The Secrets Of The Old Tomb

5th Chapter: Satisfied

That was all I could do for safety: run.

It was long minutes already since these wolves began chasing me. It should have been East, but the farther I went to the North, the thicker the snow had gotten. The depth reached my knees. Lifeless trees were nowhere around me – except those from the very distance, so I could hide or climb to get away from the hostile and hungry wild dogs. During spring, this part of the forest must have been a field of grass and flowers. Or, perhaps, otherwise. I would have laid myself here to hide if I could beat the slowing death process of cold. Anyhow, it was difficult for me to keep my pace straight. The floor of snow went deeper. Above my knees already. It felt very similar to me, along with the rigid and leafless trees from afar, were sinking. Or being eaten by a floor of snow. Or the snow, mimicking water’s behaviour, was going on a high tide. I knew I had to make a turn and look for snowy-less ground ‘cause I had no idea what I was stepping on. It might be that I was already at a frozen river – or any bodies of water – covered with these enraging white stuff. And if I was, I did not want to fall, get stuck and met my death in the freezing water once the ice layer cracked due to my hurrying steps. That thought scared my head, so in place of worrying about the deep snow, I put worry to my undesired death.

First, before I made a choice about where I would go, I looked at what was in front of me. More to say, I focused on those dead-like trees from far off. From left to right, I searched for the nearest one to where I currently was. I wasn’t planning on hiding behind it or climbing up on it anymore, as it would make me the foolest of all fools to think that wolves do not have senses of sight and smell. The only reason why I looked for the closest one was that it was a sign of land. That hundred of trees doesn’t grow on water.

At NorthEast, there were two. I could tell those trees were the nearest by the solid blackness of their figures, unlike any other that turned somewhat grey because of the radiation fog and heavy snowfall. Then, that was where I set my pace diagonally. I snatched a second and glimpsed at the wolves behind me, one hand was still on my bleeding shoulder. Hilarious because I could only see their moving heads and spines. The rest of their bodies were buried in the snow. It wasn’t anything surprising that they seemed to be only walking towards their prey – which was me, rather than sprinting.

When I reached and passed the two nearest trees, I had no worries about getting eaten by a wintry river or any form of water anymore. A small relief. The depth of snow decreased – it was back to my knee level. Although winter, due to minutes that seemed hours and days of running, I sweated. Each sour body liquid that came out in each of my pores, they felt like they all turned into droplets of ice within seconds solely. It was bittering me cold. I was trembling. And the bite of the wolf on my shoulder, the pain never ceases as the cold made it worse. It felt like all my energies were escaping through those wounds. While it was a good sign to me that I caught no sounds from the wolves that were tailing me, I didn’t stop myself from moving forward. There might be a chance that they changed their technique in order to catch me. I just hoped the wolves gave up on me. I still had a goal to achieve. Killing.

At that goal, it includes killing them too.

The ground was going upward, snow’s deepness lessened. I realized it too late that I was trying too hard climbing this hill-like ground merely to escape from the wolve’s fangs. Vexatious hundred and thousand of minutes fled, when I was halfway through this elevated ground, I was suddenly propelled to my side with enough force. I was moved and fell on the snow inches away from my foot tracks. Without managing to get up and went back to running, gravity pulled me down to the foot of this high hill. I tried grabbing onto something that was fixed to the ground to help myself stop from rolling on this snow, yet, without luck, there was nothing.

If there was, I didn’t have a tight grip on it. Or my hands missed a few inches at reaching it. Or it hit my body instead of my hands, causing me to moan in pain.

The responsible for losing my balance was a wolf. I had no idea if it was one of the same wolves that were tailing me, yet the attack came from my right side. It jumped on me, nearly biting my ear. When I was at the foot of the hill, that was where I felt every pain I got while I was a ball rolling downhill. Even more, the punctures on my shoulder caused by the wolf’s fangs made the aching greatly dreadful. I couldn’t take it anymore. It had me enough. That was outrageous!

No more running. I told myself silently, gritting my teeth. I stood up full of anger to the wolf. It was easier for me to finish it because it had no companions on his side. It wasn’t on pack. This time, I would really kill anything – even the most dangerous and enormous, instead of running first. I was no a coward, and never should turn to be one. I had skills and strength, which I could use to defeat whoever or whatever I wanted to be defeated. Bravery was one of my best friends.

I picked up a broken tree branch that was halfly hiding under the snow bed, preparing myself to hit that very same wolf on the head once it was ready to attack me again. Or maybe did the same thing on the its neck just like I did on the wolf responsible for the terrible suffering I had on my shoulder. I watched it going down the hill. Its furious eyes were locked on me and to me only. I ogled at it back. I felt nothing through it as I was too focused on seeing its blood colouring the snow red. It did not stop a moment from growling and barking. Undeniably, as much as I wanted to happen to it, it wanted me dead. I fixed my grip on the end of the branch and kept my wrists and shoulders strong.

