User:Jetfire/The Bear Facts
 | [[:Category:Paradise|Paradise]] story universe |
[[Setting::Paradise| ]]
{{#if:Nuvola apps bookcase.png|}} | Works by Jetfire on Shifti |
 | This story is a work in progress. |
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VERY MUCH A WIP. It is NOT complete yet, and subject to a full scale rewrite depending on how things go. I'm trying to guide the characters towards a certain event and they're taking their time getting to it. This half is done now, but there's a second half to the story I'm working on now as a bit of a counterpoint to the first part. At least as far as I can tell so far, the second half isn't a full 'half', it should be shorter (I hope).
After doing more reading on Newfoundland and the Canadian Coast Guard, I've figured out where the Haywards moved to. It's a little village named Lark Harbour, about an hour west of Corner Brook, on the west coast. I found some pictures of what it looks like at: Lark Harbour Pictures. It even has a Coast Guard Station in real life.
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May 2008
Shiloh grunted and lifted the heavy case of recording equipment into the back of the van. She shoved it to one side and pulled her own bag forward, rummaging around inside it. Finding the mic and recorder, she pocketed them and slammed the back of the van shut. She pushed the airport baggage cart to a corral.
The raccoon climbed into the front seat of the van and turned it on, turning up the heat. Even fur couldn't completely cut out the chill of a Newfoundland spring evening. She adjusted the seat so her tail was only mildly cramped instead of completely crimped, and clipped the mic to the collar of her shirt.
"Recorder? Check. Maps? Check. Water? Check. Snacks? Check," she mumbled to herself preparing to hit the road. Satisfied that all was in order, she put the car in gear and followed the directions to the road to Corner Brook.
"Personal journal, May 27. Well it's about 9PM now, and I'm back on the Rock, just leaving Stephenville. As usual, the weather is lousy," she paused and flicked the wipers to a faster speed as a gust of freezing rain hit the windshield. "and I've got to figure out how to spin this story both for the Changed and for the norms.
"So far the story has stayed fairly quiet while others have worked to bring the man back to life. But local and other media have been sniffing at it. With him being a Changed who's not used to the spotlight, the risk is simply too great he'll reveal something he shouldn't talking to Normal reporters.
"Thus, I found myself called off the oil discoveries in Saskatchewan and flown back to the Rock to talk to the Haywards and prepare a story safe for the normal media. Hopefully once the initial news shock fades, combined with their remote home location, there won't be many norms poking around. WHOA!
She felt a gust of wind hit the side of the van and the wheels begin to slip on the road. She twisted the wheel and got the vehicle back under control. She eased her paw off the pedals and let the van slow a bit more while she calmed down.
"Anyways, I'm staying in Corner Brook tonight. Gonna do some more research and then meet the Haywards and their friends out at Lark Harbour tomorrow. Now I'm gonna stop talkin' before I talk myself right off this damned highway."
She flicked the recorder off and peered ahead through the darkness. The high-beams of an approaching vehicle blinded her a moment before he shifted back to low-beams. She blinked the stars from her eyes, cursing under her breath. "I hate two lane highways," she grumbled, bracing herself as she noticed a glow hidden by a hill in the road ahead.
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She pulled off the side of the road and pulled out her camera. The reporter climbed out of the vehicle and walked ahead, turning the camera on to film some establishing shots. Voice overs could be added later, covering any story from the restoration of the fishing industry, to the story on the furries living in a small town.
The sky overhead was overcast, threatening showers like most spring days did. Weather reports, for what they were worth out here, weren't expecting any significant rainfall until the evening.
A headland extended out into the dark sea, both clear of snow and ice now, but blocks of white ice dotted the horizon where the open ocean lurked.
Below the headland, nestled in the curve of a rocky beach, was a village of about 400 people, going about their business as usual. She wasn't an expert on fishing communities by any stretch of the imagination, but there did seem to be a lot of new-looking gear and equipment around the village. Signs of the reopening fisheries most likely.
Judging she had enough setting footage, she climbed back into her van and checked the map. Rebeca's instructions were clear, not that there were many roads to get lost on.
