Wolf Bit

The door exploded inward; the beast was in the house! Mable stood in the kitchen, holding one side of her walker, her back to the wall, and opened her mouth to scream. Nothing came out except a rush of air, her vocal cords, like the rest of her body, were frozen with fear. This was it; this is how she would die, ripped apart by the savage, hideous beast.

It had been a hot, dry summer and the fall wasn’t much different. The days were still plenty warm for this time of year in northern Minnesota. The nights cooled down, but just to temperatures that would be normal for a typical October day. It was a dry fall, just like it had been a dry summer; fire was the biggest threat with all the swamps drying up, the dead grass, and the thick blanket of leaves on the ground. Also, there had been a few outbreaks of rabies and one other disease that only affected wolves, or so it seemed.

The authorities had been getting complaints on wolves attacking other animals and even a few people. Normally the wolves stayed away from humans, and seldom was there any attack on domestic animals. Now, they seemed to be in the news almost every week, killing cattle, sheep, swine, and even a few horses had been savagely ripped apart.

Not only were the attacks out of the ordinary, the wolves were not behaving like wolves at all. They did not hunt in packs. All the reports stated it was one lone wolf that attacked the animal or person. They were easy to track and seemed to have no fear of people, often attacking the group tracking them. They were first thought to be rabid, since they displayed the typical behavior of salivating and foaming at the mouth, they had red eyes, were always very savage, and very aggressive in their attack; they did not feed, they just ripping the prey to shreds.

Medical examination revealed it was not rabies, these wolves had a similar, but unknown, virus. Conservation officers, with the help of other agencies, tracked and tranquilized infected wolves to study them. The red eyes were a result of bleeding within the irises and whites of the eyes, they had a heightened sense of hearing and smell, and they all were completely mad.

These animals were completely insane and displayed no normal wolf like behavior. They would attack the bars of their cages, food and water containers, anything. In a few cases, the caged wolf would try so hard to attack the observers that it would kill itself from injuries sustained from throwing itself headlong into the bars of the cage. They displayed no fear, and often died within days of being captured.

Lab results indicated the wolves were infected with a virus that caused mutations in the brain. It didn’t infect the cerebellum or the brain stem until the final stages, causing insanity then death. The sickness lasted about a month. In the first stages the animal would become larger and stronger. Rapid muscle growth was followed by an increase in bone density and heightened senses, all within two weeks. By the third week, the brain was infected and mutating, and by the fourth week it infected the cerebellum and the brain stem and by the end of four weeks, the animal would die

The virus was only transmitted by the bite of an infected animal and could not live outside of the host and died with the host. It was spread when a wolf contacted the disease and began to change. The wolf pack would sense the changes and drive the infected wolf away from the pack. If another wolf was bitten trying to drive a sick wolf off, it would be infected and the cycle would repeat.

By early fall, a vaccine was found that would prevent the disease but inoculating the wolves would be very difficult. Authorities were adding the vaccine to chunks of raw meat put out in areas where wolves were present, hoping to inoculate the bigger part of the packs and eventually stop the disease completely. Since the vaccine would also be present in the milk, even the pups would be vaccinated. For those infected, there was only one cure, the vaccine had to be injected within the first two weeks.

To contain the virus, they also needed to know where it had come from. Samples sent to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Minneapolis discovered it was a mutation of the rabies virus caused by an ineffective vaccine that was used when rabies broke out. To prevent rabies from spreading, the state worked with other agencies to distribute oral rabies vaccine baits. Some of these baits were old stock and less effective, this caused the virus to mutate instead of killing it.

This was known at the time the baits were used, but of little concern since the mutation prevented the rabies virus from entering the nervous system. Being confined to the bloodstream, the virus could not cause any harm except to make the host sick. In time the animal’s own immune system would recognize and kill the virus, the animal would regain its health and everything was fine. What they didn’t know was the wolves were eating sick animals, since they were easy prey. Repeated exposer mutated the virus further making it resistant and creating this new sickness.

By the end of September, the number of attacks from sick wolves was down; the vaccine was working. The vaccine baits would be continued through the winter and into early spring, then if the wolf attacks had ended, the problem was solved. For now, however, there were still infected wolves and someone had to track them down and destroy them.

Mable’s husband, Harry, a retired game warden, had taken up trapping as a hobby and to supplement their income. When the wolf crisis started, he had assisted the authorities and was assigned to lead a taskforce. The job was simple, investigate the attack. If it was determined to be a wolf they would track it, kill it, and bring the carcass in for examination on the progress of the disease. There was a make-shift lab set up by the CDC in the old clinic for this purpose.

At first, Harry was gone all the time, but with the vaccine, there were less and less attacks and he spent more time at home waiting for a call about an attack. The last one was just over a week ago, when a wolf attacked and mutilated a milk cow. It had come right into the barn and attacked while Mr. Hirsh was getting ready to do the evening milking. It rushed in through the open door and started tearing apart one of his prized Guernsey. Mr. Hirsh ran to the house, grabbed his rifle and shot the wolf while it was still ripping apart the cow.

Mabel had taken the call and told Henry he was needed at the Hirsh farm, another wolf attack. She filled him in on the details and he gave her a peck on the cheek, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door. “Don’t hold dinner for me, I’m just going to throw the thing in the back of the truck and come back and eat. I’ll take it to the lab after dinner.”

Less than an hour later Harry pulled into the driveway. Mabel set the table and by the time Harry had washed up, the food was ready. “Why don’t you just wait and take the wolf over to the clinic in the morning, Harry?” Mable asked while they ate.

“I suppose I could, but I don’t like having that thing around here. I know, the sickness dies with the wolf, but this started as rabies and mutated to this new bug. What if it mutates to something that can survive even after the animals dead and some stray cat jumps up there and eats off it? The whole damn thing would start over again. No, I’d rather play it safe and just take the thing over there and put it in the cooler tonight. Won’t take but a half hour and then I’m done with it.”

The rest of dinner was spent like any other dinner, talking about things going on around the county, the out of season warm weather, fire danger, and local happenings. After dinner, Harry started clearing the table while Mabel took her walker to the kitchen. She didn’t need it often, but if her balance went out, as it sometimes did, it was good to have it to steady herself. Most of the time she just pulled it along with one hand.

“I’ll do up these few dishes if you want to take that over and dump it.”

“No, I’ll help with dishes first, then take it over. I know you enjoy me helping out.”

“I do, but it’s movie night and I want you to get back so we can get it started. Besides, it’s your turn to pick out a movie.”

“Alright, I’ll haul it over and when you finish the dishes, you can pick one out for me. I’ll stop on the way back and get some root beer, we can have floats while we watch the movie.”

“That sounds great, see you in about an hour.”

Harry grabbed his keys and started for the door. “No coat?” Mabel asked.

“Nah, it’s still pretty nice out and I’ll be back before the sun goes down and the temperature drops.” He answered as he went out the door. From her spot at the sink she could see him back down the driveway and drive off towards the old clinic, now referred to as Wolf Lab.

Harry stopped at the gas station, picked up a couple bottles of root beer, topped of the gas tank and proceeded to Wolf Lab. There wouldn’t be anyone there this late, but he had a key and would put the wolf carcass in the walk in cooler for the night, then leave a handwritten report on the desk. He had already called from the Hirsh’s after seeing the scene of the attack and hearing about it first hand from Mr. Hirsh.

When he got to the lab he unlocked the back door, took a cart out to the truck and transferred the wolf to it. Gray wolves typically weigh up to about just over one hundred pounds, but with the virus they get bigger and have a denser frame; the biggest brought in so far was one hundred and seventy-two pounds. This male wasn’t that big, but he was at least one-fifty. The cart would save Harry a sore back come morning.

He set the cart up to the tailgate, then grabbed the back legs and pulled. Once he had the hind quarters on the cart, he reached for the head and pulled the front over and onto the cart. He was in a hurry and in his haste grabbed the wolf’s muzzle and pulled. Somehow, he managed to rake his hand over the canine teeth and puncture his palm. It wasn’t bad but it broke skin and was bleeding when he looked at it. He put the wolf, cart and all, in the big walk in cooler, closed the door and latched it, then washed up at the sink and put a bandage on his hand before driving back home. Harry wasn’t concerned about the virus, it only infected wolves and died with the animal.

Harry woke to the phone. It was still dark out and he really didn’t want to get up, knowing he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep if he did. But, he wasn’t going to sleep with the phone ringing so he got up. They didn’t have a phone in the bedroom, just in the kitchen. Also, Harry never seen the point in using a cell phone, so he never bothered to get one. Besides, Mabel had one and that was enough.

He lifted the receiver to his ear and before he could say anything he heard an excited voice asking him to come right away. “Is this Harry Benett? You need to come right away. Please, you need to help me.”

“Slow down a bit. I’ll help if I can but you need to calm down and tell me who you are.”

