Animal Behavior and Other Tales of Lycanthropy (18 page)

* * * *

“Do you think we’ll get one?” Nicky Schmidt asked as he watched, from afar, Leah Tipper hand out invitations to her annual Halloween party.

“How am I supposed to know? Am I a mind reader?”

Nicky looked at his friend, Jonah Morgan, and wished for once he could drop the sarcastic attitude.

“What?” Jonah asked. He must have noticed the look Nicky gave him. “C’mon, it was a stupid question. You know she really hasn’t spoken to us lately.”

“You think she’s still pissed about last year? I mean . . . she should have been flattered.”

“Right. I thought girls loved when guys fight over them.”

Nicky’s gaze returned to Leah and her tight rainbow-striped sweater, the fabric leaving none of her curves to the imagination. “Yeah . . . well . . . she’s different, I guess.”

Jonah wailed his balled fist into Nicky’s right arm. “Don’t look at her like that. What have I told you about that?”

Nicky clenched his teeth as the pain spiked. “When she finally says yes to your indecent proposal, then I’ll stop looking at her with sex in my eyes, deal?”

Jonah released a nasal laugh. “You’re a real douche. I don’t know why I let you hang with me.”

“’Cause I’m the only one who’ll put up with your crap.”

“True.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Be cool, she’s coming over.”

Leah stepped up to them. Without saying a word, she produced two envelopes from her backpack and held them out. “I don’t want a repeat of last year. Understood?”

“Of course. I’m over you anyway,” Jonah said.

“He means thank you,” Nicky said, taking both envelopes. Jonah narrowed his eyes at him for a second only, then returned his attention to Leah.

Oh crap
. Nicky saw Jeremy Talbout approach. His brow wrinkled in disgust and his lips pursed.

“Why you giving them an invitation? You already know what they’re going to be,” Jeremy said.

“Well, in all honesty,” said Jeremy’s best friend, “that pathetic white make-up has got to be almost gone by now. After all, this would be, what, the fourth year you’ve dressed up as skeletons?” Michael made quotation marks with his fingers, emphasizing “skeletons.”

Jonah stepped directly in front of Michael, getting in his face. “Maybe you should tell your friend here about that missing tooth of yours.”

Nicky saw Leah’s eyes open wide and immediately stepped in between the two. “Now, now, no worries here.” He gave Jonah the
look
—the single raised eyebrow and flared nostrils—as he pushed him away. “No worries, Leah, they’ll be no fighting here or at your party.”

Jonah’s anger left his face as he obviously realized Nicky’s intent. “Yeah, I’m sorry, just a temporary lapse. These guys aren’t worth it.”

“So you’re okay that Jeremy is my date for the party, then?” Leah asked, a devilish grin on her face.

She’s testing him
, Nicky thought.

“Like I said,” Jonah added through clinched teeth, “I’m over you.”

“Good. And just so you know, there will be a costume contest, but no pressure, okay?”

Jonah nodded.

“See you losers around.” Jeremy grabbed Leah’s hand. “C’mon, babe.”

“What does she see in him?” Jonah asked as the others walked away.

“I really don’t know, but you better behave or we’re not going to be able to go. There’ll be other girls.”

“Okay,
Mom
.”

Nicky ignored the sarcasm. “We should probably get to class.”

“Yeah. Thanks for stopping me from doing something stupid. Had I cold-cocked him, Leah probably would start dating them both.”

“Stranger things have happened.” Nicky smiled. He knew what his friend was getting at. Leah had done the complete opposite of what both of them had thought. In the movies, the girl always fell for the tough guy, but Leah had comforted the loser of Jonah and Jeremy’s fight, and the two became close friends.

Nicky knew any chance Jonah had with her was gone, but he would never admit that out loud. What Leah and Jeremy had was more than a high school crush, anyone could see. They took their time, got to know each other, and love blossomed the way it was meant to.

The school day finished without another incident. Their paths never crossed with Jeremy and Michael’s, though Nicky had observed Jeremy staring at them in the cafeteria during lunch. He said nothing, afraid it might instigate another confrontation.

