A Justified Kill (Heart of a Wolf - Amber's Tale)

by MaryLynn Bast

  When Amber realized she could communicate with her wolf. She had actually heard her thoughts, and listened, she began to feel more at one with her wolf, not so much a separate being.

  Picking her way silently across the pine needles and leaves, Amber came upon the campsite and lowered her body to the ground. In her human form, she knew it was Sunday, the bar was closed and there was nowhere for Gerald to go. So, he should be at the campsite all night long, unless he decided to try to find another girl. At the thought her wolf growled. Since shifting into her wolf form, Amber had lost all sense of time while out running, but the hour was no longer relevant. What mattered now was she could hear his heartbeat. She could hear him breathing and smell the blood singing through his veins, her body began to tremble. Her ears perked up and her teeth were bared in a silent grinning snarl when the generator kicked in and the light came on. Gerald was moving around inside and when his hand reached for the flap of the tent she readied herself. She lifted her body up slightly off the ground. Holding herself up on the fore paws, her hind shimmied when she shifted her back feet. Digging into the ground she positioned her body to make the leap. His heartbeat pounded in her ears and hers sped up in anticipation, she was eager to make her first kill.

  The zipper was only halfway down when the bloodlust took over and rational thought was lost, all she saw was red. The wolf lunged, ripping through the wall of the tent with a savage growl. Snapping at the man’s wrinkled face her snout opening to sink her teeth into the tender flesh of his neck. Before her jaws clamped tight, she felt a stabbing and slicing pain along her ribs. Out of reflex the wolf snapped its jaws shut and with a ferocious shake of her head, shredded Gerald’s throat. Her huge sharp claws ripped long ragged gashes across his chest, down and through his belly. He fell into a bloody heap on the floor inside the tent.

  She fell to the ground with a whining whimper of pain. The wolf could not hold her form. Right there, half in and half out of the tent with Gerald’s blood squirting and running in rivulets onto the canvas floor, Amber’s wolf released its hold and she began the painful change back into her human form. The wolf was on her belly in the middle of all the blood and entrails littered across the floor of the tent, her eyes met Gerald’s terrified gaze. She stared into his eyes knowing that he struggled to breathe through the puncture in his lung and missing throat. His eyes blinked rapidly, his mouth opening and closing. She saw a hand reach for her and listened with satisfaction when his hand fell with a plopping sound into his own pool of blood. When his body went limp, she gave into her own searing pain and threw her head back and screamed. Her bones felt like they were exploding in her body when they began fracturing, fur retracting, moving inside her skin, she shifted back to her human form.

  On her hands and knees, she grabbed her side. Amber’s blood dripped slow and steady mixing with his on the floor. Breathing hard, she moaned through the pain and stood, forcing herself to move, to get far away from Gerald’s body as fast as she could. She didn’t want to be anywhere close to him, especially not while naked. Staring at his mangled throat, the ripped skin and his insides spilling out of the gashes, Amber’s stomach churned violently. Having not eaten that day, there was nothing for her to throw up. Scrambling to her feet she got out of the tent, clutching her side, gagging, her rolling empty stomach did nothing but produce dry heaves.

  Once she had herself under control, Amber hurried to the stream a few hundred feet away and washed the disgusting taste of his blood from her mouth, face, hands, and body. Her side was still bleeding, but she could take her own blood on her, but not his. Clenching her side, she had to find a way to stench the flow. Closing her eyes for a moment, she lifted her face to the moon lit night sky. All was quiet, nothing was stirring in the woods and she glanced around, then down at her side, inspecting the cut. It wasn’t too deep, only a couple inches long, but it was still painful.

  If a small cut like this hurt like hell, she could only imagine the pain Gerald had felt at being ripped to shreds. It was what he deserved. Maybe he deserved even more than what he got, she couldn’t help but think. Her wolf was still inside her head, but she wasn’t pushing to emerge. Amber got the image of her wolf licking her wounds and laughed sardonically at the thought.