She drove down the gravel road that bent around a large hill, and finally saw the residence, nestled in a slight valley, it's back against the forest. The house itself was new, but built in the style of the salt box style that made up the village nearby. Two trucks and a car were parked in front of a large combination garage and storage shed. The driveway itself continued past the shed into the woods where she could just make out the framework of something being built.
Shiloh beeped the horn twice, then turned the vehicle off and stepped out. Her ears swiveled a bit, picking up hints of conversation and construction coming from the site deeper into the woods. She was beginning to think she'd have to move in deeper when the front door of the house opened.
A normal woman walked out, dressed for the weather and carrying a covered basket. "How's she goin' b'y? You must be the reporter Becky said was coming out. Come on in and make yerself at home. I gotta go fetch the others," she called out, not even reacting to the appearance of a raccoon standing next to the van.
Shiloh hid a frown that threatened to show on her muzzle, annoyed at the presence of the woman. The agreement for the interviews had been to have no normals around, yet here was one. In the back of her mind, she placed the woman's accent, the normal Newfie dialect, tempered from the city, probably St John's. "So this is the Hayward residence? I'm Shiloh, the reporter as you guessed."
The woman smiled. "It sure is. Get your gear and take it right on in. I'll go fetch the others." She walked down the steps and headed towards the path before stopping and glancing back. "Now don't you be thinking of swiping anything while you're in there alone," she said with an exaggerated wink.
Shiloh stood there a moment, wondering what to make of the comment, and wondering what she had got herself into. She shook her head and started grabbing her gear, her mind moving ahead, reviewing her question lines and figuring out which ones were too furry to ask in normal company.
"Can I give you a hand with that?" a new voice, male asked her, jolting her back to the present.
'Newfie native, only slight urban polish', she mentally classified the accent, turning to face the speaker. She fought down another groan, seeing a normal man waiting for permission to grab the camera case. "Sure, if you don't mind," she granted permission, grabbing a case of cables and her note pad. One normal she might have been able to make excuses to send away, but two made things extra difficult. She briefly toyed with the idea of rescheduling to another day.
"I don't mind at all. Name's Richard. Me girl, Sherry, met me on the path and told me you was here," he explained, hefting the camera and grabbing the tripod case. He waited for her to close the doors of the van, chuckling when she hit the lock button on the remote out of habit.
"So you're the cub reporter sent out to break our story," he commented as he lead her to the house.
"The what?... err yeah I guess so," she recovered, swishing her tail in annoyance. Richard seemed to find something amusing about her irritation, but she couldn't figure out what. The names clicked from the briefing on the discovery; the two had been with the furs when Eric found Fred. There hadn't been any mention about them knowing the truth though.
The house was somewhat sparse, but well lived in. Her nose easily picked up the scents of wolf, ferret and bear, along with the smells of a hot meal from the kitchen. To the side of the door, was a mat with normal looking footwear and a couple of pairs of boots she recognized from Furgonomics. She was surprised to see them out in the open like that. She tried to hide them with her own bag as she crouched to start to take her own shoes off.
"Nah, don't bother. Becky said not to mind yer shoes," Richard assured her, setting the camera case down at the base of the stairs. "They'll be here soon. Didn't want to leave that sheet half nailed up after all."
"Sure, thanks," Shiloh said, her eyes and nose taking in the house. The big room to her right had been redone into a temporary bedroom. From the strong smells coming from it, it seemed to be where Fred was staying for now. Ahead of her, was a staircase leading to the second floor and the bedrooms and whatever else would be up there. On her right, another large room served as the family room, the couch moved closer to the TV to make room for a misplaced desk and office setup.
Richard looked around the entry and the two side rooms and hm'ed to himself. "You'll probably want to do the interviews outside. Fred's sleeping in the old office right now, which makes the living room rather cramped. Dining room's not much better. But you're the expert at this. Let me give you the nickel tour."
He lead her through the living room and into a dining room, the table covered in paperwork, some Coast Guard related, most lawyer related from the brief glance Shiloh could see. The dining room lead into the kitchen where her nose told her a cooked fish of some sort was in the oven. Other pots simmered on the stove. The kitchen table here was cleared and set for five.
