The moon was full, and they were howling again. Somewhere out in the trees and sandy scrub that covered the undeveloped land behind the neighborhood, there was a feral party going on. Hawk listened intently. It was impossible to tell how many there were, but it sounded like quite a few. His wife moved in her sleep. The rustle of the sheets drowned out the distant yips and wails for a moment. After a little, it became quiet again. He lay back and wondered what there was to eat out there. Rabbits, maybe.
On the other hand, something told him that another ambulance would appear in the neighborhood sometime in the next few hours. Of course, that was a crazy idea, but there had still been many deaths lately. At least, more than he expected, even in a development where more than half of the owners were elderly retirees.
Their house backed up to a prominent undeveloped piece of land owned by a country club and golf course neighborhood, but the builder had finished the development, and there were no vacant lots on the far side of the undeveloped parcel. He’d heard that the vacant space between there and his neighborhood had been reserved for rainwater percolation.
In any event, their house backed to what looked to him like a jungle. It was mildly charming. There were birds, and sometimes gopher tortoises came into their yard through the beaten-down fence just inside the tree line. The best part was there were no neighbors in the back of them. That made their pool area pleasantly private, and he didn’t have to feel like they were on display when they sat on their lanai.
He stepped out the front door after breakfast and then came back in. “Hey, Jess, let’s go out and say hi to the new couple that moved in. They’re out in their front yard right now.”
“I’m feeling tired right now, dear. Why don’t you go by yourself? Tell them I’m busy cooking or something. Okay?”
He sighed. It had been a couple of months since she hadn’t been tired. Maybe she wasn’t sleeping well, or maybe...he pushed the thought out of his head. They were getting old. Based on how he felt most days, her tiredness was to be expected, but maybe, just maybe, it was a sign of something worse. He tried never to think about it, but they were of an age where many people began to decline rapidly. They’d been lucky so far. Maybe good genes or a relatively simple lifestyle. He didn’t know.
He walked down the quiet street at the back of the neighborhood. The new owners were still out in the yard. It looked like they were discussing the landscaping, but they turned and smiled when he approached.
“Hi, I’m Hawk. Short for Hawkins. No one calls me by my first name. My wife, Jessie, and I live at the end of the street. Welcome to the neighborhood.”
The man smiled and said, “John Burroughs and this is Gwen.”
Gwen dimpled and said, “Hi!” Without pausing, she included Hawk in their conversation.
“We’re wondering about these plants. We’re from up north, and tropical plants are out of our experience. Do you think they’re growing okay, or do they need something?”
The plants in question were some old Purple Glaze plants. They were leggy and were not thriving under the large oak that shaded them throughout the day. He’d noticed them every time he and Jessie went for a walk. The plants looked even worse than the last time they’d walked. Thinking about it, that had been over a month ago. He sighed.
“Well, those are Illicium plants. They call them Purple Glaze. The main problem is that they like full sun. William planted them there about twenty years ago, and they never thrived. If you want my advice, you should probably take them out and put in something that can do with partial shade. That live oak is only going to get bigger, you know.”
John looked up at the tree. “So, that’s a live oak, huh? It looks pretty big.”
Hawk smiled. “It’ll get bigger. It’s only about thirty years old now.”
Gwen drew in her breath. “Where we’re from, oaks take a long time to get that large.”
“Yeah, well, this is Florida. They grow faster here. Shallow root system, though.”
John asked, “What kind of plants grow well in the shade?”
“Oh, well, I’m not much of a gardener. I’ve got such a black thumb that I can kill any plant just by looking at it. I’d suggest that you go to the landscape place over on the main road and ask them for a recommendation. They’ll pull your old plants and replant them if you want them to. I had them do our foundation plantings a couple of years ago, and the plants are looking good.”
John looked at his wife, then said, “We just moved in. Haven’t gotten unpacked yet. This kind of lifestyle is new to us.” He paused, looked embarrassed, then added, “Suburban living, I mean. We lived in a more rural area up north. Had a small farm, actually. I’m okay with vegetables, but these landscape plants are new to me.”
