PROLOGUE STRANGE TRACKS #2
He froze when his light played over a track that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
It looked almost like a wolf track. It was larger than any wolf he’d ever seen, and from the depth, it had to weigh several hundred pounds.
The shape was wrong for a bear, but the pads and heel were similar to a wolf, with one exception.
The heel pad was elongated. Almost as if…
“It’s built for walking upright,” David said softly.
The crack of a stick brought him up immediately. He aimed his shotgun in the direction, illuminating the area with his flashlight. There was nothing there.
“I need to get out of here,” David thought. “Whatever the hell this is, it’s not human, and it’s not any animal I know.”
Another crack came from behind him. He spun and lit up the forest and saw a flash of movement, almost too fast to track. He couldn’t make out any details this time. It was just a streak of motion.
“Either that thing is incredibly fast,” he thought, “or there’s more than one.”
Something wet struck him on the cheek, and he instinctively reached up to see what it was.
His fingers came away red with thick blood.
He stepped back and slowly looked up. Thirty feet above him, the two missing campers were hanging from a large tree branch.
Their chests were both ripped open, and it looked like their hearts were missing.
Their intestines dangled down for several feet below them, and their eyes were staring down at David, wide and unfocused. Almost accusingly.
David backed away from the bodies and turned around slowly with the shotgun ready to fire.
He wanted to make a run for it, but he knew it would only lead to an attack.
He had to get to the truck, but he had to do it slowly and carefully.
Once these things realized he was trying to get away, they’d come for him. It was a predatory response.
From the darkness to his left, a low, rumbling growl made his arms ripple with goosebumps. He could feel the growl in his bones. Whatever it was, it was big. Big enough to put two grown men thirty feet up in a tree after ripping their hearts out.
David swung the shotgun that direction and flicked the safety off with his thumb. The flashlight didn’t seem to penetrate into the trees more than a few yards. Whatever was out there, it wasn’t out in the open.
“Shit,” whispered David.
Another growl came from behind him, and David felt like someone had just poured ice water down his spine. Because this time, it was closer. Much closer.
“Shit,” David said, out loud this time.
He spun around and aimed the shotgun, searching for a target, but there was nothing there.
“They’re playing with me,” David thought. “I’ve got to get the hell out of here.”
David began backing toward the truck, sweeping the area with the shotgun.
He felt the icy grip of fear take hold of him, and it was all he could do to keep from just running as fast as he could.
For now, rational thought was winning out, but it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge, and he knew it.
As he panned the shotgun light back and forth, he began seeing more and more of the strange yellow eyeshine.
At least six, possibly more. They were all at least seven feet off the ground and were fanned out in an arc.
He didn’t dare turn around because he could already feel their eyes watching him. He was surrounded.
“Wopila,” he whispered in Lakota, giving thanks to the Creator for the life he’d lived.
David was fully expecting this to be his last moments on Earth.
He was still backing toward the truck, but that was just buying time, and he knew it.
The truck offered no real safety. He knew these things were far too fast for him to outrun on this road.
He’d never reach the highway before they yanked him out the window and ripped him to shreds.
His mind flashed to the two men hanging from the trees. He wondered if they’d find him the same way, along with his abandoned truck. Then a strange thought fought its way to the forefront. Where was the pickup that the two campers had driven in? There was no sign of it.
“What the hell?” he whispered, then froze when he backed into something solid. “Oh shit!”
He turned around as fast as he could, trying to get the shotgun up to fire, but it was too little, too late.
The massive beast backhanded the shotgun from his hand like it was a child’s toy, sending it flying off into the darkness.
It discharged when it hit the ground, and the flashlight went out.
There were no grunts of pain or anger, but David didn’t see or hear any of this.
His attention was focused on the monstrosity in front of him.
“Oh, God!” David croaked.
There before him was a massive creature, well over ten feet tall, maybe even fifteen feet.
It was an enormous beast, standing on two legs.
It had legs like a wolf’s, but with a strange, elongated foot, and hands instead of paws on its arms. It also wore a bone cuirass made from what appeared to be a grizzly’s ribcage, along with a wide bone necklace adorned with teeth, claws, and pieces of the skulls of large predators.
The beast’s head was wrong for it to be any kind of wolf. The snout was thicker and wider than a wolf’s, and the teeth were massive. The jaw muscles looked designed to crush bone, not simply rend flesh. It was horrifying to behold with those chilling yellow eyes.
David’s hand went for his sidearm, but the creature was faster.
It grabbed his forearm in its gigantic hand, stopping him with less effort than an adult holding a toddler.
Its grip was powerful, and the beast rippled with thick muscle.
David watched as it held up its other hand and waggled its index finger back and forth as if to say, “No, no, no.”
That terrified David more than anything else. That meant it was far more intelligent than any beast. David considered pulling away but knew it was a waste of effort. There was no chance he could break this thing’s grip, much less outrun it.
“Doksa ake waunkte,” David said, mustering up as much courage as he could.
It was a Lakota parting that meant I will see you again, in the spirit world or on Earth. It was usually said as a goodbye, but not the way David had said it. He put as much venom as he could into it, indicating he would be back to fight again. This seemed to amuse the creature more than anything.
In a flash, David yanked his bone-handled knife.
It was made for him by his grandfather and had been forged here on the Rez from the leaf spring of an old truck.
He tried to drive it into the creature’s stomach, but it was faster still.
It caught his wrist, then twisted it painfully, causing him to drop the knife to the ground.
“What the hell are you waiting for?” shouted David, defiantly.
The big creature dragged him roughly out into the headlights of his truck so he could clearly see what was happening.
Nine more of the creatures emerged from the darkness and formed a circle around their leader and David.
They were a mixed bag of colors, ranging from greys to browns, with one whose coat was as white as snow.
They were also more like wolves than the Alpha.
Only one other was black, and David could tell it was a female.
She slipped up beside the big one and slid her arm around his massive waist. Then she stared at David with a bemused expression on her face.
Her eyes held him transfixed, as if she held some sort of power over him.
He felt himself growing faint, and he couldn’t explain why.
The big creature looked over at the female and nuzzled her with his snout.
She returned the gesture, and it hit David.
This was the Alpha male and female of the pack.
The others were a mixed group now that he knew what to look for.
Five males and three females. He didn’t sense any other pairs among the others, but he hadn’t observed them enough to know for sure.
The others just stood there, staring at him, and it made him uneasy.
David knew that they were about to kill him, and there was nothing he could do to stop them.
He couldn’t have fought back against one of them, let alone all at once.
The smallest of these creatures was a female who stood around seven feet tall.
“Do it!” snapped David with more anger than he’d realized he felt. “What the hell are you waiting for?”
The big Alpha nuzzled his mate once more, then turned back to David. It stared at him for a long moment, as if it was either evaluating him or deciding which part to eat first. Those strange golden orbs held both intelligence and power. David wanted to fight it, but his strength was fading fast.
Then, without warning, the beast snapped forward and sank its teeth into David’s shoulder.
He felt pain lance through his body as the massive jaws crunched bone, tore flesh, and blood spurted from the savage wound.
He could feel the teeth grating against his bones and smell its fetid breath.
It was filling his nostrils with a mixture of blood and meat.
He tried to scream, but nothing came out. The beast raised its head, and the muzzle was covered with fresh, glistening blood that dripped from its enormous teeth. Then, it threw its head back and howled. The Alpha female joined him first, then the others added their voices to the cacophony.
David’s consciousness was fading rapidly as the howl reached its crescendo. As the beast turned back to him, he faded into darkness as it came back for another bite. Fortunately for David, he was already out and never felt it.
Darkness took him.