There was a soft scraping of nails against wood and my heart stopped dead for a moment. But with a soft thud the creature jumped down and stalked off, looking for where his potential supper may have escaped to. I shuddered with relief while I steadied my rapid heartbeat.
I had only seen them once before, but their image haunted my nightmares and had left me near sleepless these past few weeks. They were a living nightmare that was present even when I closed my eyes, even when I was certain I was safe. And so sleep had eluded me. I had only been out of Cytos for four weeks, just barely escaping the destruction of the city I once loved, only to now be faced with another kind of horror. One much more hideous and terrifying.
All the begging in the world couldn’t convince him to let me stay. My father was a stubborn man—that’s where I got it from—but the fear in his eyes startled me so deeply it had me running for the hills the minute he told me to. I would listen to whatever he told me to do without hesitation. He was my father after all and I trusted him without question.
He promised he would see me again, and even though I prayed nightly that I would, deep down inside I feared there would be nothing left of either of us to find.
I watched the city being destroyed from a distance, heard the screams that still rattled around my head every time I closed my eyes. I knew not many had survived, if any, and like a coward I ran away from it. All I wanted in that moment was to get as far away as possible from it all. I didn’t stop until the screaming was so far in the distance I could no longer feel it running through me like an echo, chasing me like the creatures that stalked me now.
One nightmare behind me, only to be replaced by one far worse. They had three layers of teeth, razor sharp and each one the size of my fist. Their body resembled that of a wolf I had once seen in school lessons, but these things were different. Mutated and covered head to toe in dense muscles and thick bristled fur. Their ears were large and could hear everything, I imagined. I found that out the hard way my first day, in that damned forest. I was careful enough, or so I thought, but they could hear my racing heart, my uncontrolled, panting breaths.
Before I ever set my eyes on them, I could taste the rotting decay of death that hung around them like a fog. It clung to the air around me like the frost in winter, stilling the entire forest as it grew closer and stronger.
I had narrowly escaped them at the beginning, just as I had done when I found that crevice. I was working on borrowed time and knew there wasn’t much left I could do. I prayed for a swift end.
Eventually, I closed my eyes and let the heaviness of sleep pull me in, doing my best to ignore my cramped legs as I wedged them between my chest and the stone wall. And though I didn’t really sleep, I woke the next morning thankful to see the sunlight.
The sun was hot and high as I walked through the dense forest with a little less worry in my heart. It took me a week to discover that these creatures did not come out during the day time. I assumed they could not handle the heat, especially mid-summer heat, and I wondered if they could even see in the light of day. So on that day I was happy, happy that I may just have my first meal in four days. If I could keep it down that is.
I’d already had to braid stringy vines together to create a belt for the pants that now hung loose around my waist from near starvation and vomiting out my guts when the fear and anxiety took over, as it often did. The only food I’d been able to find were sour apples and thick meal worms that tasted nasty. The rest I left alone. I didn’t dare eat the meat that had been bred in The Wasteland, not that I could have killed anything if I tried. I didn’t know what else the nuclear fumes from a war long past had done to this forest. I’d seen what they’d done to the creatures that hunted me, and I could only imagine what else lay in wait for its turn at me.
I had one weapon, a long hunting knife that I wielded with piss poor precision. I’d never even held one before the day my father gave it in to me and told me to run like hell, and I did.
So far I had successfully cut myself four times and nearly impaled myself once when I slipped down a hill with it still in my hand. I learned my lesson after that near miss and it was now wrapped tightly within my worn jacket, which I had tied around my waist.
I reached the edge of the crystal clear creek I’d found on my second week here. I was so thirsty I didn’t even stop to consider that the water could have been tainted. It was cool and crisp in my hot dry mouth. I gulped it down as if I wouldn’t see water ever again. That night the only pain I felt was from my too full belly, so I had deemed this creek safe to drink from.
As night began to fall and the air cooled a bit, I crawled back up the tree and slid into the crevice of the stone wall where I barely fit. My current safe haven. I stationed myself back as far as I could, and waited. They would no doubt track me down once again, and like most nights I would stay awake waiting for that tell-tale sign that they had arrived. I held my knife out in front of me, thinking that perhaps this way I stood a chance. But the fact that I didn’t even know how to hold it didn’t build my confidence much.
The sun set quickly as darkness filled the forest. Night, like I had never experienced until I had arrived here, took hold. So dark and consuming that I could hardly see my own hand in front of my face, but I didn’t have to see them to know they were there. Their scent coated the air with that pungent smell causing my stomach to turn as I held my breath.
The air shifted and stilled. Even the leaves grew quiet as if they too could feel them coming and felt their presence nearing. I held my breath, and with a shaky hand pulled out the hunting knife as I peered into the darkness. There was a soft crunch of leaves, and the low untamed growl shook me to my bones and my hand quivered even harder than it already was. I pushed myself back as far as I could in the small space but there was barely enough room for even me, a starving ten-year-old boy.
Nails and wood collided. The creature clawed at the tree in front of me. Leaves shook as its large, heavy body crawled its way up the tree. I couldn’t see its form yet, I didn’t want to. My eyes squeezed shut. I didn’t have to peer over the edge to know it was coming.
