Back To You

Chapter 5

Aidan went in search of Hailey, having a rough idea of the area she was planning to explore. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, he found her pickup truck parked by the side of the road. At a touch of his palm, heat still emanated from the bonnet. She hadn't been here long. The surrounding ground was soft enough for Hailey to leave footprints leading from the truck into the nearby woods.

'Oh boy. She's already headed in.' Unlike his brother, Aidan wasn't much of an outdoorsy type. The bugs alone were a turnoff.

He continued staring at the ground, his eyes retracing the shallow footprints from the pickup all the way into the woods, where they disappeared behind the trees. A sense of resignation washed over him as he steeled himself to follow her. "The things I do for friendship," he muttered dramatically, placing his friend's backpack into the back of her truck before moving from the edge of the road into the forest.

Immediately upon entry, what little available sunlight was halved by the shadows of the trees. He followed the light thread of Hailey's hiking shoes as best he could, grumbling at the fact that his friend was never one to walk in a straight line, even while on a clear path. Instead, her trajectory was all over the place as she seemed to veer off at random points to study the different flora and fauna in the area.

As expected, Aidan tripped on a tree root hidden beneath some dead leaves, nearly falling flat on his face. Straightening up, he was about to release a handful of curses out loud when suddenly, he heard the rustle of dry leaves and the snapping of underbrush as something swiftly headed towards him. He barely had time to process what was happening when Hailey burst into his path, smashing headfirst into his chest and prompting a collective "Ow!" from the both of them.

"Hailey—" Aidan began but was cut off by the urgency in her unnaturally high-pitched voice. "Aidan, you were right! There's a big animal thing in the woods, no time to explain, but we gotta go!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him back the way he came, running as fast as possible without getting them entangled in the surrounding low-lying branches and thorny bushes.

Aidan already knew what predatory creature stalked them, with the tiny, logical part of his otherwise freaking out mind telling him they had no chance in hell of outrunning a supernatural creature. It clashed with the desperate part of him, the part heavily in denial that screamed, 'The truck is nearby, we're almost there, we can make it!' They hadn't made it twenty steps before the werewolf jumped out in front of a screaming Hailey, having cleverly circled around to get ahead of them. In a flash of bravery, Aidan moved in front of Hailey, trying to shield her as best he could from the golden-furred creature.

"Please, don't hurt her," he frantically tried pleading. A very unrealistic thought overtook his rationale but he was desperate enough to entertain it. Maybe it would let her go if he offered himself up instead? This made him say, "Do whatever you want to me, but she's innocent and doesn't know anything, so please let her go."

"I don't think reasoning with a wild animal is going to work," Hailey hissed while clutching his arm so tightly he could feel the blood circulation cut off at the pads of his fingertips.

But to Aidan and Hailey's astonishment, the creature suddenly lay down and rolled onto its back, staring upside down at them with its tongue lolling about and its fluffy tail swiping back and forth like a windshield wiper set on high. From where he stood, Aidan could make out a belted pouch running around the werewolf's belly. The werewolf almost looked like an overjoyed golden retriever if it weren't for the two rows of deadly-looking teeth. 'A friendly werewolf, now how oxymoronic is that?' Aidan's sarcastic sense of humour was running at warp speed even in the face of danger, with his fear as the driving force.