WOLVERINE
BOOK 1- The Woods
Part 1- The Black One
He sniffed the air. It had a certain rank smell. Something had been killed.
The landscape of the Canadian forest was wild. Trees grew to amazing heights, snow covered everything in sight, and wildlife lurked around everywhere. It was dangerous.
The beast was covered in animal fur. It cloaked him from the sun, rain, and snow. It was his only armor. He didn't need anything else. The brown-and-white fur was smooth. He ran his hands through it often. Just enough to remind him that life had nice things in it. Other than that…there was no point to living. But he lived to survive. He survived to live. And killing was his living.
The beast stood in front of a hill. The smell was at the top. He began to climb. As he approached the top, the smell grew stronger. More smells appeared. They were surrounding him. His old pack. One of the many.
The wolves were all gray, aside from the new leader. The Black one. Its fur wasn't as soft as the others. It was coarse. It was powerful. It was as evil as the creature underneath it. The Black one stepped forward. It bared its sharp teeth. They didn't gleam in the sunlight. They were covered in blood. It had been the killer.
The beast reached the top of the hill, pretending not to notice the others. The victim of the Black one was a small doe. Its insides were strewn across the hilltop. The blood had turned the snow dark. The doe's eyes were focused and staring, its tongue was hanging out the side of its mouth, and its heart was still in place. Of course. The heart was the prize. That was clear.
The beast now transferred his attention to the pack. They were coming slowly forward, following the Black one's movements. The beast smiled. The heart would be his. He crouched low to the ground. The Black one barked at the other wolves to stand down, while he continued forward. The two enemies now faced each other, five feet spread between them. It was time.
The cold wilderness air nipped at the beast's ears. He shivered. A weakness noticed by the Black one. The beast smiled. He took off his fur armor and laid it on the ground. He didn't need it. It would slow him down.
Time froze for a moment. Everything everywhere was stuck in the moment of glory for the combatants. Birds stopped flying, bears stopped in their tracks, mice stood paralyzed. The stage was set.
Blood dripped from the Black one's fangs, making puddles of darkness on the snowy floor. It was waiting. The moment still was frozen. The beast broke the ice. He leapt forward in attack. Everything came back to life. He grabbed the Black one's neck and threw it to the ground. The Black one ripped at the beast's arm, hoping for a tear. The beast's skin was too tough, though.
The beast elbowed the Black one in the neck. Blood squirted from its mouth. It pushed the beast away. As the beast stood, the Black one tackled him and tore into his chest. The beast fell back onto one of the outward pointing rib bones of the felled doe. It punctured all the way through his chest.
The black stepped away for a moment. It seemed that the beast was finally dead. He lay there, gushing dark red blood and unmoving. The Black one had won. He stepped over the motionless body of the beast and moved toward the prize concealed in the doe. It opened its mouth and readied itself to claim its heart. Then it felt a sharp pain. And then the Black one quickly slumped over. The beast had pushed the rib bone, still sticking through his body, into the exposed belly of the Black one. The beast slowly slid the rib bone out of the Black one. He got up and ripped the bone through his chest to get it out.
The rest of the pack stood stunned. The beast had conquered the Black one. The beast lifted the Black one's lifeless corpse from the blood-stained snow and hurled it down the hill. The beast slowly looked around at the others. They would not attack.
The beast turned back to the dead doe. As the tears and holes in his body slowly disappeared, he knelt beside the creature and reached inside its open chest. The beast pulled out his prize. He looked at the heart for a moment, and then, as the rest of his pack began to howl, Logan ate it.