Wolves and Men

This thought gave him some comfort. This helicopter must not be looking for him. It could just be a news helicopter or a weather or traffic helicopter. It could be an airlift helicopter coming to pick up some poor hiker that had broken his legs. He breathed a little easier. This helicopter probably wasn’t looking for him and he allowed himself to slow down. There couldn’t be any danger because the thing wasn’t searching for anything. He heaved a deep sigh of relief and slowed down to a good cross-country pace. The wolf was still darting in and out trees.

He was confused by her panicked speed. She was an animal after all, and she hadn’t slowed down at all. He soon lost her in the underbrush of the forest as the helicopter continued to grow louder. He pulled himself to a stop. He rested his hands on his knees and looked around almost helpless. Why had the wolf just taken off like that? She had to know that he was only human, and he couldn’t possibly hope to keep the full sprint pace that she was setting.

As he walked off after his guide the helicopter sound was extremely loud. The thing must be close to the ground. That couldn’t be normal. All at once the fear that had gripped him at the creek flooded back into him. He had to hide. He was frozen on the spot looking for a good place to do so. His body couldn’t move it just rotated in place as his eyes tried to find what he was looking for. As he was twisting around a large force plowed into him lifting him off his feet and into a nearby bush.

His instincts took over then and he reached for his knife. The black and white she-wolf was standing over him with her snout very close to his nose. She didn’t look happy, and he didn’t move. Her legs were straddling his body, but she was resting her weight on his chest.

He tried to look up and around her, but her body obstructed his view. Her head was pointed towards the noise of the helicopter. She was looking at it through the branches and leaves of the bush that she had pushed him into. He looked up and over the wolf’s head and he saw the helicopter. It was definitely not a news or traffic helicopter. In fact, it looked like a helicopter from that movie he saw a while ago it was called, some kind of bird down. His eyes narrowed as he studied the black helicopter in the sky. Blackhawk Down that was the name of the movie. Was that a black hawk? From what he remembered from the movie it looked very similar. What is a Black Hawk doing out here? Deep down he knew that this military helicopter could only be out here for one reason, him.

He pulled his head under the she-wolf’s body as much as he could while tucking his legs up under the bush. He tried to make himself as small as possible and not for the first time his was grateful for his skins. They would serve to camouflage him. What could be more natural in a forest than a wolf standing guard over her kill from others that would take away her hard work?

He smiled slightly at the animal that was standing over him. She had never let him down and she had never abandoned him either. The helicopter passed over head without hesitation or slowing down. He stayed under the protective warmth and cover of his guide till the noisy helicopter had dissipated, signaling that it had traveled a sufficient distance north of them.

The wolf stayed very rigid and ready; every sense was straining to detect anything that might be abnormal. Once the sound of the helicopter had faded the wolf slowly removed herself from his body and let him stand up. He looked at his guide and marveled at her. She had led them into the forest yesterday morning. If they had been out on the open rock of the mountain they would have been found and he was pretty sure that neither himself nor his guide could out run a helicopter. Had she known that this helicopter was coming? Or had she simply known that it was going to rain yesterday and she led them to a place where they could travel and find shelter when they needed to? Not for the first time he found himself thinking that there was more to this particular wolf than he had first imagined.

She turned eastward and took off at a run. He followed her. Their pace was not a full out sprint and even though his breathing became deep and heavy he could still make out the mechanical sounds of the helicopter off in the distance. The wolf was careful to stay close to the trees and he scraped his legs against tree bark and bushes as he attempted to follow directly her line of travel.

After some time, he couldn’t hear the sound of the helicopter anymore. He knew that even though he couldn’t, his guide still could and she was pushing them faster and faster to the east back toward the open rock that they had been traveling on before they had entered this forest. What is she thinking? If the helicopter turned around, they would be sitting ducks out there on the open rock. It couldn’t be helped though as the wolf was running in an unwavering line east.

He had trusted in her and she had probably just saved him from capture. She did know what she was doing. She was not just a stupid instinctive animal. She was intelligent and she had kept him alive and safe so far on their journey. He had nothing else to do but shut off his overly logical mind and just follow the she-wolf. For better or for worse she was the leader and he found that he did trust her. Imagine, a human being placing his trust in an animal. This wasn’t just any animal she was a wolf, protector and predator. And right now, she was all he had.