Call of the Alpha - Part 1(2)

“Well, if you insist.”

“I do. Now, I do have you scheduled to return to work in eight days. So I expect to see you back here glowing and in great spirits,” he said, a smile quirking up on the corner of his lips.

“Yes, sir,” she said, shooting him a quick grin.

He nodded to her and headed down the hall to check on his patients. Jessica watched him go and realized that she already felt about a hundred pounds lighter. She started trying to figure out just what she was going to do for an entire week by herself. She supposed she could contact Katie, her college roommate, and see what she was up to these days. Or maybe she’d get in touch with her brother and even make an impromptu visit to Norway.

When she stepped onto the elevator, her mind was sorting through the options. It was a short list and every item seemed just as unlikely as the last. But she’d figure out something. Even if it was as simple as driving to the lake a few days of the week with a book, that would be nice.

Or, she thought as the elevators opened at the lobby, you could get your ass out there on the market and try to find a man.

It was an enticing thought, but something about it made her feel instantly tired and frustrated. It had been a long time between dates for her, and perhaps the lack of any recent male attention was fueling her frustrations with life recently. It was a feeling that stuck with her as she made her way through the lobby, to the parking garage, and into her car.

With an empty week ahead of her and an overplayed yet much-loved song on the local classic rock radio station, Jessica pulled out of the hospital grounds and onto the two-lane road that would take her the half-hour to a back road that wound through the Pennsylvania forests and hid her home away from everything else.

She had a forty-five minute commute to work. She knew that some would find it a long and tedious drive, but she loved it. In the spring, she got to see the trees in bloom and in the fall, she got to watch them change colors and the leaves float away on the breeze. It was also a great drive for reflection, watching the gradual change as nature gave way to the city. She especially liked the drive at night, heading home at all hours between dusk and dawn. There was something about driving down a country road at night that was intoxicating in a way that she had never been able to describe. All alone except for the vast breadth of stars sparkling above her head that were all but invisible until you left the city limits.

She experienced it then, trying to think of what to do with the coming week. She was only twenty-eight so she knew there was a lot of life ahead of her. But was her life really so empty and boring that the idea of having a week to do anything she wanted actually made her uneasy?

Wow, she thought as she cruised the intimately familiar back roads. Her house was twelve minutes away. She had made this drive so many times she knew exactly how long it would take to reach her house, and she couldn’t wait to get there. Some TV, some wine, and the chance to really sort through some ideas for her week off. It was going to be—

She barely saw the shape come barreling out of the woods on the other side of the road. She let out a quick yelp of surprise as she hit her brakes. The sound of her screeching tires was brief and interrupted by the soft thump of her bumper striking the object, just barely clipping it.

In the glare of her headlights, she saw only the briefest details of the shape. It was hairy and looked almost like a large dog, but not quite. There was something in its gait that also made it very much not a dog—almost like it was somewhere between walking upright and running on all fours.

But when her car struck it, the shape did a miniature cartwheel, slid across the opposite lane, and struck the silver guardrail at an awkward angle. It was hard to tell from her vantage point, but she was pretty sure the shape—whatever it was—went over the guardrail and tumbled off into the steep ditch below.


Jessica crept the car forward a bit more, shaken by the last three seconds. Her arms were trembling as she brought the car to a stop.

Why are you stopping? she thought to herself.

It was a question she wished would go away because when she tried to answer it, she saw again in her mind that weird, sloping sort of gait the figure had come across the road with. It had been fast, yes, but the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that it had not been a dog.

A wolf, maybe?

But that didn’t feel right, either. There had been something very familiar about the lurch of the thing, the way it carried itself forward. There had been something very human-like about it.

What if I just hit a man?

Coming out of the woods at such a speed at this hour of night? she argued with herself. It was something she caught herself doing from time to time. She supposed it was a side effect of living alone.

She reached out for the door handle before she was fully aware of what she was doing, hit the button to turn on the emergency lights on the dashboard, and opened the door. She stepped out into the night, her sneakers padding softly on the pavement, and looked back towards the place where the object had tumbled over the guard rail.

Jessica took two steps in that direction, her heart hammering in her chest. She listened for any signs of moaning, groaning, or screaming, but there were none. There was only the slight hiss of her engine and the soft, padded chorus of crickets.

She paused for a moment, trying to talk herself out of it. It was just a dog. Leave it there. If it’s not dead yet, it will be soon. There’s nothing you can do.

But something inside of her knew that this was a lie. Even the night itself seemed to argue this point.