The forgotten land

Everything goes wrong

I struggled a lot to forget about the night I spent camping with my family. We always liked to spend time in the tranquility of nature, to enjoy every stream, every flower, every animal.

I traveled so much and visited so many secluded places, but nowhere did I feel that way. I did not feel the primordial fear that was ready to embrace me at any moment, able to take over my mind. Was I really crazy, did I just feel like I was being chased ... hunted? But the silence that had taken over the forest around me made me think it was something more. It seemed real, no matter how much I wanted to convince myself that Eric was right, something told me it was real ... I felt something strange ... I'm sure I saw some eyes looking at me, yellow and bright in the night mist. A cold current passed over my back when I remembered those eyes, even though they were only visible for a second I felt my feet melting because of them.

The cottage we were staying in was very spacious, with all kinds of traditional motifs, designs and wooden furniture sculpted with traditional Transylvanian patterns. The bedrooms are small, but comfortable, you sleep so deep in them that you just dive into the deepest dreams.

With a spacious kitchen and a living room with a huge sofa, you had everything you need for a long stay. The family that rented our house brought us food and the necessary things every week, and for the rest we could go to the city. We had an off-road car and could get to the first city relatively quickly, in about an hour.

The village where it is located has very few families, most of them are old and seem to have been forgotten for a long time. There is no school, no hospital, no shops, just a kiosk with very few products. An old woman from the village made fresh bread for us in exchange for a few pennies, and we could get fresh vegetables from the other locals.

After a whole year of staying in the city, we all missed nature so the cottage was perfect, the fact that it was so far from civilization made it a dream destination. Every day we walk in the forest, on tourist routes, we visit places indicated by the locals. Everything seemed enchanting!

I didn't think it was ... that was one of the mistakes I made. Here everything is true, everything you know and something else on top.  And I will see this very soon when things will take a very strange turn!

“I’ll go for a hike, don’t wait for me at lunch I packed something”, I heard Eric saying from the gate.

“Wait I’ll come with you, don’t go alone!” fear was already creeping in my mind, what if it was something hunting us, he can’t go alone…

“No, I want to run a little, don’t want to drag you along, you will hold me back sis” he said with a smirk on his face.

The i***t, I felt that something will go wrong with him, but before I could say something he disappeared in the forest.

…

Everything went normally, I started reading a book and time flew by ... when I looked out the window I saw that it was getting dark and Eric was not around, I tried to call him, but he wasn’t within range, it was most likely still in the mountains, or in a valley. Although he was an experienced climber and did very well on the mountain, I was worried, anything could happen to him in these places. Or maybe I was just paranoid about everything that happened when we were camping deep in the woods.

And then I heard the howls.

They were coming from all sides, it sounded like there were hundreds of wolves in the woods around the cottage, I inadvertently froze, my mind was empty and I could not react.

Instead, my mother quickly went to the door and locked it, put her hand on the phone and called the police, she was scared because of Eric, my father was back to work, he was staying with us only in his days off. We both realized that if there were wolves so close, he wouldn't be able to get close to the cottage... if it was still okay.

“Hello, I’m calling because off my son, he left hiking in the woods this morning and did not return. We heard wolves near the village, he may be in danger”

She was listening, her eyes shot arrows of anger, they probably didn't take her seriously

“But… the sounds they make, it’s close to our home. How can he return if we are surrounded by…”

The sounds did not stop but on the contrary, some could be heard so close to the village that you had the impression that they were in the backyard. if Eric was nearby he was clearly in danger.

“What did they say?” She was staying with her phone in hand, scared. I loved mom she was not a week woman she was smart and resourceful; I could see she is thinking hard what to do, looking for solutions. In a way we all were “trained” by dad to be this way, he always said “don’t wait to be saved, sometimes no one is coming and you are all you had”. So now mom was clearly looking for a solution… But what can you do?

“To not worry because he is fine for sure and the wolves do not attack people, most of the time they run away when they feel the presence of a person and he will be back...”Then I heard the cry, it was so penetrating that I was sure the whole house shook. I was afraid, it could be Eric, if he was sure he needed help, the crying was painful, more than likely someone had been seriously injured. Fear took hold of me, and my mother's face twisted because of the horror of what it might mean.“Stay here, do not go out regardless of what you hear” She said as she was taking the hunting rifle of the wall and get the boots on.

