Fourth grader Alex Davidson was used to being in trouble. If it wasn’t at home it was at school, but a chance discovery in the woods next to his home made his usual troubles seem like nothing. He saw something, and no one will believe him. This is a case of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ taken to the extreme. At the same time his best friend is dying of a mysterious disease and the only cure can be found… in the woods. Employing the help of a couple of school mates, he struggles to come to grips with his discovery and hopes his family, his friends and town and his best friend - can survive.
BEFORE DAWN: THE LOBO CLIFF INCIDENT
Copyright 2012 Rod Martinez
Smashwords Edition
Cover art by: Andrew Pearce
(his website is at http://www.krop.com/andrewpearce )
All Rights Reserved
This story is dedicated to early friendships. Do you remember your first best friend?
By: Rod Martinez
BOOK 1:
CHAPTER 1:
“It all started in third grade. They say I look for trouble, but I think trouble looks for me. The first day of school I got in trouble for making fun of Mrs. Budie’s name, ha, and after that, me and the principal were on a first name basis by the second week. I don’t mean to get in trouble, honest. Just some things seem funny to me and I, I just can’t control my mouth, I have to say something.”
Alex Davidson, fourth grader, sat in the small office explaining himself to the new school counselor. The counselor sat in her seat, staring at him while he fidgeted with his pencil. He ended up snapping it in half from nervousness.
“Alex, your Dad says you get in trouble a lot at home too. You want to explain that?”
“It’s my stupid sister’s fault, you know how teenagers are.”
She got up, walked toward the door.
“Alex, I want you to promise me something. We’re going to do an experiment, ok? So from now on, before you act, before you say something… I want you to promise me you’ll think about it first.”
She opened the door, he grabbed his book bag.
“Huh?”
He held the pencil in his hand and looked at the garbage can and started to aim, like he was going to throw the pencil.
“STOP!” she screamed.
He jumped.
“Huh?”
“See? Right there, before you attempt to toss that broken pencil across the room into the garbage, think about it. Really slow down and think about this. Does that pencil need to be thrown away? Can the half with the eraser still be sharpened and used? If I throw it, will I miss the garbage can and mark the wall? Understand?”
“Oh, uh… yeah. But I don’t normally think about it, I just do it…”
“Exactly, and I want to see if you can train your brain to think about it first. Ok?”
“Well, if it will keep me out of the principal’s office this year, then… ok.”
She opened the door and Alex walked out. Alex was the baby in the family who seemed to always be the one whose name got called when trouble happened. He walked back to class, sat at his desk.
“So, how’d it go?” Marcie whispered across the aisle.
He turned to his best friend; her wide eyed look made him half chuckle.
“Usual, it’s going to be an interesting year in the forth grade. Hey, Dorian didn’t come to school?”
“No, his mom told me he had the flu or something.”
“Oh, man that kid is sick more than my grandma used to be.”
“Alex, do you have something you want to share with the class?”
He stopped, turned and looked up at the teacher, who was staring at him, rapping her ruler in her open palm. The young teacher was already losing patience with her new fourth grader who could never seem to stop talking.
“Uh, no Mrs. Rivera, I was just telling Marcie… uh, never mind.”
“Very good,” the teacher said walking back to the board, “… let’s focus.”
“Ok,” he blurted out, “… let me get my bifocals.”
The kids started laughing. She pointed at him and pointed at the door.
At the same time they both said the same thing… “Ok Davidson, principal’s office!”
CHAPTER 2:
Forth grade was a big move from third. Alex thought about maybe trying out for Traffic Patrol, but since Marcie didn’t, he chose not to. They were best friends, they did everything together. Besides, if you were on the traffic patrol team, it was the first sign of being popular. A lot of kids made a big deal about being popular, but Alex’s name was known all throughout the school anyway, and it wasn’t a good thing. Marcie and Dorian were usually the ones getting him out of trouble, if they could.
“Alex you want to go discovering in the woods behind the cul-de-sac after school?”
“Man, I don’t know Marcie, the principal’s going to call my Dad, so you know as soon as I get home, I’ll be grounded.”
“Again? Geez, you may as well LIVE in your room. We never get to play anymore. Man can’t you just stop your mouth before it opens in class?”
“Maybe I’ll throw myself on the mercy of the court when I get home.” he smiled.
The two friends stepped off the bus together and walked the block to their cul-de-sac.
“Well this is it, text me if you can come out later, ok?”
“Ok, Marcie.”
He turned to face his house and his father and big sister were standing on the front porch.
“Oh man, this can’t be good, he never stands there waiting for me. It was nice knowing ya, Marcie.” he gulped.
“Hey son! How was school? Marcie, come on over.” His dad called.
“Great, I’ll have an eye witness when he murders me.” Alex sighed.
“Uh, Hi Mr. Davidson, hi Bethany.”
“Hey Marcie, so what have you two monsters planned for the afternoon?”
“Oh man… this can’t be good.” Alex whispered, “…Uh, nothing Dad, you know… the usual, homework…”
“Nonsense, son, I have a better idea. Your principal called.”
“Oh, Baby brother’s in trouble.” his big sister smiled.
Alex lowered his head, ready for the lecture. He was used to it. His father was used to it too. What could it be this time, no internet for a week? No TV for two days? Or worse… he’d have to feed the dog for a month.
“Son,” he put his hand on his shoulder, “… how would you and Marcie like to go on a field trip? Sound like fun?”
“Huh…?”
“A field trip, Mr. Davidson?”
“Yeah, I have an idea. As you know I work in construction, and my general contractor asked me to survey the land over there,” he pointed at the woods at the end of their cul-de-sac, “… I just might need two helpers.”
“Dad, uh, are you sure it was my principal that called you and not Bethany’s?”
“No, your sister’s principal has never called our house.”
“Rub it in won’t ya.” Alex thought to himself.
Alex’s sister was a straight A student at her high school, even in the Honor Society, and she always made sure Alex knew it. She stuck her tongue out at him, and then walked back into the house after pulling out her cell phone.
