Isabel and the Wolf: (Part 3)

As Isabel reached the second window on the side of Peter’s house, part of the back garden was revealed. There was a lounger, three quarters turned away from her, and on it was a figure. The figure wasn’t lounging though. It was sitting hunched forward on the edge of the seat. It had its back to her, but it looked very much like Josie.
Josie? What? How?
Isabel’s knees went weak and her head span. She squeezed her eyes shut, as her vision seemed to have blurred as well. When she opened them again, the figure was still there. She took in the red cotton dress with the tiny flower pattern, the carelessly chopped dark hair, the skinny arms wrapped around the knees. It was her; no question about it. Josie was very still, her chin lifted, as if she was looking at something far in the distance. Isabel’s heart was beating fast, a hundred questions exploding in her mind. She continued to stare, hardly daring to breathe in case she was overheard. Suddenly, Josie’s head jerked to the side, as if startled. Isabel had to get away from here; she couldn’t let Josie see her. She began to back away. Josie’s head returned to its previous position. Keeping her eyes fixed on Josie, Isabel put one foot behind the other, trying to remember whether the path was even, or if there was anything that could trip her up. Her hand trailed along the house wall until it made contact with the first window. As she kept stepping backwards, she ran her fingers along the sill, back along the wall, then brushed the front edge of the building. Finally, she turned her back on Josie and sprinted for her car. She jumped in, started the engine and sped away. She passed the turn off for the Black Peak road and didn’t stop until she reached the entrance to the logging road that the sheriff had led her down the night she met Peter for the first time. She turned into it, pulled into a clearing 100 yards down and stopped.

“What the fuck? What the fuck?” she yelled into the enclosed space. “How is this even possible?” She lifted a hand up, registering that it was shaking.

“Josie knows The Wolf,” she said aloud, bringing her index finger down on the steering wheel. “The Wolf has disappeared.” She brought her middle finger down next to it. “And Josie is now at The Wolf’s house.” Her ring finger joined the other two. “Three things that make no sense whatsoever.” Was The Wolf also in the garden now, sitting on another lounger, sipping a drink and chatting to Josie? Isabel tried to replay the scene in her mind. Josie hadn’t been talking, she was pretty sure of that. She’d been able to see her jaw, and her face was still. She looked like she was deep in thought. But perhaps she was listening intently to something Peter was saying? The thought that Peter might be close by, speaking to Josie was too much to handle. She snatched up her phone from the passenger seat and dialed his number. It was still dead. She sighed.
That was something, at least.

Josie had seemed anxious, she realized, playing the scene over and over. There’d been tension in her body; the way she’d been hunched forward, protecting herself, very unlike her usual careless sprawl.
What if Josie was doing the same thing as her – stalking The Wolf at his house because she couldn’t get hold of him? Then if that’s the case, does that mean she’s his lover as well?
Isabel’s stomach lurched at the thought.
Josie did say she likes them big. But she has a boyfriend already, a really tall guy. No, it can’t be true. It just can’t
. Isabel swallowed. Her throat was tight, meaning tears weren’t far away.
Who the hell is this Peter, anyway?
She was letting herself get emotional about this guy when he was still such an unknown quantity. Her eyes prickled, in anger at her own ridiculousness this time, and she banged her hand down on the steering wheel, releasing a torrent of expletives.

She was desperate to get away from Black Peak City. She started her Mini Cooper up again. The logging track stretched ahead of her for 20 yards or so until it turned to the right, disappearing into the trees. If she went back onto the main road, there was a risk she’d run into Josie. The thought of being in the woods, far away from people was also very appealing. She’d follow the track, until it let her out further down. That was a good plan. She started to drive. If the track forked at any point, she just needed to make sure that she took the branch closest to the road, and she’d be fine. The way was bumpy, as it had been when Peter had driven her, but the earth was dry at least.

Driving fast in her anger, Isabel followed the track around the bend and along an almost straight stretch. It curved to the right again, but then it divided into two. She braked hard, skidding a little, before coming to a stop just in front of a bull pine. A fresh wave of adrenaline flooded her body.
I need to drive more carefully out here
. Taking a moment for the shock to subside, she considered the paths. The one to the right was as broad as the track she was on, while the one on the left was narrower, with foliage pressing into it on each side and vines hanging down from the branches above. She peered down it doubtfully. It didn’t look like it had been driven down for a long time, but, as it was closer to the Black Peak road, it had to be the right way. Turning onto it, she drove more cautiously this time, with branches scraping the sides of the car and vines dancing in front of the windshield. After maybe half a mile, the track narrowed more and more, before it came to an abrupt end. There was no pathway at all on either the right or the left. The woods were dense here, and there was little light showing between the trees.

“Damn it!” Isabel shouted, for the second time that afternoon. There wasn’t enough space to turn, so she put the car into reverse and edged back until the track widened. Pulling a tight turn that made her wheels spin and her heart speed up, she retraced the path, all the way back to the fork. “Ok, right it is,” she muttered, taking the other track. This one continued more or less straight for a couple of minutes, then it too came to a fork. Both paths were narrow and dense with undergrowth. Isabel frowned at them. They each looked so unlikely to be the right way.

“Enough!” Who only knew where she’d gone wrong, but the smart thing to do was to go all the way back to the main road and forget about driving through the wilderness. That much was obvious. She turned the car around again, disappointed. She’d wanted to show herself that she could survive in Gila, as Peter did. She drove for a couple of minutes along the straight track. It should come to an end just around the next corner, and she’d be back on the road again, she told herself.

