Florence
The sun had fallen low when I made it back to the fence. I’d dutifully tracked our path from the fence, running in roughly the right direction and occasionally scenting Erik’s musk faintly. I could have been wrong. The trees surrounding me were all similar, if not identical: tall, healthy, with leafy green plumages that spread high above to create a shading canopy. The snow was no different to the spot a hundred metres to my right, and the fence was standard linked metal.
My instincts had directed me to this spot. The smell of blood was faint, but when I came upon the copse of trees in which we removed our trackers, I knew I was in the right spot. The faintly metallic smell of blood was present, and the pristine snow had been disturbed. It was as good evidence as I’d ever get.
With my back to the fence, I sat on my haunches and deliberated. Kyle should be here by now; he was larger, stronger, faster than I was. He could have easily caught up to me by now, despite the time advantage I’d had over him.
Yet he was nowhere to be seen, and I was alone.
I could feel my previous wounds and bruises had healed in the short time since our encounter, and I felt ready. The metal anklet on my hind leg was still in place, with the tranquilizer ready for application. It was now a waiting game.
Time passed, and the sun dipped lower, below the horizon, casting Yellowstone into darkness. The thick blanket concealed my long distance vision, and I had to rely solely on my sense of smell and hearing to prepare myself for Kyle’s arrival.
My eyelids blinked once, twice, and on the third time, they became heavy, impossible to reopen. I felt like I was trying to lift weights with tired muscles, and I capitulated under its pressure. A few minutes of sleep could do me well, a power nap before the big showdown.
I awoke some time later, how much time I couldn’t have accurately judged. The night was alive around me, with birds cooing and wind rustling the leaves of the underbrush and canopy around me. Snow stirred in small swirls before drifting gently back to the ground.
Why had I woken? I was tired, and only a noise could have alerted my senses.
I was laying with my head on my paws, and I lay deathly still, my senses on overdrive. Someone was with me, I could sense it, I knew. Was it Kyle, ready to lunge at the threatening rogue in his territory? Or was it Erik, wounded, but alive and ready to help me on the final leg of the journey. It could possibly have been Steven, preparing to rescue us, I didn’t know.
I had no time to prepare when a dark shadow fell upon me, lunging from the shadows to my left. The form was unmistakably Kyle’s, and I covered my surprise by rolling under him and launching to my feet, snarling.
The wolf turned around, its hazel eyes watching me with a calculating, icy glare. Even in the darkness, I could see he was wounded. His fur stuck up in odd patches, and in others, it was matted to his skin with thick, congealed blood. He limped slightly on his front right leg, and his actions were sluggish with fatigue. That at least acted in my favour.
I wasted no time in attacking, and we entered into a broken, disjointed dance. He would lunge, and I would shrink back, circling around him and aiming for his wounds. Just as I had gained the advantage by re opening a wound on his flank, his teeth snapped at my belly and tore both skin and fur off. Growling in pain, I clawed at him and he batted me away with a heavy paw.
We broke apart for a few seconds of respite, each eyeing each other’s movements. We crashed together moments later, jaws open and teeth bared. He aimed for my neck, and I dodged his jaws, ducking down and lunging for his throat. He evaded each of my attacks, and I did my best to avoid his, although I ended up with multiple bite marks and slashes on my neck and shoulders.
With renewed energy, he charged at me, and I failed to dodge his path. He slammed into me with force, knocking the air out of my lungs, and crushing me into the snow in the process. With paws on either side of my head, his jaws closed around my jugular, and my breathing halted. Fear coursed through my veins.
It was easy for him to kill me in this position. I was helpless. I twisted before he could clamp his jaws shut, and I dug my paws into the snow, pushing into his shoulders and reaching his throat. His jaws loosened from my neck in the process, but his sharp teeth had carved long gouges into my neck in the struggle. They bled freely, the wet liquid dripping to the floor in a rain of crimson. I felt lightheaded, but I pushed on, forcing my jaws to close over his neck. Without hesitation, I ripped, tasting the rush of blood enter my mouth. When I pulled away, skin and fur was torn, leaving a bloody mess behind that was the wolf’s throat. He attempted to growl, but it came out in a gurgle, his own blood splattering from his muzzle.
I took my chance, while he was weak, and paralyzed in agony. Willing myself to change form, I heard and felt my bones crack and shift into a taller, skinnier animal form. As a human, I easily slipped my metal anklet off and pried at the lock. The time spent scuffling in the snow had frozen it shut, and the metal was stained with red.
My fingernails were short and ineffective, and they were bloodied by the time I ripped open the lock. In the small chamber was a syringe, no longer than a finger, with a small bottle of clear liquid. My numbed fingers fumbled for it, and I lifted it to my teeth to bite off the plastic cap of the syringe. Shaking, I pierced the plastic top of the bottle and withdrew the syringe plunger, filling the chamber with clear liquid.
The wolf stirred behind me, and I was acutely aware that I had my back exposed to his talons. The bottle dropped to the snow and I twisted, to come face to face with a snarling, wild animal. It looked monstrous, its eyes wild and pained, and its throat open. I could see the red, raw meat exposed, and my stomach churned.
I could see a vein running from shoulder to head, large and throbbing. In our fight, I had removed fur from various places, and it left the vein exposed. It was perfect for my plan.
Without a second thought, I stabbed the syringe into his shoulder, directly into the vein, pushing down the plastic plunger and watching as the clear liquid was pushed into the wolf’s body. It was carried through the bloodstream immediately this way, and its effect was instantaneous. His eyes rolled back, exposing the whites, and he slumped into the snow, his body becoming limp.
I gathered up the plastic pieces of the syringe and bottle, and gathered it together into the metal anklet, before slipping it back on. There would be no evidence of any human interference here.
I gratefully changed back into wolf form, where my thick coat protected me against the biting wind and cold snow.
With an unconscious Alpha male wolf beside me, I laid my head on my paws once more, hoping that Erik would return in time. Steven had told us he would return in two days, and hopefully the tranquilizer would hold Kyle under for one more.
The next morning, I awoke stiffly from a sleep plagued with nightmares bearing dark shadows with claws and teeth. The sun quickly climbed to a high position in the sky, watching over me as I paced around the black wolf in boredom.
Erik could be here any minute now, I reasoned. A small voice in the back of my head whispered that he would never arrive, that he was dead, but I refused to listen to it.
Erik was a survivor, and he would make it back by nightfall, I was sure. He just needed more time to retrace our steps that was all. I didn’t embark on this trip to lose the one friend that had truly understood me, that had helped me accustom to lycanthropy. He wouldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be dead.
I lifted my head to the sun and howled, a long wail that spoke deep and mournful tones. The sound of it echoed across the snow, ricocheting off the surrounding mountains and cliffs, and reaching out across Yellowstone. It was a desperate call to a lost friend, urging a response. My throat hurt as I closed my jaws, cutting off the howl after minutes of the noise. My eyes watered from the effort, and from the loss.
There had been no answer.