“I’m coming with you, you are not going outside alone…”“Nefeli I’m not arguing, I’m telling you to stay put! I don’t what to have both my children in danger”“But mom…” I started to argue with her but her expression was serious I knew I had no chance, she would do as she pleased and I could not persuade her to go with her “Stay here… I’m serious”

With this she went outside, the wolves were constantly howling around us, everything seemed so gloomy, except for the howls nothing could be heard, no birds, no insects, nothing could be heard, as if everything had gone silent with the arrival of the wolves.

Almost ten minutes passed and I wanted to go after them, but I couldn't, my mother took the only rifle available and I didn't know what I could do outside unarmed. I had to wait and help them if they needed to. Then I heard the gunshot, followed by another ... it was my mother's rifle ... I was frozen, I ran to the door and looked outside. I couldn't make out much at night, but eventually I saw two figures coming toward home. One dragged the other after her, clearly wounded. Behind them some shadows were moving menacingly, I was so scared! But I remembered what dad was saying ... "sometimes you only have yourself". I took the ax by the door and ran towards them, I couldn't see very well, but something was telling me that it was my mother and Eric.

When I got close to them, the image in front of me hit me very hard, my mother had a torn jacket, and Eric's leg was bleeding terribly hard, he could barely stand, that's why my mother had to support him. I ran harder and went to support Eric, but my mother handed me the rifle

“Hold this, shoot if they came close to us, I’ll manage…” she said with a terrible look on her face, the strength of this woman was amazing, she was small and thin but was able to hold my brother and carry him home without complain. I knew that she will do everything for us, nothing can stop her.

“Ok… what happened?”

“Not now, be on your guard, it’s something different with this wolves”

I looked back and saw we were almost surrounded by them, it was something different… they were moving like an army, carefully but ready to attack, like they knew that we had a gun, that we can kill them.

“To your right sis!” Eric shouted, and as I looked a big wolf was ready to jump at us. I took the rifle pointed and fired at him. With amazing grace he leaped on the side avoiding being hit, it was like he understand exactly what is happening. 

As we headed home, we were trying to understand what was happening, Eric was injured, probably mom too, and these wolves were behaving strangely. It wasn't like they were hunting us for food! There are no wolves in the world that do not run away and scatter when you shoot at them. Not only did they not run, they changed tactics, as if they had only one goal and to catch us. It didn't look like a food hunt...

We were a few meters away from the house and in front of the door stood a huge wolf, it was white with shiny fur, and the eyes ... the eyes were the same ones I saw the night we went with the tent, the same shining eyes and yellow. Even though I only saw them for a second, I knew ... he was the same wolf… he had been following us ever since ... but why.Without thinking I aimed the rifle at him and fired, I knew I couldn't load the rifle anymore, the bullets were at mom's and I didn't have time, so after I fired I took Eric by the other hand and we ran with him into the house. The wolf ran away from the bullet and so we were able to enter and close the door... “What happened?” I asked again as my mom was looking at Eric’s leg. I was already bringing towels and put some water on the stove. We were all shaking, the adrenaline that helped us get home was gone, now we had Eric bleeding in front of us and we had to do something to help him. While my mother was stopping her bleeding, I called the police, we needed an ambulance!

“I need help, my brother was attacked by wolves, you must send an ambulance”“It’s the village Corbul, the big house near the forest” … “What? You can’t send one? Are you serious we called you that my brother was missing you did nothing, he arrives home with his leg torn apart and you send no one?” The lady told me to wait on the phone. My mom was listening, his face was plain, no expression, it was clear that Eric was hurt badly, if no ambulance will come soon and fast he will die…“They will not arrived as fast even if they leave now, we can’t go out to reach the car, they are still around the house…” mom said. As we sat and listened we realized that we were still surrounded, there were no more wolf howls, but we could hear their footsteps around the house, they behaved as if they were waiting to do something, they were waiting for us to go out. We were simply stuck in the house.

"If you don't come sooner, he'll die, he’s bleeding a lot ... we can't go out, the wolves are near the house ... I'm not exaggerating and I'm not crazy, they're here ... Fine!" I couldn't talk to her anymore, it's clear that no one will help us in due time, we have to do everything possible to keep him alive as long as possible ... We were against the clock!