First Encounters
First Encounters
"Wolves." The deep male voice startled Ivy out of her trance. A man lounged against the fence post next to her, pointing into the restricted area at the mangled carcass she had been blatantly staring at. Ivy turned her attention fully to the man standing next to her. How had he gotten so close? Where was Terrance?
He was dressed in the traditional green and gray ranger outfit, but Ivy hadn't met him when they had met the other rangers at the field research station. His dark, oily hair was pulled back in a ponytail, framing his face and dark, slightly amused gray eyes. His small rimmed glasses did nothing to make Ivy feel as though this man was not incredibly dangerous, in contrast, they only served to make him seem both stronger and smarter than she. His tall stature and biceps, which barely fit in his shirt, made Ivy feel woefully inadequate.
"There are wolves, inside the barrier." Alex continued. "That's why we have it up. And they sometimes forget to take their prey in places that aren't visible from the main trail." He laughed at his own joke.
"I see." Why was this man, and all of the rangers, in fact, feeding Ivy and the other researchers a line of bullshit? For one, tropical wolves? That idea was silly. For another, wolves would never leave their prey. They lived on the "feast or famine" principle, meaning that when they killed, they devoured as much as they could, as fast as they could. They would never leave a deer's head for later. The brain and the eyes were the most nutritious parts.
And most importantly, or so Ivy thought, she hadn't even asked him to show up or explain the carcass. She could draw her own conclusions. If anything, the mangled body looked like the work of a large cat. Something that liked to play with its food. Definitely not wolves. They would've left behind cracked bones, at most. But not even vultures -- did Kir'nu have vultures? -- had touched this body.
"Don't believe me?" Alex asked her as she gaped at him.
"I..." Ivy stuttered. She couldn't help but to be afraid of this monstrously large and fit man. And now, he was challenging her to challenge him? "Who are you?"
Ivy settled on misdirection as her strategy. Alex laughed.
"I'm Alex." He responded, pointing lamely to his name tag, which proudly announced, RANGER ALEX SLOANE.
"Oh." Well, that didn't work as well as she had planned. But perhaps it had worked enough, for he didn't return to his challenge of her belief.
"And who, may I ask, are you?" Alex said, pointedly.
"Ivy." She responded, eyeing the carcass again. She couldn't help it, but looking at this ranger's softly upturned nose, piercing eyes, and angry biceps made her nervous.
"Hiker?" He asked, but she thought he already knew who she was, well before she answered him.
"Scientist." She proclaimed.
"Ah. So [that's]{.underline} why you don't believe me." He answered his own question. "I'm sure you want to see that carcass up close, right?" He laughed.
"No thank you." Ivy said distractedly. "I'm much more of a plant person." She explained. Alex looked relieved.
"Good. Because I'd take you through there, if you wanted... but that's pretty disgusting." Alex laughed. "I'll have to clean it up tomorrow, if the wolves don't come back for their kill. Can't have that mess driving away hikers."
"Wolves wouldn't leave a mess, usually." Ivy suggested, forcing herself to look up into Alex's eyes. "Cats, maybe. Large cats. But not wolves."
"Maybe something scared them off."
"What can scare off an entire pack of wolves?" Ivy countered. Alex laughed.
"I'm not sure." He acknowledged. "But I suppose I wouldn't really like to find out, either."
"Why didn't we meet you with the other rangers?" Ivy asked him, eyes searching his for the chance of a lie, but he responded smoothly,
"I was cleaning up a mess, like this one, on the other side of the island. We can't take four wheelers through those parts, so I had to stay the evening."
"Ah. So you were camping and enjoying yourself while all of the other rangers were doing their jobs and meeting us fancy researchers."
"Wow." Ranger Alex Sloane smirked. "You've got quite a mouth on you."
"What?" Ivy asked him. "I didn't swear."
"No, but the animosity was palatable." He pointed out with a smile.
"Oh? Who's the fancy one now?" She retorted. She was no longer afraid of him. Well, maybe a little.
A moment of silence passed between them, and then Alex moved towards her.
"My point is," He narrowed his eyes towards her, looking much like the wolves he was claiming lived on the island, "To be safe, you need to stay out of the restricted area."
"Well, I know that." She huffed at him. "It's like... the only rule we have here."
"The grass is always greener on the other side." Alex said knowingly. "I'm sorry to disturb your work. I'll leave you to it."
Without another word, Alex walked to the gate guarding the restricted area, fumbled with a swipe card station for a moment, and then the door clicked open for him and he entered the gate, heading in the opposite direction from Ivy.
What a weird encounter. She looked down the trail, past Alex's disappearing body, and saw Terrance's form in the distance. Good. Maybe he would have some insight on why the rangers all seemed convinced of something that could not possibly be true.
#
"Hey, Haywood." Ivy started, and Haywood looked up from his computer. "Why do you think that Ranger Phelps would meticulously introduce us to every ranger... except one?"
"There's another ranger?" Haywood asked. Ivy dropped her things at the door and nodded.
