42

“That’s why I’m here” I point out and lift my hands to part the smog. Splitting it apart enough to clear our view for a couple of hundred feet and giving us a an almost uninterrupted path to follow, pushing it out as we go. It’s eerie and deathly silent out here, a strange atmosphere of surreal and with the sun peeking up to bring a little warmth to the green air, it’s an almost haunting atmosphere. It reminds me of a memory, many moons ago when the mountain fogs stayed around the valley for three days and no one could see a foot in front of them while the noises of daily life echoed spookily around.

“Where do you think they are?” Carmen quips in and I squint my eyes to the side to look through the density and shrug. Knowing I can feel the presence of others out there, tingling my sixth sense at a distance but not enough to decide if it’s them I can feel, or the homestead behind.

“I don’t know, I can’t really feel any of them for certain. There’s nothing but emptiness and shallow vibrations.”

I spoke too soon, and almost as the words leave my mouth, the truck shudders at the rear, like we were kicked with something hard and heavy, as something fast collides in a weird kind of way. It reverberates through the metal of the vehicle and sends shivers up my spine, widening my eyes in alarm.

Meadow almost loses control of the wheel for a second as she tries to right our wobble and floors it as fast as she can. I push myself out of my seat and dash into the rear of the truck to peer out the window, to see if I can see anything, but I also have to keep my hands splayed to the front to keep the fog parted so she can see where she is going. My heart racing and perspiration forming across my forehead as my stress levels skyrocket. It truly felt like something was thrown at us.

Carmen follows me with haste and peers out too, wiping the condensation which is starting to collect form our combined heavy breathing as we are rocked again with another strong shockwave. This time though even though it causes the side of the truck to wobble, it doesn’t veer us from our path and a strange mystical air ripple travels down around us in much the same way the rune border can move when hit with the enchanted pack.

“Look” Carmen grabs my arm and shakes me, pointing to the far left out of the very corner of the window and I spot the wolves running parallel just inside the fog around us. They are keeping up speed to meet ours and one takes a running leap at us again. Only this time we see it. The bouncing off the invisible forcefield much like they do with the homestead boundary and sending another violent thwack of energy through our vehicle. Although we are hit, it’s like we have a forcefield and we shudder, but the barrier takes most of the impact so we can keep going.

The spells working, for without it they would have taken this truck down in one run and no doubt be all over the top of us and ripping through the metal with their claws. They are barely denting the surface of the strange orb around us and as long as Meadow keeps us on the road and going, they won’t be able to do a damned thing. Well unless they figure out that throwing trees and boulders might take us down, but they are so focused on chasing, intent on pursuing that they don’t seem to stop to find non enchanted items as weapons. I wonder if the fog has pushed instinct and chased away logical thinking, as Colton would definitely have thought of an alternative attack had he not been under a spell.

“Is that Colton?” Carmen squeaks, pulling my thoughts of him to reality as a dark black shadowy wolf, bigger than the rest and defined by his darkest fur and forbidding presence, runs at us and makes a leap for the roof.

I cower instinctively, waiting for the impact of his sheer weight and brute strength but it doesn’t come, and we catch sight of him rolling to the ground on the opposite side of the road, as though he went right over the top of us. He obviously couldn’t get on the roof, swayed by the protection, but it doesn’t stop him from chasing us regardless.

“Yeah…. That’s him.” The words stick in my throat bitterly, and I have to look away as tears blind me, pain surging in my chest and crushing my heart at the angry vengeful wolf coming at us again. He’s determined to derail our vehicle. Colton isn’t in there anymore, only darkness and fury and a mind set on destruction controls that powerful body and I can’t bear to look at him and see someone so familiar, someone I love and worship, trying to destroy us.

“What do we do?” Meadow seems locked onto the window in front of her, veering around wolves who try and get in our way but are pushed aside by our invisible forcefield, unable to tear her gaze away from the high-speed maneuvers. I check I’m still keeping the fog open for her to navigate through and raise my shoulders in a shrug, overwhelmed at the numbers of them swarming at us from all angles. The mist is not getting any thinner but it looks like we’re heading out onto the road to the main route. Still getting out even if we’re being chased.

“Keep going… pray they give up. Try not to run anyone over in the process.” I state loudly, catching the determined look on Carmen’s face and then the stiffening posture of Meadow in the driver seat. The air around us thick with tension, subtle fear seeping out, anxiety tainting the oxygen, because we have no idea how to process what’s happening right now. All three of us gasp loudly, rocked in reaction by a sudden jolt as we’re thrown sideways violently inside the back of the truck. I barely catch myself as I go sprawling across the smooth floor, grasping for a hold, and Carmen catches me by the waist and yanks me against her as she braces us to one of the beds. Meadow screeches at us to hold on to something with a frenzied croak.

“They jumped in front of me, I think I hit him! I did hit him, them…God knows how many but….I hit HIM!.” her voice breaks, tears evident as her pain saturates her emotions, her face crumbling as her brows hit her lashes and she struggles back a sob. I crawl to the front seats as carefully as I can, trying to not let my forcefield down so the fog stays separated and cling onto the back of the seat to squint at her. “It was Cesar….it was my baby. I’m sure of it.” She mumbles on in distress, her voice wavering and her grip is so tight on the wheel that her knuckles are white and solid.

“You know he’ll be fine. He’s in wolf form, even under a spell he should heal.” I try to soothe her but the intensity of her heartbreak seeps into my own soul and I slide down beside her on the seats, overwhelmed with heaviness and the urge to break down and cry too.

“I hit my mate with a truck, chica …. there’s no going to be fine when he finds out I did that. He will unbind me and send me packing for sure.” She stubbornly wipes away a tear and gasps as another fleeting wolf form jumps in front of us again, causing her to swerve left and I’m thrown against the door this time. I see the collision of the wolf hitting the side, but the forcefield makes it feel like we just grazed bushes and he spirals off in a horrifying manner, like a spinning top. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, the wolf being bounced away from a devastating impact, I would never have believed we just hit an eight-hundred-pound animal in full fury mode.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Carmen spits out and comes to sit back up front with us, both of us clipping on our belts as a precaution because this is far from over. I’m already bruised all over from being thrown around and I’m starting to get weary from holding my powers up and onwards to keep the path clear.