Excerpt:
My blood
pulses faster, hotter, and my heart is racing so hard that I wonder if it’s
going to leap from my chest. The sound
of its’ racing pounds loudly in the back of my ears.
The urge to run is strong, but my
brain is—for some reason—sending the wrong signals to the rest of my body and I
just stand there, unmoving. My eyes stay glued to the group of the trees that
growl had come from.
It came again, more threatening, but
it was louder now…and closer.
I know what’s coming, I know what to
expect and although I want to squeeze my eyes shut and not see it play out like
I instinctively know it’s going to, again, my brain sends the wrong signals to my
body.
I watch, wide eyed, in strangled
horror as an ear-piercing, ear-splitting snarl tears through the air. There is
a blur of color as the wolf launches itself from the trees.
It skids to a stop just a few feet from
me. The wolf staring at me is pitch black. His lips pull back into a
bone-chilling snarl, saliva dripping from the sharp fangs.
Now
my brain switches gears and I take a sudden step back in terror.
I had lied to myself before; I am terrified
for my life. I do indeed care very much if I do get killed by wolves…or even
one particular wolf who is staring at me with malice in its eyes.
Still, in facing a threat—and
possibly seeing the last images of my life—I can’t help but wonder why this was happening. This wolf doesn’t
look like a female, though I am such an expert on that subject! It is the wrong
time of year to have pups, anyway, and there are no signs of being near a den
that I could see so why is this coal black wolf staring at me as if I am a
buffet?
Another low, menacing growl escapes
as it stalks slowly closer to me.
I gulp, trying to swallow, but my
tongue can’t quite manage in the constricted walls.
Again, I know exactly what is coming…
It lowers itself close to the
ground, getting ready to lunge at me. I watch, in complete silenced horror, as
in just seconds it leaps from the ground, coming straight for me.
I
scream, but it’s lost somewhere. I can’t even manage to bring my arms up to
protect my face…
It gets closer; my heart hammers
wildly. More screams build up and are lost as I watch in dead, my eyes wide.
Another sharp, ear-splitting howl
pierces the air. Another blur of color comes out of nowhere…
With a loud yelp, the black wolf is
taken to the ground within inches of me. There is another wolf now, a white one
with darker grey dapples. Its coat glimmers in the tint of the moon.
My hands clench into fists as I
watch them fight, fur balls exploding everywhere. Another blood curdling yelp pierces
the air as the coal black wolf bites into the white one’s neck.
The white wolf leaps in the air, getting
the black wolf off, before it swings around and pounces, sinking its sharp
teeth into the black wolf’s back…
They are fighting over me—that only
made sense. I am the buffet…the prize. They both want a piece of me, they both
want the prize. They are fighting for it, and whoever wins the fight will get their
own buffet.
Deep in my gut I know that the smart
thing to do right now would be to run as fast and as far as I can away from
here.
But ropes might as well have been
tied around my ankles, keeping me hostage. My brain had to shift gears and send
the right signals to the rest of my body. Why wasn’t it doing that? Why
couldn’t I move?!
In a flash of movement, the white
leapt over the black one, standing between me and black, snarling viciously.
The
white wolf had won the fight. Instead of seeing a black wolf before I left this
world, it would be a white and grey dappled one instead.
Well, I think to myself, trying to
be optimistic, at least I’ll be facing a beautiful wolf now before I die. Does
that count for something?
It doesn’t surprise me when the
black one snarls quietly a few times before turning and limping off. It had
surrendered, giving up this wonderful, delicious buffet.
Would it be back, I wonder, after
the white had me down and finished off? There is plenty of meat to go around, I’m
sure.
My hands are still clenched in tight
fists as I press my lips together, determined to not give this wolf the
satisfaction of my screams when it finishes me off, while watching in slow
motion as the white wolf turns to face me.
I
gasp...
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