Chapter Two, Part Four

 Joey glanced over at the Sheriff, “So what’s the plan boss?”

  “It’s like I said before son, we gotta put him down. There’s definitely something not right with this fella, and I’m not going to take a chance on him getting those teeth into somebody.”

  Without saying another word Sheriff Brown raised his rifle to his shoulder and took aim, as he did so the wolf turned his head and looked into the hardware store’s front window. It was almost as if he was trying to see who the Sheriff was aiming his rifle at. Turning his massive head back around, he stared once more at the Sheriff, and then he started to walk towards him.

  

  His eyebrows were arched up almost in a quizzical sort of way, as if he were trying to say, “Hey Sheriff, how ya doing? Awfully nice day don’t you think, oh and why the hell are you pointing that nasty looking gun at me?”

  Sheriff John Brown didn’t need any more of an excuse than that, when he saw the wolf start moving towards him. Steadying himself, he took aim directly at the great wolf’s chest. For a moment time seemed to slow down, sounds were muffled around him, ever so briefly he felt like he was inside a vacuum and all the air in the immediate area had been sucked out. He took a deep breath and fired; everything that he had felt a moment ago exploded at the same moment the hammer on his gun struck the round. The report of his rifle seemed even louder than normal, maybe it was because a deathly quiet had befallen the whole town in the moments just before he took the shot.

  The shot from the Sheriff’s big hunting rifle had an immediate effect, the big wolf stopped like he had just run into an invisible wall. He stopped, but he didn’t fall, he looked down at the blackened hole in his fur that was starting to bleed, and then he looked back up at the Sheriff with a look that was part shock and part disbelief. He raised his giant head and howled half-heartedly, and then with a shudder he fell over on his side and didn’t move.

  “Is it dead Sheriff?” asked someone who was watching from nearby.

  “I reckon it is, but I suppose we should have a look see, eh Joey?”

  Shouldering his rifle with the sling, Sheriff Brown drew his service revolver. Being a small town, the Sheriff didn’t feel the need for too much firepower and that’s why he carried a five shot .38 caliber police special, instead of Springfield 1911 .45 caliber auto jobby, there just wasn’t a need for that kind of stopping power here in Bettles.

  Holding their pistols out in front of themselves in a two handed shooters-stance, the two men advanced on the wolf. When they were close enough the Sheriff reached out with the toe of his boot and gently nudged the animal in the ribs. Seeing no signs of life he got a little closer, and then slowly knelt down beside it.

  “Damn it Sheriff, would you please be careful,” whispered Deputy Joey.

  “Don’t worry buddy,” exhaled the Sheriff, “I think he’s gone.”

  At that moment the wolf raised its head up a couple of inches off the street and looked directly into the Sheriff’s mirrored sunglasses. Joey jumped back, barely suppressing the shriek that tried to jump out of his throat. The Sheriff fell directly back onto his butt. After holding the Sheriff in its sight for a moment, the wolf gently laid his head back on the ground closing his eyes as he did so, and with one last rumble the giant timber wolf exhaled his last breath.  

In the next installment we meet Max. Check it out!

Chapter Two, Part Three

  Nodding back, the Sheriff rounded the corner on to Main Street where they saw quite a group of people looking in the direction of Collin’s Hardware Store.

  “Bunch of idiots, don’t they know a dangerous situation when they see one? I tell you Joey boy people just never cease to amaze me.”

  As they approached the crowd they got their first glimpse of what had gathered these people together like this.

  “Jesus,” said Joey, “would you look at the size of that thing, it’s got to be at least a 200 pounder Sheriff, and why’s it just staring at us like that?”

  “Damned if I know son, damned if I know,” whispered the Sheriff as he slowly pulled the Bronco over to the curb near the ever increasing crowd. They both got out of the Bronco at the same time, the Sheriff grabbing his rifle as he did so, carefully so as not to arouse the wolf‘s suspicion and send it into action, although he didn’t know why. There was no reason in hell that a wild animal such as this would even know what a gun was.

  The wolf just stared at them, almost as if he knew them, his jaws started to slowly move in just such a way as to make his black rubbery lips rise up in the corners.