“Anita. Anita Stanway, I live at 6612 Old Highway 34. It’s outside the house and trying to get in, please hurry.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, but it’s a good twenty minutes just to Old Highway 34 and how much further from there?”

“Please, you need to hurry. Just turn right at the crossroads and it’s fifteen miles further. A white house and garage on the right, there are no other places close.”

“I’m on my way, just stay calm. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

“Another wolf? I’ll start some coffee and get you something to eat.” Mabel stood in the doorway.

“No time, that woman was in a panic. I need to get going as soon as I can.” Mabel didn’t say anything and stepped aside as Harry went past to get dressed. A few minutes later he rushed into the bathroom, relieved his bladder and washed up quick, brushed his teeth and combed his wild mat of hair down with some water. When he came out of the bathroom, Mabel was pouring coffee into a thermos and had a brown bag rolled down on the counter.

“Nothing fancy, Harry, just a few cookies, an apple, and a peanut butter sandwich. Oh here’s a doughnut left over from yesterday, hope it isn’t dry. Did I hear right, up on Old Highway 34?”

“Yep, ‘bout fifteen miles north of the junction. Want to get there and look around, then get tracking the thing as soon as it’s light. All swamp up there and not much for roads or people, be easy to lose the thing if it gets much of a lead.” He loaded his pistol and rifle while he talked, then slipped the gun into a holster on his belt, stuffed extra ammunition into his coat pocket, and slipped it on.”

Mabel had his lunch and coffee and handed it to him. He put the bag into his other coat pocket and tucked the thermos under his arm, the took the rifle and headed for the door. Mabel called after him, “Don’t forget your keys, and be careful. Do you want me to call any of the others to meet you up there?”

“Oh yeah, I better have keys. Nope, don’t bother calling anyone, I’ll look the scene over and if it looks like I’ll need help, I’ll call ‘em from the Stanway place.”

He was heading out the door when Mabel spoke again. “I love you, Harry. Be careful and come home safe.”

He turned and walked over to where she was standing, kissed her and smiled. “I love you too, now don’t go getting all worked up, I’ll be fine. I’ll call you as soon when I get ready to drive back home, should be back and have the carcass dropped off in time for dinner.” He turned back and went out the door.

Mabel turned and watched as he put his stuff in the truck, then got in and drove off. She was thinking about how pale he looked. “Probably just not enough sleep, and too many long hours. I’ll be glad when he can re-retire and things get back to normal.” She was still looking out the window as she spoke to the empty room and seen the first few drops of rain hitting the pain. She tipped her head down and folded her hands in front of her, “I aint complaining Lord, and we sure do need the rain, but Harry has a dangerous task waiting for him and rain aint gonna help him track. Watch over him and bring him back safe, Lord.” She turned and looked at the clock, not quite four. She started another pot of coffee, it was going to be a long day.

Harry headed straight out of town and was just passing the cemetery when the rain started. Just a few drops at first, then a light rain. He knew the rain would make it harder to track and turned on the radio, hoping it wasn’t further north. “Just keep it dry until I track the damn thing and put it down, then you can rain all you want.” He spoke to the weather outside as the radio played some unfamiliar song.

Harry drove east, then turned north at the crossroads. He looked down and counted off fifteen miles in his head. Another mile and the radio announced some much needed rain, off and on over the next few days. The weatherman was forecasting a possibility for some heavy rains later this morning and afternoon. Harry needed to get tracking as soon as he could, before the rain made tracking impossible.

Harry thought lady luck was with him when he drove from rain to fog about three miles south of his destination. Fog would make it difficult to see, but it wouldn’t wash out the signs he would need to track the wolf.

He seen the driveway before house and garage. He turned in and as his headlights shone on the house, felt a shiver run though him. The front porch rail was knocked down, the front door ripped apart, and the big window beside it busted, the curtains hanging outside. There was a body lying in the patch of light the window cast upon the ground.

He skidded to a stop on the lawn right by the body, grabbed his rifle and made sure it was ready to fire. He reached into the console and grabbed his flashlight and then got out to see if the person was still alive.

Harry looked down into the glazed eyes staring up at the cloudy sky and felt for pulse. Faint but he was alive. His face was scratched deep, one cheek tore open and showing bloody teeth. He had on a t-shirt that was also ripped, showing deep scratches on his chest. One leg was folded under him at an unnatural angle, broken for sure. One arm had three deep gouges down it and was bleeding pretty heavy, the other had numerous bites, wolf bites.

Harry heard a loud crash inside the house, and looked up. Another crash echoed out at him, sounding like it was in the back of the house someplace. He suspected the wolf was still inside and knew he had little time to act. He put one arm under the man’s neck and shoulders and lifted him up enough to stand and drag him back to the truck. He struggled to open the passenger side door without putting down the rifle or flashlight.

The man moaned and spoke. “Got to help Anita, it’s in the house with her.”

“I’ll get to her, but first we get you in the truck.” The man winced when he pulled on the door and with Harry pushing managed to get in. Harry helped lift his broken leg inside. “There’s first aid stuff in the glovebox, I’ll be back to help as soon as I can.”

Harry pushed the door shut then jogged to the porch and poked his head inside. The room was trashed, but no wolf insight. Moving slow, he entered the house keeping the wall to his back. He was astounded at the damage, the furniture was in tatters, the walls were slashed and there was blood on the carpet. Moving quietly, he worked his way over to the slash marks on the wall. They started high up, just above his head, and ended about waist level. The only way a wolf could have done this was to either jump up and attack the wall, or stand on its hind legs like a bear. Even the biggest wolf he had seen could not have made a swipe this long, however.

Harry thought back about the call, had they said anything about a wolf? No, he just assumed it was. Anita had said it, not wolf… could she have meant a bear? Even for a bear to attack people inside their home was almost unheard of – unless the sickness had spread. Harry moved towards the dining room wondering now, if the sickness was affecting other animals, like bears.

He couldn’t see very well in the dining room, just from the light of the kitchen and living room. The table was knocked over and leaned against the wall, the hanging light ripped out of the ceiling, and busted chairs scattered like twigs around the floor. He seen a rifle by the steps going upstairs, someone had tried to shoot at whatever it was. The blood could be from a wounded animal or from the man in the truck.

Walking as quietly as he could, he worked his way towards the kitchen. It was impossible to keep the wall at his back, and as he stepped away from it, he could almost feel claws raking into his exposed back. Stepping over busted furniture, he made the kitchen doorway and peeked into the room. It was empty, and surprisingly, undamaged. The back door stood open, but was not damaged. It looked like someone had exited the house as fast as they could and didn’t bother with the door.

He was trying to decide if he should follow out the open door or look upstairs when another loud crash came from over his head followed by a long howl. He moved quickly to the bottom of the steps, that how was a wolf, and it was upstairs. He had his rifle to his shoulder, ready to fire when he yelled, “Anita?”

From past experience, he knew the sick wolf would not run, it would attack and he was ready. He wasn’t surprised to hear no answer from Anita, he was sure she had fled the house while the man had tried battled with the wolf and lost. He heard a thud, then something got knocked over. Another howl, this one was close. Then he seen the movement in the darkness overhead. It was moving fast and Harry started squeezing down on the trigger. A few more steps and it would be in the light from the living room and he could get his shot.

It stepped into the light and Harry froze with his finger pressing the trigger almost to the firing point. Was that a man? Then it jumped and was in full light, ripping the rifle from his grip. No man, but manlike. Harry was knocked aside by the force the thing used to claw the riffle aside. He landed on the floor as the rifle went flying into the knocked over table.

The animal stood on two feet and glared at him with red eyes. The face was wolf-like, fury and showing fangs in an angry snarl, but there were human features, too. It stood on two feet, with tatters of pants still hanging from its waist, the exposed legs covered in fur. The feet in front of him were long and manlike, but had claws protruding from the fury toes. The rest of the torso was also covered in hair, but the shape was more of a man than an animal, except for the claws on the ends of the fur covered fingers. It was huge, going at least two hundred pounds, and it was leaning over him, looking into his eyes.

It cocked its head almost like a dog would, then leaned down and sniffed at him. Drool hung from its mouth and dripped on him as it sniffed. Then it straightened up and let out a long, mournful wolf howl. Harry didn’t hesitate, as he pulled the pistol from its holster, aimed and shot dead center into the beast’s chest. The impact knocked it over onto it’s back, Harry rolled away from the kicking feet and nasty claws, then got to his knees, grabbed the doorframe and stood up.

He wanted a closer look at this thing but until it quit thrashing he wasn’t going to get anywhere close to those wicked claws on its hands and feet. He thought about putting another round into the beast’s head, just to make sure it was dead, but that would mess it up for the lab, and they would have to study this new menace. He looked around the trashed room, seen the phone lying on the floor and went to it. He dialed 911 and when the operator answered, he told her who he was, and why he was calling. A minute later and he was talking to a sheriff’s deputy and explained everything he had seen so far. They would dispatch a car and assist him with the investigation and help look for Anita, they also sent an ambulance for the man.

