The War on Wildlife is free for everyone, but donations are always welcome! The War on Wildlife is the third in the wildlife series with these characters. If you enjoy this novel, the prequels, Spirit of the Wolf and Thundering Hooves are available in paperback! Click here to see all the episodes plus background information and the introduction! If you’ve joined the novel late, please click here to start with Episode One!
Episode Nine - The Release
Shadow and Ember had eventually become accustomed to their new domain. They didn’t understand it, but life was comfortable in their enclosure and the pair was safe from predators and enemy wolf packs. They weren’t sure how, but carcasses would appear out of nowhere while they slept. All they had to do was leave their den in the morning and sniff around until their daily meal was located. Ember wondered what had become of her natal family, but she was content with the easy existence provided by their human captors.
Their only fear was the occasional arrival of wildlife specialists, and the sting of a tranquilizer dart. Medical tests were conducted without their knowledge and the groggy wolves would awaken some time later, none the worse for the wear and ready to face another day.
But on this cold snowy December morning, the silence was shattered as the big truck rolled up and a crew of noisy humans spilled out. Soon came the familiar sting of a tranquilizer dart followed by confusion, as the two awoke separated by the dreaded steel crates in the back of the dark truck. Ember whined and Shadow answered with a quiet woof. The two canines once again squeezed together as closely as they could, for comfort and companionship throughout the ordeal.
Michelle with her three friends, Caleb, Angie, and Jessica, rolled through Steamboat Springs on their way to an unknown location in northwest Colorado. Soon a rough dirt road appeared and they turned northwest, carefully following the lines on Caleb’s trail tracker.
“How much further is it?” asked Jessica.
Caleb looked at his display and said, “It’s kind of hard to tell, but with this rough road I imagine at least a couple more hours.”
“I wonder if the wolves are there already?” asked Michelle.
Caleb answered, “I would think they might not want to drag it out too long after they arrive. I’ll bet they get there about a half hour or maybe an hour before release time.”
“I hope we don’t miss it,” Angie worried.
“We aren’t going to miss it. We still have four hours before the release time, and we don’t have that far to go, unless we have a breakdown of course.”
“The SUV is running well,” responded Angie. “All the gauges are holding steady, right where they usually are. We aren’t going to break down.”
Eventually Caleb announced, “We are really close now. Start looking around for the state wildlife crew.”
Michelle was looking into the distance with the binoculars and suddenly exclaimed, “I think I see a truck stopped on the side of the road. Wait, there are a bunch of vehicles there.”
“That has to be it then,” responded Caleb.
“I see the cages!” she squealed exuberantly.
The four friends rolled up onto the scene and were greeted by Heather who ran over and said, “I’m so glad you guys made it! They are making sure the wolves are awake and alert, and are getting ready to let them go!”
“Let’s get out!” Michelle exclaimed.
One by one the four friends climbed out of the SUV and approached the wolves.
“Do they have names?” asked Michelle.
“We’ve been calling them Shadow and Ember. Shadow is the dark one obviously, and Ember gets her name because her eyes are like green fire.”
Caleb knelt down in front of the cages with his camera and snapped a couple pictures for his story.
“How are you boy,” he spoke softly to Shadow. “Please stay out of Wyoming.”
For a moment Shadow stopped fidgeting, and gazed into Caleb’s eyes as if he were trying to understand what he was being told. Caleb continued to peer into Shadow’s eyes as the two seemed to understand each other and form some sort of brief bond.
“Caleb, I think he likes you,” commented Michelle.
“Yeah, I usually hit it off with animals, people not so much.”
Jessica laughed and said, “Well we like you.”
Caleb chuckled and replied, “Thank you Jessie, you just made my day.”
Soon the ranger in charge made an announcement with his loud speaker, “Everyone get back behind the cages, we are about to open them up.”
The four friends moved behind the cages and huddled close. The ranger gave the order and both cages were opened at the same time. Shadow burst through the opening, but a confused Ember continued to cower inside. Shadow bolted but when he realized his mate wasn’t with him, he returned to her enclosure and coaxed her to come out. Eventually she slowly crept beyond the steel bars, and then stopped to look at the crowd behind her. When she saw all the people standing still and urging her on, she turned to the west and trotted away. Shadow turned to follow, but not before locking eyes with Caleb for another moment.
