Thanks for any reviews! Hope ya'll enjoy this chapter. It's only two scenes but now it kicks off! Also, this story in particular has 13ish chapters, by the way. So we're basically halfway there. :)
|chapter six: the night watch|
It was two in the morning.
They were barely awake. Well, Shadow was barely awake. Blaze was probably on her tenth cup of coffee for the entire day, but he couldn't be sure. He wanted to go to bed desperately. "Blaze. Please. There's nothing on the cameras."
"You can go to bed," she scoffed, now doing a sudoku puzzle at Sarah's desk, turned away from Shadow and towards the radio by herself, softly playing a rock station. "No one is stopping you."
"You'll never go to bed then."
"I will, too."
"The first time I ever had you join on a 24 hour watch night, you took it too literally and stayed up for thirty-nine hours before you said something and before I realized you hadn't slept," Shadow still felt responsible at the memory of the once young cadet now ranger before him. "I got yelled at for it."
"Well, you should've told me that we could sleep," Blaze refused to take the blame. She looked up at the cameras and sighed. Her puzzle was getting nowhere and hadn't for the last fifteen minutes - it was extra hard. And she was tired despite the coffee - she was sure Shadow had switched it out for decaf when she wasn't looking. "Fine. Bring your stupid fan."
She stood up as Shadow seemingly pouted at her while grabbing the fan. He didn't seem fond of anyone judging the poor, white old fan. Then again, he didn't hear the slight high-pitched sound that occasionally came from it like Blaze did - her hearing was just better. She got used to it though for the sake that Shadow got sleep, as he too pushed himself. In a way, she figured she should be grateful they had each other on the job to balance one another out. It was times like this that made them both vulnerable to mistakes and better for each other as a team.
Shadow happily brought the fan to the nightstand in between the cots. It wasn't awkward for the two to sleep in the same room - they stayed professional when it came to their work, Blaze's cot was a pile of blankets and a warm sleeping bag. Shadow's was a mere sleeping bag - he thought she was insane for wanting to be buried alive in blankets anytime she slept. The ebony hedgehog practically collapsed on the cot, and Blaze almost felt bad. She knew he was waiting for her to at least lie down so he had the comfort in knowing she was resting her body a little.
He truly doesn't have a mean bone in his body, despite how he looks. Blaze smiled softly to herself, remembering the first time that they met. She was younger, and had been completely intimidated by his red eyes alone. She had put up a front though, to make sure she seemed equally as tough. In a way, as they worked together throughout the summers, their personality rubbed off on one another - and they made sure to keep Silver's personality at an arm's length distance. The white hedgehog gave it hell though.
She turned off the only lamp lit in the room. Just as she slipped into the safety and warmth of her fluffy blankets, her ears picked up a sound.
Scrrrrr
She turned her head slowly to the door, but jumped in shock when Shadow jolted upwards from his cot. His eyes were wide as he blinked at the door. "No fucking way," he whispered to himself.
"What?"
"That's the sound I heard the night…I was here by myself." They both knew he had wanted to say 'the night the wolf was on camera' or something along those lines. It made a shiver run down Blaze's spine suddenly.
Cautiously, Shadow got out of the cot, now on high alert. He didn't want to think that Blaze might be correct on this one - that the wolf was still in the park somewhere.
The dark hedgehog opened the door and looked out into the hallway with Blaze. She had turned off the lights in the main room.
All that lit up the room was the monitor showing the cameras and the air freshener plugged into the wall that had a light in it - as usual. As it had been the night Shadow was by himself and heard the noise.
Blaze gently padded out to the main room, welcoming the darkness as her eyes adjusted easily. Shadow was a different story - he had to follow the monitor's light. "Anything on the cameras?" he whispered across the room.
The cat was looking out the windows though. They were large and had a perfect view of the trees and trail board. She saw nothing, but she knew that the longer she looked, the more her eyes would play tricks on her. When it was dark like this, their eyes would only try to make shapes out of darkness - it was natural. Hers wouldn't do it as much with her better vision, but she found that her eyes still sometimes played tricks on her.
And this was not a time to be tricked by oneself.
Shadow moved past her to the cameras to answer his own question. She looked out the front door's glass from the desk, standing beside him. There was nothing at the front, but there was something eerie about staring at the lamp post that lit up the sidewalk and their cars. She half expected the lanky, creepy looking wolf to appear with its supposed grin-like expression.
Another shiver ran down her spine. Her tail began to poof. Her heart suddenly began to race, as she stared out into the darkness. Her ears stood alert. Her instincts were on high.
Something's out there.
Her eyes went back and forth between the windows and the front door - the only view to the outside world besides the cameras that Shadow was currently looking at. Shadow glanced back and forth between each view, all of them shown clearly on the monitor.
"There's nothing." He said the words, but he didn't find himself believing them.
"Same exact sound you heard?"
"Yes. When I heard it, I was in the room with the door open, about to close it for bed," Shadow whispered as he explained - as if their visitor could hear them. "It was definitely in the back."
"Like the back of the building by the dumpsters? Where the object, now possible wolf, slightly stepped into view by the door?" Blaze thought out loud.
"Yeah…" Shadow stared at the monitor. The dumpsters were standing there by themselves - no wolf or raccoons. Nothing. He still didn't believe it. Red eyes glanced quickly at the flashlight Sarah kept on her desk. He grabbed it hastily and walked to the hallway, headed to the back door.
He wasn't surprised when Blaze was hot on his heels. "Shadow, wait," she hissed as she held the locked door handle of the back door. "You can't go out there."
"There's nothing on the cameras," he hissed lowly back. He made a move to keep the flashlight out of her reach as she went to grab it.
Her gaze hardened. "We can wait until morning."
Shadow clenched his jaw.
"Shadow, please." There was a definite pleading in her tone, and Shadow was torn.
He knew that he could a) go outside and check what it was, if anything, and potentially come face to face with a wolf, or b) he could save Blaze some fright and wait until morning to check things out. He knew he'd have more safety in the morning, but a large part of him was confused.
