Wolf Storm

by Dee Garretson

  Brad opened the door, heat rushing out around him. Wearing a Hawaiian print shirt over a sweater and sunglasses propped on top of his head, he looked more like a misplaced surfer than a wolf trainer. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked.

  “Hi,” Stefan said, feeling awkward. “I was just wondering if you’ve heard from Hans. You know, if he’s called from the vet yet.”

  “It’s way too soon. The nearest vet with an X-ray is ninety miles away. With all this crazy snow, it will take him a while to get there,” Brad said, strumming an invisible guitar.

  “We feel bad,” Jeremy said.

  “Don’t blame yourself. We know it was an accident. Hans got all worked up because these wolves are like his kids. He overreacts, but he’ll calm down when he thinks about it.”

  “Can we come in and see the wolves?” Jeremy asked.

  Brad waved them in and then flopped in one of the chairs, humming away, like he’d forgotten they were there. Stefan hadn’t expected the motor home to be so deluxe. The front part of it had a kitchen, a table, and a seating area, like a living room. Each wolf had its own large cage, and they were all lying down, curled up in huge plaid dog beds. Boris stood up and wagged his tail when Stefan went over to him. At least the wolf didn’t hold Inky’s injury against him.

  “Don’t the wolves mind that Inky isn’t here?” Jeremy asked.

  “They’re used to not being together all the time, and Inky’s a bit of a troublemaker anyway, at least to Natasha.” Brad pointed to a wolf that had one white patch on its chest. “Natasha is the alpha female, and she makes it her job to keep everyone else in line. Inky likes to challenge her, and that really bugs her.”

  “Do you think it will be a problem if there are wild wolves around?” Stefan reached his hand through the cage to scratch Boris’s neck. Natasha growled at him, staring at his hand like she wanted to bite it. Boris didn’t mind though, so Stefan kept scratching, keeping his eyes away from the other wolf. He knew enough about aggressive dogs to know you didn’t stare them in the face, because they thought it was a challenge.

  “Nah, they’re not going to care about other wolves. Our wolves have been raised in captivity since they were pups. They’ll just think other wolves are like dogs, and they may act a little territorial, but it will be fine. Now that they’re inside, away from that stray dog, or wolf, they calmed down, especially Boris.”

  “Boris seemed more nervous about the wolf than Inky,” Jeremy said.

  “He’s what we call the alpha male of the pack, because he’s the oldest. If he thinks the pack is in danger, he gets very disturbed, and the rest of them follow his lead. But when he calms down, they do too. Tomorrow I’ll lead him around the set so he can be sure there aren’t any outsiders here. That will satisfy him. Stefan, that girl with you, is she your sister?”

  The change of subject confused Stefan. The only girl on the set was Raine, and even though she and Stefan looked alike, both with hair and eyes so dark they matched the wolves, Brad had to know who she was. Her face was on the cover of magazines all the time.

  “You mean Raine?” he asked.

  “Not Raine! She’s a kid! The cute girl with the pink hair.”

  Heather. He hadn’t thought of her as a girl. She was at least twenty-five. “She’s my aunt.”

  “Oh.” It sounded like Brad was going to say something else, but Jeremy interrupted.

  “Who’s this one?” Jeremy went over to a cage where the smallest wolf lay, another black one, with a brownish cast to the ends of its fur. “She looks sad.”

  Stefan didn’t think the wolf looked particularly sad, maybe just steamed from the heat. He could bet wolves in the wild didn’t like saunas.

  “That’s Phoebe. She’s been moping around lately, but we don’t know why. She’s the omega wolf, sort of the lowest on the totem pole, you might say. No, that’s not right. I’m really the omega wolf, come to think of it, at least according to Hans. Hans wouldn’t rank me above her.”

  “Who decides which wolf gets what place?” Jeremy knelt down by Phoebe. The wolf looked up but didn’t move.

