Frostbitten

by Heather Beck

  The township of Cedar Falls requests all citizens to render items of pure silver to the community collection station at #1 Main Street. No item is too big or small, with every collected piece to be melted and made into bullets. This is an urgent request in response to the serious wildlife situation occurring in Cedar Falls Woods. Volunteers with animal tracking skills are being recruited on an ongoing basis. Those with military backgrounds are especially encouraged to respond. Please apply in person.

  “What the hell?” Anastasia muttered to herself. Although she wanted to believe this was just a prank, the official letterhead of the township made it look pretty damn real. As for the contents, well, she was no ammunitions expert, but she suspected that bullets didn’t have to be made from pure silver. That would only be necessary if, according to folklore, they wanted to kill a werewolf.

  Anastasia shook her head, as if trying to erase the thoughts from her mind. She then entered the car, determined to stay rational. Since first hearing about the werewolf in the school lunchroom three days ago, the town had become increasingly obsessed with the supposedly mythological creature. In fact, she feared that chaos would soon break out if things continued as they were.

  She had only been driving for a few minutes when, after turning onto a usually quiet road, she spotted a small group of people standing at the edge of the woods. Two cars were nearby, both idling with the headlights still on and the doors left wide open, like they’d exited in haste. Worried that someone might be hurt, she parked her car and rushed toward them.

  Anastasia’s presence immediately frightened the group, which included two young identical twin boys, a man and woman in their late forties and an elderly couple. They were all wide-eyed and breathing heavily, but unlike the others, the twin boys looked more excited than scared.

  “Is everyone...?” Anastasia didn’t have the chance to finish her sentence as the middle-aged man interrupted her in an almost frantic tone.

  “Did you see him, too?”

  “I don’t know what you’re...”

  “I tried to get my camera,” the man interrupted once again, “but he was gone so fast.”

  Suddenly, one of the boys growled and leapt at Anastasia, his arms extended and his fingers bent as if he was mimicking a clawed animal. When she let out a small gasp, he laughed and then announced proudly, “I just saw the werewolf!”

  “I saw him first,” his brother argued, giving him a hard shove.

  “Stop it,” the woman, who must’ve been their mother, scolded. “Now is not the time.”

  Concerned and confused, Anastasia glanced at the elderly couple, who had remained quiet up until this point.

  “You should go home, dear,” the elderly woman advised. “We should all go home. It’s not safe for us to be here.”

  Their attention returned to the snowy ground at the edge of the woods, exactly where they’d been looking before Anastasia arrived. Even the twins fell silent, mesmerized by whatever was on the ground. Gently pushing past the man and woman, who were blocking her view, Anastasia came to a stop and directed her gaze downwards. What she saw almost made her cry out in horror.

  Barely illuminated by the fading sunlight were wolf tracks so massive that they couldn’t possibly belong to an ordinary wolf. They were also embedded very deep into the snow, evidence of the creature’s extraordinary weight. Yet, most shocking of all was how the short trail of wolf tracks turned into barefooted human prints which led into the dark woods.

  “You...you saw this happen?” Anastasia stuttered in disbelief, unable to take her eyes off the prints.

  The man nodded, speaking before anyone else could. “My wife, kids and I were driving down this road, with my in-laws following in the car behind us. Then, out-of-nowhere, the largest wolf I’ve ever seen ran right in front of us. I almost hit him, and for a split second he stopped, looking at me with terrified eyes that seemed to glow in the beam of my headlights. The next thing I knew, he resumed running, but before he could disappear into the woods, he transformed...into a human!”

  He was starting to become overexcited again, causing his wife to soothingly put her arm around him.

  “I thought I’d gone crazy,” the man admitted, “but I wasn’t the only one to see him – we all did. Then we found these...” His voice trailed off as he reached for the digital camera, which hung around his wrist by a strap, and then began taking pictures of the tracks.

