Wolves

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Today was a bit scary. I’ve dealt with wolves, bears and mountain lions in the past. As a general rule, they want to avoid me more than I want to avoid them. That’s the general rule. Today was not the general rule.

I was hiking up near Henderson Pass. I had gone up to one of the little lakes I know of up there to catch some fish. It had been a successful trip.  I had a couple dozen fish cleaned, smoked, and draped on the back of my backpack.

As I turned a corner in the path I froze. Twenty feet in front of me stood a giant wolf, probably six feet at the shoulders, the kind that orcs ride. The wolf was standing there, growling softly, and staring at me. I slipped off my pack and drew my sword while I kept my eyes on him. One thing I learned years ago, when facing an enemy, be it human or animal, don’t every break eye contact. That’s what they’re waiting for.

As we stood there I studied him closer. I noticed that it was a male, that the muscles in his front legs were trembling as he stood there, and that the pupils of his eyes were huge. I had actually never seen the later stages of rabies, but I was pretty sure that I was seeing them now. I looked for other signs, but didn’t notice any foaming of the mouth or that he was choking. Of course I couldn’t tell if he had a fever, or if he had lost his appetite.

As he started to move towards me, I guessed that he was showing one of the episodes of aggression that are common, and of course he was showing no fear of me. I wasn’t sure what to do. If he had just been a hungry wolf, I would have thrown him some of my fish, but I doubted food would work with this one. I through of running for a tree, but again, I was pretty sure he would be able to get me before I could get high enough up a tree to be out of his reach.

So I did what any mountain woman would have done, I started screaming at the top of my lungs at him. I smacked my sword against my boot and then took a step towards him. To my surprise he actually stopped. Now what? I stood not fifteen feet away from a fifteen hundred pound killing machine that wasn’t quite right in the head.

We stood that way for several minutes. All of a sudden he looked to his right and then leaped at a tree. His jaw locked onto its trunk and it started to splinter as he rolled his body to one side. As the wolf was engaged in mortal combat with the poor tree, a slipped off the trail and into the woods. I took up a position a hundred feet away and watched as the wolf completed his destruction.

When the wolf was done it lay there for a while. Apparently rested it got up and went to sniff at my pack. He pawed it a few times, but was apparently not interested in my fish or the other food in my pack. He eventually continued his trek up the path. When I was sure he was gone I retrieved my back and hurried down the trail. I thought several time as I walked back to town, should have tried to put him out of his misery. I know it would have been foolish to try, but I do feel a little guilty about it.

3 Responses to “Wolves”

  1. 1
    Arlene

    Wow, you did a lot of research about rabies. Things I certainly have never heard of!

  2. 2
    Shan

    You are right, I like Julie. She is bold but she is compassionate. I know I would have felt the same guilt about leaving that wolf in a suffering state. But either way I would certainly have died. I’m starting with Julie’s oldest post and working my way up.

  3. 3

    The heroin of my story is Annay, but as I’ve come to write about Julie I think she is my favorite character. Is it wrong to have favorites? She is defiantly part of me. I feel things deeply when I allow myself time to feel. As I’m writing her stories I can imagine that I’m the one walking through the woods.


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