Weeks pass, and I nevercome across another tribe. It seems I truly am the last hominid on earth.
But I refuse to believe that. There have to be other humans. Others who look like me.
I buried my son at the base of a tree. Now his body will nurture its roots for years to come. At least he had a peaceful death, unlike my husband. Memories of his terror-stricken face as the wolves took his life rush through my mind, and I push them away.
I swear. I will kill them all. Every last one of those wolves.
There’s only room for one apex predator in these woods. Me...
As I enter a snow-lit clearing, wrapped up in the snug pelt of the alpha wolf that I killed, I freeze. A lone she-wolf watches me through the trees, and I grip my fingers around my flint knife.
She’s as white as the snow that surrounds us, a perfect guise for a horrific beast. She studies me with a bright pair of amber eyes, and it’s yellow against onyx.
My eyes are as black as jewels, and my skin as tan as the earth beneath my feet. Those were the typical features of my tribe, but I was always considered beautiful by the men.
But my beauty pales in comparison to this she-wolf—if I ever had any beauty to begin with. She has silver markings in her bright white fur, and it’s like glimpsing the moon.
My eyes fall to her belly. Her teats are swollen. That must mean she has recently given birth to a litter of pups.
I grip the handle of my weapon.
I can’t let them breed. Not those vile monsters that killed my tribe. Once I slaughter this she-wolf and her pups, I will have fewer wolves to worry about.
Just why is she watching me? She is not vicious like the other wolves. She’s relaxed, her ears perked upright as she considers me curiously.
She wouldn’t look so relaxed if she knew what thoughts were running through my head right now.
She tiptoes back into the forest with her long, elegant legs, moving like the wind. So graceful, while I trudge through the snow like a raging grizzly bear.
I am far from delicate.
The she-wolf stops, peering at me from over her shoulder, and I think she wants me to follow. Should I trust her?
While I may hate them, I have found that wolves are not as deceitful as men. They only attacked our tribe that night because they were hungry.
That’s what happens when two predators collide. We’d robbed them of their primary food source when our tribe first settled into the area. They were searching for meat the night they attacked, not revenge. But I will keep my wits about me.
So I follow the she-wolf through the forest. I lose her a few times, but then she will reappear, her silvery white face almost obscured by the snow.
I wouldn’t even see her coming. She could kill me at any moment, yet she only wants to lead me somewhere.
Finally, we stop. She vanishes into a den at the base of a tree and how foolish. Now I know where she lives.
Nothing to stop me from lighting her den on fire.
But I don’t. I wait for her to re-emerge.
She has four pups with her when she appears again, and is she really that stupid? I could kill her and her litter.
But again, she watches me with those intelligent, amber eyes. Even when the pups come toward me, sniffing and whining, she doesn’t move. When one scampers closer and chews on the tip of my boot, she stays put.
She completely and wholly trusts me, and I don’t understand. Our species are enemies. Yet she wants to show me her pups?
Why?
I guess not all wolves are as monstrous as they seem.
...