Moonlight Howl

The snow; A cold entity that blanketed me in its chilling embrace. My legs carried me as fast as they could function. The snarls. The Howls. The panting. Each cut at me like a knife to the skin. All around me. No escape and no time to even think of something or I’d get torn to shreds. Even with heightened sight, the familiar mountain path I’d come to know had all of a sudden become a dark and contorting horror. Branches brushed my sides, pulling at me eerily like ghostly fingers. My heart hammered and rammed against my chest, wanting to be free of this Nightmare. This Hell set in a frozen tundra.

It was as if I’d lost all sense of direction and I could figure out where the path ended, having known it like the back of my hand. My mind was quickly winding as it tried to remember the path’s exit. My eyes, darting in every possible direction, searched for any sign that this would be over. The bitter wind chilled me to the bone as it carried the vicious snarling to my ears. It was so loud, I thought my head would burst. The savages were nearing now and there wasn’t anything I could do to escape them. I could feel their rage.

My right hind leg caught on a hidden tree root and sent me sprawling. The frozenness embraced me, my skin aching terribly from frostbite. I was alert as I heard them approach me.

Look at you, groveling in the dirt like the pitiful wretch you are.

As quickly as I could, I rose to my feet only to fall from the numbness in my limbs. My vision began to flicker as hypothermia began to set in.

I can’t believe you descended from one of the oldest tribes in our history. How could you make a mockery of everything that we’ve worked so hard to attain.

The feral snarl echoed in my ear and the hot air made my skin crawl with needles of pain. I gathered the last of my strength and stood on numb and trembling legs. I was only a now defenseless child no longer claimed by a tribe. What more could I do?

Those same oversized fangs pierced through my shoulder, ripping a scream from my half-frozen lungs. The pain was beyond unbearable and I was dangling between unconsciousness and a frozen death. The warm liquid seemed to give me some sort of relief as it surrounded me.

As I fought for my life and my pride, desperately trying to cling to consciousness, my ear registered the sound of footsteps. They’d come back to finish me off. What a befitting end for someone who couldn’t even uphold her tribe’s honor, her Grandfather’s legacy. It had been all for nothing.

Something brushed my face. It was warm and I found myself leaning into it, yearning for its touch against my half-frozen body. Opening my frost-covered eyes, a silhouette of a figure loomed over me.

“You’ll be fine.” the shadow whispered.

Content with hearing those sweet words, I closed my eyes and welcomed the coming abyss.