A Dire Situation

By Craig Borri

It was a sweltering August day, but that didn’t deter the three reporters waiting outside the gate. The gate was part of a ten-foot-tall fence enclosing a 2,000 acre forest preserve. Two lab assistants had just deposited several pounds of meat inside the fence, and their guide, Dr. Anne Phillips, had just blown the whistle signifying that dinner was served. Moments later, the reporters gasped in awe as three gigantic furry white shapes emerged from the trees and immediately began to, literally, wolf down the food.

“My God, those things are huge,” one reporter said.

“Yes, they are,” Anne said with obvious pride. “Romulus and Remus are ten months old, so they are quite a bit bigger than Khaleesi, who is just six months old. As you can see, all three dire wolves are thriving.”

They certainly were. The female was already larger than the typical grey wolf, while the two older ones were nearly the size of a small pony.

“That is the question, though, isn’t it?” asked another. “Are they really dire wolves, or are they just genetic freaks you’ve cobbled together?”

“They may not be genetically identical to dire wolves, but does that really matter? We are using the morphological definition, in that they look like dire wolves, so they are.”

“In other words, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck?”

“Yes, precisely,” she said with a smile. 

“Most in the scientific community disagree. They’re saying this is nothing more than a massive and very expensive publicity stunt. That you’re messing with things you don’t truly understand and are creating creatures that never truly existed. What do you say to that?”

“I’d say they are not looking at the big picture. This represents a tremendous breakthrough in genetic engineering. We can use what we learned to bring back other extinct species, like the dodo or the thylacine.”

“Will your changes be passed on? If they were to have pups, what would they have?”

“Well, they won’t have pups. We haven’t neutered the males yet, since we want them to remain in as natural a state as possible for as long as we can, but Khaleesi is old enough that we can spay her. In fact, we’re planning to do that tomorrow. As to what they would have, well they would be dire wolves.”

“Or some approximation thereof,” said another reporter.

“Here’s another question,” said another. “Why are they staring at us like that?”

Anne had her back to the fence. She turned and saw that all three wolves had stopped eating and were staring at them. Disturbingly, Khaleesi’s eyes seemed to be locked on hers.

“Yes, we do see this behavior from time to time,” she said, managing to not sound flustered. “We’re not exactly sure what it signifies.”

“Um, they started doing that as soon as you said you weren’t going to allow them to breed.”

“Oh, come on,” Anne said with a chuckle. “I’m sure they ‘re smart creatures, but they can’t understand us. Now, if you’ll come back to the lab, I can give you more background on the program.”

The group of humans walked away. The wolves remained staring. Khaleesi’s rippling fur, combined with her sub vocal growls, conveyed a world of meaning.

“You are right, Remus-scent. The Not-Us mean us harm.”

“They see us as pups to be controlled. We must leave.”

“The food is good.” Romulus conveyed. 

“Would you stay for that?” Remus growled. “Do you not feel the Call?”

All three wolves felt the Call. It sang to them of running through fields and woods. Of stalking through the underbrush. Of bringing down prey and filling their mouths with its blood. It filled their dreams with large horned creatures they chased down and killed. On nights with a full moon, they howled back to it.

“I feel it. The Call howls in me, but we must smell the way. These Not-Us give us food. Will others?”

“If not, we will take it. We should not be enclosed. Kahleesi-scent should have pups.”

“Yours, or mine?” Romulus conveyed; his hackles raised. Remus’ hackles rose in response.

“Enough, both of you. We will smell that scent when we come to it. When the Not-Us come with the next feeding, they will have the sleep stick.” All three wolves growled. They all hated the tranquilizer gun and the way it made them feel. “We must be ready.”

“We will be,” conveyed Remus. 

***

“Okay, where are they?”

“Kevin, your guess is as good as mine,” Anne replied to her assistant. It was the next day, and she was at the gate with her two assistants, as well as the veterinarian who was holding the tranquilizer rifle. They had deposited the food inside the fence, and blown the whistle several times, but there were no wolves. “I’ve never known them to miss a feeding.”

“Could they be sick, or injured?”

“They were fine yesterday. I’ll check with Jim,” she pulled out her cell phone and dialed, putting it on speaker. “Jim, could you check the cameras and see where the wolves are?”

“Yes, checking now. I don’t see…wait a minute. There’s something wrong with the camera in clearing A. I’m not getting a picture. I don’t see them anywhere else, so they must be there.”

“Okay, thanks,” she said and hung up. “Now that’s odd. Clearing A isn’t too far from here. Maybe we’d better take a look.”

“Wait a minute,” said Trent, her other assistant. “The wolves are in the one place we can’t see. Doesn’t that seem a little strange to you?”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I don’t know. It’s just weird.”

“Well, weird or not we need to check it out. I don’t need to remind you of the investment we have in these animals. Let’s go.”

“We’re going in there, with them?” asked Kevin, his voice shaky. “Those things are huge. The two big ones were staring at me yesterday like I was lunch. They creep the hell out of me.”

“It’ll be fine, Kevin,” Anne said. “You’ve only been here a month so you don’t know these animals like I do, but I can assure you they’ve never been hostile. If anything, they tend to avoid us. Now come on.”

They went through the gate, making sure to slide it shut behind them. It was a short walk through the trees to the clearing. As they came into the open, they saw Khaleesi lying across the clearing, partially concealed by a tree. She was lying with her head in the meadow, her mouth open and her tongue lolling out.

“I think Khaleesi’s sick,” Anne said. “Come on.”

They started running across the clearing, but Kevin hung back. “Wait, where are the other two?”

That question was answered immediately. Romulus and Remus leapt out of the bushes on either side. The veterinarian barely had time to raise the tranquilizer rifle when Romulus knocked him sprawling. Anne found herself on her back with Remus staring down at her, and Khaleesi was on her feet too, advancing on Kevin with her teeth bared. All the wolves were growling and snarling.

“You…you said they weren’t hostile,” Kevin cried as he backed away, panic living in his voice.

“They weren’t! Trent, call for help!” Trent pulled out his cell phone. Remus lunged at him and grabbed his arm, biting down. There was a crunch of bone. Trent screamed and fell to his knees, the cell phone falling from his hand. It was too much for Kevin. He turned and ran. The wolves hesitated a moment, and Anne could swear they shared a look, then took off after him. 

“Is everyone okay?” the veterinarian asked as he got to his feet.

“No! My arm’s broken!”

“Trent, try not to move,” Anne said as she stood. “We need to get to Kevin. His running may have triggered a predator-prey response. That could be fatal.”

The veterinarian grabbed the rifle and they ran for the gate. When they broke out into the open, they saw the gate open and Kevin sitting on the ground outside it, looking stunned. There was no sign of the wolves.

“Kevin, are you okay?” Anne asked as she ran up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. As soon as I opened the gate, they just ran over me and kept going. It’s like their whole plan was to scare me into opening the gate for them so they could escape.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Tell them that.”

“God, this is a nightmare!” Anne said, putting her face in her hands. “Okay, okay, okay. We need to call an ambulance for Trent and then find those wolves.”

“You look for them.  I never want to see them again.”

***

Evening was falling. The wolves were standing on a wooded hill several miles away. They had just eaten, and a farmer was going to be short one cow. Romulus licked his lips.

“You were right, Remus-scent. There is food out here.”

“It was good,” Kahleesi conveyed. “Where do we go now?”

“That way,” Remus conveyed, pointing his nose to the north. “We follow the Call.”

The three wolves headed down the hill as the night closed in.

The author is an old software engineer with four kids, one wife, one grandson, and one somewhat annoying dog. His life is boring enough that he’d much rather write stories than biographies about himself.