Blazen

Voices

The night was relatively quiet, except for the distant cries of the wolf creatures. Once or twice I thought I heard the human voice calling for help, but wasn't sure.

Yes it was quiet. Peaceful. The sky was a deep blue and tiny stars glittered far off in the dark infinity. I was wearing the wolf hat and gloves, turning the knife over and over in my hand. I liked the hat, it made me feel strong and powerful. And the knife made me confident I could keep us safe.

Regardless, I jumped a little when Josh's snoring broke the silence. I sighed and looked up at the sky again. I wish I knew how we got here. I wish there were other people here. I just wish I knew what to do.

The whole desert valley was illuminated by the stars and moon. You could see a faint glow of the wolf camp in the distance, and all the sand mounds and dead trees and bushes. It felt so...empty out here.

A few minutes passed before I heard the screaming sound again. Much louder. Squinting my eyes I could see the dark silhouettes running across the sand flats. They looked like ants from here.

They all stopped in a group in the middle of the desert. Then, It was quiet. I could hear my own heart beating heavily in my chest. What were they waiting for?

"HELP ME PLEASE IS ANYONE OUT THERE!?"

I nearly fell off the rock I was sitting on. The terrified voice surprised me. It was the same human voice from yesterday. It was a girl.

"The girl.." I said to myself. I got up and got the picture of the girl from the supplies pile. She was all alone in the picture, stretched out in the sand, asleep or unconscious. She had tan skin and dark hair.

I returned to my rock. The creatures all started moving towards the voice. The screams filled the night air once again. But at least the wolves were moving away from us.
I pulled out the map again. It stumped me. The other camp marked "Enemy"? What could that mean? And if they were he enemies of the wolves, could they be friends to us? What if they were people? What If the "EP" was the extraction point, what if that's the way out?

None of this was making any sense. I let the map slip from my hand into the sand. My eyes started to close slowly. I was so tired, and it was almost time for Josh's shift anyway.

I got up and stretched, and walked to the tent.

"Jos-" I began to say but I stopped when something thudded in the sand beside me. I bent down to it. A rock.
"What?" I said to myself as another rock flew past me. I had to move a little to avoid it.
"Hey!" I said aloud as a third and rock struck me in my head. The wolf hat came off my head and landed in the sand beside me. All at once my vision blurred and my knees gave out. Falling face first in the sand all I could think was what the hell just happened?

My eyes quit on me. And I couldn't feel my arms and legs. But I could hear the voice.
"Oh shit shit shit shit shit...! Oh god I'm sorry no no no sorry im so sorry wake up please!"

I felt my body get turned over in the sand. Then I heard Josh's voice and the first voice. But I couldn't understand them. I was fading away into the infinite dark. I saw the stars but my eyes were closed.

While I was unconscious, or dead, whatever how could I tell, I heard muffled voices and dreamt of the wolf creatures. I dreamt of their camp. I dreamt of drums beating and the creatures howling. I dreamt of them dancing around a huge fire calling out to the moon. In the dream I couldn't control my movements, I was in an autopilot mode, but I could see myself dancing with them. Running around the fire. Raising my hands to the midnight sky, the wolf gloves on my hands.

Then in my dream I saw the fire erupt. I turned towards it. I could feel the heat on my face. In the middle of the fire, tied to a stake, was Josh and the girl from the picture. They seemed blurry and limp. The fire burned around them and licked at their feet. I couldn't look away. What was this? Why was this happening? Why couldn't I stop it!?

A low growl erupted from the creatures as the sun suddenly came up. My wolf paws faded. I stopped dancing the fire went out and Josh and the girl were gone. All the creatures turned and growled at me. I could now see them in the light. They had human faces, and wore wolf hats much like the one I now possessed. The group of wolf people parted, and a much larger wolf-type-thing erupted from the crowd and jumped on me. I fell on my back in the sand as the creature lunged itself at me. The last thing I saw was the creatures teeth, inches from my face. I bolted upright, and sat up awake. It was daytime.

I was sweating and breathing heavily. I wiped my head and looked around. I was outside the tent in he sand. Sitting on a rock beside me was Josh. He looked at me worried, the sharpened stick pointed at me.

"Where did you go last night?"