"How old is that Wolf?" I asked the man, my father merely put his hand over his face as if my questions were exasperating.

"He is 26 years old."

"Was he a good pup? It must be hard to train wolves when they get that big." The man chuckled and turned to look at me. His smile was beautiful it made his skin look smooth to the touch; his dimples made large creases in his cheeks with his smile. It looked friendly.

"He likes to think so."

"I think you're a very good wolf." I looked behind me to the wolf and almost saw him roll his eyes at my comment causing more laughter from our driver. "Do you think he lives being in the woods? It's awful hard for him to go hunting. I saw a movie about wolves once. They hunt in something called a pack."

"Bells, baby. Not the time." My dads comment made me return to staring at the wolf, his black fur looked soft to touch but at the same time he gave off weird vibes. It made me not want to go near him at all.

"Your daughter is amazing; she sees a wolf that towers over her and she's curious. A true warrior spirit runs through her blood."

"No, she has her mother's blood for curiosity. She hasn't learned the phrase curiosity killed the cat."

"Satisfaction bought it back." I saw a flash of silver in the trees which I assumed belonged to another wolf. "Dad! There's another one!"

"Another one of what?"

"A wolf! I saw a silver one!" The black wolf immediately turned to where I saw the wolf and bared his teeth, I heard a small yelp. "HEY, DO NOT BE MEAN!" I pointed my finger at the wolf as I disciplined it.

The wolf stopped walking for a second, making him stumble slightly before he returned to keeping pace with the car. The man in the front didn't comment so I returned my gaze back to the forest surrounding me trying to catch a glimpse of the wolves surrounding us.

I saw a few houses come into view, the raven-haired children stood at the side of the road and watched us pass, until their mothers forced them to go back inside, the men stayed at the entrance of their doors, arms folded in front of them. Each had a clearly upset look on their faces.

"Daddy, why are they upset?"

"I don't know sweetie." He mumbled back; he kept his gaze on each man that passed almost daring them to come closer.

The town was not what I was used to, the buildings were well designed, stonework covering from the base to half-way up the wall, where then it was wooden logs that went up all four sides of the building and transformed into a wooden roof. They looked like a modern house with a cottage rustic vibe. The town was completely silent as we passed them in the Jeeps, I could see signs in front of buildings showing that one was a grocery shop, a barber, a tailor and more.

We went up the street towards a large hall that seemed to be made of thicker logs, and bigger rocks. It looked like the hall of where a mighty king would sit to rule over his kingdom. Every so often I would see a statue of a wolf next to a door, obviously they were important to the people who lived here, they even had giant protectors in the flesh watching over them.

The man pulled over the car and signaled for us to get out, the wolf following us stood next to my door and sat watching me climb out. I couldn't resist going up to him and touching his leg, I barely made it up to the middle of his leg.

His golden eyes stared down at me until he bent his large head down towards me and pushed me in the direction of the hall with his nose. It was large, cold, and wet, I couldn't help shivering and slapping it away before heading in the direction he herded me in. Dad came around the front of the car and pulled me into his side again giving a quick glance behind him towards the wolf.

"Now Bells, hon. When we get in there, I need you to be as quite as possible. No weird questions or random outbursts of information, are we clear?"

"Yes sir." The road in the town was made from smaller stones reminding me of the cobblestones you saw on TV, I followed the design as we walked causing me to trip over the front step. Dad hauled me to my feet again and rolled his eyes at my clumsiness. Once the doors to the giant hall were opened a gust of warm wind poured out with the doors, I basked in the warmth of it as we continued walking inside.

I saw at the end of the hallway a curved section where a large chat sat in the middle of four other chairs. In the chairs was a person who looked similar yet completely different to the other. They all had raven black hair that was styled in various ways, the woman on the far right had hers in a bun on top of her bed, red leather straps keeping it in place, the man next to her was larger in frame but had his hair braided down his back. The man on the far left had grey hair with flecks of black, his face showed signs of age and wisdom from the years he'd spent on this earth. The seat next to him was empty, but it was the man in the middle that commanded the most attention.

His raven hair was hanging down freely over his shoulders and back, his brown eyes were serious, but he had laugh lines that crinkled around the corners of his eyes and mouth. He had very broad shoulders and chest, his arms were hidden beneath the red and black shirt he was wearing but I knew they held some power in them.

"Chief."

The man in the middle nodded and remained seated as we were brought closer to them.

"What brings you to our lands pale face?" His voice was deep, I hid behind my father sneaking glances at him every so often. The second my eyes landed on his frame his eyes glanced down to me, a lip twitch was all I saw before I hid again.

"We have come for shelter."

"Why should we grant you that?"

"Because of my daughter. She is only eight years old; she knows nothing of the world and it's horrors."

"The white man has been causing issues around the world for generations, what could have happened to be so terrible you've come into the middle of nowhere to protect yourself?"

"I do not know everything; we had an announcement on our televisions a day or so ago. It was from the President stating that the world is ending, to remain in our homes and be with our loved ones… We listened to the neighbors uh, 'passing away'. I'm a hunter, avid fisher, and general wilderness buff. This means I know how to live off the land, I made the plan in my head to gather as much as I could from our house packed it all up and travelled here.

We encountered a few people who survived whatever the hell has happened to the world, we stayed away from them and continued to travel here. It made more sense to go into the wilderness where there are no records of civilization, build a protective place for Bella and live off the land."

"You did all that for your daughter?" The woman's voice was soft and maternal.

"Yes."

"Where is your wife?"

"I have no wife, Bella's mother left us when she was merely a toddler. It's always been us, I would do anything, be anything for her." I stared up at my father and hugged him from behind.

"Then let us see this little beauty." The woman's voice was still soft and kind, I peaked around the side of dad to look at her, she had a nice smile. I looked up at my father and once he gave a nod of approval, I stepped around him towards the lady.

She got off her chair and walked a few steps towards me, she knelt so we were closer to eye level. "Hello." She smiled a bit warmer; her teeth were perfectly straight standing out against the warm tones in her skin.

"Hello Bella. My name is Susan, or Sue for short." I walked closer until I was only a few steps away from her. "Can you tell me what happened to make you leave home?"

"it's just like my daddy said, I slept most of the way here, so I don't know how far we came or what way we came. But I'm glad I did come here; did you know wolves are my favourite animal?" She chuckled at my response.

"I like wolves too." She held out her hand which I gladly took, she began to lead me towards a doorway to the side of the hall, I looked back to dad and saw him nod again.

"Would you like to meet the wolf that followed you here?"

"Oh yes please!"