Wolf Asylum (14 page)

Darwin was seen running down Main Street completely naked a few minutes after eight in the morning. He was dirty from head to toe with canals of mud leading from the canyons of his eyes and down across the plains of his cheeks. The onlookers yelled to him asking him what was wrong, but he continued moving up the road.

Ray Silverdale was on top of the ladder changing the marquee sign at the Caprice Theatre, adding in the summer matinee showings and the week's new flicks. From high above he just shook his head and said nothing. The New Haven of old was no more and not much could surprise him, anymore.

All along Main Street the gasps and whispers could be heard, and no one really knew what to say.

As Darwin passed the intersection still in his daze, his side-kick began running next to him. Tim Waters had torn his clothes from his body and was now running along side his friend to help normalize the situation the best he could.

Tim happily yelled out to the stunned crowd. “That's right folks-thirty days until the New Haven 1st Annual Nudist Run! All proceeds go towards the Hadamar Wellness Retreat Fund!”

One by one, people began to nervously applaud unsure if such an event was really planned…or worse yet now had to occur.

At City Hall the runners slowed their pace to a walk in front of a growing crowd. His citizens just looked on saying nothing more only, wondering to themselves what could have possessed him to do such an extraordinary thing.

A handful of tourists who had stopped for breakfast had pulled out their cameras at the sight and snapped a few candid shots, which Darwin took no notice to. Tim politely smiled back making no effort to cover himself. One father quickly masked his daughter's eyes while slapping his wife's arm trying to prevent her from taking a few lustful shots of the beefy men.

Secretly, the citizens of New Haven all realized their low profile had been broken. Now they had to wonder what was to happen next.

“Good morning Mister…Foster. Mister Waters,” the puzzled receptionist greeted.

Inside the safety of City Hall the two nudists walked past reception to a growing hush throughout the building. Everyone knew it was best to remain quiet. Judging by Darwin's appearance, the day was going to be a long one for everyone. Now it was time for the staff to remain quiet at their work stations until they had been informed officially what the issue was.

“Nudist run?” Darwin asked as he slumped into his leather office chair choosing neither to clean up nor to get dressed.

“It was all I could think to do. What the hell is wrong with you? You know there were tourists outside. I had to come up with some kind of explanation!”

Darwin gritted his teeth before chewing on his upper lip. Tim was right of course, and yet he felt like tearing into him verbally. Under his human skin Darwin was still boiling uncontrollably and it was all he could do to keep his mind away from Ridgemount; from Steve and Newman; from just about everything else in his past.

“I know you're mad, but I can clean up the whole run idea. That was just for the tourists,” Tim assured. “Please, what's wrong?”

Darwin continued to sit quietly in his chair with his hands trembling. He welled up and bit his lip until a trickle of blood rolled down his chin.

“Mary's gone,” Darwin replied.

“What? You both were so happy yesterday. What happened?” Tim asked with genuine concern.

“I don't remember,” Darwin cried. “I don't think I killed her, but maybe I did.”

Tim moved around the desk quickly to kneel by Darwin's side. He grabbed his friend's hand and squeezed to show him he wasn't alone. Tim knew enough of Darwin to know he was more scarred than any other person he had ever met. Darwin isolated himself and always made the appearance that he could live happily without companionship. In his heart he knew that Darwin cried from loneliness; all he ever wanted was to experience love and to be what he perceived as normal.

“Tell me what happened?” Tim asked quietly.

The salty pain continued down his cheeks. Globs of snot bubbled from his nostrils and his eyes welled to a rosy shade of pink. “I have blackouts, Tim. They're strange; I think it's Hell that speaks to me. Sometimes they come as dreams, I'm sure it's them.”

Tim remained silent, letting Darwin do the talking at his own pace.

“They've come to me before. I was never sure if they were real. I think there's something in those woods—something evil.”

Darwin paused, wiping a long string of clear ooze from his nose onto his arm before continuing. “They've shown me things—things I had forgotten. My brother, my father.” He choked.

“What did they show you?” Tim asked, attempting to keep Darwin on point.

“Steve made me…I'm sure of it. They didn't show me how, but they showed me that he was already like us. Newman drugged him and then set it up to look like a suicide. It was Newman who cut off…Newman dosed the school in gasoline! Newman!” Darwin yelled beginning to growl.