Why isn't the wolf gone? We haven't had one in the park for years. I thought for sure that it came from the north and was just traveling through - that it'd be gone in a day or two on its way to look for a new pack. I was so sure of it.
And perhaps along the way, Shadow had convinced himself too well. He truly thought they would get no other evidence. Two nights had passed for Tikal's sake. And nothing had happened - which made him assume that the wolf had gone on its way. No one reported it either - no tracks, no smell, no sightings. So, why after two days of no activity, did the same sound happen again?
Mice, maybe. But we haven't heard this same sound the whole time. Just when I was on watch and now. And I don't believe in coincidences.
He paused, swallowing heavily and dropping his arm to lower the flashlight. The cat took it as if to reassure herself that Shadow wasn't about to walk into the night. Her instincts told her that the only thing separating them from danger were two sets of locked aluminum doors. She sighed. "Thank you," speaking slightly louder but still at a hushed whisper.
"I'll check in the morning."
"What was that sound?" Blaze wondered, both still standing at the back door. "It sounded like metal scratching."
"Some sort of scratching," Shadow shook his head. "I don't get metal from it, but if that's what you heard…"
"No, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's just scratching in general. But metal could make sense - I mean the dumpster? Maybe it came back for food - maybe it wanted to try the dumpster again," Blaze tried to think of ideas. "It remembered where the dumpsters were and came back?"
"Back from where?" Shadow gritted his teeth. "That's what's pissing me off. It disappears for two days, no reports, no smells - nothing. And now the same - "
Scrrr
They froze instinctively, staring at the back door.
This time, Blaze was paralyzed with fear. Her tail puffed up all the way. She saw Shadow's quills quiver bigger - whether in fear or a dominance display, she couldn't tell. His eyes didn't show much emotion.
They waited.
Scrrreee
It was higher pitched, but it was definitely scratching. Scratching on metal.
Their ears flipped back as they stared at one another, frozen. Everything in Shadow told him to move, but as he stared at Blaze he saw nothing but terror in her eyes. He felt like he had failed in some way - failed her. She shouldn't be this terrified. He was supposed to keep things calm, know what to do, keep Blaze from panicking. Now they were both frozen as he began to realize he didn't even know how to keep his own reactions in check.
It was metal, whatever it was.
Shadow guessed the dumpster. Blaze knew it was the back door - inches from them.
They were both put on the same page as soon as a large, angry huff just behind the back door broke the sudden scratching sound. It nearly rattled the door.
It shook them both to a sudden frenzy. Shadow ripped down the hallway as Blaze gave a loud shriek, trying to grip onto his arm.
"CAMERAS!" she yelled after him as she tripped over her own foot and hit the tile floor.
Shadow stopped to double back and help her up. She was quick about it, thankfully, but not quick enough. They both crashed at the desk, locked to the monitor and the cameras.
Empty.
The back area was empty. The back door, barely visible, was still there by itself. The dumpsters stood still. They frantically searched the view before Blaze grabbed the mouse and made the singular view large.
"Shadow…Where?" She tried to keep her breathing normal, but she could only hear the pounding of her heart.
They stared so hard at the screen, they both jumped in surprise as the room was covered in a quick darkness and then back to normal with the lamp post shining through. Their eyes shot up to the right, at the windows in the main room.
"It just ran by," Shadow concluded in a panicked breath. Blaze wasn't aware she had shrieked when it happened. He stared at the monitor, it was only the view of the back door. If they had it minimized, they might've seen it on the side camera. Thankfully, they had it recorded so Sarah could just check it tomorrow morning. He checked the time - a shiver running down his spine.
2:23 a.m.
The same time as the first night he heard it. He didn't like coincidences. He hated them, and yet he had to fool himself into thinking the time was nothing but a coincidence. That the wolf wasn't on a time or a clock of some sorts. That was ridiculous.
"Shadow," Blaze's eyes locked onto the windows. She saw nothing, but knew that the cameras had caught it. "It moved too fast for…a wolf. Didn't it? It covered the whole window," she motioned as she relived the way the room got instantly darker the moment the creature ran by the side of the building. "It had to have been close to the window, too - it covered the whole side. You saw it, right? Out of the corner of your eye?"
"No." He truly hadn't. "You?"
"I just saw something dark move fast. I - I froze." Blaze licked her lips and made herself look at the front door. She saw through the glass doors, saw their cars, the lit sidewalk - everything looked normal. Her heart pounded just staring into the wilderness. "I…I think it went back into the woods?"
"I think so, too." Shadow cleared his throat. His quills still shook, but more so in anger. "I can't believe we didn't see it. It's like it knew."
"What?"
"Hm?"
"What did you say?" Blaze didn't like the words, or how easily he said them.
"It's like it knew we were standing there. And when you yelled cameras, maybe it fled."
She snorted, but more in an upset tone. "So, you think because I yelled to check the cameras, it just knew the word and fled the scene?"
"No. I think your scream frightened it and it ran," Shadow spoke matter-of-factly. "I don't like how fast it moved though, I'll admit that. You're right - that was too fast for a wolf," Shadow hated saying the words. It was like admitting something he wasn't even sure about. "We'll have to check in the morning."
He stood, breaking his concentration from the monitor to Blaze. "We should try to get some sleep. You and Amy can scout some more in the morning - check the area."
"You aren't going to?"
"Oh, I am. No guarantee I'll catch anything that early in the morning though," he admitted. "It's dark, after all. But…I want to see the cameras," he growled under his breath, putting his hands on his hips as he hated the fact that they missed it. They were so close and they missed it. "See if we can find where it went - if it's living here now. If we need to close the trails."
"Close the trails? You mean close the park?" Blaze was taken aback. Shadow was reacting to the situation, but stronger than she thought he would. She never would've seen him closing the trails. Something had him on edge - that had to be why. "Why? If we can track it, maybe we can call that warden for some insight. Did he say if they had a missing wolf from a pack? One that got kicked out?" Even though her mind told her that thing moved too fast and sounded too…monstrous to be a mere wolf. She was trying to downplay the situation, and keep them both calm.