“See, it seems they want to build a little shopping mall out of the woods there next door, and since I live here, my boss offered me the job to check out the land. I know you and Marcie have explored in there, and I know you love nature, so this might be a problem with you, but I have two key eye witnesses who can give me some details from in there.”
“Well, they taught us about how our natural lands are being killed off by construction, Mr. Davidson. We’re not mad at you, but we don’t like what your company does.” Marcie said.
“I know Marcie.”
“Uh, Dad… what does my principal have to do…?”
“Your principal talked me into a deal. I’d get you two a ‘job’ to do and maybe you’d have some discipline in this work and learn to curb your mouth and actions in school. Is it a deal?”
“Uh, sure Dad.”
“Good, go hop on your bikes and get in there… let me know what you see, and I’ll get my equipment ready and we can get to work.”
“Cool!”
Marcie ran home to get her bike and she and Alex met at the entrance of the woods.
“Wow, we do this all the time, but now we have a reason to do this, wanna follow our usual trail?”
“Yeah Alex, but after we get to the Y tree, let’s go left, we always said we’d do it but we never have.”
“Ok.”
The two friends sped off in excitement. Within a few seconds they were at the huge oak tree that was shaped like the letter ‘Y’. I started off crooked from the ground and curved up into a perfect form of the letter Y.
“So what’s your dad going to do in here anyway?”
“He looks at the land and measures it for the contractors and architects and all that. Then they decide were a house goes, or a gas station goes, or bank or ice cream shop…”
“Mm, ice cream.”
“Geez Marcie.”
“I don’t like the work he does, the last time they built the mall, all those poor raccoons and snakes had to find new homes. That’s when those animals kept showing up all over town, remember?”
“Yeah…”
At the corner of his eye, he caught a blur that ran by.
“Huh? What was that?”
“What?” Marcie jerked her head around to see where he was pointing.
“I just saw something dash off behind those bushes Marcie, come on!”
Before she could say anything, he was on his bike and speeding past the tree. She quickly hopped on and followed. They were used to these woods, they’d ridden through here many times before, but never while chasing something. And that something seemed faster on foot than they could pedal on their bikes!
“Alex, wait!”
She was growing tired fast, but he kept up the chase. Finally they came to a clearing and he slammed his brakes, skidding on the dirt.
“Whoa!”
He hopped off his bike and Marcie stopped just behind him. They both stood in amazement, staring over what they both agreed was…
“A cliff!”
“How… how is this possible?”
“It’s a cliff, Alex.”
“We live in Florida, Marcie, there’s no such thing as cliffs here!”
But sure enough they were overlooking a ravine that carved deep into the earth.
“Well, maybe this is where our town gets its name, Lobo Cliff.”
“Ok, we didn’t stop back there and take a nap or something, did we? Maybe we’re dreaming this.”
“How could we, you saw something and started chasing it, what was it anyway?”
“I don’t know Marcie, it had brown fur and all I really saw were the back legs, almost looked like a deer.”
“Have you ever even seen a deer in real life, Alex?”
“Yes, at Busch Gardens in Tampa!”
“Your Dad is never going to believe this; we’ll have to show him.”
“Uh yeah, you remember how we got here?”
“Nope. But on our way back, we have to just remember trees and stuff we pass. Maybe we can break a twig here and there and we can follow it back.”
“No! Marcie why kill nature? My dad’s job does enough of that.”
“Well then we’re going to have to try and remember every turn we take. We’re deep in the woods, Alex.”
“Just remember the places we pass, like those mushrooms right there, ok?”
The two friends turned and rode back home. Seemed like only minutes to them, but by the time they rolled out into the cul-de-sac where they lived, it was dark. They had just coasted by Alex’s house when the porch light at Marcie’s house came on.
“Marcia Latoya Kevons! I’ve been calling you, where’s your phone!?”
“Oh man, Mom’s mad at me. Have to go Alex, catch ya later.”
“Ok, see ya.”
He turned his bike and rode back to the head of the edge of the woods and stood there staring into the darkness. There was an umbrella on the moist ground that he didn’t see when they went in the first time, it was open and moist from the misty air. He slowly walked to the edge of the woods where the huge full moon was hot and bright over the horizon. He felt like maybe something… someone... was watching him. He couldn’t shake the feeling. But it was dark, and he saw nothing.
“Hello?” he called.
He heard a couple of twigs snap, and then an owl.
“Alex!?”
His Dad called from behind, he turned, ran back to his bike and rode home.
CHAPTER 3:
Next morning, though he tried, he couldn’t stop the inevitable. Young Alex found himself sitting back on the big plush leather chair, starting back at a forty-something year old man who seemed like he was just at about the top of his tolerance.
“Alex, don’t you get tired of being in my office?”
The principal walked back to his desk.
“Well yes, Mr. James, I mean no Mr. James... I mean…”
“I know what you mean, Alex. Do you have problems concentrating? Is that why you get in trouble so much in class?”
“I, I don’t know… Mrs. Velez was covering the Nixon President stuff in American History class and asked if anyone knew what Watergate was and I said it was the gate on my pool.”
The principal held a laugh.
“Son, you know. Teachers really get upset when they want to teach kids, and there’s a kid disrupting them all the time. I’ve been at this school for years. I used to teach your Dad, and you know – he was a trouble maker too. I know you’re a good kid, Alex, but I can’t have you disrupting class all the time.”
“I know Principal James… and I’m really sorry, but...”
“Ok, go back to class... and this time, think before you say it... ok?”
“Ok, Sir.”
“And son, I hope you don’t get into anymore trouble today, I’m leaving now for a family appointment, promise me you’ll stay out of trouble.”
“I... I promise.” he smiled.
The boy walked out of the principal’s office after a long sigh. On his way down the hallway, he stopped at the water fountain, took in a sip while thinking back on what his counselor and Principal had told him.”
“Think before you do it… seems easy enough.”
He took in a cool swig of cold fountain water, held it in his mouth and turned and saw the waste can in the corner. He stared at it, held the water in his mouth, wondered if he could squirt the water into the basket from where he stood. Before he could spit it out, he could hear the Principal’s voice in his head…
“Think before you do it…”
He smiled, swallowed the water.
“See? That was easy.”
