Burning

Prologue

Welcome! I'm very glad you are here to take a look at my story. As a head's up for people who like to prologue skip- you will be able to without losing part of the story. You may miss out on the Hold on That's what that was about?? part of enjoying a novel though. Personally that's one of my favorite parts and since I hold all the power, I included it. It's fun, not mandatory for plot.

So if you prefer to dig right in- hop forward to chapter 2 now.

Thanks and enjoy!

-Andi

*********************

Switchback after switchback was beginning to make him a little nauseated. The young man pressed his forehead against the passenger side window, finding some relief in the cool glass but not as much as he needed with a cabin filled with smoke. That and the fact the truck rocked whenever they were forced to dodge some idiot speeding down the mountain.

"I gotta roll down the window or I'mma puke, Russ."

The older man snorted but didn't try and stop him. "Sure its not cause your still drunk as a skunk? Isn't that what made you miss your driving test anyway?"

"You'd be in deep shit if I hadn't." The younger man grumbled. "How are you going to carrying everything out of the back without me, old man."

Russ purposely drew in a long puff from the cigar and blew it in his direction. "Sure as hell won't have those nancies help. You know- this place was supposed to be a ski resort before-"

"-before the fire and four years of crappy snow season. You've told me."

"Yeah, that's right." Russ continued as though missing the entire point of someone else finishing his story for him. "and now its one of those 'retreats' for millionaire corporates. Tell me, Dave, what do they have to retreat from? Their Seattle 8 bedroom apartments?"

He had to agree with him there, for the sixth time in the last two hours. Dave pulled his head back into the truck even if he kept the window down. "It must be a hard life they lead needing to hide out in the middle of the Montana mountains."

"If they just lived here to begin with, they wouldn't have nothing to retreat from- heyo Dave you see that!"

Dave turned to where Russ was brandishing his cigar. "Coyotes?" but as they moved closer he realized the animal was much too large with large gray paws and bright curious eyes.

"Wolf!" Russ had slammed on the breaks.

The animal didn't move and for a moment Dave wondered if there was something wrong when he noticed what was making it stand in the middle of the road.

"Pups!" Russ's voice went several times higher than Dave thought possible. "Sure a good mama, getting your babies across safe."

The wolf flicked her ears, clearly nervous but holding her ground against the giant rumbling creature that had stopped several yards in front of her.

"-two, three- four- oop there they go." Dave watched the flick of the silver tail as it disappeared into the bushes on the other side.

"Sure a treat." Russ gave him a yellowed smile. "I don't think I've seen a wolf in years."

"My grandpop hated them, moving cattle like he did. She was pretty cool to watch though. I didn't know we had many out here anymore."

"I didn't think we did either but now we got four more!" Russ shifted the truck into gear and they were rumbling up the steep inclines again. Dave kept his face facing out of the cab. It was a beautiful afternoon moving into dusk. He caught sight of a few deer and even a racoon that was sitting calmly on a tree stump watching the truck pass. Soon enough they were at the lodge where Dave was surprised to see giant iron gates blocking the road.

"They must really take retreating seriously..." he mumbled as Russ convinced the man on the speaker to let them through. The parking lot was vast and crumbling, leading up to what Dave thought looked like a mansion made entirely of dark wood. Behind it a wide expanse of clear cutting going in three different directions. Where the ski runs must have been. In the late spring the air still had a bite to it up this high and he was surprised when they were met by a petite woman old enough to be his grandmother with short silver hair. Too short for a woman, truthfully, and she was wearing one of those suits. Just like Russ said. Money made people do weird things.

Unlike what Russ said, they did have some assistance. In fact, the muscle that appeared from the back door of the looming building made him feel a little self-conscious. Even the thin looking man wearing thick glasses was able to carry just as much as him without breaking a sweat. But he supposed he shouldn't complain, they were paid by the job not by the clock. Russ of course, having to carry nothing reviewed with the silver-haired woman everything they'd seen on their trip up. She listened with a polite smile and graciously asked him more about the wolf he was so excited about. All in all it only took about two hours even when two of the guys helping decided to duck out early and then they were back in the truck, Russ promising to stop and get some eggrolls from a sketchy looking Chinese place he swore was the best he'd ever eaten.

Russ was repeating a story again when he yelled something incomprehensible and stomped on the breaks, rocking the truck side to side. The break pedal hissed under the pressure and Dave looked around in confusion, expecting to see a car driven by yet another idiot with terrible depth perception.

"Oh no no no..." Russ had pulled the parking break and tossed his door open, grunting with the effort of dropping all the way on his old knees. Dave was about to tell him to get back in the damn truck when he saw what he was looking at.

"Ah, shit."

The wolf laid bloody on the side of the road, mouth wide open and front leg bent awkwardly.

"It's not the same one, is it?"

Russ didn't answer immediately but Dave pulled his hat lower when he saw the old truck driver toe the corpse with his boot and when it clearly didn't move, began to pull it off into the ditch. He bent again and carried two smaller bodies as well.

"Ah, shit." Dave repeated. He might not love wolves, but he still felt a little sad seeing the mama and her puppies had become roadkill. I guess that's what happened if she kept leading them back and forth across a road.

He gave Russ some time to finish whatever he was doing with them and watched the old driver wipe his hands on his pants. "One of those sons of a bitches in their little returnables or whatever they are."

"Convertibles?"

"Yeah those damn things. She was all tore up- most of have been a real low riding car. Poor girl didn't deserve that."

"They all dead?" Dave shook his head.

"As good as. I only found two of the pups. I searched the weeds, thinking maybe we could bring them to park rangers or something but their gone." He groaned as he climbed back in the truck. Russ was quiet after that, only looking somewhat interested when Dave pointed out that he saw the racoon again, now further down the mountain. "Better stay off the road, little guy." He muttered, turning his head to watch. For a moment before they went around the curve he could have sworn he saw another pair of eyes beside the beady ones in the black mask. Yellow-gray ones surrounded by silver fur and tiny silver ears

******

Dun dun dun! What could it mean?

You are probably never going to see Russ or Dave again.

I'm going to go ahead and post the 1st chapter right after this because I personally get frustrated when folks do that. Hopefully you enjoy. This tail (hahaha) should be both mystery and wolf related.

-Andi