  Standing in the stream, she leaned against a bolder, the cold water swept across her feet, ankles and calves. She turned slightly and stared at the campsite over her shoulder. She had really messed this up. But she could fix it. First though, she had to get the bleeding stopped. Then it hit her. It would be painful and in no way sanitary, the mud from the river bank would stop the bleeding if she packed it into the wound. It would work until she could get back to her room and clean up.

  She groaned when she remembered she didn’t have a room. She had checked out. Releasing a frustrated breath, she needed to get a move on and get this taken care of before someone ventured out into this part of the forest and saw her there. She thought of leaving things as they were, but that wasn’t a wise choice. Blaming the attack on a wild animal would work, but then it would bring up more questions as to why whatever had attacked hadn’t eaten him, or at least a part of him. Given time the scavengers would move in, but she really didn’t want to take the chance. If her wolf would emerge then the wound would close up and she could finish what she started. With her wolf not cooperating, even the option for calling other wolves in to clean up the mess wouldn’t work either. First things first, she had to take care of the cut.

  As she expected, the mud hurt like hell. She had to push the thoughts of all the bacteria out of her mind. Pulling the skin closed, she packed the mud around it, releasing a sharp hissing breath when it stung. Suck it up Amber. You’ll probably get a lot worse than this the more you shift, comes with the territory. She groaned, forcing herself to move away from her resting place on the bolder. She stubbed her toe on a rock and wanted to scream her frustrations. Picking up a rock, she didn’t know if that was the one she had stumbled on. Out of irritation, she chunked it into the running water and made her way gingerly back into the camp. Figuring out how to dispose of the body was next on her agenda. Well, clothes were next because the thought of touching him while naked was revolting, so she picked her way back to where she had stashed her clothing. Dressing quickly, she returned to the campsite. The smell of blood was overwhelming and the gag reflex kicked in again at the site of his mangled body. A werewolf with an distaste of seeing blood and mangled bodies was just too ironic.

  It was amazing that no other animal had been attracted to the strong smell of blood. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of her wolf actually devouring him like she had planned. If she had, then there would be less of a mess to clean up. The thought was just plain and simply gross. Now that she was full werewolf, she was definitely going to have to get over her aversion to blood. Shaking her head in disgust, Amber forced herself to not think about it and set about getting things in order.

  If her werewolf was going to hunt humans, she had to be smarter, to be more vigilant and not attack through the wall of a tent like she had mistakenly done tonight. By not waiting for her prey to emerge, she had allowed him enough time to grab for his knife. The damned knife she had used to cut the tape from Hanna’s wrist and dropped back onto the table. She shook her head at the realization, remembering in the jeep that she had also thought she should have grabbed it then. Real smart Amber, real smart. She was definitely going to have to pay closer attention.

  Lucky for her, Gerald had not gotten a good hold and had only sliced her rather than stabbing, otherwise she could be dead. Amber frowned at the thought and gave a slight shiver. A pep talk was in order and hoped that her wolf was listening. “Going forward, only animals are on the menu, got that?”

  Following her original plan of no human prey would have solved her problem. She wouldn’t be standing with hands on hips staring at a mutilated body. It wasn’t an option to just leave him, nor was it possible for her to just clean up the campsite and make it look like he had left and nev
er come back. There was too much blood for that. Then for some reason the thought hit her, most people had first aid kits for the just in case. Rummaging around in the small storage locker he had standing outside the tent, she found an unopened kit. The locker looked like it was military, in fact, the tent was military too as well as the first aid kit and she wondered briefly how he had gotten his hands on this kind of equipment. She didn’t know the local Army Surplus stores sold this kind of stuff, might do to check it out sometime.