He turned, looking outside the window, and he saw the familiar brown blur. It flashed by the window and out into the field behind the school.
“Wait!”
Alex quickly dashed out the hallway door and started running out into the field.
“Hey, you! Wait!”
Alex was a fast runner, so he chased it back into the woods behind the school. In no time, Alex was deep in the woods and he was lost. He looked around, trying to decide which was the best way to get back to school. He reached in his pocket for his...
“No! Cell phone is in my locker, we’re not allowed to carry it in school.”
He turned, looking for a way out, he saw nothing but trees and green.
“I’m lost… I’ll never find my way out! Man I sure know how to get myself in a jam!”
He started walking, thinking this was the way he came in. There was the rock he hopped over… there was the group of mushrooms he almost slipped on.
SNAP!
He stopped. Someone, or something else was in there with him, he couldn’t see anything but he felt he was being watched. He grabbed the dead limb leaning against the tree next to him.
“Ok, come out… whoever you are, come out… I’m not afraid of you!”
He heard a breath… then a scratch. He kept looking around him with quick nervous jerks of his head, holding the limb up like a baseball bat.
“Come on… come out… I mean it!”
The crushing of fresh grass behind him caused him to turn. He could see the fur, hiding behind the tree next to him. He turned and held the stick up, ready to strike.
“It’s ok, little animal. I won’t hurt you, just…. just don’t hurt me, ok?”
There was a shuffle behind the tree, then he saw gruesome claws, coming slowly around the tree, then a face… a dog, a wolf, he wasn’t sure - but he trembled holding the stick. The animal was standing on its hind legs and slowly crept from behind the tree to face Alex. He gulped.
“Nice doggy? Nice doggy…”
Their eyes met and stayed locked on each other, the animal seemed as curious of Alex as he was of it.
“Ok, I’ll put the stick down. See? Trust me, I’ll trust you.”
He slowly put the stick down, lowering it to the ground without taking his eyes off the animal. It showed its teeth, Alex wasn’t sure if it was a smile or a frown. He dropped the stick in front of him. The animal slowly came out fully from behind the tree, he was just a little taller than Alex standing on its hind legs.
“What… are you?”
It came out, slowly stepping closer, they were about three feet from each other when Alex started to hear the growl that came from deep within the thing.
“Uh oh…”
“Alex!?”
The scream came from the other side of the woods, not far from where he was. Alex turned around and heard the shuffle behind him.
“Over here!” he called.
He turned around and his visitor was running off deeper into the woods.
“Hey, wait!”
“Alex!?”
This time he knew the voice… the new counselor.
“Oh no…”
She walked up toward him.
“Uh hi, Miss Lewter.”
“Alex. Really? Didn’t you learn anything from our last meeting? One of the kids saw you run off into the woods, so I decided to come before Principal James found out.”
She walked up to him, took him by the hand.
“Wait Miss Lewter… there’s this thing here in the woods… like a wolf or…”
“Or a vivid imagination? Let’s go Davidson…”
“Aw man.”
CHAPTER 4:
On the school bus ride home, Alex sat staring out of the window. Marcie was talking to him but he didn’t hear a word of it.
“Hello, earth to Alex, Alex – come in…?”
“Oh, sorry – what did you say Marcie?”
“I’m going to Dorian’s house when we get off the bus, wanna come? They say he’s really sick.”
Dorian Garcia was Alex’s best friend too. He knew Dorian before he met Marcie. They played on the neighborhood baseball team together and Dorian was the most athletic kid on the block. Alex and Dorian first met at the neighborhood BMX race. They were both seven. Dorian’s skills on the bike amazed Alex. He had to learn his moves, and that brought them close, Dorian did things on a bike that no one had ever even thought of before, he was the envy for blocks. Then he got sick. It got to the point that Alex couldn’t even visit him anymore. Every time he walked into his room and saw Dorian lying there, he wanted to cry. And no one could explain why he was sick, he always looked tired, the nurse would come in and change bandages. It all looked pretty painful. Doctors came to the house, he had to have a lot of blood stuff done, but nobody could explain. And it wasn’t pretty; he looked like he was ready to die.
“Alex! Are you even listening to me!?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah, sure.”
“No, as usual, your head was somewhere up in the clouds, geez!”
“Sorry Marcie, kinda worried. Miss Lewter says she emailed my Dad, so when I get home, I’m really in trouble, so I may as well see Dorian first.”
“Well honestly Alex, what would make you run into the woods behind the school?”
“Remember that thing we saw yesterday?”
“I didn’t see it, you saw it.”
“Well it must have followed me because it was in the woods at school too.”
“What, the deer?”
“It wasn’t a deer, Marcie.”
“So what was it?”
The kid sitting in the seat in front of them turned and faced him; he wanted to hear it too.
“FabianRoss, why are you so nosey?” Marcie asked.
The kid sat back down.
“Uh… never mind Marcie, I’ll tell you later.”
The bus stopped at their corner and the two friends, along with a couple other kids hopped off.
“Hey Marcie, Alex,” the kid nosey kid from the bus called, “… you guys wanna go to the library later? They’re having a manga program, should be fun.”
“Na, I’m probably going to be grounded again, FabianRoss.”
“Ok, well I’m going. I started drawing on my iPad, I’m working on a manga comic about the constellations.”
“Great.” Marcie shrugged, rolling her eyes.
The two friends walked off to their cul-de-sac approaching Dorian’s house. Of all the families in their neighborhood, the Garcia family had been here the longest time. They inherited the house from Dorian’s great-grandmother, an immigrant from Cuba. His family has been in Lobo Cliff longer than most of the others.
Alex’s father was born here, but moved away to Tampa to go to college, where he met Alex’s Mom. When Alex’s family moved ‘back home’ after his mother’s death, Dorian was the first friend he met. They became best friends instantly. Then Marcie’s family moved in. Her mother and father divorced. They lived in Panama City, Florida up to the north of the State, but then her mom got a job at the hospital here. Her father stayed in Panama City. The three friends took to each other quickly, Marcie was a welcomed third to the duo, though FabianRoss tried, they just didn’t give him the attention he wanted. The three friends planned everything together, but it all came to a screeching halt when Dorian got sick.
