The Cinders of Dezu

2nd: A Walk in the Night (6)

She heard a thud like a collision of a body into another and then a thud in quick succession like something hitting the ground. Her life didn't end. She opened her eyes. She was still running. No teeth in her. She took that moment to dash around a tree to the right and change direction. She didn't dare look back.
Cairo was the one to hear it first as he came up on it. A whimper and a howl. He stopped as he came upon the dog they were chasing, pinned to the ground by another body. Another wolf creature. This one was much bigger. It had its jaws wrapped around the neck of the first one, biting it into submission. It struggled to fight back as the one doing the pinning growled.
Julian came up quickly behind Cairo who was still stopped at the scene.
"Where's sh-?"
He swallowed the rest of his words. His heart sank when he saw what Cairo saw. Not only was the silhouette of the wolf freakishly large, as it shook the lesser dog, it's eyes glowed a blood red.
Cairo spoke breathlessly, "Come on."
Rightly deducing which direction she took, Cairo went right. He kept up his speed. He needed to find her before she ran into something else. He didn't know how long the bigger dog would be preoccupied with the other over which one of them would catch the girl as prey. Julian was right behind them. It wasn't long before they caught up to her. She was running ahead of them and Cairo called out to her at the same moment that a howl rang though the night. The larger wolf was after the claim he'd rightfully staked.
"Keep going," he called out to her "We're right behind you!"
He tried to call out and yet keep his voice down at the same time. Raina wasn't aimless.
"I see a light," she called back.
There was a soft glow that she could see through the trees and above the treetops. It was a soft orange haze. The boys could see it too.
"Don't stop!" said Cairo in a loud whisper.
"This is insane!" Julian said, realizing he was almost out of breath.
They could hear the growls and snarls of the beast on its way. Leaves crunched underneath their feet. They were almost there. They could see it now. It was a wall. A very tall wall. It was made of sawed off logs. They could see the tops of them came to a point. Raina remembered seeing pictures of these types of fences when she learned about the early settlers and the Native Americans in her history lessons. She had never seen one like it before in real life.
The wall got closer and closer and the snarls of the wolf grew louder and louder. Finally the trees ended and they found themselves in a clearing between the forest and the wall. They could see how long the fence was now and that it had erected poles outside of it with torches burning bright. They could see the entrance. A door to their far left. They ran, cutting across the clearing and passing the burning torches. They nearly slammed against the door as they reached it. It was big and made of smooth wood planks held together by metal braces.
They all began pounding on it and screaming.
"Let us in!"
"Please!"
"Don't leave us out here!"
Julian turned around to see their pursuer. He didn't. The clearing was... clear. There was about a hundred feet between the forest and the fence. He knew they couldn't have had that much of a head start on it. He couldn't hear the growling anymore either. But he thought he had heard another sound. A sound like trees shaking.