“Look at me. Darwin, look at me,” Tim demanded, continuing to squeeze his human hand. “Stay with me. We can wolf-out together later, bring it back. Come on you can do it.”

Darwin struggled and grunted, but his eyes remained only pink. His muscular frame beaded with sweat, the skin tight like new leather, but he held on. “I guess I tripped on something, in the woods. I blacked out. I was in this cavern—they come to me that way usually…have you had anything like that before?”

“No,” Tim quickly replied.

“I don't know why they speak to me. It makes me feel as though I'm crazy, sometimes. They want me to be this big leader. This time they were talking about Hitler and Stalin,” Darwin said in a glaze.

“I don't think you're the next Fuhrer.” Tim nervously chuckled.

“Why not, we have a concentration camp don't we? We weed out the unworthy. I do exactly what Hitler did; even if it's for the right reasons.” Darwin concluded, still shaking visibly.

“Right, well I think our situation is a little different. We must eat, so a line had to be drawn. You can't beat yourself up over that. What happened to Mary…” Tim deflected.

“I don't know. I raged. When I realized what Newman had done to Steve, my knocking the candles over had killed her—I changed. For the first time ever I changed out of pure anger…and I don't remember what happened when I was the wolf. I killed, I know that. I tried to find her, I ran to the hot springs but she was nowhere.” Darwin looked at Tim, hoping he had the answer.

“So, she's lost in the woods.” Tim let go of Darwin and grabbed the phone and hit the speed dial. After a brief moment of silence someone answered. “This is Waters; we have a missing person in the woods north of town, Mary Cardwen. Get as many people out there looking for her as you can.”

Tim hung up the phone and sat on the edge of the desk returning his attention to Darwin.

“Your junk is in my face,” Darwin stated plainly.

Tim looked down and realized he was still naked with his crotch about eye level with Darwin. When he realized his position and how it would look if someone had walked in-he couldn't help but have a bit of a laugh which Darwin shared in. He promptly hopped off the desk and went over to Darwin's private room through a door tucked away in the corner of the office. Tim entered the boudoir and returned a moment later with some clothes and a bathrobe. Tim casually tossed the robe to Darwin who stood up long enough to cover himself before sitting once again.

Tim began hastily dressing waiting for Darwin to continue his story but Tim realized he would must do some coaching. “We'll find her Darwin, I promise you.”

“It was strange, Tim,” Darwin said. “It was as though she had never existed. I found nothing of her. I could smell her, but even that disappeared. After a while all I could smell was foulness. I made it to the hot spring, there was nothing there, either.”

“She didn't know where it was. I don't know where it is! I think you're the only one who has ever found it,” Tim replied as he threw on a plain white shirt.

“I suppose, but to me it seems so easy to find. Just follow the eggs,” Darwin said as he suddenly remembered. “Egg salad!”

“What?”

“I fell asleep, or blacked out at the hot spring—I'm not sure which. When I came to there was a paper bag with two egg salad sandwiches inside along with some cookies,” he said, growing excited.

Tim looked to him. “Okay, that's a little odd. Do you think someone put it there?”

“No, I think it floated there on its own,” Darwin replied laying on the sarcasm.

“Sorry, no I realize someone put it there, I just meant if it wasn't you was it Mary? You were going for a picnic, weren't you?”

“I guess, but I never saw her make the lunch, but I also never saw it when I got to the spring. I guess I could have missed it…the sulphur of the spring may have masked the smell. Something bugs me about it, Tim. I had this really strange dream before I saw the bagged lunch. I was looking for something in the kitchen…my kitchen I think. There was this chocolate bunny in the oven. It spoke to me.” Darwin recounted.

“Okay, think we can discount this part of the story,” Tim said with a slight roll of his eyes.

“No! It was important. The bunny was trying to tell me something. We had to find something. It was very important that we find it. I also had to go somewhere but I couldn't leave until I found…” Darwin stopped for a moment as his eyes scanned the recess of his mind, “a metal bar on the wall…a magnetic knife holder? I just don't know.”

“So, what did you do with this lunch?”

“Nothing, I was changing when I found it. Have you ever tried to stop changing once you start? It's fucking hard. I left the bag where it was. I remembering this much though, the sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper.”

“What's so interesting about that?”

Darwin replied as his mind drifted back to his childhood, “I haven't seen anyone wrap sandwiches in wax paper since my mother. I'd forgotten that.”

