Maddison is what woke me up this time. I was lying on my stomach and sleeping well for once when she leaned over onto me and kissed my cheek, trying to get me up that morning.

"Mitch," she whispered in my ears.

I heard her. I wasn't in that deep of a sleep to not listen to her. So, I picked up the pillow and covered my head with it.

She got off the bed, and that's when I knew I was in for it. Every time she got out of bed this early in the morning while trying to wake me up, she would always think of some mischievous way to wake me up.

I didn't hear her doing anything for a minute. Maybe she gave up, and I relaxed down. Then I felt the covers get tugged off and ice-cold water was being dripped onto my neck.

"I'm up," I finally told her, though it was muffled through the pillow while I reached one hand to the back of my neck.

It didn't stop. I removed the pillow and sat up to look at her. "Really?" she was trying to hide the glass of water behind her back.

Maddison stood there trying not to smile as she rocked on her heels. I got up off the bed and moved over to her. "What?" she asked like it was something else dripping water on me.

I went to reach behind her, and she moved, holding the glass of water out. "you're giving yourself away," I said with a laugh.

"No, I'm not," she then rushed to the kitchen area, and I went after her. This was a pretty normal morning for us. She would do something and I was usually going after her.

Right at the entryway to the kitchen, I ended up slipping on some water, but I didn't fall. Somehow, I managed to catch myself.

Maddison moved to the entryway to the kitchen. "You managed to catch yourself this time."

"Yeah, I don't fall that easily," I replied, moving myself into a straight posture. She then smirked and let go of a string I didn't realize she was holding, and a large mixing bowl of water went down on me.

I held my arms out to my side, shaking off the water as Maddison walked over to me and moved my hair out of my face. "Remember, I'm still the queen of pranks in this house." She smiled as I looked at her with a frown. "Now, how about you go get ready for our hike today."

"How long did it take you to get that set up?" I asked, pointing to the string that held the bowl of water above the hallway.

Addison shrugged. "Not that long. I woke up before you this morning and I figured that a prank was a good way to wake you up," she said with a large smile on her face.

"You mean two pranks?" I asked her while we walked back to the bedroom.

She smiled. "I wasn't planning on dripping ice-cold water on you. You just weren't getting up."

I rolled my eyes at her while taking off my soaked shirt. "Are we still planning on doing Bear Wallow?" I raised a brow at her while grabbing a fresh shirt.

Maddison thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I was thinking about it. But I was also thinking about going to the creek and possibly stopping by Alley Creek."

I froze for a moment when she said Alley Creek. Maddison took notice of this. "Mitch, I don't think there's anything to worry about with going down there. I think it was just some sort of prank."

"Y-yeah, you're right. Still doesn't stop the concern," I replied, pulling my shirt over my head.

Maddison walked over to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. "You worry too much." She kissed my cheek and walked back out of the room. "Don't forget to pack the hiking poles."

"I'll make sure we have them," I replied to her. She smiled as she walked out.

The drive out to Bear Wallow was pretty nice. Not that much traffic was around, it was a decent temperature, and there was a little overcast. Which I hoped wouldn't bring too much rain or else it would have made going to Bear Wallow and Alley Creek rather gloomy, not that Alley Creek didn't do that, anyway.

"How long would both trails be exactly?" Maddison asked, unfolding the trail map.

I kept my eye on the road as I responded. "We'll probably be out there for at least five hours if we're doing both trails and then, of course, if we go down to the creek." I glanced over at her.

Maddison nodded. "I did bring some extra gear with us just in case something is out there," she said while looking down at the map.

"Extra gear?" I narrowed my eyes at those words. "What extra gear?"

"Uh," she began. "You know, my gear I use when I'm out in the field, give or take a few extra items for samples if we find something." I had a worried look on my face, mixed with confusion. Maddison busted up laughing at my look. "Come on, not like we're actually going to find something. It's more of a precaution since I've heard that the wolf population is slightly increasing in the area since more deer kills keep getting sighted by hikers."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, okay."

The trail was nice, and it didn't rain, at least not for the most part. Maddison was trailing behind me while we talked. She seemed more interested in examining the plants and any animal tracks we came across along the way. "You're in the office all day tomorrow, right?" Maddison asked a few steps behind me.

"Yeah, I'm mostly helping at the Visitor Center. Why?" I started down a rock when I replied.

Maddison shrugged. "Just wanting to make sure, since I had no clue if you were going to be out in the field all day tomorrow or not."

"Okay?" I said right as I slipped on a rock.

"Mitch?" Maddison finally looked down.

I didn't reply for a moment. I was sitting in what caused me to slip. Mucus, like spit or slobber, almost like dog slobber, was underneath me.

"Mitch," Maddison said again, and I looked up at her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." I lifted my arms up and a string of slobber stuck to them. "Mads, do you know what animal would just leave a bunch of slobber all over the place?"

Maddison moved down next to me and helped me up before looking at the slobber-covered rock and what was underneath me. "No," she said, sticking a finger on the edge of it. She pulled her pack around next to her and started digging through it. "I'll take a sample back to the lab and see about running a test on it. It might help me understand what's going on here and what left this."

"I hope it helps you figure out what caused this. "It's either an animal or someone doing something they shouldn't be doing," I said as I shook off the slime from my arms.

Maddison looked at me with a mischievous grin. "Wow, Mitch. What would someone use this much slime stuff for that's clear?" she said, raising her brow.

I folded one arm and placed a hand over my eyes. "Why do you always go there Mads?" I asked. She laughed at my reaction.

"Because I can," she smiled as a single raindrop on her nose. Maddison looked up at the sky. "We should probably head back home now."

"Let's get going. I don't want this stuff on me any more than I have to."

The following day, while I was at the Visitor Center, Maddison called me. It wasn't on the work phone either. Instead, she called me on my cell phone and sounded worried.

"Mitch," she began. "I got the samples back from that mucus."

"Okay, and what is it?" I replied.

There was a pause. "It came back inconclusive, but it had trace amounts of wolf, bear, and something else. That's what's coming back as inconclusive."

"So, it's unknown?" I paused for a moment. "What would come back as unknown?"

"I don't know," Maddison said. "I'll continue looking into it and see if I can figure out what might be inconclusive about it."

"Okay, thank you," I replied. "I'll talk to you later."

"See ya later," Maddison said, hanging up the phone.

That was the last thing I wanted to hear about the results of whatever that mucus was. I knew something was going on, but now that is worrying me that something is there that is unknown and potentially dangerous.

Sending people out there when signs of danger were around wasn't what I wanted to do, but with no clear evidence, sending people away from that area wasn't possible.

Perhaps it was just my nerves, but some part of me knew that something was wrong. Horribly wrong, the radio call, the weird slobber on the rocks, and the howling at night. Things like this don't just happen.