as she was bleeding. That is, if she doesn’t just bleed out first.” Samuel taunted. Then began singing to the top of his lungs ‘Row, row, row your boat’ in a crackled, out of tune, but sinister manner.

  Number 1 and Ari both told him to ‘SHUT UP!’, but he just kept singing and walking like he was out for a nice Sunday stroll about town.

  Samuel knew he was torturing Ari and Number 1, and that fact made his heart swell with glee after all they had done to him, and he hoped Poppy heard his song and ran further away from them.

  They walked deep into the woods, and once they came to the stream, Samuel stopped abruptly, turned around, jerked the gun from Number 1, and said ‘Now, this is where I lost her, but I’m afraid you have reached the end of your search. Now I don’t give a rat’s ass which of you turns, but one of you is going to turn into one of those monster’s and we’re going to have a little walk about town; or I’m going to shoot each of you until one of you finally gives in.’ and, to prove his point, he turned to Number 1 and shot him in the upper arm.

  Ari and Number 1 froze the moment Samuel got the gun. They weren’t sure what he was going to do with it and, from the looks of it, Number 1 was just as surprised as Ari was by the older man’s strength and tactics. They stood, frozen in place, while Samuel listed his demands and, before either of them could say or do anything, he had shot Number 1 in the arm. Panic and fear laced their bodies.

  Number 1 took the bullet in the arm and pain soon followed, gripping him in a vice which he could get no relief. He held his arm and tried not to scream, but couldn’t help saying through gritted teeth ‘You son of a bitch, I’m going to make sure you’re dealt with personally when this is over!’

  “No talking!” Samuel commanded. “Change or I shoot again!” he added.

  Ari held his hands up and, figuring Number 1 was their best chance out of this mess, said “I’ll change, please don’t shoot again!” Then he began to remove his clothes.

  “What are you doing?” Samuel asked, aiming the gun at Ari.

  Ari froze, his shirt midway up his body, and calmly he explained “In order for me to change, I have to be naked first.”

  “Well turn around for fuck’s sake and hurry up, I don’t want to see all that!” Samuel said, disgusted and surprised.

  Ari turned around and began undressing as quickly as he could.

  Number 1 stood trying his best to get a grip on the pain that had overtaken his whole arm. He knew it was now up to him to get them out
of this predicament, and he knew when Ari went to change that it would be his only chance as a distraction. If they were lucky, Ari would think to change into a bear instead of his true form or some other ferocious, hard to kill animal.

  Ari glanced sideways at Number 1 as he pulled his shirt over his head and saw him give a slight shake of his head, signaling him not to turn into his true form. Ari could hardly think as he kept undressing; if he couldn’t turn into his true form, he was going to have to think of another animal instead. The most important thing was getting that gun away from Samuel and, since it was only a small pistol, any large animal would work. It took until he was down to his socks to finally figure out which animal he was going to use. He would have to be quick, and every second would count, but he knew what he was going to do. He just hoped Number 1 would follow along once he saw what he was about. With his socks off he turned and, as he did, transformed into a small chipmunk.

  “What the hell?” Samuel said, shocked.

  Ari ran between his legs and Samuel bent over to follow him with his eyes. Just as he was fully bent over, Ari changed into a big bull moose and used his large antlers to send him tumbling head over feet, hitting his head against a rock and knocking him out.

  Number 1 quickly moved and grabbed the gun before Samuel could regain consciousness. “I got to say, when you turned into a chipmunk, I thought I was going to kill you, but I got to admit that was an ingenious plan! Good job, now, let’s handcuff him to a tree so we can look for Poppy before something worse happens to her.” He said as he took hold of the scruff of Samuels’s shirt and began pulling at him with his one good arm towards the nearest pine tree he could get to.

  “Thanks, I’m just glad you acted when you did, before he woke up. I had no clue he would hit his head, so I was just praying you would jump in and get the gun before it was too late.” Ari admitted as he took his human form and took up Samuels arm and helped pull him up to the tree and wrap his arms about it.

  Number 1 handed Ari a set of handcuffs and Ari used them to secure Samuel to the tree.

  “That should do it! Now, let’s find Poppy.” Ari said standing up and looking for any clues of where she might have gone; gathering up his clothes, pulling them on as quickly as he could as he stumbled around the site, looking for any clue of her.

  Number 2 and Number 3 picked up on Avianna’s trail and began following it. They trailed her to a small alcove formed by a fallen tree and some shrubs, but a quick examination yielded no signs of her. Next, they located the peg marks left by the branch she had pulled from the tree and they began following it, hoping they could find her soon, as every few steps they could see drips of blood on the floor of the forest. They moved quickly, but quietly and soon trailed her to the road where, upon closer inspection, they found her trail led back up into the woods, heading down the mountain high above the road.

  “From here, she would have seen us coming; why didn’t she just come down the embankment and flag us down?” Number 2 asked, more to himself than the Number 3, but Number 3 answered anyways.

  “With this trail of blood, she’s probably passed out somewhere. We need to find her, and fast.” He answered.

  “She couldn’t have gone much further; let’s hurry.” Number 2 said and began following the trail back up the embankment and down the mountain.