  “If only we’d seen who he was,” the woman said, shaking her head sadly, “then all of this could’ve been over.”

  Completely overwhelmed by what she’d just seen and heard, Anastasia began to back away, her mind racing with thoughts. The werewolf was real, and as much as she wanted to convince herself otherwise, nothing would change the fact that the evidence was right in front of her eyes. This whole time she’d thought the town was crazy, unwilling to even consider the possibility of the werewolf’s existence, and as a result, she’d become exactly what she despised – narrow-minded. Well, not anymore.

  Turning around, Anastasia ran to her car, and as she went, she heard the elderly man calling out to her.

  “To stay safe, you must stay far away from the woods!”

  Anastasia shivered as she started her car and sped away. Didn’t that man realize it was impossible to follow his advice since all of Cedar Falls was surrounded by woods? There was nowhere to run and definitely no place to hide. And the worst part was that the werewolf could be anyone.

  These thoughts caused panic to slowly seize Anastasia, but she fought hard against it. She knew that to save her sanity and avoid the hysterics which many members of the community had fallen victim to, she’d have to remain level-headed. She forced herself to reason that at some point, all animals were unknown to humans and these first encounters were likely as scary as this one. Humans had just stopped looking, so who knew what else was out there?

  When she reached her house, Anastasia hurried inside, determined to get answers from her grandparents. She wanted to know everything they knew about the werewolf, including why they had tried to hide his existence. From forbidding her to walk home from school to not inviting her to the town meeting, it all made sense now, especially her grandfather’s weird behavior.

  “Grandma!” Anastasia called as she made her way through the foyer. “Grandpa! Are you guys here?”

  When she didn’t receive a response, she looked in the living room and then the kitchen, only to find them both empty. However, she soon spotted a note attached to the refrigerator which read, Your grandmother and I have gone into town to run some errands. We might be late. Don’t go out again.

  Anastasia couldn’t help but scoff at the note. It seemed like her grandparents were never home anymore, and they always used some stupid excuse to explain their absence. Tonight was the perfect example; her grandparents knew that she’d been going into town, so they could’ve easily asked her to do their errands – not that there really were any.

  More suspicious than ever, Anastasia ran up the stairs and toward her grandfather’s study. Along with the shed at the side of the house, this was the only other place her grandparents had declared off-limits. That’s what made it the perfect location for hiding something, especially if they wanted to keep it from her.

  Stopping in front of the closed study door, Anastasia tried to suppress her guilt as she turned the doorknob, which squeaked slightly, and then stepped inside. She’d always been a good girl who’d only imagined what was behind this door, and now that she knew, it was a huge letdown. The room would’ve been bare if it wasn’t for two file cabinets, a small desk and a chair.

  She switched on the light, knowing that she would need it if she was going to find a logbook, photographs or just about anything which may give her insight into the Cedar Falls werewolf. Unfortunately, having the light on meant she’d have to search fast because if her grandparents came home early, they’d be able to see the study window aglow from outside.

  Anastasia opened one of the file cabine
ts and rifled through its contents, finding nothing other than decades of tax returns. “Don’t they know you only have to keep the last seven years?” she muttered, rolling her eyes as she shut the bottom drawer.

  Annoyed that she’d spent several minutes on the first cabinet, Anastasia wasted no time proceeding to the next one. Luck was definitely not on her side as she discovered it was filled with pay stubs, all neatly placed in his and her sections and organized in chronological order. “Hoard much?” she commented with a groan, growing even more frustrated as she closed the last drawer.

  She looked around the room, wondering if she’d missed anything, but the last place to search would be the desk, and with only one short, narrow drawer in the middle, she doubted it would contain much more than stationeries. Regardless, she reached for the drawer and upon trying to pull it open, she realized that it was locked. She frowned. Suddenly, it seemed a lot more interesting.

