Hear the Wolves by Victoria Scott

Author:Victoria Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Pilot wakes up, shivering so hard it looks as if he’s shaking his head no. If I were the girl I was before I got lost in the woods, maybe I’d hold his hand and say that I was only ever angry with him because he reminds me of what a coward I am. Because out there all alone, with my left ear pressed into the snow, I was empty. I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t angry. I was just done.

I’d spent the first three days searching for town, humiliated that I ever believed I could find the river on my own. Or that my mother would return if I did.

It was the fifth day that I gave up.

When I first heard Pilot’s voice it sounded so distant I was terrified he’d slip away. But I didn’t move. Even as hope burst through every cell in my body. I lay there, numb and dumb and crying so hard my body shook as Pilot’s does now.

I wanted him to find me.

And I didn’t.

Pilot scoots toward me. When I don’t say anything, he takes it as an invitation and moves so that we’re side by side, my good ear facing his cheek. Our arms press together, and he begins to calm. But after only a few minutes of silence, a noise startles me. It’s a light crunching sound. A shuffling between bushes. The hair on my arms rises.

“Did you hear that?” I ask Pilot.

He nods.

We hold our breath and my scalp tingles, waiting to see what made that sound. It comes again, faster. The sound of light footsteps. Of webbed paws.

I see them before Pilot does.

Those eyes.

Those eyes staring at us from behind a wall of darkness. There are no growls or barks or excited yips. Wolves are not dogs. They are quiet, patient. They creep silently—noses low—upon their prey. Just as they have done to us now.

Pilot races toward a set of eyes and swings our torch in their direction. “Get back! Get out of here!”

Almost immediately, the rest of our camp is on their feet. Elton screams and Mr. Foster nearly falls into the fire and Nash demands to know why everyone is carrying on. I’ve got my father’s gun poised before another word can leave another mouth.

Three bullets left in this gun.

Three in the other.

Is it worth it?

Yes.

Pilot swings the torch, yelling and stomping his feet. The wolves back away, but they don’t flee. We’re too exposed out here. The smell of blood on Ms. Wade is too strong. I take aim at the closest pair of eyes, and step toward them.

I breathe in. Breathe out.

Fire.

I missed! I can’t believe it. The eyes dashed out of view the moment before that third-to-last bullet whizzed from my father’s gun. Doesn’t matter. Those yellow eyes wink out, two at a time, until none remain. No one speaks for a long time. We turn in nervous circles, breathing hard, waiting for a wolf to lunge, though it goes against anything we’ve ever known about them.

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