As the two friends approached the house, they could see Dorian’s mother on the porch, she looked like she was crying. Alex hopped the stairs and stood in front of her.
“Hi Mrs. Garcia… uh is Dorian ok?”
She looked up at the two friends.
“Oh hello Alex, Marcie. Uh… mi Dori no se siente bien, uh… Dori is lying down. He is not feeling too well.” she offered a fake smile through her bi-lingual reply.
“What’s the matter?”
Marcie sat down next to her, put her arm around her.
“Marcie, he has a rare sickness. He might not… see his tenth birthday.”
She was wearing wooden beads around her neck and was rubbing her fingers on each one, one at a time.
“Oh man, I feel so bad. Dorian is so active, can I go in and see him…”
“Come on Alex, let’s leave her alone, Dorian needs his rest.”
Marcie bent over, kissed the woman on her cheek.
“We hope he gets better, Mrs. Garcia.”
“Thank you, kids.”
They walked off the porch and headed home, Marcie’s house was just before Alex’s.
“Man she’s really upset. I wish we could help her some kind of way.”
“I know Alex…”
“Uh, son?”
The two friends turned around, his father was standing on the porch.
“Uh oh… well, see you tomorrow in school.”
“Ok Alex, good luck.”
He walked alone to his house, heading straight for the porch; his dad had his hands on his hips.
“Uh, Hi Dad.”
He couldn’t tell if his father was upset or worried, the look on his face was right between the both of them. He raised his eyebrow, staring at his son.
“Ok, so you and Marcie going to do some work for me today?”
Alex smiled.
“Uh, sure Dad... uh… did you get an email today?”
“No, our computer died this morning. Now I’ll have to pay some geek to come fix it.”
“Oh.” Alex smiled.
“But I did get a text from your counselor, Ms. Lewter.”
His face dropped.
“Oh.”
“She says you and she took a walk into the woods behind school, I guess she likes nature like you do. Glad she takes an interest in you, son, keeps you out of trouble.”
“Uh yeah…?”
“So anyway, I need to show you what I want you and Marcie to do. I can go in with you, but I’m going to give you this gadget and I can take readings off it here at home… I’m kind of developing this unit so if it works like I think it will, we may end up rolling in the dough. And think about it, you guys get to ride your bikes and work at the same time, deal?”
“Sure Dad!” he smiled.
“Ok but first I want you to finish your homework, then call Marcie and you can start, ok?”
Alex ran inside the house.
* * * * * * *
Within an hour, after both kids had frozen pizza at Alex’s house, they were standing out front with their bikes. His Dad walked out of the house with a weird looking contraption that looked almost like an old cell phone with a neck chain attached to it.
“Ok guys this is called an Alexometer, the way it works…”
“Dad? Alexometer? Couldn’t you think of a better name?
“I named you, and I named my contraption… is there a problem? Anyway how this works… well never mind you don’t need all the specifics. Ok son, put this around your neck. See this blue button? I want you to push it when you get to the spot I’m going to tell you. Marcie, this is basically an electronic tape measure, I want you to attach it to your handlebar with this Velcro strap. I already set the measurement in there, so it’s going to tell you where to go. Once you start into the woods, it’s going to talk to you like a GPS and tell you go straight, go left, stop, etcetera… ok?”
“Ok is that it?”
“Yes, when it says stop, you stay there and Alex you go about ten yards north of her… you know how far ten yards is, right? That stop sign on the corner is about ten yards from us, get it?”
“Ok.”
“I’ll call you on the cell phone and you push the blue button and start reading out to me the numbers it tells you ok?”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah… you guys get treated to ice cream after this, so don’t fail me.”
“We won’t Mr. Davidson.”
They quickly set off into the forest. It almost became a race, they were both very familiar with the paths in these woods, but this time they had to allow some machine to tell them where to go. Ironically, the directions sent them straight to the “Y” tree. They stopped.
“Start transponder” the robotic voice said.
“Ok I guess that means I stay here and you go ten yards, Alex.”
“Ok.”
He faced his bike north and rode up ten yards then skidded on the leaves. He pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Man this is fun.” Marcie smiled.
“Ok Dad,” he said putting it on speaker, “…I’ll leave it on speaker and it’ll read the numbers.”
“Good choice, son.”
The transponder started making a series of mechanical beeps then started shooting out numbers. Alex got off his bike.
“Don’t move Alex, it might change numbers or something!” Marcie screamed.
He took the transponder off his neck and hung it on the handlebars, then took a step to walk back to her. Then he heard the growl.
“Oh, oh… Marcie did you hear that?”
“No, what?”
He didn’t take his eyes off the area where he heard the sound, and he motioned for her.
“Come over here, hurry.”
As she started to walk toward him, a twig fell off the tree next to him and dropped right on his head. He jumped. Marcie looked up in the tree and saw a quick flash of brown fur leap from that tree to another one.
“Whoa!” she pointed.
It was at a third tree by the time Alex’s eyes could focus.
“It’s him! See I told you!”
It landed yards away and started running off.
“Wait! Wait!” Alex screamed chasing it.
“Alex no!” she barked.
“Uh, son… you still there?” his Dad’s voice said on the phone.
He ran off after it, jumped over the rock next to the tree and tripped. His head hit the loose hanging branch and Marcie could hear the thud as he fell hard to the moist ground, then the branch fell and locked his legs to the ground from where she stood.
“Alex!?”
She ran over to him, he was out cold.
“Alex?” she shook him, he didn’t budge.
Marcie looked around, she normally didn’t feel fear or nervousness here, but it slowly started to happen now. She pulled out her cell phone and frantically dialed Alex’s father’s number.
“Hurry, hurry!”
“Hello?”
“Mr. Davidson, he’s hurt. Hurry! Come into the woods, I can’t pick him up!”
She heard static, then…
“Hello?”
“Mr. Davidson?”
“Hello?”
“Oh great!”
She threw the phone down, reached for Alex, and moved his head.
“Alex? Come on, it’s getting dark… come on, Alex!”
She was too overcome in trying to get him up to realize someone, or something… was walking up behind her.