"No. He had to check first - he said he'd call me tomorrow," Shadow responded, sighing as he walked back down the hallway. "C'mon. Let's get some sleep."
"You want to sleep? After all that?!" Blaze almost found it absurd, but when she gave the hedgehog a closer look, she realized that whatever adrenaline Shadow had had was now wearing off. The ebony hedgehog was worn down to the bone after so much laborious work. He needed rest, and he wouldn't until he knew Blaze was resting, too.
She admitted defeat for a moment until a thought crossed her mind. She stopped short from following him to their makeshift bedroom. "Shadow? What if it comes back? What if it tries to get in?"
"It's just a wolf," he whispered to himself. "The doors are locked. It can't open doors - it's a dog. It doesn't have opposable thumbs. We'll be fine, Blaze. The cameras will get anything else."
"Okay…" She gave in, completely aware that it was caught twice the night Shadow was by himself. There was a good chance it could come back in an hour again. And that thought frightened her to the core.
Still, she trudged after him.
The hedgehog shut the door firmly, made sure she got in her cot before he got in his, and collapsed yet again. He muttered to himself, all incoherent things that Blaze tried to piece together as she lied down, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.
"Two days…nothing for two days," was about all she could make out besides the occasional, "wolf."
She clung onto each and every one of her blankets as her heart slowed down. Blaze tried to remember what it was like to breathe normally.
She tried to remember the sound it made - not the scratching but the huff. The sudden sound it made, as if it had been scratching at the door and then upset that it didn't open. She thought that too ridiculous, and reminded herself that it probably opened its mouth to breathe in any scents and that's what might've caused the sound. It might not have been hostile in any way. It might have been an innocent scratching at the doors. Maybe the wolf had gotten domestic in the north park and had been relocated further south before it entered their park and found Mobians with food again - that was an idea. It was an idea that Blaze grasped onto in order to close her eyes and sleep.
But deep down, she knew that sound it had made was nothing but malicious.
~.~
By some miracle graced by Tikal, Blaze got some sleep.
She awoke to Shadow's 4:45 a.m. alarm on his phone. Shadow tossed in his cot, reaching for the device to hit the button on the side of it, putting it in Snooze. Blaze blinked tiredly awake, trying to grasp her surroundings.
Her head hurt.
She'd only gotten a mere two and a half hours of sleep, she figured. She'd never make it the rest of the week at this rate. But the memories of what had happened those two and a half hours ago made it easier for her to awake. Blankets slipped off as she sat up, staring over at Shadow.
"Shadow?" she whispered.
He grumbled, quills shaking in annoyance just once as a warning. She decided it best to let him get his fifteen minutes. It was still dark outside, and Sarah wouldn't be in for maybe another twenty-five minutes. Blaze wanted to look at the camera footage so badly, but she'd need Sarah and her password to get to the saved camera footage. The feline decided to get up anyway and go to the break room.
If anything was going to keep her awake for the rest of the week, it would be coffee.
Shadow didn't make any movements as she left the room.
The first thing Blaze found herself doing, to her surprise, was looking at the back door and then down the hallway. She observed every corner of the main room as she stood in one spot. Staring out the windows, she could see dawn trying to approach, but it wasn't fast enough for her. Her tail twitched a little as she went to the break room to prepare a cup of coffee.
I wonder if it ever came back again.
She mulled it over as she waited for the coffee to brew in the pot. It was a simple coffee pot, but it'd do the job. She waited - nothing but her thoughts to consume her and her imagination.
I think it rained a little afterwards? I might have awoken to thunder at one point, but I can't remember. I could be imagining things. But as far as I know, nothing else happened. I slept. Didn't dream.
Blaze hadn't expected to dream, either. She was so exhausted, she figured she wouldn't. Shadow was probably in the same boat, as he was now in the stages of refusing to get up at his usual time, which wasn't typical of him as far as she knew. He was a man that lived off of routine. He was always first to work and the last one to leave. She hoped the tower's restoration wasn't going to push him too far. He'd gone over paperwork and getting building permits and permissions all fall and winter that now came the actual restoring part of the venture.
I hope for his sake that it's successful.
The cat feared that something would go wrong with the project constantly. She knew he had pulled as many tricks up his sleeve last fall to convince their station to do it. Superintendent Richwells wasn't fond of using "unnecessary expenses", but Shadow had practically done everything he could think of minus creating a slideshow. But she knew he would've done that too. Then came the next hurdles of the project - the paperwork, the permits, the contracts with contractors and subcontractors, the budgeting, and the bidding. She had tried to follow along to what Shadow had explained what was happening during the fall before she and Silver left for Westwood full-time, but it was all over her head.
Now, with everything going on…it's almost like divine intervention. The wolf…or whatever it is, showing up. And the possibility of falling behind on the project anyway. Maybe it's just not worth it for the station.
But she knew that was a lie that her tired mind was making up. It was still trying to grasp what happened not even three hours ago.
Staring blankly at the floor, Blaze lost track of time for a moment.
It wasn't until Sarah was clearing her throat that Blaze woke from her stupor.
"Oh. You scared me." Blaze was a little embarrassed to be catching her breath so suddenly, but it only made the events of earlier flash through her head again.
"You okay?" Sarah raised an eyebrow. The sage hedgehog was always down for a nap - she woke up every two hours or so and tossed and turned like no other. So, she knew when someone looked tired. And Blaze was tired. "You look like you're about to pass out."
Her tail twitched a little as she folded her arms across her thin frame. Ears folded back. "Uh. Fine. Shadow out there?" she pointed to the main room. She hadn't heard any movement at all - not his phone alarm, not him, not even Sarah walking in.
"No. He okay?" Sarah didn't want to jump to conclusions and worry, but she was prepared to just in case.
