Ashrays

Nerd Hunting (4)

Winter break couldn't have come faster for the boys. Julian, being as organized as he is, requested that they meet up to discuss plans for their next two weeks off. They sat down at Philip's Nook, like they usually did on the weekends they spent together and ate dinner. Parties were mentioned, as well as hikes, and camping trips. Until Tristan mentioned a hunt. 

"You have got to be kidding me." Julian laughed as he pushed open the restaurant door, allowing a gust of freezing cold air to rush in. He zipped up his coat to keep warm.

"Toothless might have the name of a vicious warrior, but he can't hunt. Like.. at all." Patrick said.

"You guys, it's a great idea. We can go tonight. You know, start off our break with a bang! Who knows, maybe we will be town heroes if we kill every wolf. I've been hearing quite a lot from other people that these things have been a serious issue lately." Tristan started walking, leading the group across the street, and towards the direction of a local park that was surrounded by forest. 

"It's really dangerous. The only reason I would go would be to make sure you don't do anything stupid." Julian said.

"If you guys are going to go, I'm going to go home. It's definitely not safe for me and Toothless to be there if you guys are bringing guns and going to go dance with the wolves."

"Patrick is right," Julian acknowledged, "Let me at least drop him and Toothless off at home before we go do anything."

"Fair enough, I won't argue when I'm getting my way!" Tristan laughed and smacked both boys on the back jogging back towards the car.

Julian drove Patrick home and helped him up to his room before driving to Tristan's to pick up supplies. Once they got there, Tristan instantly started grabbing things that he thought would be important to take. Reaching under his bed he grabbed two different guns, both of which Julian couldn't tell the difference between. He didn't know anything about guns like Tristan did. Duct tape, reflective vests, extra bullets, rope, a carving knife, and protein bars were added to the backpack as well. 

Tristan looked up at Julian while shoving everything into the backpack, "Can't forget snacks. Who knows if we'll end up getting lost and starving to death. Just so you know man, if that happens it's every man for himself."

"Good to know." Julian chuckled. He grabbed a compass, a map, two hand crank flash lights, a small first aid kit, and his cell phone and shoved those into the backpack as well. "There's no such thing as being too safe."

The boys suited up in thick coats, and hiking boots and headed out back towards the direction of the park surrounded by forest. 

A twenty minute drive led them to the exact spot that Tristan had planned on. The two boys got out of the car and headed into the forest, making sure they each had a fully loaded gun.

"So how exactly are we supposed to find the wolves." asked Julian.

"You know, I didn't actually think that far ahead. But let's just follow the treeline and keep the moon to our left. We should be fine either way. I hope your aim is good."

"It's not." The boys hiked for what seemed like hours until the ground started to change from dirt to sand and the trees started to clear. They had hiked so far that they reached the edge of their town. The side surrounded by ocean. Tristan looked around, defeated. 

"I thought we would've actually found something. We were hiking for like what, two hours?"

Julian looked at his watch. "No it was only like 45 minutes, but same thing I guess. You gotta remember, our town isn't that big. If the wolves were out, we would have seen them by now. I don't think they live by the ocean anyway. We definitely went too far."

Tristan sighed and started heading back the way they came. Julian started to follow, but was stopped by a sound. 

"Tristan wait! I heard rocks falling from over there." Both boys froze and squinted their eyes to try and see more through the darkness. The sound of crackling branches came from 5 feet to the right of Tristan. He immediately held up his gun towards the direction of the noise and held his finger on the trigger. Both boys held their breath. Nothing.

"It was probably just the wind," said Julian walking back towards Tristan who was now lowering his gun. 

Fast thumps on the dirt bordering the sand mimicked the sound of someone, or a very large creature running full speed. Julian snapped his head around but couldn't spot what was making the noise. The noise got louder as the creature got closer. Without saying a single word to each other both boys ran full speed back the direction they came. Suddenly a deafening screech rang out from behind them as the thumps got louder and faster, sounding as if something was right behind them. Neither turned around to see the wolf chasing them. Slowly the thumping got quieter and the boys decided to slow down. Not a single word was said to one another as they walked stiff and wide eyed back to the car.

"Don't say a word to anyone about me acting like that. Not even to Patrick." Said Tristan.

"I won't I swear. I think that was a little traumatizing for us both. It may be best not to talk about it to anyone. Deal?"

"Deal."