Of the Wolf's Blood
It was the howling that had caused Tyler to wander onto the Pine Shore Settlement's grounds. The sound of guns being fired beforehand hadn't caught his attention. It was far too common for local hunters and kids to shoot in the woods and the sound often carried for some distance. The howls, however, were closer, baleful, yelping; the sound of animals in pain, and that was something that Tyler could not shut out. The Pine Shore Settlement was a retreat for adults who just wanted to get away from it all. Mostly people who wanted to get to see the wilds of Maine, Tyler assumed. He hadn't really talked with the people there even though he was the closest thing to a neighbor the Settlement had. He knew the place had some dogs on the premise because when he was kept up for about a week and complained to the staff, they had told him as much. Apparently they were used to help keep the coyote's away, made sense to Tyler as he had always owned a dog until recently for similar reasons.
The Settlement, as it was called by locals, used to be a children's summer camp that had folded due to economic hard times back in the 1990's. About a few years ago a group of people bought the camp and transformed it into a retreat for adults, which caused some concern for the town. Tyler had been invited to a BBQ they hosted for the local residents around six months ago. He was one of the few who actually went. At the BBQ they all seemed normal despite popular opinion in town that the place was filled with kinky sex or couples making out every five feet. Tyler had half expected a frenzy of sex and liquor, but they seemed normal. There he had met Mark and Eric, an inner city teen who just wanted to get away and one of the security guards for the place. Not that the Settlement needed guarding from anything save for the few intrusions from the occasional black bear or coyote.
The only exceptions to the normal appearance of the place were a couple who were new to the Settlement. The new couple looked rich, acted rich, but Tyler wondered if they were actually rich, they seemed very out of place. The husband seemed more interested in the other women at the BBQ and the wife seemed to be looking for something at all times and that something definitely wasn't her husband.
"That's the Collins writer, what qualifies for a 'celebrity' around here. She's doing a book on summer get a ways for adults apparently. It just means more work for me" grumbled Eric at the time.
Eric was one of three people who did the security at the Settlement. Mostly it was for the occasional teenager who would try to come in and cause trouble. He had the looks for the job to be sure, with his six foot tall frame of solid muscle and stocky football player build. His square jaw and rugged looking face definitely gave him the intimidation someone needed for the job. So it puzzled Tyler as he looked through the ground as to why someone would be so stupid as to pester the dogs knowing someone like Eric was around. The first time he had met Eric he seemed like an uptight guard, but amongst friend though he would let loose. He'd often visit Tyler after they had met while he was off duty. They would drink a few beers, go on hikes, fish, swim...Oh yeah the swimming was the best; when Tyler could see Eric's muscled body in its entire splendor. God how he envied a body like that.
The howls were becoming louder, more panicked in tone. It didn't sound like it was coming from the camp or the lodges but from the barn up on the hill. Tyler ran as he realized something was terribly wrong. The smell of burning wood hit his nostrils as he dashed through the trees to the small clearing where the barn was located. He got there just in time to see the Collins lady jump into a car and speed off. There was a group of people Tyler did not recognize standing around the barn as flames came out of the roof and cracks in the wood siding. The barn wasn't exactly a finished building, in fact he thought it was abandoned and just slowly rotting away in the woods. There was banging and growling coming from within. A black shadow, half in flames, burst out of the main burning door. The men standing in front of the barn open fire with their rifles.
Tyler stepped back in the forest as he watched with horror what was happening. He could hear some cursing, mumbling, but most of all he heard a sinister laughter as if the men were enjoying themselves. The men numbered a good dozen and all stood back away from the barn and the body which now spasmed on the ground still burning. The figure was half in flames so Tyler couldn't tell who it might have been. He tried to strain his eyes and all he could see was the familiar face of Mark looking with lifeless eyes back at him. Most of his hair was burnt off but the face was definitely Mark's.
He all but blurted out the name, quickly covering his mouth with his hand. What the heck was going on here? Tyler tried to rationalize it all as something he was imagining. The more he looked at the body on the ground, though the more the cold reality settled in that it was indeed Mark. There were other shadows in the flames of the barn and a few tried to get out, but, like Mark, they were gunned down. Tyler did not waste any more time hanging around. Whatever was going on was beyond his ability to help anyone from his current position. What was going on here? Growls and yelps of pain followed the slaughter adding to the surreal scene. Tyler tried to deny the inescapable truth he was now facing and instead focused on saving any survivors.
He acted quickly and went to the back of the barn. He definitely wasn't going to stand around and wind up as one of these crazy people's victims. He knew there was a bulkhead leading to a small crawl space under the barn. Perhaps a few people had escaped the fire and gone down there at least Tyler hoped so. As he walked out of the line of trees, he saw the bodies of a few of the staff of the Settlement. Some were naked, others were clothes but all had a bloodied bullet wound somewhere on their bodies. Whenever he got home he was going to call the sheriff on these people.
The sounds from the barn were dying as he got to the back and opened the bulkhead doors. A plume of black smoke billowed up into his face obscuring any view he could get of the stairs. Coughing he put his sleeve over his mouth and walked down the creaking steps even as the sound of timbers falling could be heard above. The crawl space was not much more than a hole in the ground with a set of steps leading up to the barn, which was now ablaze with fire. From the light above, Tyler could make out only one big, black shadow in the corner, along with a couple of other bodies. The other two were dead. Not much left to them but burnt flesh and bone, and Tyler began to think he would not find any other survivors. He reached out in the smoky air, which stung his eyes, making his vision blurry with tears. There was a sharp pain at his wrists that caused him to jerk his hand back, but there was strong resistance as if something were holding there. The smoke cleared allowing him to see. A flash of flame in the darkness revealed two yellow orbs in a face of black fur, and a muzzle covered in blood, his blood. Tyler screamed as the thing released his wrist from its jaws and looked at him with a strange sense of recognition. Tyler stepped back trying to get out of the small crawl space clutching his bleeding wrist to his chest, to staunch the bleeding and the pain. A large timber fell down between him and whatever the thing that bit him was in the corner. The timber was on fire and gave Tyler a good look at what had bitten him.
There crouched in the corner was a large beast. It has the head of a canine, no more of a wolf, brilliant amber eyes glowing with a fire that matched the flames above. The whole body was covered in thick black fur that blended in well with the smoke around it. The only way Tyler could see the muzzle was the blood that stained it and the flashed of white that made up rather large fangs. He couldn't see much else beyond the flames or the smoke. It was a dog, perhaps one of the ones that Eric had told him about. The dog probably had just bitten him because it was afraid. Quickly Tyler kicked the timber as best as he could so it was out of the way. His head was getting light either from the smoke surrounding them or the loss of blood. He could feel his shirt getting wet around his wrist and there was no telling how long he could keep going like this without some sort of medical treatment. But he couldn't abandon this dog to be shot by those maniacs upstairs.
He tried going forward but the smoke was getting too much for him. His head spun and he could feel his body falling. Something caught him in a strong grip and before Tyler knew what was going on the cool, fresh air of the night brushed against his face and brown hair. He heard gun fire, bullets shattering against trees, and a few zips of air around him. The one last image he saw before he passed out completely was the full moon beyond the tall pine trees and two yellow eyes glaring down from a shadow. A low growling voice spoke to him as his mind went into darkness, "You'd better live Ty." The voice reminded Tyler of Eric...God he hoped that Eric had survived that flaming holocaust.