"I…I don't know," Blaze responded truthfully, and for once, Sarah saw a vulnerable side to the cat. Her eyes filled with - was that fear? No, couldn't have been. Sarah mentally shook the idea away. "We, um. We think it visited last night."
Oh.
Sarah bit her tongue.
It. Why call it an 'it'? Why not a wolf like they've been doing so far? What happened? The female hedgehog grew worried suddenly as she observed the scene before her a bit better.
Blaze, leaning up against the break room counter, was completely ignoring the coffee pot. The empty mugs were still out to dry. She hadn't meticulously put back the coffee filters like usual, or closed the upper cabinet where the coffee was stored. Even the main break room light wasn't on. Blaze had been standing there in the dark.
Something happened. Fear shot down her spine like a lightning bolt. Sarah's eyes widened a little.
"Did-did something happen, Blaze? What did you see?"
All she got as a response was a small shake of the cat's head. There was movement from down the hall - Shadow was up after all, although late. Sarah figured he was just exhausted from the physical work he'd been putting his body through. Hiking that much daily was enough to cause anyone to weaken, much less try and weed out a forested area.
"Blaze?"
"Nothing. But we heard it, Sarah," Blaze tried to speak louder than a whisper, but she couldn't. Mentally, she was annoyed with herself for doing so. Was she scared? Was she tired? Did she even know at this point? "We kind of saw it. Not really. It was too fast for a wolf. We were waiting to check the cameras."
Brown eyes stared into distant, drowsy amber ones.
"Ok." Sarah wasn't sure where this was going. "So, you just stayed up late then?" she motioned to the cat's tired stance. "You look about ready to pass out," she repeated, but with more concern as Blaze did look like she could topple over at any moment.
"I might be running off less than three hours of sleep," Blaze decided to kick her brain into a higher gear, turning around to get her usual mug and fill it with coffee. "We'll get there."
"And Shadow? Same boat?"
"Same sinking canoe."
Sarah tilted her head with a confused look. Blaze wasn't one to agree with her in similar phrases like that. Like ever. And certainly not one that pointed to a much more drastic use of words. "Okaaaay," she dragged out as she left the room to peer down the hallway in hopes that Shadow would come walking out and look like his normal self.
He did. For the most part.
He was adjusting his flannel shirt when he met Sarah's curious, prying gaze. "Good morning?" he leaned forward a little, half-expecting her to make a snide comment back.
"You look dead."
Well, he guessed it was snide enough. Shadow frowned a little. "Thanks."
"No, I mean, you two look exhausted," Sarah pointed out as she glanced back to the break room. Shadow was suddenly aware as to where Blaze went off to. He had needed a few extra minutes of sleep, he had decided. "She said you heard the wolf last night? Or kind of saw it but not really?"
"Just check the cameras, please," Shadow practically ordered her as he motioned to her desk. "Please."
Sarah went to it, filled with nothing but curiosity and worry. Shadow moved like a zombie into the break room, hunting for his own cup of joe. He slightly moved Blaze out of the way, working around her to get the coffee. She appeared almost lifeless, as Sarah had mentioned.
The sage hedgehog on the other hand was suddenly more lively at the sight of the two - not in a good way though. Was there something to be concerned about? Or was the wolf just around the building all night so that they couldn't get any sleep? Surely, if it had been something more drastic and extreme, they wouldn't be so sleepy? At least, that's how she figured she would have reacted.
I would have had so much adrenaline, I wouldn't have been able to sleep. Then again, I'm not out in the blazing sun all day, hiking around until my feet have blisters. Sarah typed in her password as the monitor showed the continuous cameras - nothing was out of the ordinary to her.
She wanted to ask for a time frame, but she had a good idea on when. Plus, it didn't seem like her two witnesses were in any shape to talk much.
The door opened and closed, which nearly startled her.
"Hey!" Silver's voice cut through - he was also a chipper morning person, and he full-heartedly expected Sarah to grumble a response back to him, not give him a full report.
"Dude, we caught this wolf thing on camera the night Shadow was here by himself. Your girlfriend wanted to track it and she joined the night watch, and now they're zombies after apparently hearing it again last night after two whole days without seeing or hearing a thing, even after Blaze and Amy searched around for lost hikers by Birch Pass and then up to Half Point yesterday - "
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. What?" Silver had no idea what he walked into. "A wolf? Missing hikers? Zombies?" He glanced at the break room door where he figured Blaze and Shadow were, but there was no sound. That concerned him a little. Sarah's behavior concerned him a lot.
Sarah took a breath. "A wolf, supposedly, showed up on cameras barely - the first night Shadow was here by himself," she repeated, quickly handing him the contrasted image she had printed for Blaze over the counter. He looked at it, his ears perking up and his eyes widening immediately. He held the paper up towards the light, looking at the outline better. "So, Blaze wanted to track it in hopes of finding it, but she and Amy had to look for missing campers up on Ridge Trail."
"You said missing hikers at Birch Pass."
"I know," she waved herself off. "Ignore my piss poor timeline from the start. Missing campers on Ridge Trail."
"Were they found?"
"Yes. They stayed away from the Ridge Trail area because of this smell that Shadow and Sonic also reported smelling up at the fire watch tower the first day they were up there. The missing campers went to Birch Pass, stayed a night before being scared out of their wits by some coyote calls around the area, and then ended up camping elsewhere before checking out a day late. Amy and Blaze checked out Ridge Trail - too muddy. Blaze checked the rest of the area without Amy the day after, and nothing else to report. Nothing at night either with Blaze and Shadow on watch. Amy and Blaze went to Half Point yesterday, checked it out, had the all clear for you and Shadow to go up soon for an overnighter because he's falling behind on the tower - "
"We just started the project - "
"Lead times with the construction crew and the storage of material," Sarah waved him off, "That's the least important part of this story, shush. So for two days, nothing happened. We figured, well Shadow figured, that the wolf came from the northern park, got kicked out of the pack, and moved south through Ridge Trail and ventured through here and was gone already."
