Liala breathed in deeply through her nose and exhaled as long as she could through her mouth, repeating this exercise a few times; until she heard a crack close by within the shadows of the forest.
Instantly her muscles tensed and her senses went on high alert. The sound had come from behind her, at least a yard away from camp. Her heart was beating so loud it almost drowned out her hearing. So she clawed into the bark and tried to calm herself down while she turned around, pressing her back against the tree behind her.
It’s all in your head, Lia, she told herself, trying to bring down her heart-rate. It’s nothing. It was just a branch falling to the ground. You probably heard it louder than it actually was. You’re making it worse than it actually is.
Still, she had goosebumps all over her body, the hair at her neck was standing on end, but she wasn’t cold. Begging that she would see nothing, Liala stared into the dimness of the forest, hoping that the strange shadows she saw were nothing more than the moonlight tricking her, inspiring her imagination.
Then, she was petrified.
Did I really see that?
Blinking wildly to see what she had thought she’d seen again: two glowing marbles of silver. Like a pair of fireflies, only the color was off and this wasn’t a place for them, either. Another crack. From a different direction.
Liala’s head snapped around and again, for the blink of an eye, two little orbs of silver.
Her breath turned shallow and far too fast. Clawing her fingers into the bark behind her, painfully, she fought for control over her body. Sucking in the cold night air through her nose as long as she could and exhaling it through her mouth.
You’re making things up again.
The wilderness was pranking her. A forest was never completely silent and it was the shadows the moonlight was casting that played tricks on her perception. It must be the light reflecting the dew on leaves.
But then, why are they vanishing?
Another snapped twig on the ground. It seemed calculated, deliberate, almost as if someone or something had stepped on it on purpose, drawing Liala’s attention to another direction. She gritted her teeth and stared into the direction from which the first sound had originated. Her breath stuck in her throat as she saw them again, two silvery glowing orbs, glaring back at her, vanishing after only a blink of an eye. Liala swallowed. That was exactly what it was: a blink. And as if it had realized that it had been caught, a strange sound cut through the silence of the woods, only to make Liala realize that apart from her wildly beating heart and her uneven breathing there had been no sounds whatsoever: only the snapping twigs and now a low growl.
Instantly she remembered the words of the elderly women. Her glance rushed to the sky that was brightly lit by the full moon. She shook her head, pressing herself against the tree behind her as hard as she could so the bark was cutting into her back.
I’m not dreaming. I’m wide awake.
There were at least three pairs of eyes out there, circling their camp. Quickly Liala looked back to where she had seen the pair of eyes reflecting the moonlight. Panic was reclaiming her body. She couldn’t find them; she only heard a strange huffing sound from a different direction.
They’re closing in. If I run now, I will probably trigger their hunting instinct. What else could they be other than predators? Wolves. It had to be wolves. Mountain lions were solitary rogues. And there were at least three of them.
Instantly her thoughts returned to her dream, making the tiny hairs on her body stand up straight. The only chance was to act like a predator herself, and move slowly, calmly. Crying aloud to warn the others would only lead to an attack, wouldn’t it? Then again wolves probably couldn’t tear down tents, as long as everyone stayed inside, they would be safe, right?
There was only one thing to do: Liala turned around and leapt towards the car, yanking open the door and jumping inside, hand first to reach for the key in the ignition. The dashboard of the car came alive and lit up; and along with it the radio turned on. The reception was distorted, crackling, but still a fast-paced heavy metal song blared from the speakers. Pulling the door shut Liala’s shaky hands searched for the switch of the headlights, switching it on, which only illuminated her family’s tent right in front of her. Fumbling hectically for the long-distance light, she found it after what felt like endless seconds. She looked up and froze. Her heart stopped right along with it. Liala had expected to see a slender wolf with maybe ragged fur approaching their camp, maybe get a glimpse of one of the other two canines at the outskirts of the cones of bright light that now flooded the circle of four tents right in front of her. She wasn’t prepared for what she saw and her eyes needed to quickly blink to realize that she was in fact not dreaming.
Not because what she saw right behind the boys’ tent was something natural, but rather because her fingers were hurting from clamping around the steering wheel. It was huge and its fur was far from being ragged or shaggy and the wolf stared right at her after averting its eyes for a moment.
It took her another eternity to fight off her paralysis, but it was the movement at the edge of her vision that made her snap out of it and make the wrong decision. Liala knew it the moment she hammered her hand on the horn, waking everyone that hadn’t already been ripped out of their sleep. She could see the sluggish movements in the illuminated tents.
Her next impulse was to tear open the door and scream to them “wolves” but this creature, no, these creatures weren’t wolves, they were monsters, huge in comparison, large as foals. And they were already attacking. The snarl was loud enough for her to hear in the cab of the car.
Oh, crap.
As she turned towards the door to open it she instantly froze. One of them was standing right in front of her, looking at her through the window, not moving an inch. Liala didn’t dare to look at the tents, didn’t even dare to blink, not even as she heard one of the younger men’s scream. They were tearing down the tents.
Benjy! Dad! Kiana!
