Nights of the WEREPOM

NOW it’s known that Pomeranian’s are a fierce little dog., and not their not afraid of things 5 times their size.. true fact. Oh, and they have a vicious bite, one that can pierce bone. Plus, there’s also the fact they are a one owner dog.. and talk about loyal.. But on the CON side of things, they have this high pitch ‘yap’, would actually call it a bark... sounding off at almost anything that moves.

Yeah, I remember spotting that Werepom, it was MID day, and you know the heat in Nevada in July, at hot desert sun.. Yeah, I saw it.. Had to be it. A furry dog.. out in the open spaces with a heat that could cook your brain.. And of what I witnessed out in that the mid-days sun, had to be the ‘Werepom’ that’s all over the news.. And that was months back.. May, I think was when I first spotted it.

You might want listen to this story .. it’ll keep you out of that desert.. Cause, maybe it will keep you safe out in the desert after dark.. Cause see, I know it’s out there.. They haven’t caught it, not yet anyways..

Out of the corner of my eye, I seen movement.. It was a wolf or a coyote, but honestly, I’m not sure which one it was. But the thing caught me off guard, prancing around like it was in a fight with an unseen foe.. It was acting really crazy, frothing at the mouth and everything... This I knew to be very bad.. Hopefully, it wouldn’t spot me.. For things like this, I carry a small gun. Quickly drawn, I’d already pointed an aim.. waiting for the rabid animal to spot me.

But, it didn’t, not once. It was spinning around and jumping as if fighting off it’s unseen foe. It’s actions made no sense. I was trying to observe if it was actually being attacked, but then it just lit out, hightailing it off in a direction away from me.. I was about to place my gun away when I happened to spotting this small dog out of the corner of my eye.. It had come from the same direction were the wolf had.. It was a smaller dog then the cycote., Out here like this, mid day.. heat. I was sure it was a wild creature too.

I noticed it limping. Limping something fierce and I noticed it had fresh blood on it’s mouth. I surmised the two animals had gotten into a fight with each other. And if that were the case, with what I’d just witnessed, this small dog already had all four paws in a grave. I began to worry, as it had noticed me, but as it spotted me, it seemed just as afraid of my presents as I was of it’s. If it had tangled with that other rabid coyote, it was surely going to die. But, walking as if to ignor me, it just sniffed the ground, trying to act as if I was not even interesting.. Now, I got scared.

Slowly, I moved away, yet as I did, this small white furry thing seem to trail far behind me. I kept looking back, yet my detection machine had sounded off over by a large boulder. I knew this was pay dirt.. The animal? It seemed to pause, not advancing.. Seemed to be watching me.

Keeping a beady eye on it, I started digging at the machines ‘ding’. I was right, pay dirt! I while constantly eyeing for this dog to run up on me, quickly found a heavy plastic bag, inside was a smaller reddish bag, faded by time and the plastic bag almost dissolved in my hand trying to root it from the ground.. I was right, by the contents it was about thirty years old, and contained pristine gambling chips, though they were useless to day, unless you could find a name on it like ‘LUCKY7 Las Vegas’ printed on it. Now these were worth ‘some value’ by collectors.

“YES..” I stated, happy with the find.

Now, ya see I’m just an old timer who loves metal detecting out here in the Nevada dirt just outside Las Vegas. Ya never know just what treasures or trauma you can dig up out here. I been doing it for a few years now and made some interesting fines. Once I’d ran across a freshly buried corpse. learned quickly.. the cops disliked the fact I’d found him, (imagine that). But, I learned to spot those places, and steer far clear from them. Never again would I invite a police officer to a buried corpse, the harassment just isn’t worth it..

Oh, that right, this isn’t about me.. or Las Vegas for that matter. This is about that weird little white furry dog everybody’s calling a Werepom.. Okay, so, I move on detector waving back and forth, my one eye trained on it... Still far behind me. The sun shone brightly at almost mid day, Looking back at that fur covered animal. It stood in the direct sun, it wasn’t even ‘panting’! That was starting to worry me the most.. But, it wasn’t advancing, like it wanted to it’s distance. Eyeing it’s walk. Limping like that, blood smeared on it’s mouth, covered in that thick fur.. I was sure it would die out here in the grueling hot summer sun. It was just a matter of a few more hours.

Now, I figured that it was a really bad sign that this dog creature hadn’t even seemed concerned to seek shade, did it know it was dying? Today was almost over 100 degrees, heck, I now was ready to call it a day, and find an air conditioning myself. I was just glad this strange dog was keeping it’s distance from me. Then, I noticed the creature doing something really weird. See, as I was moving from one spot to the next.. that animal was two holes back, sniffing at the places I just dug up! Was it sniffing for my scent? OR, for what I’d dug up? Had to be my scent.. This is not good...

‘Okay, dog is freaking me out.. time to pack it in.’ I’d thought to myself.

