Lone Wolf: The Hunt

by M. A. Cooney

  I started racing my hands through the bloodshed snow. Looking at the bodies, there was no sign of his corpse. I couldn’t find any of the officer’s weapons. There was nothing that I could be useful to me. Stepping over bodies, I made my way out the shattered windshield of the prison bus. The moon was full shinning down giving dimmed light to the earth. The ice cold breeze slammed itself against my face, reminding me where I was. The hail was still hitting pretty hard. I still have my military Navy Seal gear on that contains thermal resistance clothing with my bullet proof vest. They just took all my weapons. This has become a survival and a Hunt for John Carter. I had to find shelter. I started walking in a random path away from the bus. There were a bunch of tall scattered trees everywhere. As I was passing the trees, I saw three strikes on one of the trees. I felt on the strike.

  “These are marks from a bear, I have to be entering its territory when I pass this tree,” I said out loud to myself.

  I continued to walk pass keeping my guard up at all times. While walking a bit further down, covering my face from the aggressive weather, I saw a small cabin. I quickly ran to the cabin’s door to see if it was unlocked, of course it wasn’t. I walked around the cabin to the window and peeked through to see if anyone was inside. There was no sign of anyone in there, BANG I elbowed the window forcefully and climbed through it, hitting my neck on the ground trying to get it. I begin to look around for something to block off the window so the cold, hail, and snow wouldn’t get in. The cabin was about close to being empty. The cabin contained a fridge, a table with a vase, a fireplace, and a rug. I rushed over to the fridge hoping there was something I could eat inside it, but it was empty. So I pushed the fridge and blocked off the window so it can stop a lot of the snow and hail that was coming into the cabin. I then looked back and saw a fireplace with wood already stored. So I just had to start a fire. I took two sticks that were laying deep in the fire place and started rubbing them together. I kept rubbing the woods together and got it on my seventh try. I laid down by the fire and put the rug over me to maintain the heat. I gazed deeply at the fire as it heated my face. My eyes begin to become sleepy, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

  Chapter 2-Lone Wolf

  Dream continues…

  John killed Aaron, We looked helplessly at his body.

  “Get rid of the body, give me the dog tag,” John said to his men.

  The soldiers ripped the dog tag off Aaron’s neck and dragged his body across the floor and down the stairs. Leaving a trail of blood as they dragged his body. We could hear Aaron’s head hitting on every step.

  “Well it’s just the three of us now.”

  Terrell and I stared hatefully, remaining in silence.

  “Still no answer? Do you want me to blow Terrell’s face off now? What is going to get you to talk?”

  “Don’t tell him captain, if you do he will kill us anyways,” said Terrell.

  pew pew pew Guns shots started firing outside back and forth at each other.

  “Who the hell is that?” John said.

  Multiple jeeps were outside surrounding the building, it was the Chinese forces. Some of the Chinese soldiers started to breach. Rushing up the stairs the outnumbering the three of us with majority of the guns pointing at John.

  Yelling in Chinese, “FÃ ng xia!” (Lay down, put down in Chinese)

  John stood there for some time. One of the Chinese men put their fist in the air. John knew he was going to command the squad to fire at him. John dropped his gun, kicking it to the side and held his hand in the air smiling at me.

  The Chinese forces started aggressively hand cuffing the three of us. They took us all downstairs out the door and lined us up next to each other. The sun was already starting to set. The weather started to become more furious. We all stood there speechless for some time. A military armed truck started approaching us. The truck stopped right in front of us and one of the Chinese soldiers opened the back door. It was the Chinese leader, he got out and walked toward us. He examined each and every one of our faces.

  “Ah yes, Americans… Welcome to Alaska.”

  The leader was faced to face with me examining. He then walked over and examined John. He then walked over to Terrell. While the leader was examining Terrell, BAM Terrell head butted him in his face. The Chinese leader falls back with a bloody nose and Terrell takes off running. The Chinese took out their guns and started aiming at Terrell. I kicked the closes soldier that was about to shoot Terrell to give him more time to run. A soldier came and hit me in the stomach with his gun I fell to my knees. pew pew Bullets started firing at Terrell.

