Treasure

The loud chirping noise coming from the bedroom finally registered with Dawn. Rushing up the stairs, she threw her bedroom door open and ran to her phone on the bedside table charger. “PANIC ALARM,” the screen read. Opening up the phone, she pulled up the application her husband had installed on both their phones to allow them to monitor Treasure’s location after her last blackout episode. It showed her a few miles away, along the trail in the woods she said she was taking. She called Treasure’s phone and it went to voice mail after five rings. Hanging up, she went back to the app as she ran back downstairs. “TREASURE IS IN TROUBLE,” she yelled as she ran back down the stairs.

The main floor was packed with people, over half of whom were sworn law enforcement officers, so this got a bit of attention. “What’s going on,” Clarke said. He was the Rochester Chief of Police.

“Treasure and Jenny went for a walk on the trails through the woods. She hit her panic alarm on her tracking device. She’s NEVER hit the panic button before, and now she isn’t answering her phone,” Dawn said as she handed him the phone.

“It’s about two miles away, Cripple Creek Canyon near the jogging path trailhead,” he said loudly as he looked at the map on the phone. “Come on, let’s go check it out.” A dozen or so men put their uniform coats on and ran out to their patrol vehicles, while the Chief put out the call on his radio. He put Dawn in the back before getting in and starting his car. “Do you think she’s having an episode?”

“I don’t know,” she said. She called Jenny’s cellphone, it also went to voicemail. “Jenny isn’t answering either.”

“That’s not good.” Clarke called for an ambulance to be dispatched to the trailhead. He knew about Treasure’s past violent outbursts. If she had lost control, the ambulance would probably be needed. His men didn’t have the ability to deal with a teen having a violent psychotic break.

Cars began pulling out and heading west, lights and sirens going. Dawn sat nervously in Clarke’s car, they were among the last to leave since he was parked in the driveway. She kept calling their phones, each time they went to voice mail.

When they arrived at the trailhead, men were already assembled by the sign with flashlights, and a firefighter/EMT was standing by with his medical gear. Clarke took her phone and brought it to the men, and the map showed the direction of 148 degrees and a distance of 287 yards. “It’s on the north side of the main trail, near the creek,” he said. “Spread out and find them,” Clarke said.

Dawn started to follow, but one of the troopers stopped her. “We’ve got plenty of people searching, and those Uggs won’t work well in the woods,” he told her as he led her to his squad car. “Sit in here and stay warm, listen to the radio.”

“My baby’s out there, something is WRONG, I can feel it,” she said as she watched the flashlights disappear in the trees.

“Here, take my phone and call Jenny’s parents. She’s out here too.”

She took it and called the number she still remembered, even though we hadn’t spoken in years. “Debbie? It’s Dawn Olson. I’m at the Cripple Creek Canyon north trailhead, Jenny and Treasure were out walking and Treasure set off her panic button.”

“Oh God, what did she do now?”

“I don’t know, I’ve got a bunch of police here and they’re going to look. We just got here a few minutes ago. Just stay on the line, I’ll keep you posted.”

There was a pause. “Why was Jenny alone with Treasure?”

“They were walking, they’ve been doing that to be alone.”

There was shouting over the radio. “We have one victim, female, age sixteen, signs of strangulation. We need a litter and EMT’s here NOW!” We could hear activity in the background as Debbie started to panic. “Bring oxygen, we’re carrying her out now, she’s in respiratory distress.”

The ambulance pulled in, and the EMT’s jumped out and grabbed the rescue litter out of the holder in the back. Men were running into the woods, and Dawn could see flashlights moving rapidly towards her. The flashlights stopped only long enough for her to be put into the litter, then four picked her up and the group started moving their way again.

Debbie was shouting for her husband as they got into their car and drove out of their driveway. Dawn could hear her sobbing as they headed towards them. “Is it my Jenny?”

“I don’t know,” Dawn said. “They wouldn’t use a name over the radio.”

It seemed like forever to the two Moms but was probably a few minutes before the men came into view. “Oh God, it’s Jenny,” Dawn said over the phone as she jumped out of the open back door of the cruiser. She ran over and watched her daughter’s only friend being loaded into the ambulance, an oxygen mask on her face. “Where are you taking her?”

“MAYO Emergency,” the EMT said just before he closed the door.

“Debbie, turn around and head to Mayo Emergency, the ambulance is just leaving now.” The siren punched through the air, escorted by a police cruiser. She turned to the men who were coming out of the trees. “WHERE IS TREASURE?”

“She isn’t there,” a policeman said. “We found this on the ground, along with a used pepper spray cartridge.” He held up a silver necklace with the tracker on it in a clear evidence bag.

“Then where is she?”

“We don’t know, Ma’am. We know her history, and she was the only one with the victim. The rest of the men are securing the crime scene.”

