wolves

I'm walking through the forest when i hear a bark, not the cute dog being friendly, bark. The bark you can tell is from a wolf. Soon, I can hear more barking. I look behind me, and I see a pack of wolves, at least 12, all a silvery grey in the dim moonlight.

They aren't running at me, but they are walking. I don't know the hunting patterns of wolves or how they act around prey. But I was sure of a couple of things. They were well fed, and they don't kill humans unless they are starving or have rabies.

But if they had rabies, they would be attacking each other too. What the fuck is happening? I faced them completely, and they began to chuff, and growl loudly. I stepped backwards, and they all walked forward, keeping the distance the exact same.

Nothing about this was normal, natural, regular, or anything. I remembered that I had a pistol in my pocket. I grabbed it, slowly moving, not making any sudden movements. But the second they saw the gun, they charged at me. I sprinted away, knowing I would not outrun them, but I would hopefully buy myself enough time to scare them off.

I pointed the gun at them and fired. One of them collapsed, slamming into the ground on their chest. They all halted, but I didn't. I continued to run as fast as my legs would carry me. Within the same minute, they began to howl, as if saddened by the loss of their fallen family member.

I felt bad for a moment, but in the end, I had no choice but to kill it. I kept sprinting for only 4 minutes before I could no longer, I collapsed onto the ground, the leaves crunching under my weight. I lay there, panting heavily. Suddenly, something feels wrong, I stop breathing so loudly, and I realize that the wolves stopped howling. meaning they may be hunting me again, and knowing how unnatural they were, they wouldn't stop until they found me,

I stood up, and began jogging to the city once more. i was a runner, sort of. I enjoyed running, and I could jog for a while, but I had been hiking all day already, and I was sore as hell. I was relying on the adrenaline of the situation to keep me going. But I was getting tired, and I had 26 more miles to go.

20 minutes later, I had gone 3 miles. But I felt like I couldn't breathe. I had to lose all of the weight. I dropped my 55-pound backpack. I paused and looked at my gun. I knew I didn't have enough ammo to kill them all, or even to keep them at bay. i only had 6 bullets left in my 1911. I knew the shot that killed the first wolf was a good, lucky shot.

I dropped the gun, knowing it would be useless, and just an extra weight to carry. I began running again, this time much faster and easier. I was practically flying. And then I heard the leaves crunching behind me, and I knew it was the wolves. Adrenaline surged through my body once more. I knew my body had just dumped everything now, because I was sprinting faster than I've ever sprinted before, I knew the wolves were around 200 feet behind me, and I knew that as a human, I had endurance on my side.

If I could keep sprinting like this for at least 15 minutes, I'd survive. But I knew I couldn't keep this up for long; the wolves were gaining on me, very slowly, but surely. I knew that if I didn't run faster, I would die. But I was already running faster than I ever had.

I remembered my family, how they were worried about me doing this hike, and how if I died here, I would never see them again, or my dog, or my wife, and I wouldn't get to see my son. i wouldn't get to see who he would become; I wouldn't see him at all. He might not be born yet, but he was on the way.

I felt determined to survive, to see my family. Suddenly, I felt myself grow less tired, and I felt the urge to scream, but not out of fear. I remembered that an adrenaline rush can last an hour, and that in life-or-death situations, our bodies can create more adrenaline and dump 50 times the regular amount at a time.

My body had done just that, and I screamed, because I had to scream. My chest felt hot, and my legs were carrying me faster than the wolves. I kept running, the trees were flying by, and I was free.

After 30 minutes, I saw a store in the far distance, behind several trees. And I kept sprinting, never stopping for even a second. It wasn't until I got to the front doors that I realized I had outrun the wolves a while ago.

I walked in, and suddenly felt woozy. The whole ordeal had lasted around an hour, and I fell to the ground. The store clerk stood up and said, "Whoa there, kid. You alright?" I looked up at the woman, she was for sure around 60, and obviously, anyone younger than 30 was a kid to old people.

I stood up, "Yeah, I am now." The woman grabbed a chair and put it down next to me. "Sit down." Her voice was stern, but filled with caring. I realized, I knew her. She was my grandma, but I knew she didn't recognize me; after all, it had been 17 years since I'd seen her.

"Are you, Marie?" I asked, and she froze. "How do you know that?" "It's me, John!" Her face looked puzzled, before her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. "J-Johny?" I nodded. Her eyes teared up a moment before her face went cold, "Tell me what happened out there. Why are you so dirty? And why the hell did you collapse!?"

Her voice was stern, but filled with a grandmotherly love. I quickly responded, "I was attacked by wolves." I paused for a moment before continuing. "These wolves weren't normal, though, they. just attacked me, I killed one of them. and they howled as if sending it off or something! Then I had to drop everything I had, and run."

She didn't say anything for a minute, but then said "You ran from wolves, and escaped?" I nodded, "Yeah, I'm a runner though, so it makes some sense." She shook her head, "You mean to say you ran around 35 miles an hour? For like 30 minutes?" I froze, "I didn't tell you how long I had been running for."

She didn't stutter, or even pause before she said, "Well, they can only sprint for around 20 minutes, and I'm sure this entire thing took at least 45 minutes, because you're exhausted." I froze, having forgotten the fact that lots of old people are wise and smart as hell.

"Well, alright, fine. But yes, I ran from them." She sighed, "Alright, so either you're the fastest man alive, or they were already tired." nod, "do you have a phone?" She hands me her flip phone. I look at it for a moment, "Jeez, I haven't used one of these since I was 13.

I call my wife immediately. "Who is this?" She asks, "It's me, John. Listen, I'm gonna be a bit early coming home, but I'm not gonna be home tonight. I'll be back tomorrow morning. I'll explain everything when I get home, I promise!" She pauses, before sighing. I could tell that was a sigh of worry. But she says, "Just be careful, please." I respond, "I will, I promise! Goodbye, see you soon!"

I hang up, and I ask Marie, "H-hey so I sorta lost my stuff, do you think I could borrow like. 50 bucks? Or whatever the hotel charges?" She shakes her head, "As if!" I freeze, "Ok th-" She cuts me off. "As if i'd let my sweet grandbaby sleep alone after all that." She smiles warmly, "I'm willing to bet you're hungry."

I feel my face warm up. I missed my grandma and her cooking. My parents said she died a while ago, but I knew they had just gotten into a big fight. I felt her hug me, "Oh sweetheart, I missed you!" I hugged her back.

One hour later, I was in the guest room, sleeping soundly. I was awoken by a loud bang! Then a scream, by Marie. I heard growling, and barking, and a scratching on my door.