The Pack Leader

I sat in my car driving as fast as I could down an old road in the pouring rain. I hated going down this road, but it was the fastest way to my job as a doctor at Coldgrove Hospital. The drive is about an hour and it could have possibly been pleasant if it wasn't for the wolves that lived nearby. Every night for the past month, they have been howling at night. They used to never howl and if they did, they would only be heard on this road. Now they’ve moved all across the town and I can barely get any sleep just because of their howling. Weird thing is that I swear that there are more around my house than anywhere else. I stared out at the road and saw silhouettes running near the trees. I glanced at them briefly and what I saw almost made me swerve off the road. The shadows looked like wolves but they couldn't possibly be real. They were running faster than my car. I looked back onto the road to straighten my car out so I wouldn't run off the road into the woods. When I looked back, I saw nothing but the black silhouettes of the trees. “Holy Crap,” I murmured to myself. “I think I need a vacation. These work hours have got me seeing things.” I drove towards my house still thinking about what I saw. What I saw couldn't have been real. Wolves can’t grow to that size. It’s impossible. I kept thinking like that until I pulled into my driveway and went inside. My house isn’t fancy in any sense of the world. It was only four rooms and a bathroom. I wish I could afford those big houses like the big league doctors could afford, but those were just the dreams of an idiotic doctor who barely passed medical school. I set my keys on the counter and threw my rain soaked jacket on the couch. I had to get up early tomorrow because my girlfriend had told me we were meeting her parents for lunch. Like I gave a shit about them. with all that’s been happening lately, I wouldn't be surprised if her dad was an ex marine who loves to strangle his daughter’s boyfriends. I went into my bedroom and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and fell into my bed and instantly fell asleep. I was running through the woods outside my house. Whenever I looked back, I would see shadows in the shape of wolves running after me. I kept running as fast as I could, but they kept getting closer and closer. Finally, I tripped on a root and went headfirst into the ground. The pain went throughout my body and when I looked down at my arm, I saw that I was bleeding from a long cut that must have come from a rock I fell on. I rolled over on my back just in time for something to pounce on my chest. I looked up and saw that it was one of the shadow wolves. I looked around and saw that the other wolves were surrounding us, closing in but keeping a respectable distance from me and the other wolf. They watched in excitement with their Black and Blue eyes, waiting for the wolf on top of me to make his judgment. When I looked up at him, he seemed to have solidified. His fur was black as night and he looked like he could have been made from pure shadows. The only thing that differed from him to the others was that his eyes were dark red. And they gleamed with both Intelligence and blood lust, like he was examining the best and longest way to tear my throat out and end my pathetic life. The wolf just stood there looking at me and then jumped off me. I was shocked and confused, the wolf had me at his mercy and yet he decided to let me live. I looked at the wolf when he turned around. I saw his lips curl into what looked like a smile. Then I woke up. I shot up out of my bed, scared at what I just dreamed. It had seemed so real, especially the pain. I looked down in my bed and it was soaked in what I hoped was sweat. On the side of the bed there was a red stain. Hesitantly, I looked at my arm and saw that the cut was there and it was still bleeding. I ran to my bathroom and got my first aid kit from the cabinet and started cleaning it. After I cleaned and bandaged it, I went to the kitchen and grabbed a soda from my fridge. Caffeine had always calmed me down. I drank half of it and sat down at the kitchen table and thought about what just happened. The dream seemed so real and that cut was, without a doubt, real. Maybe it had really happened, no it couldn't possibly have happened. I must have been sleepwalking or something. I mean there have been people who sleepwalked and killed people maybe I was sleepwalking and cut myself on something. Yeah, that must have been it. And the dream could have been explained by the hours I’ve been working. I always have nightmares when I work too much and don't get much sleep. I grabbed my soda and walked into the living room so that I could maybe watch some late night TV. when I walked in, I dropped my soda. There was a person standing in front of my coffee table holding something. In the light of the street lamp, I could see that he was wearing a black hoodie and that he was staring at what I think was a picture in a frame. “H-hey,” I squeaked at him “What are you doing in my house?” The Figure didn't move all. It didn't even speak. I hurriedly ran back into the kitchen and grabbed the gun I keep above the refrigerator and ran back to the living room. When I got back, the figure was gone. I slowly walked to where he was, expecting him to come out of nowhere and attack. When I reached the table, I saw that the only thing that was left untouched was a picture that was now on the floor. When I picked it up, it was a picture of my girlfriend and I and it had cracked. It was cracked in a way that the cracks were only around my girlfriend. My side of the picture was perfect. It looked like someone had purposely cracked her side of the picture. I sat down on the couch with my pistol prepared. I didn't get any sleep the rest of the night. The only time I lowered my guard was when the sun came out. I went back to the kitchen and grabbed another soda. I opened it and started sipping it while I walked back to the living room and turned on the morning news. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that my girlfriend was part of the main story. I looked around quickly for the remote. When I couldn't find it fast enough, I went up to my TV and turned the Volume up. It turned out that my girlfriend and her parents were found mauled to death in her house. The Police suspect that it was wolves from the surrounding woods had broken in, looking for food and that she and her parents went to investigate and the wolves mauled them out of fright. I ran outside to my car as fast as I could and drove to her house. When I got there I was stopped by police. After I told them I was her boyfriend, they let me in after cautioning me heavily. I ignored them and ran in. I saw police centering in her bedroom so I shoved past them and looked into her room. What I saw made me throw up. Her body had been ripped open with her guts and organs falling out of it. Her throat had been ripped out. The opening in her neck went so deep that I could see her spinal cord, broken from where the teeth had connected. Her arms had cuts and gaping wounds from what looked like bite marks. The police later told me that from all the damage to the room she had tried to fight back. She only had one leg, the other had been pulled off from her hip and was nowhere to be found. The only thing left untouched among the gore was her head, and I wish it had been smashed. Her face was contorted into a look of pain and horror. Her eyes were wide open in a pleading tone like she was trying to reason with whatever killed her, and her mouth was open wide like she had been mid scream when it killed her. I ran out of the room, crying and throwing up. I had loved her and now she was dead. I ran into the woods wanting to be as far away as possible from this place. I ran until was in the middle of a clearing surrounded by thick trees. They were so tall that they completely blocked out the sun. I fell on the ground, crying. I kept crying until I heard a wolf howl close by. My grief was suddenly replaced with rage. They had taken her, the wolves had killed her and now they were coming for me. Suddenly, I heard something coming through the bushes around me. I looked around and saw that there was at least twenty black as night wolves surrounding me and they looked hungry. I jumped up quickly and reached for my gun, but then I remember that, in my grief, I had forgotten it in my car. I backed up to the center of the clearing, trying to figure a way out when I heard laughter. I looked towards the sound, hopeful. My hope faded when I saw it was the hooded man and, when he walked into the circle, the wolves made way for him like they were trained dogs and he was their master. “You,” he said. His voice was deep and very gruff, like he had to force the words out of him. “You asked me who I am. Many have asked me that. None will ever know. All I want is for the wolves to live. Even the tamed abominations you call dogs. I killed your mate and her parents as a warning. Those scums have killed many dogs and wolves, especially your mate. The killing was a warning to your town. They have hunted us for too long. I have been patient. I have left your pathetic species alone for centuries and now I have almost given up on you. I shall give you one last chance, though. Run, go and tell your kind what you have heard. If you can make it out of these woods alive, then I shall let your kind survive for a little longer.” Howls rang out from across the pack like they found it exciting. The wolves behind me cleared out and cleared a path for me. The figure lowered his hood and I could finally see him. His hair was dark as night and was medium length, he was tall standing about a head taller than me. He looked to be Caucasian, but, because of the shadows, I couldn't be sure. He looked right into my eyes and I saw his eyes were deep blood red. I turned and ran as fast as I could out of the clearing. I was running through the woods outside my house. Whenever I looked back, I would see shadows in the shape of wolves running after me. I kept running as fast as I could, but they kept getting closer and closer. Finally, I tripped over a root and fell face first to the ground. I looked back and saw the root, no not a root, it was a leg bone that had been chewed on. It looked fresh, like it had just been stripped of meat. I rolled over on my side just in time for something to land on my chest. I looked around and saw that the wolves had surrounded me and the wolf on top of me. I looked up right into his blood red eyes and he spoke to me. In the same deep and gruff voice he said, “You have failed your kind, now no one can warn them of our hunt.” I tried to get away but he was too heavy. The wolves watched us waiting for their leader to make his judgment. He jumped off me and I thought I was safe. I turned onto my stomach and tried to crawl away until I felt something bite into my ankles. I looked back and saw that two wolves had bitten into my ankles and were dragging me back to the rest of the pack. The figure was in front of me again and he was walking away into the fading sunlight. He looked back and smiled evilly at me, showing the fangs in his mouth. The last thing I saw before my vision faded was the figure walk out of the forest and into the beginning of the night. Then I felt a wolf bite into the back of my neck and pull sharply to the left and I heard my neck snap.