  “Zhu shou! (Stop what you’re doing) Stand down! Let him run. He wouldn’t survive in this cold or the hungry animals, take these two to Killerstone!”

  I got up from the ground and look back at Terrell. He ran and ran until he disappeared in the snowy weather. They hit us in the backs with their guns to make us walk. I looked at John and he looked back at me with a smile. They placed us in one of the jeep and drove us to a prison bus that was making its way to Killerstone Prison. They pulled us out the jeep to make us get on the bus.

  “Looks like we got more prisoners boys.”

  The bus officers put me away from John on the bus. They chained us to the seats

  “Enjoy the ride ha-ha!” The officers laughed.

  The night was coming with a blizzard, I looked down at the chain wrapped around my hand as the bus begin to drive.

  End of Dream 3

  I opened my eyes. The fire was still burning wood. I sat up and rubbed my hand down my face. I pulled out the picture of Sarah from my vest. I stared at her beautiful face and wondered how she is doing. I hate the fact I had to leave her for this mission. I rubbed my finger on her face.

  “Daddy will be home soon.”

  I put the picture back in my vest and stood up, I headed to unlock the door to the cabin. I opened the door, the hail was gone, and the sun was up. The snow relaxed on the ground and trees. I went back into the cabin and picked up the vase that was on top of the table and made my way outside the door. I took the vase and started filling it up with snow, I then brought it back into the cabin and held it over the fire until the snow melted into warm water. I begin to drink the warm water as thoughts were running through my mind about John. I need to stop John from succeeding his plan. I’m not in the U.S.A. territory so the Chinese will hunt for me. stomach grows my thoughts were interrupted by my hunger. I put the vase down on the table and went outside to get more wood for the fire. I kicked my way through the thick snow, climbed a tree, to break off wood. I got down from the tree, picked up all the wood from the ground that I broke off and headed back inside the cabin with both arms filled with wood. Before leaving the cabin for another set of wood, I saw the glass on the floor from the broken window. I went over and took a look at it. Touching the point of the glass.

  “Hmm… This glass is pretty sharp.”

  I put the glass the pocket of my body armor and continued on getting more wood.

  The sun was shining bright down through the trees. Everything looked peaceful. footsteps of crunching snow approaching I stopped what I was doing and looked around. I didn’t see anything. I stood there for some seconds still looking. As I turned around again I saw a man in a bright orange vest aiming a gun at me in distance. It was one of the criminals from the prison bus. Before I could do anything he pulled the trigger. BANG he shot me in my chest I fell face to the snow.

  “HA!! Yes! I got em!” said the criminal.

  I was in pain, bruised from the shot. I was still wearing my bullet proof vest. I laid there and played dead. My body started freezing from the snow while suffering pain. I can hear the criminal running to my direction. I slowly open a pocket in my vest and took the sharp glass out and gripped it tight in my hand. I dug my hand under the snow so he wouldn’t be able to see the glass in my hand. He got to my body, towering me, breathing heavily. He thought I was dead. He then reached down and tempted to flip me over and I i
nstantly forced the glass in his neck. Speechless he was as he stared up in the sky, helplessly. He dropped the gun and tried to cover his neck to stop the bleed. I forced the glass more into his neck. I took my hand off and the criminal fell to his knees trying to use all his strength to cover the blood but it was too late, he died. I took the glass out of his neck and put it in my pocket, I then kicked his body back and covered him in snow. I took the gun. It was a Carbon Rifle. I opened it up but there was no bullets.

  “He must have been excited when he hit me with his last bullet… hmm…”

  I went back to the cabin and used some water to clean my hands off from the blood. Staring at the dark red blood on my hands made me think about Chris and Aaron. Their lives were in my hands, I led them and they died under my lead. Another thought had crossed my mind…

  “I remember walking this way… and I saw bear claws on the tree,” I said out loud to myself.