Silver squinted at the image through the light. The wolf…didn't really look right to him, but it was so bright and red-outlined with marker over and over again that he wasn't really sure what he was looking at to begin with. He held the picture back down to the counter. "Seems plausible, if it's a wolf, I guess. So, what's the deal with zombies?"
"Something happened last night according to Blaze. Now, I don't want to say anything, but I will," Sarah admitted as Silver held back a snort. As if Sarah suddenly had a filter. "Blaze seemed worried about this whole situation. Now, I've got my own thoughts about it, but they're probably insane compared to Shadow and Blaze's more logical ideas. Now, something happened, and they're exhausted," she pointed at the perfect time as Shadow and Blaze trudged into the main room at the sound of Sarah's voice.
"You done?" Shadow groggily asked. He hadn't realized how much he hated hearing Sarah's loud voice in the morning. He missed it when she didn't even acknowledge him in the morning.
"My word, you two look about dead," Silver practically raced over to Blaze who hugged him willingly. That was also a surprise to both Silver and Sarah - Blaze wasn't one for PDA at the office. Ever. He pulled away as she set her coffee down, leaning against his body. "You okay?" he sincerely asked.
"Sarah, did you look at the cameras?" Blaze ignored her boyfriend and looked past him, straight to the sage hedgehog who stood flabbergasted at the actions occurring.
"Huh? Oh, um, almost there," Sarah sat back down in her chair and sifted through until she reached about two in the morning. "I'm guessing it happened at two?"
"A little past. 2:23 a.m.," Shadow collapsed in his chair, rolling lazily over to Sarah.
Silver watched his movements with a cautious eye. Blaze joined the two, grabbing her cup and sitting on the right side of Sarah. The white hedgehog was left to lean over his girlfriend's chair, gripping the back. This was not the way he thought his morning was about to go.
He left with two new cadets joining the office, Blaze in good spirits, and Shadow busy with the tower. Now, he was coming back to his girlfriend looking out of it, Shadow appearing exhausted for the first time ever, and a possible wolf visiting the park that for some reason, didn't look like a wolf. He could only hope Sonic and Amy were still working there.
Silver stared at the image Sarah had shown him - he'd left it on the counter.
He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but was it…grinning? Or were its teeth just too large for its mouth? Silver didn't like it, but he figured it was the way the image was contrasted. If he could just see the original, maybe he could piece it together like Shadow had - a visiting wolf from the park up north.
"Have you checked with the warden up north about possible lone wolves?" Silver interjected the trio's computer gazing.
Shadow never looked up. "He'll call today sometime. He'll visit in a couple of weeks - Stop."
Sarah paused the video. It was about 2:18 a.m. A couple of minutes before Shadow had said - why he had given her such a specific time, she didn't know. But she didn't like that it matched the exact same time from the previous footage the wolf visited. Her imagination caught up to her quickly, and it took every ounce of her to shove it aside before she said something stupid.
They'd never believe me. They'd laugh and call me crazy. It's just a dog, a wolf. That's all it is.
"See there?" Shadow pointed at the side camera, one of the top corners of the camera. "Movement. Go back, play it again."
Sarah did so, and sure enough, there was slight movement, similar to the one Blaze had missed at 11:30, but she would've never known that. The cat frowned. "It was moving to the back of the building. It walked just out of frame again."
"Like it knows…" Shadow was beginning to awake.
"Knows?" Silver snorted. "Where the cameras are? Really?"
"You didn't see the first time we caught it," Blaze mumbled under her breath. "It was like it stopped just to stare at the camera. I think animals can see the cameras, anyway. We see the raccoons staring at them all the time."
"When they visited," Sarah mentioned, as it had been so long since they'd seen their furry bandit friends.
"Henry and Matilda?" Silver questioned as he caught the longing, sad tone in Sarah's voice. "They were here just last week."
"They were?"
"Yeah. Maybe a day before Shadow started the restoration," Silver shrugged, as if it were boring news. "Go to the back camera," he leaned against Blaze's seat some more to see the monitor better.
2:20 a.m. Slight movement at the dumpster, on the far right of the frame. And then there - something stood at the back door just out of camera view. It was dark, and it was probably just the top of its head. But even that didn't make sense to Silver.
"H-How is that possible?" he caught himself stuttering for a moment. Swallowing heavily, he cleared his throat. "The door's like seven feet tall, and you can't even see me when I'm out there."
"Maybe it stands on its hind legs?" Sarah offered, trying to be the voice of reason although she knew what her thoughts were really screaming at her. She grabbed a paper that was tucked between two folders on her desk in a standing organizer. She handed it behind her, off to Silver. "This is the original one, without contrast. Notice anything?"
Silver felt his heart skip a little when he saw the original still-frame for the first time.
Just what the hell…
Those were teeth. A dark blob of nearly nothing near the trail board. Now he saw why Sarah had probably jacked up the contrast so high - the outline of the creature was so dark that it blended into the dark forest behind. But the trailboard, he was familiar with, and he caught the same thing Sarah had. "It's…tall for a wolf, no?"
"I really hoped you wouldn't have said that," Shadow grumbled, eyes glued to the screen although it was paused.
"Well, the poster - "
"We know," Sarah nodded her head. "Came to the same conclusion."
"So, standing on its hind legs isn't too far fetched but…why at the back door?" Silver didn't like where this was going. "A wolf too friendly with us that it's relying on us for food now? We need to relocate it as soon as possible, if so."
"Yeah," Shadow completely disregarded Silver's words as he pushed past Sarah and hit play - itching to know just how fast this damn thing was. "Okay. So, right about here. We hear it."
Blaze watched the screen, unaware of how teary her eyes seemed to be getting until the camera view shook a little.
"Whoa," Sarah whispered, eyes widening.
"We heard it - we froze. Ran to the cameras, and there," Shadow paused. It was almost like the damn thing didn't want to be seen. It hadn't raced into view of the camera like he had hoped. "That doesn't make sense. It didn't run towards the woods immediately, it ran back around the dumpsters. Like it still didn't want to be caught on camera."
