Wolf Storm

by Dee Garretson

  His one hand wasn’t enough to hold Jeremy’s weight and the boy slipped back.

  “What are you doing?” Raine yelled. Jeremy screamed and Stefan saw him clawing at the snow on the cliff edge. Raine tried to grab hold of the boy and managed to get hold of the harness, but the weight of him pulled her forward, and her feet slipped out from under her. Without thinking, Stefan took hold of the trunk of the tree with one hand as he lunged forward, taking hold of part of the sleeve on Raine’s jacket, pulling her as hard as he could back toward him, hoping she would hold on to Jeremy. He heard screaming and realized he was the one doing it, the pain in his side so extreme it was as if someone had stabbed him. They all fell in a heap next to the tree, gasping for breath. Stefan rolled on his back. He lay still, looking up at the sky, the snowflakes still falling, covering his face, melting into tears.

  Jeremy sat up and looked around. “Where’s Cecil?” he said.

  Chapter 14

  Buried

  Stefan didn’t have the strength to answer. He didn’t want to move or talk until someone came to get them. It would have been nice just hanging out, doing nothing, if he hadn’t been so cold. He tried to imagine he was in a park in the summertime, flat on his back in warm green grass, soaking up hot sun. He closed his eyes and then opened them again, blinking away the snowflakes. The cold was too hard to ignore as it seeped into his back and his legs, and the snow just kept falling. Kep came over and acted like he was going to jump on Stefan’s stomach, but Stefan pushed him away. Being used as a dog perch wouldn’t help his ribs any.

  “Isn’t anybody going to answer?” Jeremy said. “Where’s Cecil?”

  “Cecil was in the building,” Raine said. “He didn’t get out.” She grabbed Kep and buried her face in his fur.

  “Did you try to find him? Phoebe was inside too. Did you just leave them there?” Jeremy was almost shouting, glaring at Raine.

  Stefan looked over at her. She looked like she might cry again. “Jeremy,” Stefan said. “The whole building fell down, a three-story building. I . . . I don’t think we are going to find them. Not by ourselves. It’s been too long anyway. He wouldn’t have enough air to survive.”

  “Did you even look?”

  “We haven’t had time,” Stefan said. “Raine dug me out of the avalanche, Jeremy. I was buried. She saved my life, and then we went looking for you.”

  “They show people on television being saved from buildings all the time, sometimes days later. We have to look. He’s one of us.”

  Stefan was trying to frame some words to make Jeremy understand when Raine said, “It’s the wolves . . . they’re back!” Boris padded up and put his nose to Stefan’s face. Stefan sat up and ruffled the wolf’s fur, a rush of relief racing through him. Having the wolves back made it seem like they weren’t so alone. He looked around and spotted Natasha about a hundred feet away, watching them with a wary look on her face, exactly as if she were a wild wolf unused to people.

  “Maybe Boris and Natasha can help us look for Cecil and Phoebe. Like rescue dogs!” Jeremy brightened up.

  “They aren’t trained to do that,” Raine said. “And I doubt if they really care about Cecil.”

  “Maybe they’ll at least be able to find Phoebe, since she’s part of their pack. I’m going to go try to find him, even if you won’t.” Jeremy stumbled away from them, falling down and picking himself up again. He looked really small and young in his Spider-Man pajama pants, no older than Stefan’s little brother.

  “Come on,” Raine said. “Let’s go help him look, so we can convince him to stop. I don’t want him to stay mad at me.”

  Stefan groaned and made himself get up. “Then we need to figure out how to get warm.”

  Raine shivered, holding Kep close to her. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be warm again.”

  The closer they got to where the building had stood, the more disoriented Stefan became. The avalanche hadn’t hit the lodge straight on but slightly to one side, so the chimney and part of wall on the other side still stood, even though the roof was gone. The side with the kitchen and the dining room was completely destroyed and mostly under a huge mound of snow. Boris ran around sniffing everything. Natasha had moved closer but she was still keeping her distance.

  “Cecil!” Jeremy yelled. “Cecil, are you there?”

