They echoed out and around the valley. Some were close, others sounded far-ish away. I didn’t care about those though, there was only one I was concerned about. The one that came from uncomfortably close to where I had just been, right at the top of the hill.
“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath. In hindsight, not a great idea. It cut off mid-howl and started to growl. A deep thrumming thing, like standing next to my grandpa’s old diesel truck on a cold morning.
I felt like I could feel the vibrations in the air. Entirely too close. Weren’t solitary wolves supposed to be cowards? On the other hand, I guess I counted close enough to wounded prey. It started to huff in great heaves then snorted outward. Like it had located my scent and found it a disgusting thing, like it was some dog that didn’t like the treat the human offered it and so it snorted air and snot all over your hand.
Slide slow and quiet. I abandoned that the second after when I pushed myself through a branch that cracked like some kid’s back in the middle of a history midterm. Now I was moving, alternating between flaring out my feet to catch big impediments and my hands stabilizing myself and making sure my face wasn’t single-handedly responsible for catching every single damn branch on the side of the hill.
The sniffing, huffing, and growling was now clearly pointed in my direction. Their sense of smell was absolute bullshit. That wolf or giant dog had such a bullshit advantage right now. The thing was blind and was this dedicated for a Tom-flavored snack? They adapted faster than I was, I would have been impressed if I wasn’t blind and running for my life? Why couldn’t I have lost my sense of smell, I’d be ok with that. Shit, let’s go back to being deaf, even that was better.
I could hear it stepping and tripping over its own branches and roots. Then, I pictured some super-nose wolf sneaking up on my loud as shit while I just deafed my way through the underbrush. Okay, maybe hearing was pretty good after all. I imagined that everything I passed I had rubbed my scent on, giving the creature a perfect map of the surroundings. Or maybe I was just trying to distract myself. Probably not the best idea.
I slowed down and thought about trying to ‘shoot by ear’ but the most terrifying thought next to Casey being naked abducted by mountain hillbillies suddenly entered my head. Oh God no. Please no. Did Casey reload after we went shooting? There might not even be anything in there. I know I reloaded my .45 and I know that I did not tell her to do the same for her own.
She didn’t even know to keep her finger off the trigger when she pulled it out the first time. Fuck. “Shit!”
I guess their nose wasn’t omnipotent, but my shout certainly helped wherever it had been lacking. The growl was behind me now, I’d be lucky if it was more than a handful of feet. My heart stopped and the silence let me hear the beast adjusting its feet back and forth in the underbrush. I froze. I heard a loud scritch and dove to the left, hands desperately reaching to grab whatever I could. I heard its teeth snap shut so fast the sound stung my overactive ears. Its claws scrambled for purchase against my legs, which were still in the way, and then it was gone.
I heard it yip and scramble as it slammed through branches and twigs and everything else on its way to the bottom. A half breath snapped into my lungs. The bottom. Shit. I had been going the wrong way. The unknown way. They say when one sense gets taken away, the others become stronger. I was simultaneously grateful and in a half panic as I heard the wolf hit something solid. Pretty far below.
I thanked the hateful little shit for finding the bottom and started to claw my way to the left. If I had been going to the right then my car was to the left of my current position. Thank God I had thought this through and adjusted to the left before I came down, who knew what a difference 15 degrees would have made. Maybe I would have just slid into oblivion and saved the wolf the trouble.
I felt a lighter grade of descent and aimed for that. Now I just needed to push through these bushes and I’d be home free to feel my way to my car.
The wolf at the bottom of the canyon wasn’t dead. I heard it whine, “Fuck you bub!” The howls that followed the whimpering sounded mad, and closer than before.
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I cursed, under my breath this time, as I pushed through the branches. I kept my steps high to not trip myself but if you’ve ever walked through a shitty old dry brush forest with your eyes closed… Well, you wouldn’t. No one would and that’s why I was having a shit ol’ time of it.
I developed a strategy to walk, that being my hands curled near my face, elbows pointed out, and high, exaggerated, testing steps. I tried shuffling my feet but that just earned me a painful fall and nearly blinding myself on the sharp, dry branches coating the ground.
Then the sweetest and most terrifying sound I could have ever possibly heard sounded out somewhere to my left, and close. My alarm system. If there was any question as to what triggered my alarm system, it was quickly put to rest by a set of snarls and yips.
On one hand, two, maybe three wolves. On the other, I knew where my camp was.
That helped center me, somehow. I’ve survived for a half-hour, well almost but I was giving myself the little more than a minute because I can dammit. Being blind and being blind hunted by a wolf, it seemed much longer, just short of half an eternity if my internal clock was still working correctly. That sounded right.
Being stealthy and being blind are mutually exclusive. No Shonin powers had manifested in the last half-hour no more than they did in the next few steps. I pulled out Duck’s .38. I’d just have to pray that there was a shot left. Maybe even two if I was feeling lucky. I wasn’t feeling particularly lucky.
I made it past the branches in a crash then froze half-sprawled on the ground. I don’t know how I knew, but… I KNEW that at least two sets of eyes had just turned in my direction. I heard another jangle of cans and a crash. I knew where I was. Now the question was whether I could make it to my car before they found me. My bruises ceased to exist, my shoulder fading to a dull tingle. I tapped out ahead of me for each step, straining my ears to pick out something…anything! I was barely holding myself back from shaking as adrenaline continued to dump and move through my system.
My ears did their job, it just wasn’t that reassuring, a huff. Then joined by another.
I was absolutely on a time limit. The ground ahead of me continued to clear until it was just dirt. I was close and I was quiet. From where I remembered my truck to be, it should be somewhere to my left. In fact, I should be pretty close to it. The huffing sniffs were… ahead to my right and further away, near the tree line to my left. Only one problem. The one to my right was between me and where I imagined my car to be.
I started to take a deep breath then stopped. Would they be able to smell my breath? I couldn’t afford to make the sound regardless. Their noses might help them track me but their sniffs helped me track them too.
Then I stepped on a stick and both parties possessed ears.
We all paused, frozen. Each waiting for the other to make the first move and fully reveal themselves.
It felt like forever and I checked the timer. Close enough. From
Then they growled and started huffing again. This time, they were moving closer. Or at least one of them was. I crept around to my right then hit my car in an unexpected thump. I reached down and searched for the handle, snatching at the navigator side handle in a hurry. It picked up and the handle slapped back down in a bang. The door was locked and now it was really a race. The growls picked up and feet scrambled as I fumbled for my keys. I wasn’t going to win this. I jumped back and scrambled over my hood, the snaps of teeth coming in hot. I pulled my feet up and scrambled as I heard skittering claws and teeth snapping behind me. I rolled over the top. Ok, I fell and scrambled while yelping over the top and hit the ground hard.
The thrumming growl swept around either side of my car and I was up grabbing for the handle. I cursed, or tried, my mind was too singularly focused to curse. My mind blanked and some part of my subconscious, after opening this handle day after day, took over and the handle pulled up and the door flung open. A snarl and a bang sounded as one of them slammed into the front of the door and ripped it out of my hands, slamming it shut. The other wolf yelped as its head stopped the door from fully closing. It bounced off its head, and I ripped it open as I jumped in and slammed the door shut. Or tried. My leg lashed out again and again, taking scrapes from the teeth or claws, I couldn’t tell but finally I was able to get the door shut.
My breath came in hot and ragged, jacked full of adrenaline and whatever else gets dumped into your bloodstream when two pissed off wolves are trying to add you to the menu. Why the fuck were they so aggressive?
Both creature’s howled and I heard answering calls softly reverberate in the distance.
Not even 45 minutes. This was going to be a long day.