They walked home the usual way, cutting through the Pennsylvania woods that surrounded Central High School. It was a serene alternative to the noisy, crowded bus. Products of single-parent families—Nicky and his sister without a mother and Jonah without a father—neither had anyone to go home to, so there was no rush. They had attempted to hook their parents up on several occasions, the fantasy of being brothers too good to pass up, but neither parent was ready for a commitment.

Looking around, Nicky didn’t understand how most of the other kids were too afraid to enter the woods. Yes, they were home to all manner of critters, but the scariest animal they ever saw was a fully-antlered buck. As they walked, Nicky did his best to derail any conversation of Leah and or Jeremy.

“Shh! Did you hear that?” Jeremy stopped and listened.

“No,” Nicky whispered. “What did you hear?”

“Not sure. It sounded like a dog.”

Nicky stood still and strained to hear, then he picked up on the sound. “It’s coming from over there.” He pointed to his left. “It sounds hurt.”

“Let’s check it out,” Jonah said, slapping the backside of his hand into Nicky’s gut as he started to jog.

“Wait up,” he called after him. Fallen autumn leaves crunched and crumbled under their feet as they trampled through the woods. A wolf’s howl caused both of them to stop dead in their tracks.

“We should go,” Nicky said, seeing the gray wolf off in the distance.

“Something’s wrong.” Jonah took a step. “I think it’s hurt.”

Nicky grabbed him by the arm. “Dude, if there’s one, there’s more.”

Jonah looked around, obviously realizing he spoke the truth. “Um, I don’t see any. C’mon.”

Nicky let his arm go and followed closely behind, his head rotating back and forth in search of more pack members. He saw nothing. No squirrels, no birds, and no deer.
That’s just too strange. The critters know something we don’t.

Though the trees were already barren, and the forest floor offered little in the way of hiding spots—just a few boulders and shrubs—it did little to calm his nerves. They were physically fit, but Nicky doubted either one of them could out run a pack of hungry wolves.

The wolf growled in protest at their approach, and as they got closer, Nicky saw the bear trap clamped around its front paw. The wolf barked and nipped at the air even though they stood several feet away.

“What do we do?” Jonah asked. “Do we help it?”

“We can’t risk it. It could bite us before we even got close enough. Or maul us after we’ve released it.”

“You want to just leave it? We should at least put it out of its misery.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

Jonah scanned the ground. “Ah ha!” He darted off a few feet away, bent over and came up with a tree branch. It looked to be around five inches in diameter.

“No,” Nicky said, shaking his head.

“Why not? You got a better idea?”

“Yeah, let’s just leave.”

The wolf growled and tugged on the bear trap. The chain rattled from the slack, but it held strong and secure. The trap’s jaws dug deeper into the bone; the wolf whimpered and licked at the wound.

Jonah looked at him. “If we don’t do this, it’ll gnaw off its own foot, then bleed to death as it tries to walk off. That’s a terrible way to go for any creature.”

Nicky knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any easier.

“Turn away if you have to,” Jonah said as he stepped up to the wolf.

Nicky just stood there, eyes wide. He thought he wanted to turn away, but for whatever reason he was transfixed, his morbid curiosity getting the best of him. With unblinking eyes he watched as Jonah raised his club overhead and smashed it down on the wolf’s skull. It whimpered and collapsed, but it was still alive.

“Hit it again!” Nicky said, fearing the beast’s suffering was worse now.

Jonah brought the club down on it three more times. Each time he raised the club more blood and grue clung to the end. He raised his makeshift weapon once more and waited.

“It’s done,” Nicky said, walking over to his friend and placing his hand on Jonah’s wrist. He guided his friend’s arms down and Jonah released the club.

“I wasn’t strong enough to do it in a single blow. Poor thing.”

Nicky patted him on the back. “It couldn’t be helped.”

Jonah stared at the carcass. “What a mess.”