Hawk smiled. The two were nice. Friendly and seemed likely to fit into the neighborhood with minimal disruption. He looked around at the street. Nicely manicured lawns up and down. Sprinklers popped up in one of the yards as he watched.
John asked, “Should we be watering the yard? I thought Florida had plenty of water.”
“Not really. There’s plenty of groundwater here, but it doesn’t rain regularly, so if you want your grass to thrive, you need to water it.”
Gwen looked around at the peaceful scene. “It’s quiet here, but didn’t I hear an ambulance early this morning? What was that about?”
Hawk sighed. “Don’t know. I heard it, too. Sounded like it was up on the north side of the neighborhood.” He wondered if he should continue, then added, “Been quite a few people dying here lately. Someone must have had a problem, maybe went to the E-R.”
She looked concerned. “I saw a lot of older folks walking around yesterday morning. Is everyone in here old?”
“No, but there are a lot of retirees here.” He smiled at her. “Just like us, I guess.”
She smiled back as John spoke. “We’re gettin’ older, that’s for sure. Hospital any good here?”
Hawk nodded. “Okay, I guess.” He decided to change the subject. “Did you hear the howling out in the woods last night?”
Gwen shook her head, then shuddered.
John looked concerned. “Howling? What was it?”
“Coyotes, I guess. It was a ways off. Couldn’t hear it very well.”
Gwen mouthed the word “Coyotes.” Her eyes were wide, and she looked at her husband quickly.
John frowned at Hawk. “I didn’t think there’d be any of them around here. We’re in the city limits, right?”
Hawk grinned. “I don’t think they can read city limit signs. The woods out there are over six hundred acres of untouched Florida. Sand pines, palmettos, cabbage palms, poison ivy, rabbits, squirrels, and snakes. Probably some hogs, too. I guess the coyotes are happy residents.”
Gwen muttered, “We didn’t know about them.”
“What didn’t you know?” Hawk asked.
John’s face clouded. He looked away, then spoke softly. “We lost all our chickens and geese to them. Rabbits, too. That’s one of the reasons we sold our place up north. Couldn’t keep the damned things out, no matter how hard I tried. Seems like they’re getting smarter. I had them figure out how to open the latch to the chicken coop. Killed every bird in one night.”
Gwen shuddered. “It was a mess. We thought if we moved to a suburban area, there wouldn’t be any coyotes.”
Hawk shrugged. “They don’t do any harm that I know of.”
She looked at him inquiringly. “Maybe they do, but you just haven’t heard.”
Hawk turned. Jess had called him from down the street. “That’s my wife. Sounds like she needs something. See you later.”
Gwen was silent, but John grunted, “Yeah. Later.”
“I just heard. Frank Pittman was taken to the hospital. Marge called. She’s hysterical. He died about an hour ago.” Jessie was wiping tears as she spoke. Marge Pittman was one of her close friends.
Hawk was silent. Frank had been reserved and not easy to get to know. It was sad, but he hadn’t considered Frank as a friend the way Jess had Marge. The funeral was scheduled for Saturday, and Jess had already told Marge they would be there. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but he figured he could do it, as long as he didn’t have to dig out an old suit that probably wouldn’t fit. Maybe wear some nice pants and a short-sleeved shirt, that might be best. He grimaced. His everyday apparel was more like shorts and a ragged tee shirt as long as the temperature was over sixty degrees. The few times it was colder, he compromised and wore an old pair of jeans and maybe a long-sleeved pullover.
It was easy to tell that Jess was on the verge of one of her depressions. The loss of Marge’s husband, and he thought maybe her ongoing tiredness looked to be almost too much of a load for her to handle. He smiled encouragingly. “Tell you what. Let’s go over to the barbeque place for lunch.” She liked the food there. Maybe that would help her cheer up.
Jess wiped her eyes, then essayed a watery smile. She knew he was trying to distract her. For a moment, he thought she wouldn’t play along, but then she nodded and said, “Yeah. That would be a nice change.” The next minute, she was sobbing.
“Oh, Hawk! I can’t get Frank out of my mind. That was so sudden. What if...what if it happens like that to one of us? How would you handle it if I suddenly died? I know I’d be lost without you.”
