The morning sky bellows its low growls of thunder that tear through a dense blanket of grey mist. A sharp drizzle stirs the landscape below while the wind howls and wreaks havoc on the trees and underbrush. Gentle humming echoes inside the barn from the rain hitting the tin roof. Ethan stirs awake to the sound of the humming only to find Kate missing.
A few early birds chirp in the trees before a few dart past his view as the brown wolf steps outside, his paws meeting crisp wet grass mixing with mud. At first, he starts walking towards the house to see if Kate was nearby, but a familiar clicking sound catches his attention. A flock of birds flies out through the trees overhead. They disappear behind the barn in a wavelike motion. A small red bird speeds past Ethan and lands somewhere at the top of the tree cast above a grey she-wolf who sat still before the wooden grave post.
"You're still out here?" He calls out to her while hurrying up to stand by her side.
Kate's ears tilt back, following the sounds of his movements until he reaches her. She responds flatly, "I couldn't sleep."
"Have you been out here all night?" When she doesn't answer, he grimaces. "It's raining, and you're soaking wet. Sitting out in the rain won't do you any favors besides making you ill."
"I'll be ok." She doesn't even put any effort into making her lie seem truthful. Yesterday Kate told him that she would come inside the barn before it got too dark and so Ethan left thinking she needed the space. Now he can see how alone she must have felt as her words stung worse than a thousand hornets.
Letting out a small sigh, he sits down beside her, "If you're not going inside, then I'll sit out here and endure the rain and cold with you."
A small smile creeps across her face, "Even if it storms?" Another growl of thunder tears through the sky without its lightning. The fog is so dense that the sky seems to flash without showing where its blade of heat struck down.
'How bizarre,' he huffs lightly before teasing, "I'd rather not get struck down blind by lighting, so if it comes to that, I guess I'll have to attempt to drag you inside with me." Her smile twitches slightly before falling back to a frown.
"There is a village, I faintly remember it, but it's not exactly close. It's an odd name, Roebuck, I think, but I can only recall bits and pieces of it in my head. I can't seem to remember the direction of the village, though."
"What about the family here?" He frowns and instantly regrets bringing up the little girl's family. "I mean, would they have a map or something inside the house that could help us with directions?"
"I cannot open the door." She whispers.
"It's alright. You leave that to me." There's a pause from both wolves to which neither is reluctant to move or continue the conversation. Awkwardly the pair sit side by side, listing to the world living around them. The rain eventually settles, leaving the mist to break apart and only a few clouds to wonder the sky with the sun becoming more evenly placed above their heads. It's almost noon.
"I suppose now's a good time than any, hmm?" Ethan murmurs after a long self-motivational talk inside his head.
Kate doesn't so much talk other than a simple head nod in agreement, "Hmm."
"Alright…" Moving away from the grave, Ethan leaves the area of the barn with Kate hesitantly trailing behind. His mind remains focused on the task of finding a map, but as he grows closer to the back of the farmhouse, his eyes glance over an empty dip in the grass where the mangled deer carcass had lied yesterday, yet now it has seemingly vanished. The rain would have washed the blood from the body away, yet blood still catches his eye. There is a matted down trail made in the tall grass with hits of blood mixed in with lathered-up mud leading closer to the siding of the house. Moving in closer for a better look stricks a fear inside Ethan he never knew was there. At the back of the farmhouse is a basement where the door, which dips below the earth, is nonexistent. He can only see the frame of where a door should have been with only blackness waiting inside. Quickly he turns and continues heading around the house at a faster pace. He doesn't know what else can be done about the situation while thinking the worst about the she-wolf he knows very little about. Well, besides the fact she has memory loss. If she can't help him find answers, what chance does he have finding those answers on his own?
As Ethan steps onto the porch, Kate, without using her words, refuses to follow any further and instead stays sitting in place on the ground behind him. He finds the action a little odd.
"Don't you want to come inside?" He asks, half expecting her to spring up with a ridiculous burst of excitement while at the same time fearing what else she might do now with darker thoughts clouding his judgment. Instead, she holds a cold face as if the rain had drained her completely of warmth and enthusiasm. Perhaps she is ill.
Kate's ears fell back, "I want to stay out here."
