My Plus One Has Paws

I started talking to my truck giving it words of encouragement “Come on you know you want to run for me. If you do, I’ll get the good stuff at your next oil change.” I said as if that might make it reconsider it’s current state.

It was as I was whispering fond feelings for my cranky 4x4 that I heard yipping and howling. I looked up, staring out the windshield all I needed to complete my evening was a pack of wild dogs.

Instead, a gold shape ran through the high grass and leaped into the tree. The cat found a high limb and sat down. It looked tense, even from this distance I could see that its mouth was open and it was panting. Its eyes fixed in the direction it’d come from as its tail flicked with agitation.

Suddenly I could see why it was so upset as a pack of wolves came charging through the grass to circle the old knobbly tree. As the wolves crowded around, the cat lifted itself onto its four paws and arched it’s spine while its lips peeled back.

The wolves bounced off the tree, trying to get enough momentum to get up and into its limbs. Each time one got close the cat slapped them hard across the snout causing the canine it slapped to cry and stumble backward.

A silvery-gray wolf sat slightly behind the energetic wolves who seemed desperate to get to their prize. It’s back was to me, but I watched as it arched, twisted. I watched fur fall off its body, leaving it hairless as the bones moved around under the pale skin. Soon it stood, on human legs. His silver-gray fur was replaced by scraggly human hair that hid his neck.

The man was pointing up at the huge gold cat, which looked down at the human as if this was a perfectly reasonable thing to see. If that wolf was human, were they all humans? Was the panther?

I rolled down my window hoping I might hear something, some conversational cues, but all I could make out was how aggressive the old man sounded. Something the silver-haired said made the cat hiss and arch it’s back again.

This was crazy. I was going crazy, I’d succumbed to my burns and in a fit of fever I’d rolled off I-75 and straight into the twilight zone. It had to be! I couldn’t look away as the cat paced back and forth on the tree limb and the gray-haired man stood there, butt naked in knee-high grass. The other wolves continued bouncing off the tree trunk. The cat was outnumbered, it seemed to know it was outnumbered, it kept looking around, trying to formulate a plan when our eyes met.

I don’t know if it could make me out any clearer than I could see it but I felt it like a shot through my chest, an unspoken desperation, Help Me. I leaned my head against my steering wheel and gave the universe an offer.

“If you start, I will call my mother every Sunday for the next two years.” I said to the steering wheel, and I reached my bandaged fingers to the key, feeling the pain from the burns on my fingers as I turned it.

The truck whined as I tried to turn it over, then jittered and died again, and now the man was looking in my direction. “Come on!” I screamed at the truck, smacking the steering wheel, which made the horn honk. The wolves turned in my direction and the old man waved a hand “Uh Oh,”

I watched as four wolves peeled away from the tree and began running in my direction. I was about to be dog food! I couldn’t even stay safe in my truck. One of them could turn into a human and open the door!

My heart was pounding in my chest as I turned the key again, “Come on! I will not die this way!” Finally, the old v-8 engine roared to life like a demon coming out of hell. The brights kicked on as I threw it into gear. I smashed my foot against the gas pedal, kicking up rocks as I roared into the pasture.

The wolves that were coming in my direction scattered as I blew past them over the uneven terrain. I held onto the steering wheel as the truck shook like it was coming apart. I got under the tree limb the cat was on; the wolves scattering for a moment to regroup as the truck joined the scene.

“Get in!” and just then a wolf's head popped up. Reaching under my passenger seat I got the small bat I had hidden there and smacked the wolf hard on the nose a few times until it dropped away from my window.

The cat dropped out of the tree and into the bed. I put the hammer down and a wolf leaped onto the hood, slamming hard into the windshield, cracking the glass as it bounced over the top and into the bed with the panther. I heard the roar and the yelp as the panther attacked the wolf.

I saw in the rearview mirror that the wolves were getting behind the truck and jerked it into reverse; the truck lurched hard and panther slammed against the cab. I didn’t question the crunching sound as I backed up.

Driving backward away from the wolves I whipped the truck back around, smashing through a decayed wood fence and getting onto the road, the hard bounce and crunch made me question if I lost my muffler as I drove away from the wolves.

Eventually, my GPS kicked back on and began showing me the way back to I-75. The adrenaline of the scene was wearing off, but I was shaking. I knew there was still a large panther in my truck bed, and I couldn’t very well get back on the highway with it in there. I found an abandoned mini-mall and turned in, finding the only still lit street lamp and parking under it.

Mini bat in hand, I climbed out of the truck and moved toward the bed. I knew the little bat wouldn’t stop a fully grown panther, so I hoped there was some sort of ‘don't eat the girl who rescued you’ etiquette in this sort of situation.

When I looked in the bed, I was taken aback by the presence of a handsome caramel-skinned man looking back at me through clumps of black hair. My mouth was hanging open and my bat settled against my shoulder, “Alright, you… Whatever you are, this is your stop.” I told him, and I motioned with my free hand around to the empty, dilapidated parking lot in the middle of nowhere.

His tense stare eased, and his shoulders relaxed while lips pulled into a crooked grin, showing off pearly white teeth that seemed just a little sharper than human teeth “For a human who just witnessed the supernatural you seem very calm.” His voice was gravelly and he didn’t seem to have an accent I could pick up.

“Frankly, I’m not sure I’m not suffering some delusional sleep deprivation dream on the side of I-75,” I rubbed my free hand through my hair and took a deep breath while looking at him, he looked naked... but then so was the wolf. I had a naked man in the bed of my truck.

He started getting up and I watched as inch after inch of tattooed caramel skin came into view under the dim light of the old street lamp. He watched me as he moved, probably expecting me to hit him with my bat.

“Hey, Woah, what are you doing?” I asked, looking at him, then putting one of my bandaged hands in front of my eyes. He was a very nice looking man, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see him naked. I didn’t know him!

“You told me to get out of the truck.” He snickered

“Right, but you’re naked.” I reminded him as if he didn’t know.

“I can’t ride in a truck bed all the way to the hotel.” He said.

“Who said anything about a hotel?” I asked, looking at him again.

He looked concerned, “You have to take me to my hotel.”

“All I have to do is die and pay taxes,” I said.

“Look those wolves know my smell in my jaguar skin, I can’t turn back because they could track me. Or they could find me where I keep my bike,” He said.

“Hold on, let me get you some pants,” I told him and moved over to the cab and opened the door, reaching behind my seat and opening my bag. I got out my Hufflepuff sweatpants and walked back to the bed, handing them over. “Here,” I said,

“A Hufflepuff?” He said, putting the sweats on with a tone I didn’t like.

“Yea, let me guess, not a fan?” I asked, sounding cocky.

“I’m just more of a Ravenclaw.” he hopped out of the truck bed which squeaked, “I’m Matthew Whitlock.”

He was a few inches over six feet tall, and I felt small at my five foot six, “Calliope Desford, Hufflepuff.” I told him, “I’d shake but,” I showed him my bandaged hands.

I turned, moving toward the drivers’ side door, and he cleared his throat, “Why don’t I drive?” He offered.

“I can drive,” I scoffed

“Yea, I saw that, I would rather not lose my dinner.” He said, and he put his hands on my shoulders and steered me around the truck to the passenger side while I glared up at him.

“I only drove that way to save your ass.” I intoned as I sat on the seat. “We’ll be lucky if she starts after all that excitement honestly.”