“But who I am is not important. You must leave here now!” Mane says aggressively.
As I sit on the ground, completely awestruck beyond comprehension, I see Hellhound starting to stand again.
“So, you’re the one they call Mane?” the creature asks. “I'm glad to finally meet you.”
Mane growls and quickly turns to face the creature. I can see the muscles in his back tightening. Hellhound shakes the dizziness from his head to regain his balance.
"Hellhound, you have already lost this fight," Mane responds to him angrily. “Leave while you can.”
“Leave?” Hellhound replies. “But I just got here.”
Hellhound explodes into a charge. I gulp hard. Mane lets out a ferocious roar before he takes off charging towards Hellhound. The distance between them two quickly closes. As Mane a charge, his front paws rises off the grass.
As Hellhound charges, he extends his left arm back, ready to thrust his razor-sharp nails at Mane. They both swipe at the same time, exchanging their might. Hellhound's nails sinks into Mane's side, but barely. This causes Hellhound to devour a strong right-hook to the face. Hellhound tumbles onto the ground, but he quickly gets back onto his feet.
Mane snarls at his opponent.
“Is that all you've got?!” Mane shouts at Hellhound aggressively.
Hellhound grunts in anger and charges again. Mane stands up on his back legs, ready to swipe his claws. Before Hellhound collides into Mane, he lowers like a raging bull. He rams Mane, forcefully. Hellhound may be thin, but he is very fast and strong. He thrust Mane into the grass like a linebacker, only a couple of yards in front of me.
He tackled Mane into the ground so forcefully, that it causes the grass to peel back. The vibration from them crash-landing travels through my bones. They immediately begin to scuffle like two rabid pit bulls, but they’re a hundred times more amplified. I quickly rotate onto my back and attempt to crab-crawl away from their fight. I watch as dirt and grass gets thrown into the air.
As I try to scurry away backwards, Hellhound takes his attention off the fight and leaps towards me. He leaps up with his claw in the air. Before he's able to dig into my flesh, Mane swipes his hand away. I witness the creature’s long nails barely missing my leg and slamming into the soil.
Hellhound reaches up with his other claw. It darts down at a deadly force. Luckily, Mane comes to my aid and swipes his claw away once again. His long nails smashes into the grass next to my hand. I swiftly curl into a tight ball and cover my face, screaming at the top of my lungs like a defenseless child.
All I hear is deep growling and constant pounding at my ear. Boom…boom…boom…boom…boom. My body cringes with every thunderous boom. All I feel is wind from them swiping at each other. All of a sudden, all of the pounding and grunting stops.
The only thing I hear now is heavy breathing above me. I finally stop screaming and slowly remove my hands from my face. I see Mane standing at my side. His chest is contracting and expanding rapidly. His eyes are locked onto his opponent a few yards away.
Hellhound is flat on the ground with his limbs stretched out. I bolt upright and glance around myself. I discover I’m sitting on a perfect patch of grass that’s surrounded by claw marks. Hellhound starts to stand again, but can barely stand because he’s so exhausted from fighting.
His body is covered in bloody slashes. He touches his torso, observes the blood on his palm, and shifts his furious eyes towards us. Mane lowers to the ground, his muscles hardening like a rock, and gets himself ready for round two.
“This is far from over,” Hellhound informs us. “I will kill her and everyone she cares about.”
“You’ll have to go through me,” Mane replies.
Hellhound grunts in anger and then takes off running into the woods. Mane then turns to me with ferociousness.
"Go now!" he yells.
Without hesitation, I leap to my feet and run back to school nonstop. I run while constantly looking over my shoulder, hoping to God nothing else is chasing me. I spot two police officers talking in the school lot near a patrol vehicle.
"Help me!” I yell at the top of my lungs, desperately trying to grasp their attention.
They swiftly glance over at me. Instantly, their posture switches to defensive mode. They jog to my aid and meet me halfway. At last, I stop running and try to catch my breath.
"Are you okay?" One of the officers asks urgently.
I try to talk and answer his question but my lungs refuse to let me.
One of the policemen escorts me into the main office and hands me a cup of water to drink. I sip on the cup of water as I struggle to explain what happened to me.
"Are you sure it wasn’t a bear? We do have a lot of bears out here," the cop asks me.
"I saw what I saw," I say for the thousandth time.
This time my voice is a little louder and irritated than before.
"It was a lion and it was black,” I try to explain. “Something else was there. It was tall and skinny. And they were yelling…" I stop when I realize that bringing up the talking part may not be such a good idea.
“Who was yelling?’ The cop asks.
I exhale and reply…
“Never mind.”
Suddenly, a shorter cop walks into the office.
"We checked the park," the short cop says as he walks in.
He then shakes his head and lets out a whistle.
"Something let loose out there, badly," the short officer says to the taller one.
"Did you see any animals?" the tall cop asks.
