That’s when I saw what had made the sound.
It was a wolf blocking the trail. Fuck.
Wait… not just any wolf. This was the same one from Savannah, with a scarred ear and the raven black muzzle. What the hell? How? Was this a hallucination? Maybe a nightmare. This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t actually be happening. How could a wolf follow me from one side of the country to another? It had only been a couple of days since we’d gotten back. It was impossible for anything to travel on foot for that long a distance in that short amount of time.
And yet, here it was, snarling at me, hackles raised.
This was it. This was how I died.
But maybe I could still fight.
Flashes of survival tips crossed my fear-addled brain.
I made myself bigger by flailing my arms in the air.
The wolf took a step forward, canines bared.
I clapped my hands together and tried to sound intimidating.
The wolf cocked its head as if it were amused.
I kicked a rock that was at my feet and sent it flying toward the wolf.
The rock harmlessly bounced off its leg.
Holy shit. I was really about to die. It wasn’t leaving; it wasn’t scared. It was hungry, and I was on the menu.
“Please,” I said, as if it understood English. “Just go away.”
The wolf snapped at me as if answering my plea. My heart beat so hard I was sure it was about to explode.
The wolf launched forward. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact.
An impact that never came. I opened my eyes as a loud yelp rang through the forest.
What thefuck? There was another wolf, this one with beige and gray fur and its jaws clamped shut on the other wolf’s shoulder. His white-dipped tail whipped around as it fought. Blood gushed down its leg. The two animals rolled on the floor in a blur of claws and teeth and fur. I needed to run. I had to put as much distance between myself and this Animal Planet episode before both of them turned their attention toward me.
And yet I was frozen in place.
The wolves rolled and separated. The new one was standing in front of me, almost as if it were blocking me—protecting me? There was blood coloring its fur. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
The growls between the two opponents were visceral. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight. The wolf with the scarred ear went in for another attack. I lurched backward, scared that it was coming for me. But the other wolf seemed to have shielded me—as wild as that thought seemed—and it had shifted toward the right so that it took the other wolf’s hit directly to the face. They went back down into a tangle of vicious bites and scratches.
One of them gave a loud and sharp whine. The fight ceased as the wolf with the scarred ear limped backward. It snapped at me one last time before turning and fleeing into the woods. A trail of crimson blood followed behind it.
The other wolf appeared to have taken a pretty bad bite to its side. It was lying down on the ground, and a chunk of fur was missing. It had its eyes closed, clearly not interested in me. It didn’t look anywhere near as aggressive as the one that had just run off. And it was clearly in pain.
It had also seemingly saved me. What could I do to save it? I couldn’t carry it back to my car and take it to a vet. Then again, what the fuck was I going to do walking into a dog and cat vet with a fucking bleeding, dying wolf? Maybe I could call animal control, but would they just put it to sleep? I didn’t want that, either. Something about this wolf… it made me want to help it.
I crouched down. Maybe the adrenaline had fried the danger receptors in my brain because I no longer felt fear, only worry.
The wolf opened its eyes and looked at me. I froze, still not scared. It lifted its head and tried to get up but fell back down again.
“Shit, okay, let me see.” I pulled out my phone. There wasn’t much service here, but maybe I could call Gabe. He was a Burlington native; he’d know what to do with a hurtwolf… right? I searched his number and went to dial it but stopped with my thumb hovering over his name. I became distracted by a weird shimmer in the air. It was like what happened over a hot stretch of asphalt, or like the precursor to a mirage.
The shimmer expanded and glittered and glowed, encompassing the wolf’s body. I rubbed my eyes. Was this a stroke? Was there some kind of chemical in the air that was making me hallucinate?
I fell on my ass and crawled backward. My back hit a tree. My eyes went wide as the shimmer glowed bright before completely vanishing.