  Stefan wasn’t surprised there was no answer, but Jeremy didn’t seem discouraged. “We need to dig!” the boy said. “I saw some of the crew putting the shovels away yesterday in a shed. If we can figure out where it was, we might be able to find them.”

  Stefan didn’t want to dig for Cecil, because he knew they would just find the old man’s body, and the thought of that made him feel sick. “I’ll help,” Raine said, putting Kep down. “Tell me where the shed was in relation to the building and I’ll try to find it.”

  “Okay,” Jeremy said. “It was over by the props trailer, about right there.” The two of them moved away, but Stefan didn’t follow. He knew Raine was just making a peace offering to Jeremy. Surely she didn’t think they would find the old man alive.

  Where would Cecil have been when the avalanche hit? Stefan had seen him at one of the back windows of the dining room that looked over the parking lot, and then once the building started shaking, wouldn’t Cecil have moved to the closest door, the back door? If that part was under many feet of snow, it might convince Jeremy and Raine of the futility in digging.

  Stefan used the remaining wall of the lodge to orient himself, trying to visualize the building in his head, so he could find where the back door would have been. There were wooden shingles everywhere, and that made it difficult to figure out what was underneath them. When the avalanche had blown through the building, sections of the roof had come off whole, making it even more confusing.

  The snow crunched beneath his feet as he walked back and forth. He shuddered, thinking of the weight pressing against him when he had been underneath it. There was no way Cecil would still be breathing buried beneath it.

  His feet were so numb Stefan could barely feel them. Even though it had finally stopped snowing, it was bitterly cold. They really needed to figure out a way to build a fire, or get warm, because he couldn’t concentrate when he was so cold. Boris caught his attention. The wolf was pacing around in a tight circle, his nose a fraction of an inch above the snow about where the middle of the lodge would have been. He whined, and Stefan walked over to him. The wolf had stopped at one spot between two roof sections. He whined again.

  “Cecil?” Stefan said, the word coming out in a croak. His throat was so dry he didn’t know if he could get any louder. The cold air was making his mouth feel like a frozen desert.

  Jeremy and Raine came up behind him. “What’s happening?” Raine asked. “Did you find something? We didn’t find any shovels, but we thought we could use these boards.” He saw they were both carrying what looked like some of the wide floorboards that had been on the upper floors of the lodge.

  “I think Boris found something.” The wolf was now crouched down on the ground, his nose touching the snow. Kep came over to him and sat down, sniffing the air.

  “Cecil!” Jeremy yelled. Raine joined in. “Cecil!” they both screamed.

  “Wait!” Stefan held up his hand. “I think I hear something. Everybody be quiet.” He heard a sound, a very faint but steady tapping noise.

  “It’s him!” Jeremy started digging frantically. “We’ll get you out, Cecil!”

  Raine handed Stefan a board, and they all began to dig. The snow was as heavy as wet cement, and it was slow going. Stefan wished he could shovel one-handed, so his side wouldn’t hurt so much, but he quickly discovered that was impossible if he wanted to move more than a fraction of the snow at a time.

  “Boris, help!” Jeremy motioned to the wolf, who stood watching the three of them. The boy made digging motions with his hands and the wolf cocked his head but didn’t join in.

  They dug down a few feet and then Stefan held up his hand again. “
Stop. Cecil, are you down there?” The tapping increased in both speed and sound, and then they heard a muffled bark.

  “It’s Phoebe!” Jeremy called. At the sound of the bark, Boris joined in the digging and the wolf made more progress than the rest of them, the snow flying up from his paws in a spray of white.

  Stefan’s board clunked against something solid. “It’s stone, probably part of the foundation,” he said. He pushed the board down around it, trying to figure out how big it was, trying to find an edge. The board hit something solid again and then he heard Cecil’s voice.

  “You’re right above us! We’re under one of the dining room tables.” The sound of tapping moved a little to the left. “Here’s the edge of the table,” Cecil said. “Can you dig here?”

  Stefan and Raine positioned themselves on either side so they could take turns shoveling.

  “Stop!” Cecil yelled. “I can see some light but the snow is collapsing in, and I don’t have much room to get away from it.”