He was describing the beast when he heard a low growl. Turning towards the dining room, he seen the beast in a crouch, red eyes glaring at him, and before he could lift his gun to shoot, it jumped. Harry dropped the phone as he was knocked over backward from the force. He rolled to his side, sure that teeth would be ripping into him, but the beast didn’t stop to maul him. It went right over him and leaped out through the busted window. Harry got to his feet and ran to the window hoping to get another shot, but it was too fast, running across the lawn on two legs and vanishing into the darkness.

Harry went upstairs and looked through the destroyed rooms but found no one. He went out the kitchen door and looked around. It was dark back here but he found a switch for a light over the back door and flipped it on. He stepped out onto the concrete steps and seen an outside basement door beside it. He leaned over it, grabbed the handle and pulled. It opened and he looked into the darkness below, there was a flash of light, then everything went black.

Someone was calling him. He opened his eyes and the sky was gray above him and someone was leaning over him. He blinked and tried to focus. “Harry, are you alright?”

He sat up and looked around him. Slowly everything fell into place. “Yeah, I’m alright. What the hell happened?”

“Maybe you should tell us, we just got here.”

Harry told the deputy what had taken place from the time he turned into the drive up to the point where he had opened the door. He paused for a minute, then added, “I’m sure I hit that thing dead center in the chest with my handgun, it should be dead. I can’t believe it got up and moved like that. It must have been hurting, though or it wouldn’t have just knocked me over, it would have finished me. It’s like it knew what a gun was and best not to let me get another shot. After, I went looking for Anita. I was reaching for my flashlight to see in the basement when there was a flash, that’s all I remember.”

The deputy was writing things down but stopped writing and looked at Harry. “Are you sure it wasn’t a bear or something?”

“I’m sure. That was no bear; I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t any damn bear.”

Another man stepped around Harry, “That matches the description Anita gave as well, something that looked like a cross between a man and a wolf.” The man was Jim Gambit, the sheriff; he knelt down in front of Harry, “You sure you’re alright, Harry?”

“Yeah, I just have one hell of a headache. What happened?” Harry lifted his hand to his head and felt a huge lump and winced at the tenderness.”

Jim was reading through the deputy’s notes and talking low to the deputy over a few things. “Looks like your pretty damn lucky to be out here, Harry.”

“Yeah, maybe. I don’t feel too lucky, I thought I was a goner when that thing knocked the rifle out of my hands. If it hadn’t stopped to howl, I’d be dead. It could have killed me when it jumped through the window, too.”

“Anita shot you. Well, she didn’t actually intend to shoot you, she thought you were that thing and shot when you opened the door. Luckily, she was only armed with a single shot .22 and isn’t a good aim. The bullet hit the side and knocked a chunk of concrete out that whacked you in the head.” He helped Harry up to sit on the step as he filled him in on everything that Anita had told him. He also told Harry that the man was Ray, Anita’s husband. He had gotten one good shot off and thought he had killed the thing, but then it got up and attacked him. He tried to fight it off but it was too strong and ripped him up pretty bad. Then it had bit down on his arm and shook him like a dog shaking a rabbit. Ray had been flung across the room and through the window.

The sheriff went on, telling both Harry and his deputy, “Anita ran out the kitchen door and hid in the basement while Ray and the beast fought in the living room. She told me she was unharmed, but I’m sending her in with Ray to get checked over by a doctor.”

A paramedic came around the corner of the house and asked the sheriff, “We’re ready to head back, how’s this one? Want me to look him over before we take off?”

Harry stood, and for dizzy, but the feeling passed. “You sure you don’t need to see a doctor, too?”

“No doc, I’m fine, just a bit off balance for a minute.” Then he looked at the paramedic still waiting for an answer from the sheriff, “I’m fine, just a bump on the head; Go on and get them people to the hospital.”

The sheriff turned to the deputy, “Look around inside, but don’t touch anything, I’ll get a lab team over here to try and figure out just what the hell that was. Come on Harry, I’ll walk with you to your truck, if you’re still feeling up to it, you can help me track that thing down. First I need to call a team up to go over this place; we need answers.”

“Sure thing, Jim, I’m up to it. I have my gear, just need to get my rifle from the house.” I have an extra in the trunk; you can get yours later from the office when the lab team is done. ‘Sides, if that thing slammed it as hard as you say it did, the scope’s likely off anyway.”

Harry grabbed his gear from the truck while the sheriff called in on the radio. He was still talking when Harry rejoined him. “Have em go over things with a fine-toothed comb and lift any DNA samples they can find. There’s some blood and there’s likely some hair from that thing, get it checked out as fast as possible, we need to figure out what that thing is. Also, get hold of the Wildlife Service and fill em in, I think the virus is spreading to more than wolves. I’m going out with Harry to try and track it down.”

There was a crackle after he let go of the mike, then a female voice came over the speaker. “Copy that, Jim. I’ll get right on it.”

Jim went to the trunk and handed a rifle out to Harry, then took another for himself. “You got everything else, Harry?”

Before he could answer, the radio crackled and the same female voice spoke inside the car. Jim slammed the trunk, opened the driver side door and grabbed the mike. “Yeah, I’m still here, what you got?”

“I just got a call from Amy Connell. She lives about two miles north of you. Seems she has some information on this thing you’re after; it’s Grant.”
“What? Grant? She said it’s Grant?”

“Yes, Jim, Grant. She said he got bit during a wolf attack a couple of weeks back and got sick. Last night he trashed the bedroom, threw her across the room and jumped out the window. And Jim, she said he was turning into a wolf.”

“She said what; a wolf?”

“Yep, that’s what she said. Pretty shook up, said she must of got knocked out and just woke up.”

“Is she on the phone now?”

“Nope, I told her to hold but the lines dead and I can’t get an answer over there now. You going over there?”

“Yeah, we’ll head over there and check this out.”

He hung the mike and climbed in. “You can ride with. I think we know where this thing headed.”

Harry was already getting in, “Did I hear that right?”

“I’m not sure I did. If Amy was that excited, she must have gotten things messed up.”

They talked as he drove, lights flashing and moving fast. It was getting light now, and the rain was still holding off. “I should have started tracking that thing, if it starts raining, we’ll lose sign.”

“I think it headed over to the Connell’s, we can pick up the tracks there. Let’s just hope that it hasn’t killed Amy and Grant, and that we can get some straight answers.”

They pulled into the Connell’s drive in a few minutes and didn’t see any signs of attack. There were some lights on, but no sign of movement or anyone moving around inside. “You go around that way; I’ll go this side. Watch for any signs of trouble and be careful. Meet me around back.” With guns ready, Harry went to the left, Jim to the right.

They met at the back door. “Anything?”

Harry shook his head. “I’ll go back to the front door, give me to the count of ten and then we go in together.”

Harry counted as he walked, being watchful at the windows. There were lights on but no sign of anyone. He paused at the front door and tried the handle, unlocked. When he reached ten he swung the door open and stepped inside. Again, he tried to keep his back to the wall. The house seemed empty, but undamaged. He did notice a strange smell, however. He looked around quickly but did not see any signs of an attack. He opened a door that went into the bedroom, nothing out of place. When he stepped into the living room Jim was waiting for him. “Anything?”

“No, everything looks fine. You?”

“Just a kettle on the stove with some kind of plant in it, there’s some Monkshood on the counter, too. Looks like someone was cooking it, but not sure why, I thought it was poisonous.”

“Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Yep, and there’s one more place to look. There’s an old cabin out back in the trees they used to rent out to hunters. Come on.”

Jim lead the way, Harry followed. Once out the back door there was a worn path that headed into the trees. Harry knelt down and studied it a bit. “Just footprints, some newer but nothing to indicate any animal.” He stood and followed Jim into the trees.

The path wound around the trees and went about a quarter mile to a small clearing. The old log cabin stood in the center of the clearing. They could see the busted window from the side they were on, and picked up the pace to the only door. It was shut and locked. Together they went around the cabin, and looked in the windows. It was light out, but still foggy, when they came to the busted window, there were tracks.

Harry knelt down and looked closer at them then turned his head in the direction they went, south into the trees. “Looks like a foot, about a size 11, and no shoes. Jim, look at the tips of the toes, see the indents? Those are from claws. Looks like the what I seen at the Stanway’s house.”

Jim had already tried the door and it swung open on creaking hinges. Inside the small three room cabin everything was knocked over; it looked like someone had penned up a wild animal inside. There rips in the carpet, the half-sized picnic table was flipped over and busted, the wood cook stove was shoved up tight to the wall, it’s stovepipe knocked loose and on the floor amid a scattering of ash and creosote. Here were more tracks, some of a person and another set of the animal who left tracks outside the window. A short distance from this they found a cell phone that had been crushed. Jim picked it up and looked at it, then held it out to Harry. “Who, or whatever did this was very powerful, looks like they just squeezed it till it broke.”

