Some Twisted Tales

Red and The Wolf

Detective Hunter slammed the drivers' door of his 1985 Ford police cruiser and began walking to the group of officers across the forest clearing. He'd still been in bed asleep when he got the call, and the last thing he wanted to do was get up and drive all the way out Blackthorn Forest in the February chill for a dead animal.

His workboots made tracks in the frosty grass, dampening with every step as he approached the men. He recognized the two rangers from his unit and Deputy Woods, a bright young rookie who just moved from upstate.

"Okay, someone tell me what's so special about this wolf that I have to see" he grumbled, rubbing his hands together and stuffing them in his pocket. Deputy Woods exchanged looks with the two rangers before looking back at him.

"We found the carcass at around 6, by old Mayella's cabin in the woods. It looked like it had died 12-20 hours beforehand"

Hunter sniffed, rubbing his nose on his jacket sleeve, "Yeah, okay, but what's the deal? It's a dead animal, I shouldn't even be here."

One of the rangers cut in, "You want to see it Hunter, it's pretty big"

Hunter wanted to scoff, he'd seen a bear the size of two grown men before, alive and kicking, a dead wolf was nothing remarkable.

Nevertheless, Hunter allowed the three men to lead him to a large pile of mulch on the corner of the clearing.

With every step, he took his dread increased. Upon closer inspection, the pile of mulch was not mulch at all, but the hulking form of a fresh corpse. The wolf must have been the size of a small moving truck.

Its back was turned to them but Hunter didn't doubt its canines would be as long as his forearm. Its gunmetal gray pelt was matted from mud frost and blood, the dark brown coated the once pristine fur in great messy streaks.

Hunter let out a long breath, studying the wolf closely. He was almost scared to look around and see it's front, but he kept his cool.

"Holy, that's a big dog," Hunter said quietly

"But, no matter how big it is it's between you guys and Old Mayella," he gestured at the rangers, taking an excuse to get away from the creature and back to the center of the clearing with the rest of the men.

Bright looked down at his boots and cleared his throat, "Hunter, Mayella's dead."

"What?" he blanched, the Deputy nodded, "How's that possible? Mayella's the most resilient old lady I've ever met, she's the only one who can stand to live out here in these woods."

"Whatever it was, it wasn't natural causes. But the body's unmarred, we'll need to take it in for an autopsy" Woods commented, looking into the forest where Hunter could make out the vague shape of the cabin through the trees. He had a pretty good hunch the wolf had something to do with it.

"But there's more" Woods continued, sighing,

"Mayella's granddaughter was over when she died"

An invisible hand clenched Hunter's stomach, "Oh no"

"No, don't worry, she's alive, we found her at the cabin, huddled up all in a ball, barely'll speak to us, pretty traumatized. She's messed up in here" he gestured to his head.

"Where is she?" Hunter questioned,

"In the car over there" Woods waved his gloved hand to another police cruiser parked in the clearing,

"We called you over 'cuase we think you might be able to talk to her"

Hunter nodded, "Alright then," he said, gathering his wits again,