  “What the hell is it doing Jon,” whispered Joey to the Sheriff, the fact that Joey had just called his boss by his first name, definitely meant he was scared.

  “Your guess is as good as mine junior, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look like he’s trying to smile at us. It must be as crazy as a shit-house rat though, the way it’s just standing there and sort of taking us in like that.” 

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Chapter Two, Part Three

  “Seems we got us a beast of a wolf out there for a stroll on Main Street, and if I were a betting man, which I’m not.” The sheriff said, grinning lopsidedly at Joey. “I would have to say that the beasty’s not in the right frame of mind.” At that he lazily twirled his finger around his right ear. “So we’re going to do him a great big favor son, and send him all the way back to baby Jesus.”

  “Um, Sheriff.” Billy wheezed, “About how big did Mrs. Browerton say this thing is?”

  It was well known around town that Deputy Joey Smalls wasn’t the bravest soul to ever walk the land, but he had a big heart, and the Sheriff had known Joey’s dad since kindergarten, so he tried to cut him a little bit more slack than he might normally have afforded any other young deputy.

  “Well there Daniel Boone, I’m not sure how accurate this description actually is, but according to Nancy it’s almost four feet tall at the shoulders and anywhere between 185-195 pounds.”

  Joey just stared at his boss for a minute trying to wrap his mind around what he’d just heard. “You’re not shitting me; it could really be that big?”

  There was no humor in the Sheriff’s eyes this time when he smiled, “No matter how big it is son, we have a job to do, and if this wolf is wandering around our town in the light of day, then there is something seriously wrong with him. I know that confrontation isn’t your strong suit, I never liked it much either, but I need you on your toes for this one. Loopy animals are unpredictable, and this one is close to two hundred pounds with big teeth.”

  With that the Sheriff locked eyes with Joey, “I need to know right now if I can count on you Jo, cause if I can’t, you’re no good to me. So I’m going to ask, are you with me on this one?”

  It only took him a moment, but Deputy Joey Smalls slowly nodded his assent, “I’m with you sir,” he added, making sure that the Sheriff knew that he could trust him. 


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Chapter Two, Part Two

  The sheriff of Bettles had received a call a few minutes earlier from Nancy Browerton, who lived over on Central Street about a giant timber wolf that was just roaming around the streets of town and had just about scared the life out of her and her son Tommy.

 Sheriff Jon Brown knew a thing or two about timber wolves, and he knew that there was no way that one of these fellows would just wander into town on it’s own unless it was crazy or rabid, or both. If it was as big as Nancy claimed, he knew for double sure it wouldn’t just wander into town, the big ones usually lived way out in the wild barrens of Alaska and wouldn’t come this close to civilization.

  Occasionally a small gray, or a brown would be seen on the outskirts of town, but these were generally small wolves, that were probably looking for a garbage can to ransack or a chicken to steal. So why a giant timber would be roaming the streets of Bettles, seemingly oblivious to the people who lived here was beyond the sheriff’s comprehension, unless it really was mad.

  After receiving the call, Sheriff Jon Brown quickly snatched up his silver tinted cop shades, the very same ones Ponch had worn on C.H.I.P.S, God he loved that crappy old cop show, his 30-30 hunting rifle and his deputy, Joey Smalls. Jumping into his Ford Bronco, the deputy asked him what was going on, and why the hell were they in such a hurry about it?

Chapter Two

  The wolf was walking down the Main Street sidewalk of Bettles like it had not a care in the world. It was even stopping to look into some of the various storefront’s windows, not just cursory glances either, it was taking long thoughtful looks at whatever happened to be on display at these stores. When the wolf got to Collin’s hardware store, it really seemed to be taking stock of what was on display.

  They had all sorts of things in that window, everything from fishing poles, to the latest Black and Decker cordless tools. Camping equipment, rifles, and even a couple of old truck parts were displayed in all their glory, and the wolf seemed to be looking at all of it.