He took her in his arms and then led her into the house. “It’s alright, Honey. These things happen. It’ll happen to us eventually, too, but not soon.”
“Are you sure? Marge thought he was fine and...and now he’s gone!” Her sobs deepened for a moment. Then, she made an effort to get control of herself. “I believe that I would like some baby-back ribs.” She smiled a little. “I can’t starve myself every time someone in here dies.”
That was better. He smiled in return. “No. You starving yourself won’t do any good for anyone. Besides, I like you just the way you are.” She smiled at that.
The howling was closer. He looked at the dimly lighted bedroom clock. It was half past two. The damned beasts sounded like they were almost in his backyard. A renewed burst of yips and yodels gave the lie to his imagined location. The sounds were definitely coming from down the street.
He listened. It was bestial, a cry of bloodthirsty exultation with overtones of hunger and uncaring cruelty. The sound made him shiver a little. He took Jessica’s hand in his, and she stirred a little, then returned his grip. She rolled toward him and said, “That sounds close to the house. Is it coyotes or just some neighborhood dog?”
“Coyotes. They’re a ways off. Somewhere down the street, but maybe back in the woods. I can’t tell.”
“Well, tell them to shut up. I’m sleepy.” She lay back and sighed, her hand relaxing.
As if cued by her desire, the pack’s cry faded to a silence broken only by one of the neighborhood’s dogs howling in return. The dog was back somewhere in the middle of the development, and it quickly quieted.
They went to the grocery store at ten, did their weekly shopping, then came home. When he turned the corner onto their street, an ambulance was in front of Janie’s house. As he pulled up, the vehicle pulled out and left quietly without flashing lights.
Teddy came out of his garage as they pulled in their drive.
“Heyya, Hawk, Jess. Hear about Janie?”
Hawk shook his head. “No. We just came back from the store. What’s going on?”
Janie was one of the neighborhood problems. Her husband had died years ago, and she was so reclusive that she was rarely seen. Jess talked to her when she saw her, but the woman was so deep in dementia that she usually made little sense.
Ted shook his head negatively. “Bill saw her lying on her lanai about an hour ago. He checked and couldn’t get any response, so he called 911. They loaded her up. She must have died during the night. Her body was cold.”
Hawk looked at Jess. Her eyes were wide. She returned his gaze and mouthed, “Coyotes?”
That was absurd. He couldn’t allow her to worry about it.
“Hey, Ted? You hear the coyotes howling last night? Maybe she went out to yell at them to shut up and had a heart attack.”
Ted frowned, “Didn’t hear anything, but I’m a deep sleeper. Maybe it was a heart attack, though, but I don’t know. She wasn’t in the best of health.”
“Yeah. That’s right. Dementia patients usually only last a few years from the onset. She’s been like that for at least the last four years.”
Jessica nodded. “Yes, I could tell she was starting to lose it over four years ago.”
The pack apparently moved to another location. Hawk didn’t hear them for nearly a month. Life with Jess was good. They lazed around the pool, went for walks, and enjoyed each other’s company. The monthly neighborhood dinner came and went, and there was no news of anyone else dying in the community.
The full moon rolled around again. Hawk wasn’t in the habit of paying attention to the moon’s phases, but he had somehow become conscious of the waxing light as it passed through its gibbous phase on the way to becoming full.
The moonlight showed brightly through the Venetian blinds. It was so bright that it was difficult to see the faint face of the clock. Three AM. Something had waked him, but the only sound he heard was the faint movement of air from the ceiling fan. He raised his head and listened for a bit. Nothing.
His neck grew tired, and he relaxed onto the pillow, only to sit upright at the sudden sound of the coyote chorus out in the woods. They were out there somewhere close, and there were many of them from the sound. He listened to the shrieks, howls, yips, and ululations with a tingle of nerves moving up and down his spine.
Jessica sat up, listened for a moment, then said, “Would you go check the doors? I know it’s silly of me, but it would make me feel better if I knew they were locked.”
