The Tale Of The Wolf Man

The McPearly sisters made their way through the frigid, cold weather in the forest. With their homes and lives shattered, their hope of ever finding the world they knew was destroyed. Not to mention, their hope of ever finding another human was gone. 

 And as they continued walking, with the heavy winds blowing them in the opposite direction, Beth discerned what looked like an outline on the snowy ground. 

“Maybe we’ll find something there,” Beth said to her sister, pointing to the left.

The two got close to the line and saw it had a handle. 

“Wait! What if we open this, and it explodes?” Dolly exclaimed. 

“In what world would opening a bunker make it explode?” Beth jabbed at Dolly, giving her a cold stare.

Using both hands, she grabbed the steel handle and tried to push it open swiftly. The coldness of the steel made her palms turn red, and after a few attempts, she felt like giving up.

“You know, we can’t open this door if you’re not HELPING!” Beth screamed at Dolly.

“I’m not coming near that thing! If it explodes, I don’t wanna be anywhere near it!”

“For crying out sake, Dolly! There is no bomb that’s going to explode,” 

“You don’t know that, because you’re no psychic!” 

As tension grew between the sisters, a sudden sound abruptly halted their argument. The creaky sound sent Dolly scrambling to hide near a tree, while Beth cautiously investigated. 

“You see? I told you there was a bomb,” Dolly said.

The sound echoed again, and Beth glanced at the outline on the ground. It was moving, as if something was trying to emerge.

The outline continued shifting, growing louder each time. Finally, it opens. The sisters watched as a hand emerged, followed by another hand, a head, a body, and finally the legs. 

The man appeared large, with long gray hair and beard, and hands the size of a human face. The man’s eyes looked like they’d been to war, and his voice rumbled like a bear.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” The man asked the two sisters. 

“We went into hiding, just like you,” Beth replied.

The man stared strangely at the figure hiding near the tree. “Name is Benjamin. I’ve lived here for 2 years, you know, right before it happened,”

“I’m Beth, Beth McPearly, and ignore my sister, Dolly, she’s a little crazy,”

“Well, Beth, you two best return to where you came from, there’s no life out here you’ll find,”

“We don’t have food, sir, nor water, perhaps we could help each other,”

“I’m fine the way I’m living, I don’t need some strange-looking girls I met in the woods helping me out with anything,”

“But what about food? You can't find food in these wild terrains,” 

“I have enough to supply me for the next century,”

“Please, sir! You have to help us, we’re in this together after all,” Beth kneeled in front of him, her hands clenched together.

“What will it be for me if I let you two scoundrels live with me?”

“We’ll work! We’ll cook for you! We’ll… wash your clothes! Anything that you desire from us, we’ll do it!

“Hmm… Well, there is some work that needs to be done,” Benjamin stalled, before continuing, “I’m running low on water, and there are ice blocks that need to be taken from the frozen river nearby,”

“Yes, we’ll go and collect those ice blocks,” Beth affirmed eagerly.

“Well, it’s a very tough job. First, you must chop through the thick ice, then haul them out into the sleds and bring them back here,”

“There’s no reward that comes without hard work, sir,” Beth replied.

“And your sister… she’s welcome to stay if she wants to,”

“No, I -I -I’m going with Brenda,” Dolly stuttered, nodding towards her sister.

“Well, if you say so,” Benjamin said, before heading inside the bunker. Moments later, he emerged with the materials; a sled and the ice pick.

“And if anything happens, please don’t use my tools as weapons,” 

The sisters made their way through the rigid terrains of snow and strong winds. Fortunately, the winds seemed to die down after a while, and the sun finally emerged. 

“You know, I think he likes you,” Dolly remarked

“Who?” Beth asked.

“You know, that Benjamin guy,”

“Oh, dear God, no! If I wanted a man, I’d have taken one of those corpses we saw just before we left town,”

“Oh, come on, Beth! I saw the way you stared at him. You like him, don't you?”

“For the love of God, Dolly, I don’t like weird wolf man! But I couldn’t say the same thing for you?”

“Huh?” 

“I think he likes you, Dolly,”

“No, he doesn’t!” 

“Yes, he does! Didn’t you notice how offered for you to stay?”

“No, he doesn’t, Beth!” 

“Yes, he does, and you do too!”

“Stop it!” 

“You like wolf man!—You like wolf man!—You like wolf man!—You like wolf man!—You like wolf man!—You like-”

“-Stop it! Or else I’ll turn into this rock and stop listening,”

“Fine, jeez!”

The sister's journey took them to a village, where the results of the apocalypse were evident. Bodies of men, women, and children, all scattered and preserved in the harsh coldness. 

“This would’ve been us, Dolly…” Beth remarked.

“Honestly, I would’ve liked it this way,” Dolly replied.

As they stood there, reeling with emotions, their eyes set at a distance. And there it was, the Great River! Once a river of life, now frozen in time.

“Aw, poor fishes, they’re stuck there forever,” Dolly expressed, kneeling on the icy surface with her eyes peering into the frozen river.

“Oh, Jeez, Dolly! How about coming to help me here instead of worrying about some ‘dead fishes’?!”

“You know I can’t use an ice pick, remember what happened last time,”

“For the last time, you didn’t die, your head just fell inside the ice!”

“Well, I saw the light, Beth, I saw it come near me!”

“Well, at least come and haul these ice blocks to the sled so that we can quickly be out of here before we freeze,”

Through the heavy weather, they managed to extract the blocks of ice, and by the time the sunset, they managed to collect all 6 blocks. However, true to form, the last block slipped from Dolly’s hands and slipped into the icy water abyss.

“We should head back before the weather worsens,” Beth urged. 

Using a thick rope, the two pushed the sled, using all of their strength to make it through the treacherous terrain of the icy surface. And by the time they made it, it was already dark, and heavy winds had returned. 