“Alex?” she started to cry.
She heard the snap of a twig, and she turned. The first thing she felt was the warm breath on her back. It felt menacing, angry. Then she turned fully and saw fangs, then its eyes that were closed in on Alex.
“Alex… the monster... I believe you... he’s right here... and he’s going to eat us, Alex please get up.”
She never took her eyes off of it, it looked like a wolf, but the eyes almost looked human and it got closer to them. The thick brown fur covered its body and she had a hard time keeping her eyes in one place, its face, then legs, then claws, then fangs. She swallowed from nervousness, then turned fully to face it, whimpering a she moved.
“Please don’t hurt us, he’s my best friend… he’s, he’s hurt.”
It got closer to her, she could feel the breath as it exhaled. It bent down to Alex, reached out its claw.
“NO, please, don’t hurt us…”
It grabbed the branch and lifted it like it was a pencil, tossed it off into the woods. Then it turned to Marcie.
“Uh… thank you?”
Its claw got close to her face… then one finger touched her forehead. As soon as it did, she fell into a faint.
* * * * * * *
“Marcie, Alex!? Get up! What happened?”
Alex slowly opened his eyes. His father was kneeling over him in the dark woods.
“Dad?”
“You know, if you kids wanna go camping, maybe next time you should bring a tent and some sleeping bags… I mean, really. All I asked was for you two to hold my equipment and let it send me readings.”
“Mr. Davidson?”
Marcie was rubbing her head.
“How long have we been here?”
“Well about two hours, I had a time trying to follow the signal on my detector; I guess the batteries are dying on this thing. Next time I’ll use rechargeables.”
They got up, walked back with Alex’s Dad. Marcie grabbed him by the arm.
“Alex, I saw him, he pulled the limb off you.”
“Saw who?”
“The wolf.”
“Did you say you saw a wolf?”
He stopped, turned and looked at the kids shining his flashlight on them.
“Well, yeah Dad, there’s a wolf... that stands on its hind legs. He lives in these woods.”
“Oh,” he smiled, “… stands on its hind legs, huh?”
“Yeah, and he helped Alex by moving the log off his legs.”
“Sure.”
“We’re serious, Dad!”
“Yeah, like the time you were serious when you saw the UFO land outside your school?”
“Well, see… I was kidding back then…”
“Son, do you remember the story about ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’?”
He turned to Marcie.
“Grown ups never believe us.” he whispered.
They walked off into the night. When they finally came out of the woods, they noticed an ambulance at Dorian’s house. Alex ran off to see. Marcie soon followed.
“Son!?”
His dad was soon close behind. Alex hopped up on the porch while the ambulance driver walked out the front door.
“Hey, what’s going on? Is Dorian ok?”
Dorian’s Dad stormed out, trying to comfort his wife, who was beyond grief.
“Mr. and Mrs. Garcia, is Dorian… ok?” Marcie asked.
She looked at the kids and started crying and ran back in the house. Alex’s Dad walked up, stretched his hand out to Dorian’s Dad’s.
“Hey Mike, everything ok? Anything I can do?”
“Uh, No Tony… he’s on a respirator now in his room. I don’t know how much longer he has…”
He turned away, his voice broke after that last word.
Marcie put her arms around Alex, her eyes started to well. She turned to her best friend and he too was on the verge of tears.
“Aw man Dad, there has to be something we can do?”
“Son, the best we can do is to be here for Dorian and his parents. You’re his best friend, he would want that.”
The two fathers shook hands.
“Thanks Tony, I’ll let you know if anything happens.”
Alex’s dad patted both kid’s shoulders.
“Come on guys, let’s go. School tomorrow you know?”
“Bye Mr. Garcia.”
“Good bye, children.”
Marcie walked off to her house and went inside, next door leaving Alex and his Dad to walk across the street.
“What’s wrong with him, Dad?”
“I don’t know, son. They never said. It’s one serious form of illness that has the doctors baffled.”
Within minutes, young Alex was bathed and in his room. His father knocked on the door.
“Son?”
“Yeah, Dad?”
He walked in and stood by the bed where his soon was sitting. Alex was looking out the window.
“I never asked if you were ok after the incident in the woods. Marcie said a limb fell on you?”
“I don’t even remember that, dad.”
“Ok, well you weren’t walking with a limp, so that’s a good thing. Uh, about Dorian… you know son, if he doesn’t make it, there’ll be a funeral. Just thought I’d warn you now. I know after your Mom died, you swore you’d never go to another funeral again, but he’s your best friend. I know how devastated you get when you lose family.”
“I… I know Dad…”
He turned and stared out the window again.
“Ok, good night son.”
“Night, Dad.”
He kept his stare out into the woods as the bright full moon shone over the horizon. Felt like minutes, but it could have been a whole hour, he wasn’t sleepy and Dorian’s situation was in all his thoughts. Remembering back when they used to ride bikes and purposely lose Marcie in the woods, and the three legged race they won at the Lobo Cliff Spring Jam last year. They broke the trophy in half so both of them could have a piece in their room. And the time Dorian put a frog in Bethany’s bathroom so they could hear her scream. Alex let out a deep sigh as he sat, still staring out the window. It was dark and quiet outside, then just as he turned to lie down he saw something move out in his yard. He got up, knelt on the bed with his face against the glass. He could barely make it out, a shape… a form out in the yard coming out of the woods and toward his house. He dug into his night stand and grabbed the flashlight, pointed it out into the yard. There was nothing there. He opened his window and shined it all over the yard, nothing, just trees willowing from the night breeze.
“Geez, what’s wrong with me?”
He sat back on his bed, turned off the flash light, and buried his face in his hands.
“Man what about Dorian, what are we going to do about Dorian? I have to help him some kinda way.” he whispered to himself.
The scent caught him first, it wasn’t something he was used to smelling. He grabbed his flashlight again and turned to the window, then jumped at the sight before him - the wolf was standing right there staring at him. He held in his scream, put the flashlight down and stared back at it. They were both frozen, both contemplating the other one’s next move.
“Don’t be scared, don’t be scared.” Alex told himself in his head.