  Grabbing the kit, she opened it up and inspected its contents. It was exactly what she needed. Pealing the mud from her side, she grabbed the bottle of water she had stashed in her pack and quickly washed the remaining mud from her side. Clenching her teeth she refused to allow a sound to escape when the water ran into the wound. Learning to apply field dressings at a young age, Amber knew how to bind the injury. He had sliced her deep enough that it needed stitches, but not enough to see ribs, so that was good. Taking a deep breath, she gritted her teeth and pulled the skin together, applying the bandage in a way that forced the wound together, taped it closed, then applied gauze and more tape to keep the cut from seeping blood onto her clothing. If she had been able to stay in her were-form for another couple of minutes, the wound would have healed completely. As it was, in the short time it took her to shift, she had already begun healing she probably would not have been able to stop the bleeding so easily. Although it hadn’t closed up completely, she would mend fairly quickly even in her human form, another plus at having werewolf genetics. Although she had a feeling it was going to leave a scar.

  She was uncomfortable while she moved around the campsite, but pushed it out of her mind and continued. She couldn’t help but think of how her first kill had turned into one big mess. Werewolves killed things every full moon phase, why was this such an ordeal for her? While she worked, she couldn’t stop the attack from playing over and over in her mind. What her wolf should have done differently. The cut could have been fatal if he had gotten a better hold on the knife. Amber shook her head at the thought and had to face the fact that it could have been a huge possibility. It was a hard but good lesson the wolf had to learn. She would definitely have to be more careful in the future.

  This time, fixing her screw up would be easy since he smoked and everyone knew he drank a lot, and conveniently there happened to be a bottle of whiskey next to his grungy mattress in the tent. Amber dragged him over to the bed and rolled him on top of it. Positioning his body, he looked like he had crawled into bed to go to sleep. She draped his hand across his chest, placing a cigarette between his fingers and poured whiskey across his face and down his mangled throat. Her plan was to make him look as if he had merely fallen asleep with the cigarette in his hand. Well, he would if it weren’t for the gaping hole in his throat and gashes ripped through his chest and belly. Tipping the bottle of whiskey over, she poured the liquid down the front of him, and the remainder into his mouth. The old mattress quickly soaked up whatever rolled off his body and would become the perfect ignition source. She knew the tent would quickly become engulfed in flames. Glancing around one more time, making sure there was nothing around the campsite to show anyone but Gerald had been there, Amber stepped back. Unless they were werewolf, the local sheriff and fire department would not suspect a thing. She hoped.

  Amber held the flame of the match to the end of the cigarette. She hated the smell and had never tried smoking because she didn’t see any reason to. It was a nasty habit and not good for anyone’s health. She looked down at Gerald once more. Neither was pissing off a werewolf. She laughed at the thought and dropped the book of matches beside the mattress. Holding the flame under the cigarette, she watched it slowly catch fire. Once it did, the fire spread quickly and his body immediately burst into flames. Escaping the inferno, she ran deeper into the woods, turning around in time to watch the tent with Gerald’s dead body inside blaze brightly in the darkness of the early morning hours.

  ****

  The Forestry Service responded to the fire, but the campsite and everything inside the tent that would burn had been reduced to ashes by the time they arrived. Anything that wouldn’t burn was charred or melted. The men’s main goal was to prevent the fire from spreading throughout the forest. This was one of the reasons Amber had stuck around as well. She didn’t want the forest and its inhabitants to suffer from the death of a sick man. The heavy rains from a couple nights before still had the ground wet, so the flames only singed a few of the closer trees branches. The men quickly doused the remaining flames

  Amber watched from her hiding place deep in the forest where she remained still and quiet. She heard them talking amongst themselves when they discovered the charred bones of the body which lay inside.

  “I think this is Gerald, the drunk who was always staggering through the woods, his van is parked on the side of the road where it usually is.” The one with his back to her was talking loud and his voice carried in the still, quiet morning. The other three men agreed.

  “I was getting ready to kick him out of here anyway. Guess there’s no need for it now.” Amber recognized Trigger Michaels from the time he had come into the bar. He was taller than the other three.