Harry was looking into the second room. A partial wall separated the two rooms, no door, and there were no windows in this room. Sweeping his flashlight over the floor, Harry seen this one was also trashed. The floor was littered with stuff off the walls, a half open hide-a-bed flipped and torn, and a chair that looked like it had been hurled at the rough log wall next to the stone fireplace. There were ashes in the fireplace and a little smoke trailed up. Harry carefully poked around in the ash. There’s burning embers left, this fire was going through the night. There was a door off to the right, half ripped from the hinges, and hanging at an odd angle that made it look like it should fall over from its own weight.

Jim had joined Harry and together they went to the open door. Jim had his pistol out and peered in through the busted door. He whispered to Harry, stand back a bit and shine your light in, I can’t see anything. Harry stood back by the center of the room, ready to move if anything exited the dark entrance to the last room. He swept the beam of light up and into the room. From Jim’s stance, Harry could tell he was also ready for something to spring from the room. If it did, Jim was ready to shoot if necessary. Nothing moved. Slowly, Jim peered into the small lean-to room attached to the back of the cabin. There was one small window, not more than two-foot square on the wall, but a heavy curtain blocked any light from seeping in.

There were bunk beds on the side attached to the cabin, an open closet with a rod and a shelf in the corner, and an old dresser. He stepped in and looked around. The lean-to was almost as long as the two room cabin and on the side opposite the bunk beds, a double bed filled the space with barely enough room to walk on either side. Next to the bunk beds, an old dresser with a missing drawer stood at a bit of an angle. The floor here sloped a bit and Jim thought about how difficult it would be to keep from rolling right out of the bunk beds. But, the lean-to had a low ceiling and there wasn’t any place else the bunk beds would fit with enough room for anyone to use the top bunk.

Harry looked at the other bed while Jim scanned the rest of the room. “Looks like someone slept here recently. Look here, under the cover. Jim joined him and gazed down at long hair all over the sheet.

“Looks like my dogs bed, only the hairs longer.” Jim looked at the indentation on the pillow and seen it had a big wet spot. “Look, we got us a drooler.”

Other than the bed, the room looked unused, and undamaged, but when they turned to leave they seen the inside of the door. Huge claw marks ran down the door and part of the frame. The wall of the cabin, that made the inside wall of the lean-to, had a wet mark on it that ran to the floor, and there were shards of pottery stuck to the course finish of the logs. On the floor they found the rest of the busted cup, part of it still holding the round little handle. Harry sniffed at the wet stuff, then dabbed it with his finger and rubbed it with his thumb and sniffed again.

“Kind of sticky, but not greasy. Smells like the kitchen up at the main house, must be the tea they were cooking. Don’t look like our sleeper wanted any, but he sure wanted out. Look how he damn near clawed right through this door.”

Jim lead the way passed the hanging door and headed back towards the door. They both had flashlights out now and were scanning the floors and the walls. “No blood, and no sign of Amy. Do you think this thing drug her out with it?”

Harry was studying the floor, then worked his way to the main room and looked at the floor right up to the busted window. He looked a bit puzzled when he turned to Jim. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

They stood in silence, their ears straining to pick up any sound. Nothing. “Jim, there’s no sign of any drag marks on the floor, and whatever went through this window would have had to jump through. There’s no glass inside except a few small pieces on the sill, the rest landed outside. I want to look at those tracks and follow them, there may be some bleeding that didn’t start until it went through the….” His hushed tone was interrupted by a small thud. “Was that on the roof?” He whispered so quiet he had to lean into Jim and speak close to his ear.

Jim didn’t answer but pointed up and nodded, then winked at Harry. “Probably just a bird landing up there. Don’t look like much else to look at in here; let’s go check them tracks and see where they go.” He led the way to the door with harry walking behind him. Jim stopped just before going out and grabbed the heavy, open door, and slammed it, then put his finger to his mouth to hush Harry from asking what he was doing.

Harry had it figured out and nodded. They stood still and watched the around the room as they listened. There was another little thud, then another. It sounded like someone was walking around above them and moving toward the center of the room. Looking up, they both saw the slight outline of a hatch in the wood plank ceiling. Even as Harry started to point it out to Jim, it opened.

As it opened, a ladder unfolded from the hidden top side and then two legs appeared on the ladder. Jim went to one side, walking as quietly has he could, Harry went to the other side. Jim reached the legs coming down from above before Harry, and when something crunched under Harry’s boot, Jim grabbed the leg nearest before it retreated back up the ladder. They both heard the piercing scream of the woman they had scared half to death.

Jim spoke to the woman but did not release her leg. “It’s okay, I’m Sharif Jim Gambit.”

The woman hurried down when she heard his name, turning to look at Harry as she brought her head under the level of the ceiling. “I didn’t know who was down here, I couldn’t hear very well and it’s hard to see between the cracks in the boards.”

Harry went up high enough to look at her hiding spot. The roof was only about three feet above the rafters and the slope made it shrink down fast. The attic ran the length of the cabin and there were some boxes along the sides, pushed back as far as the roof allowed. He could see the boards of the ceiling between the rafters and the small cracks she must have been trying to listen and see through as they moved around below.

He climbed back down as she explained to the sheriff what had happened. At first she was ranting so fast they couldn’t understand her. “Just calm down a bit and start over, at the beginning. Calm now, it’s alright.”

Harry turned over an unbroken chair and Jim helped her to sit down. She had started crying and when she looked up they could see the tracks of the tears down her smudged and dirty cheeks. “About two weeks ago, Grant went out to shoot a deer. They were coming up at night and eating from the garden, so he hid along the trees and waited for one. He shot a small buck and drug it back into the trees to gut it. I helped him drag it back there and hang it from a branch, then brought his rifle in when I went inside to get ready to butcher it. He came in a few minutes later, covered in blood.”

She paused for a minute and wiped at the tears with the back of her hand. “I thought it was deer blood at first but then I saw his arm when he grabbed the rifle I had set up against the wall. He was bit on the arm and had tears in his jacket. I asked him what had happened. He said a wolf jumped him and bit his arm, then tore at his chest knocking him right over. He went back out with the rifle and I grabbed the flashlight I keep on the fridge. I shone the light and seen the wolf leap up and tear at the deer, trying to rip it down from the rope we hung it from. Grant shot it then went over and shot it again.”

She looked around the cabin then from Harry over to Jim. “I wanted to take him in to get his wounds looked at, but since he was shooting out of season he didn’t want to go. Instead of calling you, Harry, he dragged the wolf over by the garden and built a fire to burn it and the deer, since the wolf had chewed and clawed it all up. He came in and washed up, I tended to his wounds, then he went out and threw more wood on the fire. He burned them all night, then in the morning when the fire had burned down, dug a deep pit and dumped the ashes and any remains in it and filled it back in.”

After it was all finished, he went to bed. I had slept part of the night, after making sure his wounds were cleaned and dressed. I woke up when he got in bed, and went about my day. I wanted to call you, but I knew he would be mad, and he probably would go to jail. At the least we’d get fined, and we don’t have much money since he got laid off.”

“At first it seemed he was fine and the wounds were healing. After the first week, they were just scared except for the deeper punctures from the bite. Even they looked alright by the end of the first week, but still ha scabs. But after eight days, they got kind of red and Grant started running a fever. By the next day, his face was changed some, like his mouth stretched out more and his teeth were bigger or something. I thought it was lockjaw or something, but Grant said it was just the muscles cramping. His fever was gone and he seemed to be doing better except for he got cramps all over that day and night. He couldn’t sleep with them, and kept getting up and walking, trying to work out the cramps. Finally, he told me he was going to sleep in his recliner so he wouldn’t keep me up all night.”

Amy had started crying again but kept talking. “When I got up in the morning he was changed.”

“Changed?” Jim asked.

At the same time, Harry asked Amy, “How; what do you mean?”

She continued without really hearing them. “He wasn’t in the recliner, he was lying on the floor and woke when I came out of the bedroom. I could still recognize him, but he had hair all over his body and face, his mouth was more like a muzzle, and his arms and legs looked more like dog legs. His feet were longer and had claws instead of toenails. His fingers were longer, but no claws, just hair. He could still talk but it was hard to understand him. He looked at me and cocked his head, like a dog, then asked me what was wrong.”

“Oh Jim, it was horrible. I tried to tell him but couldn’t get the words to come out. He got up and went to the bedroom and looked in the dresser mirror at his reflection and then let out a long howl. He cried, Jim. Grant cried when he seen what he looked like.”

She paused and looked at Jim, then tipped her head and looked at the floor in front of her feet. “I tried to talk him into going to the hospital, but he wouldn’t and told me not to call anyone because they would lock him in a cage to study him, then dissect him. I was so scared, but he made sense. He acted the same, but just looked different. By that night he was half wolf, half man. He can still talk some, but it’s difficult for him and hard to understand him. He was afraid if someone came over they would see him so he moved into the cabin while I tried to find something to help him.

