Chapter 6
Isaac
I stood there staring into my outdoor trash can, puzzled.
Why the hell was there a pizza box from Pino’s sitting amongst my trash? I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten anything from there.
Looking around, I had the odd sensation that I was being watched, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Who would be dumb enough to come out here? Hadn’t I ensured there were enough boogieman monster lore to keep everyone away?
To be honest, it had been a while since I’d had to scare off some wayward teens looking for a thrill and bragging rights surrounding my home.
But still, that usually only occurred during the Halloween season.
It was winter. Granted it had been an exceptionally mild winter this year.
Maybe the kids were bored with no snow to play in.
The weather report looked promising for that next week. I knew I was going to have a lot of work to do to prepare for it.
I tried to brush off that unsettling feeling over this newest discovery. It continued to nag me though. Worse than that, it awakened my wolf.
I didn’t often give into my wolf, at least not at the house. It scared my animals and the last time I’d let him out close to the farm, he’d eaten two of my chickens before I could stop him.
When I ran, I ran deep into the forest. I wasn’t doing it often enough lately and needed to get back into the habit.
Even knowing all the things I needed to get done, I decided that just maybe now would be a good time to do that. I hated leaving him cooped up for so long.
First, I fed the animals. Half my eggs were missing. That seemed to be happening about every other day now. I had no idea what was going on with my girls, but I was very worried about them.
Next, I moved on to the goats. Once more the hay was low.
“Sonofabitch. What the hell is going on around here?” I turned to look at all the animals lining the fence, awaiting food from me. “Which one of you did this?” I barked.
Of course, none of them replied. They just stared at me blankly. There was no sign of humanity, and I knew I had them well secured. There was simply no way they were getting out and then sneaking back in.
I thought about the pizza box, the missing eggs, and the odd sensation I was being watched. It made me paranoid.
I fed the rest of the animals and gave them the hay still remaining. Another trip down the mountain was in my near future. I really didn’t have time for this shit.
Instead of heading off into the woods, I went back inside and called Archie as I settled into my desk.
“Isaac, what’s up?”
“I need your help.”
“What? Normally I’m the one calling you to say that. What can I do for you?”
“Someone is stealing my eggs and taking my hay. Plus, I think I’m being watched.”
He already knew I tended to be paranoid. I could hear the smile lightening his voice when he responded.
“Are you sure it’s not Gertrude again?”
“For the hay, perhaps, but she would never take the eggs.”
“Don’t goats eat anything?”
“Yes, but she is well secured and so are my chickens.”
Why couldn’t he just understand that?
“What would you like me to do about it?”
“I need full surveillance around my farm.”
“Come again?”
“I didn’t stutter. I want you to send your best guy over and secure this place. I need eyes on them, especially at night, until I figure out who is doing this and how.”
“You mean what?”
“No, I mean who. There was a pizza box in my trash this morning.”
“I mean this with all due respect, and this is coming from an equally paranoid person, but you sound nuts.”
“I sound nuts? This coming from the man who had me set up off-shore bank accounts for his five grandchildren?”
“That’s not ridiculous. I’m just saving for their futures,” he argued.
“Archie, you aren’t mated and don’t even have a kid, let alone grandkids.”
“You said you supported that decision.”
“Because it’s what you wanted. Now support this because it’s what I need.”
He huffed. “You’re a pain in my ass.”
“Ditto.”
“You want the best, the best won’t be available until end of next week.”
“I can’t last that long. I’m going to go broke in hay costs by then.”
He scoffed. “We both know that’s not true.”
“You don’t know shit,” I grumbled.
“Wrong. I know you’re going to have to wait until next week if you truly want the best.”
His smarmy, condescending attitude was pissing me off.
“Just make it happen,” I snapped, and hung up on him.
A week? That little sniveling asshole wanted me to wait a week? The audacity of him.
That wasn’t going to work for me. I was already plotting ways to just get the job done myself.
Feeling even more frustrated after the call with Archie, I decided that maybe that run would be a good thing after all.
Instead of walking into the woods and calming myself down, I left my house at a full sprint in my skin. When I knew I was far enough away from the farm, I leapt into the air and shifted. My paws made only a slight thud as I gracefully landed in my fur.
Shifting had always come naturally for me. Even as a pup it had been easy when my friends had struggled. A growl erupted from me at the thought as I was momentarily assaulted by old memories I’d rather forget.
Pushing those thoughts back, I forced my wolf to run faster and harder than usual. I needed to clear my mind before I thought of him. The pain that sliced through me was more than I could bear. Another growl escaped.
Forget it, I thought. That was a long time ago.
Even my wolf needed a small bit of community. It was why I had originally started my farm. It wasn’t the same, but it had helped in the beginning. Over the years I’d adapted okay. No regrets or anything like that. I was a proud lone wolf.
My lifestyle was born of hard lessons learned and losses too deep to digest. Some things were best buried in the past.
I pushed all those thoughts away and ran.
There was peace in this form. If he didn’t try to constantly remind me of things I desperately wanted to forget then I probably would have retreated to my fur to live out the remainder of my life. That didn’t seem to be in the cards for me though.
Still, I loved the freedom of the wolf. There was nothing more magical in this world than the feeling of the wind ruffling my fur with nothing but the sounds of nature and my paws pounding against the ground.
Feeling more relaxed than I had in a long time, I gave into my more playful side and splashed through a creek before jumping onto the largest boulder I could find. I howled up into the sky, filling the air around me. But there was an emptiness about it that broke my heart.
Feeling a bit more somber and haunted, I growled in frustration as I jumped down and slowly headed back towards my truck.
Lost in thoughts, I didn’t even realize what direction I was heading in until I heard the familiar chatter of Gertrude.
No! I thought, but it didn’t feel like my wolf was stalking her. There was something else.
Something was off.
I looked around, letting my wolf hone in on what it could be.
A noise caught my attention to the right. My head whipped in that direction as three distinct movements rustled through the underbrush. I started to give chase, but then it caught my eye.
Right there in the woods just a few yards from my barn was a nest of hay.
My hay being treated like straw.
I growled.
Anger filled me. It wasn’t Gertrude or any of my animals. Someone was stealing my hay.
My chest puffed up and I charged.
Maybe I should have gone after the culprits, but my instincts were to salvage what was left of my stuff.
I plowed right through the stack of hay bundles hearing a crunch beneath my feet and feeling something cold and slimy squish between my paws.
Jumping back, I looked down to find a stack of eggs nestled in the hay. The way they were stacked, I knew it wasn’t my girls doing it.
Trying to calm myself down, I took a good look around.
Someone was living here.
I couldn’t have that.
While I was still in my fur, and careful not to break anymore eggs, I jumped around destroying the carefully built fort like structure.
Once I was satisfied, I howled in victory.
Then I shifted and went to get a rake and wheelbarrow to recover my hay.
At least I wasn’t going to have to drive down the mountain to pick up more again.
Feeling a little calmer now, I looked around, trying to figure out just who was doing this. There was a small fire pit, the eggs, one little pan, and a toy truck. That was it.
I scratched my head, then I remembered Kyle and his team were looking for a couple of young boys. I stared down at the things before me and shook my head.
No way was this a couple of kids.
From what he’d said they were little. A six-year-old isn’t going to be this sneaky or know how to start a fire and cook my eggs.
No, this was someone else.
My need for the security system to get installed just became my number one priority.
It took me a while to clean up the mess and get the hay restocked. I worked up a sweat and a lot of frustration in the process.
My one satisfaction was that I’d run them off and destroyed their hideout. There was no reason for them to return.
The vagabonds stealing from me were gone for good and it felt great.