Charlie rubbed his forehead under his cowboy
hat.
"What good would it do?" Roman leaned his
chin on his hand on the top of the seat. "Butch shot at the thing
and it was useless."
"Shots fire. Hmm." The SUV slid on the trail
but they kept making progress. "I take it you didn't file a report
with the local sheriff."
"Shut up." Roman sat back in the seat.
Charlie kept his gaze on Butch as the horse
bounded over the snowy landscape effortlessly, getting a lead on
them.
They were silent for a moment, then Phil
said, "Well, the fresh snow did us a favor. If anything came or
went, there will be tracks."
"Or it will cover the ones that were made,"
Charlie said.
Nothing more was communicated verbally in the
SUV, but Charlie could hear Phil saying in his head, '
you two
better not turn wolf on me.
'
Charlie looked back at Roman. Roman had
obviously heard Phil's thoughts too, and gave Phil the finger
behind his back, making a face of annoyance at Charlie.
"It's gonna be a long week." Charlie adjusted
his hat and stared at Butch as he led the way.
~
Butch let the buckskin walk through the deep
snow, since it was winded from the effort and blowing out two
blasts of steam through its nostrils. Though it had been two years
since he lived and worked on this ranch, he knew it so well, every
tree, every boulder.
Behind him the SUV ground its heavily treaded
tires to maneuver the powdery snow, following the horse trail he
was making.
Ahead, the tree line was a picture postcard;
evergreen branches loaded with snow, sagging from the weight, with
icicles forming at the tips. The sun was so bright on the white
landscape Butch lowered the brim of his hat to be able to see in
the glare.
The Wasatch Mountains loomed in the
background, white-capped and glorious. It was as if this were a
landscape painting, and not the stalking grounds for ritual
killers.
Seeing he had a large lead on Phil's truck,
Butch stopped the horse and had a look around. Just to the left was
where the property fence line was cut, several times two years ago,
and dead deer left near it. Movement from behind him caught his
attention, then Harley poked his snout up and yipped, his tail
standing high, as if this adventure was fun and games. The dog
passed Butch and headed right for the area Butch was aiming for.
Seeing the dog knew the way, Butch gently urged the big horse to
continue, the SUV whining as it plowed through the deep snow.
The horse rounded a bend in the trail,
between tall evergreen trees and it halted, shifting uneasily.
Frantic barking came next.
"Oh no." Butch tried to get the horse to keep
going, but it refused, rearing up. Harley was going out of his
mind, yapping and snarling.
"Fuck!" Butch looked back at the SUV, trying
to wave to Phil, to get him to hurry up, but it was too far, and
the terrain was very rough.
Butch hopped off the horse, removed the
shotgun he had attached to the saddle and followed the sound of
Harley's barking.
The first thing Butch saw as he approached
was blood. The white snow had been desecrated with a vile red color
that made him instantly sick to his stomach. Step by step, Butch
moved closer. It was then he saw the white tailed doe, lying on its
side, eviscerated.
Harley yelped and took off running back to
the ranch and Butch cocked the shotgun and held it up to his eye
level. "Who's there?" he shouted, beginning to shake from fear.
A low snarl made his skin crawl and he tried
to see where the animal was…if it was an animal.
He spun around in a circle, the gun pressed
against his shoulder, his finger on the trigger. Then something hit
his back, hard, and he fell on his face in the snow, the gun flying
out of his hand.
~
Roman sat up in the back seat. The buckskin
horse galloped in the opposite direction they were headed, back to
the barn, riderless. "What the fuck?"
Charlie panicked. "Butch was on that
horse!"
"I know!" Roman opened the SUV door as
Charlie climbed out as well.
Phil yelled, "Are we abandoning the
truck?"
Roman and Charlie navigated the deep snow,
sinking into the horse's tracks. "Butch!" Roman called, his hands
around his mouth.
"Butch!" Charlie echoed, "Where are you?"
The panic was making Roman's teeth ache and
then his gut.
"Butch!" Charlie battled through the deep
snow. "Goddamn it! Butch Crowell! You answer me!"
Roman gasped for air, his skin crawling, his
body beginning to tighten. "No…God no…" Roman sank to his knees in
the snow.
