Once Upon a Wolf

Chapter 2

The diner was clean and empty, with just a few truck drivers and vagrants seated. Bacon and grease filtered up my nose. I pursed my lips, looking at the dodgy-looking men ogling Alice and me as we sauntered our way to the middle booth against the window. One heavy-set man blew me a kiss.

"Eeeew," I muttered and took the seat opposite Alice. "This place is the introduction to a slasher-horror film, starring two mindless women." I said.

Alice rolled her eyes and looked over the menu the friendly elderly waitress had given us. "Stop being a party pooper, Zoey. This place is quaint. It's an acquired taste."

"Eating olives is an acquired taste. I doubt greasy men with cracked yellow teeth will be acquired." I grimaced, and Alice chuckled.

We ordered both cheeseburgers and fries with vanilla milkshakes. I would've preferred a mojito, but beggars can't be choosers. After thirty minutes of guzzling down our food, the elderly waitress came to collect our empty plates and provided the paycheck.

She smiled at us. "Where're you girls wandering, too?"

Alice giggled as we spilt the bill. "We're headed far east. Near a place called Black Falls," she answered, scrunching her eyes in recollection.

The waitress jerked the tray in her hands; the milkshake glasses clinked together. Her friendly smile faded and turned ominous.

Weird.

I frowned and glanced at Alice, who shrugged but kept her pleasant smile.

The waitress scanned right and left and crawled closer. I could smell her sweet perfume waft from her pale-yellow uniform. "Are you sure you pretty girls want to travel up there? There's a lot of woodland," she asked with a tense expression. "There's nothing but bad gossip that comes from that area." She whispered. "Folk disappears up there. Bad things happen. Something terrible lives in those forests."

I swallowed hard.

What the fuck?

I peeked at Alice, and she chuckled. "Don't worry, we'll be just fine. I'm visiting my boyfriend up there and he'll take care of us." She said. "Thank you for your concern, though. The burgers were delicious."

She stood up, and I quickly followed suit.

"I hope you're right, girls." The waitress said and moved on. We walked out of the diner, and I turned back. The elderly waitress watched us leave; fear etched in her wrinkled face.

"What the hell was that all about?" I asked Alice as we entered the Ford. "All the freaking doom and gloom."

Alice shook her head, annoyed. "She's probably just referring to the large animals down there. Brett said they could get quite violent. There were reports of wild animal killings." She said and started the engine. "I mean, it is the deep forest."

The Ford roared to life with a jerk.

"What? Like bears and shit?" I asked, stunned, remembering a news report back home about a couple being mulled in the woods by a huge grizzly bear.

Alice shrugged her shoulders and didn't answer. She might have been nonchalant about it, but I wasn't. I couldn't help that the waitress was warning us, and I couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going to happen.

And something did...

After two hours of driving, we were lost. Freaking lost! In the middle of nowhere. Far away from home! The sun began to set on the empty road.

"Shit," Alice cursed under her breath as the directions on the phone's GPS faltered. The signal breaking up — distorting the map and voice to warps and beeps.

I rubbed my left temple. My anxiety rising in my chest. "Shitballs, for real. I can't believe we're lost!" I looked at the fading sun across the ceaseless horizon. "We're losing daylight. Shouldn't we have been there already?" I tried to remain calm, but I was hopeless at it, unlike Alice, who maintained her composure. If she was alarmed like me, she didn't show it.

"You freaking out on me isn't helping. Look there, there's a gas station." She pointed with her finger. "Let's stop, get some snacks, and ask for directions." She exhaled. "Somebody's gotta help us."

I sighed and calmed myself down. "Okay," I said, and Alice parked the Ford at a lonely gas station. No other vehicle insight except for a lone blue truck.

We climbed out and entered the gas station's convenient store. Light country music drafted through the air from an old radio set on the counter. I glanced at the middle-aged gas attendant behind the cashbox. He looked and dressed like a lumberjack, with his droopy eyes glued to his comic book. Alice walked up the aisle and grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. I walked in the opposite direction and grabbed a pack of popcorn and peanut skittles. My eyes floating over the various products stacked neatly on the shelf.

Toothpaste,

Deodorant,

Band aids,

My gaze drifted along till the end of the shelf and spotted a spray canister.

Bear repellent.

I nodded and smiled as I grabbed my protection against the wild. "Yes," I murmured as I read the instruction.

'Spray directly into the face if approached by a bear.'

Alice and I met at the counter and paid for our snacks. "Bear repellent, seriously?" she pouted.

"Yup, you can never be too careful," I gave a firm and re-assured nod.

Alice rolled her eyes and asked the gas attendant for directions to Black Falls. He hesitated at first but gave us the directions while studying us curiously. According to him, we were thirty minutes away from here.

"Thanks," Alice smiled, and we walked to the entrance of the empty store.

"However, I wouldn't go there if I were you." The gas attendant called from behind. I turned my head instantly back. His mouth turned into a wicked grin. "If you want to return in one piece, that is." He chuckled, returning to his comic book.

"Just ignore him. He's just telling ghost stories to frighten us," Alice whispered in my ear.

But his laugh was rough. His warning sinister.

A slithered chill ran down my spine as Alice dragged me out of the store by my hand back to the car.