  Stefan knelt down. He could see a dark hole to one side, so he reached his hand down and pulled out chunks of snow. Phoebe’s nose poked through, startling him, and he moved his hand away as she tried to shove her whole head out. Her eyes were crazy with fear.

  “It’s okay, girl,” Stefan said. Boris nearly knocked him over, licking at Phoebe’s face. Kep joined in, yipping wildly. Phoebe couldn’t get her shoulders out, but she wouldn’t quit struggling, her front claws scrabbling at the snow. “Phoebe, no.” Stefan put his hand on the top of her head, trying to slow her down. “Cecil, can you call her back?”

  “I doubt she’s going to listen to me and I can’t get hold of her collar. I don’t fancy trying to grab her by the tail.”

  Stefan pulled away more chunks, trying to work around the wriggling wolf. When he had cleared enough away for her to get her shoulders out, he saw a gash along her neck, the blood still trickling out, staining the snow red where she rubbed against it. Phoebe pulled back and then burst out of the opening. She galloped around in a circle, stopping to shake herself off as if she were wet. The cut on her neck was several inches long, the fur around it matted with dark, dried blood. Even though it looked awful, Stefan thought since it wasn’t bleeding much now, it couldn’t be that serious a wound. The two wolves ran over to Natasha, who seemed to have established a set distance from them that she was not willing to change. Stefan wasn’t going to worry about her.

  The next step was to get Cecil out. Stefan stuck his head in the opening. “Cecil, can you get over here? I think the opening is big enough for you to climb out.”

  “I’m afraid I’ve injured my hip, Stefan. I don’t know if I can move well.”

  Stefan felt Raine’s hand on his shoulder. “I’ll climb in and help.”

  Once she was in, Stefan could hear talking, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Raine reappeared. “He’s hurt, but he can crawl over here. We’re going to need to get the opening a lot wider because I think it’s going to take both of us to help him out.”

  It took several more minutes to get the opening big enough, either because the chunks of snow were turning to stone, or Stefan was running out of energy. Raine didn’t look the least bit tired. She almost dove back into the hole, popping her head up again seconds later with Cecil beside her. Stefan was shocked by the grayness of the man’s face. He didn’t know anyone could turn that color.

  Cecil coughed and ran his hand over his face. “I’m afraid I’m not feeling strong enough to be much help getting myself out. I do apologize.”

  “Let me get one of my arms under yours.” Stefan shifted to one side of the opening. “Raine, you’re going to have to get to Cecil’s other side so I can use my right arm. My left side is pretty much useless at this point.” Between the two of them they managed to pull Cecil out, but it exhausted all of them. Even though Stefan was surprised by how light the old man was, Cecil didn’t seem to have any strength in his legs at all to help himself. They eased him down on the remains of a dresser tipped on its side.

  Putting his hand to his chest, Cecil said, “Lesson learned. An avalanche is not good for the old ticker. I can’t thank you enough, children.”

  “How did you end up under a table?” Jeremy asked.

  “When I heard the noise and the windows started rattling I ran for the back door but only made it as far as the end of the dining room, where I tripped over Phoebe. I think that saved my life. I didn’t see her crouching there. When I heard the whole building creaking, I thought I’d be safer under a table so I crawled under the closest one. Phoebe joined me. Poor creature, she was shaking as much as the building.”

  Now that they had stopped moving, Stefan could feel the cold again. At least rescuing people kept the cold away, but now that they were done, the cold was the new enemy. Stefan’s feet hadn’t warmed up much at all, even with the effort to get Cecil out. “Cecil, do you have a cell phone?”

  “I don’t even own one of them,” Cecil said. “I survived seventy years without one and never felt the need to change, though I may now reconsider.”

  “Somebody will be here soon,” Jeremy said. “They aren’t going to leave us here for long now that there’s been an avalanche.”

  “How is anybody going to know?” Raine’s voice was shaky. “They’re all miles away. Nobody but us knows there’s been an avalanche. They all think we’re just sitting out a storm inside the lodge with our own personal chef and plenty of food. And even once they start to worry we might be in trouble, with the bridge out and the avalanche blocking the road, they can’t get to us very fast. We’re stuck.”

