Calming down would have helped, but there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that that was going to happen. My purse dragged on the pavement as I felt the strap slip down my arm. Though I’d have sworn I’d been on the ground forever now, I knew only seconds had passed. Despite the pounding of my blood in my ears, I heard something move in the distance. I strained as if stretching my neck would get me that much closer to the source of the sound, allow me to hear it better.
Please let it be a man, a decent one, who would be willing to try to save a damsel in distress, I pleaded with the universe. Even if just a distraction to get this man, this gun, off of me.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I begged, though my words were drowned out by what could only be described as a low growl, one more animal rather than human.
The man on top of me stopped moving. I dared to look in the direction of the noise as it increased in volume. Ferocious, feral, the cry grew more guttural. The vibration of it shook my own lungs. Just after a scratching sound began to move toward my head, the weight of my attacker vanished. A deep breath I’d been fighting for forced air into my deprived lungs. I gasped with the pain, saw stars before my eyes. With a shake of my head this time, the gray gave way to the dark shadows around me with hints of rubber and chrome.
Jumping to a crouch, I surveyed my surrounding for a safe direction to head in. To my left, the noise of a scuffle built. If asked, I’d have described it as a dog fight or something. Teeth snapped together, skin ripped, and anguished cries of pain mixed with threatening growls. Scrabbling to my feet, I moved to a car. Squatting down to hide behind the black Mustang, I craned my neck to get a view of what was going on. My legs begged me to fall or stand, to release the aching muscles from the likes of the job I asked of them. My body in full tremble mode now, I barely felt the cold of the metal against my side as I leaned into the wet vehicle.
Even as I blinked, the scene before me didn’t change. To my knowledge, I hadn’t hit my head in my fall. Still, a large animal, nearly seven feet tall or more, picked up a man nearer to six feet, as if he weighed nothing. Standing on its hind legs, it held the guy, surely my attacker, up by just his arms, pinned roughly to his sides.
The man kicked his feet and cried out, more a girlish squeal than anything. The animal, on the other hand, lifted its muzzle to the moon and bayed, a deep, almost mournful wail. After a few moments, the animal tossed the body to the ground. I heard a bone, or even bones, snap. While the strangely bent but still moving body did a slow dance of agony on the ground, the animal turned my way.
Our eyes caught for a second. Mine wide, I couldn’t look away from the wolfish ones that sparkled in the moonlight. A mix of amber and gold, they appeared to look right through me, into my soul if you will. As a knot coiled in my stomach, I tried to swallow over the lump in my throat. Instead of moving toward me, as I both feared and wished he might, the beast looked back at his victim crawling away like a wounded snake on the ground.
I watched in silence, my muscles frozen, while the muscles in the wolf’s legs bunched under his grayish-black pelt. It toyed with its prey then. The large paws batted at the body, pushing it away and then scooping it nearer in a violent repetition. A primal dance, and I remained mesmerized by the cruelty I couldn’t comprehend even as relief flooded me like warm water through my system. While I’d asked for a savior, the savageness of this one proved more than I could bear. I’d wanted a cop with cuffs to lock the guy away. Even still dealing with the sharp burn of my cuts and the hard throb of my bruises, blood and broken bones were not on my revenge list.
I believed firmly in justice that sadly rarely came, but never revenge. Rain on my lashes, dripping from my hair, blurred my vision somewhat. Despite the bone-deep chill it brought, I could be thankful for that. The man cried out again, which only made the wolf pause a second before it opened its large mouth. Enormous teeth, shiny with saliva, shone in the bright light of the moon before they moved toward my attacker.
Looking away for fear of a sudden onslaught of blood and guts, I crept past the car despite my body’s painful attempt at defiance of my will. With my car in sight, I realized I needed keys. Scanning again, careful to leave the current scuffle in the outermost part of my vision only, I spotted my keys and purse where I’d been taken down.
While the cries of an injured man died away, not a good sign, I grabbed my belongings and turned my back on the surely gruesome scene. If I’d seen blood and body parts, I allowed them to blur in my mind’s eyes as I fled to the safety of my car. Past the black Mustang that had served as my shield, I ran toward my little blue Taurus that has seen better days. I knew just how it must feel now.