Tim redirected, “Did you and Mary have a fight or did you say something she might have taken offence to, or possibly been frightened of?”

“No, we weren't fighting or anything like that. She…” Darwin paused for a moment. “You know, right before I lost her she went into a bit of a trance. She knew where I had made my first kill. As quickly as she zoned out she snapped back out of it. She didn't remember what she had said. She was right, it was the exact spot where I had killed Jason and Tina.”

“That is a little strange,” Tim admitted. “And you haven't told her about us?”

“No.”

“I tell ya what—you go get yourself cleaned up and you and I will head out to this hot spring and start looking for her. I'm sure she's a little cold, but once we find her I know she'll be fine,” Tim said.

Darwin replied, “What if I did kill her?” He slumped back in his depressive mood, realizing that was most likely the possibility.

Tim paused, calculating his answer. The truth was harsh; what if he had killed her? So what…it will be just another human who made a meal for a hungry wolf. Part of Tim truly felt that Darwin was to blame for this outcome. All Darwin had to do was bite her and tell her the truth the moment he took a liking to her. Instead, he chose to beat around the bush an now he had missed his opportunity. In Tim's mind flashed the idea that
this already has happened to you once!

“No point in talking about what may be. Let's go find out what is,” Tim replied, giving the best neutral answer he could.

Darwin nodded his head, rose from his desk and began moving towards his private suite. Before disappearing, he turned to Tim one more time with a question.

“What does love feel like?”

“I don't know. Happiness I guess. Why?”

“I don't know how to love,” he stated as he disappeared into the room, closing the door behind him.

Tim remained seated at the desk, contemplating the question. Love was an emotion that he was familiar with. Crazy sex parties with beautiful girls didn't really amount to love even though it was lustful pleasure that always brought him back for seconds. The idea of love was confusing to Tim. By rights he should love his parents…but what did that mean? He said he loved them, but in reality his feelings for them were no different than anyone else—ambivalent.

The Power of One loomed over Tim as his mind contemplated the possibilities.

They say life is cyclical; events just have a way of repeating themselves.

Once again the sounds of people trudging through thick brush in search of the lost echoed through the northern gateway. Times were different. Retrieving the consumed of the woods was a matter of time and the perception of danger didn't exist.

In a column of individuals a mile wide, the searchers from New Haven fanned out penetrating the hive of sticks sifting and poking anything out of the ordinary. Not a set of eyes were unaware of who they were looking for, but no one knew where to look; the hot spring had never been seen before.

At nine thirty that morning several hundred searchers were out weaving a search pattern designed to locate even the smallest of objects. Every minute the explorers would belt out Mary's name, but it would be quickly swallowed by the forested expanse. High above in the trees, the birds watched the intruders as they pushed deeper into their territory; but they all remained silent.

At the double-humped rock a command center was set up that Clint Littleford coordinated. It was makeshift and lacked any real equipment aside from a topographical map of the area and a bunch of handheld radios that only a handful of teams thought to grab. His current eye patch was black leather with a silver skull and cross bones allowing him to reinvent the pirate look.

It was good ole fashioned organized chaos. The left hand didn't even know the right hand existed but the feet seemed oblivious to the overall organizational structure and kept moving forward.

Citizens from around New Haven locked up their shops and flocked to the forest to aide in the search anyway they could. Jim Baker from Baker the Baker loaded down his truck with every pastry and donut he had made that morning, not forgetting to bring along his now infamous French Tourtière, a traditional French meat pie.

Ray Silverdale arrived with his canoe that he intended to launch into the Thompson River, searching the shores and rocky ledges as he went.

Even Suzie Templeton from the Heritage Committee showed up, armed with old maps and books about myths and legends of the north woods beyond New Haven.

All citizens who were able to help did.

“Darwin! We've got over three hundred boots on the ground in the northeast sector and we're closing in on the hot spring-at least we think we are. You said it was south of the Thompson River by about an hour?” Clint asked without stopping for pleasantries.

“Good to see you too, Clint,” Tim replied.

Clint paused for a moment now realizing that Darwin was hurt and in shock. He would must use more discretion.” We will find her Darwin, I promise you that.”

“Thank you Clint. I know you will try,” Darwin quietly replied, still running the event through his mind.

“We might make better progress if you show us on the map where you think the hot spring is.” Clint motioned over to a table with new topographical maps as well as a few old ones that Suzie was just beginning to lay out.

