They
came at midnight.
We
weren’t ready.
I
was on watch, standing at one corner of the house, a torch ready to be lit
should the need arise. Xandra stood at the other corner. The eyes appeared
slowly. So slowly, I thought I was imagining them. They winked gold in the
moonlight. I lit my torch and the eyes shrank back at first, then came closer.
I was entranced even when the form appeared, twice the size of a large dog, and
teeth bared. Xandra and I sprang for our ropes at the same time, yanked
upwards.
“Wolves!” I shouted. “Wolves!”
The entire house was in a panic instantly. Torches burst
to life, bedding flung into one corner to make room, old rifles and new axes
given to the strongest who stood in front of the children and newest girls. I
slammed into the shutters, rushing to bolt them before the wolves could get in.
I managed to catch a glimpse of the pack before bolting the wood. I glanced at Michelle.
She had seen it too. A wolf smashed into the wood, my shoulder taking as much
of the blow as the shutter. I fell backwards, my groan lost in the noise.
Thankfully, my weight had managed to keep the wolf from entering and landing on
top of me. He fell backwards into the pack. The window was open, though, and
another animal sprang through. I rolled out of the way, grabbing my axe.
The wolf stood in the middle of the semicircle, hackles
raised and snarling. No one moved. I tried not to breathe so heavily. I felt
something shift in the wolf’s eyes and I leapt at the same time it did, sinking
my axe into its neck. The blade only buried itself about half of the way in and
Xandra shoved her rifle muzzle between the animal’s eyes, pulling the trigger. The
wolf collapsed. Someone was at my side in an instant, heaving the still-warm
corpse out the window. The body knocked another wolf down mid-jump and landed
in the middle of the pack. The wolves hesitated only a moment before jumping on
the fresh meat. They tore into their fallen comrade without a hint of remorse
but hadn’t forgotten us – they kept looking up at us, gold eyes glinting and
blood dripping from their muzzles. We took the opportunity to bolt all the
windows securely.
It didn’t take them long to finish their appetizer and
turn their attention back to us. They leapt towards our windows, slamming their
bodies into the wood until the metal bolts weakened and broke. We were prepared
this time, though still terrified. I had fought them before and my legs still
shook. I swung my axe with as much strength as I could muster, hacking straight
into a wolf’s open maw. The girl it was lunging for scrambled away screaming. I
yanked the axe away and the wolf turned to me, snarling with its split jaws
pouring blood down its throat. Before I could shudder, I drove the axe into its
neck. It fell, dragging my axe and subsequently me along with it. The force
flipped me over the body and I landed on my back, the air completely knocked
out of me. My lungs felt like they had collapsed inside me and stars danced
before my eyes. I lay motionless.
The chaos around me seemed farther away than it had been.
I couldn’t see anything except pitch black and a few stars, still winking at me
evenly. I managed to move my hand slightly and touched something warm and wet.
Blood, no doubt. Hopefully a wolf’s and not a sister’s. Then there was fur under
my fingers and I came to a blood-chilling realization. The force from the
wolf’s fall pitched me out the window and I was on the ground among the
stragglers and corpses we threw out the window. When the wolves inevitably
decided to give up, I would be where they turn. I didn’t want to have to deal
with their questions.
Not again.
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