Halloween Night

Chapter 3

Ally's breath came in hard bursts, her long legs pumping, her tits bouncing in the cinched blouse of her costume and the red cloak of it streaming out behind her. She put one foot up on a thick log that jutted into the trail she was sprinting down and launched off of it into a form perfect long jump that carried her over other smaller impediments before her feet touched down. She landed hard but staggered forward, determined to keep moving. Panic clawed at her mind, driving her forward. She had to keep running!

God, she'd been so stupid! That noise back in the clearing had scared the shit out of her and she'd just taken off; she didn't even see if the others had or what even made that awful roaring. She'd just run; given her frequent practice at that, she'd covered a lot of ground fast, even in this terrain. Then she'd heard it; an eerie, hair-raising sound that had made the fading panic flare up again. She'd only ever heard it in movies or TV shows or on those nature CDs they played in some stores. But something deep in her psyche, some buried instinct told her what it was. It was a wolf's howl and it sounded close.

So she'd taken off again, after barely a moment's pause to try and get her bearings. That meant that now she was totally lost and had no idea where any of the others were, or even which way would go back to the clearing. She had no idea how long she'd been running either, but she hadn't heard the howl again or anything else other than her own breathing and thumping footfalls. Ally slowed a bit; gradually decelerating to a walk and then stopping. She bent over, hands resting on her thighs, getting her breath back. Maybe she could stop and take a few seconds now to-

A heavy, rumbling growl came from her left. She'd heard dogs, even big dogs, growl and snarl before. This was similar, in the same way that the angry yowl of a house cat was like the roar of a lion. The growl shook the air and struck her almost physically and she felt her stomach clench, her eyes widening. She slowly turned, her hands shaking as she held the wicker basket she'd bought for the costume party in her hands like a shield. When she saw it, she took a step back, "Oh, fuck me running."

She'd seen wolves before at the zoo and this sure looked like one. Except those wolves hadn't been taller than her at the shoulder and staring right at her with huge yellow eyes, with lips pulled back to reveal a muzzle of sharp, shining teeth that seemed to somehow reflect every little bit of light that made it through the branches overhead. It was massive; bigger than a bear but its grey coat and sleek, wild canine shape left no doubt as to what it was. It didn't snarl again, just watched her.

Her legs quivered and threatened to go out from under her. That would be bad, really bad. She wanted to run away screaming but that would also be bad. If you ran from a dog, it chased you. Ally knew that she had to act unafraid, even aggressive. Anything else would mark her as prey. Noise and light...she needed noise and light...and she could make both!

God, if she ever saw Greg again, she would kiss him for making her watch Les Stroud with him. Right on the lips and she didn't care who saw it. Her hands dug into her basket and rummaged around; candy, wallet, condoms, spare car key, there! She pulled out her iPhone as the wolf took a few more steps towards her through the underbrush. "Come on, I don't care if I don't have Wi-Fi, you stupid fucking thing." The wolf was almost at the edge of the trail she was on when she crowed triumphantly and held up the phone towards it in one hand. Her index finger tapped at the screen and a brassy roar that rose and became honk-like burst out from the device.

The wolf leaped back, growling again. Ally's heart leaped into her throat, and she hit the sound effect again, the fx app playing Godzilla's scream at maximum volume. "Back off! You're Tokyo, furball, if you don't!" She hit another of the app's 'buttons' and the bellowing bugle-like roar of Jurassic Park's T-rex thundered through the night-time forest. The huge predator took another few steps backwards, ears flat. "You like that? Huh? You want some more?" She hit another button.