Wolves and Men

Farther east they traveled and eventually they came to a small lake, or more of a large pond. The sun was reflected off its perfect blue surface. The surrounding trees and rocks framed the place beautifully. Pretty as a postcard and twice as dangerous. Water was the sign of civilization and what better place for cops to look for someone than by bodies of water. He had been running for two full days and a night now, but cops had that helicopter and other vehicles. They could be watching this lake right now just waiting for him to show himself.

He crouched down next to his guide, who was staring out over the water. He was at her eye level and together they scanned the tree line. The she-wolf raised her nose to the air and sniffed, tasting the wind currents that blew off the water’s surface. He couldn’t see any disturbance at all. No shifted dirt, no bent or broken branches, no movement at all, except for the slight ripples that played out across the lake from the wind, sending shimmering sunlight dancing on the lake surface.

His guide must have been satisfied as well, because she walked down to the lake and, dropping the piece of denim from her mouth, began to drink. Following close behind, he lay down next to the wolf and drank the frigid water. As the cold liquid flowed down his hot throat, he was chilled and had to grip his neck to try to warm it up again. He gasped and sputtered as the frigid temperature of the water found its way painfully into his stomach. He could almost hear the water splash down into his empty gut.

The she-wolf continued to lap up water from the lake. As he lowered himself back down to the lake, he took smaller sips and the frigid water was definitely easier to handle in smaller doses. The water chilled him to the core and even though he had been running all morning, even the heat of the rising sun was not able to keep him warm. That was good because he knew he was not going to get to rest anytime soon, they still had such a long way to go.

Having satisfied their thirst, the she-wolf turned away and began walking around toward the southern side of the lake. This did not go unnoticed. They had run or trotted everywhere since they left his valley and now, they were walking. He wasn’t upset at this new slower pace but his mind began to think something was wrong. The wolf seemed ok. She wasn’t walking with a limp and there was no visible injury. If anything, the cool lake water had rejuvenated both him and her. She was walking with more of a spring in her step and she was almost bouncing over the terrain. But they walked. He hadn’t argued with her so far and he was not about to start now. Besides his stomach would not be satisfied with only water for very long and he knew that even though he felt ok he couldn’t keep running without food.

They made their way cautiously around to the south side of the lake staying deep within the shadows of the trees. They had to walk around various boulders and underbrush. They had to climb up steep inclines instead of risking straying too close to the water. Even walking he was soon sweating again with this different kind of exertion. No wonder we’re walking. The lake wasn’t very big, but the sun was already high in the sky by the time they reached the southern side of it.

Here there was a nice clearing. Better stated, it was a less densely populated area of trees. The sun filtered through here nicely and he was reminded of those manicured campgrounds that he had often camped at with his family so long ago. He mentally pointed out where the cast iron grill would have gone. Over to his right should have been a concrete slab for RVs and the connecting outlets of power water and sewage. Tents would have been scattered around in domes of bright green and orange. There would have been a heavy wooden camping table next to the grill. And the bathrooms would have been off somewhere with a wide gravel road leading to it from the campsite. He found himself sneering at the mental imagery. People ‘camped’ to ‘get away from it all’. What they were really doing was telling themselves that they were ‘roughing’ it and that they were still men with ties to their ancestors who had to live that way because they didn’t have air-conditioned apartments and two-story homes to live in a few hundred years ago.

He wiped the mental image from his mind. The wolf had gone to lay down in the shade of a tree. She had dropped the piece of denim from her mouth and was half laying on it as she rested her head on her folded forelegs. As he walked over to her, she lifted her eye brown watching him approach. He sat down and rested his back against the large tree trunk and let his eyes close. He couldn’t feel the wind anymore but the shade of the tree was enough to keep him cool and safe from the sunlight. He rested his arms down at his sides and felt the soft dirt and pine needles that he was now sitting on. He smiled at the feel of earth. Moss covered rock was soft enough, but it wasn’t earth and he was glad to be off rock for the time being.

He opened his eyes and looked over at his guide. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing evenly. She had fallen asleep. That was ok. He was sure that she had gotten less rest in the past few days than he had. He gently raised himself up from his spot on the ground careful to not make any sound or disturbance so as not to wake his sleeping companion. He tiptoed away from the sleeping wolf and went off into the forest.

He had to get something to eat. He walked off toward the lake again and started hunting for fruit bearing bushes or roots, anything that was edible and wouldn’t make him puke. He was pretty sure he couldn’t afford to puke up anything right now. Nor could he afford to get sick at all. He looked for the signs that would tell him of food. He eventually found some wild berries and a small patch of Miners Lettuce. He gathered the lettuce and picking one berry from the bush he rubbed the juices of the berry on his arm. He couldn’t identify the berries and he had to check to see if the berry was toxic. He scratched where the berry juice was wiped on his skin to see if he was allergic to the berry or not.