"Yeah. He startled me today. Repeated the wolf story. I'll share in a few minutes. Let's get cleaned up, shall we, Terrance?"
Terrance was already ahead of her, and moving towards the men's quarters with a tired gait.
"She seems awfully worked up." Haywood commented, mostly to himself, but Emily nodded in agreement. Ivy seemed frazzled, almost... angry at this encounter she had had. It must've just happened, and something about the ranger must've set her off. They would soon find out.
A few minutes later, Ivy emerged, sparkly clean with wet hair, and Terrance came out just as she was launching into her story.
"So Terrance was out of my line of view, bringing the tape down a hundred meters so we could mark off our transect. I had pinned the tape down to the ground and was waiting for him to finish and come back, so I stepped over to the perimeter fence to take a look. And what do I see? This... mutilated corpse. It looked like the remnants of a deer. It was... awful."
"Ew." Emily said, shuddering. Ivy nodded.
"You should've seen it. There were entrails, everywhere. No rhyme or reason to the damage. And all of a sudden, I hear a voice. I turn, and there's this guy in a ranger outfit. Watching me. And he launches into the wolf story..."
"Why do you keep calling it a story?" Haywood interrupted her.
"I just... I don't think wolves were responsible for this carcass. I took some pictures, but the fence obscured most of it. And he was just... I dunno. It seemed like he was lying to me."
"Are you sure he was a ranger?" Emily asked her, her eyes widening just a little bit. Already, this trip was getting more and more exciting.
"His uniform was identical to Ranger Phelps', and he did have a nametag. Anyway, so he decides that I don't believe him, and he goes, "What, don't believe me?" And makes some snarky comment about how scientists are know-it-alls..."
Ivy stopped to take a breath. Terrance, who had heard this part before, and had nothing to contribute, was rummaging through the cabinets for some chips.
"And so I told him how there was an awful lot of carnage for just a few wolves, and how they normally will devour the carcass. And he was being completely serious, and he basically implied that maybe something startled the entire pack of wolves and made them flee."
"Like what? Bigfoot?" Haywood laughed, his eyes still glued to Ivy. She shrugged.
"I have no idea. I asked him what could possibly scare away wolves, and he said he didn't know, and he didn't want to find out. Then he just opened the restricted area's gate, walked through, and walked away from me."
"That's rude." Emily huffed, and Ivy nodded.
"Terrance was finally on his way back. He missed it all. The ranger must've been headed directly into the restricted area, because Terrance never saw him."
"I think she's making it up." Terrance snickered, and Ivy glowered at him. He sobered, some. "No, I mean, obviously, there was someone there. And the carcass was there when I got there, so she wasn't hallucinating. But he seemed to really freak her out. No offense, Ivy."
"He did freak me out." She acknowledged. "That was a large man, and his eyes were so predatory. It was strange. It was like when he was looking into my eyes, he was staring into my soul." She laughed at herself. "How stupid does that sound?"
"Did this ranger have a name?" Haywood asked, letting her fascination with the man's eyes go for now.
"Alex Sloane. That's what his name tag said, and that's what he introduced himself to me as."
"Alright, well, next time we see the good Ranger Phelps, we'll ask about him. Maybe he was on the mainland or something when we..."
"I asked. He said he was up near the mountains when we came. Backpacking. And cleaning up a different mess that the wolves had left."
"The restricted area doesn't extend that far north." Haywood pointed out, frowning. Ivy nodded.
"He pretty much re-issued the warning to not go on, then disappeared as fast as he could. It was very strange."
#
She was running. Her breaths were deep and even, not quite yet run ragged by fear. But she was, indeed, very afraid. The yelps and howls in the distance pursued her relentlessly, haunting her every move. They almost sounded demonic, and Ivy knew that they were out for her blood. Her blood, and no one else's. And so, she ran, bounding through the night time forest with the speed of a gazelle and the strength of a hundred men. She knew that she could not make it to the perimeter. Not in time.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and she stopped, confused. Had she been hit? She didn't feel any pain, and she looked up, to see a gun in the air, a silhouette of a giant holding its ominous, smoking barrel straight up the air. She turned around, to see all of the wolves -- there had to be ten, at least, watching her with angry eyes, intimidated but not scared off by the gunshot. She flipped back to the man, who was walking towards her and the wolves with purpose.
It was the ranger. Alex. His gray eyes held purpose, now, and he almost walked by her without a word, but she grabbed at his hand, and he turned to her, his dark ponytail flipping around his shoulder, and his glasses glinting in the moonlight. He bent to her level, and suddenly, he lowered his lips to hers, pulling her tightly against him. She felt emotion flood through her body for this stranger, whom she felt she had known all of her life.
He released her with a flourish and dropped his gun. Why would he... oh. She realized why he had dropped his gun. Before her eyes, he fell to his hands and knees and began melting... yes, that was the best way to describe it. He was melting. Melting into... another wolf? Her stomach sank in fear, but the new wolf-ranger was not interested in her. He howled, instead, at the wolves which slowly circled them. But they did not back down.
