Jen recoiled at the force of a gauntlet backhand, hitting her head on the wagon side wall, Moses, stopped the horse, or whatever beast they were calling a horse. He turned and readied his gun, staring at her.

  “What? Not very talkative are you? How am I supposed to know what that gun is supposed to mean if you won’t say anything? You just threatening me to be scary or giving an order? I’m worth more alive, and you can’t fire that inside an armored wagon. I’m not scared of you.” She bluffed. He removed the magazine, dropping the last 2 rounds from the cylinder and pocketed the clip, placing the gun in its holster and taking out a rather large knife. The sadistic grin on his face implying he could do a lot of things that wouldn’t technically kill her with it. Persuasive things. The doors opened and she was shoved out to the direction of the shelter house, guided with a knife in her back and a the quick shut of the door. He started the fire as she noticed the wolf skull still on the table, holes in the front of the armored animal’s bone-covered face.

  He plopped down a large leather roll, unrolling it to reveal a lot of medical tools and leather belts, as Jen started to get very nervous. Without warning he grabbed a handful of her hair and shoved her down on the table, slamming her head off the surface and disorienting her. The room spun and went foggy for a moment, feeling like she would pass out from either fear or blunt trauma concussion, until a sound grabbed her attention back to the room, the sound of a knife pulling from a sheath and catching cloth.

  Using the knife, he slit the back of her dress from upper thigh to ankle, and then the knife was planted firmly into the wooden bench, as he began removing her boot. Her struggling meant little, clawing at his armored glove and unable to overpower his grip or reach the knife. He sighed and removed the other boot, growing still as he realized there was no silver leg to be found. He chewed his lip impatiently and slung her aside, to the ground, rolling to a stop. She quickly put her boots back on, and as he grabbed the knife she was already opening the door and holding a stick as a baton. He grabbed the gun and loaded it, pointing at her.

  “What? You really gonna shoot me? You drug me all this way for a prize and now there’s no bounty, I’m only useful as a hostage or meat, but only if I’m alive, and I know what you were thinking about when you cut that dress. You wanna fuck a dead girl and lose your only bargaining chip, or you wanna do what predators do…hunt for your prey?” she asked, slowly stepping outside and backing into the darkness. “Scared of a challenge, big man?” she asked, vanishing. He smiled as she faded into shadow and reloaded the gun for wolf brass, grabbing his stone axe as a bludgeoning device and following her, torch in hand.

  “Can this go any faster?” Tom asked, Billy rolling his eyes as the pack animal steadily trudged the snow.

  “You realize this is insane. She may already be dead, and with the moon up we are just food guiding more food into the dark. Hudson told me about the wolves, he said there were at least 3 full packs the other night. I’ve never heard of that many being out to hunt at once. Something is making them aggravated and we are riding right into that territory.”

  “You said that big brown cannon of yours could kill a wolf.”

  “Yes, in fact it could kill 6 if you are a perfect shot and all of them approach from your front. It’s not a speed gun like Moses has, and a big enough wolf could tear through this wagon and that horse in just moments. I prefer not to use it and draw them in.”

  Jen cupped her hands and made a descent howl, mimicking the beast’s call to draw them in, making a large circle around the cabin. She could see the tiny green dots in the moonlight, multiple clusters of them tracking her movement.

  “You remember me, brought you a snack this time.” She smirked.

  Moses adjusted his goggles, the environment turning from pitch black to slightly lighter black with pitch black shapes. He stood silently looking for the light of a candle or fire to guide his hunt, impressed to see his prey unafraid of the dark.

  Jen ran swiftly, unable to see anything but knowing she was invisible to him too. She stopped and waited for the light of his torch, getting worried when she didn’t see one. Something in her heart told her he was the only creature in the blackness willing to kill her, and as time passes and the cold sank in, she realized he didn’t fear the dark either. She made a wide arc to the faint glow of the cabin circling the back side and slowly moving towards the door. She darted past the entrance to see if he was waiting for her, and she felt the sudden impact of running into something or someone solid in the void. She dropped into the snow, heart racing and expecting that this was the end of her regardless. Jen felt an odd relief when the light of a V-shaped row of eyes opened and locked onto her.

