Devil's Elbow

Act II: Chapter 6

“The hell you mean stuck here? Do you hear what you are saying right now, Shani?”

“Did I start speaking another language, Kodi? I meant exactly what I said. You just saw me walk forward and now I appeared behind you.” Shani said, sitting in shock as he held his head in his hands.

“Oh c’mon Shani, this isn’t the time to be f*****g around man.” Vincent said, kneeling beside him.

“Look at my face! Does it look like I am f*****g kidding?!” Shani asked, irritated.

“So what, we just wait and die?” Gavri asked, wide-eyed, silencing everyone to the fact that kept coming back to their thoughts. If they were stuck on the mountain, then they were screwed. Between the monster and the wolves, it was only a matter of time before either found them.

"It's not like we have weapons, right..?” Shani asked, sighing as he stood up.

“About that…” Vincent said and pulled out something from his back pocket, making everyone leap back.

“Jesus Christ Vince! How long have you been carrying that?!” Mica asked.

What he had was a .40 S&W Taurus pistol. The only reason Shani knew about it was because Vincent never shut up about guns.

“Never leave home without it. And given the circumstances, you guys should be thanking me.” He said.

“Thanking you? Why the hell didn’t you pull the pistol out when we lost Cole?” Gavri asked, standing.

“Oh I’m sorry, next time I’ll let Shani and Seth take care of the rope themselves since Kodi was losing his s**t-!” Vincent said sarcastically, pointing at Kodi, who just got more hostile.

“f**k you Vincent, you are not blaming me for it-!”

“WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP?!” Shani shouted, at this point getting angry. “f**k all this arguing, it’s like it is all you guys know how to do! Look, right now we have something, that’s better than nothing at all.” He said, regaining himself, shocked at how quickly tempers were flaring.

Seth, who seemed to be the only one who kept calm, went into his duffle bag and grabbed what looked like all-black survival gear: one hatchet ax, two Tom Brown hunting knives, and one bolo machete, making Shani look at him with wide eyes, since all could cut clean through flesh and bone.

“A little something called being prepared. Helps, right?” Seth said, making Shani chuckle, shaking his head as the pale man gave each person a weapon. “I’ll take the bolo,” Shani said while he practiced swinging and was surprised by how light it was.

“Here Mica, Kodi.” Seth said and looked at Kodi. “Keep your s**t in check Kodi, alright?” He reminded him as he gave him the hatchet.

“Yeah… I’m sorry about…”

“Don’t have to apologize, man. But this is just a stressful time. Gotta control that shit.” Seth said to him as he let go of the hatchet and Kodi nodded.

“What about me?” Gavri asked as he gave Mica a knife. “You will be with me, Gav. Keep close, okay?” He asked, walking over, gently rubbing her cheek with a smile. She nodded quietly. “Okay.”

He looked at Mica. “Think you will be good?” He asked her, walking up.

“Yeah, like using a pencil. Only I am stabbing something.” She smiled, touching his hip in her free hand.

He then turned to Vincent. “Be sure to only use that gun when necessary.”

“Like Resident Evil all over again.” He smirked at his brother.

Shani rolled his eyes and walked in the other direction, leading the team out... back into the forest, praying they would live the night.

As they walked ahead with Vincent at gunpoint, Kodi at the back and everyone in the center, it felt as if it had been another hour, but luckily that meant it was one hour without trouble.

“Uhhh, guys?” Gavri said, stopping them.

“What? What’s up?” Shani asked as she pointed to their right. When she did, he saw a girl, maybe between six to ten years old, looking at them with sad eyes.

“Uh, hi?” Vincent said. “Don’t say hi. We don’t even know who or what she is.” Kodi reminded him. He froze and nodded.

“Guys, I don’t think she means us harm.” Shani said, getting a weird yet benevolent vibe from the girl.

“What do you mean, Shani?” Mica asked, moving beside him.

“I’ve always had a sixth sense about people and whatnot, like a dog I guess… nothing seems remotely dangerous about her.” He explained. “I am not getting anything either,” Seth said, trusting his instincts.

The girl waved forward and moved. Seth, curious as he was, walked forward.

“Seth, get back here!” Shani whispered, but Seth had already walked ahead.

The group waited as the seconds went by, then the minutes.

"Oh f**k this, he's been gone too long." Kodi scoffed, getting up until they heard Seth's voice calling out to them.

He came back running and stopped panting. “Guys, there's some kind of hut down that way,”

“Think we should go?” Mica asked before a howl was heard not far behind, making everyone freeze and turn around slowly. Sure enough, a pack of wolves, at least three or four, by what Mica could tell, were sprinting from the top of the mountain... towards the gang!

Ho. Ly. s**t!

“Run!” Shani shouted, and the whole group ran to where the hut was, taking their chances with the hut.

“Don’t stop! Just run! f*****g run!” Kodi screamed, running full steam, but they wouldn’t make it to the hut before being the wolves' next meals.

Seth cursed and stopped abruptly gripping his weapon. “SETH WHAT THE f**k!?” Shani said, looking back.

“I’ll buy you guys time, go!” He said and ran in the opposite direction, leading all but one of the wolves away. “SETH! f**k!” Vincent shouted and opened the door, waving them over. “Get in!” He shouted as they all ran in and the wolf leapt, lunging through the door as Vincent was going to shut it and sent the pistol flying across the room. The wolf then went for Vincent, biting his leg, snarling as it shook its head.

“Vince!” Shani shouted, running forward, bolo in hand as he brought it down on the wolf as it bit the screaming Vincent’s leg.

Kodi charged at it as well and both began to hack its neck, killing it, albeit more relentlessly on Kodi’s part, and both breathed a heavy sigh as they fell to the ground.

“Sonuvabitch..!” Vincent breathed, crawling away as he clutched his mangled leg.

Shani couldn’t argue with the response as they narrowly escaped death.

Not all of us…

As he thought about it, he prayed that Seth survived the chase. Losing one friend tonight was enough as far as he was concerned.

With that thought in mind, Shani looked to the moon, hoping for the best and praying the worst was minimal.