A closed door lead into the former office, and another door lead to a combined laundry and bathroom. A third door, roughly under the stairs going to the second floor, lead to the basement.
"Mmmm nice to be getting this on the cheap again," Richard said, inhaling deeply. "Sherry's cod's not quite as good as ma's, but damn close."
"It does smell delicious," Shiloh admitted, a flash of white out the window catching her eye. She moved to the sink and looked out, spying three figures walking through the forest, heading to the back door. The white was from the white fur of the arctic wolf. Beside him, a brown furred ferret, with black paws and a black mask walked. On his other side, strode the first woman she had seen at the house. Laughter reached her ears through the open window.
She tapped her claw on the side of the sink, studying the trio. Something about them was setting her instincts off, and she couldn't figure out what. Her eyes drifted lower and everything fit together. She stamped down a grin and turned to the door to greet her interview subjects. She would not need to change her question lines after all.
"Shiloh, this is Eric and his fiancé, Rebeca. And since she probably forgot to introduce herself in her rush to leave, that is my girl, Sherry," Robert introduced them.
She reached out and shook hands and paws. "Good to meet you," she said. She took Sherry's now empty hand and grinned. "Don't worry, this raccoon's got no interest in swiping your silverware. I'm just after your information."
Sherry's face fell, and she mock glared at Richard. "You warned her!" she accused.
He held up his hands defensively. "I did not! I didn't hint a thing!"
Shiloh chuckled, glad to have pulled one over on them, since they'd clearly been planning to pull one over on her. "He didn't, he's... mostly innocent. Eric and Rebeca tipped me off. They forgot to put on shoes today, even ghost ones, and none of you even noticed."
The group chuckled and began to move about the kitchen, preparing lunch.
"Well, welcome to our home in any case. And thank you for offering to help us make Da's big announcement. I doubt he's in any condition to handle a full press scrum. Not if we want to keep the Veil intact at least," Rebeca said, her accent similar to the Newfies, but reflecting her upbringing on Cape Breton.
"Of course. I love the Rock anyways. It certainly beats doing another story on those oil fields out in Saskatchewan. Or another Olympics story in BC." Shiloh glanced out the window, looking for another sign of movement. One hand slipped into her pocket to turn on the recorder. "Where is Mr Hayward anyways? He isn't sick is he?"
Eric shook his head. "Nah, he prefers to eat alone when he can. And it takes him some time to prepare himself before he meets strangers. Seven years of isolation and some bear instincts make him just a bit antisocial. Luckily we're far enough from major population centers that being social isn't a big requirement. He'll be along in his own time."
Shiloh nodded. 'Rural Newfie, no city veneer when among friends. DAMN I'm gonna need to subtitle the entire interview at this rate,' she mentally classified his accent and its implications.
"No problem, seeing you all together now, I think I'd rather start by talking to you first, and bring him in later. I can always reorder it in edit it afterwards depending on how things go," she explained.
"Eat first, business second," Sherry said, forcing a plate into Shiloh's paws and giving her a gently shove to the table.
She sat down and waited for the others to settle down and say a brief Grace. "So I take it you looked me up when you heard I was coming or something? Mmmm this is delicious."
"More or less. I remembered you from that announcement in January, and Becky looked up the rest. Not that it would have mattered. Sherry can see through the Veil," Eric explained.
Shiloh lifted her eyebrows and looked at Sherry. "You can? That's a very rare ability, to see clearly."
The woman blushed and swallowed. "Yeah, I have no idea what makes me special. I mean, my twin changed but I didn't, so I figure it might be related to that or something but..." she shrugged.
The reporter let the thread drop and listened as the conversation moved around her, doing her best to pierce the accents so she'd be ready for the subtitling task ahead of her.
"So that building out back, I take it you're building a new place for your dad?" Shiloh asked during a lull in the conversation.
Eric nodded, sipping a cold beer. "Yeah, the house is big enough for the three of us, but he likes his own area, and Becky and I have to think of our own futures too. A place out back, far enough away to offer privacy, but close enough that he doesn't become a complete recluse is going to work well."
