La Lupa

Tobias kicked a patch of grass as he strode further away from the schoolhouse. His fair face was thunderous beneath the sweat soaked strands of his bright hair. The skin around his left eye was red. It would soon turn a mottled purple, maybe even black.

Harvey Foster always threw the hardest punches. He was older than Tobias, stronger than him, and meaner. The stinging urge to cry grew the further away he got from the building. Tobias wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. He wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction of making him drop a single tear. He took heaving breaths to calm himself as he climbed the wooden fence dividing the woods from the school yard. Tobias paused for a moment just sitting on the top slat of the fence. The wind offered a fresh chill to the heat radiating from cheeks. “Breathe,” he could hear his Ma’s soft voice in the back of his head.

The furrow in his brows eased. “Breathe,” he murmured.

With a clumsy hop he descended the fence. Promptly, his worn leather boots slipped in the fresh mud. His spine met the wet earth a moment later and the air shot from his lungs in a strangled wheeze. He blinked up at the gray sky, his head spinning. All he could do was laugh. It was a harsh, biting sound. Tears rolled down his freckled cheeks. He could just see Foster’s face sneering down at him now, “Rollin’ in the muck like the mutt you are, Cross?”

He grit his teeth, his split lip starting to bleed again as his mouth stretched into a grimace. “Plug-ugly bastard,” he fumed. The mud soaked through the worn fabric of his shirt and pants with ease. He closed his dark eyes. “Shit.”

Tobias drove hid hands into the mud and pushed himself to his feet. Ma would wash his mouth out with soap if she ever caught him cussin’ like that. His fingers squelched as he tightened them into fists. She’d probably dump him in the creek when he got home too. The thought made his lips twitch upwards. These were his good pants, after all. With a sniff he wiped his dirty palms across the fabric on his thighs. Nah, Ma’d save herself the trouble of washing them and just skin him to make a new pair. He snorted. Maybe with some boots to match.

The flattened grass path into the woods was one some of the older boys used when they wanted to skip lessons. Mrs. Ward’s ruler left raised red lines across their knuckles for hours whenever she managed to catch them. Tobias wasn’t interested in having his own matching marks and trudged off through the underbrush before lunch was over. The faint glimpses of sun that filtered through the treetops cast green light across the ground. The effect was similar to the perfume bottle his Ma kept on her windowsill. Da had gotten it for her before he… Tobias huffed. He struck some of the small rocks at his feet with the toe of his muddy boot as he walked. Best not to dwell on it.

He kept a sharp eye out for animal traps or fresh footprints. His Ma would murder him if he got eaten by an animal. Uh. No, wait. She’d revive him somehow, then she’d kill him. Lucky for him, there had only been one close call with a small pitfall trap. The path had become less identifiable the further on he went. At some point it would lead to town. He knew that. As long as he kept walking west and didn’t get turned around. The setting sun made that easier too.

He made to grab the beef jerky from his pocket when a noise rose up over the peaceful din of birdsong and rustling leaves. Tobias’ spine went rigid. He froze with one foot in the air and his left hand hovering over his side. Another low whining sound came through the trees to his left.

When he looked back on the this moment months from now, he wouldn’t be able to recall if it was bravery, curiosity, or sheer stupidity that made him do it. But he turned left and followed the sound when it came again. He expected a dog or small creature that would match the keening noise. He was very wrong.

Now Tobias had a problem. A very big, very hairy problem. They stared each other down. Yellow on brown. His breath caught in his throat and his knees locked up beneath him. He wouldn’t be able to run even if he tried.

The beast’s lips pulled back. Saliva dripped from its maws. Its teeth were the size of his thumb! There shouldn’t have been any wolves near town. Trappers and wolfers had come through the area only a few weeks ago. They’d been assured that all the beasts had been taken care of. They’d been assured their livestock was safe. Evidently they were wrong. It took him longer than he’d like to admit to realize the beast was caught in an old steel trap. Its back right leg was a bloody mess.

Relief swooped low in his belly. He could run and it wouldn’t follow. He could turn his back and the creature would be stuck watching him go. He could kill it. It would be a mercy at this point. He had his slingshot in his back pocket and there was a plethora of perfect stones at his feet. Not to mention the knife in his boot. It would solve everything! The bounty on wolves was nearly 50 bucks per wolf these days. Or at least that’s what the trappers had said. They could fix the leaky roof. No! They could sell the house. They could move somewhere nice. Where Ma didn’t have to work, and there was no Harvey Foster with his heavy fists and crooked teeth.

