Eventually we passed the spot where Damian and I sat down to drink water, making me remember how upset he was when I mentioned the people that had been mauled to death at this campsite. This very same creature was in front of me now, keeping a tight rein over the side of my cloak to keep me close to his side. I thought it was poetic irony for me to be dressed as the Little Red Riding Hood, even more so, when I thought that I was taking the very same path that Damian showed me this morning. The two of them seemed to be so in-sync, so in tuned with the other that it made me wonder if Damian and the wolf were one and the same.
It’s like there are two people in you, I recalled myself saying after I passed that familiar spot. What if I wasn’t wrong about that after all?
“Damian,” I spoke aloud, but this strong, enormous beast did not respond to the name. “Damian?”
The wolf continued to move forward, letting go of my cloak with the clear assumption that I would follow him anyways. A part of me thought of running, but then I remembered what happened to Ashley. We walked on for another twenty-minutes, tired to the bone and insufferably cold from the frigid temperatures. It was colder in the forest and, without the consistent lighting from the full moon rays, it made everything so much harder to see. The wolf must have sensed my difficulty, for he took a hold of the bottom of my dress to tug me forward.
Eventually I heard rushing water from a waterfall, recognizing that sound instantly as I trudged across the forest floor. Damian was so desperate to take me there, I remembered, and recalled how happy he was to dip his feet into the icy water. I blushed when I remembered what he tried to do afterwards, recalling how abrupt his sudden change of mood was.
I sensed, echoed in the back of my head, I thought you wanted it too.
We’re not animals, Damian.
A part of me wanted to run at this point, not wanting this wolf to drag me any closer to the falls. I tugged on the end of my dress, making it shred upwards with a loud rip. The wolf growled at me in resentment, making me swallow hard under his unsettling glare. “Where are you taking me?” I demanded, not caring one bit that he couldn’t understand. “I want to go home.”
The wolf took a hold of the other side of my dress with his fangs, dragging me deeper into the forest whether I wished it too or not. I considered fighting back, but I knew it would be in vain. The deeper we went, the darker the forest had become. Soon enough it became impenetrable, letting me know it would be next to impossible to escape the wolf’s grasp and find my way out of the forest alive.
The wolf let me go suddenly to scamper forward, pouncing over a large rock to duck himself deep into the thick forestry. A sharp sound ignited through the air, and soon enough he came trotting back to me with a small hare in between his jaws. The wolf dropped it in front of me, making my eyelashes bat at him curiously.
“Are you giving it to me?” I questioned him.
The wolf tilted his head upwards, expecting something, but I was not sure what he wanted me to give him. A minute passed, and then he made a tiny moan before it ripped off the head of the hare for good. He ate the rest of the body steadily, making me look towards the towering silhouette of trees as I wondered what I had gotten myself into. The wolf ate the last of the animal, and only when his pink tongue licked around his blackened mouth that I knew he had his fill.
White fangs clamped onto the side of my dress right next to my hip to pull me forward, sending me into the depths of the forest where a heavy mist came into my view. The sound of the waterfall grew louder, making me squint my eyes into the darkness as the pathway became more obscure. The wolf let me go once we reached a clearing, and quickly scampered forward with a happy gait.
He circled a large plastic Tupperware container and then dug his face into it greedily. I stood at the edge of the opening, recognizing that green container all too well. A flashback of me seeing it in Damian’s kitchen came into my mind, the labels of moose and deer had suddenly made more sense to me.
It was intended for the wolf, I realized as I watched him munch happily away at the food, Damian is feeding this thing …
I stepped forward, examining the area as if Damian would suddenly appear in my line of sight. He must have dropped it off in the afternoon, I surmised, remembering how adamant he was for me to not open the door of his fridge this evening.
I could hear Damian’s voice in the back of my head as he once uttered, “Let’s just say, there is a reason I am the only one able to survive out here all alone.”
Why would he feed the wolf?