“I've never been there when I wasn't the wolf,” Darwin admitted.

“I thought you said you ran to the hot springs?” Tim asked.

“After I had already changed back. I was human yes, but the wolf took me there, or near there. I've never walked to the hot springs from here as a human, so I'm not really sure where it is,” Darwin confessed.

“Okay, think! There must be something you remember…a tree, a smell or a rock even?” Tim attempted to lead.

Darwin sat down in a lawn chair that was set up for him. An event tent sprung up around the group while Darwin thought about where they needed to go. The tent maneuvered into place without anyone taking any real notice.

“Clint! Clint! This is Terri! Over!” Crackled across the radio attached to Clint's hip.

Quickly grabbing the radio from his side he replied while continuing to make eye contact with Darwin. “Yeah Terri, go for Clint.”

“We found something, north side of the Thompson. It looks like…well gosh hell I don't know what it is. You better get your boys over here right away,” Terri replied.

“Terri we're looking for a lost woman, is it a lost woman?” Clint shot back, rolling his eyes.

The radio wave opened and a transmission began but it was now deteriorating to static and interference. “Be…ge…the…now.” Was all anyone could make out in the thirty second transmission.

“Terri, Terri, this is Clint—say again.”

There was nothing. Her transmission was finished and she was no longer able to respond.

“Terri, Terri—come back.”

“We must get out there right away,” Tim ordered. “How many bodies can we spare?”

“She's probably out of range is all,” Clint assured.

“She wanted us to come. We must go and see what it is she found. Terri doesn't fuck around. If she's asked for assistance, we should go,” Tim insisted.

“Are we looking for Mary or are we looking for Terri?” Clint argued.

“Both,” Darwin calmly ordered. “Until we have both we're looking for both.”

* * * *

Tim and Darwin set out in the direction of the Jason and Tina slaying. Darwin was confident he could find that. It was a real place that others had been to and it had only been a day since he was last there. He hadn't been looking for the spot when he and Mary had come upon it, but he recognized it straight out. In daylight, the killing zone was a small bowl with a canopy of trees sheltering it. Darwin could imagine Tina sucking on Jason's cock as his wolf plowed over the embankment; that first gulp of supple flesh and blood.

“The springs should be that way,” Darwin pointed beyond the bowl and off the trail.

“Why would we want to go off trail?” Tim asked, confused.

“When I changed in December, I changed at the hot spring. I ran through the woods to this spot. I could smell the sex. We must be no more than a mile to the springs.” Darwin didn't wait for his friend to argue. He made his way down the slight hill to the bottom of the bowl and began climbing up the opposite side.

Tim followed politely, looking over his shoulder at the trail they were choosing to leave behind. They were monsters and nothing should scare them, yet Tim began to feel apprehensive as they moved into the thick of the woods.

“Tim, there's something special about these woods. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's here. Do you feel it?” Darwin raised the subject hoping that he wasn't alone in his own suspicions.

“Our skin bursts through our clothes at the sight of the moon, we can change into a monster at will and throw thousands of pounds without a struggle, and you wonder about an eerie forest?” Tim chuckled.

“There's something here. Every time I'm in these woods it seems more intense…almost like it feeds off of me. It's really strong today.”

“Hey Dar, wouldn't it be easier to stick to the path? We could find where you changed and then follow your tracks.” Tim finished this just as Darwin released a branch prematurely whacking him in the face. “Ah, fuck dude!”

Darwin turned around and found Tim rubbing his nose which was in the same condition as it had been, though a bit redder. “Pussy!”

“If I were human that might have broken my nose!” Tim argued.

“But you're not and it didn't so let's go!” Darwin fussed. “To answer your question—no, I think cutting through the bush is the right move. If we follow my tracks, I might have wandered all over the place. I know, if we go in this direction for a mile or two, we should hit the scent of sulphur.”

“If you say so, but what if a cougar attacks us? I might wolf out and wreck your clothes.” Tim jokingly reminded Darwin he was wearing borrowed clothing.

“Don't worry about the clothes. Besides the only cougar you have to worry about is Suzie Templeton, did you see how she was checking you out?” Darwin asked waking up from his depression.

“Fuck off!” Tim said.

“No, seriously. I saw her checking out your ass. It's a cute bubble butt you've got; don't be ashamed to show it off.” Darwin poked fun at his friend's bashfulness.

“Ms. Templeton is like, forty or something…ick!” Tim balked.