Tobias reached out slowly for a smooth rock. His eyes slid from the wolf’s to the ground and in that split second the beast lunged. It’s jaws slammed shut a foot away from his hand and Tobias stumbled back. The creature yelped and Tobias’ arms pinwheeled. He landed flat on his backside, his tailbone slamming into something hard. The rapid thud of his heartbeat dulled the sound of the animal's low whines.

“Breathe, Tobias.”

He set his jaw, “Breathe.”

He got to his knees and grabbed a stone about the size of a peach pit. His eyes locked with the wild yellow gaze and painfully slow he reached for the slingshot in his back pocket.

The wolf’s sides were heaving. Its rumbling growl created a terrifying white noise. Tobias could feel a bead of sweat crawl down his temple as his trembling fingers slotted the stone into the leather pad of his weapon. He was a good shot. From this distance it wouldn’t even matter if he were a shit one though. He stood carefully and stretched out the band as far as it would go. One shot right between the eyes.

Would it hurt? What if it didn’t kill it? His arm twitched with the effort of holding the band taut. His breathing started to grow rapid again. His own chest began to heave. They watched each other with pupils the size of pinpricks. Their hearts hammering. The wolf whined again and stumbled. Tobias watched it shrink in on itself. Its tail hung low and its ear pressed back. He bit into his lip and tried to get his fingers to release the band. His whole body shuddered.

They stood watching each other for what seemed like an hour. His arms burned and he could see the beast’s legs trembling. “Agh!” He cried as he tossed the slingshot into the dirt.

The sound seemed to echo through the trees. He couldn’t do it. “Can’t even kill an oversize dog, coward.” Foster’s grating voice drifted through his head like nails on a chalkboard.

He crouched low and tried to slow his racing pulse. The animal seemed to have the same thing in mind. The tension eased but never left its strong limbs. Its growling subsided. Tobias turned his eyes back to the trap clamped down on its leg. He winced. “Alright,” he muttered.

With slow, clear to see movements he reached inside his left pocket. The beast snarled. “It’s alright,” he gulped. “It’s fine.”His voice trembled.

He wrapped his fingers around a stick of dried beef and steadily brought it out. The wolf’s nose twitched and for the first time its eyes weren’t on him but on the food. “Peace offering,” Tobias said uneasily.

He tossed the jerky forward and watched with bated breath as the wolf nosed at it. Its startling eyes flicked to him twice before it snapped it up between its powerful jaws. Without him realizing it, a smile tried to edge its way onto his face. It was brittle but when the wolf looked back at him again it remained fixed.

The details were fuzzy. It happened quickly. One moment he’d taken off his torn jacket. Then the next the wolf's head was covered with the material and he grappled with it to get it to stay on. He had no interest in getting bitten.

The weight of his body pressed the animal down reluctantly. His knees kept both sides of the material pinned to the earth. The wolf’s head stuck between the dirt and the muddied fabric. “Sorry sorry sorry-” he frantically looped as he grasped the steel trap.

He groaned as he desperately pushed down on the side levers. The wolf bucked and barked. Growled and griped. The trap cracked open and he tugged its foot off of the compression pan. The wolf’s struggling stilled.

Tobias took that moment to rip his jacket off the beast and scrambled back. It shook its head and snorted before growling at him. Then it shifted its back leg and paused. Its head tilted to the side and Tobias began to feel just a tad bit scrutinized. “Right. Well. Good luck to you,” he said to the animal (not that it understood the sentiment). Without a further thought he lobbed his last chunk of jerky in the opposite direction and bolted.

Tobias Cross was a tall, gangling teen. His face was rather skeletal and his clothes tended to hang off him awkwardly. His Ma constantly assured him that he’d “Grow into them eventually.” -Doubtful.- Nonetheless, he’d been dubbed “scarecrow” on a number of occasions by his schoolmates. He wouldn’t make a very filling dinner. There was barley any fat or muscle on his limbs to speak of. He hoped the wolf saw that too. The dried beef would be the easier -and more tasty- option.

For most of the run home he felt like the beast was right on his heels. It couldn’t have been, not with that injured leg. By the time his house came into few the sun had dipped behind the horizon. His body barreled up the porch and through the front door. He slammed it shut behind him and gulped air like a drowning man. “Tobias? That you?” A voice called from down the hall.

Sweet relief. The back of his head thunked against the old door. “Yeah, Ma.”

There was a clanging sound coming from the kitchen. “You’re home late.” She said

“Sorry, Ma.”

