Evil Origins: A Horror & Dark Fantasy Collection Read Free

in behind the alpha
male but kept their distance from the unnatural fire. The creature paced around
the flames, sniffing the objects on the ground, and then craned its neck upward
at the feet of the human.
    It
must come down. That is the command given and the one I must follow.
    The rest of the
pack whined and shuffled about. Several of the cubs lay on the ground, enjoying
the meager warmth provided by the man’s fire, while the male wolves stood
behind the leader and looked up into the tree.
    “Leave me
alone,” Samuel shouted to the beasts below.
    He thought he
could hear the alpha male chuckle. The sound escaped the wolf’s muzzle like a
short guffaw.
    “Get out of
here.”
    The wolves
stood at attention, staring up at him. One would break off, circle its tail,
and then come back to attention at the base of the tree.
    Samuel looked
up into the pine. Branches sprouted from the base of the trunk like a pinwheel
extending up into the blackness. Tendrils of smoke raced between them as the
fire burned down to yellow coals, releasing the hiss of water inside the damp
wood. Samuel reached for the next closest branch and climbed higher, until he
sat on a wider branch, taking a deep breath and looking down at the pack twenty
feet below.
    We wait.
    The alpha male
dropped its hind legs to the ground, and its ears came up. The other hunters
did the same, while the female wolves attended to nursing cubs. The pack formed
a circle around the base of the tree.
    Samuel felt a
rumble in his stomach, and a pain gripped his side. He could not remember the
last time he ate. He rubbed the blooming bruises on his neck, the painful
reminder of his time inside the noose. Samuel looked out from the trees,
convinced that he had found temporary refuge from the pack. A sliver of the
moon appeared above the canopy of pines, blossoming like spilt milk into the
night sky.
    Are wolves
nocturnal? They’ll go back to the den once the sun comes up , Samuel
thought.
    Samuel watched
as a new light crested off the horizon. He did not see the blazing orb of his
sun. He did not feel the warmth of the day. Hours passed, and yet the light
failed to chase back the darkness, seeping upward until a dull grey blanket of
mist descended on the forest. A quick pulse of memory shot through his head, a late-afternoon
thunderstorm at the shore. The feeling lingered, but the specifics of the
memory did not. He looked down at the pack. The females and cubs slept in
bundles of fur, and most of the hunters rested their heads in their paws, all
except one. The alpha male remained sitting, his eyes focused on Samuel.
    ***
    As the light
faded yet again, Samuel felt the first cramps clutching his muscles,
threatening to eject him from his safe perch. His stomach threatened to turn in
on itself. He closed his eyes, unsure whether the hunger pangs could keep his
mind off the muscle cramps or whether it was better to focus on the cramps to
take his mind off of his hunger. Samuel’s tongue felt as though it were wrapped
in cotton. Sweat dotted his forehead, while his feet felt cold and dead.
    It weakens.
    The wolves
pushed up onto all fours and began circling the base of the trunk. The alpha male
reared back and howled. The cubs awakened with new fervor, hunger, and
bloodlust. Two hunters leapt onto the base of the tree, as if threatening to
climb it. They jumped back and forth, growling and snapping at each other’s
tails.
    Samuel closed
his eyes, and the world swam beneath him. He lost his sense of perception and
fell from the branch, lunging out and grasping another to stop his plummet. The
branch slid beneath his fingers as he looked down at the ground below, feeling
dizzy and expecting the ground to rush up and snatch him from the precipice.
Samuel reminded himself not to look down, wondering why that seemed to be the
best advice for a fear of heights. The hunters saw the movement, and the other
wolves sensed it. The entire pack ran around the base, barking and growling in
a