Why a Wolf Cries, Julie Steimle [ebook reader macos TXT] 📗

were rolling on the ground, scraping, scrambling, until…

The cougar collapsed.

Audry jumped up and shot it then to make sure it would stay down, her aim true. The wolf still held on, biting down harder and tearing out the rest of the cougar’s throat. It bit in again to make sure it was dead—incredibly odd behavior for a wolf. But once it was sure, the bloody, clawed-up wolf looked to Audry, panting. Its fur was matted with the cougar’s blood and soaked in its own, its back fur and skin gashed and pulled up. For a moment, Audry though she heard the wolf say, “Are you all right?”

But then her brother Doug ran up to her and said it again, “Are you all right?”

The wolf staggered forward, then collapsed to the ground. Audry almost rushed up to it, yet hesitated, taking aim with her gun. A wounded animal was a dangerous animal. She shot the wolf with a dart.

“Ow.”

Audry looked to Doug. Getting a breath, she nodded to him and said, “Go to my tent and get my rescue kit.”

He nodded rushing off.

Maris sobbed, with her mother who had already sent Skyler for the first aid kit. It was good thing Maris’s mother was a nurse.

“What do we do?” Her father rushed up to Audry. “We’ve got two dead animals in the camp. You said before the hike that this kind of thing would draw in bears and other predators. But it is too dark to see the path to get Maris out of here tonight.”

Audry nodded. “I know.” But she crouched down next to the wolf. She lifted up the wolf’s hind leg and felt the inside at the femoral artery for his pulse. She could see it was a male. His heart was beating hard still. She felt his bloodied side for the heaving of his lungs. It was moving. “We only have one dead animal. The wolf is alive.”

Her father stared at her. “What?”

Audry felt the wolf over more, examining the gashes and torn skin, thinking of what she could do to save him. Yet as she thought this, her hands stroked over his fur on that leg, discovering a bare spot which could be an old bullet wound. It was the right size for one. Then she found another. Both here healed, but she felt no bullets under his skin.

Drawing in a breath, Audry looked to the wolf’s face, the one part of the animal the cougar had barely clawed, his neck thankfully spared from real damage. As she did, she noticed scar lines in his fur not far from his jugular—with stitch marks. She found others as well. This wolf had once been heavily wounded and someone had rescued it before.

“Get your flashlight, Dad.” Audry said as Doug came back with her kit. “I’m going to rescue this guy. Doug, you should go back to Maris.”

Her father hurried off to his tent for the light.

“Oh no.” Doug peeked over at his wife and daughter. “Jean does not like me interfering with her nursing.”

Audry eyed him. “You are a phlebotomist.”

He nodded, chuckling painfully at what was technically a family joke. “Yes, but the only blood we’re handling here is clean up—and she considers me to be in the way.”

Her father hurried back, flicking on the switch. He let it shine down on her and the bloodied wolf.

Smothering an ironic laugh, Audry said, “Do you want to help me then?”

“It’s what I am here for.”

Audry pointed to the cougar. “You and Dad get that cougar out of the camp ground. You’re right. It will draw scavengers here. Carry it across the creek or something. Up the hill. We’ll report it tomorrow to the Fish and Wildlife Service Office. I have the number in my wallet.”

They both nodded, rising to do just that.

“But don’t forget to take pictures of it also!” Audry called after them. “We’ll need it for the report!”

“What can I do?” Skyler ran up to her, peeking back to his mother and sister. His grandmother was helping out. Jean was cleaning Maris’s wounds while her grandmother held Maris still as her niece sobbed.

“Banished?” Audry sighed.

Skyler nodded.

She pointed to the flashlight her father and his grandfather had left. “Get that. Then go fetch me a blanket no one will care about. I need a clean surface to work on.”

Skyler rushed off and was soon back with the old oily wool blanket they had taken from the car trunk and had been using for ground cover in front of his family’s tent. They had been using it as a doormat as his mother wanted them to track in minimal dirt into their tent.

“Spread it out. We’re going to put the wolf on it.” Audry pointed to a spot of dirt for him to lay it.

Skyler quickly flicked the blanket up and out as if they were merely going to have a picnic. Audry then gestured for him to grab the wolf’s back legs. Together, they heaved the heavy animal’s dead weight onto it.

The wolf’s eyes flickered open when they set him down. For second Audry blinked at its gray eye. Only once had she ever seen a gray-eyed wolf. She looked over the wolf again in horror. “No way.”

“What is it?” Skyler asked.

“Hold that flashlight up,” Audry said. “To his face.”

Skyler did. In the illuminated circle, the wolf blinked and heavily turned its gaze from the brightness. But it illuminated his bloody fur. Audry looked for dry fur, his real color. When she saw the rust shade of it, she drew in another breath.

“I need to bind his mouth,” Audry murmured, feeling dazed. She dug into her kit and found the adjustable muzzle. She carefully, yet hastily, wrapped the belts around the wolf’s jaws, affixing the strap so he would not be able to bite at her.

Then she went for nitrile gloves. “Ok, Skyler, go get me some water. Make sure it is clean water. Leave the flashlight here.”

Nodding sharply, her nephew rushed off.