Hawk groaned a little. His back was stiff, but he rolled over and climbed out of bed, stepping into his slippers. He groaned a little more as he limped to the door. His hips weren’t working well. Must have laid in one position too long.
The back door was locked, and so were the sliders out to the pool. He moved to check the front. It was locked, also.
On an impulse, he opened the door and stepped out. He walked across the grass under the twin oak trees and looked down the street. There was movement at the far end under the lone street light. He rubbed his eyes, trying to see more clearly. Seemed like sleep always blurred his vision for a while after he got up.
There! A slinking mass of four dog-like creatures moved under the light and disappeared into the shadows of Larry and Susan’s landscaping. He watched, trying to penetrate the dark areas under the plants. There was nothing.
Then there was. Hawk saw two sets of glowing eyes move out of the hedge and onto the front walk. The slinking shadows disappeared again as they moved under the porch roof.
More eyes blazed from the hedge. Hawk suddenly wondered if they could see him. A chill went down his back, and the hair on his neck raised. Humans weren’t in danger from coyotes. Were they? He thought not, but it was eerie, and he felt vulnerable standing in the front yard with his pajamas on.
He quickly moved back to the porch. His movement seemed to trigger a feeling of fear. He jerked the door open and practically slammed it. He clicked the lock home, then leaned against the cool door momentarily, trying to regain his mental equilibrium before returning to Jess’s inevitable questions.
He need not have worried. She was deeply asleep when he climbed back into bed.
The ambulance was back, lights flashing at seven in the morning. Hawk had stepped out to get the paper, carrying his coffee in one hand. The vehicle turned the corner and then stopped at Larry’s house. Larry came out waving his arms frantically.
Hawk watched until the EMTs wheeled the stretcher out, Larry pacing behind. The lights on the vehicle went out, and it pulled away silently, Larry following closely in his minivan.
It didn’t look good. Either Susan didn’t have a severe problem, or speed wouldn’t help her. If she was mildly ill, why call the ambulance? It seemed like there might have been a second death on his street.
Larry and Susan were private people, and Jess didn’t know them very well, so she wasn’t as upset when she heard that Susan had died. Still, it was unpleasant to know that two people had died right on their street. It made Hawk nervous about the night to come.
He needn’t have worried. There was no sign of the coyotes or the early morning ambulance. He breathed a sigh of relief as he read the paper.
His worry faded during the next few days. The moon passed its peak and began to fade in brightness, and nothing happened. Apparently, Susan had just reached the end of her life.
Happens all the time, he told himself.
He was talking to John. He’d been out for a morning walk. Jess, as usual, was too tired to accompany him. John was doing something with his sprinkler system in the front yard when Hawk came around the corner.
“Hi, John. What’s up?”
“Damned sprinkler seems to be goofed up. It won’t rotate. Just squirts on the edge of the drive, and that’s all. You know anything about these things?”
He grinned, “I thought you were a farmer. Don’t you know about sprinklers?”
John shrugged. “Not really. I had garden hoses for the produce garden, but I depended on rain for the fields.”
Hawk bent to look, his knees protesting at the movement.
“Well, I’m no expert, but I’d say that it’s probably plugged with sand. Happens a lot. Our soil is mostly sand, you know. Used to be the beach a few thousand years ago. You’ll have to dig the head out, unscrew it, and take it apart to get it cleared.”
He stepped back as John dug around the head with a small hand shovel. When the head was loose, John twisted it off the threads of the riser pipe and pulled it out of the hole.
Hawk took it and looked in the bottom. The inlet was plugged with sand.
“There’s your problem. Sand, like I said. You can probably clean it out.”
John shook his head. “No. I got some new ones. I’d rather just put on a new one and be sure it works.” He headed for his open garage.
Hawk hastily said, “Got to go. Good luck with the sprinkler.”
John waved without saying anything.
As Hawk started off, Gwen came out of the garage and called to him.
“Hawk! Wait a minute.”
He stopped and turned as she came up.
“Have you heard anything about those coyotes lately?” she asked.
“Not a whisper. I can sometimes hear them howling, but nothing for a couple of weeks that I know of. Why?”