  “If they were really wild wolves, the ranking would sort itself out on which ones were the oldest, and the strongest. A lot of times the alpha female is the best hunter, and she’s often the most aggressive, even more than the alpha male. It’s amazing to watch wolves hunt.” Brad sat forward and his face lit up. “Their teamwork is phenomenal, choreographed even. First, they follow a herd, deciding which animal is the weakest. Then they go after that one, and they take turns wearing down the prey, until they can all move in for the kill.”

  “That’s awful!” Jeremy’s voice was full of disgust.

  “Sorry, dude, that’s what wolves do. They’re carnivores and hunters, and it’s the way nature works. It ain’t all fluffy bunnies and rainbows. Besides, wolves keep the population of other animals under control, animals like elk. Stefan, your aunt, you know . . .” Brad’s voice trailed off as he got up, took off his sunglasses, and smoothed back his hair, glancing at a mirror over the table.

  “Yeah, I know her,” Stefan said, amused.

  “Does she have a boyfriend or is she married? You know, is she attached?”

  The guy in the leather coat Heather had been flirting with probably wasn’t an attachment yet. “No, why?” He really didn’t need to ask. His mom always said Heather collected boyfriends like some women collected shoes.

  “Just wondering.” Brad punched Stefan on the arm and grinned.

  “Stefan, why is your aunt with you, and not your mom or dad?” Jeremy asked.

  “My mom couldn’t leave her job, she’s a nurse, and my dad . . . travels a lot for work, business, you know.” He wasn’t going to tell them the truth. He had never figured out the right way to say, “My dad took off, and I don’t know and don’t care where he is.” It was the sort of thing that made a conversation drag.

  “Hey, if you’re done visiting with our gang, let’s get out of here. I’m hungry.” They followed Brad outside. Stefan ducked just in time as a snowball whizzed by his head. Two of the crew were running around out front of the lodge, laughing crazily, pelting each other with snowballs, like they had discovered some rare game.

  “There you are!” Amanda rushed up to them, as if they’d been lost. “It’s time for Stefan to get back to work, and Jeremy, your father is looking for you.”

  “Work, right,” Stefan said. Rehearsing in front of Mark and who knows how many other people was not going to be easy. He hadn’t realized acting involved so much more than just doing weird accents and imitating facial expressions.

  Amanda must have sensed some of his reluctance. “It’s just a rehearsal. Mark wants you to work with the weapons master. That should be exciting!” Her voice had the fake perkiness of a teacher saying a test was easy, right before you got shot down by an essay question on the Renaissance.

  “I guess,” he said, thinking of all the ways he could embarrass himself in front of an expert.

  “It will! Mark says you’ve been training at home, so you should enjoy getting to use your new skills.” He had to admit he had been looking forward to the fight scenes. Before the filming started, the production company had arranged for him to take the train into Boston on Saturdays to an aikido studio for lessons. One of the weapons he would use in the movie was similar to an ancient Japanese weapon called a tanto, which was like a combination of a knife and a short sword. After a month of practice, he wasn’t as proficient at the moves as he wanted to be, but it had been fun to work on them.

  Raine was already out in front of the spaceship, talking to Mark and Sherman. She didn’t say anything to him.

  “Stefan, I didn’t see you at lunch,” Mark said. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine.” His stomach chose that moment to let out a huge growl, loud enough for everyone to hear, and he realized he should have eaten something. It might be a long time until a break.

  “You’re not getting sick, are you?” Sherman asked. “We’re get
ting behind schedule.”

  “No, I’m fine.” Stefan always had the feeling Sherman wasn’t too crazy about him being cast in the movie. The producer rarely spoke directly to Stefan and when he did, it was never just friendly conversation.

  “Good,” Mark said, “I was just telling Raine we should all have dinner together tonight, Cecil and Jeremy too, so you all can get to know each other better. I know it’s hard to act as if you are related to someone when you don’t even know them. On the last movie I directed, the kids had such a fantastic time together, they felt like a real family by the end.”

  Stefan didn’t know how to answer. He just couldn’t imagine considering any of them like his family. Raine didn’t say anything either. Her face expressed exactly how little she thought of the whole “let’s be a family” idea.

