UMBRA

The Hounds Of Hell

The cave was now swelling with the smell of the body, although it was far at the entrance. But we couldn't leave yet. We had to wait for the sun to come out.

Even with a cadaver at our doorstep, our fatigue won, and our body slackened as we began to drowse. This time, it was a howl that attacked the silence of the woods and jerked us awake way before dawn. Wolves? Yes. Gray wolves. Hungry gray wolves.

Jace looked at me, we're trapped.

"It's because of the smell of the body. They are here for the body, not us," said I. "Not us."

Personally, I have been an animal lover throughout my life and an active supporter of animal welfare. And when it came to wolves, I have always found them a majestic and royal creation of nature and its supremacy. But right now, they were scaring the shitload out of me and making me lily-livered. Times change. And it sucks.

Outside, around three hundred yards away, we were probably surrounded by enormous creatures who stepped in and out of the wreaths of fog crawling among the humongous redwoods which surrounded us. Its thick hoary fur was shining under the bluish moonlight and swayed in the wind. Its ghastly bright teeth were jutting out of the blood-thirsty mouth, tempted to break us into two.

I looked around and studied the cave and said, "I have a plan."

They hadn't seen us. Not yet. They twitched their nose at the wet ground for a spoor of human meat. Small, yellow lights flared and cut through the mist. These weren't our beacons of light, however. They were smoldering, hungry eyes of a predator.

I put another one of my bright ideas into action.

Ten minutes later, Jace, Olly, and I were hanging by the vines at the height of ten feet like Tarzan's siblings on the other side of the cave from which Olly had fallen.

"Wait for it," I whispered. "Wait for it."

This better work, Jace mouthed.

"Wait for it," I said.

We were still partially swinging mid-air by the vines. I continued saying, "Wait, wait, wai—"

TRRRRRINNNG!!!!!

"NOW!!" I shouted.

The phone rang madly and was kept next to Mr. Briggs. In a blink of an eye, the entire woods were throbbing with the sound howls and thousands of animal footsteps.

"Go! Go! Go!" I continued.

We began to climb up the vines on the inner side of the slope (inside the cave) and emerged out of it as the entire pack of gray wolves began to cluster around the remains of Mr. Briggs on the other end.

Didn't understand?— I set the iPhone at max volume with a timer of twelve minutes (to be precise) and kept it in its owner's hand as we hung by the vines and waited. As the timer goes off, the wolves would go bonkers and draw towards it while we made our great escape on the other side.

We jumped out of the opening, and when I looked back, I saw the animals weren't exactly wolves. They were more like rabid hyenas in the reeking skin of wolves, their fur patchy with bald spots. Their eyes were glowing with pus and were bloodshot while their teeth were disfigured, poking in all directions from the drooling mouth.

Hounds of Hell? Hmm . . . Could be them. Too bad, I don't have time for more analysis.

As we ran, the cries of the wolves began again. We had been spotted.