“Vaya Con Dios my friend,” he spoke softly with a tear gathering in his eye.
Tears of joy were already streaming down Michelle’s cheeks, while others appeared to be wiping away tears of their own. Soon the newly freed breeding pair was running west in a full sprint. Not a single member of the crew could look away, or even speak until the two animals were nothing but specks in the distance.
“Well that’s it,” said Heather. “They are on their own now.”
Jessica asked, “Seriously, you don’t have any way of tracking them?”
“Oh they have tracking collars, but of the dangers they will face we have no control over.”
The news crew put down their big camera, while Caleb continued snapping high resolution stills. Eventually when he could no longer see the animals through his big lens, he took a seat on the tailgate of one of the crew trucks. He slumped as if completely drained until Michelle came to join him.
“You okay Caleb?”
“I just never imagined it would be over so quickly. Now it almost seems like it didn’t happen, kind of anticlimactic I guess. It seems anticipation has been replaced with worry.”
“Well, Heather said they had tracking devices so I should be able to keep you informed.”
One of the crew suddenly exclaimed, “I have two signals, we are tracking them both!”
Michelle ran over and asked excitedly, “Can I see? Can you show me?”
The technician leaned over to show her the device, and sure enough there were two distinct blips on the screen.
“looks like they have turned north,” he mused.
“That’s no good,” muttered Caleb.
“Oh wait, they are circling back to the east toward the Continental Divide. Hopefully they will find some quiet wilderness deep inside Colorado, where they can be safe while they learn to hunt here and start their own pack.”
Eventually the crowd began to disperse, and the four friends walked to convene at Angie’s SUV.
“Should we get going?” she asked as she slid into the passenger seat. “Caleb, can you drive, I’m kind of tired?”
“Sure I can drive,” he responded.
As the SUV negotiated the long rough road back to Craig, Angie said “They seemed so small in the distance. I don’t know how two lonely wolves can survive in such a hostile expanse.”
There was no response from her friends, and the journey continued in silence. Eventually Jessica exclaimed, “Hey, I have a signal!”
Caleb continued to grip the wheel, staring ahead in silence at the dirt road while the others all pulled out their phones to check their messages and social media sites. Jessica once again spoke excitedly, “Hey, check this out. A Colorado fashion site is being sued because they only have small sizes, and are being accused of discrimination. Does that mean we would have to carry every size of every item we stock?”
Caleb replied, “Colorado has a long history of being extremely intolerant of small business owner’s freedom of expression rights.”
Angie added, “Yeah, the state had been tormenting that baker for years.”
“That’s why I removed all references to photography services from my website. You can only imagine the kinds of scenarios I might get dinged for refusing to participate in.”
“I thought you just didn’t like doing it.”
“No, I enjoyed my fashion photography business out in the Bay Area but those were different times. These days performing artistic services is a mine field. It’s just not worth it.”
Jessica mused, “Well maybe we want to rethink selling clothes. I don’t see how we could afford to stock every size. We might not even be able to get some items in all sizes.”
Caleb added, “Even without the discrimination issue, running an accrual business is a pain in the ass. It’s mostly big companies with accountants that do that type of business. That’s why you see all the new clothes in thrift shops as the year ends. Companies have to pay taxes on inventory that they carry into a new year, so they just dump it and deduct the losses. You guys are doing well with your podcasts and try on videos., so you might do well to stick to your simple partnership with no employees to worry about, no unemployment insurance, and no medical insurance. Leave those headaches to the big corporations.”
Angie replied, “You are probably right Caleb., but I was really looking forward to creating my own clothing designs.”
“Maybe you could approach some big corporations and sell your designs to them. Let the big companies handle the retail sales and inventory issues. Kind of like I do with my prints, only on a bigger scale. I don’t directly sell anything, as all my sales are made through a third party. They make the sales and collect the taxes, and all I have to do is print the pictures and wait for checks in the mail.”
“What do you think Jessie?” asked Angie.
“That sounds like a good idea to me. I’m not looking for a big headache out of this and we are having so much fun doing our podcast and pictures and videos. Why ruin it with a bunch of accounting problems that we aren’t even qualified to deal with?”