  Trying to think like her grandfather, Anastasia kneeled on the floor to look under the desk, hoping he’d somehow hidden the key there. Unfortunately, he hadn’t. With a disappointed sigh, she stood up, but as she did so, she noticed the calendar lying on his desk. Quickly, she lifted the calendar, smiling proudly as a small silver-colored key was revealed. Her grandfather always said the best hiding places were the most obvious ones, so she’d been confident that the key would be in his study.

  Retrieving the key, Anastasia unlocked the drawer and slowly pulled it open. Inside she found a thin white folder marked, Confidential, and a tape recorder sitting on top of it. After placing the recorder onto the desk, she opened the folder and then let out a startled gasp. It was a copy of Chloe’s medical report from the night she was attacked. She couldn’t fathom how her grandfather had obtained this information or even why he would want it.

  Anastasia scanned through the report, thinking it might give her some answers, but most of it was written with medical terminology that she didn’t understand. It wasn’t until she came to the last page that she saw a highlighted paragraph and, from her interpretation, it stated that Chloe’s wounds were inflicted by a cougar.

  Finished with the report, Anastasia put it back in the folder before picking up another one, which she assumed would also be Chloe’s. As she began to read, she was shocked to see that the medical report actually belonged to Pete. Flipping through the pages, she soon found another highlighted paragraph, with this one sourcing Pete’s injuries as coming from an unidentified mammal. It went on to suggest that the closest species capable of inflicting such wounds was canis lupus – the wolf.

  “Oh my gosh,” Anastasia muttered, finally accepting that, unlike Chloe, Pete had indeed been attacked by a werewolf.

  Hurriedly, she shoved the folder back into the drawer and then grabbed the recorder. The sole tape was already in it, and when she pressed play, the room was filled with chilling words spoken by a man with a very deep voice.

  It was late – really late – when I heard that first howl. Silence followed for the next couple of minutes, then it came again, this time closer. He sounded angry, or maybe he was in pain. Either way, all I could be certain of was that I needed to see this thing. I ran outside, wearing not much more than a nightshirt and boots, but I didn’t care as long as I had my rifle. I waited for the howls to start again, and they did – right behind me. Before I could move, I felt him breathing down my bare neck. I prepared to fire, knowing that speed and aim were the only two things that could keep me alive, but when I turned around, he was gone. It was like he was never there, even though he definitely had been. Then, from far in the distance, he howled as if mocking me. That was my only experience with the werewolf, and to be honest, I hope it’s my last.

  Almost instantly, another voice came from the recorder, this time that of a young girl.

  Everyone says the werewolf is bad, but I don’t think so. Last summer, when I was camping with my parents, I got lost in the woods really late at night. I was so scared until I heard a gentle whimper and saw the prettiest eyes. I knew he was my friend and that he wanted to help me, so I followed him. He brought me back to my campsite and after he left, I heard him howl like he was happy. Of course, when I told my parents, they thought I was lying because they never saw him, but I know the truth.

  Even though Anastasia wanted to listen to more, she switched the recorder off, knowing that she’d stayed in her grandfather’s study long enough. She quickly put everything back where they belonged, all the while wondering why her grandfather was collecting evidence of the werewolf’s existence. She couldn’t figure out what the point of it was – almost everyone already believed anyway.

  After turning the light in the study off and shutting the door firmly behind her, Anastasia hurried to her bedroom, where she proceeded to sit in her rocking chair, with a soft blanket wrapped tightly around herself for comfort. Unfortunately, finally taking a minute to rest didn’t stop her from dwelling on the crazy events of today and especially the potential consequences.

  Her world now felt unreal because she could no longer deny the reality of supernatural creatures and perhaps all things that went bump in the night. While her initial reaction had been to confront her grandparents, she wondered if that was actually a smart idea. What if they wanted to send her home to keep her safe now that she knew the truth? They’d already proven they were willing to go to great lengths to make sure she was out of harm’s way. She just wasn’t ready to take that chance because leaving Cedar Falls meant saying goodbye to Frost.