It was coming for me and I was to be its dinner. The stench grew stronger and I knew I was about to die, but all I could think about was how weak I was. Four weeks. Four measly weeks was as long as I would make it. My dad would be so disappointed in me if he knew, if he could see his son now shaking with fear and nearly pissing his own pants at the thought of dying. Cold and alone in the middle of this forest with no one to hear my screams.
The creature reached the top branch and I knew it could smell me, maybe even see me. I opened my eyes just a bit to judge where it might be, but all I found was darkness. I scrunched my brows and leaned a little closer. I was sure it was near but the canopy of this forest was so dense and dark I couldn’t see a thing in front of me, not even the branch. My eyes tried in vain to adjust to the dark, to see where it had gone.
And then I felt it.
A shiver ran down my spine as wet, hot breath whispered across my cheek. I didn’t move, I didn’t breathe as the creature slowly opened its mouth, and the lingering moon light bounced off its three layers of razor sharp teeth that were now inches from my face, and ready to chomp.
It roared so powerfully the whole forest shook with fear and my hair was pushed back from my face as hot, sticky saliva hit my cheeks. The smell was horrendous and I was about to vomit.
I pressed myself further back but there was no more space and I was only inches from those teeth, from that certain death.
It dipped its head lower and the gravity of just how big it was sunk in. The thing’s mouth covered the entirety of the crevice I was in, so much that it had to dip its chin down just to see me. Bright yellow eyes peered back. They narrowed as its nose twitched at my smell, and I could have sworn the thing sneered at me, at my pathetic knife that now hung loose in my hand.
With whatever courage I possessed, I thrust the knife towards the creature, and with one snap of it
s jaw, the knife was out of my hand and clattering through the branches and down to the ground far below. I couldn’t breathe and every bone in my body shook.
I tucked my hands in and covered my eyes, wishing for this all to be over, for it all to be a dream. Like the child I was, I began to cry. I called out for my mom and my dad until my throat was raw. I screamed for anyone to hear me but my screams fell on deaf ears. No one would hear me, no one could save me now. Panic boiled over and I was no longer in control of my own body. The beast roared again and all fear escaped me as I wet my pants. Sitting in my own urine, my body shook uncontrollably as I sobbed and cried out for my mom repeatedly.
This was it. I prayed my death would be quick and painless.
I felt the creature’s breath move closer as it inched towards me, towards my smell. And then it let out one more ferocious roar and I closed my eyes tighter, waiting for the end to come and take me into oblivion.
Chapter Two
The end didn’t come as I’d imagined, and I wondered if I had actually died from fear and just didn’t realize it yet. But when I finally peeked open an eye I found the opening to my crevice empty. There was a horrific roar below me, a roar of pain that had me leaning over the edge, still completely terrified yet curious at what had happened.
There was a cloaked figure standing over the creature which now lay splayed on the ground, three arrows sticking out of its thick hide. Its body rose then fell with its last breath. The figure leaned into the body, driving something deep into the creature’s side, and with a sickening crunch, the creature’s body went limp.
Silence filled the air, as a new kind of fear ran through me sending a chill down my spine. My chest tightened a little as I wondered what had just killed the thing that was about to kill me. Had I found a new sort of enemy?
“You can come down now, child. They will all have scattered for now,” a hoarse voice crackled through the darkness, and it set me on edge. I didn’t move.
“Come, now. Unless you want to wait for them to return and avenge their fallen Alpha?” The figure tied a rope around the creature as she spoke. Then without another word she began dragging it through the forest and away from me.
I quickly made my decision and scrambled down the tree to follow.
“Bring the knife, boy,” she ordered as my feet hit the ground. It took me a few moments to find the weapon, and then I swiftly followed after her as a distant howl chased me in the night. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and I shuddered.
Once I caught up, she handed me one side of the rope, a silent order, and I began helping her pull the creature as she led the way.
I did my best not to stare, but I couldn’t help but check out the hunched figure beside me. Her boney shoulders were rolled forward as she trudged along beside me.
“Who are you?” I asked tentatively.
“My name is Aelish, and you are Max.” My feet stopped moving and I gaped at her in shock. She just tugged on the rope, another silent order to keep walking.
“How…how do you know my name?” I stuttered once I had regained my footing.
“It’s on your jacket,” a slight shrug, never once glancing in my direction. My face reddened as I looked down to the little name tag stitched above my right chest pocket. Though I wondered how she had seen it when she had barely looked at me since she arrived. Her face was hidden by the hooded cloak over her head and the dark night that surrounded us.
We walked in silence until we came to large thorn bushes surrounding a clearing in the forest like a wall of sharp knives. She pushed away the thick branches without so much as a wince and I followed, shielding my face from the sharp thorns that bit at my legs and my arms.
When I took my arm away I found we were inside the clearing and a small hut stood in the middle. It was made from the bark and branches of the forest around the outside, with thick leaves covering the top like a thatched roof. A small chimney popped out the top with tiny puffs of smoke coming out in ash grey clouds.