Liala had to do something, she had to reach them, get them inside the car. She couldn’t stop staring at the dire wolf in front of her, although her mind was screaming that what she was about to do probably would provoke him. Slowly, she started crawling backwards into the shotgun seat, in order to open the other door, eyes still fixated on the creature, hoping it would be enough to make it stay where it was. But a movement in the headlights made her head instinctively swing around. It was her little brother, leaping towards their car, their father right behind him. As she turned to look at the wolf, he was already jumping across the hood right onto her dad.
The massive creature brought her father down as if he had no resistance to offer. Liala screamed at the top of her lungs, staring at the space her dad just had occupied a second ago. It was the sound of her brother shutting the shotgun’s door that made her jump in her seat, turning around with nothing but a shriek, because her lungs didn’t have any more air left in them. It took her a second to realize that Benjy was sitting next to her, sharing the seat, clinging to her. Hastily she reached out to lock the doors.
“Down!” she whispered as loud as she could and her brother instantly obeyed, crouching down into the foot space of the passenger’s seat.
Liala stared at him for what felt like an eternity trying to shut out the barely muffled noises from outside. Not looking through the windshield only made the sounds appear even more horrific, making her imagination run wild. These sounds were nothing like in the splatter movies she had seen, they were much more barbaric.
A shot tore through the chaos of tearing fabric and flesh, and screaming, seemingly freezing time in an instant, shutting up the horrific sounds of gore. Lia’s head swung around, looking for the source, hope glimmering.
It was her uncle and the shotgun in his hands was still smoking and aiming right at her. In the headlights, she could see that all tents were destroyed and someone wearing black and red was lying at her uncle’s feet. Liala shuddered at the thought that the col
or might be the result of the body being drenched in its own blood. It was all too surreal.
Dad? Please, no!
She couldn’t see him, but it seemed as if her uncle had shot the wolf that had taken him down. The others Jason, Rick, Brenna, and Liam were nowhere to be seen, but she could see her cousin Kiana crouching behind the remains of her tent.
As her uncle was cocking the weapon, all hell broke loose again. Another wolf jumped straight onto his back, taking him down, triggering a shot that hit a figure outside the cone of the car’s headlights. Kiana had Brenna right on her coattails as she ran for the other car.
“Lia?” her little brother whimpered from his hiding spot, but she couldn’t look at him.
“Hush,” she whispered, reaching her hand out to him which he instantly grabbed with both of his hands.
“Where’s dad?” Benjy ignored her; his voice was shaky.
She wanted to answer, but the lump in her throat refused to be swallowed down. Liala couldn’t help but watch the two other girls reach the car and pulling panicky at the locked doors.
Liala’s heart stopped, painfully. Her silent pleas were left unheard. Looking back at the tents, is wasn’t her uncle or father getting up in the cones of light.
There were two furry oversized wolves that rose from the ground and even further, standing up on their hind legs and turned towards Kiana and Brenna. A third one was following their lead in the half-light just outside the reach of her dad’s car headlights.
This can’t be.
It was just too much to cope with. Liala knew that these man-wolves were about to attack them and there was nothing she could do. When her free hand hit the horn of the car she realized too late that she was putting her brother’s life in jeopardy. Everyone’s attention was drawn to her. And their glares felt like they were able to melt through the glass.
Out of the corner of her eyes she saw how Kiana and Brenna were trying to make a run for it and how all the man-wolves followed them with large steps.
“No!” Liala screamed, instinctively knowing that the predators would catch up and reach the two young women in an instant.
“Lia?” her little brother whimpered from his hiding spot but she ignored him worrying her head for a solution.
Liala could get out of the car and search for the keys of her uncle’s Jeep, but that wouldn’t help Kiana and her friend. She could grab the shot gun and search for the ammunition, but Liala never learned to shoot. Her mother had despised guns and so did she.
“Oh my God,” she breathed out, knowing that there was only one thing left she was able to do to help them.
After freeing her hand from her brother’s grasp, she turned the car keys in the ignition.
The engine roared to life. Liala grabbed the gear shift and pulled it into reverse. What she could do, was drive. What she could do, was use the bulkiness of her father’s Rover and its fortified fenders and do something crazy.
“What are you doing?” Benjy attempted to crawl up into the passenger’s seat.
“Stay down!” She shouted, not looking at her brother, not looking at the destroyed camp, but looking back in order to turn the car.
This time her little brother obeyed.
For a split second Liala thought of leaving him behind, of ordering him to find their uncle’s car keys and have him hide in it. But the picture of that blood drenched body in the headlights made her abandon that thought. Benjy was already traumatized enough and she was running out of time. Sending him out there was even crazier than having him with her in the car which she intended to use as a weapon against creatures for which she just had one word: Werewolves. Determined, Liala brought the car to a full stop, by hitting the brakes with all her strength, and pushed the gear into drive, punching the accelerator. Again, the engine roared and the car shot forward, faster than she expected, and a shriek escaped her when she saw herself rushing towards a tree. Liala yanked the steering wheel around and passed by the obstacle with just an inch between the tree and her outside mirror. Her heart was beating wildly and she could hear her pulse in her head, and feel it in her neck. Although she wanted to check on her little brother and give him a glance of confidence, she had to look ahead.
