Skinwalkers

A cool breeze set in just above the little lake, sitting below the jagged mountain looming above. The sun setting the world ablaze with colors rarely seen in the sky, brilliant purples, deep reds, hot oranges and bright yellows. A fishing pole bobbing just slightly above the water in the day's fishing sweetspot. The pole and line jolted down into the water snapping Naby out of a serious daze. She began her attempt at reeling the fish in, fighting hard the pole strained hard. “Damn it! This has to be the biggest fish this pond has ever seen!” Naby whispered to herself. The girls hair black as midnight, her hazel eyes tense preparing to rip this fish from the depths of the lake.

Suddenly all the tension released, a monstrous clump of weed jumped out of the water at Naby leaning quickly to the left she dodged the slimy mess. She began to get up after a deep sigh, not impressed with the day's haul. Just a few measly fish, enough to feed but a toddler. Making her way back to the campsite, Naby heard a “THWACK” come from a little off in the distance. She began to investigate the strange noise much too close to the campsite. Carefully making her way onto the thicker bit of forest from the clearing, hunting knife like a bat out of hell Hodezeel leaped from the shadows scaring the daylight out of Naby. She pushed her up against the nearest tree trunk. “Hodi.”

Grabbing a hold of her “Hey sis!” Hodezeel exclaimed “Look what I caught!” two wild hares caught in a primitive trap. “We’re eating well tonight sis!”

“Well how about next time you announce yourself! I almost daggered you in the heart.” Naby said “My haul could’ve gone better today” holding up a measly pair of lake trout.

“Let’s get back and cook our feast.” Hodi smirked. The pair of girls meandered back to the campsite where a fire smoldered in the twilight. Naby trying to shake the ominous feeling of being watched just before Hodi jumped out at her. Arriving at the campsite she began to stoke the fire and skin the day's catch while Hodi gathered some of the berries and other materials she foraged this morning. Not long after, the rabbit and fish were finished cooking, a bowl or different wild fruits sat in front of the two. Hodi reached back into her pack and pulled out a jar of wine for them to sip on, taking a huge gulp then passing it to her sister after.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face when I scared you!” Hodi giggled with a mouthful of hare and wine.

“Oh hush. You better take out your second set of eyes when I sneak up on you tomorrow Chicka.” Naby said “I’ve missed being out in the wild with you sis.”

“Same! I can’t even think about going back to the daze of college life in a few weeks. Living the same week over and over until the semester finally ends and we can start exploring again. Where do you think we should go for this winter break? The grand canyon?” Hodi asked

“I like the sound of that! These Rockies can get too chilly at night for me! Somewhere warmer may be in order.” Naby exclaimed, excited about the thought of a new adventure. Both staring at the fire keeping them warm, lighting adventurous thoughts within each girl's head.

The snapping of a branch in the distance broke the silence, Naby jumped still on edge from earlier.

“Sister, be easy. Nothing is here to get us.” Hodi said shakily. Feeling the same uneasiness in the air but trying to calm her sister. She changed the subject. “Think we’ll make it to Telluride tomorrow?”

“We should, only about half a day’s walk from Gran’s house.”

Just as Naby finished the sentence, a pair of glowing orange eyes about six feet off the ground emerged from the far side of the clearing appearing behind Hodi. Startled Naby jumped to action, knife drawn. A scream left the girl that would have awoken the Black God himself

“What is it sister?” Hodi facing the opposite side of the fire, when two more emerged from the woods behind Naby. “Oh boy! I see it now.”

As the pairs of eyes skulked closer to the fire, finally the full picture came into view. They were the most monstrous trio of wolves either of the girls have ever seen, standing 6 feet tall and 8 feet long, silver and black hair lit ablaze by the light of the campfire. With blinding speed the wolf behind Hodi lunged and closed the distance of 50 feet in a blink of an eye, it grabbed Hodi by the calf and flipped her upside down. Naby went ballistic, bawling she leapt to action, throwing her hunting knife as hard as she could at the beast. Hitting him square in the side, although this seemed to do nothing more than anger the pack. The other two wolves closed in on Naby, she picked up a log with a burning end in the fire and smacked one of the wolves square in the snout with it. The last wolf hit her with his paws and pinned her to the ground, ready to tear into her.

From out in the distance the most horrific screech rattled through the trees, instantly freezing the wolves in their tracks the girls were able to squirm out and regroup by the campfire. The earth shattering sound only kept the wolves from the targets for a few mere moments. The wolves were circling the girls, teeth bared ready to feast for the night. The wolf with the singed snout leapt toward Hodi, a blinding flash of brown threw the wolf across the whole clearing. It was gone as fast as it came and the wolves scattered. The girls' eyes met and without talking they both grabbed their packs and got into the woods the opposite direction of the wolves. No words. Just running. Soon after they got into the woods Hodi collapsed onto the ground, her leg gushing blood. “Agh, my legs!” Hodi clutched at her leg.