Sarah found her heart racing. "Okay," she managed to meekly get out. "And then?"
"Saw nothing on the cameras. Saw the time," Shadow remembered out loud as he stared at the side camera. "And then - "
Something could be seen on the side camera, top corner again. Eyes. Just staring from the abyss, and it sent a shiver down all of their spines. Blaze swallowed the lump in her throat. Silver wasn't sure what the hell he was seeing as the wolf seemed to be walking towards the lamp post - still in the darkness but towards the front of the building. Then, it jolted forwards and in less than two seconds was across the screen and gone.
"Wait, wait, wait," Sarah trembled as she played it back. "What?
"It moved past the windows on the side so damn fast," Shadow noted. "But it blocked out light from the lamp post for a second as it did - right when it got to the front of the building," he pointed at the screen as Sarah played and paused bit by bit to watch a blur of a creature run by the side of the building.
"Why pause in the back like that though? Why run by at all?" Silver wondered out loud. "I mean, you can't even tell what it is from there even, it's just a blur. It makes no sense, Shadow." He was turning to Shadow for answers like he always did. He expected Shadow to be logical about the whole ordeal, but he would soon find that even the most experienced ranger in the room had no idea what they were looking at.
"Hm," was all their fearless leader said as he scrutinized the moment on the camera - Sarah replaying it for him.
"Yeah, I don't know." Blaze shook her head and crossed her arms. "I thought we'd see it better on the camera. But it's always just out of sight."
"You really want to stay overnight at Half Point with this thing out there?" Sarah knew better. She wouldn't be caught dead camping out there with this thing in the woods, and now she had to be worried for Shadow and Silver's safety.
"I have a gun," Shadow didn't seem as worried as her. Seeing the video only made him more angry about not catching the damn thing on camera. It was like it was trying to avoid the camera. Then the moment when it was on camera, it moved so damn fast that it was impossible to see it clearly. The whole event was bizarre. Had anyone else in the other parks encountered such a wolf? Was it even that?
"Great," Blaze sarcastically mentioned, thawing out of her tired state and coming back to the reality of the situation. "Let's just go shooting the animal."
"In self-defense," Shadow wanted to roll his eyes. "If the moment comes, then I have my own safe route."
"You mean when the opportunity arrives."
"Do not instigate this," Shadow warned his co-worker. "I am in no mood to listen to your animal rights talk when it comes to a predator that is freakishly fast, avoids detection, and is clearly taking interest in civilians and the station. The last thing we need is for it to venture further into the town or nearby campsites. However, I also have priorities with the tower and the schedule needs to be met. Silver?" he turned to the white hedgehog. "Would you be open to camping at Half Point tonight?"
"Tonight?" Silver wanted to shake Shadow just to make sure he was okay. "Did you not just see that thing do the zoomies across the camera? It just cleared a forty-foot long building in like two seconds, Shadow."
"I don't want you camping out there with it," Blaze noted, staring back at Silver. She looked to Shadow when he didn't say anything. "Shadow, that's nuts. Just because you have a firearm for protection against it, doesn't mean you need to go do something foolish."
"I am not hunting it, Blaze," Shadow did roll his eyes this time. "I have an obligation to fulfill the tower's restoration and could use Silver's help. You can look for tracks with Amy today - give the cadets a weekend off while we figure this out."
"Okay," Silver treaded lightly as Shadow's plan didn't make sense to him, but he knew the man was always focused on his missions. "It seems like you want to focus on the wolf, not the tower. If we're clearing out the park to figure it out, then our attention should fully be on the wolf, no?"
"We're not clearing out the park," Shadow corrected as he stood. "We're giving the cadets a break - getting them out of our hair for a weekend. Silver and I can work on the tower and do some catching up to make schedule. Blaze can work on tracking the wolf - even if the warden won't be here, I'm sure he'll be willing to help."
"I'm joining Blaze."
It surprised them all to hear the words come from Sarah, even Sarah herself. Shadow raised an eyebrow at her. "You're a receptionist during the summer. We agreed to this."
"Then I'll join the 24 hour watch with her while you and Silver go up tonight at Half Point," Sarah proposed, leaning back in her chair as she adamantly stared up at Shadow. She didn't know where the sudden courage came from, as the mere image of the wolf thing gave her the creeps. But she wasn't about to let Blaze do this alone.
And Shadow thought of that, too. If he and Silver went camping at Half Point tonight, then Blaze would be on her own at the station, and Shadow wasn't sure if he wanted that. Blaze had proven herself to be level-headed in most situations, except this one, and it concerned Shadow. He had called Richwells, he'd been so concerned about her sudden change in behavior. He certainly wasn't going to let Blaze stay in the station overnight by herself. But was it necessary for a watch crew if he and Silver were out in the park? They were there for emergencies first and foremost - if a camper or hiker found their way to the station at night, someone was there to help them. Someone had to be at the station, then. That made Sarah's decision easy to agree with.
"Fine. You and Blaze stay here for the weekend on watch. Silver and I go up to Half Point to get back on track with the tower," Shadow decided, not taking any more suggestions despite Silver clearly wanting to interject. "Now," he made a move for the flashlight on Sarah's desk, "Let's go check out the back."
Silver dutifully followed him after giving Sarah and Blaze a look of concern. He wasn't surprised to hear Blaze hot on his heels as the trio walked down the hallway. It seemed narrower to Blaze as they closed the gap to the back door. She swallowed heavily - her throat feeling dry despite the coffee.
"You want to check it out now? While it's still dark?" Silver thought it odd. "We won't be able to see everything, well, maybe Blaze will."
Shadow opened the door after what appeared to be a slight second of hesitation. It didn't go unnoticed by Silver, though. He found their behavior peculiar, but he was beginning to understand why. Whatever it was that was caught on cameras twice now had purposefully visited the station twice and had caused such a fright to the two rangers by doing so - he figured there wasn't any room to think it was all a game or nothing to worry about. If Shadow and Blaze were worried, he worried, too.
