“God almighty,” Virgil muttered, his voice shaky. “We can’t possibly fight those monsters off. Look at them!”
The wolves exchanged several yips, then they charged.
4
Found
Present Time - Day 1
Skyra wasn’t terribly worried. Wolves could usually be frightened away. She had faced wolves before in her homeland, although none as large as these.
The creatures slowed to a walk, but they kept coming. The nearest one let out a low growl.
“Now?” Derek asked.
“Wait,” she said quietly. The closer the creatures came, the more likely the scare effort would work. If scared enough, the wolves would turn around and leave instead of backing off and circling. Skyra wished she had a flaming stick of firewood—throwing fire at wolves would usually scare them off for good.
The creatures started spreading out—it was time.
“Run together and yell!” she shouted.
They all rushed forward as a group, screaming and waving their weapons.
The wolves didn’t flee. They didn’t even flinch or take a step back. Instead, they held their ground, snarling.
“It’s not working,” Lincoln said.
“Stop!” Skyra ordered. Something wasn’t right. The creatures were staring only at her, ignoring Lincoln and his tribemates.
The others fell silent. Skyra was nearly close enough to swing her khul at the nearest wolf’s head, but still the creatures didn’t run. She took a step back and to the side, moving behind Lincoln. The wolves followed her every movement with their eyes. When she hid her face behind his shoulder, they stopped snarling.
“Uh, what are we supposed to do now?” Jazzlyn asked.
Skyra stepped from behind Lincoln. The wolves rushed at her, snarling again.
Lincoln raised his khul. “Shit!”
Skyra stepped behind him again and the wolves stopped, their snouts almost touching Lincoln’s belly. She peeked around his shoulder with one eye. The wolves weren’t tearing into Lincoln’s gut or lunging for his throat. Instead, they were quiet again, staring past his shoulder at Skyra.
Skyra spoke firmly. “Do not attack the wolves.”
“They’re not after us, Skyra,” Jazzlyn said. “They just want you.”
“These canines are displaying evidence of domestication,” Ripple said. “Based upon their size and proportions, they are likely modern descendants of the dire wolf, Canis dirus.”
“That’s not helpful right now!” Derek said. “They’re inches away, and all we have are stone tools that probably won’t even slow them down.”
Ripple continued talking. “I must agree with Skyra at this moment. If you attempt to hurt the wolves now, the consequences would be dire, pardon the pun.”
Lincoln and the other bolups gave Ripple a strange look Skyra didn’t understand—Ripple’s statement was meaningless to her. What she did understand was that Lincoln was now the only thing between her and six wolves that clearly considered her to be either food or a threat. She remained silent.
Jazzlyn pushed the sleeve of her strange blue garment up to her elbow and extended her hand weapon toward the creatures. She spoke softly. “Nice dogs. Are you domesticated?”
“Please don’t do that, Jazzlyn,” Virgil said.
One of the wolves stepped closer to sniff the hand weapon. It took another step and sniffed Jazzlyn’s dark skin and the strange blue garment bunched up at her elbow.
Jazzlyn turned and bared her teeth in a bolup smile. “Ripple is right,” she said. “They’re tame.”
A second wolf approached Jazzlyn, and the two creatures began licking her arm where it joined with her hand weapon.
Skyra heard new sounds rising in the distance. The wolves must have heard them too because they turned to look back the way they had come. The sounds were getting louder—movement, footsteps, creatures much larger than the wolves. “Lincoln, we must leave this place,” she whispered into his shoulder.
“Yeah, I hear it too. Virgil, let’s get those body bags ready right now.”
Virgil took a step toward the T3 then paused. “Um, how am I supposed to do that when we’re in a stand-off with killer wolves?”
“Just move slowly,” Jazzlyn said. “Lincoln, you better stay between Skyra and the dogs. I have a suspicion they are trained to hunt Neanderthals.”
Jazzlyn, Virgil, and Derek started moving away.
Before coming to this place, Skyra had watched the others prepare the T3, and she knew it would take too long. The sounds of larger creatures—grunts and heavy footsteps—were getting closer with every breath. She moved away from Lincoln, intending to help prepare the bags.
The wolves growled and lunged again.
Lincoln darted in front of her, and the creatures stopped. “They recognize you as different,” he said. “Please stay behind me. When we’re ready, I’ll keep them away while you get inside one of the body bags.”
“I detect the voices of men, in addition to the movements of large creatures,” said Ripple, still standing beside Skyra.
The wolves glanced at Ripple when they heard its voice then returned their attention to Skyra.
She gripped the handle of her khul and listened. A faint voice arose from the direction of the approaching creatures. The wolves must have heard it too—they all turned their heads to stare.
“I hear them!” Virgil said. He quickly grabbed one of the brown bags on the ground beside the T3 as Jazzlyn and Derek joined him.
Skyra’s instincts commanded her to run, but the wolves kept her hiding behind Lincoln.
Ripple said, “It would be prudent for us to conceal ourselves at this time, until we better understand the intentions of the approaching men.”
“Okay, there’s no time for the T3,” Lincoln said to his tribemates. “Gather around me. We’ll make a human barrier around Skyra and move off together.” He looked around as if trying to decide which direction.
“We will hide beyond that hill,” Skyra said, pointing to the nearest rise.
The others gathered around. Lincoln put his arms back to keep Skyra behind him, and they all started backing away from the wolves.
The creatures watched for a few breaths then spread out and circled the group.
“Just keep going,” Lincoln said.
Three of the wolves came together to block their path, growling and baring their teeth.
Ripple stepped away from the group and scuttled toward the creatures. “Away with you! We shall pass.”
The wolves glanced at Ripple again but held their ground. Ripple rammed its body into the nearest creature. The wolf lunged forward, knocked Ripple over, and went back to baring its teeth at Skyra and the others.
Derek said, “Dammit, we don’t have time for—”
The wolves raised their snouts toward the sky and began howling, cutting off Derek’s words. Together, the six creatures created a chorus that could probably be heard as far away as the smoking battlefield.
“Kalufo dup!”
The wolves fell silent, and everyone turned toward the voice.
Another wave of confusion washed over Skyra, this time twisting her belly until it threatened to toss out any food that might still remain inside. She tried swallowing to get it under control. What she was seeing made no sense. There were men—bolups. Many of them. The men were sitting upon the backs of great creatures. She had seen such creatures dead and rotting upon the battlefield. The beasts were as large as aurochs but with high shoulders and enormous heads. Two short, curved horns protruded from the creatures’ heads, one just above each ear.