Darwin said as though it was gospel, “Hey don't knock the older women; they've been around longer and know more tricks. Besides they have to work harder to impress the young guys, so anything goes.”

“What do you mean, anything goes?” Tim asked, now curious.

“Well, the young girls, your age I mean…they're what I would call vanilla. That means they're pretty plain in bed,” Darwin informed.

“You haven't been with my girls!” Tim declared.

“No, I haven't. Let me ask you—if you asked your girls if you could eat out their asshole, would they let you?” Darwin shot back in debate.

“Why the fuck would I want to do that?” Tim was horrified at the suggestion.

Darwin burst out laughing realizing he had uncovered Tim's own vanilla flavoring. “So, I guess they wouldn't stick their tongue into your ass either?”

“Again,
why
?” Tim choked. “I've only just started to muck them out; it's like a bloody greenhouse down there!”

“Try showering with them first, that will help with the greenhouse effect. Live a little bud…there's more to life than missionary style. Haven't you ever heard the saying, ‘when the red river is flowing, take the muddy back road'?” Darwin was now having fun with Tim's inexperience.

For a moment Tim remained silent, contemplating his experience, or apparent lack of. “How do you know so much? I thought you were…” Tim stopped short of saying the word, hoping not to offend his friend.

Darwin seized up and turned to look at his friend. The same feeling over came him when anyone asked him anything about his sexuality. It was the one skin he was unable to wear freely. That was a side effect of continuous negative experiences surrounding the subject.

Darwin returned stiffly, “I've been with women, only women, and I've watched a lot of porn.”

“But you do prefer…guys?” Tim nervously pushed.

Darwin looked to the ground hoping the question would go away, but he knew it wouldn't. He also knew the answer he gave would make no difference to his friendship with Tim, yet he could feel a cold sweat rushing across his face and his hands began to shake. No other topic or question brought him such unease. It was, in his opinion, a private matter that was no one else's business. Darwin knew his anxiety came from all the negativity he had seen and experienced throughout the years. It was irrational, but it was also programmed into him, and changing a person's program was never easy.

“Yeah…I…I…do,” Darwin stuttered out. As the “do” passed his lips a wave of relief swept through him. The scalding tension in his muscles began to leak away through his calves and feet and a feeling of awkward nakedness washed in. For the first time ever, he had admitted it to another person. It was no secret, even Darwin knew that, but at the same time he could never talk about it openly because of his own internalized bigotry. All he had ever wanted was to be normal, and he was about as far off the mark as a person could be in his view. When being raised to an ideal and then having that dream snuffed out not by choice, but by a random convergence of genetics, it tends to create a lot of confusion in a young person.

“Fag!” Tim belted back, crushing Darwin's moral. Tim didn't let it go on; he quickly showed his friend he was still his friend and he was only teasing. “I'm kidding! Don't be so anal! God!”

Darwin didn't know what to say. He stood in his spot for a moment, wondering if Tim was telling the truth, and suddenly he knew it was fine. “Anal!” Darwin laughed.

“You are pretty up tight about it,” Tim teased. “Is that why you're so into butt sex?”

Darwin lost it. Laughing uncontrollably, he grabbed his sides and bent over as he struggled for air. He wasn't really sure why he found the question so funny. Darwin had never done anything with a guy, and the only butt sex he had ever done had been with Mary. As he thought about it, he realized he w
as
a little obsessed with the pooper. “Maybe Tim, maybe.”

The pair continued walking through the trees, darting left and right attempting to make their way in a straight line, but the forest kept throwing up obstacles forcing them off their line of travel. They remained silent only for awhile before the conversation again started up with Tim asking another sexual question.

“Okay I gotta ask,” Tim blurted out. “It's not a gay question but I've heard of this thing, and I don't know what it is.” Tim stopped.

“Okay, well, what is it?” Darwin replied as his gut wrenched a little from the word gay.

“The Alaskan Pipeline? What the hell is that?” Tim asked genuinely confused.

Darwin chuckled to himself because he had heard of it. He had no desire to ever be involved in any sexual act that involved it; but he knew what it was. Tim would shriek if Darwin told him outright. If the thought of a tongue in his ass made him squirm, surely The Alaskan Pipeline would make him barf. Darwin smirked with his face continuing forward. He took a breath to gain the strength to tell the story as straight faced as he could. He would take some pleasure in this if he did it right.