"Blaze and Amy can double check then," Shadow responded, "But curiosity has the better of me, I'll admit. This wolf is abnormally large, fast, and a possible threat to the park. We need to get a grip on ourselves and do our damn jobs."
Silver would've normally agreed, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Blaze was being quiet on purpose: out of fear. "Shadow, don't you think that might also mean taking it easy? You two clearly haven't had enough sleep."
"If you're insinuating that Blaze and I imagined what happened last night, then I'll point to the cameras for proof. We weren't alone." The cold air of the morning hit them as the door swung open. Shadow walked through into the dark first.
Blaze was already accustomed to the dark by the time they shut the door. Shadow had flicked on the flashlight and was going over their surroundings. Silver scrunched his nose. "Smells…bad."
It did.
Shadow could barely smell it - but there it was again, the smell of death. Or rot. "So, we can narrow the stench to the animal. That helps," he murmured as he pointed the flashlight first to the woods on the left near the trail. There was nothing.
He went along the east side, moving from left to right as he pointed the flashlight into the dark. It lit up the dumpsters by the time he was pointing more southeast. Shadow walked across the paved back lot to the dumpsters - a few feet away. Silver made haste to follow his movements just to stay with the light. Blaze dwindled behind.
"No scratch marks," Shadow thought out loud. He found it odd. "If it was scratching metal at different times…why not mark up the dumpsters? If it's looking for food, this should be the first thing it goes to."
"Hm," Silver was trying to catch up and think of theories, but he'd been thrown into the situation. He was still trying to piece together the grinning wolf in the image. "Maybe it realized it couldn't get it open?" he motioned the bear-safe locks that Blaze had put on the dumpsters a few months before.
"So, it just goes to the door?" Shadow turned around to point the flashlight at the back door. Blaze was already looking at it, but she remained silent. Her tail was normal and only slight twitching, so Shadow figured she wasn't having a mental breakdown. He and Silver walked towards the door, standing beside the cat.
"No scratch marks?" Silver was confused as he stared at the door and the metal siding of the building. There was no sign of any scratching from any animal.
"You're looking too low." It was Blaze that spoke this time.
The two males glanced at her before looking in the direction she was - up. There, above the door and on the top door frame itself, were scratch marks. Long, but not deep. Like the animal had been scratching at the metal out of mere curiosity.
"Oh," Silver tried to hide his sudden fear. "But, wouldn't the cameras have caught it doing that?"
"No," Shadow droned in a tired and annoyed voice as he stepped closer to the door to inspect the marks. The flashlight shined on the gray metal. "The camera barely catches the door."
"Right, so we should be able to see it?" Silver was confused. "At least, barely, right?"
Shadow was too busy piecing it together. "The door is, what, seven feet tall?"
"Yeah, plus the frame," Silver responded.
"So…The part we saw on the camera here must have been its paw," Shadow said, but even he wasn't convinced of what he was saying. "It's barely on camera then to be positive, though."
"You're thinking it stood on its hind legs?" Silver was catching on, too. "Can a wolf do that? And if so, is it seriously going to stand over seven feet tall? I mean, I'm barely - "
"We get it, your quills, yeah, yeah, yeah," Shadow waved him off immediately. He knew that Silver, with his stupid quills, would be barely seen on the cameras whenever he walked through the door. They could test it right then and there, if they really wanted to, but the white hedgehog always brought his height up as it was his only bragging card to pull out during teasing conversations. Shadow and Blaze didn't need to test it. So, that meant that the wolf could possibly stand higher than Silver. "It must've used the building as its support to be able to stand on its hind legs. Some dogs can do that."
"What's the purpose, though?" Blaze asked.
"Hm?"
"What's the purpose of making marks so high? A normal dog would mark the door itself, at its height on four legs," she explained, shaking her head slightly. "What sense does it make that the marks are above the door?"
Shadow didn't know how to explain it in a logical way, but he knew what she was insinuating. "You think it's bipedal?"
Silver snorted. "What?" He glanced over at his girlfriend as the smirk disappeared from his muzzle. "You're not serious, are you?"
"Think about it. Why make marks there," she motioned upwards and then pointed downwards closer to the bottom of the door, "but none there? Like a normal dog?"
Shadow glimpsed back and forth between the top of the door and the bottom. He hated to admit that she had a point - the thought had crossed his mind as well. But he was looking for any logical reason. "Maybe…" his eyes glanced up further to the vents in the building. "Maybe it smells something in the ducts above our heads?" he pointed to the vents.
Amber eyes narrowed as she didn't like the explanation. "That makes no sense, Shadow."
"Well, neither does a bipedal wolf. We saw the image, Blaze," Shadow exasperated. "It was on all fours - "
"Maybe. Its front legs were long, but it looked like it was merely hunched over, hovering them over the ground," Blaze argued. She knew what she saw on that image every time she stopped to look at it. A creature that looked lanky and disproportionate with a grinning face. "Maybe, we need to think of different possibilities as to what it is - maybe it's more wolf-like but not a wolf."
"You poured over your zoology and biology books already," Shadow tested back. "You came up with nothing, no other possible creature that it could be. It's either a wolf or a very deformed bear at this point, and I will not be taking any other suggestions." He was facing the two of his co-workers now, his voice rising with each word.
He was clearly upset. Silver stared back and forth at the two rangers. "You…Are you thinking it's not…known?" he tiptoed around his words before his imagination got the better of him.
Blaze sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Her tail flicked in annoyance. "No. I don't know. I just know it doesn't make sense to do that," she motioned to the marks above the door again.
Silver stared at the scratches. "Look…last night, were either of you…terrified?"
"Excuse me?" Shadow too quickly responded, which only solidified Silver's guess.
"It's okay to be scared of something unknown, Shadow, I'm just asking," Silver defended himself before the black hedgehog burst. "You two have the most experience out of all of us here. You're right, we need to do our jobs and do them correctly for the safety of the park and the campers inside it right now. We have an…unknown creature," he slowly spoke as an attempt to mediate the situation, "that is possibly dangerous to the park's visitors and the park itself. Have any of you run across carcasses?"