She looked over both shoulders as if someone might overhear their conversation. “Oh, nothing really. It’s just that--.” She paused and looked around again. John was back, kneeling and fiddling with the new sprinkler head. “Well, John doesn’t like me to talk about it, but we don’t like coyotes. I’ve heard too much up north, and now, we’ve had some deaths in the neighborhood right after they’ve been around howling. It’s kind of like they’re stalking us or something.” She finished with an embarrassed half-grin.
He didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know anything about coyotes and deaths. Sure, they were howling the night Janie died.” He paused, remembering, then added, “And they were around when Susan died, too, but that’s probably just pure chance.” He looked down for a moment. A clear memory of the glowing eyes moving into Larry and Susan’s front porch passed through his mind. He started to tell Gwen about it but decided not to worry her. It was probably nothing. Maybe they’d left some garbage on their front porch. As he recalled, the next day was the day the garbage trucks picked up.
Jess called him from down the street, rescuing him from an increasingly uncomfortable conversation. “Oh, there’s Jess. Gotta go. Nice talking to you, Gwen. Don’t worry about those coyotes. That’s nothing to bother you.” He walked off, wondering if he had just told her a lie.
There were two more deaths in the neighborhood during the next full moon. The pack had howled both times, too. Hawk didn’t want Jessica to know, but he’d started keeping a record on a calendar he’d gotten from their bank. He marked when he heard the howls, then when he’d heard about the deaths and the moon’s phase. There weren’t enough data points to draw an accurate conclusion, but it sure looked like there was a correlation. But how? It was ridiculous to think that the coyotes had something to do with people dying, and it only happened during the full moon.
Besides, there had been another death on the other side of the subdivision, and that man had also died on the day of the new moon. There hadn’t been any howling either. The whole thing was probably just a coincidence.
The moon was going to be full that night. Hawk had mostly convinced himself that he was imagining things, but he still felt wary as the evening faded into complete darkness. The moon wouldn’t be up until about three. He was somewhat amused at himself. He’d never paid attention to it before.
He and Jessica went to bed after the late news on TV. They read for thirty minutes, then turned out the lights and went to sleep. Or, at least, she went to sleep. Hawk lay in the darkness, his mind searching over a tangle of conflicting thoughts, trying to find something to make him forget about the issue. Sleep didn’t come for an interminable time.
He sat bolt upright, pushing the covers off. He’d been sleeping. An unrestful doze during which he’d kicked his legs and rolled over numerous times. The stimulus that had waked him came again.
The pack was in the woods just down the street, and they suddenly went all out in their moonlight bacchanal. Jess stirred beside him, muttered something, then rolled on her side and began to breathe deeply.
Hawk carefully disentangled his feet from the covers and then slipped out of bed. He walked through the living room, now illuminated by the full moon’s light, and continued to the back door, then stepped out onto the lanai. The pool water was still and silver in the moonlight.
The howling had stopped, but as he stood there, it started up again. It was a crazed, drunken-sounding revel coming from down the street somewhere behind John and Gwen’s house.
He walked to the outside edge of the pool cage and peered down the open space behind the row of houses. As he watched, a line of twenty or more dark four-legged forms trooped across the moonlit grass strip, moving toward John’s house.
The last coyote stopped in the middle of the open area and turned to face him, its eyes glowing a pale yellow. The creature’s gaze was dire, raising a horrible suspicion in him. It was warning him off. If he knew what was good for him, he would go back inside and not look out again.
He stepped backward inadvertently, then felt his foot slip off the pool edge. The next thing he knew, he was floundering in the pool, sounding like a hippopotamus bathing. He quickly stood and waded to the steps. By the time he had climbed out, Jess was standing there.
“What do you think you’re doing, you old fool?” she chided.
“I was looking for those coyotes, and I slipped,” he admitted.
“Well, get in the pool bath and dry off before you catch your death of cold.”
He went inside, followed closely by Jess.
‘Get those PJs off, and here’s a towel. Now get dry and come back to bed. You can explain what happened when you get warm under the covers.”
He dried, then followed her to the bedroom.