“Are you okay?! We need to keep moving. Come here, grab onto me” Naby said

Hodi grabbed a hold of Naby, arm stretched around her shoulders. “Thanks.” Hodi said weakly, struggling along. They found a knotted up ancient tree, it had a little den at the base. The girls crawled in, Hodi snuggled up against Naby and passed out almost immediately from exhaustion. Naby’s mind was racing, she couldn’t even think about sleeping, wide awake and wired she couldn’t get the visual of the massive wolf thrashing her sister around out of her head. She felt absolutely helpless and began sobbing to herself quietly trying not to disturb her sister. After a couple hours of trying to grasp what possibly just happened she finally tired herself out and drifted off.

…

A ray of sunshine on Hodi’s cheek and a deep stinging in her leg, woke the girl. She crawled out of the dim den to access the damage to her leg. Realizing how late they had been sleeping in, the sun already high in the sky and how badly that fared for them. “Naby” She said with a little muster behind her voice, she heard rustling from within the den. “Wake up! It is already past noon and we need to get to Grans today and I can barely walk.”

Naby trudged out of the demand let out a little squeal. “Oh my, look at your leg.” Hodi’s pant leg, stained deep red.

“I know, let's get moving. I need Gran to help fix this.”

“Okay, okay, hold on.” Naby grabbed the nearest medium sized stick and fashioned a split for Hodi with some rope from her pack. Looking for her knife to cut it but nothing was on her holster. She remembered it was stuck in the side of the damn mut. She used the whole rope to wrap Hodi’s leg. “I lost Grandpas knife Hod!” Naby said

“Oh my god, Grans necklace fell off of me! She's gonna be devastated!” A tear leaked from Hodis eye “This could not be a worse end to the trip!” she exclaimed.

“I know, we need to get you out of the woods.” The girls started off in the direction of Grans in silence. Trudging through the forests and plains they were making decent progress, the sun was about about an hour from setting. “I can’t wait to get to her house. We are in need of showers and warm food in the worst way!” Naby said.

“Oh that meal will be on the scale of the last supper!” Hodi exclaimed, continuing on she winced after a hard step on her leg.

“You’re doing great sis, we’re almost there.” Naby trying to help her persevere. The girls entered into a clearing, to their horror, across the way five massive wolves waiting almost as they planned this attack. They began running across the field. Hodi let out a welp like a dog being beaten by its owner.

“Don’t worry, we’re getting out of this.” Naby picked up Hodi and began sprinting in the other direction. On open ground the girls would have no chance but once she got to the trees maybe she could elude them for a little bit. Seems like a hopeless game of cat and mouse she thought. She made it into the forest and ran swerved behind a tree, a wolf at full speed whacked into it. Snapping it in half, it fell right next to the girl.

Again the Earth rattling screech shook all the bones in girls. “What in God’s name is that?” Hodi asked

“I’m not sure, hopefully that’s not trying to kill us as well.” Naby said as running with Hodi still on her back. She kept dodging behind trees but with every lunge the wolves got closer to nabbing them. Naby’s worst fear happened, a clearing, and a wolf sitting in it. “What do you guys want from us?!” Naby shouted in fear.

A blinding flash landed straight on top of the wolves neck thrashing it right into the ground. Claws penetrated deep into the neck, the biggest barn owl they had ever seen. It flapped its wings a couple times and threw the lifeless wolf 100 feet away. The owl stood 10 feet tall, with beautiful colors, brown and magenta flashes throughout its pattern. With deep brown eyes it made eye contact with Naby, it let out the loudest noise she had ever heard. The wolves yelped at the death of their brother, one leapt at the owl and another owl caught it in midair throwing it into the nearest tree. The wolf got up and fell in line with the others running away.

Naby looked at Hodi “What the hell is going on?” the stunned girl asked.

The owl interjected “I am a Skinwalker.” In the deepest and most soothing voice “Allow us to fly you girls to safety.”

“Okay.” Hodi accepted before Naby could speak, her leg throbbing. The owls picked up the girls and began rising high into the summer air, flying straight towards the sunset. It was an incredible feeling after a day of complete horror and fear. After about 15 minutes of flying the girls were set down in an incredibly crafted tree house cabin. It was as if it was specially made for them, the girls opened the door and found two beds perfectly made awaiting for them. The girls immediately collapsed on the bed.

A tall brown man with long black hair entered the room, all he had on was a pair of horse leather pants. Revealing an impressive set of abs. In the same deep peaceful voice he said “Get some rest girls, tomorrow we will introduce you to your people.”