Page 5 of Entangled in the Woods
Jenny, Leo, and I raised our glasses and then drank the second shot. This one went down easier as the warmth spread to my extremities.
It was fun talking with my new roommates. The tequila loosened our lips, and we got to know each other quickly. Leo was from Canada, as Jenny had thought, and was studying water ecosystems. It seemed like he had quite a few articles already published. He was starting a research project involving the freshwater amphibians that lived here. Although she never said it, I deduced from stories of her upbringing that Jenny had lived a very comfortable life. Her interest in wolves stemmed from her family’s frequent ski trips to Canada when she’d been growing up.
Leo and Jenny grew even more comfortable with each other, and they found themselves cuddled up on the couch together at the end of the night. After one too many shots, I said good night to the lovebirds and found my way to my room. Closing the door, I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep on top of the covers, still fully dressed.
CHAPTER FOUR
The smellof bacon hit my nose as I rolled over onto my back. The taste of tequila was still on my tongue. Grumbling, I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the shared bathroom to brush my teeth. After cleaning every surface to get rid of the taste of liquor, I made my way into the kitchen to find Leo hard at work making breakfast.
“Wow, did you get lucky last night, or are we just lucky to have you?” I asked as I made my way to the cabinet. Grabbing a plate, I dished up the eggs and bacon that Leo had spent the morning cooking.
“Nothing happened!” Jenny chirped from the kitchen table, already enjoying her breakfast.
“Then I guess we’re just lucky to have you.” I thanked Leo as he finished got himself a plate as well. The food was delicious, and I gobbled it down, hoping it would help my stomach.
“We have to soak up the tequila somehow,” Leo joked with a mouthful of food. “Professor Robinson is coming by the cabin later this morning to check in on us.”
I groaned at the reminder of our lead professor’s visit. Each of us had a professor that we were working under, but Professor Robinson was the closest to the cabin and had volunteered tosupervise us and help us as needed with each of our projects. Based on the emails we had already exchanged, he sounded like a hard-ass that let nothing slide.
I needed to get my life together before the professor arrived. There were a couple of hours before he would be here, and I wanted to be a little more alert. Jenny offered to take care of cleanup this morning, so I made my way down the hall and found a sports bra and running shorts. After changing quickly, I tied up my long brown hair into a bun.
My shoes had taken up most of the space when I’d packed. It might’ve seemed silly to have so many shoes, especially when they all looked the similar, but they weren’t the same. There were shoes for walking, running, trail running, and speed work. With as much as I ran, the shoes were on constant rotation. The blue trail-running shoes were my choice today.
There were several miles of trails around the cabin that would be good for running. Worn down by the previous students, some trails were wide enough to fit an ATV. Walking back through the house and out the front door, I yelled to Leo and Jenny—who were busy at the sink washing dishes and bumping elbows—that I was going for a run. I got a distracted reply as the front door screen slammed and I walked onto the porch.
The dew that dusted the foliage was still present, making my shoes glisten as I walked down the drive. Birds called in the distance, having already been up long before me. I reached up and stretched my arms, jumping in place for a minute to warm up my body. I had researched the trail system around the cabin before arriving and easily found the trailhead about a hundred feet away and started jogging.
The woods were truly beautiful in this area. Wild and free to grow as they please, plants wove through the tall trees thatprovided shade over the trail. Tiny wildflowers littered the sides of the path, their perfume hitting my nose as I breathed deeper.
After about a mile, my muscles loosened and my breathing became more regular. I had entered my favorite state of running, where I could finally turn off my mind and flow through the movements. My even footfalls became a metronome in my mind—left, right; left, right—and I entered the meditative trance that made running so addictive to me.
Left, right.
Left, right.
Left, right.
A breeze flowed over my face, cooling my forehead that had beads of perspiration forming on it.
Crack!
Just like that, I was pulled out of my trance. I glanced around my shoulder, finding nothing of suspicion. An acorn had fallen behind me, maybe.
Continuing, I came to a fork in the trail and followed the right path, making a mental note to explore the left path another time. The trail was a little rockier, and I had to watch my footsteps a little more carefully. A flash of gray entered my peripheral vision, and I swung my head to the right, but there was nothing there. How much tequila had I drunk last night? Shaking my head, I slowed my jog to a walk and began scanning the surrounding area, my breaths heavy.
There were wolves in these woods—Jenny was here to study them. I hadn’t had a chance to ask her if she knew where any were located yet, and while I’d once read up on what to do if you encountered a wolf in the woods, of course right now I’d completely forgotten anything I’d learned. The rocks on the trail were getting larger and more difficult to walk on without accidentally rolling my ankle. My eyes went from scanning my surroundings to having to watch each step so I wouldn’t fall andinjure myself. Could wolves smell blood? I didn’t want to fall and find out.
“Hey!”
At the sudden voice, I spun around quickly. My foot landed on the rounded rock in front of me and skidded off the side, causing me to lose my balance and fall. A small yelp left my lips as I landed on my butt.
“Hey, are you okay?” the voice, deep and male, asked.
I glanced up from my position on the ground, taking a mental account of all my body parts. Other than the bruise that was surely forming on my butt, I was fine. Luckily I hadn’t rolled my ankle or cut up my hands in the fall. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see six feet of a man was coming my way.
“That was some fall,” he said.
“I’m fine.” I brushed off the dirt on my hands and attempted to stand, trying to find my footing among all the rocks.