It was warmer under the covers, even though it wasn’t really a cool night.
“Hawk, I can’t have you wandering around the place in the middle of the night. I woke up, and you weren’t here; then I heard a huge splash. What am I to think? You just up and decided to go for a swim?”
He thought about it. It did seem stupid. “Well, I heard those coyotes howling, and I went out to see if I could see anything. I did. They were in John and Gwen’s backyard. One of them looked at me, and I slipped and fell in the pool. I wasn’t trying to wake you up.”
“I don’t care if you wake me up if it’s something important. Are you sure they were coyotes?”
“Yes, but I don’t know what they were doing. A bunch of them went across the yard and disappeared by John’s house. I expect that when I fell in, the sound scared them off.”
“You expect? You sounded like the Titanic hitting an iceberg and going down. If there are any coyotes out there, they probably high-tailed it into the next county.”
Now, she was acting like she wasn’t worried about them. Her actions didn’t make sense unless she was trying to reassure herself there was nothing to concern her.
“You’re right. I thought I saw something, but most likely, it was nothing. Besides, I guess I did make a lot of noise, didn’t I? Lucky it didn’t wake the neighbors.”
Jess sighed. “I’ll probably hear about it in the morning. Now, let’s get some sleep and no more sleepwalking. Got it?”
“Right.”
The siren of the ambulance drew them away from breakfast. Hawk shoved the last bite of egg in his mouth and walked quickly to the front door. There was an ambulance and two police cars in front of John and Gwen’s place. Some of the neighbors from across the street were gathered nearby, talking.
He and Jess walked out and joined the group. Everyone was listening to a younger man in jogging apparel.
“I live in the next neighborhood over. I usually run through here, loop around, and go back on the highway to our front gate. I could tell something was wrong in there,” He motioned toward John’s open front door. “I came by, and the door was wide open. She was lying about halfway out. I ran over to see if I could help.”
The young man paused again and wiped his face with his hand. “It was the damnedest thing. I bent over to look at her, and the light faded from her eyes as I watched. Just as she died, a coyote came charging out of the house. It ran right by me. Snarled at me, too. I could have kicked it, but I was too surprised. The husband was inside, lying in the bedroom. He had a gun in his hand, but it wasn’t loaded. That’s why I called the police. I figured something awful had happened here.”
Jessica dragged Hawk away from the group.
She waited until they were nearly home before she spoke. “Hawk, I haven’t spoken of this, but I’ve been having the worst nightmares. There’s something evil and dark lurking out there in the woods, and it’s going to get all of us. I want to move.”
“But where, Honey? We can put the house on the market, but do you want to stay here? Maybe in some other neighborhood?”
“No. Hawk, I want to be in a city. A big city and I want to be in a high-rise. Somewhere up high where there isn’t any chance of coyotes getting near.”
Her face had a desperate look. Hawk knew that meant she was serious, and, based on fifty years of married experience, he knew she wouldn’t relent on her stated desire. He nodded. “I’ll call a Realtor this morning.”
Their new condo was on the thirty-first floor overlooking the lake. The view made up for the loss of the Florida warmth a little bit, but Hawk couldn’t reconcile himself to the number of people surrounding them in the city.
They’d gone out to eat in one of the neighborhood’s nicer restaurants. Jessica had apparently gotten out of her tired phase. She seemed younger and more vivacious, somehow. The meal had been good, and the walk back in the cool breeze off the lake was invigorating.
The elevator bell dinged, and the door opened onto their floor. Something shadowy and black raced by the open door before they could exit. Hawk looked out but saw nothing down the hall. He laughed self-consciously. “I thought something ran by, but there’s nothing there. Maybe I’m getting too old.”
Jessica didn’t say anything at first. Her face was pale and strained in the glaring overhead light. She took his hand and said, “We’d better get inside. I’ll make us some hot tea.”
He nodded, and they started down the hall. As they passed the garbage chute, a faint howling sound echoed eerily up the metal tube from the distant basement.
They looked at each other. Hawk noticed that Jessica’s eyes were wide with fear.
The End
© 2022 Eric Martell