  Although Anastasia couldn’t bear the thought of being without Frost, that didn’t stop her from feeling very frustrated with him. In fact, he was as bad as her grandparents. She was certain that he knew about the werewolf because he was smart, observant and apparently more knowledgeable about Cedar Falls Woods than anyone else. Constantly telling her not to believe in the werewolf had been such an obvious attempt to cloud her judgment that she felt foolish for not realizing it sooner.

  Despite all this, Anastasia sensed that there was another reason for Frost’s behavior. Even though she was positive that he wanted to protect her, it was more than that. Could he have been trying to protect the werewolf, too? And if that was true, why? It seemed like a million questions were going through her mind, but Frost was the only one who could give her the answers she was seeking. She needed to get him alone, face-to-face, so they could have a serious conversation. Unfortunately, with Frost no longer coming to her window at night as well as his hectic work schedule, the next chance they would have to talk was tomorrow night, when he picked her up from work.

  Getting up and walking to the window, Anastasia pulled the curtains aside to look out. Everything was still and silent, and with the snow-covered trees and ground glistening in the moon’s glow, it seemed like just another ordinary night. However, she knew what was really out there, lurking in the woods as both man and beast.

  “And I thought I used to lead a wild life,” Anastasia muttered, her eyes locked on the dense trees that rose high into the starry night sky.

  * * *

  It was after seven o’clock on a Friday evening as Anastasia worked alone in the library. She wasn’t meant to be by herself, but her co-worker had called in at the last minute, saying she refused to work after dark as long as the beast was on the loose. Anastasia knew that her grandparents wouldn’t be happy with this situation; however, she saw no other alternative since she couldn’t close the library early nor ask her grandmother, who was at another impromptu town meeting, to fill in for the absent co-worker. Anastasia wasn’t that concerned, though. After all, it wasn’t like a werewolf could open a door. She almost laughed at the thought.

  Placing a stray book upon the shelf, Anastasia realized that there was nothing else to do. The library was meticulously clean and organized, probably due to the fact that no one had entered for over two hours, and she’d long ago finished all her assigned tasks. With the opportunity at hand, Anastasia could no longer resist the urge to hurry toward the library’s main comput
er and turn it on. This was the computer which held a comprehensive database of articles entitled The Cedar Falls Archives, and Anastasia was dying to access it.

  Typing the password she’d once seen her grandmother use, Anastasia quickly found the database and then searched Cedar Falls Werewolf. Ever since she began taking the myth seriously, she’d kept mentally replaying two conversations she’d overheard. Both the girl in the lunchroom at school and the medical assistant had said a werewolf attack occurred seventeen years ago. If this was true, the story must have been all over the Cedar Falls press, regardless of how small and poorly funded their printing operations were.

  The database was slow, with the search taking almost a minute to complete; however, once it was done, Anastasia was left with an abundance of articles. In anticipation, she began skimming through them, but she was soon disappointed to learn that they offered no information about the werewolf. It was like Cedar Falls wanted to keep it their dirty little secret.

  Frustrated, Anastasia was seconds away from abandoning the search when one particular article caught her attention. Dated seventeen years ago, the article was about a large female wolf who had been captured and killed in Cedar Falls Woods. According to the journalist, the wolf was hunted solely because of her size, with no rogue-like behavior having ever been reported. As the accompanying image finished loading, Anastasia gasped; the wolf wasn’t just large – she was huge! Even more shocking was the wolf’s eyes because, despite being dead, they were still open, vibrantly blue and looked exactly like Frost’s. In an instant, she knew that this wolf was actually a werewolf, even if the publisher was too scared to state the whole truth.

  With a racing heart, Anastasia shakily stood up and began searching for a book that someone had returned earlier today. She soon spotted the spine of the book, which read A Guide to Wolves, and then pulled it from the shelf. Trying to stay calm and as rational as possible, she opened the book and read feverishly.