Isabel turned the corner, but, instead of revealing the end of the road, the track continued, as far as her eye could see.
That’s strange, I don’t remember passing a bend like that half way along the track.
She shrugged. Most likely she hadn’t been paying attention. She drove along, following the track as it bore left, darkening as the pines on either side became more dense. And then another fork came into view. Isabel braked hard.

“What the – ?” she yelled. She had followed the track properly, with no deviations, so now she should be looking at a tarmac road, not these two narrow pathways that looked like they led deeper into the woods. She glared at them, willing them to transform into a nice straight track with light at the end. She must’ve done something really dumb, but she had no idea what it was. When she’d taken the left, and then the right fork, she’d retraced her steps carefully. This couldn’t be happening. But it was. She was somewhere in the Gila wilderness with no idea how to get out of it.

“Lost in the woods,” she muttered with a humorless laugh.
What a cliché!
She
was
the ultimate stupid city girl, wondering where her next latte was coming from.
Ok, I need to find a solution to this
. She couldn’t be far from Black Peak City, so the track was there, she just had to find it. Maybe she could use the sun to work out which direction she should be heading in. She looked all around her, but the forest was too dark and dense to be able to see it. It wasn’t directly overhead; that was all she could be sure of.
Great. That was a non-starter
.
Next solution?
The correct route wasn’t in any of the directions she’d explored already, so, it was plausible that it could be down one of these two forks. She’d clearly missed it at one point further back, but maybe
one of these paths would take her back onto it. She’d just pick one, try it for no more than 500 yards, then retrace her steps if it didn’t work out.

She picked the left path, but it quickly narrowed to the point that her car could barely pass through, and then it came to an end, with a bull pine blocking her way like a security guard, blank-faced and hostile. Cursing, she reversed all the way back to the previous fork, the going very slow as she avoided crashing into the trees on either side of her. The right-hand fork was slightly wider, and the track was smoother. Isabel began to speed up from a crawl as it stretched straight ahead for 100 yards or so. Then it swung slightly right, and she groaned at the sight of some trees straight ahead of her. There was something different about them, though. It was because she was seeing the thick branches, instead of bare trunks. Which meant that they were at a lower level than she was. She slammed her brakes on, yanking the steering wheel to the side at the same time. The car’s bumper hit a pine at the side of the track and jolted to a stop. Isabel leapt out of the car. She was right at the edge of a drop of maybe 20 feet. Her heart was throbbing, and her throat constricted. She swallowed hard. She’d been a second away from going right over the edge.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she screamed, when she was capable of speech again. Now she was close enough to see that the end of the path was rocky, like a mini-cliff. She was shaking badly. She sat back on her car seat, leaving her legs outside the car. Resting her head in her hands, she forced her breathing to return to normal. Things were getting worse and worse. Not only had she got herself completely lost, but she’d also nearly killed herself in the process. She swung her legs back inside the car and closed the door. As she turned her head to face the windshield, she saw a movement in the forest below. There was a large shape walking around. It was hard to make out from the distance, but she saw pointy ears, a long tail, and a narrow face. She gasped. It was a wolf; it had to be. Her heartbeat speeded up again.
Calm down, it can’t hurt you. You’re safe in a car.
But the thing was watching her. Its head was down low and, despite the distance, she distinctly saw a flash of yellow eyes.
Ok, I’m just going to leave
. She forced her trembling hands to operate the car, putting it into reverse and backing away from the cliff edge. Her eyes jumped wildly between the rearview mirror and the windshield, not wanting to lose sight of the thing. She started to turn the car at a point where there wasn’t really enough space. Her rear bumper hit a tree. She’d deal with it later; there were more important things to focus on now. She managed to complete the turn and returned to the junction of the three pathways, now thoroughly confused, unable to remember which one had led her here originally. It was pointless anyway. She was in the center of a network of tracks that led nowhere. The woods seemed darker now.
How long had she been here – an hour? Two? Would it be getting dark soon?
Panic had made her mind fuzzy. This was getting to be dangerous now. She had to get help, that was clear. There was no way she was going to find her way out of here alone.
But who do you call when you’re lost in the woods? A park ranger? The police? And how would they be able to help anyway? “Officer, I’m just to the left of a giant pine tree, in the middle of a dozen roads that don’t lead anywhere.”
She gave a laugh that sounded more like a yelp. Jed, the sheriff who’d helped her before popped into her mind. What if she called him and asked if there was some way he could find her? He’d think she was an idiot, naturally.
But what was the alternative? Zero – a big fat zero
. At least she had her phone with her. She picked it up from the passenger seat. Plenty of battery; no signal.

“No!” she yelled. She moved it around the inside of the car, but it didn’t make any difference, the little signal-strength bars were grayed out. She opened the door to step out, then closed it again.
What if the thing came to find her? She could get eaten alive.
Locking the doors for good measure, she started the car up and drove a little way down one of the tracks. Still no signal. She reversed, then drove down a second track; no change. She burst into tears. No-one was going to come and rescue her. Blinking hard to clear her eyes, she came back to the junction. At last, one bar showed up as black. Her hands shaking, she unlocked the phone and dialed directory assistance.

“Black Peak City police station,” she said, speaking rapidly, in case the connection broke. The line was crackly, but the call went through. The police station phone rang twice and someone answered.

“Can I speak to Jed?” she asked, hearing the near-panic in her voice.

“Sorry, ma’am. He’s not here. He’s off duty this afternoon,” a slow, calm voice replied. “Anything I can help you – ” The line went dead. Isabel took the phone away from her ear and stared at the screen. The signal had gone again.

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