He wasn’t sure if he moved, it might move to… and he wasn’t sure if it would move away… or toward him. His stare was deep and intense and though he felt scared inside, Alex instead decided to sit still and stare back.
“I… I’m Alex.”
The animal stood straight, still glaring at him, put his paw on the window sill.
“I know.” he said.
“Huh? You can talk?”
“Come outside Alex, I need your help.”
“Uh… well, heh… I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Why not?”
His voice was almost half human and half animal. It had a deep growl addition on it which was weird to hear, almost like two voice meshed together.
“Well… depends…”
“On what, Alex?”
“On whether you had dinner or not!”
“I don’t eat children.”
“Oh, ok… what do you eat?”
“Anything I find in the forest, but mostly mushrooms.”
“What if there’s a stranded kid in the forest?”
“I don’t eat children.”
“Wait… I’m dreaming, right? That’s what it is… who ever heard of a talking wolf? Ha, what’s next you’ll tell me your name is Jacob, right? From the Twilight Series.”
“No, my name is not Jacob. Please come outside.”
“Well…”
“I will keep my distance from you, I give you my word.”
“Well ok… I mean if you can’t trust a wolf…”
Alex climbed out of his window with his flashlight in hand. They walked out past the yard to the end of the cul-de-sac where the woods started.
“I’m not going in there with you?”
“Why not? You’ve been in here many a time at night, you and your friends.”
“How do you know?”
“I have dwelled in these woods for many years.”
“How many?”
“More than you’d care to believe.”
“Ok, well I’m here… how can I possibly help you? I can’t believe I’m talking to a wolf.”
The wolf walked over to a tree, scratched it with his claws, blood came out. Alex shined his light on it and gasped.
“These woods, they are alive. They are my home. You have to stop your father from building.”
“Is that real blood?”
“It only bleeds when I scratch it, it is a part of me, it is my home.”
“That... cliff we saw… is that..?”
“It is a ravine, they named this town Lobo Cliff... Lobo is Spanish for wolf, because the original founder discovered the ravine deep in the woods but could never find it again. And he died before he could prove he found it.”
“You killed him?”
“No he died in battle during one of your many wars. He did kill my ancestor; we have lived hidden in here for generations. I am among the last of my line… but we need to keep the ravine away from your kind.”
“My kind?”
“Humans… they damage, destroy, maim… this land is precious. You must help me.”
“Help you? My dad won’t listen to me. You saw how well he believed Marcie when she said she saw a wolf!”
“They didn’t believe the town founder either.”
“Figures.”
“I… I’m dying Alex, I need someone to help keep my home safe, keep my family safe. When they built your neighborhood they cut us off to the last remaining piece of woods we have here.”
“I don’t know how I can help, I’m only ten years old.”
“I have followed you. I have seen you at your place of learning, you are a champion of nature. You fight for the rights of animals and the earth.”
“Geez, how long have you been following me?”
“Ever since you came to live here, our people we have a belief, ‘he of the humans who lives among the woods, will save us’. I believe you are the one.”
“Ok wait, I’m standing at the edge of the forest, talking to a… a werewolf, and now you’re telling me you think I’m the one that you wolves believe is going to save you? You know, when I wake up from this dream and I tell Marcie tomorrow in school, we’re going to have a good laugh.”
“You are not dreaming… and I, I can save your friend.”
“Dorian?”
“Yes.”
“Ok that’s it, I’m dreaming. I’m going back home.”
He turned to walk away and the wolf reached out to his arm, his nail cut into his pajamas and slightly scratched his skin.
“Hey, man these are my favorite Captain American PJs!”
“My apologies Alex Davison, I will see you tomorrow.”
“Uh yeah… sure. After I wake up.”
He turned on his flash light and walked back to his house.
CHAPTER 5:
Friday, it was lunch time and the two friends sat at the table. Normally they sat with other friends, but Alex wanted them to be alone, so they sat at the table where the geeks sat. And the Geeks usually ate fast so they could leave and go to the library before the bell rang. So the two friends sat alone, except for one kid who sat at the end of the table reading on his iPad.
“So what were you saying? The wolf talked to you?” she whispered.
“Well, I’m not sure. It was late, I was sleepy and I’m not sure that I was dreaming. He said Lobo Cliff was named after the ravine that we saw, he’s lived there forever. I just don’t know. I could’a been dreaming the whole thing.”
“Geez Alex, this is all just... kinda crazy.”
“Tell me about it!”
She turned around, the principal was walking by them. He stopped at their table, reached out and patted Alex on the arm.
“Davidson, behaving yourself today?”
“Ow. Yes sir.”
The principal walked off. Alex grabbed his arm.
“Alex, what’s wrong with your arm?”
“I... I don’t…”
He rolled up his sleeve, saw the scratch.
“Hey, how’d you do that?”
“I... oh man Marcie, he scratched me last night.”
“Who?”
“The werewolf!”
“Shh!” she said slapping him on the back.
“Uh excuse me, did you say... werewolf?”
The question came from the kid at the end of the table. The two friends turned to him, he had just put his iPad down from his face.
“Uh, no… no FabianRoss.”
“Yes you did… I heard you. Do you have a werewolf story? I have one too, but…” he moved closer to them, “… no one believes me, they think I’m weird, so I’ve learned not to bring it up anymore.”
FabianRoss Morgan lived in their neighborhood, just down the street. But he wasn’t a very sociable kid. The two friends got up to leave. He got up and followed.
“Guys, really. Tell me, do you have a werewolf story? You can trust me, no one believes what I say anyway.”
“FabianRoss, really. It’s nothing… it was a dream I had.”
“Why do you guys avoid me so much? Because I’m a nerd? I wanted to go trick or treating with you guys last year and you just ditched me.”
“FabianRoss, who dresses like a computer mouse?”
“And why would a parent insist on giving you two names as a first name? Isn’t that annoying?”
“I can’t help that Marcie, you can just call me Fabian if you want… or Ross, or FR, or F-Ross, or…”
“We get it!”
“And I can’t help being a nerd, I come from a long line of knowledgeable men and women, you know?”
“Yeah, isn’t one of your uncles a pilot and rocket scientist at NASA just up the coast?”
