Wolves and Men

As he followed her, he began to wonder if they were going to go all the way to the ocean. He didn’t have to wonder for long the wolf turned to the north and headed up towards the ridge line of the valley. He followed her while listening for the helicopter. He hadn’t heard it for a while and he heard no sign of it now.

The sky was getting lighter. He didn’t feel tired but he knew that he would need to rest soon. They came out of the trees, and he looked out over his valley. A fog had rolled in from the ocean and the whole bottom of his valley was covered in a thick white blanket of mist that his eyes could not penetrate. He smiled at the thought of successfully eluding the cops. But the smile slid from his face. He eluded them for one night but if they had found him here, they would find him anywhere. Was he to be a hunted animal the rest of his life?

As he looked out over his valley and pondered his options, he felt a by now familiar pressure against his legs. He looked out over what had been his home for the last two years, almost, and began to think about where he would live now.

A sharp pain rang up through his leg. He jerked his head down. staring at the wolf with shock and surprise. The wolf had backed up a step or two and he could swear she was smiling at him, his denim shorts still hanging from her mouth. She just bit me, what a bitch. He reached down and inspected his pants for damage.

“Why the hell did you do that?”

The mostly black furred she-wolf stared back at him. The she-wolf seemed to stick her nose in the air as she turned around and trotted north toward the top of the valley. He followed grumbling at being bitten by this animal.

They crested the ridge line. The terrain on this side of the ridge was a lot rockier and harder on his feet than the pine needle strewn ground of his valley. He was thankful for the easy pace that the wolf stayed at and he was struck again by the question of where exactly they were going.

The mountainous terrain they now traveled left them exposed with no cover at all. If the helicopter came back anytime soon, they would be spotted. He climbed up the loose rock-strewn boulders. While he was breathing heavily with the effort, he looked up and watched the she-wolf leap over the terrain with no difficulty at all. Not for the first time he wished he could transform into his werewolf form at will, then he could show the little wolf how it was done. But as he was it was all he could do just to keep up with the four-legged she-devil.

As they climbed higher, he felt the cold wind coming off the ocean, chilling him through his exertion. Soon, winter would make its way to this part of the world, but it would not come for another moon or two. Here on the exposed elevated rocks, he could feel the wind cut through his clothes and his hands began to go numb. The she-wolf was oblivious to these environmental changes as well it seemed, because she just kept leaping from boulder to boulder going ever higher and north ward. He had followed the animal this far, and she was leading him somewhere. Where that somewhere was, was a different question altogether.

He followed the wolf down into a slight dip in the mountains. They followed this easier terrain east away from the ocean. The crevice was sharp, and he had to jump from one side to the other to avoid his feet getting caught in the sharp rocks. The she-wolf picked up her pace and jumped to the other side of the crevice. He almost laughed out loud. They were performing team figure eights. Alternating who was on the north and south sides of the crevice then they would switch places. It became a game for him to see how perfectly he could mirror the she-wolf’s movements. For a time, it was fun. He felt the pure joy of life that he had experienced so often in the last year and half and he was happy.

In that moment, the sun crested over the mountain and the crevice in which they were trotting was flooded with the warm bright sun light of the new day. The rays of the sun were a welcome relief from the night’s cold wind and the stone over which they now ran. He felt warmth press down on him and through him and he could feel his feet begin to warm. The rock was still cold, but he knew that his hands and feet would be warm soon enough.

As he trotted with the she-wolf he heard his stomach growl. He hadn’t eaten in a while and he was beginning to feel it. The she-wolf might be able to go days without eating but people worked a little differently.

They continued to trot along the crevice at an even pace neither hurrying nor slowing. As the morning wore on, he began to feel an uncomfortable warmth building on the soles of his feet. It had been so long since he had walked on stone or any surface that held heat. His feet were not used to it and he found himself jumping from one side of the crevice to another faster than the she-wolf was just to bring some relief to his burning feet.

The two escapees continued their way along the crevice. It wasn’t a question of why was he following the wolf so much as where was the wolf leading him. As he allowed his mind to work on that quandary, he almost missed the fact that the crevice they followed was bottoming out and instead of a sharp bottom it had gradually become flat. He dropped down and began to run along the flat bottom of the crevice just as the wolf was doing. They were able to move faster and again he heard his stomach growl in protest.

The sun had reached its zenith in the sky and he was now weak with hunger. He had to stop and rest. The wolf ran onward as he slowed and rested his arm on the wall of the crevice. His head lowered as he breathed deeply. His lungs didn’t seem to want to fill properly and he was dizzy. He was not just leaning on his arm but he was supporting his entire weight with his arm. He couldn’t keep trotting like this. His feet burned and he was hungry to the point of having a headache. That was something he didn’t miss about civilization. He hadn’t suffered a headache since being out in the wild. Now it seemed like the ailment wanted to make up for lost time. The pain racked his head from the inside out and his vision blurred. He moved his tongue around the inside of his very dry mouth. He hadn’t had anything to drink in a very long time. All these things plus, he assumed, the altitude and the lack of shade was working very hard to sap him of all his strength.