“So you made it?” Benjamin inquired.

“Yes, and we got five blocks. It would’ve been seven if Ms. Clumsy here didn’t mess things up,” Beth said, shooting as playful glance at Dolly

“Well, then you passed the test?”

“The test?” 

“Yes, I wanted to see if you guys could survive these harsh conditions, and it seems you can,”

“Well, thank you, kind sir. And what about the blocks?”

“You can throw those away, remember? I have centuries’ worth of resources stored,”
 

As the three settled into living together, it didn’t take long for Beth to start noticing Benjamin's fixation on Dolly. With her nice blonde hair, and hazel eyes, who could blame him?

He treated her special, often leaving Beth to do all the work while treating Dolly with poorly cooked soups.

And while Dolly might show appreciation for his affection, behind him, she painted a different picture.

“Do you think wolf man likes me?” Dolly asked Beth.

“Oh, no, those warm under-cooked soups, flirty letters with hearts in them, and warm embraces don’t mean he likes you,” Beth responded, clearly being sarcastic as she worked her way scraping the hardwood floor. 

“Well, I don’t like him,” 

“Then tell him!”

“I can’t, I don’t want to break wolf man’s heart, so you do it,”

“I didn’t get all lovey-dovey with him” Beth retorted.

“Please! Please! Please!” Dolly pleaded, kneeling with her hands clenched

“I-I-I’ll even do your work for you,” She continued.

Beth rolled her eyes, “Fine, but don’t blame me if he kicks both of us out,”

As the sisters stood there, they heard the loud steel door open. 

“Oh God! It’s him, I must leave!” Dolly said.

“Now where will you even go? There is no other door here,”

“I don’t know! I’ll… pretend I’m one of these brooms!”

Beth rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics. Soon enough, Benjamin arrived.

“Where’s Dolly?” He asked Beth.

“Uh… She’s… somewhere,” Beth stammered

“Where? Is she hiding from me?”

“No, listen, I need to tell you something, and I don’t think you’re gonna like it,” Beth said urgently.

“Tell me quick! For I need to find Dolly,”

“Dolly is… well, she doesn’t… she is not… ”

Benjamin stood there, waiting for her to continue.

“... she doesn’t ‘feel’ the same way for you, as you do for her,”

“Benjamin, you too aren’t for each other,”

“What utter lies! Dolly loves me!”

“No she doesn’t,” A soft voice murmured from the corner, catching both their attention.

“I’m sorry, Benjamin,”

“No, no! So that’s what you scoundrels do? Seek shelter under my roof, and eat my food and drink my water while eating my feelings away?!”

“No, that’s not how it is,”

“I’ve had enough! You both need to leave!”

“But we can’t go out there right now, it’s too dangerous! Isn’t there any way we could resolve this?”

“No, you both need to leave!”

“But… what about Dolly? Don’t you care for her? Would you want to see the woman you love freeze in the wasteland outside?”

“Does she love me back?”

Beth paused, turning to her sister in the corner, who slowly nodded her head. 

“No, I’m sorry,” Beth replied softly.

With heavy hearts, the sisters soon found themselves in the cold. Armed with nothing but warm clothes, they ventured into the abyss of the icy forest, slowly being engulfed by the heavy winds. 

“Now what?” Dolly asked her sister.

“Now… We try to survive!”

Meanwhile, the broken-hearted Benjamin sat silently inside the bunker, his thoughts about the sisters slowly consuming him. For weeks, he dreamed about them, saw their shadows, and sometimes, he could still hear them arguing with each other about silly things. But nothing could change the grim reality that each morning he woke up alone.

A fierce warrior like him, relying on 2 young girls to cater to him sounded dumb in his head, but deep down, the 52-year-old knew he needed them.

He counted how many days it had been since they disappeared. It had been 10 days and knew time was running out. 

Swiftly, he wore his large bear coat and grabbed his lamp. Opening the heavy steel door, he peered to the left and right, trying to spot any trails on the icy surface. Finally, he saw some footprints on the right.

He follows the footprints, with the heavy winds pushing him in the opposite direction. Eventually, he arrived at the village where the remains of the villagers lay scattered.

But as he made his way through the discarded bodies, his mind reeled with the idea that the next bodies he discovered might be of the two siblings. And after passing through the village, he finally made it to the Great River.

He walked on its icy bridge and saw the spot where the ice blocks had been removed, now frozen over.

Right in front of him, he noticed a scarf. Picked it up, he noticed fresh blood stains on the icy surface. It was the same scarf that Dolly wore.

“Dolly! Beth!” He called out their names.

As he stood there, wondering if he should continue or not, he heard a roar from a distance. He turns to his right but is immediately tackled into the icy surface.

He stared at the beast on top of him—it was a bear. Using his strength, he threw punches, and grapples, eventually managing to get on top of it. When the fight ended, only one of them stood fierce.

As he looked at the bear, he felt a sense of justice had been served. With no other reason to continue searching, he wore his coat and headed back in the direction he came from.

And once he arrived to the bunker, he thought he almost heard the sisters talking as he walked in, clearly his mind playing tricks on him. 

The day went by, and his feeling of loneliness never subsided. Soon, days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned to years. 

Soon, 40 years had passed, and he’d become the last remaining person on earth. At 92, he’d become weak and frail, a contrast to the large and wolf-like appearance he once had. 

As he tried walking to get some water, something seemed to stop him. He collapsed on the hard, cold floor, his vision growing unclear. He tried to move, but to no avail. Slowly, he felt his breath slipping away, knowing it was his final moments. As he lay there, ready to join the others on the other side, he glanced ahead and saw two familiar faces. 

“Dolly… Beth…” He murmured in a soft voice.