She nodded and waited a beat, to try and see if any more was coming, or any other topics were coming up. She decided it was time to give them an overview.
"Okay, well then, I'll go over more details once we get started, but I'd like to give you an overview of what the interviews will be like. I'll be asking you questions, about your lives, what set you off to look for Fred, what you did to find him, and what it's been like to have him back. Please be honest with your responses.
"Since I'm basically doing two interviews, one intended for general use, I will repeat questions, and I'll indicate if I want you to downplay and hide the furry elements. If you can't figure out how to answer a question without mentioning the Change, or your furred natures just say so, we can work out an answer, or try approaching the question from a different angle that may make it easier.
"When I ask a question, wait until I finish before answering. It'll make it easier for me to edit the pieces together if we aren't talking over each other.
"The official story for your father is that he was dazzled by the snow and ice out there and wandered away from his crew and got lost, including losing his hat. Luckily for him, he wandered across the ice, westward until he reached land. Somewhere along the line, he had an accident, a conk on the noggin, and forgot who he was and where he was trying to get to. So once he reached land, he found a cave, set up home and lived there in isolation until you found him."
She noted the expressions on the quartet and held up her paw. "I know, I know, not the best of stories. Any sailor worth their salt up here would believe it as far as they could throw their boat. But it'll play well on the Mainland and it's enough to get him back in the Living in the government systems.
"Lets just hope we can hold off CTV and CBC from doing a 'Movie of the Week' on it until more change and the REAL story can come out."
Eric nodded, still unhappy with the story, but accepting it. He stood up and gathered some of the plates. "Well, we're wasting daylight now. Where do you want to set up for the interview?"
She stood as well and picked up her plate to help with the cleanup. Sherry reached over and snatched it from her paws. "Leave the cleanup to us; you have some preparations to do," she told the raccoon.
"Fine, fine. As for the interview, I had hoped to do it inside, but you don't really have the space. Not for five of you. I'll check around outside and try to pick a spot, but probably next to your garage will be best. The ground looks dry enough there, and the garage itself is a neutral enough colour to act as a backdrop. I just need to check the light levels."
Rebeca started wrapping up the leftovers. "Okay, Eric, why don't you go check on your father. Richard, help Shiloh with what you need. Sherry and I can finish the cleanup here, and we'll get some clean shirts for you two and Da."
Richard and the reporter headed back to the front of the house and gathered the equipment. Together, they went to the garage. Shiloh walked around it slowly, scanning the building and the area with an experienced eye.
"Okay, we'll need to move the cars back, shut the door and get five chairs. This is probably the best angle we can go with, right in front of the doors," she announced. She rummaged in the bags and pulled out a light meter, and frowned. "We're going to need more light though. And not that sodium bulb over the door."
"What about the truck's lights? He's got spots over the cab," Richard pointed out. "We've got some work spotlights out at the construction site; I could call Eric and ask him to bring them in."
Shiloh thought the options over and nodded. "Those would work. Bring'em in."
Together, they assembled a makeshift studio in front of the garage, setting up the two cameras she brought, placing chairs and running power cables to plugs in the house and garage.
"Four throat mics, six speakers. This isn't going to work," Shiloh was musing to herself, trying to figure out how to stretch her supplies.
"Where do yah want da lights?" a deep voice growled for her attention.
She jumped, dropping a battery pack. Turning to the speaker, she saw a chest of white. Her eyes lifted up and up and up until she finally saw a dark nose and the rounded face of the polar bear. She locked eyes with him for a moment and felt a cold shiver ran down her spine.
"Um over there please," she pointed vaguely, trying to recenter herself. She'd dealt with large furs before, from Wallace the moose, to the Inuit Muskox in Yellowknife, and they'd never been a problem for her. She'd even dealt with predators and bears before; the black bear in Richmond BC had been a really pleasant to interview. But Fred was different. His eyes had something she'd never seen before. She now realized her other subjects all had one thing in common that Fred didn't have; they had all kept their ties to civilization after they changed.
