WOOOSH

I pushed the trigger on the release grip. I pushed it before I even realized what happened.

“NO!” I shouted as I realized my mistake. The … wolf was too close to Leah. If my hand just moved slightly, it would’ve hit her. I watched the arrow’s path with panicked eyes.

“Aagh!” The wolf howled. It had moved out of the way, but the arrow had hit it in the side. It was a perfect shot; if it hadn’t moved, it would’ve gone straight to its forehead.

“Y-you!” Oliver shouted as he ran back. “You shouldn’t exist!”

The wolf snarled before it began to pounce. It leapt into the air toward Oliver. My arms went back again before I was even aware; it felt that my hands were following an invisible path in my mind, but it was physically lagging behind. Another arrow was notched before it was embedded into its side.

It fell onto the floor, squirming and howling.

“That won’t work!” Oliver said. “We need silver!”

“Of course we do,” I said in between heavy breaths. I ran toward Oliver, not taking my eye off the wolf. It was getting back up. “D-do you have a knife or something?!”

“Only for-” he began before I pushed him down and toward me. The wolf sailed through the air and landed where Oliver was. He looked up with frightened eyes at where he was standing.

“You’re welcome,” I whispered before dragging him towards the door. We sprinted all the way to the door, hastily twisting the handle before Oliver threw a fork at the wolf and slammed it shut.

“HOWL” the wolf yelled out.

“What the fuck was that supposed to do?!” I asked as we ran away from the cabin.

“You have to kill them with silver!” Oliver yelled. “They aren’t supposed to live in this forest.”

“Wait!” I yelled as I just realized something important. “We left Leah!”

“Oh my god,” I heard Oliver whisper under his breath. I ran back and he followed my lead. How in the world did I forget about her?

“If she’s dead, it’s your fault!” I said. “I don’t care what you know, I’m telling the police!”

“I get it! It’s my fault!” he responded. “Now shush! You distract and I grab her!”

“Other way around!” I said as we got back to the cabin. Through the window, I saw no red spots anywhere. A shaky sigh of relief escaped my mouth. Consciously, I loaded an arrow into my bow. I stopped walking and aimed towards one of the windows on the left wall. I saw the shadow of the wolf going away from the window. With a deep breath, I released it. The sound of glass shattering filled the woods.

“Brats!” a voice yelled from the cabin. “You forgot someone!”

“He’s playing games,” I told Oliver. “That means that he-”

“I know what that means,” Oliver interrupted. He fiddled with another fork in his hands.

“Who was the one that mentioned the Plauna?” the wolf yelled out playfully. “If you tell me the prophecy, I’ll let the three of you go.”

“Do not tell him,” Oliver whispered. “If you did find it, do not tell anyone.”

“What even is it?” I asked.

“A myth,” he whispered back. I tilted my head in confusion. “I’m seeing a wolf, and you’re telling me that something there’s evidence for is a myth?

“It might be fake,” he explained. “People doubt its existence, but my dad told me that it contained unlimited power, enough to rewrite reality.”

“Tick tock!” the wolf said. “I haven’t had human meat in months. I must admit I’m craving the taste. You have thirty seconds.”

“Don’t tell him,” Oliver reiterated. “I don’t care if you kill me or have me arrested, don’t.”

“She’s going to die!” I whispered back. I took a deep breath in and exhaled. I took out an arrow and some tape in my backpack. I grabbed the fork out of his hands and taped it onto the head of the arrow.

“There’s no way that’s working,” Oliver said.

“Plan A: I put it down now. Plan B and our pis aller: I tell it what I know which hopefully won’t lead to painful death.”

“Okay!” I shouted out. “Face to face so I can have proof of life.”

The wolf laughed out loud. “I thought you were a smart one. Disregard any plans of killing or attacking me; you have no silver weapons. The fork was a desperate attempt.”

“Agreed,” I said as I glared at Oliver.

“You go in first so I can see where the thing is and duck.”

“I’m not doing that!”

“Okay, she’s in there because of you, so you’re doing this.” I dragged him up and pushed him toward the cabin. Before he could protest, I loaded the arrow onto my bow and pointed it towards the entrance. “Chop chop. Stay out of view of the windows.”

He looked back to complain, but just the simple act of moving the arrow towards his head convinced him to go forward. Of course we both knew I would’ve never actually done it, so he must’ve realized that it was the only way the three of us could possibly get out alive.

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“How did I get into this situation,” I mumbled to myself as he took small, hesitating steps. I took the time to adjust myself; moving to get a better view of the door and better angle for the shot. It was the only thing on my mind.

“Hurry up kid!” the rough voice yelled out. I saw Oliver freeze before finally reaching the door. My whole body tensed up as the world seemed to slow down around me. I was aware of my breathing, the wind blowing around us, the path of the arrow.

I could pretend I was full of valor much like a hero; facing danger head on. But the truth is that I wasn’t. I may be willing to confront it, but only at a distance when I know I have a chance.

Standing here, a kid aiming an arrow with a fork attached at a door, I felt the weight of “hero” like a golden crown. Very reminiscent of a fairy tale. If I had succeeded, I would’ve been seen as one, but fail and I would’ve been either a murderer or a selfish coward. My fingers tensed on the grip.

Everything around me turned to black. The only light I saw was the arrow head and the door. I was aware of Oliver grabbing the handle and twisting it. Slowly, the gap between the door and frame widened.

Light became more apparent as I searched for a blob of a different color. It felt like slow-mo as Oliver bent his back down and went into a squat.

‘Where is it?’

The gap was beginning to reach its maximum. When the door had finally reached as far as it could, the whole view of the interior was exposed to me. At the very top, I saw a gray blob flicker.