“Please, please, please,” she murmured quietly to whatever deity was willing to listen.
The moonlight bathed the forest in an eerie light through which only the headlights of the car cut, making the whole surroundings appear even more unreal and nightmarish. Faster than she had expected she found both, Kiana and Brenna, clinging to each other with a large tree at their backs. Liala saw one werewolf right in front of them and didn’t care to look for the other two. Her foot pushed further down, her eyes narrowed, her hands tightened around the wheel, and her jaw tensed. The creature turned half a second before the car crashed into it. For a second Liala felt as if she was hitting a wall. She slid from her seat and shot against the steering wheel. The horn roared into the darkness just as the furry figure flew over the windshield and tumbled across the roof.
Benjy yelped. Liala’s breath stuck in her throat, as she was unable to scream from her impact against the wheel. Pain shot through her chest and was instantly numbed by the shock of hearing the creature cracking the windshield and tumbling over the roof. Her feet searched for the brakes, panicking. An eternity rushed by before the car came to a full stop and Liala painfully hit the wheel again, honking once more, while she heaved for air. Her chest hurt and she couldn’t breathe in deeply, stars dancing in front of her eyes.
Benjy was the one who unlocked the car doors and allowed both hysterical young women to jump into the backseat.
“Lia!” One of them screamed. “Lia! Drive!”
Oh God, I must have cracked a rib. Why didn’t I put on the seatbelt?
Gripping the wheel, she pushed herself back onto the seat, still having trouble catching her breath. Slowly, and gasping for air, she reached around to fasten the seat belt while the two girls in the backseat continued screaming at her. But it was all a blur, all far away. The only thing that was loud and clear was the heartbeat in her ears and the heaving of her lungs. Liala blinked, but was still seeing stars. She felt as if she was moving in slow motion as she looked at the gear shift and pulled it into reverse.
Before she was able to hit the accelerator, something struck the right side of the car. The metal of the doors protested loudly and the car shook dramatically. Everyone but her was screaming. For no reason, Liala imagined a rhino ramming the car. It sure as hell felt like it. The car was still shaking when she managed to suck in a full breath, she turned to see through the rear window and kicked the accelerator.
At the very same moment the car stuttered backwards it was struck by another hit; this time from the left side. Everyone but Lia screamed again. She simply gritted her teeth. The Land Rover jolted. The metal of the car squeaked and dented, but she ignored it and pressed her foot further down on the gas pedal. The engine roared. She smiled as the car flew backwards. Liala steered the wheel and the car flew around. She briefly allowed it to slow down, so that she could push the gear into drive, and kicked the accelerator again.
What the…?
The air was sucked out of her lungs. The women in the backseat whimpered and her brother just stared at her with eyes ripped open wide in panic.
The engine was roaring, but the car didn’t move.
The headlights cut through the darkness ahead of them as visible beams, but there were no silhouettes in them, no movement. Nothing. Fear crawled down her back icily as Liala tried to wrap her mind around the fact that these dire wolves, these man-wolves, were able to prevent her father’s car from moving. This wasn’t possible. Yet, there was no time to waste questioning reality.
Liala turned around, pressing her arm against the backrest of the shotgun seat and looked through the rear window. She could see the outlines of two figures, but they weren’t her concern right then. Quickly she brought back her right hand to the gear, pulled it back into reverse, and kick
ed the accelerator. This time, the car obeyed and shot backwards. She could see one shadow jump out of the way immediately; the other moved away a bit too late and a loud yelp filled her ears.
Take that, fucker!
Liala grinned.
Quickly she hit the brakes and pushed the gear back into drive, kicking the gas, laughing out loud as the car shot forward without any issues.
“Fuck you!” She yelled out loud this time, while the rest of the car went silent; Liala couldn’t care less why, as the car shot through the moonlit forest.
With both hands back on the wheel, she tried to drive as fast as she possibly could without crashing into a tree. She didn’t care about the low bushes, and simply lumbered them down with the heavy vehicle.
“Where are we going?” Kiana squeaked from the backseat, clawing her fingernails into the seat in front of her; but she knew where they were headed.
“Back,” Liala answered nonetheless, pressing the sound through her gritted teeth, fighting to ignore the pain in her chest. “To get our Dads.” She added, reproach in her tone.
“They are dead!” Brenna screamed hysterically. “And we’ll be too, when we stop!”
“Our dads have shotguns,” Liala ignored her cousin’s friend and kept her eyes on the road only she could see. “We have to get them out of there.”
“You’re insane!” Brenna wailed and no one disagreed.
“I just need a few seconds to get the gun, and get them to the other car.” Liala stated.
“They’re dead!” Brenna repeated. “And you’ll kill us!”
Shut the fuck up!
Time was running out and Liala knew that she was refusing to believe what she knew was probably true: all the men, young and old had been killed. But she couldn’t live with the thought of leaving them behind when there was a chance that they were still breathing. It would be her who was responsible for them being mauled to death.
They arrived at the clearing and Liala hit the brakes.
HOWL and HUNT the HEIR: HOWL 1-3 (Dark World) Page 3