Children of Night and Snow

9. Big Bad Wolf

Ever since my first little stunt with deer steak, I went out more regularly and I also stole more regularly. The more I did it, the more I was perfecting my technique. I got quieter and learnt to count down to deliveries, making my trips more calculated. Now, aside from the meat, I also managed to steal a bit of salt and pepper and on a rare occasion a few potatoes. The thrill of my little adventures was also good. It was a welcome distraction from the horrible reality I was living in, a small escape. My life has settled into this strange vacuum. I was alive, but I wasn't exactly living. Still, I had shelter, I was now able to get my own food and water and while my companion was not the most chatty person in the World, even knowing she existed, she was there and shared the space with me, it gave me a feeling of safety and made the loneliness a bit more bearable. I still dreamt of Moonvalley whenever I closed my eyes, but waking up from those dreams no longer crippled me with grief so intense I couldn't move. All in all, things were okay.

That was until the day I went to scavenge the tunnels for some wood. I was picking up what I could find in a secluded section of the tunnels, quite a bit of a walk from the place where we stayed. It was colder here than in our area and my fingers were already going numb even with my gloves on. Gloves that now had holes in them. All my clothes were now not just dirty, but also torn in various places. But I had nothing else to wear. In fact I didn't even dare to take this off for fear I'd freeze to death. My companion explained that hypothermia was a thing in these lands and how it caused one to go mad, thinking they were overheating when really, they were freezing to death. It wasn't something I wanted to experience. That also meant I had to start thinking about the time this clothes won't be enough anymore and where will I get another.

I was so lost in my thoughts about a potential clothing heist, that I wasn't paying attention at all, so when I took a step backwards to pick a loose branch, I was met with a wall that should not have existed. I turned quickly, panic flooding my veins as I looked up to see a pair of blue eyes stare down at me in the darkness. Instinctively, I took as many steps back as I could, but in the dark and with all the wood I carried now scattered all over the floor, I tripped. Terrified, I stumbled on all four, trying to put as much distance between me and those piercing blue eyes as I possibly could until I hit the wall and realized that this was it.

The eyes began to close in and as they passed a ray of light from the street above, I realized whom they belonged to. A wolf. A giant wolf with fur so dark it could have been pitch black. It's eyes shining like the stars on the midnight sky far up above us. If I wasn't so terrified, I would be in awe. This was the first time I've seen one of the locals in their wolf form and of course it had to be when I was about to be their dinner. The monster of a wolf approached me with steps so silent, I wouldn't believe it was possible for someone this size if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes. This was a perfect predator. The power radiated from them in waves. Someone like this could probably take down the entire Moonvalley. Single handedly too.

"Please don't kill me," I whispered, staring my death face to face, tears streaming down my cheeks. I just started to figure things out. I was getting better. I wanted to live. The wolf stared down at me, strange fascination in his otherwise empty eyes. And then, the same way he appeared, he also disappeared into the darkness as if he was never there to begin with.

I returned to the place that was now my home shaking and terrified. My companion gave me a questioning look as I dumped the wood next to our firepit and went to sit in my corner trying to process what I just saw and how I was somehow still alive to tell the tale, not that there was anyone here to tell it to.

This little encounter was the first time I've faced real danger down below the city. People here were not kind or friendly, but as long as I kept to myself, they did the same. Up until this point, I lived in an illusion that down here we were perfectly hidden and safe from the citizens living above. Nothing could harm us here. But oh boy was I wrong. I wished someone would explain to me what I just witnessed. Who was the giant wolf I met in the lower tunnels? Are all of them this big, this menacing? Why did he let me go and what would happen if he didn't? Were there areas of the tunnels that were less safe than the area we stayed in? Was anywhere in this cruel and unforgiving land a place I could call safe to begin with?

I knew my last question was more of a wish than anything else. Nowhere was safe. I was just a tiny wolf with useless senses, spoilt by the life I once had on the other side of the World. There was nothing I could do to change that. I had no family here or friends, nobody to guide me through the hardships and teach me how to survive. And while I was eternally grateful to the woman who saved me from the deadly cold the day I arrived, she wasn't going to answer these questions. Or any other questions for that matter. The thought of that only added desperation to my fear. I wanted nothing else but to go back home, to hug my parents, to go back to the stupid girl I was, thinking my life depended on a relationship with Colin.

I didn't eat that night, or sleep. Instead I listened to the wind, my spine locked in a tense posture as I waited for another sound, any sound telling me that the big bad wolf was back. That he changed his mind and decided to return and finish what he intended when he saw me in those tunnels hours ago. I wondered what that would mean for all the other people here. Would he kill them too? Did I lead him to us? And just like that, I was no longer afraid just for myself, but for everyone else as well. What did I do?