Fending off Wolves

Sometime later I was awoken by falling rain drops. They were big, fat ones that fell through the trees and landed on my forehead. I must have been asleep for a couple hours because the rest of the village had grown quiet. The only noise I could hear was the pattering of the rain hitting the ground and the huts. The pattering sound was quickly escalating in intensity and soon the rain had turned into a solid downpour.

My small campfire was extinguished. I ran over to take shelter under one of the maple trees when I heard what sounded like a child’s scream coming from deep within the forest. I listened for it again, but the rain was covering nearly every other noise. The forest was spooky dark, and the rain clouds had blacked out all light from the moon and stars.

Then I heard it again: a small child’s cry. I stood up and began slowly walking into the woods towards where I believed the cry had come from. If Kyla had been here she probably would have been warning me that it was a ghost. I didn’t believe in such nonsense. It sounded like a child crying for help and I wanted to make sure no one was in trouble.

I stepped through the woods, reaching out to the trees to guide my way. My eyes were somewhat adjusted to the darkness. I could at least make out shapes and silhouettes. I heard the cry again, this time followed by a command to go away. It was a young child’s voice, probably one of the five or six-year-old kids from the village.

I climbed up a small hill that was covered in mud, and when I reached the top I could see the child standing in the tall grass on the other side holding a tree branch above his head like a baseball bat.

“Go away!” he said again.

In the darkness it was difficult to tell, but there appeared to be a few shapes slowly moving towards the boy. Animals of some sort. I grabbed a stick from the ground next to me and threw it at one of the moving shapes. The animal flinched and looked back at me. I could tell now that it was a small pack of wolves: their ears high and pointy, their mouths scrunched up into snarls. There were four of them that I could count and they had surrounded the young boy from several directions.

I felt along the ground for something else to throw and I found a couple rocks about the size of eggs. I picked them up and threw one at the lead wolf like I was pitching little league. I think I hit it in the face because it yelped and jumped back.

I knew that animals could sense fear so I did all I could to express nothing but courage. Don’t be a coward now, Zammie. I also knew that wolves rarely attacked people, but that was during modern times. Maybe 400 years in the past things were different.

“Get outta here!” I yelled with every ounce of strength I could muster. I threw the second stone and hit the lead wolf again. This time they scattered and ran back into the forest.

I ran over to the little boy. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“No. But mother!” He pointed towards another person who was lying in the grass. I ran over to see it was the boy’s young mother. She had received a vicious bite wound above her right knee and she was bleeding badly. She also had bite wounds on her arms below the elbow. She had probably received those while trying to fend off the wolves.

I touched her neck to feel for a pulse and she opened her eyes.

“You’re alive!” Silly thing for me to say, but I wasn’t sure at first. “Can you walk?”

She tried to move her leg and she winced in pain. “My ankle.”

I looked down at her ankle and saw that it was swollen up like a baked potato. “Don’t worry,” I said. “We’re gonna get you home.”

--Fending off Wolves

from Time Trip #3: Witness to the First Thanksgiving

TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 4

KILLING FOR COUNTRY  

Available at Amazon.com!

TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 3

WITNESS TO THE FIRST THANKSGIVING 

Available at Amazon.com!