I crept forward, looking down the icy cliff where Damian had dangled his feet inside of the water. The spot where he kissed me was unfortunately where the Tupperware container was positioned.
You smell so good, echoed in the back of my head, taste so good.
The wolf lifted his head to take a long look at me, and then plucked up a slab of meat to carry it towards me. He dropped it at my feet, and then waited for me to take it up.
I felt conflicted at the sight of it, knowing I couldn’t eat raw meat like the wolf. “Why are you giving this to me?” The wolf opened his jaws to take a hold of the meat, letting it dangle in front of my waist for me to take. “I can’t eat it.”
The meat was dropped down to my feet, and then his ears pointed backwards defensively. He let out a snarl as he turned around, and then bent down low to the ground with his eyes peering into the darkness.
“Damian?” I asked into the darkened forest, hoping that he had suddenly showed up to save me. “Ben?”
A growl was my answer, and then a scraggly black wolf appeared from the darkened forest to creep its way towards the rushing falls. The wolf next to me growled louder, opening his mouth to let out a fiercer noise. The intruder attempted to respond in kind, but it wasn’t as loud or as fierce as the one next to me. An aggressive growl came from them both, and then they sprinted towards each other to nip at the other’s side, one arm brought the black wolf down, and then its leg kicked harshly at it.
I stepped away realizing I was in the middle of a fight and thought it best to stay out of the way as their growls grew louder. It’s the food, I realized, knowing it must have attracted the other wolf.
The brown wolf suddenly stood on his hind legs, towering over the other wolf so much that it tried to scamper away, but it was too late for the front paws landed on top of him and a sharp set of teeth barrelled its way into the black wolf’s neck. There was a painful sound in front of me, making me hide against a rocky wall until the worst was over. The black wolf was soon dragged over to the bucket of raw meat, and then the larger brown wolf stalked its way towards me in the darkness.
I fell to my knees in fear, trying to figure out what this thing wanted from me.
A whimper escaped the wolf with an open mouth and then he nuzzled the front of his snout into my chest. His front paws padded over my shoulder which made me scream out in pain once his razor-sharp claws dug its way into my skin.
Without warning the wolf pressed his cold nose against the side of my arm, sniffing my clothing with interest, and then he brought his nose up to my neck where he sniffed it even longer. A low moan escaped him, and then it let the tip of his tongue trail up my neck. I closed my eyes knowing someone had done that to me a few hours earlier.
“Damian,” I whispered with worry.
The wolf let his nose sniff at my collarbone, brushing the front of his snout into the side of my hair. I was too scared to move and only when he opened his jaws wide to bite at the curve of my shoulder that I let out a frightened wail. I could feel my skin being torn from me, the searing pain as his fangs dug their way deeper into my shoulder blade. I tried to push him away with my left hand, but it was to no avail; the creature’s fangs were too deep in my shoulder for me to shove the massive creature away.
When the wolf finally released me, I fell to my side in utter pain. I cried out with agony, feeling the blood pour out from the open wound as I watched the wolf scamper away from me. I couldn’t move, too shocked to think clearly. My legs curled into the top of my chest and I let out a low cry, trying to fight back the pain that was throbbing over my right shoulder. I laid my cold fingers against it, wincing once it touched the throbbing area.
I knew I had to bind up the wound, so I removed my shredded red cloak and pressed it against my aching shoulder. I would have to wrap up the open wound, but right now I needed a few more moments to regain my breath. The large wolf was perched against the rocky cliff howling to the moon, not even bothering to look in my direction. I could see the silhouette of him through my foggy eyes, watery from tears that I was trying to fight back.
“I’m so scared,” I muttered under my breath, feeling like I had been kidnapped against my will. I tied the red cloth as tightly as I could against my shoulder blade, then went onto my knees to glare at the back of the wolf. A part of me wished I could just shove him off the cliff, but then I remembered that he did save my life.
And then he bit me, I thought, and looked at the red cloth awkwardly tied around my collarbone and shoulder.