The Hunt

Chapter 2

    A lone wolf is a werewolf that acts independently or generally lives or spends time alone instead of with a pack. The term originates from wolf behavior. Normally a pack animal, wolves that have left or been excluded from their pack are described as lone wolves. Wolves who have defected from a pack act independently and prefer to do things on their own, prefer solitude, express introversion, or work alone. There are some instances where lone wolves are often aloof and emotionally unstable. They attack without warning or provoking and are under the Code Red category of the hunter's guide. Dispose of them immediately.

Hunter's Codex, pack dynamics pg. 363

   After waking up and making myself a breakfast smoothie I went to the back of our apartment where you could begin to see a trail that was happening from my regular path that I walked. It led deep into the woods and was slightly uphill. I stretched my legs a little bit to get ready for the hike then started to make my way. I was maybe 15 minutes in when I stopped to take a quick breather and get ready to turn back around, I reached for my pockets to shoot Cassy a message that I was heading back and should be there in about 15 when I realized that I left my phone on the counter in the kitchen.
    “Dang it. She’s gonna be furious that I forgot my phone.” I looked around the woods a bit just soaking up the sunlight and fresh air. It really was peaceful out here and if I wasn’t on a time crunch I would sit down under a tree and take a nice nap. 
   “I guess I should head back before I make her worry.” My voice was loud in the forest that was mostly silent. The woods shouldn’t be silent, there should be birds, or squirrels scampering through the branches and across the fallen leaves. I didn’t like the feeling the quiet was giving me so I looked around again and started to make my way back to the apartment, the entire time looking back where I came from and scanning the woods. Out of nowhere the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end. I turned and scanned the woods again not seeing anything. 
    This time fear took over and I took off at a dead run trying to hurry and get out of the forest. I didn’t make it far when something slammed against my legs from the back and knocked me over. All I could feel was burning pain in my leg and I screamed. Next thing I knew I was being dragged across the forest floor away from my apartment and away from the little trail. I started grabbing at roots and sticks, digging my nails into the dirt all while screaming and crying from the pain in my leg. I twisted around to see a massive brown wolf dragging me through the woods. Panic burst through my chest and my stomach sank. I was about to be eaten alive.
    I started kicking at the wolf with my free leg and screaming. “Let me go! Stop!” The wolf went faster, and bit down even harder causing me to scream even louder. My back was on fire from being dragged in the dirt and I could feel my whole body going numb and wanting to shut down. I felt my free foot connect with something and a yelp came from the wolf as it stopped running. I started kicking my legs again not caring about the damage I was causing to my leg in the wolf’s mouth, I just had to get free. The wolf growled and shook its head causing my vision to blur from the pain in my leg caused by the jerking motion. 
    I was sobbing and reaching out to grab whatever I could when I felt my hands land on fur. It happened to be the wolf’s back leg and the first thing that came to mind was to pull myself towards it and bite. I bit hard enough to draw blood. The wolf let go and yelped in pain only for it to snap at my arms holding to it’s back leg. The wolf got its mouth around my arm this time and started with the jerking motion it was doing earlier, all I could do was scream and fight. Kick, punch, pull, whatever came to mind that might cause the wolf to let go but nothing was working. It gave another good shake of it’s head and I felt and heard a loud crack come from my arm. My mouth opened as I gasped for air from the pain, no sound was able to come out and I stopped moving. 
    This was it, I had no energy left to fight, the pain was mind numbing and honestly, my brain just stopped working. I was gonna be eaten alive by a wolf, a massive one at that. He pulled me slowly this time, short bursts of yanking on my arm that sent shockwaves of pain through my whole body. I don’t know how long he pulled me through the woods, I kept coming in and out of consciousness and could tell I was losing way too much blood. I was startled awake when he stopped moving and let out a deep growl, never letting go of my arm. I began to fall back asleep because it felt good, only to be startled yet again by the wolf being yanked away from my arm causing me to scream again in pain. 
    I heard the most awful noises ever coming from behind my head. There was crunching and growling, I heard things being torn that sounded like they shouldn’t have been torn. I rolled onto my side to get a better look, my head throbbing to lift it even a little. When I looked in the direction of the noises I saw what appeared to be a giant black bear ripping into the wolf that just drug me halfway across the woods. It took a minute for my blurry vision to realize that it wasn’t a bear though, it was another wolf. It made the brown one look like a puppy in comparison to its size. 
    I tried to get up and make my way back to wherever was not there at the moment but the pain in my body was just too much. My back was wet from what I could only assume was my blood from rocks and roots tearing at it during our little trip and to top it off, I didn’t have the strength to pull myself much of anywhere at that point. I managed to make it to a tree trunk nearby and lean against it to watch the ending of the wolf fight. The brown wolf was staring at me, eyes locked onto mine when I heard it’s throat crunch under the massive jaws of the black wolf. I saw the life leaving its body and its unusually human looking blue eyes go dull.
   I looked up at the black wolf making its way over to me. It was only then that I noticed it’s fur wasn’t actually black. When the sunlight caught it, it looked brown, but it was so dark that in the shade you would have never known. I looked it in the eyes as it gently made its way in my direction, deep green eyes stared at me and all I could think was that they looked strangely familiar. 
    I sighed, feeling myself start to doze off again, from lack of blood, fear, or pain, I couldn’t tell, all I know is I heard my delusional self say aloud to the wolf, “Y’all are some strange looking wolves you know?”