ALPHA(25)

Two hours later and it had started getting dark, whilst I had gradually engaged panic mode – now fully operational. For two hours I had come across nothing but trees and more trees. No people, no buildings and not even any animals, which was strange. Normally the forest was full of the hustle and bustle of small animals like squirrels and rabbits; however in this forest there was an eerie stillness. The air was heavy and quiet. There weren’t even any birds to fill the creepy silence, and offer a soundtrack for my lonely walk. I tried not to think about the fact that animals may be avoiding the area for a reason, and instead tried to focus on getting myself out of the situation. Before embarking on my walk, I’d thrown my phone on to my bed and left it behind so there would be nothing to distract me from the peace and quiet of the forest. Yes, I know. I’m an idiot.

I was just walking through a particularly dense part of the forest, when I heard a twig snap and all my senses went on alert. Just because there didn’t seem to be any animals in the area, didn’t mean that something more sinister wasn’t lurking in the depths of the trees. Trying not to make any sound, I attempted to calm my racing heart and quiet my breathing in case I needed to avoid anyone’s attention. Just then, I heard a noise that sent shivers down my spine. A quiet, animalistic growl pierced the silence, before building into a noise that made me jump back in fright. Several other growls join the darkness, and I looked forward in horror to see four pairs of yellow eyes through the trees, all narrowed on me. I started to step back, but the eyes came closer, and my heart dropped as I saw four of the biggest and meanest looking wolves I had ever seen in my whole life. Around three times the size of a regular wolf, these beasts were walking towards me as if I was the tastiest meal they had ever seen, and they slowly crept towards me, growling and baring their teeth. My heart seemed to stop as the terror took hold, and I tried to engage my brain and find a way out of the somewhat dire predicament I was in. At least I now knew that the wolf I had by the stream was in fact real, and not a figment of my quite clearly stressed imagination. Every cloud and all that.

Stepping further back, with no better plan springing to mind, I cried out as the biggest wolf at the front of the group suddenly launched itself at me, and I could not stop the scream that escaped as I felt its teeth sink down and latch on to my forearm. I struggled to stay awake as the pain was so intense that I felt lightheaded with nausea, and my stomach dropped as I saw the other three launch themselves towards me as well, my ticket to what could only be a painful and gory death. Before I could even blink, the weight of the black wolf was gone and I screamed as his teeth were ripped from my arm, blood spurting everywhere. Another wave of nausea hit and I cradled my arm as I tried not to vomit when an arrow of intense pain shot through both it, and the entire left side of my body. I looked up and had to blink my eyes a couple of times in order to believe what I could see in front of me. There were now even more wolves surrounding me, but there seemed to be a divide between the two as they fought each other all around me. There were six new wolves, slightly smaller than the first four, but just as aggressive as they fought them in a viscous battle which had me shaking in both terror and relief. The whole thing frightened me to death, but I couldn’t help but feel that it would have been a lot worse had these six wolves not turned up. For some reason, these wolves were protecting me. Either that or they just wanted to fight those other wolves for eating rights and would dig right in once they’d won. Crap, I didn’t even think about that. I quickly crawled backwards, trying to stand but a wave of dizziness hit, and the pain in my arm made me groan out loud as I fell back down to a heap on the forest floor. The largest wolf of the new group suddenly stopped fighting and turned to look at me, and I involuntarily started to shake when he stalked closer to me. I couldn’t stop myself staring at his vivid green eyes, as a feeling of familiarity washed over me and I struggled to pull my gaze away. I knew I’d seen those eyes before, as impossible as it was to explain. A small whine came from the big wolf as he stared at me, and his head tilted as if contemplating something about me. I hope to God he’s not wondering if I’m tasty or not, because otherwise I need to figure out some way to make myself completely inedible in the next ten seconds. I hadn’t even managed to process the thoughts in my head that were screaming at me that we didn’t even get wolves here, and asking where the bloody hell did they come from?! I really can only focus on one thing at a time. The fight suddenly stopped and blessed silence filled the air as the original four wolves turned and ran away, with just two of the new wolves taking flight after them. Great, so after all of that I still had four wolves looking at me, except now I was injured and pretty sure I was close to passing out. Again. As all of my senses abruptly returned, the pain in my arm became unbearable and I started to cry as I longed for a hot bath and for my arm to just be alright again. Please let this night just be a horrible nightmare. I knew the pain had made me delirious and I’d fully lost it, when I blinked and the wolves had vanished. In their place were Isaac, Ethan and Blake, with Jackson standing closest to me. All four were looking at me with matching concern on their faces, but they were also all completely and wonderfully naked. Okay, nothing I could have ever dreamed up had lived up to the vision before me. Each one of the men had muscles on top of muscles, with a large build and so many tattoos I couldn’t tell where some ended and others began. I started to blush as I noticed from the smirks on their faces that they’d spotted me checking them out, but then I remembered I was dreaming so I didn’t really care and just enjoyed the sight before me. Thank you, imagination. Jackson crouched down, and before I could say anything, pulled me up in to his arms as if I were as light as a feather and not a top heavy size 16 with an arse that could have its own postcode. He started to walk with me and I realised that all my strength had left me, so I pulled my arms up around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder. It also helped that he was like a human radiator and the chills that had wracked my body from the night air completely disappeared. I saw his lips curve up slightly and I smiled, noticing when I spoke that my voice was slurring slightly from the pain as I was about ten seconds away from unconsciousness.