  No one said anything, until a wolf’s howl, far in the distance, broke the silence.

  Chapter 15

  Wolf Pack

  Boris and the other wolves answered with their own howls, and then the one faraway wolf voice turned into many, how many Stefan couldn’t tell. The howls all blended together into one fierce chorus. And their own wolves responded, their muzzles raised to the sky. The sound gave Stefan chills and raised the hair on his arms. The movie animals suddenly seemed much wilder, no longer resembling tame pets.

  Raine grabbed Jeremy’s arm and pulled him in closer to Stefan and Cecil. “Where are they?” she asked. “I can’t tell.” The howling echoed around them like it was bouncing off the cliffs.

  “Wherever they are, they won’t bother us,” Stefan said with more assurance than he felt. He hoped Hans was right about wolves avoiding humans. The cold was enough of a problem. Boris and the others stopped howling but began to pace back and forth, lifting their noses to sniff the air.

  “I thought there was just one wolf,” Jeremy said, wrapping his arms around himself.

  “They live in packs, so even if Stefan saw just one yesterday, there are probably a lot more,” Raine said.

  “Why are they howling? Why are our wolves howling back? If they come after us, we don’t have any place to hide.” Jeremy darted to where they had pulled Cecil out from the avalanche. “Cecil, will we all fit in there? We can hide.” He knelt down like he was going to climb in.

  “Take it easy, Jeremy,” Stefan said. “They aren’t even close to us.” At that moment, Kep decided to join in, his howls resembling the squeaks of a badly played clarinet. It was so ridiculous, Stefan felt himself smiling.

  Cecil chuckled and then coughed. “We shall be fine with such a brave pug to protect us.”

  Jeremy ran back to them. “I don’t want to stay here!”

  “We know people will get to us eventually,” Stefan said. “We need to concentrate on getting all of us warm and keeping us that way.”

  “I’m really cold,” Raine said. “We should build a fire while we’re waiting. Cecil, do you still have your lighter?”

  “I do. I used it to light my dungeon briefly.” Cecil flexed his fingers. His hands didn’t look like they were responding to his brain, and Stefan realized they were probably frozen. Cecil didn’t have any gloves on and he wasn’t wearing a coat. Even though the m
an spoke like he was fine, the strange color of his face couldn’t be good. What had Cecil meant when he had put his hand to his chest? Did he have heart problems? Stefan pushed that thought away. There was no way they could deal with that.

  It took Cecil a few seconds to get his hand in his pocket to draw out the lighter. “Here it is. It would be a happy day indeed if I still had my pipe as well, but I’m afraid it is no more.”

  “Good . . . I mean about the lighter, not the pipe,” Stefan said. “Let’s pile some wood up and get a fire going. We’ll all feel better. Raine, now you can break up the furniture if you want.”

  This got a small smile from her, and she ran over to get a chair already broken in half. There were so many pieces of broken furniture and flooring strewn around, it didn’t take long to collect enough debris to make a bonfire.

  “Can I light it?” Raine begged. Cecil handed over his lighter and Stefan stood back as she grabbed it, flicking it on the ends of the splintered wood. One bit finally caught, and when it was burning strongly, she used the piece to light the others.

  “Isn’t this great!” Raine said, grabbing Jeremy by the hands and dancing him around like they were celebrating a victory. The fire didn’t exactly blaze and Stefan knew the melting snow underneath the wood would eventually kill the flames, but he didn’t want to put a damper on their excitement.

  Stefan found two almost whole chairs and carried them close to the fire, then helped Cecil over. After Cecil sat down, Stefan dropped into the chair next to him, feeling like he was about as old as the elderly actor. He didn’t know how Raine and Jeremy had the energy to move.

  The warmth of the fire was amazing at first, and Stefan felt himself relaxing a little as his toes and his fingers came back to life. Even though he wasn’t really afraid of the wild wolves, it was nice to have the flames to keep them away. He knew no wild animal liked fire. Their own wolves were leery of it too. Kep, Boris, and Phoebe had all backed away and were sitting close to each other. He didn’t see Natasha at all.