Page 53 of A Wolf's Wound
“What?”
“I don’t know if I trust Ryder.”
“Why not?Has he lied to you about something?”
“I don’t think so, but I get the feeling he knows more about what’s going on than he’s telling me.”
April wrinkles her brow in a puzzled frown.“Why do you think that?”
“No real reason, I guess.Just a hunch.”
“You do have good instincts,” April says.“I mean, look at how awesome your roommate is.”
“Indeed.”I grin back at her.“Although I do wish I had something more definite to go on here than just a feeling.”
“It’s better than nothing, and I say you trust it,” April advises.“It could be that whatever Ryder’s keeping from you is no big deal.But the fact that he is keeping something from youisa big deal.You know?”
“Exactly!But trying to get him to see that perspective is a fucking waste of breath.It’s so annoying.”
“You want my advice?”
“Desperately.”
April stands up.“Forget about Ryder, at least for tonight.You’re not going to figure anything out when you’re this worked up, anyway.”She goes into the kitchen and comes back with a bottle of wine and two glasses.“I vote girls’ night!”
“Yes, please!”I pick up the remote.“Any movie preferences?If you say romance I’m moving out,” I warn her as Shadow jumps into my lap.
“Nothing too sad,” she says, uncorking the wine.We settle on an action movie and kill the first bottle of wine by the time the movie’s halfway through.I get a second bottle, and as the credits roll, we decide to order in food and cue up the movie’s even worse sequel.
By the time that movie’s almost done, we’re done with our third bottle of wine.The debris of our night is spread out over the coffee table: half-empty takeout containers, the wine bottles, crumpled-up napkins.April’s fallen asleep on her end of the couch and I’m only half-watching the movie, my eyes closing in longer and longer blinks.Shadow’s snoring on the floor.
Then there’s a loud banging on the door.Shadow jumps up and into my arms.I’ve bolted straight up, my heart suddenly racing.April sits up, too, and looks around, confused.
“It’s probably just Ryder,” I tell them, but then the banging begins again.It’s frenzied and strong, and April and I look at each other.“It’s not Ryder.”
She shakes her head.“Hannah, this is freaking me out,” April hisses.
“Me too,” I agree.“I locked the door, though.”
“Good,” April says, just as we hear the wooden door begin to splinter.We both leap off the couch but then immediately freeze, not sure what to do next.
“Call someone!”I tell April, throwing her my phone.“Go into the bathroom and lock the door.”
“Come with me!”April begs as the door continues to shatter.We can see chunks of light from the hallway streaming through the cracks.
“Not until I know who this is,” I tell her.“Go!”
April runs toward the back of the apartment.I watch her go and then turn back to the door.With a terrifyingly loud crash, the door shatters into pieces, and a large, wolflike creature enters my home.
“What do you want?”I yell, trying to sound louder and braver than I actually feel.
The creature doesn’t say anything.It just advances toward me.Its eyes are wide and bloodshot, and it is breathing heavily.I recoil as a plume of foul breath tickles my nostrils.
I’m aware of Shadow winding himself around my legs.I try to shake him off, push him in the direction of the bathroom and April, but he’s stubbornly hanging on.Together we back up one step followed by another and another, until I’ve backed into the couch and can’t move.
The creature has been coming toward me this whole time, still silent and panting.“Get back!”I yell, to no avail.
Then Shadow launches himself straight at the creature’s face, teeth bared and claws extended.With one hard swipe the creature knocks my little raccoon to the ground.
