The Rise of the Nations

Chapter 6

As the night wore on, I settled down into one of the lawn chairs by the fire and after a while I came to the realization that the crowd around the fire had thinned. Slowly, everyone had been leaving in pairs and at first I had dismissed it as a midnight make-out session between couples, but I had been talking with Joy and her boyfriend Jay, Tokala, Rio and even Nanco had all left. We were the only two by the fire.

“Where die everybody go?” I asked, turning around to peer into the dark trees behind us.

“I don’t know,” Joy said, looking around as well, “I’ll go look for them.”

“No!,” I yelled after her, “Don’t leave me here!” But she moved to fast and was gone from the light sooner than I’d finished my sentence.

“Rio! Nanco?” I called into the darkness, standing and wrapping a hand made Native American blanket tighter around me as I stared after Joy, “Anybody?” I shivered and it had nothing to do with the cold. I was too close to the fire for that.

                I decided it would be wiser for me to go to the car, rather than wait for them by the fire. I had this absurd feeling that I was being watched and if it was so, I didn’t want to be out in the open and in a circle of light, unable to see whoever it was. I wanted to hide under the cover of the darkness and preferred even more, to be behind the safety of glass and metal.

                I made my way towards the direction I remembered us parking the Jeep and after a little while, I became unsure of myself. The sounds of the woods where all around me and the roots and underbrush kept grabbing at my legs: I had the creeps and I couldn’t see the truck anywhere in sight. I wished I’d stayed where the fire was instead of venturing into the woods by myself and silently cursed myself. And then I tripped.

                I cried out silently and landed on my arse. I was about to push myself back up when I looked up and saw the largest wolf I’d ever seen, standing less than four feet in front of me. That’s right; there was a huge ass wolf less than the height of a 6th grader, away from me. I sat there, on the cold damp and lumpy ground, just staring dumbly at the wolf. I remembered reading that any sudden movements could provoke a wolf to attack so I sat there as still as possible, trying to calm my breathing and heart rate. I took a few deep breaths and neither the wolf nor I moved a muscle.

                I became, against all common knowledge, more curious than scared. I didn’t know if wolves were common in this area and I’d never seen one in person before. It had white fur and piercing honey brown eyes. He sort of resembled…Nanco, which was utterly ridiculous, but it was true. When I looked at the wolf, I could have sworn it was Nanco.

                “Nanco?” I asked softly. The wolf’s ears twitched at the sound of my voice, turning towards me to catch the sounds of my words. The wolf blinked at me and put it head slowly towards the ground, and then slowly it backed away.

                You’ll know you’re fated the third time you see him.

                After the wolf left, I sat there for a while longer until the chill started to creep in, cooling me to the bone until I couldn’t stop my teeth from chattering. I stood up and saw that I was less than ten feet away from the Jeep. I hoped it was unlocked as I tried the handle. Lucky for me, it was and I climbed in, locking the door behind me and curling into a ball in the front seat. I may have dosed a little when the sound of something heavy and the shaking of the Jeep woke me. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the windshield to see a giant red rust colored mountain lion laying on the hood of the Jeep. I let out a little peep and the mountain lion just stared at me with these big black eyes that glowed green when it tilted its head.