73

When I get up there, I manage to find a flat enough spot that with one of my pelts rolled out I snuggle into a dip between two parallel boughs and can properly lay down, without having to anchor myself to anything. I hang my backpack on a broken stump on the trunk and lay out on top of my makeshift bed, stretching and wriggling to see how comfy I can get, satisfied that this isn’t too bad as long as it doesn’t get windy or rain tonight. I don’t want to unroll pelts that could slide off if I roll in my sleep and draw attention to lurking wildlife. I won’t have a fire to keep some of the natural creatures at bay up here, so I have to make do with cold meat, a bumpy bed, and the rustling and swaying of the trees to lull me into slumber. Not that I think it’ll be an issue, as now I’m up here, my eyes are heavy and my brain cloudy with fatigue. It’s been a long day.

I sit and watch the building through the foliage for a while, sat at my safe distance, watching as the shadows lengthen and become part of the dark surroundings as light fades fast. I’m already exhausted from my extended trekking, so settling down and beginning to drift off is easier than usual. Not the usual spew of weighty things on my mind to keep me awake, and it feels like only seconds of blinking and drowsiness before I zone out.

I wake with a start, jumping slightly, and sitting up fast, banging my head on rough wood and silently yelping as I properly come to. I must have drifted into a deeper sleep so fast, because it was a second ago, I could still see my hand in front of me and now I’m in utter pitch darkness and can’t even make out what I’m sitting on. Disorientated at first until I remember where I am and how I got here and my belly rumbles because I didn’t eat. I woke with a fright for sure, and my heart is thundering through my chest as my nocturnal eyesight kicks into touch, clawing the area around me frantically into focus.

I’m not sure exactly what woke me yet and I slowly sit up, sliding my legs up, my knees touching my chest as I rub my now bruised, lumpy, forehead, while scanning my surroundings for a cause. Taking deep breaths to calm down and center myself, letting my senses take over, rather than my scared brain.

It doesn’t take me long to see what brought me around once I settle down and actually look. There’s a shiny black truck parked in the undergrowth beside the fence, nearer the back of the building where I first stood. It’s about ten feet further down the makeshift road. They must have just pulled up, maybe the noise, and headlights, are what roused me to alert and I watch with held breath as someone slides out and makes their way around the fence to find the entrance. An eery solitary figure, shrouded in darkness. It’s both a joy to see another person, but also a massive alarming worry, that I’m seeing another person

They, much like the truck, are all in black, wearing a hood pulled over their head so I can’t see their face at all, but I can tell it’s male. Tall, stocky, and as he moves around the gate with his focus on his task, eerily quiet on his feet. The wind picks up gently and blows this way, guiding his scent towards me and I recoil in utter shock, like someone tasered my ass.

He’s wolf… like me. There’s no denying that very specific scent we all carry and it red alerts me and wakes up my brain immediately.

I have no idea why the hell a lycanthrope would be manning a power plant in the middle of the forest. I mean, maybe it’s not that big a deal, some packs live and work in the human world and have regular jobs as they try to pass off as one of them. This could be a guy who works for the power company and for some reason, likes to frequent his unmanned building in the middle of the night. I’m sure that’s probably a normal thing, for unconventional hours, or maybe if he has a special task at this time of night.

Probably not likely, and it’s too weird that all the way out here, alone for weeks on end, the first person I come in contact with is one of my kind. It’s a little too coincidental, especially as I came here after following some deeper gut feeling, and stupid dreams of Sierra Santo.

I watch, squinting through the foliage as I try to see his progress and get a better look, but the gates are obscured from my angle, and he disappears behind trees that sit between us, and out of sight. I don’t want to lose track of him in case he somehow heads in here without me seeing and shows up at the foot of my tree. I doubt I would be a welcome discovery.

I don’t hesitate. I slide off my perch, silently climb down the tree, and crawl closer until I can see him again from another angle, ducking down behind a rock and keeping low. My senses are on major high alert, and I’m taking comfort in the fact the wind is blowing this way, so he won’t smell me the way I did him. I’m relatively safe from this distance if he doesn’t see me moving around.

I have to creep on all fours, keeping still, and wedging in behind a fallen log to get a better look as I track him. By the time I figure out where he is, eyes scanning the fence and truck, he’s already inside the compound and up against the door. He moves fast, and it just conforms that he’s one of my kind.

I hear a beep, a click, like he opened something, or had some sort of key, and the door slides to the side in front of him. It doesn’t open out like I expected, but more like something of an elevator door, that slides out of sight, back on itself, which is weird for a low-tech building.

From here I can see inside though, and there doesn’t seem to be anything at all in the doorway, making it all even weirder. It looks like an empty concrete box, and no big inside room, or control panels, or anything from what I can peer into. That just makes the sliding door stranger if it’s concealing nothing. I move a little closer still, not convinced I’m getting a full picture, hitting the last line of trees before the clearing, and stand tall to side slide behind one and peek around. I know it’s stupid getting this near to him, but I can’t see, and this place has me so confused as to what its purpose is, or what its importance is to my instincts.

He walks inside, turns, and faces something to the left, just behind where the door is. He leans in, ducking slightly so his face comes level with an out of sight panel.

“It’s me, I’m back, bring me down.” A low growl to his masculine tone, most definitely a wolf. I can just tell.

He stands tall and turns to face the open front door, my heart rate escalating as nerves consume me, and my body begins to tremble. I swear, for a second, I think he looks right at me and I dive back, flattening my back to the bark and close my eyes, as though somehow that’ll make me invisible. I’m not sure though, as he didn’t seem to react at all, and I’m probably being paranoid because I’m scared. There’s a crunching noise, the humming of the generator revs up in ferocity, and the whole building emits a long grunting moan.