“Agreed,” responded Angie.
Caleb interjected, “Craig is just ahead, should we look for a place to spend the night?”
Jessica answered, “Craig is boring, let’s keep going to Steamboat.”
“Yeah,” The other two women chimed in.
“Okay, Steamboat it is. Maybe we could get that same hotel where we stayed before.”
“Yeah, that was nice!”
Caleb turned off the rough dirt road onto smooth pavement, and accelerated accordingly.
“Oh, that’s much better,” said Angie.
Michelle added, “Yeah, I was getting car sick trying to look at my phone with all those bumps!”
Eventually the group rolled into Steamboat Springs and Caleb asked, “So the same place we stayed last time?”
“I really liked the bar there. I think it’s worth another stay,” answered Angie.
“I’m good with another night there,” added Jessica.
Michelle replied, “I guess I’ll have to trust all your judgment since I wasn’t invited last time.”
Caleb laughed and said, “You are always invited, but we knew you were on the schedule at work. I guess we really didn’t ask if you could get the day off, but in our defense you never take a day off!”
“No, I guess I don’t.”
Caleb parked in front of the hotel, and Angie jumped out to run into the lobby. Soon she burst through the doors with a big smile on her face, and as she settled into the seat she said, “I got us a room with two double beds.”
“That will work,” mused Caleb out loud.
Jessica chimed in, “I have dibs on Caleb!”
“Shut up!” laughed Angie.
Caleb pulled the car into the parking lot and popped the hatch while the three women circled around to grab their bags. Caleb retrieved his as well, and they walked to their room in high spirits.
As they settled in Michelle commented, “I’m going to take a shower before we go out.”
The other two women also indicated they would do the same, and Caleb replied “I took a shower this morning, and I haven’t really done anything today so I guess I’ll work on my story while you all get ready for dinner.”
Eventually the three girls were all dressed and Caleb exclaimed, “Wow, you ladies look hot! But nobody told me were going on a dress up date on this trip!”
“You don’t need to dress up, just bring your camera. We aren’t going to pass up this opportunity to get some video for our business,” Angie stated emphatically.
“Works for me.”
The bar was pretty full by the time the four friends walked in, but fortunately a table was ready for new arrivals. The hostess met them at the door and pointed to a spot close to the dance floor. “Will this table be okay?” she asked.
“This will be fine,” answered Angie.
“Can I bring you some drinks?”
“I’ll just have a glass of house wine.”
Jessica and Michelle both ordered the same, and Caleb asked for a pint of dark beer.
Jessica pointed across the room at a table of young women and commented, “Look, those girls are pointing and staring at us.”
“I wonder why,” mused Angie.
Pretty soon one of them arose from the table and walked over.
“Aren’t you the model podcast women from Denver?”
“We might be,” Jessica cautiously answered. “Did you see last weeks episode?”
“You mean the one about how to get an agent?”
“That was us!” replied Angie with a big smile.
The young woman exclaimed excitedly, “Oh my God, I have to go tell my friends!”
Pretty soon the five women scurried over and asked breathlessly, “Will you come and dance with us so we can get some pictures for our Pictograms?”
Angie looked at Jessica, who shrugged her shoulders and said “Why not, we can use all the publicity we can get!”
Pretty soon there were seven women on the floor, dancing and shooting selfies with their phones.
Caleb asked Michelle, “Don’t you want to get out there with them?”
Michelle laughed and said, “I think I’ll pass.”
Caleb pulled out his phone and started shooting video as he commented, “I guess I’d better get some footage, or I’ll be in big trouble later.”
Michelle laughed and said, “Such a cross to bear. Well it looks like Angie and Jessie are going to make it with their new business after all!”
“Yeah, I guess they are already getting famous!”
“Good for them!”
After another glass of wine, Michelle joined the party, and Caleb’s eyes sparkled with pride as he sat back to watch as his entrepreneur wife burn up the dance floor with Jessica, her effervescent sidekick.
“What a team they are going to make,” he thought to himself as he took another swallow of dark brew.
Episode Eight - Thanksgiving ←- —>Episode Ten - Christmas Incident
