My breath came in shallow, ragged gasps as the scene unfolded before me.
I watched as the stranger, my only tether to hope, my saviour. Was pinned beneath the monstrous wolf. His body writhed in agony, arms straining against the beast's crushing weight. Blood seeped from long gashes across his side, painting the forest floor black under the moonlight. His voice was hoarse, but he still managed to scream through the pain.
"Go! Run! Save Yourself!"
The command stabbed through me like a blade. My body shook, every nerve screaming at me to obey. Run. Leave him. Survive. That was what prey did. That was exactly what I was.
But My legs wouldn't listen, they couldn't move. My body rooted itself into the earth, as if the very soil had claimed me. I couldn't abandon him, not after he had dragged me from death's jaws, not after he had chosen to save me when he could have left me to be torn apart and even gotten a better chance to escape. I was the reason he was in this position.
"No!" I screamed, my frozen limbs suddenly reawakening.
The wolf snarled, shaking its massive head as the stranger's resistance weakened. His arms trembled violently, no longer strong enough to keep its jaws from sinking into him.
Then the underbrush rustled. A second wolf padded out, sleek and gray, its eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight. Another followed, larger, brown with scars etched across its muzzle. A fourth emerged behind them, silent and shadowy, its form a blur of muscle and menace.
Four wolves now surrounded the bleeding stranger, circling with predator patience. Astonishingly they all ignored my presence and instead concentrated on the boy on the ground.
My heart pounded so loud I thought it might tear itself apart. The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood and the musk of beasts. I could barely breathe.
The stranger coughed, crimson splattering across his lips. His gaze locked on mine, desperate, pleading. "Run… please… save yourself."
Tears streamed down my face, hot against the cold night. My chest heaved with sobs, but I shook my head violently. "I won't! I won't leave you!"
My eyes darted wildly about. I had nothing, no weapons, no strength. Only fear and desperation. Then, just a few feet away, my gaze fell on a fallen branch. Thick. Splintered. Heavy enough, maybe, to do something, anything.
I lunged for it, snatching it from the ground with trembling hands. The wood felt clumsy, too heavy to hoist and in my weakened state, I would probably fall if I tried to swing it against the monsters. But it was all I had.
My voice and legs shook as I screamed at the wolves. "Get away from him!"
The beasts turned their heads, almost lazily, as though acknowledging the noise of a gnat. Their golden eyes glowed in unison, reflecting my terror.
I managed to raise the branch above my head with both hands. I didn't feel brave, my knees quaked, my stomach roiled, my vision blurred with tears but I swung with every ounce of strength left in my body.
The branch cracked against the gray wolf's flank with a dull thud. It barely flinched. Its head whipped around, lips peeling back in a snarl that exposed long, glistening fangs.
I stumbled backward, clutching the branch tighter, my heart hammering out of control. "Stay back! Back! I warn you!"
The gray wolf lunged toward me, but stopped short as if savoring the game. The others shifted, their focus torn between me and the dying boy on the ground.
The stranger coughed again, his voice breaking. "Why… why didn't you run…" His words dissolved into a choked sob of pain.
I glanced at him and my blood turned to ice. He was lying motionless now, his chest barely rising, his skin pale under the moonlight. Blood pooled beneath him, soaking into the soil.
"Get up!" I screamed helplessly, my voice shattering. "Please, get up!"
But he didn't move.
Something inside me cracked wide open. My sobs turned into guttural cries as she swung the branch again, striking the scarred brown wolf across its shoulder. Splinters dug into my palms, but I didn't care. Rage, grief, and terror fused into one reckless storm.
"I won't let you have him!" I screamed, my throat raw. "Do you hear me? I won't!"
The wolves froze for the briefest moment, tilting their heads in eerie unison. Then, as though some silent command had passed between them, they turned fully on me. Four pairs of golden eyes locked onto my trembling frame.
My stomach dropped, all my bravado gone in an instant. I knew, with a clarity that cut through my hysteria, that I had just signed my death warrant. What had I been thinking? That I and my silly piece of wood would be able to fight off not one, or two, or even three of these vicious creatures?
Father did say one day i was going to kill myself with my stupidity and it seems he was right. I thought with a bitter smile.
The gray wolf bared its fangs in a grotesque snarl. The black wolf, the massive one that had first pinned the stranger lifted its bloodied muzzle and growled low, vibrating the air. The others prowled closer, their bodies moving with lethal grace.
I staggered backward, still clutching the branch though my hands shook so violently that I could barely hold it steady and my arms ached. My back hit a tree trunk. There was nowhere left to run.
My eyes darted once more to the stranger lying on the ground. Motionless. Pale. His gray eyes half-closed, glassy with pain and fading light.
Something inside me broke entirely. A sob tore through my chest, my vision blurred with tears. I whispered, almost to myself: "I'm so sorry… I couldn't save you…"
The wolves tensed. Muscles coiled.
And then they pounced.
Time slowed. I saw every detail with horrifying clarity. The snap of their jaws, the ripple of muscle under fur, the spray of saliva as they launched themselves through the air at me.
My last sight before they fell upon me was not of their gleaming fangs, but of the boy on the ground. His body sprawled unnaturally, blood soaking into the leaves. His stillness was absolute. His chest did not rise. His eyes, once fierce and alive, were now dull and empty.
The young man who had given me a fleeting spark of hope… lay lifeless, dead because of me.
He had sacrificed himself for nothing, I was nothing but wolf meat now.
My scream split the night as the shadows of the beasts fell upon me.