  “Good!” Mark acted as if they had agreed. “Tomorrow we’ll film in an area that hasn’t been trampled down, but I wanted you to rehearse first where it won’t be so difficult to get around in the snow.” A lean man in a dark ski jacket walked up. “Here’s what we need,” Mark said. “Stefan, Raine, this is Randy, the fight coordinator. You’re going to like this scene, Stefan. Randy, show these two what they are working with.”

  Randy opened a case and drew out something that looked like an intricately carved leather sword hilt.

  “Where’s the blade?” Stefan asked.

  “That’s the best part.” Randy grasped the hilt and shifted his fingers slightly. A gleaming silver blade extended from the handle in one smooth motion, like a telescope extending. There were etched wolf heads on the blade, just like on the costumes. Stefan was amazed at the amount of work that had gone into it. Mark was famous for his attention to detail in every aspect of the movies he directed.

  “Isn’t that fantastic?” Mark said. “See the indents in the blade? That’s where we will put in the effects of a laser-type bullet during the editing. It’s an all-purpose weapon.”

  “We took the idea from the tanto you’ve been training with, Stefan, and adapted it to make it more sci-fi appropriate.” Randy waved the sword in a complicated pattern so fast that the image of it blurred. “These were designed to be what a weapon might look like in the future. The problem with traditional weapons is that you have to keep a grip on them, and if you drop them in a real fight, you’re dead. That’s why these are going to be attached to your wrists by arm guards that are a modern take on an archer’s buckler. Here, let me get one on you.”

  Stefan held out his arm, and Randy fastened the guard on, talking the whole time. “We’ll add the glimmer to the blade during postproduction by computer, so it will look more futuristic. The hilt fastens in here.” The fight coordinator clicked it into place for Stefan. “These aren’t sharp, but keep them away from each other’s faces. You know, the old ‘they could take someone’s eye out’ problem.”

  Stefan turned his arm back and forth, trying to get a feel for the right motions.

  “Since this scene involves a surprise attack,” Mark said, “you won’t be using any of the shields we have. Those will be for later.” Stefan tried to concentrate on Mark’s words, but he was so entranced with the sword it was hard to focus. “Here’s what you will be fighting.”

  A crew member reached into a container. He lifted out a thing about the size of an eagle. It looked like a cross between a pterodactyl and a giant bat, except it was a shimmery silver color, and it had a long beak with fangs. Its eyes were the creepiest part of it; they were an iridescent sickly yellow and shaped like snake eyes.

  “Love these,” Mark said. “They don’t have a real scientific-type name in the script, because when your people land on the planet, you don’t know what they are called. One of the soldiers names them ‘frost devils’ after he gets attacked by them.”

  Stefan thought they looked more like they should be named “batosaurs.” They were great. He could just imagine his little brothers pretending to fly small action figure versions of them.

  Mark waved the batosaur around like he was flying it. “This will take a bit of practice; that’s why we have several of these. We’ll be controlling the wings and the mouth remotely to keep them flapping. If you press the hidden trigger right here”—he pointed at the creature’s left eye—“a lovely mess of alien innards will burst out so it will look like you killed it. Okay, here’s the sequence. Stefan, you’re caught outside and running back toward the spaceship when one of these dive-bombs you. You’ll grab hold of the creature by the neck and wrestle with it. Twist and turn as if it’s attacking you. We’ll add in some of the effects later, but your movements need to convince us the thing is alive. Pretend the frost devil is very powerful and it forces you to your knees.” Mark knelt down on the ground to demonstrate.

  “Raine, you’re going to be dancing around trying to get at it, but you can’t because you don’t want to injure your brother.” Stefan couldn’t help but glance at Raine. He didn’t know if she had a real brother or not, but he was guessing she wouldn’t be the kind to worry too much about injuring one.

  “Then, Raine,” Mark continued, “you’ll pull out your weapon but you won’t be able to use it because you can’t get a clear shot. Stefan, maneuver so you can extend your weapon and stab the creature in the side. This one has a retractable blade so it will look like it’s piercing the skin.” He pushed on the tip and it slid right back into the hilt. “Got that?” Stefan wasn’t sure he had but he nodded his head anyway.