  I continued saying my thoughts in my head, I have to be in a bear’s territory and the criminal’s body is bleeding nearby the cabin outside. I have to move to another location fast before I encounter a bear. I searched quickly through the cabin and found a little bag inside one of the drawers that I can use to carry stuff. I put some wood in the bag, I folded the rug up and placed it into the bag, the last thing I put into the bag was the vase. I flung the bag on my back and held the gun in my hand. I needed to find a new location where I can have shelter, keep heat, along with protection from any intruders. I started walking in a random direction being unsure where I would be led to. The night has come and I was still walking looking for shelter. My stomach was growling at me. I felt like I was becoming weaker from every step that I took. While walking, I started to smell something cooking. Following the smell, it led me to a cave. I stayed in the distance hiding behind a tree. I looked at the entrance of the cave and saw a group of prisoners at the front of the cave surrounding a fire with an animal cooking on it. I have to make a decision on if I should go in the cave and try to kill them all, go in and try to make partnership to this survival, or just sneak around them minding my own business. I didn’t have much weapons to fight multiple guys and they all could have weapons. Yet again how can I make partnership with a bunch of criminals? These guys can be stone cold killers.

  “Sign”

  I ignored all my inner self conversations, came out from behind the tree and approached the cave.

  Chapter 3-Trust

  I was walking to the cave, the prisoners eyes instantly notice me approaching. They all remained in the same position but their eyes followed every step I took.

  “Looks like we got another survivor…We can use more people to help us survive out here,” Said one of the criminals.

  I remained in silence.

  “Ello Mate, My name is Ryan, this is Kevin, over here is Luke, and the giant guy in the back is the world’s famous Apollo.”

  I nod my head at each one of them.

  “I’ve read stories about Apollo, serial killer, murdered 63 people both men and women with his bare hands. (Apollo smiled) Hmm… My name is Josh.”

  “Are you hungry? We have some extra deer meat to share to you,” Said Luke.

  “I’d like that.”

  Luke passed me some cooked deer meat.

  “Thank you.”

  “No problem Josh.”

  I went to a part of the cave where I can keep them all in my sight. They are very nice for a bunch of criminals. It just doesn’t seem right. Everyone is sitting around the fire trying to keep warm except Apollo. He is posed up on the side rock of the cave sharpening a stick. Luke got up and walked over to me.

  “Your gear, are military trained? You also have a gun…That can really help us for killing deer’s.”

  Just before I could say something Ryan told both of us to come to him.

  “We have some more deer meat for both of you, you guys got to try this.”

  “Alright.” Luke said.

  He grabbed one of the meats and threw it in his mouth. His eyes widen.

  “This is really good! You got to try one Josh!”

  “I guess I could try one.”

  “It’s good? Isn’t it mate?”

  I took one of the meats and stared at it, wondering why it was wrapped around a plant this time. I was still hungry so I took a big bite and it was actually really good with the plant wrapped around it.

  Luke started talking to Kevin and Ryan about how he got on the prison bus. They all shared how they got on. Luke was a thief for a living, Kevin said he was a Rapist, and Ryan killed 16 cops. I stopped paying attention to what they were talking about and focused my attention on my surroundings. I continued to eat the meat, the moonlight started fading out the cave. Apollo remained in the same place against the wall for some reason. I also notice Luke and I were the only ones eating the meat with the plant around it. Everything started to seem odd to me.

  “Oh yeah, Josh, your buddy was here earlier and should be coming back. He was wearing similar bloody gear like you, mate.”

  I thought to myself quickly before I responded, he has to be talking about John or Terrell.

  “I will be looking forward to it.”