See, back a few years, I’d already found most of the stuff that was closer to the main road that ran south out of town, but, it seemed today, this area near a large cropping of rocks, was also a coveted spot to bury unannounced things. Today was already a good haul, I’d found enough to pay a few month’s rent. Also found a watch and a gun, and those really ‘old’ chips. The gun, unprotected, had literally rusted into a grim reminder of what it use to be. I threw it back to the ground. Moving on, I debated continuing on, the constant looking back for the animals where-a-bouts was starting to get to me. As I had the machine waving the ground with one hand and the gun, ready to fire in the other.

Yet, keeping it’s distance, this small furry Pomeranian, (now certain of the breed), had been sniffing at ever hole I’d dug up, till suddenly looking back, it seemed to just disappear. I studied all around me for any movement, ready for a sudden lunge at me. ..Then I spotted it, moving away from me, moving on... I actually felt sorry for the creature, I knew it had to be going off to die.. Or, so I’d thought till this shit came out on the news.. Had to be that dog.. has to be.

It was literally the next day that confirmed it. Good day, alreay found two worthy finds today, about to call it a day, and I’m seeing what appeared to be the same dog. Couldn’t be... But ‘This one’ was on a leash, and it had a owner? (IS IT?) She lead it on one of those 20 foot retractable leashes. An Asian woman was walking it. She was actually watching the dog’s actions as it sniff along their walk, almost miles from a building of any sort.

‘..long walk for a such a little dog, wait.. Is that the same dog as yesterday?’ I questioned myself.

Now, I wasn’t exactly positive it was the same dog, looked cleaner anyway, but about the right size and hair coloring. There was ‘no way’ there could be two of the same colored fur and breed of dog.. But ‘this dog’ had no limp to it? And I was almost positive that the other dog had well died out here ‘somewhere’ before the sun had even set.

Then, as I was about oh a mere 50 yards away from them, I noticed the dog, had found something near a rock that was almost as tall as the woman. It had began digging in a fury at the base of the small boulder. I realized the spot it was digging, would be the perfect spot to bury something.. Of another thought, I couldn’t help but be interested as to ‘why’ this woman would be walking a dog far away from anything?

I drew closer to them in a casual walk as I realized the dog had actually uncovered a buried treasure. I heard the sound of the woman’s glee as she uncovered the treasure wrapped in a bluish cloth. I never stopped or paused my approach,

“Oh, my, god! Bamboo!! Look what you found! Oh, this is incredible!” She spoke, not even realizing I was almost twenty yards away. The dog seen my approach, yet, never uttered a single bark at me. That scared me.

“Uh, hello... Miss?” I said, carrying my metal detector and my small shovel. Instantly she hid the bounty, stuffing it in her purse. The dog looked at me in a stare the whole time, but never once barked at me. This seemed to throw her off too. My mind wondered, ‘..is this the same dog?’

“Yes. Hello?” She couldn’t understand ‘why’ Bamboo wasn’t going nuts towards this stranger.

“Yes miss.. I spotted that dog yesterday.” I stated, adding. “..is it alright?”

“Alright? Fine..? What makes you ask that?” She questioned, aware he’d seen the whole thing.

“Um yesterday, when I’d seen it., it had a limp. And blood on it’s mouth.” I spoke what I thought I knew. “It followed me for almost an hour yesterday, while I was digging.. It sniffed at ever hole I dug,”

“My Bamboo?” She stated, realizing that the brown smear on his face was actually blood when she washed him last night, yet she seemed to want to deny this thought.

“That’s his name, Bamboo?” I questioned as I approached a few steps closer. "Hi, I'm Randy Houston.."

"Hitomi Awashi.." She said, concerned I had actually advanced a few steps closer and Bamboo never reacted.

She was really concerned that her dog wasn’t acting normal towards this stranger, it was calm, as if this man was a friend. I too realized, this dog should at the least be bearing it’s teeth at me, and yipping too.. But, it wasn’t.

“You know my dog?” She asked, seeing no reaction from Bamboo.

“Well like I said, I think we met.. Like I said, it followed behind me, at least I think it was your dog.. followed me for almost an hour, yesterday. I thought it was like wounded on it’s left hind leg? ..I’m sorry, clearly I must be mistaking. Your dog has no limp to it. This can’t be the same dog I saw yesterday.. I’m sorry miss, my bad.” I had to admit, (it couldn’t be the same animal.) “I’m sorry if I startled you, I didn’t mean too.."

“Yes okay.. yes. Good...” She nodded in an almost bow to me.

“So, I see he’s a digger,”

“Digger. Not much.. No..” She said, concerned I had responded after she’d apparently let the conversation drop.

“Just want to warn you Miss, you better watch out for the wild life out here, there’s quite a few nasty little creatures out here.. Bamboo there get’s bitten by something out here, it’d be bad.” I warned her, having been bit twice myself.

