Wolf Camp (Bear Naked 2)

Chapter 17, part 1

They were outside moments later. Amanda had her cellphone wrapped, first in plastic to keep it dry, and then a clean sock so Jonathan could bite down on it without damaging it. Jonathan had stripped down to his sweatpants. Amanda held out the phone. He stripped the pants off and transformed. He took the phone gingerly in his teeth and then bolted across the camp.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Brianna ventured as he disappeared from view.

"I'm sure," Connor said.

Moments later, the early evening air was filled with howling. "I guess you were right, Tricia." Connor said. "They do have wolves watching the way."

"Yeah for me," Tricia said in a flat voice.

Amanda looked back at the pack. Brianna and Erica looked more subdued, less certain of their mistrust, knowing he was out there now, running from Gods knew how many other wolves.

More howls sounded. "How will we know..." Tanner let it trail off.

"As long as they are howling, Jonathan is still running," Connor said.

Nobody moved. They stood on the porch for what seemed like hours, listening to the increasingly distant howls and hoping Jonathan was succeeding in out running them.

They sat on the porch as the evening sun lengthened towards nightfall. Nobody wanted to go back inside. They didn't talk. Connor paced in front of the cabin.

Marcus and Tyler came out of their cabin. "We were thinking of walking up to the lodge for a snack," Marcus said with a nod of his head. He watched Connor pace for a moment and added, "is something wrong?"

The wolves howled for a moment.

"Is that a knock down?" Marcus asked.

"No," Tricia said. "There is some heavy shit going down. Jonathan ran out of the camp to make a call, but somebody doesn't want him to leave."

"Why not?" Marcus said.

"It's a long story," Tricia said.

"Why doesn't he just call on a cellphone?" Tyler asked.

"No signal," Tricia said.

"Really?" Tyler said. "I get a signal fine." Amanda stared at him, her eyes wide. He thought a moment and then shrugged. "Oh yeah, Mom got me a satellite phone, that's why."

"You guys need to make a call?" Marcus said. "You could borrow it."

"I don't know, Mom's really particular about my minutes," Tyler said.

"Oh come on, they -" Marcus started.

"Just get it," Tricia barked. Tyler jumped and then headed for his cabin.

"I can see who's going to be alpha," Tanner muttered. Amanda swung her head and looked at him. "Whoever Tricia wants," he finished.

Amanda turned back in time to see Tricia blush and roll her eyes, looking away.

Tyler was back moments later with a yellow rubber phone. It was thick and slightly longer than a regular phone. It had a small digital display and regular touch buttons. "Mom was worried about me being out of range for some reason," he said as he handed the phone over to Connor. "Be real careful, she'll kill me if it gets broken."

"He will be," Tricia groused.

Connor hit a bunch of buttons and held the phone to his ear. After a few moments he muttered, "damn, no answer," he looked at the phone in frustration.

"I'll get mine," Brianna said, catching on, "I can't remember everyone's number either. Got 'em in my contacts, after all." She went inside and came back with her phone.

It didn't matter, no one answered at any of the pack's numbers. "They must be out of range," he said. His face fell. "That means they are already in the park somewhere."

He dialled the first number back and left a message for his dad, just in case. When he was done, Amanda took the phone from him. Behind her she could hear the whispered conversation between Marcus, Tyler and Tricia. "An ambush," Marcus was saying. "Damn, that is some serious shit alright."

Amanda dialled her own phone. It went straight to voice mail. Either he hadn't reached the kin camp or he was on the line. "Jonathan, this is Amanda, we found a phone that works. We can't get a hold of anyone. Check in with this number when you get this, and we'll figure out the next move."

She had scarcely hung up when the phone rang. She answered.

"It's me," Jonathan said on the other end. His breathing was heavy.

"Are you at the kin camp?" Amanda asked.

"No, it was too guarded," Jonathan said. "I took a different route. I am on a gravel road just outside of town."

"Jonathan!" she exclaimed, "that's like seven miles."

"Just a light run," he said, pride in his voice.

"I guess," she said with a laugh.

"I couldn't get an answer either," he said, turning serious. "I went through the whole adult pack, but no one is answering. They are either out of range or have their phones off."

"Yeah, we figured that."

"So I tried Darren," Jonathan said.

"Good thinking," she told him.

"Thanks," he said, "but he wasn't answering either."

Amanda thought for a moment. "He's at a fair. His phone is probably buried somewhere in his bag. Damn."

"Then," Jonathan said, "I thought, well, I remember you saying your aunt Maggie knew about shifters and stuff. I figured it was worth a try."

"Aunt Maggie, of course," Amanda said.

"Yeah, she said she knows some people not too far off. So she's trying to get a hold of someone. It's a long shot, but it's better than nothing."

"Yeah, that's good thinking," Amanda said.

There was a short pause. "I hear something," Jonathan said sharply. "I better go."

"Be careful," Amanda said, "and if you need to, ditch the phone. Just get back safely."

The line was already dead. In the far distance, Amanda heard wolves howling again. She quickly relayed what Jonathan had said.

"God, I hope she can do something," Connor said. "The thought," he shook his head. Then he stared out into the twilight. The howling, still distant, was coming closer. He pulled off his shirt and looked back at his pack. "Let's go get our boy back," he said.

"Yeah," Erica agreed with a savage smile. "We owe him that."

"Do you want us to go?" Marcus asked Amanda as Connor and the others transformed and took off.

"No," Amanda said. "I don't want you guys to get hurt. Can we keep this for tonight?" she held up the phone.

"Yeah, sure," Tyler replied.