  The beast seemed especially interested in an old Remington 30-30 bolt action hunting rifle, maybe it recognized it from when a hunter had taken out one his pack mates. On the other hand, if you were watching carefully, it looked like the beast was actually slowly and methodically checking out the different aspects of the weapon. Crazy as it may sound, the wolf wasn’t looking at the gun like it had killed his Pa, it was looking at the gun like it wanted to walk right in to Collin’s place, throw down $189.95, and walk back out with it.

  Just then the sounds of a siren could be heard all through the sleepy little town. Sirens weren’t heard very often in Bettles, so when you did hear one it was either a false alarm, or something big was going down. From seemingly out of nowhere, a crowd of people had started to gather across the street from the hardware store, silently watching the curious creature examining the goods in the storefront window.

 

  Bettles was an old frontier town so the streets weren’t all that wide, in some areas of town the roads were still paved with cobblestones. As narrow as the streets were, they didn’t provide all that much distance between the crowd and the beast. If the wolf were to all of a sudden take notice of his fan club, there’s no doubt he could have been in the middle of them in seconds flat. Aware of the imminent danger, they still didn’t seem to care, nobody had ever seen a wolf this big before, especially one brazen enough to walk down their streets in broad daylight.

Chapter One, Part Four

  The woman and her son continued to watch the wolf as it walked down the street, seemingly taking in all the sights as it went, it seemed to her as though the great beast were on a Sunday stroll, sauntering along without a care in the world, not at all acting like the wild predator that it was.

  When they felt like the animal had put enough distance between them, she turned and ran into the house without even looking back to see if the wolf had changed its mind. Putting her son down she asked him if he was ok, meekly replying that he was, she went into the kitchen to call the town’s sheriff, and tell him that there was a mad wolf casually roaming the streets of their fair town terrorizing its citizens.

  When she was finished talking to the sheriff’s office she hung up the phone and tried to recount the last bits of her encounter with the wolf. There was something nagging at the back of her mind about the way the wolf had looked at her and her son. There was something there, something she just couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she knew it was there. What was it?

  At the time she had been paralyzed with fear, but now that she was calmed down a bit she remembered something about the way the wolf had looked at them. There didn’t seem to be any rage in its eyes, it didn’t seem to exude the white hot hatred of a predator trying to intimidate its prey. Now that she thought about it a little more, it seemed as though the beast had a thoughtful look in its eyes, almost like it was trying to say hello.

  
  “Hell, if that were the case, then maybe when it was baring it’s teeth at us it wasn’t really trying to scare the ever-loving crap out of us, maybe it was just trying to smile and say lovely day for a stroll don’t you think?” She said to herself laughing out loud at the absurdity of it. Falling back on the couch next to her son, she looked at him and exclaimed, “I must be going crazy.”

Chapter One, Part Three

This time the boy moved his head about a half an inch forward and then back again, the movement was so slow that it was almost imperceptible.

 

“Alright,” she said, “lets move, but remember, go slow and I’ll guide you.”

 

Bracing herself for the excruciatingly long backwards journey to the front porch of their house, she took in a deep breath, being careful not to make any sudden movements and waited for her son to take his first step. The whole time she was standing there she made sure that she maintained eye contact with the wolf, as she was doing so, she could have sworn that the beast’s gaze kept wandering back and forth between her and her son.

  Before her son could take his first step backwards towards the house, the wolf’s lips started to peel back away from his teeth in an upward arc towards the corners of its mouth forming a rictus of repulsion. As it did so, row after row of razor sharp, yellow stained, monstrous teeth were revealed. Though never daring to express it out loud, the woman thought to herself, “my God, this is it!”

  She was so afraid that this monstrous killing machine was ready to attack, that she decided to throw caution to the wind and just grab her son and make a run for the house. Not knowing in the least what was going on, all the air that the boy had been holding in his lungs whooshed out of him when his mother scooped him up in the only way it could, a high pitched, fear-filled scream.

  Throughout all the commotion, the wolf stayed exactly where he was, the gruesome rows of fangs that had been on display just moments before, disappeared behind his black rubbery lips. After giving the mother and her son the scare of their lives, he spared them one last golden eyed glance before he pointed his head back down Center Street and casually resumed his trek towards the Bettles, Alaska business district.

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