"No. Not even while I scouted out the majority of the east side of the park, or on our way through Half Point." Blaze shook her head as she put her hands on her hips. "Nothing at the fire watch tower either, where we first reported the smell being - if you don't count Ridge Trail."
"You saw a wolf print there, though," Shadow reminded her, also trying to remind himself to remain calm. Silver was only trying to help.
"You did?" Silver acted in surprise at the statement.
"Yes. But it was singular. Odd, but it was also heavy. The wolf that made it," Blaze chewed her lip. She had nearly forgotten about the print in the mud. "I guess it…is a wolf."
"Which means, logically, it had to have leaned up against the building to make the marks," Shadow explained the situation away as if it were any other regular occurrence. "We can't rule out that it might've smelled something that we can't around the building and chose to mark up that high," Shadow continued.
"I guess," Blaze said as she figured herself to be losing this battle. Her mind couldn't wrap around it though. She wanted to know why it would do that. What was it smelling then? Why not scratch up the entire door itself then, if it really wanted in? A starving wolf would probably have done so, but she wasn't an expert and didn't know for certain. Maybe the warden would.
"Good," Shadow seemed pleased that she was finally accepting of the answer he gave. He quickly shined the flashlight around the other areas surrounding them, noting nothing of importance.
Silver watched Shadow carefully, as he walked around the dark with the flashlight to further investigate for more clues. Blaze stood still, as if still contemplating the situation.
The two were definitely on edge.
It almost made Silver wish he had shown up the day before, just to experience what they had last night - he wanted to be able to easily explain the situation away to help ease their minds. But, even he wasn't sure if he could actually do that. He had always been the voice of reason between the two other rangers when things got tense (which was rare), but he felt in his gut that this was something different. Shadow and Blaze weren't necessarily pitted against one another right now - they just didn't know how to explain what they experienced last night. Blaze was thinking more about what an animal would have done versus what the animal actually had done, and she was trying to think of other possible animals it could have been. Shadow was just trying to pinpoint it to a wolf entirely based on what the cameras caught - something that appeared wolf-like.
Silver didn't know where he stood between the two. He didn't have enough information on the encounters to really know. Maybe Sarah had a better guess, but he guessed in the end that she was also more confused than anything.
Shadow searched the ground and area behind the dumpsters before the trio made their way back inside.
"Anything?" they heard from the sage green hedgehog in the main room.
"Nothing. No footprints anywhere." Shadow didn't sound happy in the slightest.
Blaze had already disappeared down the hallway - she didn't want to talk to Shadow right now. She knew what her mind clearly knew - a dog wouldn't have done that, it would've scratched at the bottom of the door. But she also knew that in the moment, Shadow wasn't the enemy here.
Silver was left to converse with the ebony hedgehog. "Really? Nothing?" He wondered why keeping the marks from Sarah was beneficial.
"Not as far as I saw. Blaze and Amy can look again when light comes," he spoke loud enough for the feline to hear him, although she made no motion to indicate she was listening to him. Shadow knew she was though. His eyes softened as he stopped in the hallway. Silver stopped too. "I'm sorry if I've upset her," he whispered to Silver, making eye contact.
Silver raised an eyebrow. "Has everything been okay while I've been gone?"
"Not really." Shadow pulled Silver into the makeshift bedroom and closed the door as quietly as he could. "Blaze…had a breakdown at one point," Shadow explained. Silver's eyes widened. "At least, that's the best way I can describe it. The image we first got, I'll admit, is chilling, but it must've set her off more than I imagined it would. I guessed Sarah would have been more shaken about the whole ordeal, but it appears Blaze is. I'm worried about her mental wellbeing."
"And yet you let her be on the watch with you?" Silver narrowed his look to Shadow, clearly upset about the news.
"It was on the watch that she had a breakdown. A little one. She was more terrified than I've ever seen her before, let's put it at that. It was enough that I called Richwells later and that's why he's forcing the warden to show up whether or not we figure this thing out," Shadow hurriedly tried to calm the conversation as he noticed Silver's cold look. He was protective of his girlfriend, there was no question about that. "Warden isn't showing up for two weeks or so, though."
"Ok. So, Blaze is worried about this whole thing?" Silver tried to process the news. Blaze had a meltdown? Over a wolf? Visiting the station? "I mean, I'll admit that the damn thing looks lanky and starving in the photo, but c'mon. That's not like Blaze to have a breakdown over it, much less be terrified of it. She tracked a bull moose across the park willingly, without much protection besides bear spray."
"I know."
Silver couldn't fathom Blaze - his Blaze - being frightful of a mere singular wolf. Despite its creepy looking image. "And now? She's?"
"She was scared last night…"
"Great," Silver turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is just great. One of our rangers isn't mentally stable, and it's Blaze of all people. Why her?" he whined.
"As was I." Shadow finished his sentence, ignoring Silver's pleas to the world.
The white hedgehog stopped to tilt his head at the dark Mobian. "What?"
"Last night, in the moment, tired and exhausted, I'll admit that I was easily caught off guard and not at my best. I didn't handle the situation in a calming manner for Blaze. Or myself. And the more I try to rationalize what happened, the more confused I get. I know what we saw on the cameras. I know what we heard last night. I know what I felt." Shadow didn't want fear to creep into his voice, but Silver could only explain his tone as such.
"Like?"
"Something intruding. It caught us off guard," Shadow seemed to shake away his thoughts of last night, as if trying to snap himself out of it and completely wipe away what he'd just said to Silver. He didn't want to seem scared or weak. He realized what he had done at that moment. He had given Silver doubt that Shadow knew how to handle the situation. "It was just another predator wandering around, looking for food. We'll figure it out," he clasped Silver's shoulder in reassurance. To who - he didn't know.
He left the room and Silver rather hastily.
The white hedgehog was left to stand there dumbfounded.
Just what had he walked into?