The Police Chief broke off and talked to his men. He let out a breath as he walked back to talk to Dawn. “I’m sorry, Dawn. She was with Jenny and ran away, leaving her there to die. Treasure Olson is now wanted for attempted murder.”

The big man held the struggling girl tight in the chokehold, using his forearm to cut off her airway. She struggled, but a young human female had no chance against a mature Werewolf male. He watched his Alpha spring into action, his large black wolf tackling his future mate from behind and forcing her to the ground. He put his weight on his front paws, holding her shoulders down, while his teeth gripped her shoulder. The young warrior wiped the pepper spray out of his eyes, blinking a few times, and walked over to her. He pulled her head up by the hair and glared at her. “STOP struggling or she’s dead,” he told her.

Rea looked up, the second man had Jenny in a choke hold from behind. She was terrified, her hands were trying to move his arm so she could breathe, and she couldn’t. Jenny could be dead if she didn’t comply, and with the man and the dog above her she had no chance. “You win,” she said. She stilled, and when she dropped the pepper spray he kicked it into the woods.

The wolf moved off her and he pulled her to her feet. “You’ll be coming with us, Charlotte. You belong with us.” She looked at him, confused, then looked past him to see her friend. When they didn’t stop choking her, she started struggling again. The wolf stepped back, and the man pulled her up to her feet by her hair. She screamed “NO!” as her friend’s body dropped to the frozen ground.

Treasure suddenly stiffened, and the sound of bones crunching echoed in the dark woods. The shift caused the younger warrior to lose his grip, and in an explosion of tearing clothes, a rust-colored shewolf stood in her place.

“Grab her,” the Alpha said, but the enraged wolf was too fast and feral. Her teeth ripped open the right arm reaching for her, and as soon as she saw an opening she was running, and the black wolf followed her. “IDIOTS! Get back to the car, all this screaming may have attracted attention. Grab her clothes, we don’t need anyone questioning why they are ripped up.”

The two men gathered the torn clothing then ran up the trail to the parking area and jumped into their Expedition. The older man started it up and pulled out, making it to the main road and turning left. The young man tore the sleeve from Treasure’s shirt and use it to bandage his bleeding forearm. In his rear-view mirror, the driver saw a bunch of cop cars approaching rapidly and then turn left towards the lot. “FUCK! That was close!” He looked down at his speedometer, making sure he wasn’t speeding. “Alpha, there’s a whole bunch of cop cars heading for the park. Don’t go back there.”

“Drive west, go to the creek crossing. She’s heading downstream, and you need to get ahead of her,” he replied. He was kind of busy; the young wolf was stronger than he thought she would be, and much faster. His large body worked against him as the smaller wolf weaved her way through the trees and over the rolling hills. They had covered miles already, and he was starting to tire as she pulled farther and farther ahead. He could hear cars; the wooded area was thinning down and she was running out of room.

He kept pushing, but she couldn’t get away. They’d have her trapped, then he could finish what he started and force her submission.

In the ambulance, the EMT’s were fighting to stabilize Jenny’s condition as they speeded towards the hospital. “We have a sixteen-year old female strangulation victim. Pulsox is ninety and dropping on one hundred percent oxygen, pulse is 110, blood pressure one hundred forty-one over sixty-four. Victim has visible bruising to neck and trachea, respirations shallow and thready,” he said over the radio.

The vitals were repeated back, then the Emergency Room physician gave his directions. “Maintain oxygen and prep for field intubation, but do not proceed unless the airway becomes blocked,” the ER physician replied.

They kept a close eye on her, but luck was with them. She was able to breathe, and when her eyes opened they were relieved. The ambulance came to a halt and they handed her over to the Emergency Room staff.

Gary turned onto Cripple Creek Parkway, thankful that there was only a few more miles until they reached the retirement housing complex. His wife and her friends had been talking the whole way home, reliving their casino trip and their good fortune at the slot machines. They were driving along an area where the right side, other than a sidewalk, was cut into the hillside with a twenty-foot retaining wall. He looked over at his wife of forty-eight years and smiled. “What are you going to do with your winnings?”

“GARY!” He saw something out of the corner of his eye, a flash of rust color and a shape dropping onto the road right in front of them. He hit the brakes and swerved left, then overcorrected and the car skidded into the retaining wall. The airbags deployed with a loud bang. When he was able to move, he turned the car off.

“Are you all right?” The women nodded, and he put on the hazard lights. “Honey, call 911.”

He grabbed his flashlight and got out of the car, going around to look at the front. The front right side of the car had taken the impact but it wasn’t too bad. He could see his wife on the phone as he walked back to see what was in the road, and he froze when the flashlight didn’t show the expected deer. He hurried back to the car, pulling open the back door. “Honey, tell them to send an ambulance, it’s a woman.” He reached into the back window and grabbed the blanket they kept there. “Tell them to hurry, she’s naked and bleeding.”