The Hunt

Chapter 7

The limbs of the red wolf were still in their deadly leaping position as it hit the ground and as the red wolf struggled to get up, the other quickly jumped up and placed itself between the other wolf and Lynsey. The hackles on the silver wolf were raised so high that it looked as if someone had held a rod of static electricity over it. The fur looked so soft, so fluffy and huggable. It would be so nice to stroke it, Lynsey thought but then became aware of the growls erupting from the wolves throats.

Loud and racous with a certain rusty element, the noises emanating from deep inside the wolves chests. Lynsey's legs were still frozen in their standing stance but the fear was vibrating inside her like hundreds of beans inside one maraca. Bouncing, ricocheting and buzzing it felt inside Lynsey's bloodstream but the fear never melted the stiffness of her neck, arms or legs.

The red wolf had risen now with if possible, even more anger in its eyes than Lynsey had seen before when it had first looked up. The wolf was prowling towards her with tense muscles that were quivering with wariness. It knew that it wasn't going to be as easy a job that it was when it first attempted to attack.

The silver wolf snarled. The red had come too close to her and Lynsey but it didn't jump forward to attack, it wasn't fighting on its own. It was on the defensive to protect Lynsey. The red put one more carefully placed paw down and the silver sprang. It shot straight into the red with its front two paws extended, shoving the red to the ground. Red struggled, clawing at the other wolf, snapping at any piece of the other's flesh it could find. Gnarls were sounding all around like mini thunder and then the red was to the floor with the silver standing over it, its fangs around the red's neck.

It was then Lynsey's neck muscles unfroze and she twisted her head left and right, up and down but in all these directions, not a single person stood. Then girl came round the corner with shock written all over her face. As she sprinted closer, Lynsey could see that it was Claire MacRath, the girl she had met on her first day. Her blue eyes spit sparks of electricity and her hair was naturally curled in a very, very fiery way.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she screamed. Lynsey was startled out of her frozen trance. What had she done? She racked her brains to think of anything that she could have dome to make Claire this angry. "I-" Lynsey stuttered but stopped immediately as Claire ran right by her. Lynsey whirled and was shocked to see two girls on the ground behind her. Then the memories came rushing back. Zoe, a red wolf and another.

Claire was kneeling beside Zoe now who was lying on the ground and showed no sign of moving. Claire was muttering something that Lynsey couldn't hear but from the sour expression on Claire's face and the way she forced her words pout, Lynsey guessing she was cursing. Or cussing. Or both. Vivenne was sitting with a perplexed expression on her face, staring at her nails. It was like she had frozen in that position but then she shook herself and crawled over to Claire's side.

"The wolves" Lynsey muttered. "The people". Then a unprecedented thought came into her mind and realisation slapped her harshly across the face.

"Oh my God. Oh hell" she murmured. "Never in a million...sugar, honey, ice, tea!" She screamed the last four words out.

Claire jumped about a foot in the air whilst Vivenne just looked up sharply. "You're..." Lynsey said, knowing they couldn't hear her. Claire jerked to her feet and seemed to glide over the ground as she moved swiftly towards Lynsey. As she drew nearer she slowed and came at a walking pace with the palms of her hand facing up. A sign of peace and calm. Not happening.

Lynsey backed up fast, not taking her eyes of Claire. "Look" Claire said. "Calm down, we'll tell you everything but we need your help right now so..."