‘Release’ I heard a familiar voice whisper. My dad’s. With a tense breath and small smile, I pressed on the trigger of the grip.

WOOOSH

The arrow sailed through the air. The fork didn’t affect its trajectory at all; it was moving too fast for it to matter. As it raced towards its target, the blob got bigger and bigger as I saw it start to leap towards Oliver.

“What trickery is th-” the wolf began before abruptly stopping. I saw something flicker before I focused on it. Its eyes looked feral and alarmed before it flopped over. Red blood began to ooze from its forehead. A direct hit on the center of the face.

“Heh,” I breathed out as my heart raced. I dropped my arms and ran to Oliver. He was staring at the wolf blankly.

The body had begun to turn black as it decomposed and the fur withered away.

“Have you … done this before?”

“Not a werewolf,” he said slowly. All the skin was gone now, leaving only bones that were darkening rapidly.

“A werewolf?” I repeated with a gulp. “So it was a person?”

“Don’t look at it like that,” Oliver advised. “They’re still the same. If they were willing to kill us now, they would’ve in their human form.”

“Oh.” That was all I could say. I was fixated on the remaining carcass in front of me. The bones had finally turned pitch black before turning into ash. “I guess you were right.”

“We should go somewhere else,” he said. “This wood isn’t safe like I thought it was.”

“Clearly,” I mumbled as I took a step inside. I turned my head to check on Leah. My bow dropped to the ground as I looked at her leg.

“That bastard,” I said. Oliver looked up to see what I meant before he saw it. Glass was embedded on the side of her leg; like the wolf had kicked it in his last moments. Blood was gushing out from the wound at an alarming pace despite the glass staying inside.

“She needs a hospital!” I yelled out. I took off my tie and turned it into a tourniquet; tightening it around the site of the wound. I reached into my pocket only to find that my phone was missing.

“We’re both getting arrested if that happens!” Oliver yelled back. I quickly ran to the corner of the room to grab the arrow that I had shot.

“Then don’t kidnap someone. Are you really going to let her die to not get in prison?,” I snarkily replied as I picked her up. Movies make carrying bodies look easy, but I could barely lift her up. And as she got into an upright position, I saw more blood leave the wound.

“Grab her leg you piece of shit,” I ordered coldly. “You were fine going back so finish the job.”

He stood still before sighing. He ran to her legs as I laid her on my arms. I ran as fast as I could whilst keeping her safe. We didn’t have the luxury of waiting.

I plowed through the grassy terrain of the forest. I had to recall the steps I took to get here and look for the trail. I occasionally turned back to check on how much blood was leaving her.

“Jesus Christ, what did you use to sedate her?” I asked in a huff.

“Rohypnol,” he responded. How did he even get his hands on that? I could barely get halothane and he got the strongest sedative on the market. Hell, it’s not even approved for use in the U.S.

“Huff, anything else you’d like to tell me about this low-fantasy we live in? You mentioned symbols earlier.”

“You’re so ignorant for someone so powerful,” he scoffed. “Every century or so, someone comes along that embodies a myth. You call them symbols because they … well they symbolize what the myth is; their skills, ideology, etc.”

“So that’s how you justify kidnapping,” I said. “The first 130 children weren’t enough, huh?”

“I can just let you figure things out yourself or die,” he replied. I looked around as we got to a dead-end. There were too many trees that hid light. I had to squint my eyes and look at the floor until I had found the trail. The good thing about it was that it was completely leveled, almost no chance of slipping.

“Why was there a werewolf in here?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “They shouldn’t be here.”

“That’s very reassuring,” I deadpanned. I kept traveling down the path until I saw the parking lot in front of the woods. “Okay, we can talk about this later, but the more immediate issue is our story.”

“You told other people?” he questioned aggressively. He made it sound like I was a bad person.

“No, I didn’t tell them. Jocelyn saw that you were the only one missing from the dance,” I said. “Oh, and her dad works for INTERPOL.”

He didn’t talk until we were just a few steps away. “Okay, I left the party to search for her.”

“And the fingerprints in the cabin? The renter?”

“I rented it under an alias. And we both found her in the cabin.”

“The cameras never caught you leaving.”

“Right, cameras can’t see magic,” he grumbled. “Technical glitch. What about your arrow?”

“I grabbed them already,” I answered before we exited the woods. I saw Blake through the windshield of his car. His eyes widened as he hastily scrambled to open the door.

“What the fuck happened?!” he yelled out before pointing at Oliver. “And what is he doing?”

“Long story,” I dismissed his question. “Call an ambulance right now.”

“A-alright,” he said. “First-aid kit is in the trunk.”

I nodded at him. He opened the trunk and I ran to it and took the kit out. There wasn’t a lot I could do with it. I didn’t want to take the glass out and cover the wound with gauze. The only thing I felt comfortable doing was replacing the tie with an actual tourniquet. I applied the new one before taking off the old one.

The rate of blood leaving her body slowed down, but not by much. It kept on dripping out. If I had to guess, she lost maybe a liter of blood. Sweat trickled down my face. A little bit more and shock would occur.

I wasn’t religious, but I couldn’t help but look at the sky.

I didn’t look down until a minute later when I could finally hear the sirens. When I moved my head down, I jumped back as Blake suddenly appeared in my view. I put my hand over my heart when I realized it was him.

“They’re asking for a blood donation,” Blake informed me. “Apparently there’s a shortage of O- and they don’t have time to check hers.”

“I can do it,” I said as I looked back down at her. The blood had finally slowed to a good pace. I looked down at my suit and saw the blood stains on it.

I didn’t notice that the sirens had grown louder and louder until the flashing lights were visible at the edge of my vision. I looked up and saw two people exiting with a stretcher towards us.

“Who’s the donor?” they asked. I stood up and faced them.

“That would be me.”