The Woodlands

It was a magnificent creature, standing as high as my shoulders. It was covered in a thick coat of brown-grey fur, yellowing as it reached down its long, lean legs. This was a dog. No, it was far too big. A wolf.

It was upon me now; it lowered its head to my feet and tracked its nose up to my stomach. I was as still as stone, feeling an odd sense of protectiveness about its nose nearly touching my belly. Wanting to turn to the side, so the baby was out of the way. It was so close that I could feel its hot breath on my skin. I was mesmerized by its beauty, its presence. It was majestic and powerful. It could kill me in a second, but it was all I could do to resist the ridiculous urge to run my hands through its thick fur.

Like a trap snapping shut, it whipped its head around. It sniffed the air again and cantered gracefully away from me, making its way to the crest of the incline. Standing on the tracks, our path. It howled one long note and other howls not far away joined the chorus.

Run, a voice in my head uttered urgently. Run now.

I scrambled up the graveled hill, just in time to see the creature bounding down the tracks in the opposite direction to me. I knew I had to be quick. It was a scout, soon it would reach its pack and they would be after me.

I slid down the other side on my backside, all the while screaming for Deshi. He couldn’t have been that far ahead of me, surely. Tramping through the thicket, I cut through to clearer ground, my arms and legs scratched and bleeding. I broke into the quickest run I could manage, which wasn’t very fast. All the while thinking, what if they get to them first or what if they get to me first? I was struggling to suck in breath, struggling to keep moving, but I did. I started screaming all of their names, hoping for any reply.

“Joseph, Deshi, Clara, Apella, Alexei, anyone?”

Finally someone answered. It was Joseph, sprinting in my direction. His large body barreling towards me so fast, he had to dig into the dirt to stop from knocking me over.

“What? What’s wrong? Is it the baby?” He sounded panicked. He grabbed my arms, casting an eye over the blood and scratches. They all had their packs on their backs. Deshi must have made it back and they were preparing to come meet me at the tracks.

“No!” I said, pulling away from his grasp violently with irritation. “There’s a pack of wolves nearby and I think they are hunting us or will be soon.”

“Oh,” he sighed in relief. I was confused by his reaction. We were no match for a pack of wild animals. I didn’t think we even had any weapons.

“Alexei, what do we do about wolves?” he said, with an edge to his voice I didn’t recognize—commanding and directive.

Alexei took out his reader and sca

“Right, let’s put our packs up in a tree and then up we go,” Joseph said with authority. But it was too late. As we were organizing ourselves, I could see glowing eyes hovering in what was left of the day’s light. There looked to be at least five pairs. I imagined them licking their lips and baring their teeth but all I could see was eyes. There was no sound. Everyone was still fussing around with their packs. I grabbed Alexei’s shoulder roughly and pointed towards the eyes. They would have been about four-hundred meters away. They were moving slowly and deliberately in our direction, stalking us.

Alexei grabbed Apella and hoisted her into the branches, whispering through his teeth, “Climb.” She still had a tiny pack on her back. Come to think of it, I’d never seen her take it off. Luckily, the radiata pines that surrounded our chosen meeting place were tall, strong, sturdy trees with plenty of straight, easy-to-climb branches. The only problem being, the first branches started a couple of meters off the ground. Joseph went to pick me up and push me up into the branches with Apella.

“No, help Clara,” I said. He looked at me as if he were going to argue but then went to Clara and gently raised her to the first branch. His arms flexed under her weight, but his face showed no exertion. Apella held out her hand and pulled the tiny ball of a girl into the tree. She looked ridiculous, a tiny ninth months’ pregnant girl balancing on a branch like a swollen songbird. She looked scared, but I was confident she would be safe.

Apella was looking anxiously to Alexei, beckoning with her hands for him to follow. Her selfishness never stopped surprising me. I wanted to take a rock, aim it at her porcelain face, and knock her out of the tree. Let her be devoured by these hunters. Not that they would get much of a feed from her bony body. I turned to see the eyes were closer now. I could see their padded feet silently creeping towards us, their heads low.

Alexei and Deshi both clambered up the tree, helping each other. Clara and Apella were quite far up now, and the tree was swaying under the weight of four people.

We could hear them now. They had separated and were circling our little campsite, sniffing and panting. Without asking, Joseph swept me into his arms and unceremoniously catapulted me into the tree. I couldn’t get a grip on the branch and I slipped, just hanging from the rough bark by my hands, my feet a foot off the ground.

Alexei’s voice carried down. “No. The tree won’t hold all of us.” He was aiming his whispers at Joseph. “Take her to the one over there.” He pointed across the circle to the other big pine. Joseph growled as he held his arms out for me to fall into. I let go and he caught me but I quickly wiggled out of his grasp and to my feet.

We ran to the opposite tree. Joseph was about to lift me when I stopped him. “You first,” I didn’t want to be thrown again.

“Are you joking? No!” he whispered tersely. He was angry but I knew it was the smart thing to do. The wolves were moving in, watching our little performance with hungry eyes. A black wolf had taken the lead. It was so close to the ground, it looked as though it was slithering, only a couple meters away from us. Its yellow eyes were menacing in the almost dark. A soft growl emitted from its bared teeth. We didn’t have time to argue.

“I need you to pull me up!” I shoved him. I think it took all his strength to obey me, but he did. Once in the branch, he grabbed my arm and pulled. But something was wrong. I was stuck. No, not stuck, something was pulling me backwards. Did it bite me? I felt no pain. I turned around to see the black wolf had a hold of my pant leg. It was tugging me to the ground, my toes desperately trying to find something to push off but finding only scrapings of dirt and air. Joseph eyes looked crazed with worry as he grabbed me with both arms and pulled as hard as he could, my arms straining at their sockets. Then I felt teeth sink into flesh and I screamed. For a split second, the animal paused, which was long enough for me to kick it as hard as I could with my good leg. It yelped and then it lunged. I closed my eyes. This was it. Air rushed across my face and I was flying.

When I opened them again, I was in Joseph’s arms and the wolves were surrounding the tree, moving in unison as if in a dance, taking turns jumping and scratching at the trunk and trying to snap at our toes.

Joseph was breathing hard. So was I. He was holding me so tight that I was starting to feel suffocated.

“Joseph,” I whispered, “I’m ok, you can let me go.” He looked at me and it registered. He loosened his hold on me, but he didn’t let go. After a few seconds, he put his large hands on either side of my waist and helped me to stand on the branch. A flicker in my chest made me pause. We needed to climb higher, just to be safely out of reach of the frenzied clawing that was taking place beneath us. I pushed up onto my toes, feeling the squelch of the sock in my left boot, which was filling with blood.