  From what she remembered Catherine saying he had just been named the Deputy Conservator over that area of the forest. Trigger was Hunter’s younger brother, so that must have given Catherine bragging rights since he was over the Assistant Conservators. Who knows? Amber shook her head at the thought and continued listening when Trigger spoke into the radio he had looped over his shoulder.

  “Base, this is Michaels.”

  A young male voice crackled over through the small speaker. “Go ahead Michaels.”

  “Fire is contained, but we have a body, might want to call the Sheriff and get him out here, Fire Department too. I’m sure they’ll want to investigate this. Oh, might as well go ahead and call Bob, he’ll wanna rule on the death.” Trigger dropped the radio, allowing it to fall against his chest while he listed to the response.

  Amber could hear the deeper voice of the Director responding from the base station. “Copy that, Sheriff was notified when the fire was reported. He should be there soon. Keep the area secure and let me know if you need anything.”

  The four men stood outside the camping area and stared out into the dark forest. They never realized they were being watched. “Sheriff needs to hurry up and get here, I’m tired!” Trigger grumbled shuffling his feet, hands dug into his pockets against the cold night air.

  “How could you be sleepy?” One of the shorter men asked, snorting a laugh. “You slept all day and half the night ‘cause you were up most of the night with Sue Ann the night before.”

  His response was lost in the sound of the Sheriff’s SUV’s sirens coming closer. The vehicle drove through trees, bouncing along the trail the rangers had cut getting to the fire.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  During her search of the campground to ensure there was no trace of her presence to be found, Amber had discovered the haphazardly discarded clothing and small purse which Gerald had tossed out into the woods. Inside the purse was a picture of Hanna with whom she assumed were her parents. Hanna stood between the man and woman and they all had a big smile on their face. The woman was looking down at Hanna like she was the most precious thing. They looked like the perfect, happy family. There was a cell phone which had been tucked away in the back pocket of her jeans, of course it was dead and of no use. Gathering her discarded belongings, Amber wrapped the jeans around the items, rolling them up. She them into her small backpack and made her way back to her own campsite.

  The sun was peaking over the horizon when Amber pulled the flap of her small tent back and collapsed onto the sleeping bag. Groaning, she stretched out, wishing she had at least gotten an inflatable mattress. She knew she shouldn’t, but she wanted to go see Hanna in the hospital. When she felt the nudge of her wolf she wondered if the wolf was going to take control again, and decided it was probably best for
her not be among humans.

  She remained in the tent. While she lay there, she could hear the occasional branch move when something jumped from one tree to another and the beating wings of birds flying overhead. She could also hear the other campers talking even though they were a good quarter mile from where she was set up. She was exhausted and would have begged for sleep if it would have done any good. But every time she closed her eyes and drifted, the images of her snout ripping at Gerald’s throat startled her awake. She gave up on the thought of sleeping and went to the shower stalls instead. The cold water hitting her skin felt like ice pellets and she was shivering by the time the grime from the river was washed away. With sleep eluding her, and her wolf not pushing to emerge she decided to go ahead and head to the hospital to check on Hanna. She had a good reason to go. With the lacerations Hanna had on her body, there would be some type of antibiotic ointment for her cuts and she could grab a handful for her own use while she was there.

  Hopping into the jeep, she made her way towards the hospital. On the way, the morning traffic was backed up and Amber happened to notice a McDonalds at the same time her stomach made a loud rumble and reminded her she was hungry. Actually, she was starving! Pulling through the drive thru, ordering enough food for two people, she parked in the lot and wolfed down the breakfast sandwiches and hash browns, sipping on the cup of coffee. Leaning her head against the rest she waited a few minutes for the mini traffic jam to clear out of the parking lot and on the street. She kept a close eye on the sheriff and deputy sheriff’s car when it pulled into the parking lot and sat there for a few minutes. She quickly lifted the coffee cup to her lips when she saw the sheriff glanced in her direction. When they climbed out of their cruisers and headed into the building, she breathed a sigh of relief and decided it was time to go. Traffic had cleared up, so she pulled out onto the road and headed in the direction of the hospital.