“I found stuff, but it was all make believe stuff about werewolves and stuff, like in the movies. Then, I seen a page that sounded like it was serious. They didn’t call them werewolves, but wolf men. I posted a question and the answer came back the next morning. It said they never heard of this kind of transformation, usually you have to be born a wolf man or woman, or if you’re bit by one, you can catch it.”

“They gave me a number to call for help and I talked to someone. I had to explain it all, the rabies mutation and stuff from the news. Then they gave me another number and said to call Vasilios Florentine and she could help. I did, and after explaining it all again she told me that this mutation of rabies is recorded in folklore as the beginning of the wolf-man. It started when a witch cast a shapeshifting spell and became a wolf that hunted down another animal that had rabies. She said it trapped her in the wolfs body and she tried to cast a spell to stop the rabies, but in the wolf form, she couldn’t cast it correctly and instead of curing her, it changed the rabies. As the new sickness drove her crazy, she attacked a woodcutter and mauled him bad, but he managed to kill her with an axe.”

Both Jim and Harry found items to sit on and listen as she told her tale.

She paused while they got seated, then went on. “He burned the wolf. He gave himself a few days to see if he got sick, when he did, thinking it was rabies, he piled wood around a tree, chained himself to it, and tried to set himself afire. But, the sickness was to quick and he didn’t get the fire started; instead he passed out before lighting the fire. A pack of starving wolves found him and soon moved in to feast on his unconscious body. They got sick with the new sickness and it spread from wolf to wolf. Locals found out the wolves were sick and eventually killed them off, but in the process, found that if anyone was wolf bit, they would transform into a wolf man.”

She went on with the tale, “Even though they hunted down the wolves and wolf men, the sickness seemed to survive somehow. She says other animals can pick it up and carry it, but it doesn’t make them sick. Through different periods of history, the sickness returns, but usually not in wolves, in people.”

Amy stopped and looked at her audience to see if they were believing her or not, couldn’t tell, then went on. “Vasilios said that it may manifest in domesticated dogs but doesn’t change them. People then get the sickness from the dog’s saliva. She thinks it may have come here in a dog that got attacked by a rabid wolf. She also said it can be cured if treated right away, but once a month is past, the change is complete and the person begins to go insane. They won’t die like the wolves, they just turn savage and insane, killing anything and everything. They also become very powerful and are had to kill.”

Amy stopped and looked at Jim. “She sent me some stuff to give to Grant to cure him. In the old days they had to make the creature drink this stuff three times a day for fifteen days, but now it’s been made into a shot; tithe stuff we use for the wolves may be the same thing. She told me that Wolfsbane would slow the sickness until the package arrived with the medication in it. I looked it up online and monkshood is the only type we have around here.”

“I told Grant all this and he was eager to get the package and to try Wolfsbane. Yesterday I went out and picked a bunch, boiled it up like Vasilios told me, and brought a cup to Grant last night. When I came in, he was in bed, so I brought it to him. He took it and was about to take a drink, then flung it at the door and jumped out of bed. I tried to talk to him. He said it was poison and I was trying to kill him. He ran out of the room, ripping the door apart to get through, like he was a trapped animal. I tried to talk to him and put my hand on his shoulder to calm him, but he flung me back into the wall and I got knocked out, when I woke he was gone, the window busted out there, and I was afraid he’d come back and kill me.”

“That’s when you called in?”

“Yes, I had my phone in my pocket and called, but he did come back. I heard him and went to the broken window and seen him standing along the trees in the shadows. I opened the door to run to the house but he was too fast and got in front of me. I turned and ran back in here and he was right behind me, panting and growling at me. I tried to talk to him, and I think he understood me, but then he seen I had the phone and he went wild again. He knocked the phone out of my hand and backed me into the corner. He was crouched like he was going to pounce on me, but when I cried out his name he stopped. He turned and grabbed up the phone and crushed it, looked at me and growled again before running back out the door.”

“I was so scared I could barely move, but I thought he would come back again. He recognized me and my voice, but I was afraid that the wolf in him would take over and he would come back. I closed the door but it doesn’t have a lock. I don’t think it would stop him anyway, he’s strong now. Then I remembered the attic. I used a char to reach the door and open it, then kicked the chair away and went up the ladder, closing the hatch behind me. When you came in, I thought it was Grant come back to kill me.”

Harry was having a hard time believing it all, but nothing else made sense. Jim was helping her up and asking if she was hurt at all. He looked her over and she had no signs of scratching or being bit. “If you’re looking to see if I got bit, I didn’t. Grant is still more man than wolf, but at night it gets worse. I forgot that Vasilios told me that, but she did. The wolf comes out more at night, but during the day, Grant is more man again.”

Jim led her out the door, Harry went to the tracks and started following them up to the trees. Back at the car, Jim radioed in to the dispatcher and informed them briefly of what they had learned. “The sickness can spread, to humans, but it don’t affect them the same. Grant Connell got wolf bit and is on the run. I’m going to help Harry track him down, and if possible, capture him and bring him in to see if he can be treated. I’m sending Amy back to town in my car, she will fill everyone in on what she knows. Meantime, alert everyone to look out for a big wolf that walks like a man. Tell ‘em to stay inside and lock the doors until we stop him, one way or another. Also, get hold of the hospital and tell em to keep Ray Stanway there, he’s been wolf bit and will need to be monitored.”

Jim watched as Amy pulled out of the drive and vanished down the road. He looked around, it was plenty light out now, but the fog had moved in and it was getting harder to see very far. He walked over to where Harry was kneeling, thinking he was looking at the tracks. “We have a serious problem if what she said is true, Harry.”

Harry looked up at Jim from where he had thrown up. “Yep, we do, and it’s even worse, I got bit, too.”

He stood and looked at Jim, I hauled a wolf in last night and cut my hand on its teeth, what if I get sick now?”

“Was it alive or dead?”

“It was dead, but that don’t mean a lot if Amy’s story is true.”

Jim looked at the puke. “You sick, Harry?”

“Yeah, I am. Not bad, I can track, but if I start changing into some kind of monster, do me a favor and shoot me.”

“We have about a week before that happens, if you got this. We don’t even know if what she said is true. Which way?”

Harry led them into the trees and about two hours later stopped and looked at Jim. “That’s it, I don’t see any tracks or sign, this damn rain washed everything away. Now what?”

Jim looked up at the sky, blinking against the steady rainfall. “Not much we can do. I’ll call for a deputy to come get us, we must be damn dear the road, seems like we been tracking parallel to it all morning.”

“Yeah, we can’t be too far, let’s cut to the left and we should intersect it soon enough.” The brush was thick and they had to wind around any open water. Harry had stopped and was getting his bearings. “This is just one big swamp with a few trails through it. Damn rain makes it hard to tell what direction we’re going and then having to wind around to find solid ground….”

He stopped midsentence to listen. “Hear that, we are close to the road. Come on.”

Jim heard the vehicle as well and with renewed spirits the two drenched trackers pushed on through the brush. Soon enough they were on the road and walking down the gravely shoulder. Jim pulled out his cell phone and touched the screen. “Great, the rain soaked it through, I don’t have anything. Your phone work, Harry?”

“Don’t have one, never seen a need.”

“Great, looks like we walk.” They continued walking and finally caught a ride after about a half hour later. The driver was Bob Swanson who had a hundred questions, which they answered vaguely. No use getting things started until they knew for sure what was going on. Bob took them over to the Stanway place and they thanked him without telling him anything more than another wolf attack. They piled into Harry’s truck and headed back to town.

When they got back to the sheriff’s station Jim checked in and got the latest news. No sign of the wolf-man, Ray was being held at the hospital and Anita was staying with him. It had been quiet all morning. Amy was at the café having lunch, Harry went home and changed, grabbed a bite to eat, and filled Mable in on what he had heard. “Don’t go saying anything to anyone. We don’t know what’s true and what aint yet, but it does explain a lot. I got a feeling there’s more truth than not in all this.”

After lunch he went to check on the status of the wolf he had brought in. He was feeling fine again, but he wanted to check about that wolf, just in case. When he got to the old clinic, the main door was unlocked. “Good, they are still here.”

He went in and seen the wolf was packaged up in giant zip-lock style bag. The local vet and the CDC technician were talking and turned to look when Harry came in. “Kind of in a hurry with this one huh?”

“Not really, why?”

“The damn thing wasn’t dead, Harry. It was unconscious, lungs half full of blood, but still alive. Jack had to get his gun from home and come back and shoot it; made a hell of a mess in the cooler, but we didn’t want to try and move it until it was good and dead. Just glad Jack seen it twitch a little or we might have hauled it out here without knowing it wasn’t dead yet.”