  Chapter 71

  Avianna had seen when Samuel had gone by, but she had just frozen with fear. He must be out looking for her she thought. She decided then to stay away from the road and just continue down the mountainside towards town. She knew she was bleeding badly, and had tried using a vine to tie off her leg, but it hadn’t been strong enough. When she came across some moss, she stopped and pulled down her pants, just enough to pack the moss onto the bandage, and then pulled her pants back up and kept moving, hoping the moss would help staunch some of the blood flow. Since the bandage had just been taped on, she couldn’t adjust it to make it tighter; her only hope at this point was to be found or to make it to town. She hobbled along, her head getting woozy and her vision blurring as she went, until she finally could walk no more and had sat down with a great humph in the middle of the forest and had immediately passed out.

  Chapter 72

  Number 2 and Number 3 came across her just as the sun was low in the sky. They put a tourniquet on her leg and added fresh bandaging. Then, using a couple of small trees and several branches, erected a pull- behind stretcher to carry her on. It was an a frame device with branches between the two larger trees tied together by Para cord rope and worked perfectly in situations like this; plus, it was quick to make up and enabled them to get Avianna out of the woods quickly. They took turns pulling her along back up the mountain as she had not gotten that far from the cabin; as compared to dragging her miles down the mountain. It was slow going at times and from time to time, it had taken both of them to lift her over boulders and fallen trees. By the time the sun had set they finally made it back to the cabin and radioed Number 1 to report they had Avianna and were taking her back to Ari’s to give her medical treatment.

  “We have Avianna; she is safe with us now. She’s lost a lot of blood. We found her passed out in the woods. We’re taking her back to town to the hospital for treatment.” Number 3 said as Number 2 carefully laid Avianna into the back seat of Poppy’s Jeep.

  “Good job Number 2 and Number 3. Remember to stick to the story, you’re hunters, you were out hunting and found her, badly injured and passed out and brought her to the hospital. Once you give your statement, get the hell out of there and head back here to retrieve Samuel and take him back to Ari’s. Then wait for my call to get Ari on the outskirts of town once we have Poppy. It is imperative that you both keep yourselves and Samuel hidden until I return.” Number 1 ordered.

  “Yes sir!” Number 3 replied and climbed into the Jeep with Number 2 and Avianna.

  Number 1 and Ari were not having as easy of a time of it as Number 2 and Number 3 had. Poppy’s trail was difficult, at best, to follow. It zig zagged back and forth and, at one point, headed to the road but quickly veered off back into the woods, following the stream downhill towards town. A few times they had caught sight of blood, so they knew she was bleeding but not as bad as Avianna was, apparently, and that gave them hope. Night caught up with them all too quickly and they were forced to use flashlights and glow sticks as well as night vision goggles. Number 1 used the night vision goggles while Ari used the flashlight and glow sticks to look for her trail. It was slow going as Ari couldn’t point the flashlight in the way of the night vision goggles, so he had to trail in front of Number 1 and together they kept each other on the trail.

  Chapter 73

  Poppy hobbled along, determined not to let the pain in her leg get the best of her, but once nightfall hit, it was all she could do to see where she was going. It was pitch black, and she could barely see her hand in front of her face, much less work out where the trees were, and boulders, and other potential dangers like snakes and bears. She kept near the stream, and felt her way until she found a tree with low laying branches and carefully climbed beneath its heavy skirt. She would have to wait until day break and pray Samuel didn’t come looking for her in the meantime. She was so exhausted and her leg had begun to blood worse over the last hour. What was a trickle, was now a steady stream of blood going down her leg. There wasn’t much she could do out in the woods, so she gave in to the pain and the exhaustion and fell into a deep but fitful sleep.

  Chapter 74

  Number 1 and Ari kept at it deep into the night until they ran out of trail. They were beside the stream and, so far, she had kept a steady straight trail beside the stream but here it just ended.

  “She’s got to be close by.” Ari said.

  “Or she’s crossed the stream again.” Number 1 offered up.

  “No, she’s close, I can feel it.” Ari said, closely examining the area around him for clues.

  Poppy was roused from her sleep by the sounds of voices, but her head was so fuz
zy and her vision so blurred despite the night that she couldn’t see, nor discern who was talking. She feared it was Samuel again and so she remained as quiet as she could and as still as she could. She fought sleep with all her being, praying she wouldn’t be found, but sleep prevailed and she passed out once more.

  “LOOK! There’s a trail of blood leading under this tree.” Ari said as he got down on all fours and headed under the tree before Number 1 could respond. “She’s here, I found her!” he called out with relief and excitement. “My love, I have you now. You are safe, don’t worry, we’re going to get you help.” Ari said as he cradled her in his arms.

  Number 1 crawled beneath the tree and, to his relief, found Ari holding a barely alive Poppy. Working quickly, he placed a tourniquet onto her leg and added bandaging. Then he set about making a make shift stretcher from the limbs and branches of the big tree she hid beneath and para cord as Ari carefully pulled her from beneath the tree.

  Ari placed her on the pull behind stretcher and together, he and Number 1 pulled her through the forest, lifting her where the stretcher could not go and taking turns when needed. Unlike Avianna, Poppy had managed to get about half way down the mountain so they had a much longer way to go to carry her out of the woods. It took them until the sun was rising once more before they finally managed to get her back to Ari’s truck.

  Poppy felt herself being lifted and could hear soothing words but couldn’t make them out. Somehow, she knew she was safe and was not in the arms of her capturer. She wasn’t sure who her rescuer was, but she was grateful to them all the same. She felt like she was floating as she let sleep overcome her; she didn’t feel pain anymore, just blissful peace.