Rebirth

Trouble in Paradise

I blinked my eyes in surprise. Three coyotes, a grey wolf and a red fox were around the mansion. What's going on? When did different species travel and hunt together? I didn't know what to do. I could kill a fox or two but five? I would be lucky if I got out alive. I have never seen gray wolves in the forest. Where did it come from?

I did another perimeter check for anything I missed and remembered their positions. All five of them were interested in rabbits and they were near the compound gate. If I could jump the compound wall and toss a few rabbits out, I should be good. Who am I kidding? The walls are atleast 20 feet tall. There was no way I could climb the wall. Even if I managed to climb it, I wasn't sure about landing without breaking a bone or two.

I sat on a tree branch waiting for them to leave. I should have known having rabbits was a bad idea. I was capable of taking down predators. Why did I even have them inside compound? I sat there motionless till the grey wolf noticed my presence and announced it to its 'friends'.

My heart started pounding harder as the big dogs' attention shifted in my direction. They started running and before I knew it, they were surrounding the tree. The grey wolf started jumping on the tree. Wolves couldn't climb trees. Right? Right? This one seemed to know how to climb.

I looked around for other trees to jump on but decided against it. The tree I was on was long and there were no branches for atleast 15 feet from ground. I highly doubted it's ability to climb the tree. I sighed in relief when it stopped jumping. Wolves couldn't climb trees, after all.

I held my position and decided to stay there till the hungry puppies head back. I winced as painful realisation hit me in form of sunlight. I cursed myself for leaving hoodie and glasses inside.

I Climbed higher branches and covered myself in leaves. I knew that I couldn't hide for long. I had to think of an escape plan. There were no trees close enough to jump inside compound. When did I start getting myself into such situations? Right. After I decided that this forest is my home.

I couldn't even go tree jumping. Sunlight would burn me. There was no trial and error. Solid plan or death. I wasn't planning to die anytime soon. Waiting for them to leave would mean waiting for the sun to reach its highest and burn me. I wasn't looking forward to that. 

I did another perimeter check without managing to burn myself badly. As expected, little puppies followed me, wagging their tails. Not really.... They followed me with drooling mouths. I found one tree about 4 or 5 meters from the gate. It provided enough shade for me to stay there for a while. That was the closest tree and my mind didn't have any better ideas.

I hid myself in thick trees and the grey wolf wandered around in search of me. I spent a lot of time here so it would have trouble picking up my scent.  The others followed the grey wolf. It might be the alpha. I wasn't familiar with animal hierarchy. All I knew was the animals followed their alpha. It was enough for me to make my escape.

I went to the tree nearest to compound and make my move. I fell down with a loud thud and I was nowhere near the compound. Judging by the amount of sound, it shouldn't be long before they find me.

I was left with two options. Run towards the nearest tree or towards the gate. I didn't have time to choose. I ran for the gate. I could hear their footsteps approaching. Just as I was about to reach the gate, I felt a sharp pain on my lower leg.

Something bit me. I wasted no time in checking because I knew that one of them got me. I opened the gate and rushed in, locking it. The grey wolf clung onto my leg and wasn't ready to let go.

It was prepared to tear a good chunk of my muscle before my hands balled up into fists and landed a solid blow on its head. I knocked it out cold. It's teeth were sunk into my skin and flesh. It took some time but I managed to pull my leg without loosing much muscle.

All the exposure burnt my skin and rushed towards the door. My leg was bleeding heavily and the probability of infection was high. I didn't have any antiseptics. I tore a bit of cloth from shirt and wrapped it around my leg. I crashed on the couch making sure my leg was untouched. I drifted off to sleep pitying about my situation.

I woke up to the sound of barking. Of course I had to hear barks. I held their alpha hostage, after all. I slowly dragged myself to the door. Wait... I don't feel any pain. I reached the cloth and removed it. My leg... It was as if... nothing happened. How? The canines sunk deep into my flesh and it should have taken days for me to heal. How did I heal in a few minutes? Was I sleeping for days? No. I was sleeping for a few minutes, an hour tops.

I went out to find the wolf still knocked out. I could see it breathing so it was fine. I didn't sleep for days as I thought I did. I quickly picked up the killer and tossed it out. The others licked him and he woke up. He was not happy about his situation. He lunged at me, growling fiercely. Atleast I was inside the fence this time.

All the plotting and escaping made me hungry. I put my hoodie and sun glasses on and quickly drained two rabbits and tossed them out. I made a face at the way they were tearing and eating the flesh. They must have been really hungry. I was right. The grey wolf was the alpha. None of them ate the meat before him.

I didn't know how hungry I was till I drained four more rabbits and tossed them out. That meat should keep them out from hunting for a while. There was no kidding. The whole place smelt of rabbits and the scent was strong enough to lure predators from miles. Maybe I should put a dent in the growing population.