The Last Tribrid

PART 2: Chapter 6

The path seemed longer than expected. That should be a good thing, for there might not be a dead end, right? Oh how she wished she stayed at the cottage. The low rumbling sounds from the loud footsteps crunched the leaves on the path. Her breathing wasn’t much different. Her sweat dripped down her face like she just jumped out of a swimming pool.

She darted past the trees and ferns, followed by eight other paws. Barks and growls reached her ears from behind. Nearby animals scattered. Summer glanced behind her, her eyes as large as a tennis ball. But, surprisingly, there wasn't anything there.

She faced forward only to suddenly be facing a pitch black wolf. Its legs were spread out wide with jaws bared. A white patch surrounded its left eye like white paint.

The wolf dug its claws into the ground, intimidating her. She spun around to run the opposite direction, but was faced with another black wolf. It separated its white paw from the other black paw, growling ferociously, swishing its tail left and right.

The wolves started circling her. She looked around, panicked, then spotted a large, thick stick. She grabbed it with her trembling hands and swung at the beast with the white eye. The wolf dodged, then continued the circle. Summer swung the stick again, back and forth, “stay back!”
But the wolves kept their ground. She kept swinging the stick at the wolves, keeping them as far from her as possible.

Suddenly, nearby ferns rustled. She swung her head around and stared wide eyed at the ferns. Slowly, another wolf crawled out from it, jaws bared. It was pitch black, no white spots. The other two wolves halted as the black wolf came forward.

Summer raised her weapon, unfazed by the threat, but the black wolf threateningly walked closer, also unfazed. The other two wolves continued to circle closer towards her with the black wolf. She was out numbered.

She swung hard as she tried to keep the wolves far away from her. But the wolves were too fast. One of them managed to reach her and clawed at her flesh, and she cringed as she felt the stinging pain, jerking her arm back and clutching it, blood staining her hand from beneath.

The wolf with the white paw thought that was its opportunity to strike, too, but was interrupted by an unfamiliar, half high- half low-pitched bark. All four of them glanced towards the interruption. A black wolf, with a dark blue stripe down its face and over it’s nose stood ‘tall’ before them. The three wolves bared their teeth.

The lone wolf took an exasperated step closer towards the four creatures, his own jaws bared, “leave her alone!” he exclaimed coldly to them.
Thunder chuckled, his pitch black fur shimmering in the faint light, “why? So you can have it all to yourself? This is our prey. Go find something else!” the black wolves growled towards the lone wolf. But he kept his ground.
“you heard me. Leave the human alone. Humans are not prey.”

The black wolf lifted his head in disgust, “what is this? You’re defending this human? The ones that kill half of our existence?”

Storm dug his claws into the dirt, “this human is unlike any other. She's done nothing to threaten us. Leave her alone or there will be consequences,” he grumbled.
Thunder laughed loudly, “and what are those ‘consequences’?” he teased.
The lone wolf held back a grin. Well, Would you like to know. He thought.
“First of all, this territory is taken. And second, you can just go and find prey elsewhere, ” he explained.

Summer glanced at the wolves individually. She couldnt believe what she was experiencing. Are they… talking? She thought, tough couldnt understand what they were saying since all she could hear was ‘bark’ and ‘growl’. She eyed the loner, the blue stripe down his face catching her eye. Then she lit up. Wait, isnt that the wolf from the trap earlier?

Shaking her head to bring herself back to reality, she watched the wolves cautiously, then turned around for an escape, but was blocked by two of the wolves, both of them with a white spot. She held her weapon tight in her grip.

The loner glanced at Summer being held hostage by the two wolves. Thunder glanced at where Storm was looking, then grinned, “why am I arguing with you anyway? I have mouths to feed, so go mind your own business,” then he leaped at her, claws out and jaws bared. Storm’s eyes widened as he yelled, “no!” and leaped towards Thunder, protecting the human.

Thunder skidded onto the ground. The other two wolves flung themselves at the human just then, but the loner blocked their way: “oh no you don’t!” He leaped towards the threats, scratching the wolf with a white paw on the eye, then bit the other wolf’s  nose. They both wailed in pain.

The black wolf had recovered from the fall, ignoring the burn at his side and leaped towards the loner, pinning him down by the neck. He dug his fangs deeper into the loner’s flesh. The poor wolf gagged and wailed at the pain and the pressure. Thankfully, Summer was close enough to save the day. She swung the stick and knocked the wolf hard on the head, “bad dog!” she wailed. The wolf staggered aside, wimping. The other two wolves backed away from her while she swung at them, scaring them off. The loner staggered to his feet, growling at the three wolves.

The black wolf eyed the loner, then the human, then back again. Then eventually growled in frustration, “you will pay for what happened today!” and just like that, he scurried off with the other two on his tail.

The lone wolf collapsed, feeling relieved. Summer kneeled beside the wolf, dropping the stick, “you… you saved me?”
He tried to wag his tail but was too weak. He was losing a lot of blood. She started panacing, “oh no. you’re hurt, really bad!” her hands shook as she hovered them over the wolf’s body, silently panacking.

Suddenly, the wolf’s wounds started to shrink. It was only half the size it was before when it stopped shrinking. She widened her eyes in awe and surprise. The wolf sat up, still feeling drained. Then, as if nothing had happened, it started limping away.

Summer stared in complete confusion. She could only think about one thing to say, “hey!” she yelled towards the wolf. The wolf turned, waiting for het to speak. She bit her lip, not knowing what to say. “Th- thank you…”she stammered, even though she new it was still just a wolf. I think I might be going crazy. She thought.

The wolf stared at her before swishing his tail gleefully, before it turned and disappeared into the forest.

Her eyes gleamed from satisfaction as she continued her way back towards the cottage through the darkness, staring at her hands as if she had just experienced magic. She smiled joyfully. Now that was an experience.