Barking Wolves

Dreams.

Dream opens and I am on a dirt bike; maybe 250cc. Smell of 2-stroke engine and gasoline. Cold, damp, foggy, and rainy day. I am miles away from my house. Soft misting rain batters on my face. My hearing is obscured; sort of like the distant feeling in your ears when you have the flu.

The bike spits mud behind me on the lonely dirt road I travel. What am I doing out here? Where am I coming from? I am clearly going home, I can feel it in my chest.

Trees barren, must be early spring. Fog envelopes the swamps I ride alongside of. I spot a dog-like figure on the side of the road. I down-shift a few times and slow my roll. As I approach the figure it leaps towards me. It jumps right behind me. Startled, I punch it to escape.

As I look back I notice that it is a grey wolf. Its furr is ratty and its muscles buldging. Vile drool drips from the wolfs gnashing teeth. As fast as I try, the bike will not go more than 49 miles per hour. Coincidently, this is 1 mph slower than the wolf is running (it doesnt make sense, don't ask).

I soon realize that I must do something or else I will be finished. I kick towards the wolf so that it loses a step or two. The wind turns to blistering cold. The rain comes down harder and obscures my vision. Panic overwhelmes me.

Heart racing, adrenaline pumping. I notice a police car up ahead. Relief! I get closer and flag down the officer. The officer notices what is transpiring, steps out of the car, draws his gun and fires. A miss!

Too late for the officer, the wolf pounces and tears the officer to shreds. In disbelief I turn around. Another wolf spawns from the wounds of the slain officer. In horror I speed up a hill. The bike does not have the power, I lazily climb the hill. The wolves close ground rapidly!

No more than a minute flat I am overturned by the wolves. A few rolls on the bike and I lay face up in the rain on the dirt road. The wolves gnashing at me. Somehow I struggle free and clammor to my feet. The road is muddy, slippery even. I sloppily jog up the hill fighting the wolves off as they jump on my back. I can hear each chomp behind my neck.

At the top of the hill is a city transit bus... I must be no more than a mile outside of town! I am so close! The wolves dissapear into the surrounding swamp as I approach the bus. The bus lets me on and the driver notices my distress. I am bleeding yet I felt no pain; must be the adrenaline. Riding towards the town something slams into the bus and it too is over-turned onto its side. Immediately I knew my journey was not over!

I immerge from the bus and see maybe six or seven wolves chewing on the passengers of the bus. I find a sharp metal tube, likely the scrap from a fuel line. I fight off a wolf by piercing it through the side and run off into the swamp (why the hell would I do that...)

The swamp gets deeper, I am soon up past my waste in muddy swamp water. I turn around and there are many more wolves coming after me. It is over, I cannot go on. I am exhausted and paralyzed with fear. I find myself entangled against a fallen tree. The wolves close in. The pack always finds a target and overwhelms it. I felt each tooth, each claw... fade to black, that is all there was...