The Wild

-7- The Kidnapping

After rummaging around for a good minute or two, I stumbled across my "utilities" box I swore never even existed until now. I didn't take much time to ponder this revelation, though. Whipping out the thick rope and spindle of cord from the bottom of the box, I tugged it out to the front yard where I could already hear Amaya squeamishly squealing and prancing in her spot as she watched Mary from afar.

Mary was on her knees behind the animal, which was viciously snapping at her to the best of its abilities with the gushing bullet hole in its shoulder. It seemed to be in a hell lot of pain, enough to cause it to start quivering and painting and eventually give up the fight as it fell its head against the ground with tired glistening eyes staring up to me.

A... wolf?

It was skinny and oddly misshapen around the abdomen, considering how tightly its fur pelt folded over its corded muscles and the ripple of its spine down its back. Eventually it blinked its eyes away and heaved a great big sigh that simmered into a dying cry.

Mary removed the rope from my hands, which I'd forgotten about during the process of watching a... peculiar thing happen to the wolf in front of me. With each intake of breath, it diminished in size, but the process was so incredibly insignificant it took at least one long minute for me to realize what was happening. It receded from me, legs curled into itself before the cracking started.

The immense desire to drown out the sound was almost too great to ignore, but my feet were frozen in horror at the sound. A cringe ripped down my spine like the cold shiver of hearing nails against a chalkboard. Amaya started squealing even more, covering her ears in hopes of blocking out the sound.

"Oh my God, what's wrong with it!" she screamed.

"G-Go in the house, Amaya, and find me a pair of athletic shorts!" Mary demanded, pointing back at the cabin. At long last I looked back at Amaya, glad to have the distraction of watching her nearly fall trying to find the railing on the steps and practically ramming straight into the gutter.

"Ugh, God damn it!" she yelled out, frantically dodging it and escaping the scene.

The darkness made my head feel heavy and the stir of commotion sent my mind into a whirlwind of unsteady thoughts. I carried my eyes up to the dwindling form of the wolf, whose back was hunched and narrow torso curved to accommodate for the way it brought its legs up to its chest. There was something oddly irregular about the beast since the first time I saw it. If it was a wolf now, it was a wolf back then, but it was spindly and carried its weight over its hunched shoulders.

Was it even a wolf?

There came a retching noise from the throat of the wolf which brought its head to curl inward. Its snout, which I was so sure had been longer before, was now stunted and still shrinking. A pale color overtook the creature as its skin seemed to shed, or recede.

"Wh-what's going on?" I stammered, taking a step back from the wolf. Blood was caked over the back of the beast.

"Look away, Lily. Don't watch this," Mary demanded. Her voice was raspy and quip.

I turned, but not before recognizing the foul taste in the back of my throat, and the queasiness in my stomach. I made a run for the forest and ducked behind a tree to hurl up the hotdog I regretted eating now. The bile left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I felt sick just thinking about it.

"I found a pair of Bennet's--Christ!" Amaya shrieked in terror and fled from the scene back up the stairs, now peering out from behind a post.