Factors of Change

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

David was half asleep, his eyes barely open as he stared absentmindedly into the fire. Brandon was unnecessarily poking the fire, moving the logs around using the long, straight stick he’d found as a poker. Nina was next to me, her eyes on her hands as she slowly worked her knife into a small chunk of pine wood, tracing abstract patterns on it. “That’s a kitchen knife,” Brandon pointed out as he looked at her. “You’re going to blunt it.”

“It’s mine, stop complaining,” she said with a smile, not taking her eyes off her work. “I’ve got another one for cooking.”

Brandon snorted softly, knowing better than to argue. He got to his feet and walked over to the edge of our camp, between the two tents where we had piled up enough dry wood to last us a few days. I let my gaze lazily follow him as he bent over the pile of wood to gather a few pieces, before I shut my eyes with a tired sigh. I was lying rather uncomfortably on the uneven ground, my head propped up on a small log, but it had been a long day of trekking in the mountains, and I was unbelievably tired.

I opened one eye and cast a longing look at David’s truck, parked a little way down a dark path. I could barely see it, but the moonlight shone on the surface of the hood. Wandering about rocky, steep mountains all day wasn’t my thing, really, but Nina had insisted there was an available spot in the boys’ truck and that she didn’t like the idea of being alone in her tent, so I’d grudgingly accepted to spend part of my vacation in the Rockies. While I had to admit that the scenery was beautiful and that it was a very nice change from my regular urban environment, I was also looking forward to going back to my most underrated amenities, such as warm showers, electric power and private bathrooms. Until then, though, I tried to make the best out of the experience.

I was about to close my eyes again, when I noticed a large shadow flashing past the pick up truck and then back into the trees. I gasped and sat up quickly, squinting between the trees. Had I imagined something? Was it a bear, maybe? We were always careful to keep the food out of their reach. I couldn’t hear anything else other than the sound of Brandon’s rustling through the pile of campfire wood and Nina’s knife scrapping against her chunk of wood. Bears were common in the Rockies, but we were chatting and had a relatively large fire going, and I knew bears don’t like noise. Besides, they don’t move silently, either, and we would have heard it coming. Still, I felt very uneasy, and kept my eyes on the path leading to the truck.

“You okay?” Brandon asked as he stepped back into the light of the fire. He was carrying an armload of wood and dumped it on the ground at his feet.

“I thought I saw something,” I answered with a shake of the head. “Can’t see anything now, though. I must have imagined it.” I gave him a small smile. “I’m a bit tired.”

“Aren’t we all?” said a groggy voice to my right, and I turned to see David blinking sleepily. He yawned wide enough to almost dislocate his jaw as he slowly sat up. “I say we should all be in our sleeping bags.”

“It’s only 9:30,” Nina pointed out with a chuckle. “The sky’s barely gone dark. It’s too early for bed, I say.”

“It’s not if you’re planning on going down the river on a kayak for half of the next day, and then climbing back to camp with the kayak on your shoulders before dinnertime,” he grumbled back, and I smirked. I had mixed feelings about the next day’s plans as well. Brandon laughed and was about to respond when a loud rustle coming from behind him had us all looking towards the tents.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion, but it couldn’t have lasted more than mere seconds. A gigantic, dark grey wolf leaped out from between the two tents and tackled Brandon to the ground with a snarl. I screamed and jumped to my feet, and felt Nina’s hand grab onto my arm tightly enough to leave bruises. She shouted something I couldn’t understand and pulled hard on my arm, as we turned to frantically run towards the truck. David was behind us, shouting at us to run faster, but his voice was cut short with another vicious snarl.