“You all right, Harry, you look like you’re going to pass out?”

Harry steadied himself and answered, “Yeah, I’m fine. For now, anyway.”

He pulled up a chair and sat down, then explained everything to them. He was just finishing when the sheriff came in. “Harry, I was just coming over to fill these two in and get their thoughts on Amy’s story.”

“Harry already told us. We found something interesting when we ran some tests on this one, since it wasn’t dead when we got here. Jack shot it and then we isolated some blood and kept it warm to see the virus while it was alive. We also took a saliva sample and kept that at normal temperature, too. Somehow, we got a bit of the blood in the saliva sample, probably from the blood when Jack shot it.”

“It wasn’t dead! Harry, you said you cut your hand on its teeth, are you infected?”

“I don’t know, wish there was a test to see.”

The CDC guy answered back, “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. We contaminated the saliva with the wolf’s blood, but had kept it in the same state as it is in a living wolf. We have a live sample of the virus incubating. We have run a few different tests to see if it can spread to other animals. I have a call in to get a wider range of blood samples to run the test against, but so far it only seems to survive in dog blood. It doesn’t attack the blood cells, but it lives in the plasma and when we injected a test subject, it didn’t’ infect the animal, or hasn’t yet. But it survives in the blood. Dogs can carry the virus, so we think coyotes and fox may be able to do the same.”

“I don’t suppose you checked it against human blood?” Harry asked.

“No, but we could. We could expose human blood to the virus and see if it dies right away or not. But, Harry, if you cut your hand on this wolf’s teeth, we could run your blood to see if the virus is present or not. Unlike rabies, this virus stays in the blood as well as infecting the nervous system.”

Harry volunteered and a few minutes later they had a tube of blood in the incubator. They also made a slide and set it in the microscope and put the image on the computer screen so everyone could see. “The virus can’t live outside the host or after the host dies, so we are looking for a dead bug in here. But in the blood we are incubating, the virus, if present, will continue to live for further testing.”

Neither Jim or Harry knew what they were looking at, but the vet and the technician seemed completely absorbed in the image of squirmy little things moving around some plate shaped things. “My God!” Jack sounded alarmed and his eyes were wide when he looked at Harry.

“What?”

The CDC guy answered while Jack went back to staring at the computer screen. “It’s the virus, and it’s not dead. It’s living in your blood, outside the body. Look at it,” he pointed to the screen at a long squiggly thing that was sticking to the edge of one of the plates as he continued, “It’s attaching to the red blood cells and it’s twice the size of the ones in the wolf blood.”

Even as they watched, the long wiggly thing split into two shorter wiggly things. “It’s growing. It’s attaching to red blood cells and dividing.”

“Look at how the blood is altered by this,” Jack said, “this looks like wolf blood cells where the virus has attached.”

Before it all sunk in, Harry was moved to the hospital and put in a room across from Ray. Doctors were working with both of them, taking blood and running tests. With the CDC assisting, it was determined that Amy’s story was in fact true, the virus was altering not only the blood, but the basic cell structure. It didn’t change it completely, but left it as a cross between a wolf’s and a man’s.

One of the doctors explained to everyone what they had determined. “At this rate, it would take about a week for the changes to become physical enough to show, but from there it would begin to accelerate. Not only will it alter the physical appearance, but as it attacks the nervous system and brain, they will change, too. Your senses will become keener, you’ll get a lot stronger, bones become thicker and denser, and you will begin to lose your knowledge of everything as the brain cells mutate. In short, it will wipe out your memories and normal thought, leaving you completely insane.”

Harry sat on the edge of his bed, clad in an open back hospital robe listening. When the doctor finished, he asked, “Is the part about a cure real, is there something you can do?”

“Yes, we think so. The vaccine we are using for the wolves is basically preventing them from being infected, but it also stops the infection in the wolf if given soon enough. Although it’s a little different with a person, we think we can alter this vaccine slightly and use it to both inoculate people, and treat people. The inoculation would be short, about a month and then a booster would need to be given, but it would prevent people from becoming infected. It should also stop the virus in people who have the infection.”

“How long to alter the vaccine and have it ready to try?”

“It’s being altered right now, and if you and Ray are willing to be our test subjects, we can try it out right away. The CDC is already pushing to get us clearance to try this out. Since it’s transferrable from wolf and dog to human and we have three infected people already, one running around half mad, the CDC is positive we can get this pushed through for testing on a human subject. Especially since it’s similar to the treatment already used for rabies and not a new drug.”

“How long do we have before it’s untreatable? I mean what about Grant, can he be cured?”

“We aren’t sure, not yet anyway. I’m hoping he is, but it depends on how far along the change is to his cells. Once we get the vaccine, we will begin testing it on infected blood from you and Ray. If it works like it should, we’ll try it on one of you and see what we get for results. I’d like to monitor it for at least twenty-four hours before giving the other one a shot.”

It was well after dinner when Jim showed up. “How’s it going, Harry?”

“It’s sounding pretty good at this point, just waiting for a vaccine to get over here so they can start testing it.”

“Yeah, I know. I just brought it over for some more tests by the doctor. The CDC lab tested it on some of the samples of your blood, and it showed positive to stopping the virus almost instantly. The doc should be in for some blood for more tests, unless he uses Ray’s.”

“Great, then maybe I can get out of here soon.”

“I hope so; we could use your help tracking Grant. He’s been spotted at a few different places, but he’s fast and we can’t catch him, always gone by the time we show up. So far he’s attacked some livestock, but he’s not shown to be aggressive to people. Well, except for old man Tibbets.”

“What happened with Tibbets?”
“That ornery old cute took a shot at him, even though we are notifying everyone to stay away and not provoke him. Anyway, Tibbets shot at him. No blood, so we think he missed, but Grant jumped almost fifteen feet at him and knocked him over and scared the bejesus out of the old fart. Didn’t hurt him though he did knock the rifle away and then bent it up before he ran off. A deputy was close by, heard the shot and was over there in less than five minutes. Grant was running along the road in the ditch, hitting over twenty miles an hour before he veered into the trees and we lost him. Anyway, the good news is, he’s not attacking people. Not yet. He seems to still comprehend things, but he’s got to be scared we are going to hunt him down and shoot him.”

“Well, maybe if this vaccine works, we can vaccinate him with a dart. The doc didn’t know if it would work on a more advanced state, but Grant would be a good test to see.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the doctor. “We ran this against some blood work and it’s working great. I just gave Ray the shot, the CDC got us a go ahead to try it. I’m going to monitor him through the night and if there are no problems, we can give you the shot sometime tomorrow, if you’re willing. Don’t have any guarantees yet, but it’s looking positive.”

“Sounds great, Doc. Can I go home now?”

The doctor looked at the sheriff, then back to Harry. “I don’t see any need to keep you, but if you start getting sicker, notice any changes, or feel different, you get your ass back here. I’m staying the night; I want to monitor Ray. So, anything at all and you get right back here, understand?”

Harry was up and getting dressed already. “Yeah, I understand. Anything changes and I’ll be right back here.” The doctor looked at him for a moment longer, then left the room.

He turned to Jim, I know you need some help trying to catch Grant, but can I run home for a few minutes to talk to Mabel? I called her earlier, but all this talk of the sickness and the wolf-man has her pretty worked up. I’d like to spend a little time with her, let her know there’s a cure, and that Grant isn’t dangerous.”

“Yeah Harry, shouldn’t be a problem with that. It’s too dark out now to track Grant, so until we get another sighting, there’s not much we can do. I’m arming the deputies with tranquilizer guns hoping we can stop him and get him treated. If I get anything, I’ll stop by and get you.”

“Sounds good. Set me up with one of them tranqu-guns then, too.” The sheriff nodded and left. Harry put his boots on but didn’t’ lace them, just tucked the cord inside by the tongue. He stopped at the nurse’s station and signed out, then started towards the door. He looked back at the clock at the nurse’s station, almost nine.

Mabel heard someone outside and thought it might be Harry. He had called earlier and said he would try and get home as soon as possible, but was waiting for some tests to come back. She had asked if she should come over, but he told her no. Not until we understand this better and there’s no chance of infecting you.

She had heard the reports over the radio as well as from her friends who were quick to call with any gossip they had picked up. She didn’t know what was true and what wasn’t, but she had a pretty good idea from everything. There were wolves attacking people and the people were getting infected. She also knew Grant Connell had got wolf bit a while back and had changed into some kind of wolf-man and was now terrorizing the area. The news said he wasn’t attacking people, but she heard different stories of it being covered up, and some of the people he had bit had also turned into wolf-men.

Mabel was terrified and had locked all the doors; now there was someone outside.

She heard the slight tapping again, then a thud. Was it by the garage? She looked out and seen Harry’s truck was still gone. But, he may have gotten a ride home, after all, he was sick too. She went to the door and opened it and looked out. At first she didn’t see anything, then a big dog moved by the garage.