“I’ll say,” Nicky said, looking at the wolf’s cracked skull. Part of its scalp still clung to the club lying at their feet. Inside the cranial opening, there were slimy curves and folds of the brain tissue. To his surprise, he wasn’t disgusted. In fact, the sight recalled a piece of information he had once read: “Did you know some Europeans believe you can become a werewolf by eating a wolf’s brain?”

“What? C’mon . . . get out. You serious?”

“I don’t know how serious it is. I read it online.”

“That would be friggin’ sweet, wouldn’t it? Imagine!”

“I suppose.”

“Think you could do it?”

Nicky felt his lip curl in disgust. His stomach twisted at the thought. “I don’t know, man. You?”

“I could probably do it. Do you know if you can cook it, or do you have to eat it raw? I don’t think I can eat it raw.”

Nicky felt his jaw go slack. “You seriously considering it? Dude, I read it on the
internet.
The internet, okay? It’s the same place that claims Bigfoot stalks the earth and some guy named Bubba John gets kidnapped by aliens six nights out of seven.”

“Six nights out of seven, huh? Hey, I’m a Bigfoot fan. Love werewolves, too. Sheesh, man, why not? Think about it: we’d have the best Halloween costumes ever.”

“Okay, first off, I ain’t eating that,” Nicky said, pointing at the carcass. “Secondly, there was already a full moon this month. Third, it stinks. I hate that dog smell.”

“Who’s to say you need a full moon at all? Why can’t
any
moon work?”

“We have only one moon.”

Jonah looked at him crossly.

“You know what I mean. Besides, I didn’t make the rules,” Nicky said, crossing his arms.

“No, Hollywood did. You’re being a douche. What’s it going to hurt?”

“It’s disgusting!”

“It was your idea!”

“Na-ah! I was just shooting the breeze. Seeing it reminded me what I read, that’s all. I never—”

“Fine. Then go home. I’m going to make a little campfire and have me some brains.” He clapped his hands in front of his chest and rubbed them together greedily, a sickening joke for sure, but Nicky wasn’t going to give Jonah the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to him.

Nicky steeled his nerves and watched in disbelief as Jonah gathered some rocks and twigs. He thought about leaving him, but the idea of Jonah getting sick and being deep in the woods alone kept him planted.

“So you’re staying?” Jonah asked as he dropped his loot.

“Yeah.”

Jonah said nothing more. He placed his rocks in a circular pattern and placed the twigs in the center, forming a tepee, and shoved some dry leaves into it. He pulled out his mother’s silver flip-top lighter from his back pocket—stolen from her dresser after she finally quit a twenty-year smoking binge—then lit the decaying foliage. Smoke drifted in the air from the lit leaves and finally the structure was consumed by flames.

“So how’re you going to do this?” Nicky asked.

“Like roasting marshmallows,” he said, grabbing another stick.

“Do you think the hole is wide enough?”

Jonah grabbed the wolf by the scruff and lifted the head slightly off the ground. “Probably could be bigger, but that club started to splinter. I don’t think it could handle another blow.”

Nicky walked over to the trap and tried to pry it open, but it wouldn’t budge. “Help me with this.”
Can’t believe I’m doing this. I’m a sick, sick puppy.
He smirked at the bad pun.

Jonah grabbed one end, careful not to cut himself on an exposed metal tooth, and Nicky put both hands on his end. The two pulled in opposite directions. The jaws moved slowly, but with a little sweat and endurance, the mechanism opened enough to slip it off the wolf’s leg.

“On three,” Nicky said.

“Wait . . . what?”

“Let it go on three so we can use it to smash in its skull.”

“Oh, okay, got ya.”

“One . . . two . . . three.” Both of them released the trap. The jaws snapped shut, making a metallic
thwang
as the device fell to the ground.

“Could have easily lost a finger or two in that thing,” Nicky said.

“No kidding.” Jonah picked the trap up and aimed it at the wolf’s skull. He brought it down and the wolf’s cranium caved in on impact. As he straightened his back, the trap came away dripping blood, a piece of brain matter clinging to its edge.

Nicky turned away, his stomach turning slow and sure like an old-fashioned ice cream maker.