Wolves among men by penelope sweet Page A

looking up
and continued her story, “There were six of them, maybe seven and I
thought it was safe there so I walked toward them. They were joking
and laughing,” She smiled slightly. “And they were eating
something. They had plenty left so I thought I’d ask if I could
join them. I was so hungry...” She trailed off as a soft stream of
tears began to fall down her cheeks. “One of them looked up at me
and he invited me over.”
     
    “ What did he look like?”
Robert asked softly.
     
    She looked up at him, her face stained
with fear and her lip quivered as she spoke, “He was tall, bigger
than the rest with dark hair and yellow eyes. I thought it was
strange and something in me told me not to go but he knew my name
and he was so nice....” She looked down and shook her head as she
reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes. “I sat next to him and
they went back to their conversation like I wasn’t even there. Then
he handed me something and told me to eat.”
     
    “ What was it?” I looked
over at Robert, I was a little more than curious why he had so many
questions but more than that I wanted to know what she saw. She
looked up at him and her face went white.
     
    “ At first I didn’t know
but then I saw the little boy that was roasting over the fire,” She
burst into tears as she spoke, making her hard to understand as her
body shook with violent sobs. “He was just a kid and his face-” She
shook her head. I pulled myself up on the couch and threw my arm
over her shoulder, pulling her tight as she took a deep breath and
continued her story, “He was looking right at me, screaming but
there was no sound. He was torn open and when I looked around I saw
that he wasn’t the only one. There were tents behind me torn open
and stained with blood, the people that were in them were ripped
apart and scattered over the ground.”
     
    She stopped and closed her eyes,
taking a deep breath before she continued, “I threw the plate into
the fire and turned to run but I tripped and fell into that man,
the one with the yellow eyes except he wasn’t a man anymore.” She
looked toward me, her face eerily calm and her voice sure as she
spoke, “He was like you.” My stomach dropped as she looked down.
“He was black, like the man at the diner and I fought to get away
from him but I think he just let me go. The others, they started to
walk toward me and the closer they got the less human they were.
One of them grabbed me and started dragging me toward the fire and
I called for you.” She turned to me as she began to cry once again.
“I screamed and screamed but you didn’t come.” She wiped the tears
from her face and took a deep breath as she leaned back against the
couch and pulled her knees into her chest. “That’s when I woke
up.”
     
    “ It was just a nightmare,”
I tried to assure her.
     
    “ I know.” She held her
hand up to stop me. “I know, Ethan, just please let me forget it.”
We sat in silence. I wanted her to know it was okay but somehow I
couldn’t bring myself to speak as she stared down at her fingers
absently. The phone rang and I nearly jumped from my seat as the
sound bounced off of the walls and broke our silence. Robert patted
her knee gently as he stood and quieted its incessant
ringing.
     
    “ Marcus?” he began. My
eyes never left Cordillia as he spoke quietly into the phone,
stopping every so often to simply listen. “My son is coming with
your truck.” I looked up quickly, confused as Robert stood over me
with a smile. I hadn’t heard him hang up the phone let alone walk
over to me but I shook it off and nodded at him as he moved to take
his seat once again.
     
    “ Some of my friends and
family will be coming here tonight. Do you remember the way from
town?” he asked as he adjusted himself.
     
    “ I think so.” I
smirked.
     
    “ That’s okay, Marcus can
show you.” He smiled over at me. “I’ll have him show you where to
get cleaned up and rest.