Of Wolf & Man

Chapter Four

Seven giant wolves were racing down the beach in Rachel's direction. Was everyone crazy? Why didn't they see them? They could be as big as horses and the only person who saw them was Rachel. She quickly pulled Tina up from the ground and ran towards the sound stage.
"Rachel! Rachel, please don't make me go back there! Please Rachel!" Tina tried to pull free from Rachel's grasp, but her grip was much too strong.
"I have to get us away from the wolves Tina. Stop struggling. We'll be safer inside." Tina looked behind them and Rachel hoped Tina saw what she did, but Rachel didn't bother to look back she just kept running.
"What wolves Rachel?" Tina's question caught Rachel off guard and she skidded to a halt at the door of the sound stage. "Rachel there's no wolves. We need to tell somebody about Felicity. She could still be alive!"
"There are seven wolves running down the beach! How do you not see them Tina!
THEY'RE RIGHT THERE!" Rachel pointed right at the biggest wolf. It had pale gray fur and jet-black eyes. She'd never seen wolves before but knew they weren't this big and didn't live in California. The gray wolf stopped and looked toward the girls as soon as it heard Rachel's voice.
Rachel quickly put her hand down and felt foolish for bringing attention to herself and Tina. Rachel wasn't sure if they could understand her, but her shouting might have scared them.
Rachel saw the gray wolf bark at a honey colored wolf and the wolf ran off with two others, one with dark brown fur and the other with light amber fur. Rachel didn't bother to look where they went, she was too afraid of the four other wolves that stood before her eyes. Rachel, too scared to even look at Tina, reached backward to feel if Tina was safely behind her but only felt the bricks of the sound stage. Panic struck Rachel as she turned around and saw Tina was missing. Did the gray wolf send the others after her? When did she run away?
Rachel looked back at the wolves and the gray wolf was closer to her now and she saw how beautiful it was. For a moment Rachel thought that her death would be perfect if she were to be killed by this gorgeous animal. Rachel's human instincts kicked in just then and were screaming at her to run away but she couldn't move. Other instincts, stronger instincts were growling in her head and telling her to stay and fight. Nothing could make Rachel move now.
She was ready for death.
Just then a howl came from the distance and all four wolves cocked their head to the left and the gray wolf howled back. The sound was so loud it hurt her ears. Rachel closed her eyes in pain and dropped to the ground covering her ears trying to block the sound from her head. When she finally succeeded her eyes flew open and the wolves were gone. Rachel was trembling so much; when she tried to stand she found that she couldn't figure out how to make her legs work. Rachel slumped back to the ground and started sobbing.
All that flowed through Rachel's mind was that the wolves killed Felicity and now they've found Tina and killed her. It's only a matter of time before they would come back for Rachel, but she couldn't move, she could hardly breathe. From behind her she heard panting.
Rachel's head shot up and she looked behind her and saw through blurry eyes the wolf that had come to kill her. It was the honey brown wolf, even more beautiful than the gray one. Rachel's heart ached looking into its chocolate eyes. The depths of them made her want to reach out to the animal and embrace it. They were full of pain and she wanted to make it go away.
When she lifted her hand, she heard a growl rumble from the beast's chest and it looked over her head. Maybe one of the other wolves wanted to kill her too. Were they really going to fight over Rachel? Another howl echoed through Rachel's head and she felt lightheaded. This is it Rachel thought, the end. Everything went black.
Though she couldn't feel or see anything Rachel could certainly hear everything that was going on. It was worse than seeing it. Angry snarls and growls issued from wolves all around her. She heard the snapping of teeth and the raking of claws against the ground. So, this is what death was like. Rachel felt her head swim again and the sound disappeared as well.
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From what Rachel could tell, she wasn't dead. Unless she was in hell because the sound of someone snoring and a sharp pain in her arm told her that she was very much alive. Rachel wasn't ready to open her eyes but knew that she needed to at some point and the sooner the better. Slowly Rachel's eyelids rose, and her first sight was a light fixture on a ceiling that she'd never laid eyes on until now. It sure was ugly. Rachel looked to her right and saw that she was in a small cabin of some sort.
There was a faded red armchair and a nightstand with a small lamp that hardly lit up the room. There were bandages covered in blood in a small bowl full of what looked like water next to the lamp. She was too frightened to look down at her arm to see what happened to it. Rachel turned her head to the left instead and saw a window with a blanket hung over it to keep the light out, but some still shone in and underneath the window was a round table and another faded red armchair. The snoring was coming from it.