Then, in a limited period after I stood up and took a weapon, the wolf pounced on me once more with its mouth wide open. I saw all its dirty and sharp teeth, famishing for fresh flesh. I felt nothing more but utmost anger that I was gritting my teeth because of my supressed anger. I was so ready to kill an animal alike to one who teared up my skin and left an unending pain on my shoulder. I was ready for revenge. Yet while it was in the air, before its paws or chilling breath made a contact on any part of my body, I swung the broken branch to the side, hitting its head. I had my full force on my weapon, and the wolf fell feet away on my side. The snow made marks.

My injured shoulder weakened, dropping instantly on my side. My left hand let go of the branch automatically as it also weakened.

The impaired wolf made wailing noises of ache while it stood up, ready to fight once again. As it shook its head once more – probably my first hit blurred its sight, I took the chance and attacked it for the second time, persuading my shoulder that it would regain its strength if I were able to kill this wolf. Though it was not as strong as the first hit, because it managed to step backward, I was still able to hit it on the head. The wolf growled at me, angrier than it ever was before. It showed more of its teeth, perhaps to scare me. But as long as I could hurt this wild and aggressive animal, I was practically not afraid of those teeth. And as it seemed to be preparing himself again to kill and devour me, it was not also terrified of me, like it wished for itself to happen the obvious ending of this fight. Its death.

I raised the broken branch afresh, imitating a batsman holding a baseball bat and was ready to strike the baseball ball. For a moment, I pretended I wasn’t maimed. I fixed my stance. Before I could do my third strike, the wolf leered at me for two minutes, breathed icy, visible breath more than once, lifted its head – nose and mouth at the highest, and howled. It was not because of pain. It was a sound they made whenever sky displayed the full moon. But tonight was not a full moon. Half-moon, precisely. What was it howling for? Its meal?

Or was it a howl for help? A communication between other wolves nearby?

Uncertain.

Another loud howl echoes the leafless woods. It came from the same wolf in my front after barking and growling at me. It seemed prepared already that it might dodge or catch by mouth my weapon whenever time’s fully ready for me to take my third killing action. I needed him to be distracted, like before when it’s shaking its head. But what could distract him this time? While my whole attention and focus were on it, I secretly moved my eyes around to look at what could possibly distract him. I had to be careful that every two seconds, I had to move back my eyes to it to be aware of what it was doing.

Each minute, the wolf and I completed a full rotation while it waited for my attack, and I was too busy thinking for its distraction. A track of circle made by my both feet and its four paws were visible on the snow. My hands were gripped on the branch, and the wolf’s teeth were gritting while, again and it always did since the beginning, breathed icy, visible breathes.

It was only I that broke our eyes’ connection everytime I searched around at what could possibly distract this dangerous dog.

Until, finally, I thought of something best using my wit that I never doubted would help me in this situation. The plan was a piece of cake. I planned on letting the wolf believe that something hit me or came inside me that I miraculously lost my breath, and then fell on the white ground. As a normal dog would do, the wolf would come near my unconscious body to sniff – or in the best way to put it was to investigate – if I was really dead. While at that moment, knowing the wolf would lose its state of readiness to fight and along it were its reflexes because it was convinced that its enemy – which was me – was already dead, I would have the chance to pierce the branch on my hand to the wolf’s neck. It was the only period that I could get close to the wolf without having to fight and wound myself more. And I had enough with the one on my shoulder.

In order to win this duel – a duel between a human and an animal, which were both maimed – one had to be wise and creative.

Deceitful.

We stared at each other for another couple of minutes. At this time, now that I had formed a clever scheme in my head to kill this wolf, I never did look away from the wolf’s eyes. There I was, smiling so evilly inside while my face displayed a poker one and, at the same time, looking directly at the wolf’s irate eyes, having myself fun in such silence and was thrilled to get those eyne cold and closed forever, as well as those white furs turned into red. Confidently I stood in front of the wolf with the killing weapon I would be used to end the four-legged enemy.

And then, the right moment came when I put my plan into action. Just losing my tight grip on the branch but still keeping it in my hands, I dramatically dropped my body to the snow. As much as I was aware of what I did, I knew that I did not plant any doubt on the wolf with my convincing performance. The last thing I saw before I fully close my eyes was the wolf jumping in horror and astonishment.