"Butch! Answer me!" Charlie kept moving
towards the bend in the trail, trudging in the knee high snow.
Roman writhed on the ground, screaming in
pain as he morphed into something else.
"Roman?" Phil called. "Oh shit, no!"
Roman shook off his clothing and the
holstered gun, and stood on all fours. He spotted Phil, between him
and the truck, one hand on his duty weapon, and one held out in
defense.
Roman leapt over the snow after Charlie, his
senses going haywire; blood, wolf, death…
"Butch!" Charlie screamed at the top of his
lungs, calling out for him.
Roman watched Charlie grab his stomach and
hit the ground. The emotions were too much for him as well, and
Charlie roared from the pain.
Roman stood over him as he changed, sniffing
the air for Butch but the scent of blood was overwhelming. As
Charlie shook out his fur, licking his nose, Roman trotted over to
a dead deer. He stood tall, ears perked high and listened.
Charlie circled the dead deer and then also
stood alert.
Phil, panting, gun in hand, rounded the bend.
"Oh fuck no."
Roman kept his nose to the ground and tried
to follow Butch's scent.
"Roman! Where's Butch?" Phil asked, taking
out his phone.
Roman began following a scent and Charlie was
right beside him.
"Roman!" Phil called after him, "I'll get
backup!"
Roman knew where he was heading before he got
there. The ring. The ring in the trees where nothing grew.
Charlie brushed against Roman as they trotted
together, tongues wagging from their exertion.
Roman stopped short before he hit the barren
ground. Not a flake of snow appeared on it, as if it was a heated
surface.
"I don't like it here, Roman."
Charlie
backed up from the brown earth.
"I can't smell Butch. I can't. How can
that be?"
Roman sniffed his way around the circumference.
Charlie doubled back and kept his nose to the
ground.
Roman made a complete circle around the dirt
ring and looked up at the trees. Dead things were hanging from it,
decaying chickens, animal parts. He shivered and backed up,
snorting at the revolting scent. Then he recalled the dream where
Charlie was caught in a leg trap here. But it was only a dream.
Right?
"Watch out for leg traps, Charlie!"
"I will."
Both he and Charlie spun around to see
Phil.
Phil halted in his tracks and looked at the
ring of death. He had Butch's shotgun hanging over his shoulder. "I
found the gun. That's it." Then Phil's expression changed. "Oh
fuck. I remember this." Phil crouched down and touched the dirt.
"Why is there no snow on it?"
Roman trotted over to him and stood beside
him. Although Phil was uneasy, he didn't react in fear.
Phil pointed his handgun around the trees,
the circle, but Roman knew he'd have picked up something with his
sense of smell long before Phil would see it.
"Where the hell is Butch?" Phil asked,
looking back over his shoulder. "Wasn't he right in front of us?
And I have his shotgun." He held it out, as if confused over the
riddle.
Charlie sat on his haunches and started
shaking out his fur.
Roman knew he was trying to change back into
a man. He wasn't sure he was ready to do that yet. He took off
running, beyond the dead doe, and leapt over the barbed wire fence.
It had been cut, just like previous times when a carcass was
found.
"Roman!" Phil shouted out behind him. "Don't
get lost on me!"
Roman kept moving, over the snow, seeing
blood spatters on the surface. His nose attuned to the scent of
blood, he remembered a tiny shack, one where Charlie had been
trapped, and made his way towards it.
The closer he came, the worse the stench of
decay and death became. With his sharp senses it revolted Roman so
much, he stopped and tried to bear it, his ears moving around like
antennas, tracking sounds. Behind him he could hear Charlie's human
voice as well as Phil's.
Roman took a step closer to the shack. No
sound came from it. He forced himself to withstand the stench and
stuck his nose under the weather-worn door. It was a dilapidated
shed. No windows, one door.
He snorted at the nasty reek and wiped his
nose with his front leg. He did not smell Butch, dead or alive. He
used his paw to push at the door but it didn't do more than move a
quarter of an inch.
Behind him, the sounds of out of breath
humans drew closer. Roman looked over his shoulder.
Phil pointed his handgun and said to Roman,
"Back the hell up, Burk."
