7.2
Blake had the right idea. This wolf pack had made the bare parts of the mountain their realm. For over a decade, they had been roaming the peak and none, neither beast nor human, had threatened their dominance.
Very few rebels ventured up so far, but those who did had no futures.
Collectively, the hunters were able to make their rounds of the entire exposed, rocky area of the mountain, ruling every inch above the tree line. They were constantly on patrol, refusing to allow even a single being to step foot into their territory.
– – – – –
The squad began their preparations.
Eve pulled on a pair of thin, black gloves before turning towards the boulders she'd chosen for cover. Nikki, Blake, and Corvus gathered together around the bags, standing back-to-back as they waited.
Jelani, who hovered a few yards away, faced down the mountain with his gaze lowered and his arms hanging heavily at his sides.
"Nikki," Blake called over the howl of wind–and perhaps wolves–"what about that other danger? Is it still there?"
"Y-yeah," Nikki stammered. "It's hard t-to think with these w-wolves so close, b-but it's d-definitely there."
Blake had, of course, filled her in with the description Eve had given him of their pursuers.
"Do you think it could just be a stray wolf?" he asked hastily.
"N-n-no, I d-don't think so. It's d-different s-somehow."
Nikki had curled back into a ball and was using her frail, shaking arms to hug the three backpacks, squeezing them tightly against her frozen torso.
Just as Eve was reaching the hideout she'd set her eyes on, a single, massive wolf emerged from behind one of the high boulders.
She stopped dead in her tracks.
The wolf pack shouldn't have arrived for at least another five minutes, so was this a wandering member, or was her estimate simply off?
Without a place to conceal herself, getting separated from the rest of the squad would be disastrous.
The wolf stared her down but showed no other signs of hostility, and, not wanting to aggravate it, she retreated slowly.
Eve couldn't see anything behind those boulders, so there easily could have been more wolves lying in wait, and she had the feeling that taking the first shot would mean death.
After creating little distance between herself and the beast, she glanced over her shoulder to gauge what distance still separated her from her companions.
She inhaled sharply when she realized the position she was in.
There was a wolf positioned directly in her line of sight–the line between herself and her squadmates. In fact, several other animals had joined to form a circle around the squad, completely cutting off any path of return.
She was a sniper who needed somewhere to hide. In other words, her time left alive may have numbered in the seconds.
If only she still had a pistol…
But the squad only owned two, one of which was with Jelani, and the other was with Blake.
Blake didn't usually ever touch a weapon, but these were extreme circumstances. Jelani, meanwhile, still made no signs of recognizing the wolves, or anything else, for that matter. He hadn't moved, and he still stood exactly as he'd been standing.
Eve's eyes swiveled. Was there anywhere she could take cover?
Utterly helpless, she began to panic.
Her heart beat inside her head, harder and harder and harder. The frigid air stung her nose as she heaved it in, so she dropped her mouth open and breathed through there instead.
Her mind, which had been a blank slate, leapt into frantic action.
Are they waiting for the pack? They haven't shown signs of aggression yet, so maybe…
Assuming that these few wolves had broken off on their own, she knew it wouldn't be long before the rest arrived, so, without another instant of hesitation, she retraced her steps, walking directly towards her comrades, and the ring of wolves that surrounded them
As her focus narrowed, the sounds of snow beneath her boots became almost nonexistent. The circle the wolves had formed was around a hundred yards in diameter, and there were only seven or eight of them, so the space between each of the animals was significant.
Eve glanced cautiously at the two wolves that flanked her before proceeding into the gap.
Shooting was a last-case scenario.
The squad was still far enough away that, if a few wolves happened to attack her, there was no guarantee of their help. Besides, it was unlikely that these wolves would go down in a single shot, especially considering that she would have no time to charge her gun.
Eve's shooting gloves were unique; they had been imbued with the authority of an element–specifically, the element of strength. She hadn't consumed the element itself, but the gloves still gave her the ability to utilize its powers.
Through the gloves, she was able to "charge" her gun, which resulted in a massively powerful shot that could deal significantly more damage than an ordinary one.
However, because the authority contained within the gloves was relatively weak and difficult to access, it took a considerable amount of time to draw its power, which made it critical for her to shoot from a completely concealed spot–somewhere she couldn't possibly be found.
Eve snuck through the gap between wolves and half walked, half ran towards the safety of her comrades. With every step she took, she braced herself, ready for a wolf to leap onto her back at any given moment.
Her skin crawled. The closer she got, the more her vision blurred and her mind tensed.