  “Now, this is the good part.” Mark was so excited he looked like he wanted to do the scene himself. “Once you think the frost devil is dead, you drop it, but right before you do, push the eye, so that as it falls to the ground, the guts will spew out of it. Let’s try it!”

  At first Stefan felt ridiculous struggling with a plastic alien batosaur, but then he slipped into the feeling. If he concentrated on the sinister eyes, he could really believe it was dangerous.

  “Good!” Mark yelled. “Now fall down to your knees and get your weapon out, but don’t make it look too easy.”

  Stefan managed to do the right hand motion to click the sword into place, and then he stabbed it at the creature, using his other hand to click the button on the eye. But the neon green guts that spewed out of it startled him so much, he pushed the creature away from him, right into Raine. Alien goo shot out, covering her nose and her mouth, dripping down onto her costume.

  “I’m sorry, Raine!” Stefan said. “I’m really sorry! Wow, they do look like intestines. Gross.”

  She stood there, wiping her face, and then, with a voice full of cold fury, said, “That’s it. I’ve had it. I’m not working with amateurs. Stefan goes or I do.”

  Chapter 7

  Creations

  Raine stomped away, pieces of intestine dripping into the snow, staining it green. Immediately a score of people surrounded her, their voices raised.

  “Raine, wait!” Sherman hurried after her, giving Stefan a disgusted look as he passed by.

  “I’m sorry,” Stefan said. “It just surprised me.” He tried to keep his voice even, like it was no big deal.

  “It’s okay.” Mark sounded tired. “We should have shown you the effect first.”

  The location manager came up to them. “Mark, we’re having some trouble with one of the permits to film. Can you and Sherman come into town? We need you both to spread some charm and make nice with the mayor.”

  “Okay, but what’s the latest on the weather?”

  “Depends on which way the wind shifts.”

  “Maybe we’ll get lucky. Stefan, when I get back for dinner, we’ll talk.”

  Stefan just nodded his head and waited to head back to the lodge until everyone else had gone away from the rehearsal area. He sighed, knowing he had to go apologize, even if it had been an accident.

  Inside the lodge the costume people were hovering around Raine, dabbing at her with towels. Her mother gave directions, which everyone ignored. Raine wasn’t even noticing them, brushing at them like they were
flies.

  “Raine, sweetheart, it’s just the first day. Give him a chance,” Sherman said.

  “That’s it. I’ve had it. He’s not going to work out. Get rid of him.” Raine put her hands on her hips. “I’m not going to work with an amateur.”

  “Let’s just all calm down here.” Sherman’s voice sounded wary, like he was worried Raine was going to have a tantrum.

  Stefan walked up to her and tried to get her attention. “Raine, I’m really sorry. It just surprised me. You aren’t hurt, right?”

  She ignored him. “I will not calm down! If the movie tanks because of him, we’re all in trouble. We all know he wasn’t hired because he could act; he was only hired because he looks like me! Find someone to take his place while it’s still early.”

  Stefan felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. Was that really the only reason he was cast? All those readings and talks with Mark and audition after audition.

  “Sweetheart, it will all work out,” Sherman said. “Stefan tested perfect; he’s just nervous. He moves like a natural athlete, and he’ll be great in the action scenes.”

  “Hello, you know I’m right here,” Stefan said. He wondered if he had become invisible.

  “I’m going to talk to Mark about this,” Raine sniffled. “I’m sure Justin Seton is still available. He tested just as well, and they could do some makeup tricks to make him look more like me.”

  Raine’s mother put her arm around her. “She’s right. Get someone who can play the part.”

  “Mother, I’ll handle this.” Raine shrugged off the stained jacket and handed it to the costume designer, who made clucking noises at it before she scurried off, holding it in front of her.

  Sherman glanced at Stefan and then turned his attention back to Raine. “It would cost quite a bit of money to bring in Justin Seton. Besides, once Stefan’s character gets hurt and your character takes over, the movie is almost all yours from there on out. The final scene when Stefan comes back is split between the two of you, but you have the most important shots.”