Sam and Colby: The Asylum

Chapter 49

"Corey," I said softly. "Stay in there. Don't make any noise. Don't answer me," I said, my voice low and monotone but loud enough for him to hear me. I turned off my flashlight and reached up to turn off the camera light, but I couldn't figure out how. The light was already pointing out toward the eyes anyway, because I had turned the camera around when I'd seen them.

The eyes were too far away for me to see what they belonged to, but not far away enough to be considered a safe distance. I squinted out at them. Bear eyes would be bright, almost neon yellow in the light. Foxes and coyote eyes would be closer to the ground. That meant there was a wolf, about fifteen feet away. The camera light was made for a wide view, not a distant one. I didn't want to move the light suddenly by putting it down, because that might make the wolf feel threatened. I slowly moved backward about two steps when my back hit the brick wall behind me. I closed my eyes and focused on keeping my breath and heart rate steady, but I heard leaves and gravel crunching. It was walking toward me.

"Shit," I whispered.

"What? Are you okay?" Corey asked quietly.

"Shut the fuck up!" I hissed at him. I looked back out and the eyes were much closer. I could now see the silhouette of the animal's body. It was definitely a wolf. Fuck. I heard it continue moving closer to me. I realized it might be able to smell the blood of my cut.

And that wolves travel in packs.

I couldn't move to take out my phone. That would be too much, and I didn't want to shine an extra light. I only saw one set of eyes, and decided to take it one step at a time. If there was one wolf right now, then one wolf was all I had to worry about.

It took another few steps closer, and I could clearly see it now, less than ten feet away from me. The size made me assume it was a female, which wouldn't be as aggressive as a male this time of year. I could see its lip raised ever so slightly, barely baring its teeth. It was a good sign that I couldn't see all of her teeth, but her ears were slowly moving to jut out horizontally, which meant she felt threatened. I took the risk of whispering to Corey again.

"I don't care what you hear, you do not come out of there until I am screaming bloody murder or I tell you it's safe," I said as quietly as possible. I trusted that he would listen to me. I looked down at my feet. There were rocks and bricks scattered around me. Thank god. I slowly squatted down, keeping my left arm up so that the camera light wouldn't move, and silently picked up a brick. I took a deep breath. I couldn't move backward, so I had to move forward. Standing here while it walked toward me was not an option.

"Hey, go away. I don't want to hurt you, and you don't want to hurt me," I said evenly, slowly stepping away from the wall. I took three small steps forward, moving slowly. The wolf didn't move. I locked my eyes with hers and took another step forward. I had to scare it away.

"I said go away! Back up!" I said. I raised my arm up that had the brick in it to make myself look bigger. My legs were almost shaking too hard to take another step, but if I backed away now, I would be letting her assert her dominance. I kept my eyes on hers and took one more step, fully extending my arm out.

"Go! Get! Leave!" I said, starting to yell. Her tail lowered. It was working. "Leave me alone! Go back to the forest! Now! Go!" I yelled. I was about to take another step closer, but the wolf beat me to it. Fuck. She let out a low growl and her tail raised back up.

"Get out of here! Leave!" I said, yelling at full volume now. I took one more step forward, and couldn't be any farther than five or six feet away. I stared down into her eyes and she stared up into mine.