Run with me

The fight

Lena POV

Her feet take off, still holding onto my hand Olivia pulls me with her. Running next to her we jump over branches and tree roots. She is a fast runner. As this time I am running on my full speed but Olivia does not struggle to keep up with me. I can hear the breaking of branches and twigs behind us. The sound is getting louder and closer. Suddenly I feel a big mass moving over us. With this enormous jump this big wolf creature is in front of us. The speed we had built up makes us slide closer to him as we try to come to a halt. Making us fall over on our butts on the soil. I can feel a sharp rock poking my butt. 

It was as if he was taking us in. Slowly moving a bit to the right and then to the left. I pull Olivia by her hand towards me. If she has real f*cking wolf whisperer skills now is the time to use those! 

Slowly moving backwards on our butts I can feel with my hand a big tree root. Damm I just cornered us as I can feel the tree against my shoulder. With my right hand I squeeze the root. Olivia has her back against the tree. The mud like brownish wolf starts growling, a deep growl coming from his throat. Pacing in front of us as if deciding who to rip in pieces first with his enormous white yellowish fangs. 

Olivia moves her left foot slowly towards herself. With her free hand she pulls a bit on her sock revealing a knife stuck next to her ankle. With a smooth move she pulls it out of her shoe, holding it in front of her chest in her fist. I have seen enough movies that if a kid wears a knife around like that, she must at least have trained with it and knows how to use it. It looks like she will be protecting me, instead of me her. However we are both so small compared to this creature. That knife would only harm a rabbit.

The wolf isn't getting any friendlier with the sight of the silverware. 

"Lena, when it lunges. Run." 

Pushing her back with my hand against the tree with a stern "No". Olivia lets go of my hand, moving to get on her knees. The wolf steps forward, Olivia quickly slashes with her knife in a downward movement making the wolf duck a bit. Quickly raising her knife back up towards her chest pointing it to the wolf again. Now on one knee she slowly rises but keeps her knees a bit bend. As if in a fencing pose. 

Feeling more vulnerable and cold now that her body heat disappeared from besides me. I quickly search with my hands for any sharp and free objects behind me. Not leaving my eyes from the creature. I thankfully find a rock, pretty heavy but I can lift it up. Almost needing two hands to lift it up. I drag it to my side. Grabbing it well with my right hand I also kneel to slowly rise. Baring his teeth his snout gets all wrinkled. The wolf starts nipping the air dangerously. Putting one of his paws forward on one of the big out sticking tree root I can see the enormous claws. Reminding me of some carnivorous dinosaur claw. 

"How good are you with the knife?" Hoping that her words will give me more courage while I clasp my fingers around the cold stone in my hand. 

"Its my first time." Well that was reassuring... My hand begins to tremble from fear and the weight of the stone. "Lets circle around the tree" WAIT WHAT? 

Olivia starts to slowly move to the left still with her knife in front of her. Guiding herself with her right hand over the tree bark never losing eye contact with the creature. With no other choice than to follow her lead, as I don't want to be left alone in front of the creature, I hold the stone in front of me. Sliding my left hand over the rough tree bark a bit behind me. To guide me to the right side of the tree. 

The wolf decides and follows me. His heavy and loud growl stops me in my tracks. I can hear Olivia behind me. She is now holding onto my jeans pocket. With her knife in her right hand she appears slightly from behind me on my right side. 

The wolf is losing its patience. With a big growl I can see all its teeth. A big push of its back feet and its racing towards us. A big leap and it pushes itself off the ground. Swinging the rock towards it, I let go of it. Turning my body towards Olivia, I try to cover her with my own body. Her arm with her knife hugging me. Making me into a hedgehog with only one sharp needle. Her face hidden in my chest. Like that we stay huddled up. Waiting for the impact...

As the impact never comes. I open my eyes slowly, loosening my grip on Olivia. I feel fine, no throbbing pain or any pain at all actually. The sound of things breaking and shuffling make me look behind me. In front of my eyes there are two enormous wolves fighting each other. There is a definite size difference. The black wolf being bigger than the dirty brown one. They are tossing and turning around on the ground. Lunging to the front and back biting and nipping at each other. An ear deafening growl can be heard from the black wolf. The whole ground shakes from it. 

This is our chance to run. However the whole scene in front of me has removed any power in my legs. Not being able to stand up on my feet I stay on the ground with Olivia behind me. 

The black wolf grabs the brown wolf in its neck. Penetrating its skin with his fangs. With a big swing throwing the creature at a tree. With a whimper the wolf gets up and runs off. Just as the black wolf makes a move to run after it. Another brown wolf appears and runs after it. The black wolf stops and turns towards us. 

My whole body freezes up again from fear. He looks a lot like the wolf that I saw when I crashed my car. With the step he takes forward to us I feel my body turning into stone. Cold sweat dripping from my head. His posture is way different from the previous wolf. Immediately he stops walking towards us. As if he sees he is scaring us. 

I shouldn't say us though as Olivia sprints towards him. "OLIVIA!" I scream on top of my lungs. What is she doing? Is she just charging towards this even bigger creature with that small knife? My eyes almost fall out of their sockets as instead of lunging towards him, she drops the knife and wraps her arms around its neck. 

Its eyes don't avert from mine. However surprisingly its letting Olivia hold him like that. Not setting its teeth in her skin or ripping her apart with its claws. She lets go of him, walking slowly back towards me. He follows her slowly, staying behind her a bit. Not a single hair on my body trusts this situation, I fall a bit back and try to crawl backwards on my feet and hands. He again stops while Olivia is making her way to me. How can she be so cool while I am here whimpering in the sight of this creature. 

"Its fine Lena. He is one of the good ones."

"So you are a wolf whisperer after all." hearing my words she starts laughing. How can she laugh after just experiencing a life and death situation?

"Its oke. Try touching him." Pulling myself upwards. I look at her as if she has totally lost it. With all my little left over courage I stretch my arm in front of me. My hand covers a part of the view of the wolf. Not being able to step forward the wolf slowly strolls forward. Paw for paw, as its coming closer my hand isn't able to cover him from my view anymore. I feel like peeing my pants but also excitement. With the sun setting he looks even more like a fairytale. His black fur shining in the low glow. He stops in front of me before my hand touches its snout. As if checking if I am ready he moves his head up a bit, touching my hand with its nose. It feels a bit wet and cool. Moving its head down, my hand naturally glides over its snout and fur between its eyes, eventually reaching its head. His fur on his head is soft and long. 

"This is Gilroy" ah right, Olivia said there is only one black wolf named Gilroy in these woods. It must be the one I saw and who she talked about. 

Turning himself a bit, giving me access to his side and neck I stroke with now both my hands through its thick fur. A soft growling sound surprises me a bit as my body hasn't totally relaxed yet. 

"He must like you"

"That noise means he likes it?" Not wanting to upset such a creature I keep stroking its fur softly. I feel myself finally relax a bit. 

"Yes, wolves make that sound when they feel satisfied. But he doesn't make that sound with me. You must be special..." She looks as if her brain is working over hours figuring something out. "They only make such sounds when with a certain someone..."

"Can you be even more vague?" I give her a look. 

"This type of satisfaction can only be made by one person in their whole life"

"Well Gilroy, Enjoy it as long as it lasts." He turns to me, its as if his amber eyes are begging me to never stop.