There was a huge man with light brown hair snoring away looking uncomfortable. Rachel sat bolt upright and looked around more and saw a doorway that led to the rest of the cabin. Getting up as quietly as she could she tiptoed out of the room and sprinted down the narrow hallway that led to a door. Rachel struggled with the locks for a minute, her right arm starting to tingle, as she wrenched the door open and caught a glimpse of the sun.
Before she knew it, the sun was gone, the door was slammed shut and Rachel was face to face with a large tan hand just centimeters from the tip of her nose. Rachel knew better than to turn around, so she listened to the breathing and nothing else. That's when Rachel realized the man in the other room wasn't sleeping anymore.
"Where do you think you're going?" His deep voice was thick with sleep. Rachel closed her eyes, waiting and said nothing. "I'm talking to you Rachel."
Rachel's eyes flew open and she spun around, and her mouth flew open as she gasped. So many insults and questions were lined up in her head but were all forgotten when she looked into his eyes. Chocolate brown eyes, the same eyes as the wolf that came to kill her earlier. What were the chances that this could be a coincidence? Lots of people and animals had brown eyes, right? Rachel struggled to clear her head and took a deep breath and said, "How do you know my name?"
His eyes bore into hers and she wanted to look away but couldn't. Rachel was completely mesmerized by the stranger with the chocolate eyes. Light brown hair. And full lips that parted when he took a breath. His tan skin made her look albino. Rachel hadn't noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt until now, just jeans that hung low on his hips. His body was as beautiful as his face. He had scars on his shoulder that looked days old and some that looked older on his arms and hands. One in particular stood out on his left bicep. A four-inch, dark brown crescent moon shaped scar. That one didn't seem natural. It was more a tattoo of sorts, like it was made of henna not dead tissue.
"You're an actress. A lot of people know who you are. I knew who you were before you were famous though." His eyes bored into hers still. Rachel was extremely confused she didn't register that she should be frightened by him. The man looked away from her and when he looked back he saw the confusion in her eyes and looked away from her before he spoke again. "Helene sent me to look after you."
"Helene? Are you talking about my Aunt Helene?" Rachel was shocked. She hadn't spoken to Helene in months. Why would she send someone to follow her? Why didn't she say anything?
"Yes, your Aunt. It's a good thing she did or else you'd be dead by now." He looked up at Rachel and she saw there was pain in his eyes. Pain she didn't understand. He looked behind them again, this time the action was so fast, it was as if someone called his name, but they were the only two people in the cabin. That she was aware of. Her sudden gasp took the man by surprise.
"You saw the wolves too? Are Tina and Felicity okay?" He didn't bother to look at her or even say anything. He just shook his head. Rachel gasped again. "What happened? Who are you?"
"I can't tell you who I am. I'll try to explain what happened, at least as much as I'm allowed, when I get back." He looked at Rachel and the pain she didn't understand was back in his eyes. It made her want to comfort him, but anger overwhelmed her, and she wanted to know what happened to her friends. She deserved to know that much.
"Tell me now!" Rachel tried to make her voice sound firm but could only hear how shaky it was with the news she had just heard.
"I have somewhere I need to be. Will you promise me you'll stay here, and I'll tell you as much as I can when I return?" The pain in his eyes changed to longing. Rachel had to look away from him.
"I'll stay here...but you better come back." She could hear the hurt in her voice and tears start to well up in her eyes. She didn't bother to wipe them away. She heard movement and wondered if he wanted to reach out to her. "How long will I have to stay here?"
"I'll be back in about an hour, maybe less. It'll be easier for me if you stay here and do as I say. I don't want to have to worry about you running away while I'm gone." Rachel didn't bother to answer him. After a few seconds, he put his hands around her waist and picked her up with ease to move her from in front of the door. Rachel heard the tumblers move as he locked her inside to wait for him to return from wherever he went. Tears started to roll down her face as Rachel decided to look around while she was stuck there.
There wasn't much to look at. Rachel ventured down the hallway and the first doorway she looked into was the kitchen. The kitchen was all but empty except for a small amount of medical supplies on the counter and another bowl full of bloody bandages. Rachel was starting to worry if it was her blood that was in the bowls. Was that man some kind of psycho stalker who was going to take her skin from her? Rachel grumbled and looked down at her right arm.
There was a thick white bandage that went from her shoulder to her elbow. She hadn't realized that the bandage was that big, with her left hand she touched her bicep. She felt a sharp pain and saw blood rise to the surface of the bandages. She started to feel dizzy. Was it really hours ago that this happened to her? Rachel was all but lost in her thoughts when everything went black again.