The Coldness of Siberian nights
Summary: When Dr. Logan Berrie got sent to Siberia to research flora and fauna of the harsh russian taiga, he did not expect his whole world to change. Seems like none of his knowledge had prepared him for what he would find here.
Warnings: Gore, Violence, soft swearing
I am not a native english speaker, so I apologize in advance for possible grammar and vocab mistakes.
Word count: 1547
Chapter 1
Dr. Logan Berrie, best in his field of expertise at the Exeter University, did not believe in monsters, ghosts and frights of the night. Neither did he think that all those legends or myths that people told each other were at all true.
Sure most of the old tales had some kind of moral core or deeper meaning to them that justified the pure abstrusity of their content, but his entire life he had been fairly certain, that there was no way creatures like ghouls, vampires or werewolves could actually exist.
Talking animals, flying carpets or brooms, magic and fairies. None of these things were something he would concern himself with, for as a scientist he only believed in, or rather trusted two things: the scientific evidence on his desk or in his labor and himself.
But somehow he had just started to question the latter.
Because, if there was no way that those creatures existed, why did he find himself sitting in the snow of the harsh siberian forest, rescued from a glibbery creature, which he couldn't quite get a grasp on, by a giant black wolf, that certainly exceeded the heights and strength and intelligence of any normal siberian wolf?
In fact, the animal held the size of a bear, but it's facial features and anatomy clearly pointed it out to be a wolf. A male siberian wolf.
And just now it stood on top of whatever was left of the unknown creature, that had attacked the scientist earlier, blood and gore smeared into its fur and entrails scattered beneath it's giant paws, staring at Logan with soft curiosity in it's... His glistening lilac eyes.
Logan felt his breath falter and his heart rate jumped to unhealthy heights, when the wolf slowly started to approach him.
In a panicked frenzy he tried crawling backwards, out of the reach of the animals giant fangs, while he desperately looked for his bear rifle.
God he was too young to die. He still had to finish so much research! Write some scientific papers!
Nonononono!
He just finished his dissertation, got the doctors degree. He was not finished with this world yet!
The wolf didn't stop. He slowly took one step after the other to bridge the distance between themselves and the panicking scientist.
Logan's clumsy, numb fingers brushed through ice cold snow, branches and half rotten leaves, But the early taigan nightfall had already covered the land with its shady blanket and the condensed water on Logans glasses, that had slowly rearranged its molecules to form ice crystals, worsened his sight even more.
Where was his rifle?
He must have dropped it somewhere around here. It had to be here!
The air that escaped his lips turned to thick clouds of vapor in front of his face and even glittered softly in the moonlight, as if it turned to ice as soon as it left the warmth of the doctors body.
The temperature had dropped drastically with the disappearance of the sun. But Logan didn't even notice.
Those lilac eyes that were directed at him sent an awkward feeling through his body. It was a mixture of pure fear and a weird calmness that took hold of his limbs. He suddenly felt the need to sit still and just wait for the beast to reach him, because it would be okay.
Except clearly it wouldn't.
He would be eaten alive, ripped to shreds like that thing earlier. (He could still hear the creatures screeching echoing between the cedar trees) and he fought with all his minds strength against this numbness in his body that took over his mind.
Again Logan looked around for anything that could help him (at this point he didn't even care what it was as long as it was pointy and/or deadly in any other way), when his eyes suddenly got caught by the reflection of the moon on the barrel of his rifle only a few feet away and he pushed himself up in one desperately fluid motion, jumped over to the weapon, grabbed it and swirled around to point it at…. Nothing.
The wolf was gone.
Vanished without a trace, safe his paw prints in the snow.
The cold and the stress had exhausted him and the walk back to the relative safety of his Jeep had felt like a marathon run.
Now, back in the warmth of the log cabin that his university had rented for him in the outskirts of a small russian town, he didn't have the strength to think over today's events, he couldn't even read a book.
After he forced down a hot cup of tea and some slices of the hard, dark russian bread, he went straight to bed.
Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe it all had been just a dream.
But of course it wasn't.
When Logan woke up the next day his body hurt in places, he didn't even know existed.
His fingers felt as if they had been under high pressure. A side effect of a near frostbite, he was sure. And he had various scratches and smaller wounds on his limbs that needed treatment.
A look in the mirror showed several more bruises and some cuts from when the slimy monster… no not monster. There was no such thing as a monster… the creature … had initially attacked, before the wolf had shown up.
His hair was a mess and dirt and parts of leaves and branches sticked out of it but nothing a shower couldn't mend.
He took his normal clothes, in which he had slept in, off and threw them into the litter, without giving them a second glance. They were shredded and bloodstained and beyond repair.
His thermoisolating coat and trousers were damaged as well. Maybe he could repair them, but he would probably just have to buy new clothes.
The fabric couldn't guarantee a sufficient thermal isolation with all these holes in it and here in this unforgiving part of the world, a good isolation could decide on life or death.
After his shower and a forced down breakfast of one slice of bread with some cheese, he decided to make good use of the limited daylight here in the northern hemisphere and go shopping for new clothes first, before deciding or thinking about anything else. Especially about yesterday evening.
First things first, second things second, right?
Logan turned his Jeep into the parking lot of a small shop that sold outdoor clothing amongst other things and got out of the car with shaky knees.
During the drive here the dark trees in the distance and the reflection of sun rays on the snow had reminded him of the terror that he had felt the night before.
But to his own surprise, the fearful thoughts weren't directed at the giant, clearly not normal wolf, but at the other thing.
The thing that had more limbs than a normal mammal should have, with slimy skin that seemed clearly impractical for living in the harsh russian taiga, due to the fact that it should freeze. That thing that didn't even care about any of these points and still had wandered around the forest attacking people.
What the hell was that thing?!
The doorbell chimed a little too joyously, when he entered the store and he was immediately greeted by a very happy man in light blue, that distracted him from his thoughts about whether or not he should go back to examine the remains of the body.
"Hi! Hello there! Welcome to Patton's practical store! If you need something, just let me know and I'll be all there for you!"
The cheery guy beamed at Logan before his smile slightly faltered, when he sighted the scratches all over the scientists face.
"Oh my, what happened to you?!"
Before Logan could even think about answering that question, the man, probably Patton, had taken his hand and towed him into a small room in the back of the store, where he placed him on a soft light brown couch with way too many pillows and put a cup of hot green tea on the coffee table in front of the scientist.
"Thank you, but that was really not necessary",
Logan weakly announced, when the man put a bowl full of at least 7 different sorts of cookies next to his cup.
"You poor thing got all bruised up! Did you have an accident? Do you need a doctor? I have never seen you here before. Are you on vacation?"
"N...no! No I'm fine. Thank you.. erm..?"
"Patton! I'm Patton! You can call me Pat!"
"Well thank you, Patton, but I am fine. Really. I just need some… clothing. Isolation clothes against the cold. For an excursion. You see I'm a biochemist. I explore the flora and fauna of the area."
Patton's expression changed. Just very slightly, very subtly, but it did.
A hint of caution and concern now accompanied the shallow joy in his light blue eyes.
"So you have been to the forest lately, then?"
He asked, still smiling, while taking a cookie himself, trying to look nonchalant, but in Logan's opinion clearly failing.
The scientist furrowed his brows. Something about the store owners reaction seemed off.