The Wolfskin Series

“Run, Mera!” she heard her best friend yell. Mera looked behind her as she heard the growls getting closer and closer. Tears streamed down her face as they both kept running for their lives.

They should have listened to their parents. They should have stayed closer to the cabin.

If they had only listened, they wouldn’t have been killed a few moments later; they would have had fun at the lake, close to their vacation cabin.

A scream pulled Esmeralda from her thoughts, and the two girls immediately came to a stop.

She looked at the large wolf in front of her as he bared his teeth at the girls. This was it; they were going to die at the age of fourteen.

She saw Kelly pick up a rock and throw it at the wolf in front of her. The rock hit his head. He growled again and stalked forward.

Mera whimpered and took a step back. She didn’t want to die like this.

As she stepped, she heard a low growl behind her, which made her stop and turn immediately.

Three more wolves were behind them, and one was close to her.

He looked at her, and she saw his amber-colored eyes. They were beautiful. She had never seen a wolf’s eyes up close. Well, there was a reason for that.

She had never been in a situation where she was about to get killed by one.

His gray, almost white fur reflected in the sunlight, giving him an even more beautiful glow. The other wolves had dark-brown pelts, and he was the only one who stood out.

The sound of a twig breaking pulled her out of her trance; the next thing she knew, she was being grabbed by her wrist and pulled away from the wolves.

The gray one tried to bite her but wasn’t fast enough. Kelly pulled her further, and they ran again.

Mera pulled her wrist loose as they had to avoid a big boulder; as they ran past it, she heard a bloodcurdling scream.

She looked behind her and saw that Kelly had fallen.

“Kelly!”

Mera grabbed her arm and tried to help her up, but before she could, Kelly screamed again as one of the wolves grabbed her leg in his jaw and bit down.

Mera grabbed a rock and threw it at his head.

He yelped but didn’t release Kelly’s leg. She kept screaming as the wolf bit down even harder.

Mera saw the other wolves getting closer and knew she had to act fast.

She saw a stick and knew it couldn’t hurt to try.

She grabbed it, and before she could try to hit the wolf that held Kelly, she felt an excruciating pain in her right arm as her skin was ripped open from her shoulder to her wrist by a claw.

She screamed as she felt her skin and muscles being torn open.

Mera fell onto the ground and crawled backward as she saw the gray wolf run toward her.

He had one bloody paw, and she knew he was the one who had injured her.

She grabbed the branch in her left hand as the wolf ran toward her.

When he was close, she gathered all the strength she had left and jammed the branch into his side.

The wolf yelped as he felt the branch enter his body.

Mera kicked her legs up and hit his lower abdomen.

She crawled further backward—she had managed to kick the wolf further away from her.

She stopped as she saw Kelly.

Her breath stopped at the sight of her best friend.

Her abdomen was torn, her guts were pulled out, and she was missing a leg.

Her eyes were open, and she stared at the sky with the same fear displayed on Mera’s face.

Blood surrounded her body, and Mera knew she was dead.

Mera screamed as she felt the pain of losing her best friend.

Tears streamed down her face; she knew this would also be her fate.

She heard a growl, and her attention was brought back to the wolves.

The gray wolf was close again.

She had to do something. She couldn’t just lie down and die!

She threw her leg up as he was close to her and kicked his head.

He yelped.

The other wolves reacted and also ran toward her.

The gray one was closest.

He attacked.

She managed to evade his jaws, but the same couldn’t be said for his claws.

He sliced open the right side of her abdomen. She screamed at the pain but didn’t give up fighting.

She kicked him again but accidentally caused him to tear her already wounded arm open even more.

The other wolves came closer, but before they could attack, she heard more growls coming from all around her, and they all stopped.

Even the gray one.

She felt her consciousness leaving her; she was losing too much blood. Her sight began to blur, and the only thing she could do was wait for death.

But it never came.

Instead, she saw a humanlike figure appear in her sight. She couldn’t see who it was, but from the voice, she knew it was a female.

“Hold on, little one, you’re not going to die today. Just hold on,” the female told her right before she passed out.