This story will take quite a few twists from my normal style, hope you enjoy this experimental piece.
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1
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It was a calm, cool night and Mark decided to spend it inside his living room. He was comfortably reclined on an old fabric couch. He sat and watched television. He usually did when he couldn't conjure up anything else in his mind.
This night he resorted to watching science specials. Most normal people avoid programs like these, but Mark was one of the few who loved them.
The full moon illuminated through the window a faint outline of the sill. Outside, his mountain cabin was surrounded by miles of woods in every direction. He was fairly remote, and loved every bit of it. Areas with large amounts of people irritated him.
Just then, the program cut out. The channel was replaced with the text: "Please stand by."
"Well that sucks."
He changed the channel to see if anything else would catch his interest. Again, he saw a standby screen. The provider must be out, he thought.
Mark lived quite a fair distance from the city, but he shared the same power and services with the urbs.
"Whatever," he said as he turned it off and placed the remote back on the coffee table. Pushing himself up with the aid of the chair's armrests, he stood up and stretched.
Since the television was worthless, he at least wanted some connection to the outside world for the latter half of the night. He remembered an old radio he kept in the garage and decide to go for it. He could listen to music at least.
Searching a cluttered garage for something he hadn't used in years wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Five minutes passed before his eyes fell on something familiar.
"There's that old piece of crap," he said lifting it up and finding his way back inside.
Once he had replaced the old batteries and got comfortable on the couch, he flicked it on.
Kxchshhhhhh!
"Whoa." He slowly turned the dial.
Classical music... definitely not, he thought. Commercials, no.
Just as he tilted the dial a little more, the speaker came to life.
"-get out of here now!"
"If anyone can hear this broadcast right now, stay away from downtown. There is something going on."
"They're all screaming-"
"Oh my God-"
"-what the fuck is that?"
"It's a..."
"A wolf."
"It's huge!"
"People, if you're hearing this, get out of the city now. Stay away."
"-way too many screams to make out anything else."
"We need to get the hell out of here."
"-there's more than one!"
"They're killing everyone, they're just killing for the fuck of it!"
"Everyone evacuate the city be-"
Kcsssshhhhhhhhhhh!
Static blared and the power shut off, leaving Mark with a worthless radio and no light.
Half of him wanted to see for himself, the other half wanted to curl up and hide under his couch. The former of the two was victorious as he got up and walked to the back porch. He slid the door open and stepped into the crisp night.
Nothing outside stirred. Not the wind nor any creatures were making any noise. It was dead still, and dead silent. Where the town usually lit up the valley floor with thousands of tiny lights now lay as a patch of darkness.
A void, Mark thought.
A slight breeze began to blow and with it came the slightest sound of screams and panic. It made Mark's heart lurch after hearing that radio broadcast.
"It's true," he whispered to himself, "People are dying right now."
Mark truly didn't know what to do but wait until morning. He walked inside and laid back on his chair. Thousands of thoughts went on inside his mind. He wondered if whatever was in the city would come up to the mounains. His heart leaped with the thought, so he dismissed it for now. He simply waited on his chair, not wanting to jump to any more conclusions. When no more disruptions entered his mind, he didn't find it very difficult to eventually fall asleep.
2
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The sun rising over the mountains cast bright beams of light through the cabin window and into Marks eyes. He sat up in the chair and looked around. Everything seemed normal inside the cabin. Soon enough, he remembered the night before and shot out of his seat.
Reaching the door to the porch, he slid it open and swung himself outside.
"Holy shit," he gaped, slowly walking towards the rail.
The city at the bottom of the valley was in ruins. A massive smoke cloud rose from every corner of what seemed to be the crater that was left.
Mark was now scared that whatever hit the city would now be out for him.
A split second decision had him inside packing personal belongings and a few clothes. He flew to the kitchen next, packing only canned foods. To the garage he gathered some camping equipment. He grabbed his keys and went for the door. He figured he would have to take more than one trip, so he dropped all the bags on the foyer and took the one on his back outside.
When he opened the door he instantly fell backward.
"S-s-shit!"
He knew it was over. He hadn't even the chance to walk out the door on his grand escape before being caught. His mind had a very difficult time processing what he was seeing.
A wolf, white as snow, standing on two legs was waiting at the end of his driveway, watching him.
It was definitely a she, he thought. He noticed she wore a bra as well as a loincloth and extra hair flowed between her upright ears. He decided whatever she is, she must have been at least two hundred feet tall.
The white wolf actually stood at two hundred and five.
Mark wouldn't have given a damn at the moment she took a step covering half the driveway's length.
"Oh God," he breathed as he failed to get back up and instead crawled on his back, not losing eye contact with the wolf.
She took another step, and reached him. Pulling her lagging leg forward, she stood at ease, just staring at him. Mark couldn't move; he just remained on the ground of his front door, marvelling at the sheer size of the beast.
Well, she's not really a beast, he thought, she's actually quite attractive. For a wolf. She's like, a goddess or something.
It wasn't until she bent down and extended a paw for him did he have second thoughts about her being a goddess. She took hold of him tightly and pulled him up to her eye level. The speed at which she did so was enough to make Mark want to vomit.
She brought him up to her eyes, and to Mark, they looked like giant glass marbles. She scrutinized him for what Mark thought was eternity.