Come on, come on…
To Eve's left, the main pack emerged over the ridge and dispersed, joining the circle that the other wolves had started to form. Their movements were perfectly coordinated, almost as if they'd planned out their strategy beforehand.
Barely, by the skin of her teeth, she made it.
She was relieved, but why?
There was no safety.
At over eight feet long and two hundred pounds each, the wolves were enormous. Their thick gray fur stood menacingly on end, and their beady, hunter's eyes were firmly fixated on their newest prey.
Some forty wolves had surrounded the squad, and nobody moved.
Time stopped.
Each side waited for the other to draw first blood.
Dark clouds gathered around them, and a familiar, ice-cold rain began to fall.
The raindrops hammered down relentlessly on the fatigued, frozen squad, and cloud and rain clogged the atmosphere so densely that they could barely see the bloodthirsty animals encircling them.
In this weather, every idle moment only made their eventual deaths all the more likely.
Corvus recognized their peril.
His mind was made, so he raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
The bullet cut through thick fog and sunk deep into the beast's chest.
Frenzy.
Fangs bared, the circle of wolves collapsed inward. They closed in from every direction on the squad, who stood in the center of a whirlpool of fury, firing off a storm of bullets against a wall of teeth.
These were no ordinary wolves. Not only was their size supernatural, but their speed and strength was too.
Faced with such monstrous opponents, it was everything Blake could do to maintain focus and shoot somewhat accurately, but he felt that something was off.
Quickly, between shots, he glanced to his right.
Come on, now.
Jelani was still standing in the exact same position, eyes glossed over, mindlessly gazing into the fog. Their executioners were practically on top of them, yet he hadn't even acknowledged their existence.
Blake peeled his eyes away from Jelani only to find that his momentary lapse in focus had allowed an enormous wolf to shut the cushion of distance he'd worked so hard to maintain.
His hastily aimed pistol wasn't nearly enough to stop its head-on charge.
The wolf pounced on Blake and slashed its claws into his right arm.
Sensing the sudden breach of their defenses, Corvus twisted around and bulleted the animal down.
Blake collapsed to a knee, breathing heavily as he groped at his bleeding shoulder.
We can't take this many at once. Jelani better wake up.
His prayers were answered when a pair of wolves came flying into the squad's tiny safe-zone.
Jelani's chest was their target, and, with his life about to be taken, he dropped his eyes to the enemies before him and delivered a sweeping kick, knocking both aside.
They leapt back up, snarling out thick globs of saliva from their massive jaws, but he shot them both and smashed their heads with another kick, rendering them motionless on the frozen ground.
But there were endless rows of wolves, each line practically leaping over the others, yearning to taste flesh and taste blood.
Nikki, left with neither weapons nor fighting skill, hid behind the others, shaking weakly and praying for their safety.
But when the wolves that attacked Blake and Jelani had burst in, her adrenaline reached a new level.
As the bloody battle broke out around her, she could do nothing but crouch on the ground, head helplessly covered in her hands.
The sounds of gunshots and wolves' snarls reverberated across the mountainside with incredible volume, but not as loudly as they did inside Nikki's head.
Her fingers scratched at her own face. She would go insane if this went on any longer.
Leaping to her feet, her primal eyes found an escape route.
In a mad hysteria, her body, finally pushed beyond the edge of what was tolerable, shot through a small opening in the barrage of ferocious beasts.
Eve's eyes caught onto Nikki's abrupt movement, and when she saw the corned animal that the woman had become, she knew she had no choice.
Dammit, she thought as she chased after Nikki's back, shooting down the wolves that pounced on the frail, fleeing figure–of course, the beasts wouldn't stay down for long.
Eve was just able to subdue their pursuers while simultaneously tracking Nikki at top speed, and the two forced their way through the rapidly narrowing gap between walls of fur
As they fled down the slope, the number of wolves tailing them decreased. Seeing that Nikki and Eve's only intent was to escape, the animals soon gave up, returning their focus to the remaining three intruders.
Blake watched, pleasantly surprised, as Nikki and Eve escaped.
Interesting, he thought as Corvus saved his life from another pouncing beast. I guess these wolves only care about keeping people off the mountain. As long as one of us stays behind to hold their attention, the others should be able to escape.
He gazed at the blood-stained battle with contempt.
Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices.
Grabbing Corvus by the arm, he started running, practically dragging the man with him for his first few steps.
When he let go and continued his downhill sprint, his face now so close to the mouths of death that he could feel the heat of their breaths, Corvus had no choice but to back him up.
Oh well, Blake thought as wolves snapped at his heels. I still had high hopes for him.