He heard her sigh as he stepped further into the house. “Go wash up, hon. I’ve got dinner on the table.”

Tobias paused. Slowly he looked down at himself. He might as well have been rolling in the mud. His pants were filthy, his boots had left stains along the floor, and the jacket griped tight in his fist was covered in saliva and puncture marks. “Shit!” He cursed under his breath.

“What was that!?”

“Nothing!”

She did in fact make him take a dip in the creek that night. She did scold him about his clothes and she screeched when she saw the blinker Foster had given him. He didn’t breathed a word about the wolf.

It was a week before he ventured off into the woods again. He’d been admiring Lizzie Everly as she braided her dark locks when he was sent flying. Tobias slammed into the unforgiving dirt and almost wished for soft squishy mud. Foster had come barreling at him out of nowhere. He knew Harvey was sweet on Lizzie. Everyone was sweet on Lizzie. No one else was getting tackled for staring!

There’s not much he remembered about the fight. Only that he lost and something about Foster puttin’ him in an “eternity box.”

Indignant, he got to his feet and shoved aside some of the onlookers. Lizzie included, much to his embarrassment. He hopped the fence before Mrs. Ward saw him. He stuck the landing.

This time wasn’t so bad. Foster hadn’t gone for his face and the only bruises he’d need to nurse would be the ones on his shoulder blades and pride. It took him a moment to remember the events of the week prior. The dangers that laid within the woods were worse than at school.

Tobias cringed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could turn back now. His cheeks flushed at the thought. Everyone had watch him flounder in that scrap. He’d rather face the wolf. At least it wouldn’t laugh at him. “No, it’ll just eat me,” he mumbled. Nonetheless, he continued on.

He found the wolf not far from where it had been trapped. Or, well… It found him. He’d been biting into the sandwich his Ma had made when rusting leaves startled him. He yelped and his sandwich went careening through the air. The wolf darted forward and snapped it up before Tobias could make a grab for it.

He gulped. It was the same wolf, if a bit skinnier. Piercing yellow eyes and gray fur. Its back leg was raised gingerly. There was no way it could run with that. No way it could hunt like that. It must have been starving, and he was a sitting duck.

“Hello,” Tobias greeted slowly. How was one meant to greet a wild animal? Certainly not like a pet, he imagined. “That was my lunch.”

It licked its lips. Tobias swallowed roughly. “Ma would be glad to know you liked it.” It took a step forward. Tobias scuttled backwards. “She would decidedly not be glad if you ate me,” he said with a disconcerting laugh.

He tried to get to his feet but his shoes slid over the loose dirt and twigs. It kept prowling closer, and Tobias kept crawling away. That was, until he couldn’t. His back met the rough bark of a tree. The wolf was upon him before he could try to use it to push himself up. His shoulders drew up to his ears. He though it would go for his throat first. It might have if Tobias hadn’t scrambled for his pocket nearly taring it off. He yanked out a piece of jerky and tossed it.

The wolf dove after it eagerly, but Tobias couldn’t run. His legs were a liquid puddle. His heart was in his throat. The wolf scrambled back to him and before he could even think to fight, it shoved its entire snout into his pocket. The seams tore loudly. Tobias squawked. “Hey!”

The wolf pulled back with a large slice of dried meat between its teeth. It plopped itself down beside him and Tobias watch wide eyed as it chewed. It finished quickly and turned back to him. He rushed to grab another slice. It was taken from his fingers in a heartbeat. All he was left with was a palm full of saliva. “Egh… Thanks.”

The beast tipped its head and waited. Tobias huffed in disbelief. He dug through his pockets for another bit, broke it in half and offered it on the flat of his palm. The wolf’s tail began to slap against the dirt when it took it.

It laid down slowly, eyeing him but with its ears perked up. “I’m Tobias.” Something eased inside his chest.

It licked the back of his closed fist and Tobias opened it. The wolf snatched the next strip of meat away before he could blink. “Guess I’m your meal ticket, huh?”

The wolf’s loud chewing was answer enough. “You’ll need a name then.” He readied another piece. “What about Maximus? That’s a good strong name. Very manly.”

The wolf blinked at him slowly. “Alright maybe not. Howell?”

It sniffed this time and nipped at his fingers when he offered it food. Tobias snorted. “Right sorry. Hmm… Jasper?” he pondered that. “Jasper. Jass? Jazz? Oh I like that!”

“It’s a pleasure to meat you Jazz.”

It wasn’t until two months later that Tobias realized Jasper was a girl.