"Nope, we didn’t find anything but a mess.”
The tall officer leans to him, turning away from me, and lowers his voice.
"She said two animals were out there. The first one, she has no idea what it was. The second, she said it was some kind of lion. She said a black lion.”
The short cop gazes at me, clears his throat, and approaches.
"Okay, um..,” he scratches his head. "...can you please start from the very beginning?"
"Okay," I take a break to calm myself. "I was being chased by some kind of…tall thing. But something else came. I’m pretty sure it was a black lion. It had fur all around its face like one.”
"Then what happened?" the short officer asks.
"Then they started fighting.”
The two officers look at one another. The taller officer shrugs his shoulders again. The shorter officer shifts back to me. He takes a moment to rub the stress from his eyes before questioning me again.
“Are you telling me you saw Mane?”
I sigh.
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Miss, are you on any kind of medication?” the short officer asks.
That question makes my blood boil.
“You think I'm on drugs? Are you freaking kidding me? You saw the park. I'm not making this up. I saw what I saw. What's the purpose of me lying? There is something in those woods. People need to be warned.”
"Whatever the hell it was, it’s gone now,” the shorter cop butts in. “Thank God you’re safe.”
The short police officer looks back at the taller one and says…
"Go alert the dean. Tell him there’s been an animal attack. No students should be allowed in the park until further notice. Better yet, they come to school and they go home, that’s it. I’m going to check the park one more time.”
The taller cop leaves the office.
“It’s getting pretty late. Are you waiting for a ride miss?” the short cop asks me.
“Yeah, my mom is picking me up soon.”
“Well, call to make sure she’s still coming.”
I feel around my jacket and realize my pockets are flat. I close my eyes and sigh deeply.
“Damn, I don’t have my phone.”
“When did you have it last?”
“The last place I had it was…” I stop for a moment to collect my thoughts. “…Biology class.”
“We have a pho
ne here,” the elderly receptionist states at the desk.
“I don’t know her number by heart.”
“You should see if it’s still there. Get your phone and come back. I don’t want you wandering around too much, okay.
I nod at the officer in agreement.
"You be safe," the short cop says before leaving the room.
I then bury my face into my hands. I take a well-needed break to collect myself before standing and walking into the hallway. As I turn out the door, I almost collide into someone. I look up into a pair of angry blue eyes that belongs to Kendrick Blaire. My heart-rate instantly doubles.
"Sorry,” I swallow hard.
He doesn't respond. He just looks at me with anger burning in his eyes. I decide to walk around him and proceed down the hallway quickly. I’m now near the end of the hallway, yet I still feel like I’m being watched. I turn my head to prove myself correct. Kendrick is watching me walk with a scorching look in his eyes. I make a right down the hall, take in a deep breather, and shake the fear from my head.
When I make it to the end of the hallway, I turn left and double my pace. It feels so strange strolling through an empty hallway with dark classrooms. The only sound I hear is my own walking feet. I again start to feel a sense of paranoia. I try to get rid of the paranoia, but it has a strong grip on my mind.
I stop walking when I reach my biology classroom door. My hopes of entering dissolves when I realize no lights are on. Still, I try to turn the knob on the door in attempt to enter. Great, it’s locked. I then hear a clicking sound somewhere around the corner.
It seems the noise is heading in my direction. I stand completely still, watching down the lonely corridor, waiting for someone to appear. Instead of a person, I see a brown wolf walking from around the corner. I become frozen as I watch it sit gently on the floor. It’s staring right into my eyes. Seconds later, I decide to breathe again.
I put my right foot back and slowly rotate myself. As I turn around, I see something else standing on the opposite end. This time it’s a large tiger. I remain motionless for a moment, staring into its terrifying yellow eyes.
“Come with me, Iva,” the tiger says in a deep voice.
I swallow down hard. Immediately, my blood begins to rush through my veins.
“No, come with me,” the wolf says behind me in a deep tone.
I look at the wolf and back at the tiger, and then at the wolf again. I don't know who to trust. I open my mouth, but the words are glued to my tongue.
“Come to me. I will protect you,” the wolf says to me, nearly in a whisper.
“Don’t listen to him. He works for Hellhound. He’ll kill you,” the tiger warns me urgently.
“Liar,” the wolf responds back in a hostile tone.
The wolf starts to walk, ever-so-gently, towards me with its back lowered.
“Come with me and everything will be okay,” the wolf says in a soft voice.
I have a sense that the wolf is being mischievous. I think it’s the low monotone sound of its voice which makes me doubt him.
“Stay away from him Iva,” the tiger says loudly.
Then the tiger starts to walk slowly towards me as well.
“I said…come here!” the wolf finishes the sentence in a yell before he sprints towards me.
The tiger snarls deeply and takes off gunning in my direction also. Now, I’m caught in the middle of another deathly duel. This time, I have nowhere to run...
CHAPTER 21: WOLVES