Walking Wolf Road (Wolf Road Chronicles Book 1) by Brandon M. Herbert

Author:Brandon M. Herbert [Herbert, Brandon M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wolfgate Productions
Published: 2011-12-25T08:00:00+00:00

The pounding ache in my head registered even before I woke up. I cracked my eyes, and tried to pull the blurry vertical line of the ground into focus. Half my face was on fire; the other half was almost completely numb. I pushed myself up and lifted my hands to the sides of my face, but stopped when I saw they were red… and sticky… A fluttering sound drew my eyes up to the edge of the building, where a large black raven watched me. I nodded at Corwin in response to his eerily human-sounding call, and he faded from sight.

I looked back down to my hands, and swallowed down bile.

What did I do…?

I looked around, and aside from a few splotches of blood and the pool where I was lying; there was no sign anything happened, nothing but my backpack lying about ten feet away. No bodies, no sign of Jack or Malcolm… and no sign of Jacob.

Where was… oh God! Please let him be home!

Near shock, I staggered over and grabbed my bag. My vision distorted as I stumbled the familiar route to my house on autopilot. I crashed through the front door and let my bag slide off my shoulder. My mind focused on only one thing.

“Jacob…” my voice broke, “Jake!”

“We’re in the kitchen!” Mom yelled.

I almost fell, and caught myself on the door jamb as I turned toward her voice. I grabbed the doorway as I entered the kitchen to keep myself upright, and despite everything, one thing stood crystal clear. The absolute horror on Jacob’s face as he looked at me and recoiled, my stomach clenched and I thought I would throw up right there on the floor.

What did I do? Please God, don’t let him hate me; I don’t think I could take that. I could survive losing anybody but him…

The room blurred, and before I knew it, I was on the floor and my mother’s face swam in my vision. Time distorted, and I felt something warm touch my face. It took me a moment to realize it was a wet washcloth in my mother’s hand, scrubbing something that looked like rust off my face. She spoke in a steady stream, and I couldn’t understand her words at first, but it didn’t matter. Just the sound of her voice was comforting. I looked up and saw Jake, but after meeting my eyes, he jumped down from his chair and ran from the room.

Sensation slowly returned to the numb side of my face as my mother’s scrubbing woke a fierce burn in my forehead. I gradually recognized her words.

“—Swelling up pretty good. You’ll probably have a purple cheek for Christmas, and you’ve got a nasty gash on your forehead here…” She prodded the area with her fingers and I winced. Once my words worked again, I managed to croak out a question.

“Is Jake all right?”

“He’s pretty shook up, but he wasn’t hurt too bad. He won’t need stitches, but he’ll have a fat lip for a while.

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