The Hunter's Journey - ep 2
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Something was wrong, very wrong, the more and more he looked around him, the more things seemed wrong. It should be in the morning, it should be much colder, it should still be wet underfoot, it should be cloudier, today was overcast, the leaves should be browner, it’s Autumn, not early Summer! He began to panic, he thought he was going mad, losing his mind, forgetting where he was, when he was, what he was doing. His heart was pounding in his chest, he felt light headed, his thoughts were clouded. He was struggling to breathe. Was he having a panic attack? He needed to focus, to calm down, this wasn’t hel-
A howl pierced his thoughts.
That was closer than the last time, from the directing he came from.
And then another joined it. And another. And another. And many more.
That seemed to snap him out of his panic attack somewhat and something inside him compelled him to run. He ran towards where his car was. If he could get in his car, he would be fine, they couldn’t get him in his car, he would be alright there. Right? He ran as fast as he could. He was about a 5 minute walk from the road at this point, which was now a full speed sprint, so he should be there in a minute or 2 right?
The howls were getting closer, and he kept running, further and further, until he realised he’d been running for more than 5 minutes. Did he run past the road? He should have reached it by now. He checked his compass, he was headed in the right direction, so where was the road?
What was compelling him to run suddenly stopped, and suddenly started compelling him to fight. He realised there was no-way he could out-speed anything coming after him, and he didn’t have anywhere enough lead to out-endure them. They would reach him before they got tired. He dropped his pack off of his back and he checked his gear and made sure he could draw his hunting knife quickly if he needed it. He wrapped his jacket around one of his arms so he had something to shove in the wolf’s mount if it tried to bite him so he wouldn’t get too hurt. He retrieved his shotgun and loaded 2 buckshot and snapped it shut. If they decided to attack him he would at least make them pay for it.
Now, he listened, and he waited. He looked over his surroundings. A fallen tree blocked off most of the area to his left. Anything coming from that way would be slowed as they have to jump over it, might give me a few more seconds. A thick bramble bush snaked around his right side, not much would even want to attempt to come through there, but he should be careful of something trying to sneak through it. His front and rear were completely open. Not the best place to fight, but it could be much worse.
The howls were getting closer still. He tried counting them, he noticed at least 8, but it was hard to tell if the others were different wolves, or the same wolves starting again.
And he waited.
And the howls stopped.
And he waited.
He kept looking at his surroundings and listening for anything that might indicate what was going on around him. But there was nothing.
So he waited.
Agonising minutes slipped past, but nothing changed. He was beginning to think he’d imagined at all and he really was going mad. He tried to calm himself so he could carry on home after all, but his subconscious just would not let him. He tried to control his breathing to try and stop his heart from pounding in his chest as it was all he could hear at this point. A strange feeling filled him, and something deep inside him told him to go on full alert. Like he could be any more alert at this point. He looked around him, when he realised he knew what the feeling was.
He was being watched.
He saw movement in the far distance. Was that a deer? He could have sworn he saw a deer, maybe the wolves will go after that instead. Maybe he could get out of this situation just yet.
A rustle followed by a low growl on his right made him reconsider. Something was really close and it was angry. His head snapped to his right and he saw a pair of eyes tracking him through the bush. So they were here. He aimed his shotgun at it, ready to shoot if it tried anything, when he heard a sound behind him. He turned around in time to see the largest wolf he had ever seen vault over the fallen tree and run at him at full speed. He didn’t have time to think. He whipped the shotgun round and fired.
A loud bang filled the air as well as a cloud of flesh and blood. The wolf’s bottom jaw was blown off and a large chuck of its neck ripped apart. It fell to the ground dead. This gave the other wolves pause. He took the chance to eject the spent shell and slammed another in so he was back up to 2 shots. He also got a chance to get a good look at what he just killed.
Holy fuck it was huge! It was also definitely a wolf, not a dog. He knew wolves were big, but this thing was almost up to his shoulder on all fours. He was sure they didn’t grow that big. But it was a wolf. In Britain. That didn’t make sense, they’ve been extinct here for over 200 years!
The wolves decided to make their move again. The one in the bush started to growl at him again. Oh no, that was clever but he wasn’t falling for it again. He pretended to be distracted, but whipped around seconds later, just in time to see 2 ears peep over the log. He took aim and fired. But he did it too soon, he just clipped its ear, and it ducked back down under cover. 2 wolves then darted out of cover from either side.
He only had 1 shot ready. Fuck.
He shot the wolf that was now on his right which was struck straight in it’s chest, causing it to collapse in a pained whimper. But his gun was now empty and the next one was too close to reload in time. He dropped his gun and readied himself as the wolf pounced on him. He managed to get the wolf to bite down on his padded arm, but the teeth still managed to puncture his skin. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have, so he managed to keep fighting back. He drew his knife and plunged it into the wolf’s neck. It was clearly surprised by this, but didn’t let go. So he drew it out and plunged it in again.
And again.
And again.
And he twisted. That finally did it. The wolf let go and started choking up blood. It took a few steps away before it collapsed. James looked around at the carnage around him. He’d killed 3 and was already in a tough spot. There were at least 5 more if he counted right. They would have to decide soon that he wasn’t worth the risk, unless they decided that they wanted revenge. He looked around and finally began to see the wolves surrounding him. He began to count.
13 left.
Shit, he couldn’t fight that many. They seemed to have the same idea.
They charged.
He readied his knife.
The ground gave way and he saw roots shoot out of the ground all around him.
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Hi guys, I thought I'd give you the second episode earlier than planned. I'm going to try and make this regularly spaced so you guys know roughly when each episode is coming, but that means the next episode will be a little wait. Or maybe I'll release it tomorrow if people are desperate, we'll see.
Posted Sep 13, 2020, 1:12 PM UTC · edited