This man of a bear was different though. He had gone native soon after changing, and was only a few weeks back in human life. His eyes especially were inhuman. They were intelligent, but nearly inhuman, showing the patient hunter waiting for the need and the opening to make his move.
She watched the bear easily set down the pair of heavy worklights he was carrying and stand them up.
"Shiloh, I'd like you to meet my father. Fred Hayward. Da, this is the reporter we told you about, Shiloh Watson. She's going to keep your return from becoming a media circus," Eric introduced them.
"As opposed to the normal circus this house usually is," Richard commented dryly, earning a glare from Eric.
"A pleasure to meet you, sir," Shiloh said politely, offering her hand. She barely winced as it was engulfed in the white paw and squeezed.
"Thank you," the big man rumbled, releasing her hand.
She smiled at him and turned shaking her paw in the air once it was hidden by her body. "Now, lets get this together. Fred, do you mind sitting on a box instead of a chair? We need to equalize your heights a bit. I need those lights up now, and pointed to the chairs."
She set the three men to work to finish the setup. The girls came out soon enough, with flannel shirts for the wolf and bear to put on, which forced her to readjust the lighting again.
She glanced up at the thickening cloud cover and clapped her paws together. "Okay people, I think that's as good as this is gonna get. Lets get into position and get ready. Fred, you're on the end, Eric next to him then Becky and Sherry and Richard. Richard, I'm going to need your help with this."
"Me? What do you need me for?"
"I need your unChanged eyes, to make sure the cameras are centered in the right positions, and to make sure we aren't busting the veil unintentionally. Normally I'd have a techie with me to handle this sort of stuff, but we weren't able to scare up a Known one in time. I was just going to guess it, but since you're here, you're drafted."
Richard looked a little disappointed. "So you won't be interviewing me too?"
She chuckled. "Sure I will. You'll be on camera with the rest of them most of the time. I just need your help to make sure I don't cut off ghost heads by mistake. Places please people.
"This camera is the overview one. It won't move through the interview, but provides the big group shot. Please try not to look at it," she explained, pointing to the centered camera while adjusting the seating positions.
"The other camera is for closeups. I'll be controlling that one and using it to focus on you when answering questions. That is the one you want to look at, but you don't have to look at it all the time. If it helps, look at me behind it when answering. Richard, can you come take a look at this?"
She looked at a pair of screens set up near the cameras and adjusted the main camera. "Are any of the fur's cut off or anything? I'm centered on their trueforms now."
Richard looked at the screen, then back up at the people sitting. "You're a bit low on Eric and Becky. Not much though. Fred's fine."
"He's fine?" Shiloh asked, disbelievingly. She looked up at the big mass of a man-bear at the end of the group. "You must have been a big man before you changed, sir."
"I was," the man rumbled, uncomfortable under the lights and attention.
She shooed Richard back to his seat and adjusted the closeup camera. Finally, she checked the sound levels from the four throat mics and the hand mic she'd scrounged up for Richard and Sherry to share. "Sorry for the delay everyone. It's a lot for one person to do. But considering your situation and our subject, an UnKnown tech wouldn't work. You have no idea how many tech's and cameramen have become or almost become Known because they were filming Changed.
"Remember, answer normally and truthfully. Don't hide your true nature. If I need a non-furry take on a question, I'll mention it. And if you don't feel like answering a question, just say so and we'll move on. I'm on your side here after all. The questions may seem to be in a weird order, but don't worry about it. I have to cut this down to a five minute article and a two minute clip anyways, so most of it will never be seen past my eyes anyways."
She started the interview, focusing mostly on the quartet of friends first to give Fred time to get used to how it would work. She was surprised to discover they had only known each other a few months; from their interactions she would have guessed they had been together for years. Most of the questions she knew wouldn't apply for the final cuts so she didn't press when furryness slipped into the answer. There were a few questions that had to be answered non-furried.
"Okay Eric, lets try that question again, this time for the norms. Feel free to drop into cliches if you need to. What made you so certain your father was still alive out there for you to find?"
