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The wolves' attention turned away from me. I turned around just to see a pack of six wolves charging toward a measly two Guardias.
One of them shouted into something in his hand. It must've been a docufone. "Backup, dammit! There’s an entire pack of wolves!"
The other withdrew a gun from her belt, and a loud thunderous crack ripped through the air. One of the wolves was thrown into the bushes. I clung to the tree, trembling.
The Guardia had shot it, but another wolf was already attacking her companion.
They shouted as the deadly beasts lunged, teeth bared, toward them. One tackled the man who had called for backup, and I stared in horror as the man screamed in agony. His face was covered with red, and the screams stopped a few moments later.
The female Guardia watched and then resumed shooting. The smell of gunpowder filled the air, and the bright bang of each bullet made my vision fill with unnatural spots of light while my ears rang.
Four against one. There was no way this woman would survive, no matter how many bullets she fired off.
The bright red and green lights returned. A car had come for the woman. She took off running, and the wolves chased her. Another person from inside of the car shot off a round at the animals. I had been given the perfect seat to watch this bloody show from my little perch. The car was close, and the lights were bright enough that I could make out almost all the details. Its windows were rolled down, and the boxy space inside made the interior easy to observe.
There were two people inside.
Apparently, these wolves were practiced. They not only evaded the bullets, but two of them rammed into the car similarly to how they had rammed into my tree.
They were vicious creatures for a vicious land. And the frenzy spray had already made them more monstrous than ever.
The Guardias started shouting and their voices echoed through the night air. Gunshots pierced the heavy silence, each one sending a streak of white-hot light through the darkness. I huddled on a branch in a nearby tree, my vision blurry from the newly exposed wound on my ankle. The pain was intense and I bit my lip to keep from screaming out in agony. My Blood Magic coursed through me, desperately trying to heal the damage, but it drained me further and my movements became sluggish.
The searing pain had ebbed, but a deep ache still throbbed with every movement. I gritted my teeth and silently endured it. My mind told my body to go higher, to hide better, but my limbs could not comply. The magic took too much of a toll.The faint flickers were gone, and my blood was silent.
I watched as a stray bullet hit one of the attacking wolves and it let out a pained squeal before slumping to the ground. Another wolf leapt up onto the door of the car to clamp onto the Guardia's arm, its long razor teeth ripping into flesh, and the man shouted an agonizing cry of horror in response.
"¡Vámanos!" one of them shouted, somehow forgetting about the once-flickering gold that had scrambled to the top of the tree.
The powerful jaws of the creature caught the other Guardia. My ankle continued to shoot stabbing pains through me as I watched the wolf's own weight win out. With a chunk of flesh in its mouth, it tumbled back to the ground, and the Guardia's arm hung limply out the side of the green car.
He was screaming. The last one must've wedged herself between the seats to grab the wheel because suddenly, the car lurched forward. The Guardia with the ruined arm also shot forward, slamming his head partially on the dashboard and wheel before slumping down.
Even though they had been sent to take me back to the Canciller, possibly even to kill me, I pitied that person. It was horrifying to watch someone be mutilated.
Between Isaac's death and murdering Martina de León, I had seen enough nightmares in the last two days to last a lifetime.
The car sped away, no backup to be seen, but the wolves stayed. They stalked over to the dead man and started feasting. I was forced to stay hidden in the tree until the morning light came, and they stopped their nocturnal hunt.
No matter how hard I tried to look away, my eyes kept straying back to the scene before me. The wolves tore at his skin with their sharp claws, pulling off chunks of flesh as they fought for dominance over who got to consume what parts of him first. Blood gushed out from deep gashes in his skin, staining the ground a dark crimson color which glistened under the silver moonlight.
Dread beat through me like a wave crashing against rocks on shore. I struggled to keep my eyelids open, but the healing had taken too much. Though I had never experienced it, Antonio had explained hibernation as a deep sleep where my body would force itself to heal. If I pushed myself too far I could die. The problem was that it could last days. I didn’t have days to keep moving.
When my eyelids drooped once again, I wrapped the belt around the branch as best I could around me and the tree before burying my face into Santiago’s coat. Just in case.
After what felt like hours, their devouring finally ceased and grew silent once again as they walked off into the night, leaving behind only an unrecognizable mess on the ground for any passerby unfortunate enough to come across it in the morning's light.
The pull of sleep won soon after.
Chapter4
Survival is Brutal
The early morning sun woke me. Icicles dripping from the trees and gently tapping on the ground seemed as loud as the blasts of gunpowder the night before. The rays of sunlight were much warmer today. I hadn’t moved, but every muscle in my body ached and reality danced with ugly memories.
My plan of moving by moonlight had been an utter failure after my minor forced-hibernation. Not only had I narrowly escaped the Guardia, but I was still weary from having to heal my mangled ankle.
It was good that I hadn’t been out for more time.