She seemed to have seen enough as she pulled him away and brought him closer to the end of her muzzle.
"Oh God."
He was inches from her nose and could feel her warmth as well as smell her breath.
She's making sure I'm safe to eat, he thought.
Just then Mark remembered the knife he carried in his pocket.
He knew it wouldn't do much damage, but he didn't want to go down without a fight. He tried for it, but the white wolf's grip was too much. He was held fast as she continued to sniff him.
She loosened her grip and opened her maw. This gave Mark just enough time to grab his knife, flick it open, and jab it into the wolf's lip. He dragged it as far and as deep as he could.
"Yip!"
Her blood poured from the gash onto Mark below. She quickly pulled him away from her muzzle and held him out in front of her as she licked the tiny wound clean.
That's it, Mark thought, she's definitely going to kill me now. She tightened her grip and narrowed her eyes. Mark's breath was squeezed from his lungs. He was brought closer to her muzzle again and he lifted his knife, prepared to attack.
The white wolf saw him do this and let out a deep chukle which shook Mark inside-out.
"Don't worry little buddy," she spoke, "Someone as yourself doesn't belong in my stomach."
Mark didn't move a single bone. He was simply too shocked at her comment.
"What's the matter guy? Don't you speak?"
Mark couldn't think of anything to say. He wasn't much for conversations with giant wolves.
"Uh, I uh," he started but realized how idiotic he sounded, "Why aren't you going to eat me?"
"You really seem to want to live," she replied, "Others I've met only run in circles, scream, cry, or just go nuts. Not many put up a fight in the face of death."
Mark wanted to give her a lesson right there on being humane but knew it wasn't his place.
"Really, there's absolutely nothing you can do right now, but you are burning inside. You're burning a fire I can't put out. So why try?"
Mark didn't know whether to take her seriously or not. She had probably mindlessly killed hundreds of people and here she is sparing someone who sliced her lip.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"About what?"
"About you not killing me."
"Yes. I wouldn't have to trick you. I think my size gets me what I want quite efficiently."
He gulped and nodded. Strange as it was to Mark, he sensed something about the white wolf that warmed him. He didn't want to believe it.
"My name's Mark."
The wolf cocked her head at him.
"I'm Carah," she replied and lowered to her knee to set him down.
She stepped back, then turned to walk off. Mark shuddered at the strange encounter and the fact that she obliterated his driveway with her step as she quickly receded.
"Wait!" Mark found himself shout. Shortly after, he regretted this act of impulse.
Carah stopped and slowly turned her head to him.
"You want to come with me," she said, looking at him left alone in his driveway. He didn't make a move towards her, nodded his head, or make a sign.
"Trust me, you do not want to witness what I can do. You're alive only because I wanted. Remember that." She turned her head back forward and strode off.
Mark was left in the wake of the she wolf feeling hundreds of times smaller and insignificant. Watching that white beast walk away to tend to more important matters slashed his ego.
His sense also seemed to be affected as he grabbed keys from his pocket and went for his car. He jumped in and started the engine, completely ignoring the bags he packed and left on his porch.
The car swerved back and forth to avoid deep prints left by the wolf's paws. He was in hot pursuit and gunned the engine when he reached the mountain road. The wolf didn't need roads to travel, she simply walked the terrain, whatever it brought. Mark was restricted to roads running parallel to her path. He was very grateful to his knowledge of the area.
He pushed the car as fast as possible, but the windy mountain roads slowed him immensely and soon the wolf disappeared beneath the timberline. His only hope would be to get off the mountain. He turned onto the one road that could take him down in under ten minutes. It was also the same road that would lead him to a city at the bottom of the valley.
All the while he drove down the mountain, he hadn't seen a single other driver. This didn't make him think twice about his pursuit. The roar of the car's engine reached for miles in every direction.
Taking the nearest entrance ramp, he soon was on the interstate. This is where he started seeing others. Hundreds of people were traveling southbound. Some were driving, most were on foot. Mark had to slow down and keep right to avoid crowds of oncoming people congesting both sides of the road. He kept a steady speed until the crowd began to die down and become a small blob in his rearview mirror. He took his eyes back to the road in front of him to see a massive, white paw descend directly in front of him.
"Shit!" he yelled jerking the wheel to the left. The car flipped out of control and passed the median striking a man distracted by the wolf. The car grinded to a stop on it's roof on the southbound pass. Mark was shaken from the wreck and struggled to pull off his belt as the sound of hundreds of panicking survivors filled the air. He crawled from the damage unscathed and brushed himself off.
He turned around and looked up to see a familiar form.
"Carah," he whispered, "What are you doing?"
She continued to walk away from him, heading towards the crowds of people he passed just moments ago. When she reached them, it was not what Mark wanted to see.
Step after earth-shattering step, she crushed the lives from anyone in her way. She would reach down and grab groups of people to swallow them alive. She didn't seem to care that entire families of evacuees fell under her step. Mark even noticed that some people weren't stomped completely. Only half their bodies would get caught under her paw, resulting in the other half to split open from the pressure.
Mark lurched from the sight and turned around, unable to watch any longer.
Carah was right, he didn't want to witness what she could do. In sense of pointless murder at least, he thought.
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