She watched, thinking of yelling and chasing it away. But before she yelled, the dog stood up – on two feet. She froze. That wasn’t any dog. The thing moved around the side of the garage into the light from the back door, walking on two feet. Mabel started to shake when she seen it fully, standing on two legs and bending over slightly to look through the garage window. Wolf-man!

Mabel backed through the door and held tight to her walker. She pushed the door shut and started turning the lock as quietly as she could. She turned the lights off and went to the kitchen, dragging her walker behind her. Just as she reached the kitchen, she heard it scratching at the door. Then it started shaking the door, it was trying to get in.

She was so scared she couldn’t move, she just stood and watched the front door shake as the beast slammed into it, over and over. Then, as quick as it started it stopped. She was starting to think it had left when she heard a long and terrifying howl, kind of like a wolf’s. She was so scared she almost fell over. She put her back to the wall to steady herself just as the front door disintegrated from the beast’s powerful claws. Part of the door flew into the room but the biggest part still hung in the wolf-man’s way. He just grabbed it and ripped it off, tossing it aside.

Mable was frozen by fear. Standing in the kitchen holding her walker with her back to the wall she opened her mouth to scream. Nothing came out except a rush of air. This was it; this is how she would die, ripped apart by the savage, hideous beast.

Even though she couldn’t move, she could hear. She could hear the wolf-man sniffing and the thud of its feet as it moved closer and closer to the kitchen. She heard it just on the other side of the doorway beside her and somehow she managed to finally move. She slid along the wall, discarded walker still blocking the doorway. When she got to the counter, she reached up without turning her head from the doorway. She felt around the counter until she felt the heavy wooden black that held the knives. She turned and looked quickly, picking the biggest knife and sliding it out.

It made little noise, but it was enough. The wolf-man stopped and cocked his head as he listened for more sounds. Mabel held the knife behind her, hidden from view and got ready. She braced her butt against the counter and grabbed it with her free hand. The other held the knife, ready to plunge it into the wolf-man if he got too close.

She almost dropped the knife when it grabbed the doorway with its fury and clawed paw, then poked its hideous face into the room and looked right at her. Then it was in the room and moving towards her. It cocked its head and bared its teeth in a terrorizing snarl. A low growl came out sounding almost like something had knocked the wind from it. Closer and closer it stalked. It stopped just short of her being able to drive the knife into it.

Again it made that terrifying growl, “Hurrrrr. Hurrrrr.”

Then another sound came from the driveway, a car door shutting. Could it be Harry?

The wolf-man turned and let out another longer growl as it attacked him coming through the door, “Hurrrrrrr!”

Mabel ignored the walker as she pushed past it and rushed as quick as she could to help Harry. When she got to the door, she seen him, standing in the broken frame. The wolf-man had stopped about four feet from him and Mabel choked down a sour taste and charged the beast, knife high and ready to pierce it in the back.

“Nooo!” Harry cried but it was too late she was already moving. Then her balance failed her and down she went, short of her target. The knife went flying under the couch and she knocked the wind from herself. Unable to move, she watched helplessly as the wolf-man moved in for the kill.

“Stop! Grant, stop, I don’t want to shoot.”

Mabel heard but didn’t understand. She tried to tell him to shot it, but she just couldn’t catch her breath.

The wolf-man did stop and lowered its raised arms and sat down on the floor, like a dog. If she hadn’t been so frightened, she may have broken out laughing at the sight of this beast sitting and panting like a loving dog greeting its master.

Harry lowered his pistol, then slipped it into the holster and held out his empty hands. “Grant, we can help you. We know what happened and they have a vaccine. They already gave it to Ray, and if he’s doing alright in the morning, I’ll get it, too.”

The wolf-man cocked its head and looked even more comical to Mabel. She half expected it to lie down and curl up on the rug.

“That’s right, Grant, I got wolf bit, too. Just like you, I got bit and infected. But the vaccine works and it will work for you. But until then, we need to keep you someplace safe. Safe for you so no one tries to shoot you, and so you don’t attack anyone. Do you understand me?”

The wolf-man got to its feet and advanced on Harry, just inches between them, it reached out it’s muzzle and almost touched Harry’s nose. “Hurrr.”

“I can’t understand you, Grant. Are you hurt?”

The wolf-man shook his head and leaned in again. “hur, hurry.”

“Yes, we will hurry and get you the vaccine. But you need to come with me.”

Again the wolf-man backed up a little, but this time shook his head no. Harry could see how difficult it was trying to move the cheeks and tongue to speak, but Grant tried once again. “Ha-arry, helf ma-ma-me.”

“Yes, I’ll help you. Do you trust me, Grant? You have to trust me. We won’t hurt you, we just want to help you get better. But, some of the folk are pretty worked up and may try to harm you so we need to put you someplace safe until the vaccine has time to work. Grant, I promise, no one will hurt you.”

The wolf-man tipped his head in a slight nod. Harry backed out the door, and grant followed. Once to the truck he told grant, get in the back and lie flat so no one sees you, I need to check on Mabel.

While Grant crawled into the truck box, Harry went in and helped Mabel up and over to the couch. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, just scared and kind of shook up.”

“I have to get him someplace safe for everyone, especially him. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I almost stabbed him, Harry. It is Grant, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s Grant. There is a vaccine and it’s working on Ray. It will work on me and Grant, too.”
Mabel was starting to cry and shake. “I’m fine, just get going and Harry, be careful.”

“Call Jim and tell him what’s going on, I’m going to head over to his place and try and figure out where to take Grant. Tell him to meet me outside.”

Harry went out to the truck and was pleased to see Grant hunkered down in the back. He looked up at Harry and nodded again. “Grant, I’m heading over to Jim Gambit’s to try and find a safe place to keep you and treat you. Are you alright with Jim?”

Grant nodded and put a fury paw out and touched Harry on the shoulder. “Ahma?”

Harry didn’t understand and Grant repeated it again. Then it sunk in, “Amy? Are you concerned about Amy?”

Grant nodded again. Harry patted his paw and told him, “Amy is fine. You gave her a big scare and a bump on the head, but she’s fine. Once we get you safe, I’ll find her and bring her over so you can see for yourself.”

It was hard to tell, but Harry was sure Grant smiled. With his features so wolf like, however, it looked like a very savage sneer.

Harry met Jim on the side of the road by Jim’s house. “Get in.”

Jim went to the passenger side and got in. “He’s in the back?”

“Yeah, he seems to understand just fine, but he can barely speak. I got his trust and he knows we are going to keep him safe, I also told him there’s a vaccine. I just don’t know where to put him.”

Jim opened the door. “Well, let’s ask him.”

Harry got out and they went to the back of the truck and looked at the huge, wolf like, creature hiding there. “Grant, do you understand me?” Jim asked.

He nodded at Jim. “Where can we take you that’s safe. Harry told me you don’t want to hurt anyone, but we need to make sure you don’t and we need to keep you safe from everyone else.”

Grant snarled as he looked up, “gral – ggrail.”

Harry thought he understood. “Do you mean in the jail’ Grant?”

Another nod. “Alright then. When we get there Harry, park in back. I’ll go in and get the night deputy out in front and then come back so we can take Grant here in by the back door. I’ll fill the deputy in while you go get the doctors and the vaccine. You ready Grant?”
Both Harry and Grant nodded, then they were off. The plan went off without any problems. Grant went peacefully with Jim and Harry went to the hospital. He filled the doctor in on Grant and asked him how the vaccine was working. “So far, it’s working great. There is no sign of the virus surviving in Ray, and no sign of any problems. In fact, Ray says he feels great.”

Harry drove him over to the sheriff’s office and they went in through the front. The night deputy met them and took them back to the jail cells. “Poor Grant, he’s in bad shape, huh? What if the stuff don’t work on him, then what do we do?”

The doctor answered, “It will work. It may take a while but if he still can understand and speak even a little, it hasn’t infected his brain yet. We still don’t understand just how the virus works completely, but we do know how to kill it.”

The deputy hung around for a few minutes after they got to Grant’s cell. “Go back up front and make sure no one gets back here. Doc, I locked him in, just in case he got dangerous, but so far, he just sits there by his cot. You alright going in with him?”

“Well, Jim, the shot won’t give itself to him, and I need some blood to test. I’m going to have to keep monitoring him for a while and can’t do it from out here. Yeah I’ll go in with him.”

Jim unlocked the barred door. “This is the doctor, he’s going to give you as shot and draw some blood and test it. He’ll need to draw more later to see if the vaccine is working. Do you understand?”

Grant nodded and lifted his right arm for the doctor. Jim pulled the door aside and the doctor went in and checked Grant over. He took some blood samples then administered the shot. “It didn’t cause Ray any discomfort but he wasn’t as far along as you. This may cause you some pain and maybe make you sick. But, Mr. Connell, it won’t hurt you. It should kill the virus in twenty-four hours or less. I’ll run this blood through some tests and be back over to check on you and take another sample to see how it’s working. You feel alright?”