Charlie was dressed, his arms full of Roman's
clothing, holding Butch's shotgun. "Change back to a man, will ya?"
he said to Roman.
Roman backed up, his attention on the hut.
Phil reached with his left hand, pointing the gun with his right
and swung the door open. The shed was vacant but it was loaded with
bones, jars with animal hearts floating in cloudy liquid, inverted
pentagram and feathers.
"Augh." Phil covered his mouth and backed up.
"Fuck! Where the hell is Butch? Don't tell me we have another
corpse under the floorboards."
Charlie cupped his mouth and yelled Butch's
name. Birds took wing at the fright but not a sound returned.
Roman felt so much sorrow and confusion, he
began whining, biting the air and snarling at nothing.
"Come 'ere." Charlie crouched down, reaching
out.
Phil holstered his handgun and said, "You're
no good to us like that, Roman." He began yanking the floor planks
up.
Roman, head down, stood beside Charlie and
closed his eyes.
Charlie held him, rubbing his sides and neck.
"Come back to me, baby. Come back to me and we'll figure this
out."
Roman licked his nose and could taste the
decay of the shack and its contents. He dropped to the snowy ground
and howled as he changed back into a man.
~
Helping Roman get dressed, seeing him shiver
and appear sick, Charlie waited patiently as Phil had returned to
the SUV. There was nothing, this time, under the boards in the
shack.
By the time Roman was properly dressed and
they walked back to the deer carcass, they met with not only JP,
Goat, and Vernon, but Sheriff Kenmore and another two agents from
the ATF office. Three four-wheel drive vehicles and three horses
were on the snowy trail.
JP had one look at the deer and said, "Damn
it!"
"All right," Phil held up his hands as he
spoke. "We need to fan out and search for Butch." He pointed to a
spot and said, "I found his shotgun here."
"I have help coming from the air," one of the
agents said, his radio microphone in his hand.
Charlie felt the cold wind and tried to keep
a lid on his emotions. He handed the shotgun to JP, knowing if he
turned he'd lose it somewhere in the snow.
"He was last seen here." Phil pointed to the
spot where Butch had been.
"No direction of travel?" Sheriff Kenmore
asked.
"Other than not going to the barn," Phil
pointed to the SUVs and the ranch, "No."
"You want K9?" Sheriff Kenmore asked.
"Dogs won't help." Roman glanced at the
men.
Phil nodded. "Believe me, they won't."
Charlie felt his cheeks blush knowing he and
Roman had already tried the 'sniffing' route.
JP and Goat mounted their horses. "We'll head
west," JP said, urging his horse to move.
"You got your phones?" Vernon called after
them.
Goat said, "Yeah, but reception up here
sucks." He and JP rode the horses towards the hills.
"We need more men." Sheriff Kenmore got on
his police radio and walked off to speak on it.
A loud motor made Charlie look skyward. A
chopper appeared from over the tree line; black and ominous. Phil
waved at it and it dropped as low to the tree tops as it dared and
began the search.
The two agents pointed to the direction of
the hut. "We'll bag the evidence in that thing."
"I want to take the deer as well." Phil
pointed to it.
Vernon said, "I got it. Last few we took to
Doc McMurray and she autopsied them and wrote up a report."
"Right." Phil nodded and approached Charlie
and Roman. "Well, since your noses failed, are you walking with
me?"
"Yup." Charlie looked up at the helicopter.
"If Butch is up here, that will find him."
Roman muttered, 'He's not up here."
Both Phil and Charlie stopped their progress
to look back at him.
"Where is he?" Charlie felt a pang of pain
hit him and tried to calm down.
"The Alpha has him, not the cult." Roman
glanced around the entire area, as if he could see for miles.
"And you know that for a fact?" Phil
asked.
Charlie tried to tune into whatever Roman was
sensing.
"You know I'm right," Roman said to
Charlie.
"Come on." Phil tapped Roman's arm and they
began searching the snowy landscape for a sign.
Charlie walked behind Phil, alongside Roman,
and met his gaze. Roman showed his teeth and mouthed silently,
'
I need to kill that Alpha.
'
"How?" Charlie narrowed his eyes.