“I just don't like the idea of being so far away,” Bobby shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat.

Sophie eagerly tapped her fingers on the steering wheel of the shitty rental car. “You know I have to do this. I can’t let one accident control the rest of my life,” she sighed.

“I know, but why… where everything happened? Why not anywhere else?” he groaned.

Sophie sighed, she didn't feel like rehashing this. It had been a year since she had been here. A fractured leg and an unstable psyche had meant other candidates had gotten the job chasing polar bears. Despite her victory over Mark, she had not come out unscathed, the fact she could never tell anyone the truth had only further frustrated her. He wasn't an attempted murder, he was a poor missing hiker in the eyes of everyone but her.

She absently ran her fingers over her belly. She needed this, to go back.

Bobby was everything Mark hadn't been. He wasn't demanding, he wasn't controlling, and he never made her feel small or stupid. Before everything that might have meant something.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She pulled to a stop in the same place she had parked one year ago. She stepped from the car inhaling the cool air, it was a breath of fresh air from the loud polluted city.

“How are you not cold?” Bobby laughed, pulling his scarf tighter around his face as he unloaded their packs from the car.

Sophie shrugged and adjusted her lucky tuque.

Bobby put a hand on her shoulder, “You really sure you're up for this?”

“I’m pregnant Bobby, not senile,” Sophie huffed, pulling her backpack on.

Bobby held up his hands in defeat but she could see the flicker of worry in his eyes.

The hike was harder than Sophie remembered but she was out of shape. She had gotten soft in the city. Despite her beating heart, it was peaceful. Bobby was chatty in a way Mark had never been, right now though Sophie found it impossible to listen to what he was saying.

He had “always wanted to be a dad,” Sophie hadn’t bothered telling him it wasn't his. Sophie glanced down at her black nails which she usually covered with polish. Had she not been forever changed by the Howling One perhaps she would have convinced herself it was all a dream. But the pregnancy was too slow to be human and her nails had continued to grow into talons. Maybe it should have terrified her but she found comfort in it.

A purpose beyond the mundanity of life. To bring the Howling One into this world. Maybe she could not live in between words but she could still reunite them. She knew her heart had thawed, or else how could she feel so alive?

Cold wind howled around them and she clutched the hunting knife in her pocket. They would eat well tonight and they would grow big and strong.

“Soon my dear,” she whispered to the wilderness itself. She felt the cold embrace her as Bobby trailed behind her to his doom.