“You are mighty big for a wolf.” Ashley couldn’t help but whistle at its size. She shook her head as she looked at it and tensed her body ready to run.
Whatever kind of wolf that fucking thing was, it wasn’t any kind that Ashley had seen before. Not that she had much experience with wolves, to be fair, but this thing was far bigger and much stronger than wolves she’d seen in movies if the giant muscles of its shoulders were any indication. More than that, it had more teeth than a coyote, which was a bad sign, all things considered. They’d found a boy dead from a coyote attackbehind the diner a few years back Ashley had worried about the creature. Or at least, that’s what the coroner’s report had stated.
Ashley wasn’t sure if coyotes lived in Tennessee or if they were just one of those convenient wildlife things you could blame when the real explanation might take some actual footwork. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered at that moment was defending herself from whatever the fuck it was that was currently in her living room. To be honest, a small part of her was beginning to wonder if it was a bear.
And then it snarled at her, showing off its decidedly canine teeth and proving to Ashley that it was no bear. That fucking thing was sure as hell a wolf and a big son of a bitch too.
Ashley’s knees nearly buckled and she tried her best to breathe. In the back of her mind, she was aware of her racing pulse, but she was ready to fight. She was ready enough to swipe at the wolf with the book she’d forgot was in her hand and made contact when it dove towards her, miraculously managing to dodge the wolf before it could catch hold of one of her legs.
“Thank God I tied the towel,” Ashley mumbled to herself instead of screaming, mentally patting herself on the back for a job well done. She had dealt with far too many shitty customers to ever let herself get hysterical in a situation like this.
She’d broken up one too many fights to let herself be intimidated by an animal. Even one this big. But still, there was something strange about the wolf. Ashley took advantage of the few seconds that it took to regroup to stare at it, looking into its eyes. Why the fuck did she feel recognition when she looked into its eyes?
It tilted its head at her. For a moment, there was almost a sort of recognition in those red eyes, too. And then it dove.
Ashley scurried out of the way, quick to avoid the wolf attack as it leaped towards her, teeth bared. She slammed into the wall on the other side of the room, her breath uneven as she triedto process what was happening. She’d never heard of a wolf actually getting into someone’s house, much less attacking them like this. But then again, maybe she was a threat. Maybe she had to try and minimize the danger, to act like she wouldn’t hurt it.
Ashley was pretty sure that her father had said something about dealing with wild animals before. He had been a hunter in a previous life before he had come to Tennessee.
“You never know when the day will come that you have to defend yourself, Ash,” he’d said, though he’d never actually clarified what he meant. She’d assumed he meant against a man, but maybe he hadn’t?
Ashley tried now to remember every word that he had told her, mentally berating herself for the things she had forgotten. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be a way to avoid the awful death she now faced.
Her eyes went to the back door, and she immediately knew that was her only option. Either she made it to that door, or she died.
Before she could think of moving her feet in that direction, the wolf was moving again, forcing her closer to the back door. Ashley tried to make sense of it all, attempting to make her body move just as her brain wanted her to. She reached for the door handle on the back door as she passed it, but the wolf pounced closer with another threatening growl.
With each step of its powerful paws, Ashley could feel the trailer move, the world seeming to protest the fact that this was really happening. She was going to die at the hands, rather paws, of some wild wolf, and those damn things weren’t even native to Tennessee. It was ridiculous, to say the least. A part of her almost wanted to laugh. Another part of her really wanted to cry.
Ashley’s eyes watered as she came to the only logical conclusion that she could at that moment. The wolf had likely killed Ned, and she was all alone in this world for however longshe had left. Everything that she had done had been for nothing, and now she was going to suffer a painful death.
Ashley sank down against the wall, wrapping her arms around her legs to make herself as small as possible. Maybe then she could survive the worst of the wolf’s coming attack. That’s when the heating kicked on and she felt heat blow from the register on the floor, and she saw it.
Holy fucking shit, she saw it.
Ashley’s eyes widened as she realized that all the tall tales that Ned had told her over the years about him keeping guns in the trailer were actually true, and he had actually hidden all those guns throughout the trailer on the off chance that someone broke in. Her eyes widened and she moved her hands quickly, tearing the register back, she pulled out the pistol.
“Are you fucking kidding me,” Ashley said, staring at the gun in surprise.
She had been looking for ways to fight back, but she had never imagined that this was how things were going to go. Her entire life would depend on a few short lessons she had from her father shooting pop cans in the backyard. But there she was. And the giant wolf was at the end of the hallway.
Ashley held her breath as she looked up at it, trying to remember what he’d told her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her father’s voice came to her, directing her on how to hold the gun and to hold her breath as she shot, if only so that her aim would remain true.
Still, Ashley couldn’t find the sort of inner peace that she knew she needed at that moment. In the back of her mind, she was shaking, terrified beyond belief, unable to come to terms with the reality that she was facing. Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that she was fearless, her aim steady and true. She knew that the moment she pulled the trigger, it was morethan likely that the wolf would fall to the ground dead. If she aimed for the right spot.
Not the head. The skull might be too thick for the small caliber bullet. She moved her hands lower, down to the wolf’s chest. She thumbed off the safety and took another breath. Held it. Reminded herself to squeeze the trigger, not yank at it.
And yet, for some reason, Ashley couldn’t find it within herself to pull the trigger. Ashley couldn’t find it within herself to do much of anything. For some reason, the moment that Ashley’s eyes rose to meet that of the great beast, she paused, unable to explain why, but finding herself sympathetic towards the monster’s plight. It was almost like, somewhere deep within him, Ashley saw a bit of herself.
It was almost like, somewhere deep within him, Ashley saw a bit of someone else. Someone that she was missing horribly at that moment. Someone that she swore to God she knew better than anyone else.
Ned. Her father, the man who had raised her. The man who had faced so much scrutiny when they came to Walland but never answered any of the locals’ questions as to where she came from or how he ended up with her, instead he’d raised her to the best of his ability.
For a moment, just one, Ashley allowed herself to believe that the wolf could be Ned even though common sense told her otherwise. Even though every single bone in her body knew that it was a monster and that she needed to kill it, she wanted to believe, oh so desperately, that it was Ned.
But it couldn’t be, could it?
Ashley told herself that there was no way that it could be her father as she rose to her feet, holding the gun in her hands and readying herself to pull the trigger. But right before she could pull the trigger, a man barged into the trailer that she wasn’t expecting.
