Wolf Camp (Bear Naked 2)

Chapter 15, part 2

The pack moved through the woods at just short of a run.

"Leave me alone!" Tricia yelled, her voice easily audible now.

"Pretty girl," a male voice snarled, "you think you can just invite yourself into our camp for free? You want to stay, you gotta give a little, eh?"

"Let me go," she shouted again.

Robbie, in the lead, was almost at a run. There was the sound of a scuffle.

"Get off me!" Tricia shouted. Her voice was breaking, deeper and scratchy. Amanda's blood ran cold at the sound.

She broke free of the woods just a few steps behind Robbie and Connor. They had frozen, watching the scene in front of them. In a small meadow, a camp was set. There were three tents and a blazing fire. Three men sat around the fire, and a fourth man was wrestling with Tricia in the open space opposite the camp, trying to pull her jacket off.

"Get off me, get off me," she was crying, her voice breaking.

The three men watched the unfolding rape dispassionately, making no move to help either party. Before Robbie or Amanda could shout at the man, Tricia's voice dropped into a low growl. The man flew through the air and landed only a few feet from Robbie.

Tricia was on her feet in an instant. Her eyes were feral and glowing. She snarled and fell to her knees. The man struggled to sitting and found himself face to face with a jet black wolf. He started back peddling as fast as he could, crab walking on his hands and feet. He ran into Robbie, halting his backward progress.

Tricia leaped on his chest, growling savagely. Her claws bit into his flesh and his shirt turned red.

"Tricia!" Robbie yelled.

She stopped and looked up. Her head moved from side to side, looking at her paws and tail. Her head darted back to Robbie, as though she was unsure what had just happened. Then she turned and ran into the woods.

"After her!" Connor shouted.

The three men on the far side of the fire stared at them, their eyes wide. Brianna stripped her shirt off in one fluid motion and her pants in a second. Then she erupted into wolf form and darted after Tricia.

"Holy Fuck!" one of the men yelled. Within a matter of seconds, the entire pack had followed suit, leaving behind a pile of clothes and the tattered remains of underwear.

"See to the human," Robbie commanded as he pulled his shirt off. In an instant, he too was gone into the woods.

Corey began to gather the discarded clothes while Jay bent over the man. Jay inspected the wounds. The man, shaking like a leaf, slowly rose. He held up his shirt for Jay to inspect. "Do you have any bandages?" Jay called out to the three men at the fire.

"No," one said in a squeaky voice. They were huddled close, watching Jay and Amanda cautiously.

"I do," Amanda said, rummaging through the pockets of her cargo pants and handing Jay a length of gauze.

"Well, they aren't deep," Jay said as he wound the gauze around the man's chest. "They'll stop bleeding soon and heal pretty quick, I think." He looked up at Amanda, "it's nothing life-threatening."

The man stood, letting his shirt fall. He looked at Amanda, a mixture of rage and fear on his face.

"Nothing life-threatening?" Amanda said. "Good." She punched the man in the face.

He hit the ground with a howl of rage. He curled into a ball, hands over his face.

"Don't rape girls!" Amanda screamed at him. "Ever!"

"Umm, Amanda?" Corey said. She had all of the clothes gathered in her arms. She gestured across the fire.

One of the three men had a handgun out and pointed at her. His face held fear and his eyes were wide. "What the hell are you?" he demanded. "Something unnatural?"

Amanda froze, her anger evaporating into fear. Could she survive a gunshot? Not if he hit her square in the chest.

Jay rose at her side. He, at least, didn't seem afraid. "Oh, I would put that gun down if I were you," he said. "You think those werewolves were scary?"

"Werewolves?" one of the men echoed.

"I've seen Amanda throw a wolf thirty feet when she's angry," Jay went on.

"What are you?" the man demanded again. The gun wavered.

"All you need to know is this," Corey said. "We are here for our friend, Tricia. We are not here to hurt you. We have made sure your friend isn't too badly hurt. Amanda made sure he knew what he did wrong, and now we are going to go slowly off into the woods after our friends. As long you don't get any bright ideas about following us, you will be fine, understand?"

Corey began edging for the woods. Jay and Amanda followed him, not taking their eyes off the man with the gun. The gun wavered and slowly went down but the man followed them with his eyes until they were lost in the shadows.

"Now what?" Amanda asked.

"We follow," Corey said. "We can't keep up and probably can't help anyway. But I can smell their trail just fine."

Amanda took a sniff and found she could smell the familiar scent of the pack as well. She turned her head and the scent was distinctly fainter. They followed the scent for a long time. Occasionally they would see a small circle of light where someone had set camp and started a fire. They saw wide anxious eyes peering into the dark from several camps. The pack had made more than a little noise in the chase.

They broke free of town and walked through a field of waist high soybeans. They found the pack in an abandoned acreage a couple of miles from town. Everyone was in a heap on top of Tricia, who was still snarling and struggling occasionally.

Jay sat down near her head and began talking to her in a soft voice. He reached a hand out to pet her but she snapped at him. Jonathan, near the head himself, gave him a look as if to say, why bother? Jay ignored him, singing softly to Tricia to calm her. Her eyes radiate with fear and rage.

"What now?" Corey asked.

"They hold her down until she calms down and transforms back," Amanda said.

Corey shrugged and said, "okay." He found a place nearby to sit.

Connor was near Tricia's midsection. He shifted his weight slightly and indicated with his head that Amanda could sit next to him. She lay down against his warm side and stared up at the stars.