Him gone, Audry crouched down to the wolf’s ear and whispered, “It’s me. Are you ok?”

The wolf whimpered.

“Oh, my poor wolf. How in the world are you here?” She murmured over the new scars on his body. “What have those Deacons done to you?”

The wolf’s whimper sounded dismayed.

“I will blame them,” she said, arguing with her wounded and sedated wolf in defiance. “I mean, look at you. Targeted simply for being connected to that family. Where did all these scars come from? Did they really bring you to Germany? Rhett wasn’t lying, was he? He really did see you there.”

Another whimper of pain came from the wolf. Tears seemed to well in his eyes. He was sad. No. Just in pain. Severe pain.

“Oh, you poor thing.” Audry looked over the cougar damage again and nodded. “I’ll take care of you.”

Skyler came back with the water.

The first thing they did was wash all the wounds. Skyler had to put on gloves as well to assist her. Audry treated the torn skin with both alcohol and iodine before straightening it and wrapping up the damaged areas. She did not have the light or materials to stitch anything up, but she could at least clean the wounds and stop the bleeding. It took a while. The wolf was practically mummified when she was done.

“So… how do we keep animals from going after him in the night?” Doug asked once he and their father was back from their cougar dumping trip. Audry had them cleaning up the battle area, sweeping up the bloodied dirt toward the fire.

She shrugged, then looked up to the trees. “What about a hammock? We have one, right? We can string it up and put him in it.”

“What if that wolf wakes up and climbs out?” Her brother delivered her an incredulous look.

“Doug?” Audry rose, hands on hips. “This is my wolf. If I have to, we’ll tie him down and string up his cocoon in the trees until he becomes a butterfly.”

“You’re claiming this wolf too?” Doug snorted with a skyward moan.

She shook her head at him. “No. This wolf is my wolf. It is the wolf from my pictures. The wolf on my tee-shirt.”

He looked immediately to it. “No way. You just think it is—”

“No.” Shaking her head adamantly, Audry could feel the rest of her body tremble as well. “It’s a rare wolf. The coloring is of a red wolf, but it is a gray wolf. And its eyes are unusual for any wolf species. They’re a steel gray color.”

Doug opened his mouth in protest.

“And, he has the bullet wound where I dug that one silver bullet out. The one on my necklace,” she said. “It’s my wolf.”

Crouching down, Doug and her father stared at it. It was half asleep, its eyes lolling with an effort to stay awake. Skyler joined them, peering it over.

“Then… it could be one of those rich Deacons,” Skyler said. “A werewolf.”

Audry moaned loudly. “Skyler! That was just a story! There are no such things as werewolves.”

He shrugged then pointed to the sky. “It’s nearly a full moon.”

“Stop it,” his father, Doug, said. “Now is not the time to tease.”

“Later then?” Skyler replied, walking away before someone swatted him.

Audry did make a wolf burrito using the blanket. The wolf had to be restrained for it to heal. With the help of her father and brother, they did try the hammock idea, taking that one hammock they had brought and strung it in a tree outside the camping area, just in case, depositing the wrapped wolf inside. 

“We leave tomorrow at first light,” her father said once things were cleaned up and all food was locked away and hanging in the tree. “Jean agrees that we can’t carry Maris in the dark. Jean and Maris will be sleeping in your tent with you, and Skyler will be with me. But what are your plans with the wolf tomorrow?”

Frowning, Audry knew what they were thinking. “I’m not leaving him.”

Both her father and Doug groaned.

“I’ll make a drag stretcher and carry him myself.” Audry could feel her face get hot. There was no way she was going to leave her wolf to the cruelty of nature. He was too damaged. His wounds could get septic, and he could die. And yes, she loved him… in a way. She cared about him more than she could describe, and she did not even comprehend why. It was just a gut feeling that if she did not rescue this wolf, she would regret it forever.

“All that dead weight?” Doug protested, clearly in no mood to drag a half dead wolf across the countryside. “You’re going to be exhausted.”

“He’s my wolf.” Audry stiffened. She was going to fight for this.

“I really doubt your east coast wolf is out here in Yellowstone with us,” he shot back.

“You don’t know my wolf,” she bit back.

“No, I don’t,” Doug replied sharply. “And I don’t really want to.”

Audry’s jaw dropped.

“Honestly, your fascination with dangerous animals is just like your fascination with dangerous men,” Doug snapped. “I don’t get it.”

Her father blew out a breath and stepped back as Audry’s jaw opened even wider.

“One day, one of them is going to kill you,” Doug grumbled. And he stormed off to his tent.

Audry restrained her natural impulse to shout back. But what could she say anyway? This was not the first time she had heard him say that. And it wasn’t entirely wrong. Yet it was still rude.

No one wanted to stay up after that. Maris was whimpering and sniffling in her mother’s arms, sharing the same sleeping bag in the center of Audry’s tent.

Audry barely slept. Her mind was now on bears, never mind any other stray cougars. She kept her tranquilizer gun right beside her, prepared in case of emergency. The others slept with bear mace close in hand.

But what really kept her awake was the thought of the wolf. Would he be ok? Did they hang him high enough for his safety? Would a bear get to him?