  Luke stop talking and dropped the remaining food he had in his hand. He stood there with his mouth open like he was frozen. The only thing he was moving was his eyes, back and forth everywhere. He fell to the ground. Everyone watched careless and continued to do the same stuff they were already doing. I got up and took one step toward him but my legs locked up. I tried to move my legs but I couldn’t, the muscles in my legs wouldn’t react. I then started to move my arms but they were moving very slow and eventually locked up. I fell to the ground. The only thing I could move was my eyes. Apollo then threw the stick down and approached Luke, grabbing him by his shirt and dragged him towards me, then he grabbed me by my vest and dragged Luke and I further in the cave and put us sitting against the wall of the cave. Luke had about six feet of space from me. Apollo took my body armor vest off.

  “Here’s a Vest Ryan!”

  Apollo threw the vest to Ryan. Then went to my bag and looked inside it. He closed it then put it on his back. He grabbed the gun to see if there was any ammo in it but there wasn’t so he just threw it on the ground and started to walk to the front of the cave. Kevin started gathering things and putting out the fire. Ryan walked his way over to us. He then came my direction and bend down to talk to me.

  “It’s nothing personal mate, I’m just doing this for the money. We were offered a lot from John… The plant you ate is called Curare it temporary paralyzes you. So don’t worry you will be able to move again in about an hour or so, good luck mate!”

  Ryan walked back to Apollo and Kevin. They started to walk away from the cave. About thirty minutes went by, Luke and I remained in the same spot. We still couldn’t move. Luke was losing his mind. I closed my eyes and tried my best to relax.

  “Well, Well, Well… Look what we have here!” Excitedly said.

  My eyes shot open from the familiar voice. In my sight was the one and only, John.

  “You’re always falling in my traps captain. I don’t know what you were thinking about trusting a bunch of criminals. They will do anything for the dollar. Hmm… Let’s see… Chris is dead, I killed him, Aaron is dead, and I killed him, Terrell… Who knows if he’s alive or not…He probably froze to death or got ate by a bear or something who knows. Now all that’s left to worry about is you, Josh.”

  I started to move a little. The paralyzing effects is starting to ware off.

  “You’re starting to move! Fantastic! I should kill your right now but what fun would that be. We got to give others chances sometimes. I’ll be right back!” John happily said.

  John walked to the front of the cave and walked out. The sunset started to break out. I looked at Luke, he was shaking and moving his eyes everywhere, started breaking a sweat. John came back into the cave with wood and put it in the middle of us and started a fire. He then left out the cave ag
ain. Struggling to move a muscle, I kept trying and trying. It was becoming easier to move but I still felt my muscles locked up. John returned back into the cave with a bucket. He placed it down on the other side of the fire. He looked at me then looked over at Luke and smiled. He grabbed the bucket with two hands, towered over Luke.

  “Here we go!”

  John poured blood and guts all over Luke. Luke was reacting like he was going to have a seizure. The smell was so foul. John made his way over to me and crouched down close to my face and snatched my dog tag off my neck.

  “I’m going to need this.”

  He then looked at me in my eyes.

  “I hope to see ya soon!”

  He got up and started laughed his way out the cave quickly. Luke kept shaking and I kept trying to move. The more I tried the more I became close of moving my body. Twenty minutes passed since John was here, I could move my mouth again.

  “Luke can you talk.”

  Luke shook his eyes left to right trying to tell me no. He started mumbling and making sounds out his mouth.

  “You have to calm down Luke, were going to get out of this.”

  Roar Luke and I got silent. The night has grown, the only source of light came from the fire that John has left us. All you can hear is footsteps approaching us. thump, thump, thump the closer the noise got the more frighten Luke became.thump, thump, thump the light of the fire showed the beast face. It was a Polar bear, Hungry for a meal. The beast was huge! It was scared of the fire so it kept its distance from us but it blocked off the entrance of the cave. Luke cannot open his mouth but he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Roar the polar bear stepped closer to Luke.

  “Back beast! Yaah! Get back!”

  It kept moving closer to Luke. I was almost fully restored, I could move my arms now but my legs were still paralyzed. John had lured the polar bear to the cave from all the blood and guts. Luke could open his mouth now.