Growling, he launched himself at the alpha wolf, the large, white-tinged wolf which was most aggressive. Alex's wolf form was black and silver in the night, reflecting the moon's beams in a brilliant array of night time battle. Alex tore into the rump of the alpha wolf, and the alpha yelped. The other wolves joined in, finally, desperate to save their leader, but it was too late. The leader was yelping for a retreat, and was scrambling to get away from Alex's wolf form, which had tasted blood and wanted more.
Several wolves surrounded their injured leader's body, growling at their aggressor in a mixture of fear and anger. Alex's wolf stood his ground, growling, and the others slowly retreated, their leader in front. The clearing spared of more carnage was eerily silent, except for the howls and yelps in the distance, growing fainter. Alex's wolf form turned towards Ivy and began advancing. The eyes had lost all human feeling to them, and Ivy saw nothing but murder in his eyes. He growled as he came closer and closer, and Ivy spread her arms and legs, to make herself look bigger.
"Go away!" She screamed. She meant to yell it, deeply, but it came out high pitched, more the sound of an injured bird begging for mercy than the sound of a bigger, fiercer predator. Remembering the dropped gun, she bent to scoop it up, but it was too late. The wolf leapt.
#
Ivy awoke sweating and shaking, confused by her dream, the passionate and vivid images replaying in her head. Wolves, huh? She could blame that stupid ranger for putting those ideas in her head.
"Ready for shopping?" Emily asked her. Emily was just stepping out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. "I figured I'd let you sleep until I was done with the shower. Hey, you ok?" Emily looked at Ivy's confused face with concern.
"Yeah. I... dreams. Weird dreams."
"Ah. I've been having some weird ones too. What about?" Emily asked, reaching over to the dresser to run a comb through her hair.
"Wolves." Ivy said shamefully. "And that stupid ranger."
"Wow. He really got into your head, didn't he?"
"I guess so. Ivy acknowledge, sitting up in bed. "You done with the bathroom? I need a shower to wake me up."
"Yup! Feel free."
After her shower, Ivy felt marginally better. After a quick bite to eat, the girls took off, walking towards the main road to catch the ferry with their grocery list. As they were nearing the ferry dock, a ranger's jeep pulled up behind them and slowed down. Ivy turned to see Ranger Phelps waving at the girls.
"You girls going to the mainland? Need some help? He asked as he pulled up next to them. Ivy shrugged.
"We're going for groceries, yeah. But there was that shop right across the street from the ferry dock on the mainland, right?"
"Yeah. That should do you just fine. If you want more selection though, just take the tram on that side of the street a few blocks west -- its free in that part of town -- and it'll take you to the Wal-Mart."
"I'm not sure we need Wal-Mart quite yet, but thank you." Ivy said to him as she and Emily continued their walk.
"I'll join you in a moment." The ranger answered her, and then turned into the dusty parking lot near the ferry to park the jeep.
They boarded the ferry, which was operated free of cost because of the fees that hikers paid to backpack through the reserve. The ranger soon joined them, remarking on the beautiful morning. It was indeed a beautiful morning. The sun was peeking out from behind a thin layer of clouds, illuminating the southern side of the island in all of its wild glory. They chatted for a while, about how they were liking the island, and if they had found anything interesting.
Emily was the first to bring the strange ranger up to Ranger Phelps. Ivy had been willing to let it go, but not the undergraduate.
"How come you never mentioned Ranger Sloane to us in our orientation?" Emily asked Ranger Phelps in a lull of the conversation.
"Who?" Ranger Phelps asked, confusion flitting across his weathered face.
"Ranger Sloane." Emily repeated. "Alex?"
"Ah." Recognition and relief shown on Ranger Phelps' face. "Alex. You met him?"
"I didn't." Emily said, "But she did."
"I take it he made an impression?" Ranger Phelps laughed. "Was he rude to you? We try to keep him away from the public eye most of the time."
"No, not at all." Ivy glared at Emily. She knew that Emily knew that somewhere deep inside of Ivy, strange things tingled when she thought about that mysterious giant, Ranger Alex. "Just strange."
"Yes, he's a strange man." Ranger Phelps acknowledged. "A good man, for the most part. But a strange one. Were you by the fence?"
"Yes. There was a carcass just inside it, that I was staring at."
"Wolves." Ranger Phelps said immediately, and Ivy nodded, deciding not to push the matter.
"That's what Ranger Sloane said. But the carcass... let's just say it left an impression."
"I'm very sorry you had to see it. Was he going to clean it up?"
"He said he would later, yes, but he was off to do something else." Ivy said.
"I'm sure it's gone by now." Phelps smiled at them. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go have a chat with our ferry captain. If I don't see you girls again, have a nice day!" Phelps made a hasty exit.
"See?" Ivy remarked. "This whole wolves this just smells fishy to me."
"Are you sure it's not because we're on the ocean?" Emily said, looking ashamed of herself for such a lame joke.
"Yes. I don't smell fish because we're on the ocean. I smell fish because I think the Rangers are hiding something." Ivy rolled her eyes, but quieted her voice as she said the second part.
"We'll see." Emily said. "We'll see."
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