“Yes, Uncle John, he’s my hero. Anyway… let me tell you what happened to me once.”
He put away his tray. Alex nudged Marcie and they both stared at the left over food.
“Oh, vegetarian huh?”
“Duh, you have to kill an animal before you eat it Alex, you love nature like I do, I can’t even see how you can eat meat.”
“Don’t duh him, you eat leaves! Isn’t that nature!?”
Alex started laughing.
“She’s got you on that one, dude.”
He followed them out to the patio, then over to the benches outside the band room.
“I was in the woods on the other side of the fence. You know, the woods that your cul-de-sac leads to? I had my iPad and was doing some research on the stars. I figured what better way than to lie down in the woods, and stare up. The sky looks so much clearer there, right? So anyway, I’m minding my business, as usual, lying on the ground. I have an app for my iPad that let’s me find the constellations just by pointing it up in the sky, cool huh?”
The two friends rolled their eyes.
“So, anyway… I’m lying there, minding my business and I was there maybe an hour. I was on my back staring up and I heard something, like someone running. I turned and I saw what looked like a dog running on his hind legs. Running through the forest! It hopped on a tree and started hopping between trees, it kept going further and further away, deeper into the woods until I heard nothing. So I got up and ran home and told Mom about it, and she told me not to tell anyone or they’d think I was nuts.”
“Whoa.”
“I know, right? So I stayed up that night, looked up stuff on my iPad. Did you know that our town Lobo Cliff was named for a mystical cliff the founder of this town claims he saw once? Lobo means “wolf” in Spanish. Because he claimed that he killed a wolf that nobody else saw. So…I kinda put two and two together… what if there’s a werewolf that lives in the Lobo Cliff woods?”
The two friends bounced glances off each other then turned to him.
“FabianRoss… uh Fabian, so what if what you’re saying is true, and say only the three of us believed it. What does it mean? How do you prove a werewolf lives in our neighborhood?”
“Why would you want to prove it? What if he’s lived there since the town was born, we’re invading his town, think about it.”
“We’re going in the woods after school Fabian, wanna come?”
“Marcie!?” Alex scolded.
“Wow, sure!”
“GEEZ, Marcie!”
“Alex, he’s seen it too, so he’s a part of us.”
“Oh, so you have seen it!”
“Shhh!”
“It’s not an it... it’s a him.” Alex sighed.
“How do you know?”
“Uh… just trust me, ok?”
“Ok so, after dinner… meet us at the end of the cul-de-sac, ok?”
“Ok Marcie…”
“Uh Fabian?”
He turned to Alex who was getting up to leave.
“Don’t tell anybody.”
The two friends walked off, he looked back down at his iPad.
“Who’d believe me anyway?”
CHAPTER 6:
The twinkle of sunlight was slowly fading on the horizon. Marcie walked up to Alex’s front door, rang the doorbell. After a few seconds, she heard the footsteps approach the door from inside. As it swung open she was ready to shove her finger in her friend’s face.
“Alex, I thought you said after dinner… Oh, hi Mr. Davidson. Uh, is Alex allowed to come out?”
“Actually, no, Marcie. He’s grounded, I took his cell phone from him.”
“What did he do this time?”
“Weren’t you in last period with him?”
“No, there was some fight and some kids got taken to the office… oh, he was in it, huh?”
“He tells me that the teacher was talking about how important it was to build new homes and businesses, to help keep people employed, but he and another student started an argument about how us constantly building is killing off nature and our wildlife.”
“FabianRoss,” she whispered to herself, “…oh man, I bet that was an interesting argument, you know how Alex is about nature.”
“Yes Marcie, I do… my job isn’t something he’s proud of. But I’m a contractor, my job is to build.”
“Can I talk to him, please?”
“Sure Marcie, come in.”
She walked in and he closed the door. Unseen to them, FabianRoss had just crossed the corner and was headed to the edge of the forest to await them.
Marcie walked into her best friend’s room. He was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling.
“Hey, ya bum.”
“Huh? Oh hey... wow Dad let you in?”
“Yeah, you ok?”
“Yeah.” he sighed, “… I guess.”
He got up, looked out the window.
“Stupid Mr. Chapman, he thinks the world grows around ruining nature. I don’t know why they let people like him teach, he don’t even like kids.”
The sound was faint, but they heard it get louder and louder. A siren.
“Oh no, Dorian!”
Alex ran through the house and to the front window. Sure enough the ambulance stopped at Dorian’s house. His dad ran out the door to go across the street. The two friends followed. Dorian’s mother ran out of the house in a hysterical fit.
“Hurry, he can’t breathe!”
The paramedic ran into the house with his bag, Alex’s dad rushed up to her.
“Vilma, is he ok? Where’s Mike?”
“My husband is working late shift at Wal-Mart. I don’t know what I’m going to do!”
The two parents rushed back into the house. Alex grabbed Marcie’s arm.
“Come on Marcie, let’s go!”
“It’s getting dark, Alex. Where are we going?”
“I need to see the wolf.”
They turned and ran towards the woods.
“Why!?”
“He said he could help Dorian!”
The two friends ran to the woods and followed their usual track. They had totally forgotten about FabianRoss, who wasn’t standing there anyway. And the fog was forming on the ground, something they rarely saw at night.
“How can he help, Alex?”
“I don’t know, but he told me last night that he could. We need to find him! Do you remember how to get to the ravine?”
“No!”
Within a few minutes, they knew they were lost. With the fog rolling in and covering most of their landmarks, they stopped at a stump in a clearing.
“Great, here we go again, now what?”
“Hey, look.”
Marcie was pointing at the ground just a few feet from them. Even with the fog there, she could see a gleaming light on the ground a couple of feet from where they stood. She bent over and looked at it.
“An iPad?”
She picked it up. The screen had constellations on it and was beeping.
“Fabian’s iPad. Hey, he was supposed to meet us here, remember?”
“Oh snap! Where is he?”
“FabianRoss!?” she screamed.
Her voice echoed through the woods.
“Alex, what if he… ate him?”
“He doesn’t eat kids.” he smirked.