She set the creature down near the hut and pulled out a large knife that had been concealed under her cloak. She yanked out the three arrows in its side, then knelt before it and closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer before she slid the knife deep into its thick hide and began skinning the beast.
I took a tentative step forward as I watched over her shoulder, all the while picturing its sharp teeth inches from my face, its warm breath on my cheek. A shudder ran through me.
“We call them Dred Wulfs. They were beautiful creatures before the war, but those nuclear bombs left them nothing more than a mutated version of themselves.” A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of these creatures ever once being beautiful.
“Go clean yourself up. You will find a hot bath ready for you and a pair of clothes to change into.” She nodded to the hut as she continued working on removing the Dred Wulf’s hide.
I didn’t dare ask how the bath was already waiting, nor of the clothes that were waiting for me before she knew I was coming. Unless she did know. But I could tell by the way she diverted her eyes from mine, she would not reveal any more than she already had.
The warm bath, the first I’d had since I left Cytos, filled my aching bones and stung the small scrapes and cuts on my body. I stayed in the water until it grew cold, then I reluctantly got out.
The clothes were much too big for me, but there was a belt to tighten the pants. And despite swimming in the shirt, I was happy to have it. Happy not to have to put on the piss-soiled clothes I had thrown in a pile on the ground as soon as I found the bath.
The inside of the hut was simple. A living room and kitchen stood on one side of the tiny place, with rounded curved walls to the outside and a flat wall to the center, cutting the circular hut in half. On the other side of that wall in the center were two small rooms and the bathing room I now stood in.
Now that I was inside I saw the solid mud packed roof above me that shielded this hut from the elements. The leaves on the roof would let the rainwater sluice down the side and fill up the barrels outside the back of the hut I could see from the small window in the bathing room.
Once I had cleaned up, I cautiously stepped into the living room where Aelish was leaning over the fire, stirring a pot filled with something that smelled so delicious it made my stomach rumble.
She motioned for me to sit down at the table as she filled up a bowl and placed it before me. The stew was the most wonderful thing I had ever tasted, but I made sure not to ask where the meat came from, not wanting to spoil the first hot meal I’d had in ages. Once I had finished the bowl and nearly licked it clean, she filled it up again and nodded for me to continue.
In the light of the hut, and with the cloaked hood down, I could now see what Aelish really looked like. Her body was old and withered, though her muscles gleamed strong against her brown, leathered skin. I didn’t venture a guess at how old she was, but her long white hair told me she’d seen more than anyone I’d ever know before. Her nails were long and curved, filed into sharp, pointed ends.
I must have been staring as her coal-black eyes fell upon me and I quickly dropped my gaze back to the meal before me.
“You are very lucky I found you when I did.” She filled two small cups with steaming hot water and placed a spoonful of dry aromatic herbs in each. The room filled with the smell of lavender and apple. Then she sat down across from me and watched me eat.
“How did you find me?”
“I didn’t. They did.” She nodded to the Dred Wulf hide that now hung near the fire. Its white and grey fur was thick and coarse looking. “I followed them and they led me to you.”
I nodded absently as I swallowed another spoonful.
“How did you manage to kill it?”
She huffed. “They’re not so strong that they cannot die. Everything has a weakness. The key is to find out what it is.” I tilted my head to the side, confused before she pointed to the little spot under her own armpit. “Here. They have less muscle under there s
o their legs can run faster and smoother with more mobility to take long strides. But this is also an opening to their heart.”
I glanced to the hide where the three small holes from her arrows still showed, but I quickly looked away when my heart began to pick up speed at the sight of it.
“Drink.” She pushed a cup of tea towards me and I cautiously leaned forward to smell it. The lavender scent nearly lulled me to sleep, and the apple reminded me of spring time. But there was another smell laced in there that I couldn’t quite figure out.
“What is it?”
“It will help you sleep – without the nightmares,” she said as she took a sip of her own tea.
I cradled the warm cup with both hands, letting the aroma fill my lungs and drank every last soothing drop. What could she possibly know about nightmares, when she was the one who had just slayed the ones that filled my own.
Nightmares whether hers or mine, dissipated with the effects of the tea.
Chapter Three
The tea must have worked as I woke up the next day well past lunch time. The sun was already at its peak when I stepped outside the door into the blazing heat of summer. My body relaxed and my mind was at ease for the first time since I stepped foot in this forest.
Aelish was working on the Dred Wulf’s hide, cleaning it and removing any imperfections from its smooth side. She didn’t glance up, “Where is your knife?” I looked down to my empty side. “You never leave this place without it,” she chided, and I stalked back inside to grab it from the small nightstand beside the bed where I had left it.
When I returned she had washed her hands in a bucket of water and was drying them on the white apron around her waist.
“Did anyone teach you how to hold that thing?” she eyed the knife hanging limply at my side. I shook my head as heat rose to my cheeks with embarrassment. She harrumphed and her nostrils flared. “I didn’t think so. Come with me.”
Untold: The Complete Watcher Series Mini Novellas (Watcher #4) Page 10