Dusk was crawling up the woods and the cold wind swept over my
face. It was a campfire on the final day of our 4 day field-trip to the woods.
We lived in a cabin near the bank of a fast-flowing river. The scene was
picturesque with the mountains towering over us; they were snow-peaked and had
a large rabbit colony living in them. We loved the mountains even though they
blocked our view of the rising sun completely.
I had come here with my class from school with 3 chaperones
and 12 students. We sat around the warm fire munching roast marshmallows and
chicken. I felt bad about leaving this place. Everything here was perfect - no
cars, no younger sister and no math. Then, in a distance we heard a howl, a
long shrieking howl, the ones that climb up your spine into your brain. Some of
the kids thought it was no big deal. They said that it was probably some lone
wolf calling out for its friends but I wasn’t so reassured... instead, I felt
scared. The chaperones were panicked though - white inside and out. They told
us to head back into the log cabin when another piercing howl was followed by a
couple of barks. Now everyone was scared stiff and we ran into the cabin. We
held our pillows and sat trembling on our beds which wasn’t going to help in
any way to defend us against the wolves.
A few minutes passed and the barks were nearing. I was really
scared and the chaperones were trying to seal the doors and windows shut. I
went into the washroom to calm myself down. I locked the door shut when CRASH! I heard a
glass panel shatter which was followed by screams and shrieks all around. I
considered myself extremely lucky that the bathroom had no openings except for
the locked door. There were no air-vents either to let my smell out and also, I
was lucky to ever have gotten to the washroom in the first place. A few more
minutes passed.
Then, BANG! SCRATCH SCRATCH , the outer wall of the tiny
washroom was going to be ripped apart, instinctively or stupidly, I unlocked
the door and ran out. The room was
strewn with blood but there were no bodies, half a wall had been torn down, so
the wolves might have taken the bodies out to feast on. Most of the ceiling
lights were broken, I took out my torch from my backpack and peered out of the
gaping hole, I heard snarls in the opposite direction. I ran straight ahead
into the mountains, away from the wolves. I never thought I was capable of
running this fast and I surely had never ran this quick before. The terrain
started to get sloped. Thinking I’d run into the mountains, which were covered
with snow, I thought that I should go down stream into the nearby town and seek
help there. I went west towards the river but there was a problem. A cliff
separated the land from the banks of the river. It wasn’t that steep of a fall
either, the cliff was inclined about 75 degrees and was covered with dead ivy.
I slid down using the ivy and ran downstream.
It was easy walking down. All you had to do was keep your feet
moving and you could let the ground carry you along the slope.
I was feeling pretty happy that I escaped all of that. As I
ran down the pebble ridden bank, I heard the last sound I’d want. A wolf
howling. I flashed my torch light and in the distance I could see a couple of
wolves running right at me. Here, the cliff was taller and was sloped at right
ninety degrees. I panicked and climbed up the dead vine. I reach the top in no
time. The wolves were howling at the bottom below me. As I continued walking
towards the shore I heard another set of snarls and there were more wolves
coming at me on the top of the cliff. I climbed downwards and clung on to the
dry ivy. I found a foothold on stood on there and slowly, I realized I had
walked right into their feast. They carried their bodies downstream and I
didn’t think of that even once. I needed an idea.
All I had was myself
and my torch. And then, in a rare brainwave of mine, I had an idea. The wind
was blowing south, downhill. My torch was a filament torch which works by
heating a filament that glows bright because of the heat. I took the cap off
the filament, touched it to the dry ivy and switched it on. The dead plant
caught fire and as the breeze was flowing downwards, the fire spread away from
me. I backed off bit and the let the fire spread. The wolves weren’t whining
but at least they stopped snapping at my heels. In about thirty seconds, the
fire had gone through about fifty feet of dead ivy. Many wolves were backing
off. I let another five minutes pass and the fire was beyond my view as the
river banked. I got off the cliff as the wolves were a good hundred feet away
from me. My hands were numb from holding on so tight. I tore off large pieces
of wood. I walked forward, light a piece of ivy and threw it at the wolves.
They backed off further as I threw more and more wood. I walked like this all
they for about a kilometre when I lit another section of the cliff ivy, now,
there almost weren’t any wolves left, and I hoped that they realized that 14
humans were enough. The village was appearing around the corner; I shouted for
help and stood there, letting the fire burn around me. Ten minutes later, I was
being escorted into the village by a few locals who had shotguns.
A day later, in the village I came to know that all my friends
had been killed. I felt sorry for them but honestly, I never really was a
social kind of person. In fact, I couldn’t help feel sorry for myself. As I
dozed off in the hospital pillows I couldn’t believe that I had to go back to
my city life and to my annoying little sister.
-Soumak Nandi
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