A Fox Among Wolves

Chapter Thirty

Jenna is reluctant to see us go, only feeling marginally better once we rest for a couple of days. The entire time we are there, she keeps us entertained. She seems to be thrilled over the prospect of me and Quinn being pregnant, often cooing when I let her feel my stomach whenever the baby is kicking. It's entertaining to say the least.

She tells us that we are half way to the safe haven, meaning that we should make it before I give birth. That's a huge relief, a weight being taken off of my shoulders. She reassures us that the place is completely isolated from outside threats, the people there welcoming, since they had all been runaways once. When asked how she knows all of this, she tells us about the time when she escaped from her own colony, once her older brother was arrested for teaching others about humans and their culture. After that, she had lost complete trust in her colony, and she had gotten out.

For a while she had stumbled around, not knowing where to go, but eventually, she had found Ariel. From there, she was able to make her way slowly to the safe haven, a place called Rays Park. This was only a few years ago, and I guess she still goes every once in a while to visit. I think all of us let out a collective sigh of relief at her words. It's been hard to find the mental strength to keep traveling to a place we don't even know.

Come early morning of our third day there, she hands us our freshly filled packs. She had put our now clean clothes that she has washed inside, along with more food and water. With one last hug, we leave, her watching us as we make our way back to the path, the rain drizzling as it has been doing since we started our journey.

Everything goes downhill from there.

At first, we hadn't thought too much of the sounds we heard in the forest around us. For the past month of traveling, nothing has come close to us on the trail, seeming to stay clear of our path. But really, we should have been paying more attention.

One minute, we are only hearing sounds of growling, and the next the creatures they belong to are upon us. The others are far ahead of us, Alex scouting out the trail ahead, while Braeden and Link just happen to be walking faster. I don't think they realized how far away they had gotten.

Quinn shrieks when something grabs his arm, and it is only my grip on his hand that keeps him from being pulled away completely.

Tightening my grip on him, I try not to let my fear over come me, and it is a hard feat. Because the creature trying to haul my best friend away is nothing I have ever seen before. Half of its face is gone, the skin sagging almost completely off. Its body is long, every limb seeming an impossible length, skin stretched tight over lean muscles. Its nails are digging into Quinn's arm, a growl slipping out of its lips as it gives him a vicious tug.

Both of us go stumbling, Quinn letting out a cry of pain as his shoulder threatens to pop from its socket.

"No, I got you," I say, and Quinn looks at me with fear in his eyes, tears streaming down his face.

The creature is fast and strong, something that it uses against us. Braeden manages to make it over to us, his arms wrapping around me, while Link tries to beat the creature with a dense stick. This just makes it angrier, and it snaps its arm at Link, catching him in the face. The wolf is thrown back a few feet, scratches going down the side of his face from the creature's claws.

"Oh god," Quinn cries, "Henley..."

"I got you," I repeat, my hand tightening around his. "I'm not letting you go."

The creature turns back to look over at us, its teeth bared. This time when it tugs on Quinn, Braeden loses his hold on me, and both me and Quinn are pulled off the path. The creature lets out a victorious snarl, before pulling us further into the trees.