She zoomed in on the wolf, staying far enough back to catch the other two furs looking at him for the answer. "It's hard to say what made me so certain. 7 years, that's a long time after all. I guess I just had a hard time giving up on him. He was the master outdoorsman all while we were growing up. I couldn't accept that the outdoors had finally gotten him. So I put out feelers basically, not sure what I was looking for exactly, and eventually, rumors of a hermit living far far from anyone else got to me and I had to look into it."
She gave him a thumbs up and shifted to the bear. "Fred, when Eric finally found you, what were your thoughts?" She wanted to use the second half of the interview to focus on the bear, but she tossed a few questions his way to keep him in the discussion and to draw him out more. Her attempts were working.
The bear hesitated, gathering his thoughts. She worried he had frozen again, but his rumbling voice spoke up.
"Confusing. That's what my thoughts were at first. Who was that creature? Why was he in my territory?Why was he so persistent? I didn't recognize him at first, but then he showed me the picture and things started coming back to me." She nodded approvingly when, without prompting, he pointed to the picture they had set up on a covered table next to his crate. It wasn't the actual picture Eric had taken, but a blown up version the family had made afterwards.
"Then there was more confusion. What was he doing there? What had happened to him? Was Jeffrey okay?"
"And finally there was relief. I wasn't alone any more. I wasn't the only monster out there."
She nodded, making a mental reminder to cut the last line out for the public record.
"Eric, what about you? What were your thoughts as you approached that cave?"
The wolf tilted his head while he thought over his answer. "They were a mess, that's what they were. I had my doubts about if it really was him. And worries that he might not even be there, or that I couldn't convince him that I was his son. And I was scared shitless that I might do something to anger him. I've read up on polar bears, and read the rumors of the other bear morph out west, seen dad's work first hand out on the ice, and I didn't fancy the thought of being mauled."
"An incident with another bear?" Shiloh asked, her curiosity piqued.
He shrugged. "It's all rumors from what I could discover. Something about a bear morph out west in the States, and how he may have killed someone in his house. Happened a few years ago I think."
She made a physical note to not forget about it, and moved on to a few more questions on other subjects. Finally she called a break.
"You're doing great guys. Take ten while I make sure everything's recording right. When we get back, I'll be focusing more on you Fred, and your life on the ice and in the woods."
The family and friends got up and stretched, some wandering back to the house. Becky brought out a tray with cups of coffee and ice water. Shiloh took the mug of coffee and nodded her thanks, sipping it black. She plugged in a set of headphones and randomly checked the recorded scenes, nodding in satisfaction. She reset the equipment to prepare for the next half and wandered over to the others.
"How are you all holding up?" she asked, casting a purposeful look at Fred.
"Doing fine," he growled softly.
She sipped her own drink. "Good good. No need to rush, the rain's holding off," she said, glancing up at the clouds.
Eric flicked his ears and sniffed the air. "Not for too much longer. But we should have a good hour before it breaks."
"Right, then lets get this done before we get rained on. Places please."
After a few final checks, she started the cameras and nodded to Fred. "Okay Fred, lets go back to late 2000. If you don't mind, can you share a few words about your change? What were you thinking back then and that sort of thing."
The polar bear seemed nervous at first, not sure where to begin. Shiloh waited, letting him go at his own speed.
"It's been a long time, but I guess I was concerned... concerned and worried. I was worried about what I looked at, wondering if it was all in my mind. I quickly figured out that it wasn't. Then I worried about what my boys would do if they saw me... and what they would do if I was gone. They were still in school, and it was only two years since Mary left us," he lowered his head in mourning for a moment, then continued.
"When they couldn't see me... the real me, I only became more confused. These claws, they were real, and very strong, yet they only saw the old me. I didn't know what to make of it.
"I began to worry ma boys would get whatever I caught, and started to distance myself from them. I couldn't cut them loose, not completely, but I left them more and more to their own devices. Eric, he had a good head on his shoulders, I knew he could keep him and Jeff together, but it wasn't easy I know."
"It's okay da. I understand what it was like for you now. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for you to do it alone," Eric comforted his father, squeezing a paw.
"So you took care of your boys while trying to keep away from them, to keep them safe. What made you decide to go sealing the next spring?" Shiloh asked.