Her voice trembles with the same hint of fear he had felt after seeing the trail of tangled blood at the back of the farmhouse, which only made going inside even more difficult now that he would have to go in alone.
'Why is she showing fear now?' he wonders.
Then a logical thought clicks as he put two and two together. Perhaps after seeing the little girl's grave, Kate feared the worse for Callie's family. Ethan can only imagine how devastating Kate must feel with having realized her family is most likely gone.
Immediately, he regrets his previous ill thoughts of her. However, she is still a mystery to him. He's not so sure he's prepared to solve it either. He won't force her inside and make her see whatever hell lies within waiting for him. He hopes she'll never have to witness such terrible things.
"I won't be long, Kate." Kate's eyes lower and seem to drastically look elsewhere to which Ethan takes notice of, but doesn't say more. Turning his attention to the door, which looks poorly held together, he decides to play it smart and attempt to open the door using his maw. The handle is wood-based, which is odd. It doesn't twist or turn at all, perhaps from years of worn and decay. He then tries pushing against the door in hopes that the weakened wood will break with enough force. It only takes one hard push to break whatever was keeping the door in place before the door cracks open. Something is blocking the entrance of the house as Ethan can't get the door to budge any further. There's just enough space for him to squeeze his way inside, however.
His eyes adjust well to the lack of light inside the house, yet in the peripheries of his vision, unnatural shadows lingered. The first thing Ethan takes notice of is the smell of something long dead. Every corner of the room before him had been mauled and destroyed as if a wild beast tore through it purposely leaving it in pieces. It isn't just the one room either. The house's flooring had all been torn up from the earth rather forcefully and unnaturally. Home belongings were slashed by hooks or maybe even claws while other breakable items were on the ground in pieces. Every room's walls held dried blood stains others are larger and disturbing, while some barely noticeable at first glance. There's a blood trail originating from the kitchen that leads up the staircase to the upstairs area. The blood appears fresher than any other he finds.
Four large and irregular claw marks engraved into the wall lead Ethan upstairs. No man could have done something like this, that comes clear to Ethan. If there even was a map in this godforsaken house, he doubts it would have survived such destruction.
A sudden sound, though soft, snatches Ethan's attention making him shudder and freeze. It had come from further up the stairs. He can only describe the noise being something gnawing on cartilage and bones as he's heard a similar sound before. It was a pack of grey wolves that fed upon an elk he had once killed with his rifle during a long hunt. He shot off a warning that only made the wolves retreat a brief distance into the trees, but never did the beasts leave him alone. The pack was unusually large, and he couldn't successfully gather the rewords of his kill without being bit or worse. He reluctantly abandoned the carcass that day.
He'd feel much safer now with his rifle held tightly in his grasp, but his hands are now paws, and he is a wolf. Now he is afraid of what lurks beyond the corner wall as he hesitantly creeps his way up to the second floor. He hadn't given much attention to his movements before, and each step feels a lot louder after acknowledging another presence in the house. Moving a single step became just as scary as leaving the house, from where he stood, but Ethan denies himself such fear to control him. Standing just down the hallway that leads to a few open rooms, the brown wolf freezes at the sight of a dark shape that isn't a shadow. The figure appears hunched over something in the very far room that lacked a door, but it doesn't seem to notice Ethan right away. However, without warning, the figure grows taller as if to stand, before an unnatural growl breaks through the room. When the creature moves out of sight, Ethan can breathe. The sound had choked Ethan's breath before leaving him paralyzed as his mind tries to gather what he had just witnessed. Only the devil's own could possess such a sound and fill an entire house with a presence of evil. More shadowy figures move by the opening of the room, followed by multiple unnatural animalistic growls making it clear as day that there are more than just one, or two. The possibility of there being even a group of unknown beasts lurking in that room made every strand of fur on Ethan's body frisk up on end. Trying his best not to panic, Ethan backs out of the hallway, silently making his way down the steps and making a break for it out of the farmhouse. Once he's outside, Ethan can't help but start running. He doesn't' care where as long as it's far away from the hell house that is the farm.
"Where are you going?" Kate asks after Ethan rushes past her. His mind is so scrambled with fear that the only response he can make is a distressed whine.
Kate turns to look at the front door that is still cracked open, but there is nothing to explain the male wolf's behavior. Quite confused, she gets up and runs after him.