The Reluctant Mate

Amanda

The full moon was the perfect time to put my plan into action, because with not a cloud in the sky I could rely on it to help light my way. I had all my equipment ready in a backpack, my phone securely tucked in the side of my bra on do not disturb, and it was go time. I was going to find out once and for all if Carrie was fine, and if all my suspicions were just a product of my own experiences and my overactive imagination.

By now I had convinced myself they were not. I wasn’t crazy. Something was off, and I was going to find out what it was tonight. Then I could decide how to proceed when I saw her next. I was worried, and I was curious, and I told myself none of it was because I couldn’t get Porter out of my head.

But he wasn’t in there now, at least not front and centre. I was focused as I drove to the location I had scoped during daylight, and parked my car on a dead end side road as I had carefully planned. Getting out, I took a deep breath. Maybe this was a stupid idea, but I felt compelled to find out.

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I locked my car. I had that creeping sensation that someone was watching me again, but I shook it off. I’d had it so many times before, and it was always nothing. I hated that my ex had ruined my sense of safety maybe permanently, but so far I hadn’t overcome it.

But right now, mostly I was probably just creeped out by the thick forests on either side of the highway. It was definitely full of tiny multi-legged horrors, and probably dangerous animals as well, and worse, it reminded me of some old movie I once saw where cannibals blew out people’s tires and then...

Why was I even thinking about something like that at a time like this? I didn’t turn on my flashlight, letting the moon guide me. My eyes adjusted enough to the darkness that I could follow the road with just that little bit of light.

The tricky part was trying to find the road in, so I turned on my flashlight and ran it along the highway, turning it off again and hiding among the trees when the occasional car passed, just in case they were in on whatever it was. From my daylight scouting, it seemed to be something like a trailer park, although they usually had signs and were clearly marked. The whole thing was weirdly secretive, and it made me deeply uneasy.

I almost chickened out then and there, but no, I needed to do this, even if it didn’t entirely make sense. Curiosity, closure, a rescue mission, whatever it was, I was going to find out, and then afterwards I was going straight to the police to tell them everything I had discovered if it was as sketchy as I suspected it was. I saw the road, and I went bravely forward, slipping along the edge of the trees.

The buildings were dark when I reached the first of many, almost as if they were deserted. I shone my flashlight into the first couple of windows, but all I could see were boring office looking things.

While I was lamenting my lack of lock picking skills, I heard a noise in the distance, the sound of a group of people. Now that seemed odd in the darkness of the forest, and my curiosity spiked. I turned off my flashlight and slowly felt my way along, followed the sound until I was at the edge of a clearing, and I could see multiple indistinct forms by the light of the moon, maybe a dozen people, and apparently their dogs. I wished I could use my flashlight to get a better look, but that would tip them off to my presence.

Instead, I squinted through the darkness. Someone was talking—I thought it was Jason—and while I couldn’t make out the words, by the way he spoke I thought it sounded like an incantation, like some sort of cult ritual. Bits of documentaries I’d watched on suicide cults ran through my mind, and my heart pounded harder. I should get away now, but I couldn’t resist my morbid curiosity. How many people could say they had seen the inner workings of something like this?

Feeling around my bag in the darkness, I pulled out the binoculars I’d secretly borrowed from Daria. Squinting into them, I focused as best I could on the speaker, who seemed to be Carrie’s boyfriend—or maybe cult gang leader—and he was facing out towards the crowd.

Beside him—although I couldn’t quite make him out I was still somehow certain—stood Porter. Of course he was involved with this, whatever this was. I couldn’t peel the binoculars away from him.

I thought something had to be wrong with him, and I had been right, although I clearly hadn’t been thinking big enough. Naturally he was a part of a cult, and they likely were stockpiling weapons for their terrorist plans, or producing drugs, and who knew what else.

Jason was still talking, so I forced the binoculars back to him because I was not at all obsessed with Porter. I was startled by a cheer and howls that sounded more eerie than normal dogs.

I didn’t have time to think about the animals, because when the cheering stopped, he spoke again loudly and he suddenly began to pull off his shirt and then his pants.

Shit! This was some kind of extreme nudist sex cult. I was not shy, but the idea of seeing Porter having sex with a bunch of other people kind of pissed me off. I swung the binoculars around the crowd and saw most of the other people stripping as well, and then, even stranger, they seemed to contort in on themselves. My heart pounded while my brain tried to come up with a rational explanation for what I was seeing through the dim shadows. Maybe they were doing some kind of nudist yoga? I wished I had night vision goggles. Too bad Daria wasn’t into owl watching or something.

The shapes, shorter and longer than they had been before—and maybe hairier, if my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me—began to move smoothly across the clearing, some heading back towards the dwellings, and seemingly all of them barking or howling, along with a few growls.

I had stayed too long already. I shoved the binoculars back in the bag and clutched the useless flashlight as I began moving as quietly as I could back the way I came, being careful to stay away from the...

From the wolves.

Wolves!? My hair stood on end and my heart pounded even harder. My poor primal brain couldn’t get past the danger of large predators, and it was all I could do to try to be quiet as I slipped away.

And then a warning growl sounded behind me. I shrieked in surprise before I could help myself. Idiot! They would all know where I was now. I broke into a run into the darkness.

I could barely see, the bright light of the moon hardly getting through the trees, but there was no way I was staying put and waiting for them to eat me. There was another howl, and then more howls joined in, and I sprinted faster. My flashlight flew from my hands and I didn’t dare stop to look for it. Something caught my foot, and then I hit my knee on something hard.

A bit of light broke through the trees ahead, so I ran towards it, branches scraping me as I went past. I was relieved that I could see for a moment, but that moment was short lived when a pair of wolves—yes, they were definitely wolves, terrifying wolves—leapt out in front of me. I spun to run the other way, but there were more, maybe a half dozen more from what I could hear, all circling me and growling threateningly.

I screamed, and my hand touched a branch behind me, and I grabbed it and ripped it off the tree with the force of my fear-induced adrenaline. I swung the branch at the wolves, and they seemed to consider it a warning, because none of the dark shapes came any closer. My knees shook as I tried to figure out what to do. Would they attack if I pulled out my phone and tried calling for help? Even if I did, was there any possibility that help would arrive in time before they ripped me to shreds?

A large wolf leapt through the others, and I smacked it with all my might so that it couldn’t get to my throat. It didn’t seem effective, but then it turned to run away.

Except it didn’t run. It growled towards the others. Oh shit, they were fighting over who got to eat me! I clutched my weapon in my hand and prayed to anyone who would listen.