They heard footsteps hurriedly approaching. They both turned to the sound. It went from the ground to the trees to the top of the trees, and then stopped. The kids got close together looking around them, no one was there.
“Hello? Fabian? Uh… wolf?”
Just the sound of the breeze was all they heard, that and their own hearts beating.
“Alex, I don’t like this. Let’s leave.”
“No, I need to see the wolf. This time I need to see him. Hey! Wolf is that you? Ok, I agree. I’ll help you… but you have to help me. My friend Dorian… he might be dying. You have to help! I promise, I give you my word… I’ll do whatever you want. I promise.”
Silence.
“Do you hear me!? I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”
“I don’t think he’s here, Alex.”
“Come on wolf! Please!?”
She took his hand.
“Come on Alex, let’s go. Come on!”
She pulled him on and they walked back through the trail.
“Maybe… maybe he doesn’t need your help anymore?”
“Aw man Marcie, he said he could help Dorian!”
Eventually the two friends walked out of the woods and back into the cul-de-sac. Marcie still had the iPad in her hands. They ran to Dorian’s house.
“Dad! Dad is he ok?”
His father was walking out of the house and the two friends ran into him.
“Son, don’t go in there. Come on, let’s go home.”
“Dad?”
“It doesn’t look good, son.”
The two friends lowered their heads and walked back with him. Marcie turned to go to her house.
“See you tomorrow Alex.”
* * * * * * *
Morning. The sunlight crept in through Alex’s window, but it was the phone that woke him. His father answered it in the kitchen. He got up, could smell the pancakes and bacon. He slowly got out of bed, reached for his remote then realized it wasn’t there.
“What the…? Oh yeah, I’m grounded.”
He got up off the bed and walked out of the room. The phone finally stopped ringing, someone picked it up, then he heard footsteps running through the house.
“Dad?”
He heard the front door slam and he ran to the front to look out the window. His father was running across the street to Dorian’s house.
“Oh man, this can’t be good!”
He ran out of the house in his PJs and socks, met his Dad on the porch across the cul-de-sac. Dorian’s mom was in tears and fell into his embrace. A car drove up, stopped in the middle of the street, it was Dorian’s Dad. He left the car on and ran out. Marcie was running over too. Alex got there just when Marcie did.
“Mrs. Garcia... is Dorian..?”
The screen door was slowly pushed open. Alex turned to it. He and Marcie’s faces transformed from worried to overjoyed.
“Dorian!?”
“Dorian!”
Marcie jumped to him and grabbed him in a hug.
“Son, you’re ok? How did this happen, que paso Vilma?”
“Hay Dios mio, yo no se Miguel, el nene se levanto solito y…”
“Hey... hey… we’ve got Americans on the porch here… come on, don’t leave us in the dark!” Alex’s Dad said mussing Dorian’s hair.
“He woke me up this morning, asking me for breakfast. I … I thought I was dreaming, no? My baby is ok!” she screamed in her Hispanic accent.
“Dorian, what happened?” Alex asked.
“I… I don’t know.” he smiled scratching his arm.
“Well I say he should come over to my house, I have a big breakfast on the stove being cooked, can he?” Alex’s dad smiled.
“Sure, are you up for eating at Alex’s house Dori?”
“Yes mom, sure.”
The kids all ran to the house and sat at the table.
“Man Dorian this is great! They thought... you know they thought you were going to die.”
“I know.” he smiled scratching his arm.
“What’s the matter – have an itch?” Marcie asked.
“Yeah… right here.”
As Alex’s dad pulled out plates and started serving, the kids watched as he pulled his long sleeve up.
Marcie gasped as they saw it... a bite mark.
“What is it, guys?” Dorian asked.
“Dad, be right back, going to wash up… come on Dorian.”
All three kids rushed off to the hallway bathroom and took Dorian’s shirt off. He had what looked like fang marks on the back side of his bicep, dried blood was still there. Marcie quickly got the shirt and soaked it in the sink and started cleaning his arm.
“Where did that come from?” Dorian asked looking through the mirror.”
“Uh, I think that’s what cured you, Dorian.” Alex said looking away.
“Huh?”
Marcie was putting a bandage on it and Alex took his Captain America shirt off and put it on his friend.
“Marcie, after we finish eating, we have to go see our friend.”
DING DONG
“Man who could that be this early in the morning?”
The three friends walked out and went back to the kitchen, his Dad walked in with a guest.
“Uh, hi guys… Dorian! You’re ok!?”
“FabianRoss, where were you last night?”
“Fabian are you eating with us?”
“Uh sure Mr. Davidson, I’ll pass on the bacon though.”
“Ok.”
“Guys you didn’t meet me last night, and I lost my iPad. My Mom’s gonna kill me!”
“Your iPad is in my room at home FabianRoss, I found it on the forest floor last night.”
“Forest? Are you guys playing in those woods again?” Mr. Davidson asked.
“Uh…”
“He was doing research on the stars in there Dad… you know… geek stuff.”
“Oh.”
“In fact Dad, he can probably fix our computer, can’t you Fabian?”
“Sure.”
“Cool,” his Dad said, “… nothing like having a neighborhood geek among you.”
The kids all smiled, and then turned to their dark haired friend.
“Wow Dorian, I can’t believe you’re up and walking... it’s like a miracle or something!”
“Yeah, or something, Fabian.” Alex smirked.
CHAPTER 7:
The Four friends gathered out in the cul-de-sac. After breakfast they got ready to brave the woods again on their bikes after a quick meeting in Alex’s back yard tree house. A surprise visit by the principal of their school, Mr. James, kept them for a bit. He’d heard through the grapevine that Dorian was better and wanted to visit his ailing student. He said Monday would be Dorian Day and the kids would all get pizza for lunch. His wife stayed in the car and after his sort visit, he left them in the tree house and drove away. Alex’s dad had left to a meeting at his job about the development they were planning for the woods. Alex decided it was time they did something about it.
“Ok guys, he said he would help me if I helped him…”
“Whoa, wait a minute Alex,” Dorian said, “… you think a werewolf cured me, by biting my arm?”
“I don’t think he did, I know he did, Dorian.”
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