"Well, the winter, she was difficult. The house was too hot for me, but I tried to hide it. I became less worried about the boys catching whatever changed me, and more worried that I might hurt them in other ways. These claws aren't just for show after all.
"By spring, I'd read up on polar bears and I had to know. How much of me was bear and how much of me was me. I'd never gone sealing before, but I'd been fishing and crabbing and hunting, so I didn't have trouble getting on that crew and heading out to the ice.
"We found a small colony pretty early on, and set out onto the ice. I anchored one end of the line and we surrounded the colony and moved in for the kill. Jimmy made the first one, not that it mattered much since soon everyone else was in there, swinging and skinning.
"The smell of blood filled the air, and made me feel weird. It made me feel hungry, a hunger I never knew I had before. I looked around the killing ice, and was torn, part of me wanting to go in and eat my fill, another part wanting to scare off the intruders, and another scared about what I was feeling. That last part won out in the end.
"Not wanting to hurt anyone, I ran. I didn't know where I was going, but I just ran, losing my hat, not that I needed it, along the way." He laughed nervously. "All that and I didn't even kill a seal that day.
"A storm rolled in soon after I ran and I knew I was in trouble. I should've gone back to the ship, but my feelings were a mess. I didn't know if I could go back there, with all that blood and meat, and keep control of myself.
"I took shelter in the lee of a chunk of ice and waited the storm out. I knew it was cold out there, but it didn't feel bad at all for me. I could barely feel the wind except on my face, and even that wasn't too bad.
"When the storm was over, I backtracked, to where we had done the first kills. I found the blood and some left overs, all covered in a thin sheet of ice, but the ship was gone. I was alone on the ice pack."
The bear fell silent for a moment. Shiloh let it hold, moving the camera over the rapt expressions on the other four before urging him to continue. "What did you do after you discovered you were abandoned?"
The big bear-man shrugged. "I did the only thing I could do. I shifted to survival mode. I was beginning to feel ravenous by then, so I started to chip out some of the bloody ice when I heard something crying over the winds. I found a white coat at the edge of the ice. I know I shouldn't have hunted it, but it was either me or him, and I was bigger.
"From there, I figured I had to find another ship to head back to shore on. We had landed in the middle of the pack, so one direction was as good as another, so I set out, following the edge of the ice pack, looking for another ship.
"I lost track of time and place, just wandering out there, on the edge of the pack. When I got hungry, I would follow my nose and the signs on the ice until I found another seal. It wasn't until I saw land across an open stretch of water that I realized how far I had to have gone. I wasn't lost exactly, but I just wasn't paying attention to where I was.
"Had I thought about it, I probably would never have done it. But my fur was getting grimy and it just seemed so natural. For the first time, I dove into the water and swam to shore. Don't get me wrong, that water was COLD, but not as cold as I expected. To be honest, it felt great, and drove home just how different I was."
Shiloh glanced around to make sure the equipment was working fine. She didn't want to interrupt the bear's narrative, nor did anyone else. "So what did you do once you reached shore?" she prodded him to continue.
"Turns out the land I saw was an island. Anticosti if I remember right. I found an isolated area near the sea and set up my base there. There really isn't much to say about it though, I just worked on living, catching some deer and rodents and foraging and stuff."
"You weren't interested in finding others any more?"
He shook his head. "I think my mind went a bit fuzzy from being alone for so long. Sometimes I'd get close to the village, or go near some hikers and campers in the summer, just to hear them talk, but I never felt the need to approach them. I missed my boys, but I was satisfied out there. And I figured the rest of the world was safe from what had made me like this if I kept myself away from them."
"So what were your days like?"
"It depends on where I was. When I was on the ice, it was just wandering around, star gazing at night, hunting during the day.
"When I was on land, I still did a lot of star gazing, but I also took up wood carving, when I wasn't foraging and hunting. And sometimes hanging out near other campers and such as I mentioned before."
"You weren't found on Anticosti island. You were found on the Labrador Peninsula. What made you move?"