“Yes sir... Thank-you sir.” She said, began to walk back the way they’d came. The dog only looked once at me before being tugged to follow her. I smiled, knowing that dog had just uncovered another treasure buried out her. No way there could be two of the same type dogs in the middle of nowhere. That had to be the same dog. And it seemed to know exactly where to dig, it had sniffed every hole I’d dug.. No.. Now way.. No way it had a instinct to find bury treasure, a bone maybe... ‘No can’t be the same one..’

I allowed the woman to walk almost out of my sight before following her, hoping to find where she lived. She wasn’t heading for the road, which would have meant a car. But by her direction, I realized there was a small group of apartments about two miles in the same direction she was walking.

“So, Bamboo you’re name,” I spoke to myself, allowing her walk out of sight, assuring her I was no longer a threat. That dog yesterday watched me, and by sniffing, knew what I was looking for.

I was right.. She'd walked directly to the outcropping of apartments, and in the heats haze, I watched her enter one. It had learned to find buried treasure.. from me!

“That ‘has’ to be the same dog..” I spoke to myself, now turning back to calling it a day. To me, that dog had just became my competition. True I had a metal detector, but it had a nose.. I scanned some more on my way back to my car...

My mind fought many a battle trying to pro and con if that was the same dog as yesterday as I listened for that magical ‘dinging’ sound during the day. Somehow, I wasn’t getting many hits.. a old bottle cap, a rusty nail, a tin beer can, an extremely old quart oil can, but no treasure. I knew that dog had dug up a great bounty for her. I wondered, had she been using that dog to sniff out the treasures? Was that why I wasn’t finding anything? Then, to my shock, a strong hit, 50 foot from my car.

Laying down the detector, my trusty shovel quickly in hand, it was only a few clunks into the over dry soil that a reddish velvet cloth struck my eye.

“YES!” I said, as the prior thoughts disappeared. Pulling it out slowly, inside, wrapped in foil and covered in plastic were gold rings and chains. I realized as there was a gun with them, this was probably a heist at a jewelry store somewhere in the big city. I’d have to melt down the gold into ingots and sell them that way. It was a bit of a process, but I knew where I could unload them no questions asked. I looked over the gun, with a cloth, I wiped my prints off of it and threw it back into the hole... NO WAY, if it was ever dug up again would my prints be on it. Yeah, this day of treasure hunting was done.

I never ran into Bamboo or the Asian woman out in the desert again, but it was about a month later that this rumor about a ‘devil werewolf dog’ had started up. And until it hit the news, I assumed it was just a spook tale, something to keep people out of the desert.

See, at first, I thought it was a fluke. A joke.. I’d heard it in one of the gambling halls, about a strange white hairy wolf-dog prowling the flats just outside of town. It was being spoken that three men trying to bury a murdered woman body out there and had been attacked and killed.. He spoke that one man had escaped. Said he was in such fear, he took the police to the scene. They found dead men, and burnout marks of his get-a-way from the furry white animal. The scene, he told of, was a very vicious attack by a wild animal, yet, there was no animal to be found over the next last weeks.

In that, began the story around the outskirts of the city of Las Vegas.. Newscasters spoke to beware of ‘a dog like creature’ outside the city’s west exit road after dark. Most viewed it as a way to stop murders from burying their kills in the desert dirt after dark. But as more sightings began to grow in the news media, so had the dog’s size.. at least when it was described to the authorities or news camera.

Then it was confirmed. Animal control, out on a stakeout that was ordered by the mayor, talked about their interests to each other while using night vision goggles to spot and kill any roving creatures. These guys shot at anything that moved throughout the evening. It happened to be a full moon that night too.. After they hadn’t clocked out a police car was dispatched to their last location.

They were both found, slain, both their throats ripped, both guns laying on the ground.. feet apart, just outside of their vehicle. Empty shell casings lay scattered all about. Truth was, they never even realizing the creature was upon them. An autopsy ‘confirmed’ it was a midsized wild dog, but the genetic markers as to ‘what kind of dog’ could not be pinned down as experts across the globe studied the DNA and hair samples as well as the bite size. One thing was agreed on, it appeared to be growing. Then, a startling match was made. The kill’s, they were only done near or on, a full moon. This fact was heavily debated by professionals and skeptics alike, as there was no such things as ‘werewolves’, well, not in real life anyway.

For months the strange creature had seemed to roam free as the debate heated up. I was watching all this unfold, and I knew in the back of my mind, it 'had to be' Bamboo..

I actually stopped by Hitomi's place one evening, as the Asian woman was walking her dog near the apartment. The small Pomeranian, her dog, had now grown twice the size that it should have been for that type of breed. Even from this distance, and as it had spotted me, it seemed to pretend I wasn’t even sitting there in my car. Oh, it spotted me.. Strange, ignoring me? Why was it always acting this way towards me? But truthfully, I knew that dog had ‘something to do with all the deaths’ that fueled the news ratings.. I felt it, and Bamboo seemed to know I felt it. Now this, was ‘scary’ on a whole new level...