Subsequent to that, I did not know what was happening. In the first couple of minutes, nothing was happening. I could tell I was an i***t pretending to be dead because the wolf seemed unpersuaded that it had not came to me. Suddenly, I felt nervous. And because of that, I felt even more nervous for I might display my nervosity through my body, and the wolf might be able to sense that and attacked me abruptly. So, just to at least visibly be aware for the wolf’s next move, I partly opened my eyes. The wolf was standing.

And it only did stand with its head and eyes on me. It never moved any muscles. Thinking the plan was a complete failure, I continued lying on the cold ground. If I stood up, that was my weak state, and the wolf might attack me. Even if I pulled myself up from the ground as swiftly as I could, I was certain the wolf would still get me. At that moment, I no longer trust myself with such swiftness. The wound on my shoulder was the cause.

I was waiting a bit longer while I thought and plan of my next move when the wolf began to step closer to me. I remain my eyes half open and saw those icy breaths from the wolf’s black nose. With each step it took, my anxiousness increased, making me gradually regain the tight grip I had earlier on the branch.

Once again, I was exhilarated. The plan was working.

I tried to relax my body and controlled my breathing because it was starting to go deeper and physically obvious. And icy, too. Yet, I managed. Not a long moment after I fully controlled my body as not part of any living being, a cold touch appeared on the side of my neck. For a second, my nervousity came back in my head, although it never really left me while in that situation. But I had to be strong and overcome the dread. I planned the scheme. All by me. Therefore, I must stick to it. There was no turning back.

The touch came from the wolf’s nose. It was examining my fake death. I knew the wolf would discover my plan sooner because my body began to tremble endlessly as the wolf got on top of me, ready to take its first crunch on me.

So I did not waste any more seconds to come to pass. With all my force on the branch – using only my hand where my shoulder was fit and free of blood – I briskly stabbed the wolf on the side of its neck. My hand was so strong that the branch came through to the other side of its neck. I heard a short, broken yelp from its vocals, and then it whimpered. It had no time to escape as my hand was quicker than the time. Blood began dripping down my chest, and I felt the warm body of the wolf starting to lay upon my stomach – a sign that the dangerous dog was drastically losing its energy and life. Until its eyes, that was once ogling at me, came close.

More blood poured down on me. I thought the wolf would be covered with red at the end of this fight, but it was me. I loved it, anyway.

I felt the full weight of the wolf’s body on me. There was no pumping on its chest nor icy breaths from its nose anymore. I could now tell that it was dead already. I let go of the branch and stayed still on the white snow, wanting to observe my latest murdered achievement for a couple more minutes. I was never more satisfied than at this very moment.

I was obsessed with how the branch was pierced through the wolf’s neck, like it was already a part of the wild dog, an extraordinary bone perhaps, since the beginning. What blissed me more staring into this victory of mine was both ends of the branch: the first end was at its normal dead colour while the other was dripping in red. As time went on whilst my eyes never gaped to other things but to the cold wolf on top of me solely, so many things – ideas to kill other enemies exactly – were swirling in my head that my hysterical laugh came to echo in this lifeless, black and white surrounding. It came louder and louder from the time it had started.

But not until something hard again spiked on my left leg. It was way far to predict. It was the same feeling when a wolf had bitten me on my shoulder. I did not need to look at what came to me this time. By merely hearing the growl, plus the hint of having the same feeling, told me already that another wolf arrived and came to finish what its mate had started on me. Next, as I struggled to get my leg out of the wolf’s jaw, another couple of fangs sunk into the skin of my right forearm. That was when I screamed in pain. There was no need to perceive if I was losing blood because I really was with two wolves continuing to fill their void of happiness by killing me. The dead wolf on top of me made it also difficult for me to free myself. Both of the wolves were dragging my right arm and left leg in opposite directions, giving me the idea these two wild dogs wanted to take these parts of me off my body. It was not questionable, though. Even I thought of that to my enemies.

Breath became harder to catch. Anger overpoured me in the middle of my struggle.

Although I loathe admitting this, I knew I had no match for these two brawny wolves. And, although I loathe thinking of this, and since there was no chance of fighting back, I had to give them their victory and let them get their revenge for the wolf I killed. For the first time since I woke up beside the green plants and shrubs with an overlooking ceiling of bright green leaves, I gave my strength, goal, and extreme desire to kill to fill the never-ending emptiness in me up. Basically, I gave myself up.

Yet that was where I was wrong. A few moments later, I felt the first wolf that attacked me released my leg, growled and ran to where the top of my head was facing. Then, the second one followed. I did not know what was happening. My senses weren’t aware of what was around, but I heard the two wolves whining and that sound faded instantly. A familiar scream was followed after, along with loud footsteps that I mistakenly took as an earthquake earlier ago. And then, a familiar touch came into contact with my body, and the next thing I knew, I was flying in the air.

Helpless, but there was hope.