Log:Wolves of Fear, Scene 1

Wolves of Fear 2013/12/10 	 Wild Thing

1

Champions Mush - Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 9:08 PM

Creekfield

''This is suburbia: no towering buildings as to the east, but laid out as far as the eye can see thousands of lower to higher middle income houses. There are strip malls, grocery stores, and other commercial buildings, schools and hospitals, none over three stories tall, all with parking lots. And there is more green space than in the city, but there's little sense of a heart. ''

''Creekfield, however, is something of an exception. If you know where to look, you can still find a trace of the old village, with a couple of churches and some older houses, and even the ancient schoolhouse, still used as a meeting hall, clustered about the creek which gave the town its name.''

It is late evening in Creekfield and most of suburbia are inside watching the latest TV special. On occasional car passes, but otherwise the streets are quiet. However, for those with the nose to smell it, an unusual scent hangs in the air and all the domestic animals are quiet and fearful.

The lack of noise from the dogs in the neighborhood puts the girls on edge nearly as soon as they wander into the area. They've been playing and exploring and have wandered outside the parts of the city they are familiar with and now they have this odd silence surrounding them when there should be the welcoming barks of dogs and the assorted other noises of life. The smell gets their noses crinkling and they start trying to locate the source, sniffing at the air and loping about on all fours since their aren't any people about to tell them to stand up.

The scent is actually multiple scents: a pack. And they wander with intelligent direction, keeping together but spread out, avoiding lit areas over alleys and backways - hunting.

The twins look at each other to confirm that they have both picked up multiple scents. Each one counts the numbers, storing the individual scents away as they continue to track the smells.

A light breeze is blowing intermittently and it soon becomes apparent that the breeze is the deciding factor of the pack's travel. They are walking toward the wind, so their scents do not proceed them. They are also, possibly, moving at a good clip.

The twins follow the scents. They aren't just scent trackers however, so are also doing standard tracking as well, looking for prints and other physical signs. They run in silence as they track the unknown pack, their speed increasing with their excitement.

It is more than 15 minutes before the twins spot a physical sign to go with the scent: a single paw print, large enough to be a St Bernard, and from the depth the canine is jogging at about 15 mph: a slow sprint for a human.

The twins stop and make faces at each other for a moment when they discover the print. Then they spring back into action, running after the smells with the occasional giggle to mar their silence.

The twin's sprint takes them flying down back-alleys and over fences, easily hopped with their strength, no matter how high. At last, they turn a coner down into the back of a u-shaped strip mall and encounter a man, panting with exhaustion and/or fear while four over-sized wolves, with red fur and short rubbery tentacles less than a foot long forming a ruff behind their heads.

Two more are also visible, flanking the entrance to the dead-end alley on either side of the twins, for a total of six.

<<... to be continued. >>