"Luck I guess. Good or bad is anyone's guess. Though I set up a small camp on the island, I wasn't particularly tied to it. And in the winter, I found myself spending a lot of time out on the ice and in the water anyways. A few years or so ago, the ice wasn't as thick as it normally is, so I wandered further and further north. When it was time to go to shore for the spring, I was no where near where I usually was. So I cut my loses and made a new camp, in the cave where I was found."
"Speaking of where you were found, what were you thinking when they found you? I understand you tried to warn them away ahead of time?"
He lowered his head and nodded. "I found their camp near my cave late that night. I wasn't in a particularly good mood either that day. A deer I'd been hunting had gotten away from me after a chase. I was tired, hungry and in a foul mood.
"I had no idea who they were at the time, just that they were intruders. So when one of them... when Richard went off by himself I warned him away. Had I known Eric was with them, I'd've just turned around and kept walking. That boy's got his mama's stubborn streak and then some," he grinned at his son.
"Speaking of your son, what did you feel when you realized it was him who had tracked you down?"
"I didn't believe it at first. That wolf man couldn't be him. There couldn't be more like me out there. Then I was saddened, sad that I hadn't been able to keep what happened to me from happening to him. And then as he told me everything that he'd been doing I was proud. Proud of what he had done, and what he was doing, both before and after he Changed."
"Do you have any regrets? Anything you wish you could undo?"
The bear took a long time pondering his answer. "I regret leaving my boys like that. For not being with them all those years. For not being able to tell them how proud I was of them for doing what they did."
Shiloh smiled and zoomed in on the wolf, catching Eric's mix of embarrassment and pride at his fathers comments.
"Now that you're back, what are your plans?" she asked after letting Eric wiggle a bit.
"I plan to take my time, get used to the changes going on in the world. Maybe head out on the ice or the boats again, now that I know I'm not a freak nor am I a risk to change anyone else. No matter what I do, I know I'll have a home waiting for me here, and I will use it.
"I also plan to make sure I don't miss any more events. Eric and Becky, a fine young lady for my boy, have their wedding coming up. And Jeff will be graduating next year. Plus he's got his own change coming sometime. I'll be there for them, and anything else that comes up."
Shiloh nodded and shifted her line of questions, bringing the other four back into the discussion with some easier questions while she mentally reviewed Fred's story. She asked a few more questions about his story, giving him hints about what to say to hide his true nature. Finally, as the mist thickened in the air, verging on rain, she called it.
"Thanks guys, that is more than enough," she announced, turning off the cameras with a flourish.
"So you've got everything you need for the news hounds? Enough to keep them away?" Becky asked.
She nodded. "It'll take me a few days to do the cutting and organizing, but the TV networks will have their blurbs. And I'll have someone I trust do some transcribing to send to the papers. You might get some local reporters swinging by for more flavour, but the big guys will just take what we put out on the wires."
"That was a lot of filming for a fairly short interviews. Did you really need all that?" Richard asked, joining her to help start packing up.
She grinned and wrapped up some cabling. "It's the nature of the biz. But I admit, I do have an ulterior motive. The Field is going to fall in a few years, one way or another. No one knows when, but eventually there'll be too many Changed to keep it up. And when it comes down, the media's going to want all the stories they can get. I figure I can recut your story for a 15 minute or even a 30 minute block on W-FIVE or the fifth estate. Worst comes to worst, Discovery will want it eventually. When that day comes, they'll probably be by to do a 'where are they now' update, but the bulk of it will be what we did today."
Packing up went much faster than unpacking did. Soon enough they had her van reloaded, and everything else put away, just as the mist thickened into actual rain.
Shiloh started to say her good-byes to the family and friends.
"Are you sure you can't stay for tea and sweets?" Becky asked as they shook paws.
She smiled. "I really wish I could, but I have a lot of editing to do and not much time to do it in. I need to get back to Corner Brook and get at least the first few passes done while it's all still fresh in my mind. Thank you for the offer."
She moved on and took the big bear's paw in her own hands. "And thank you for sharing your story, sir. It really was fascinating."
The man grunted and smiled at her. She finished talking with the others and climbed into her car. With a wave out the window, she turned around and set off for the road, her mind already piecing together the various articles she had to make.
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