  It leaned closer, hovering over her, as she crawled backwards and reached a rock blocking her way. The strange boney skull pushed her back against the rock as if to make sure she was alive.

  “Just do it…quickly.” She whispered. “Quicker than he would.”

  The beast snarled in a pulsing manner, like an alligator threatening it’s rival, and without warning, a clawed paw struck the rock beside her and batted her off to the side. Jen’s faith shattered, realizing she was not as safe as she might have thought. Another swipe rolled her over as she held in her scream, more afraid of what it would attract than what she already had towering over her.

  The wagon suddenly shuttered, Billy cocking the rifle and diving inside, shutting the wooden door as the wagon shuttered again.”

  “HANG ON!” he yelled as the wolves rolled the wagon on it’s side and it jerked harshly, the sound of a dying horse being ripped to shreds as they pulled the wagon by the ropes and spun it around the back wheel. The two men tumbled and tried to brace anything they could, the scraping of claws on the wooden sides and shrieks in the dark as the torch went out. Billy struggled to light a candle as the side of the wagon flexed downward to crush them, the weight of a wolf on the top, bouncing on it like a bear trying to crack open the food box. The crunching of the wooden planks echoed as he braced the rifle to the side and felt for the seam between the slats. He fired, rattling them both and deafening the frantic men in the process, the ringing slowly dying down as the sound of chaos around them faded back in.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Didja get his ass?” Yelled Tom.

  “No. They’re just more interested in something else than us.” Billy sighed, head still ringing.

  Moses noticed the yellow eyes tracking him and locked the grip of his gun out, switching to full auto and lining up with the beast confidently. It suddenly leapt and 3 shots rang out as the dead body knocked into Moses, taking his feet out and sending him sliding. He changed his demeanor as the yellow eyes began to add up in the distance and hone in on the shots. He began briskly walking towards the cabin, deciding his hunt was more trouble than it was worth. His feet came to a stop as the light of the door dimmed, and the sound of the wooden bar locking it shut swelled like rage in his blood. He aimed for the lock. Jen stumbled and ducked as several rounds came through the door and bounced off the stone floor. She grabbed the bundle of tools and picked the biggest knife to defend or slit her own throat, depending on how injured Moses was when he made it through. A burst of full auto ripped through the door as Jen screamed and hunkered with the knife, the confident faith of her survival no longer leading her actions and fear overwhelming her.

  “I know that gunfire.” Tom said getting up and being pulled down at rifepoint.

  “You open that door and we die. The lead wolf may be occupied by something and we may be safe in here, but when the food in the locked box opens the box, we are no longer the more difficult meal to get, and I will kill you for touching that door.” Billy said as the hammer clicked back on a sawed off shotgun, aimed at his belly.

  “Jen’s out there.” He insisted.

  “She could be dead already, do not become a ghost to save one.” Billy warned. “Besides, you left the safety on.” He noted.

  “What safety?” he asked, fumbling for some kind of switch as the buttstock of the rifle clocked him in the head and the sawed off was pried from his hands, both guns now aimed his way.

  “What safety indeed.” Billy sighed.

  Moses fired another full magazine dump, rapidly changing clips again and barely dropping the next wolf in line, just enough to sidestep the sliding carcass and continue firing. The yellow dots in the dark filled the void like stars in the sky, each sex them taking a turn at the mean little armored human and getting put to sleep by a burst of brass, the gun’s barrel rolling with steam as Moses let magazines fall and new ones jam in more in a sloppier manner than the last, his accuracy fading with every reload. He tried taking his time, mentally doing the math on the number of Vs in the dark and the number of clips he had left and growing nervous at the math that was too close for comfort. He spotted one on either side of him, approaching together. He sprayed down the first and whipped the gun around mid-firing to take down the second and the wolf hunkered with a yelp as a loud puff of smoke rolled from the top of the gun’s chamber.

  Moses stared at the overheated gun, the top flared open like an unpeeled banana and he laughed softly, tossing it in the snow as the wolves closed in. Jen felt a strange wave of relief wash over her as the sound of an unfamiliar scream of death rolled through the land and was drowned out by howls and the sound of nature being it’s brutal self. She lowered the big ceramic knife and curled up close to the fire, crying with a smile on her face and the red glint of blood smeared across her forehead. Her body jumped as she awoke to the sound of someone pounding on the door and the familiar voice of Tom yelling her name.