Grant nodded, then sunk onto the cot and lie down. Jim closed and locked the door after the doctor exited. “I called for Amy, she is on her way over to see him.”

Amy showed up right after the doctor had left with Harry. She sat outside Grants cell and talked to him. He watched her, but didn’t seem to recognize her. Shortly after, however, he got up and sat down on the floor beside her. After a few minutes he returned to the cot. Amy stayed the night, talking to the doctor when he stopped back.

Harry went home and blocked off the broken door the best he could. He wouldn’t sleep in the bedroom with Mabel, though. “I got the infection and don’t want to give it to you. I’m fine, but let’s be safe for now, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Harry woke early the next morning feeling stiff, sore, and feverish. Mabel had coffee ready and brought him a cup. “How you feelin, Harry?”

“Not so good. I’m going to head over to the hospital right after I see now Grants doing so they can give me that damn shot.” He did stick around for a few minutes and managed to drink half his coffee. He drove over to see Jim and Grant without any problems, but once there, he started feeling pretty week and wasn’t sure if he could drive to the hospital.

“I can drive you over, Harry.”

“Alright, but I want to see how Grants doing first.”

“He’s doing good, but no change in his features. The doc was by a couple hours ago and did some blood work. Said the vaccine is working without a hitch.” They walked back and Grant was up pacing.

He still couldn’t talk very well, but seemed to be in high spirits. “You doing alright, Grant?” Harry asked him.

“Yasss, doinn ggood. Tanks-ew Hurry.”

“That’s alright, just glad it’s working. Now it seems it’s my turn.”

“W-w-want to y-y-youu, Hurry – noed yew halp Gant.”

Talking was difficult but it was better. Harry smiled. He was just about to take Jim up on the ride when amyl returned with a tray of food and a doctor right behind her. “I have food for anyone who’s hungry, and we got a fresh doctor, too. Seems Doc Carlson was about ready to collapse from not sleeping. This is Doctor Faulkton.

They all greeted him, including Grant. “Huh – loo”

“Ah, my patient, and how are you this morning Mr. Connell?”

“Em goot, burt ungry!”

“That’s a good sign. I’m going to draw a little blood before you eat and run it again. I have the results of the last test and it’s looking good. The virus is already dead and your blood cells are returning to normal. I want to swab your mouth and see if the virus is still present in your saliva and if the cells there are normalizing.”

Harry left while they talked and got a ride to the hospital to get his shot. They took him in to see Ray who was getting ready to leave. “I’m doing good, Harry. Doc said the virus is gone and I’m good to go home. Going to take bit to heal my arm yet, but it’s feeling pretty good too. How’s Grant? Heard he’s being held at the jail and treated there?”

“He’s doing good. He’s got a long way to go but he’s talking better and acting just like himself. Now we just need to wait for the rest of his physical changes to reverse, if they will. Didn’t think to ask when I was there. Be horrible if he stays like he is now, God I hope it reverses.”

Harry got a shot, then was sent home until he was feeling better. The nurse told him the shot should work pretty fast and he should be feeling alright by morning, if not, come in and talk to Doctor Carlson right away. By that afternoon, Harry was feeling fine again and worked on the broken door.

Mabel was glad to have him back home, and when he told her Grant was recovering fine, she smiled. “Sounds like this thing is finally coming to an end; it’s been a long summer and fall, maybe a good freeze will end the virus completely.”

They spent the day together, watched a movie that night and enjoyed root-beer floats. The following morning Jim stopped by and gave them an update on how things were going. “Doctor Carlson moved Grant over to the hospital and has him in quarantine. Grant’s alright, the virus is gone but he still looks the same and Carlson doesn’t want to alarm anyone with him there. But having him there is the best place to try and find something that will reverse the damage done.”

Harry poured them all another cup of coffee and then sat back down himself. “Jim, what about the stuff that Amy ordered, has anyone looked into that?”

“No, I think everyone forgot about it. I bet it’s out at their house in the mailbox. I don’t know if it will do the trick or not, but it’s worth trying. Want to ride along?”

Harry got up and walked towards the door with Jim. Mabel already knew he would be heading out, that was just the way Harry rolled, but he stopped at the door and told Jim, “Think I’ll pass on the offer, I’ve had enough excitement for a while.”

Jim smiled and seen Mabel smiling behind Harry. “Alright then, I guess I’m going solo today.”

“Jim, let me know what you find out. I sure hope there’s some hope for Grant.”

“Will do, thanks for coffee. By Mabel.” Jim waved as he walked to his car.

Harry went back and sat down next to Mabel and sipped at his coffee, “Looks like it’s just you and me again, Babe.”

A couple of days passed and Harry decided to go over to the hospital and visit Grant. There hadn’t been any word on how things were going or if the stuff Amy had sent for worked or not. Jim had called and told them the doctors were looking at it to see, but he hadn’t gotten any answers, either. Mabel surprised Harry when she put on her coat and wanted to ride along. “Are you sure, you don’t usually like to go out anyplace anymore?”

“Yes, Harry, I’m sure. If you have to run all over, then I’m going to be going with to keep an eye on you from now on.”

At the hospital a nurse had them wait. About a half hour later Doctor Carlson came in and sat down. “I suppose your wondering about Grant?”

“Yeah, how is he? Did that stuff help?”

“Well, as you know, all medication needs to be approved before we can use it. This stuff is a lot different than the vaccine we used. In fact, it’s a lot like the virus that caused all this. I sent a sample over to the CDC lab and they ended up having to ship a sample to another lab that could look even further into it. It’s not a vaccine, Harry, it’s a virus. The same virus but with an altered or mutated DNA. Not much, but a little different.”

“You mean, they sent the virus that caused this? “Harry was alarmed.

“Close, but not quite the same. We can’t get approval to use it, because it is so close. It could take years before it’s tested enough to use.”

“My God, do you mean Grant is going to stay half wolf?”

“No, Grant is going to recover, but we can’t administer the drug to him. Amy can, she ordered it. I’m saying this off the record, and if anyone ever found out, I’d never practice medicine again. The package Jim gave me had two vials of medication in it and a note saying it would revert the victim back to their former self if given soon enough.”

Doc Carlson hushed his voice down lower, “We also knew that once the virus altered too many cells, there would be no cure, so time was against us. Even though we had stopped the virus, Grant’s own DNA was slightly altered and he would have continued to transform on his own. No madness, he would be himself but stuck forever in the wolf-man body.”

After a pause he went on, “Amy opened the package, since it was addressed to her. Illegal to open someone else’s mail, you know. I told her that we may not be able to use the medication, even if it would work, since we have to have FDA approval. She promised to not say anything when I told her to keep one of the two vials. If asked, I’ll swear she told me there was only one and gave it to me for testing. I will also swear that I didn’t know she had given the other one to Grant in a shot when no one was in the room.”

Now it was Mabel who asked, “Amy gave some to Grant? Was it safe?”
“Together with the CDC’s help the vial was tested and checked. It seemed like a risk, since it could cause another infection, but what were the choices. We did know that the vaccine we have would also kill this if it didn’t help Grant. Amy gave him an injection and we watched and waited. I just ran his blood and a small tissue sample, he’s infected, but the change to the DNA is making it change him back to normal. We will have to watch it close, but it seems the more he returns, the more his own body fights the infection. I believe that in another day or two at the most, he will be back to normal and over the infection. In fact, he’ll be immune to it.”

“Can we see him?”

“He’s pretty sick from the infection, but I think it will do him good to see you, to see both of you.”

He led them down the hall and through a door marked “QUARANTINE AUTHORIZED PERSONS ONLY”. They went down a short hall to another door. “Here we are, Grants room. Amy’s with him and they will both be happy to see you.”

Harry pushed the door open and stepped through, holding it for Mabel. He looked over at Amy and nodded a high. “This is my wife, Mabel; this is Amy. How’s Grant.”

“Hi Mabel. Grant’s in the bathroom, but should be out in a minute, you can see for yourself.”

A minute later Grant stepped out of the bathroom holding a razor. “What do you think?” He asked Amy even as he seen Harry and Mabel by the door. “Still a bit hairy but doing much better don’t you think?”

He was looking more like a person, his face was almost back to normal, but he was still covered in soft fine hair everyplace except his freshly shaved face. “I’m so sorry for scaring you.” He said to Mabel. “I just knew I was going to get shot or end up being some lab rat if I didn’t get help. I was scared, more scared than you, but the only person I could think of was Harry. I don’t know why, but somehow I could tell he wouldn’t hurt me if I could show him I wasn’t dangerous. Please forgive me for breaking in and thank you.”

Mabel had tears in her eyes, “Your just lucky I didn’t stab you. God I’m glad I fell and didn’t hurt you.”

“Me too!” Harry, Amy, and Grant all replied together, then broke out laughing.