  The three sat by the fire, Tom dabbing the head wound and fighting the urge to just bear-hug her, knowing she has been startled enough.

  “What in frozen hell made you think this was a good idea?” he asked with quiet frustration.

  “I felt like I had better chances with the wolves than Moses. You said he was a psychopath who didn’t reason or listen, and I found that out early on. People were going to die if we stayed there and stood our ground. I already encountered the wolves and lived, so which one is the real monster and the better odds of surviving? The guy nobody survives taking on, or the wolves that let me go?” she asked.

  “Moses did this to you?” Tom asked, checking her wounds.

  “Yea…” she lied. “But he’s dead.” She added. Billy looked worried, checking the door locks.

  “I don’t understand why you are something they want, but won’t eat?” he muttered, still holding the rifle.

  “Maybe they’re not as evil as everyone says.” Jen shrugged.

  “They are. They attacked us, they attacked Moses. They attack everything they find except other wolves and bull mammoths. I have never seen them guard like this. Lady, I have studied these animals my entire life. They never travel in these large numbers unless they are tracking a Mammoth. Something they want very badly. There is more food out there than us, in the open and vulnerable. They are tracking you, and they have been since you left the light of Helldale. They are targeting you, so why do they not kill you when they have a chance? Why do they just, let you go?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m afraid of them but for some reason I almost feel like…they’re watching out for me…” she said with a haunting look, brushing her hair behind her ear and lightly touching the scratches.

  “You said Moses did that to you?” Billy asked skeptically.

  “Yea. Before I escaped, he roughed me up a little. Nothing serious.”

  “Those are wolf claw marks.” He reminded.

  “He had a…hatched made with their claws, I think.” She said nervously.

  “Why are you lying?” Billy asked as Tom stepped in and halted his advance.

  “Back away from her, Billy. She’s got no reason to lie. She’s just shook up and confused and damned if anyone wouldn’t be.”

  “She is lying about something. You know why they don’t kill you, don’t you?”

  “No, I just…have a feeling.” She said, suddenly breaking into restrained sobs. Billy dabbed something from a bottle onto a cloth and approached her cautiously as Tom glared and gave a look of intimidation. He dabbed the wound and she let out a little sniff and flinch.

  “I know it burns but you need the medicine.” He said looking at the cloth and noticing it was darker than it should be. “Your blood is poisoned already, you should be dead.” He said holding it up.

  “No, that’s…just some of my hair dye. The alcohol must have dissolved it a little I had a blonde highlights I would dye different colors, I wanted time period brown for the reenactment. Look for a lighter spot, or a redder spot from the blood I guess.” She sighed.

  Billy looked at the cloth and her hair, smelling the cloth and looking confused.

  “Your hair is colored? What did you use to stain it like this?” he asked.

  “It’s a chemical dye from the store, a temporary, I don’t know what’s in it.”

  “Whatever is in it saved your life.” Billy said smiling slightly. “That smells very familiar. When the young male wolves reach mating age, they produce a scent from a gland behind their horns, it attracts females and wards off other males. You smell like a young alpha wolf to them. They cant see in the dark very well but they can smell competition for miles. That mark on your head, the bite on your ankle, those were warning bites, bigger males letting you know they were not to be challenged and since you stayed down, you submitted. Your hair is drawing in the wolves and when they get close enough to see you aren’t one of them, they are confused. A wolf doesn’t attack another wolf of an unfamiliar pack, they don’t know who is protected. You’re being challenged and luckily you know when to cower and not fight back.”

  “Wait…it’s just my hair dye?” she asked, looking heartbroken and almost in denial. “I thought…maybe for once I was just special.” She said tearing up.

  “Just lucky. That scent will wear off eventually, I would not rely on it forever. If they stop perceiving you as one of their own, they’ll start smelling meat instead of family.” He said. “The only question is do we attract them while they think you’re a wolf, or wash the dye out and hope they don’t notices you at all?” Billy asked.

  “I still think you’re special.” Tom sighed softly. She scooted closer and leaned against him for comfort.