10

            I reached the Wolf first.  I was on the verge of swinging my ax but the Wolf's large hand was coming at me fast.  I bent down to avoid the collision.  Arnie got a hit in with his first swing.  His bat crashed into the Wolf's leg and the beast nearly fell down from it.

            I ran behind the Wolf to try to ax him without him noticing.  I lifted my weapon again, but then came the Wolf's tail swinging.  His tail hit my ax, knocking it out of my hand and about ten feet away.  I rushed to get it, but the tail came around again, knocking me flat on my stomach.  Still on the floor, I was hit with the tail twice before I managed to crawl out of the tail's way.

            I got to my feet and started searching for my ax again.  The ax was too far away for me to get to it without being slammed by the Wolf's tail.  I was trapped.

            Arnie was still okay.  He was still hitting at the Wolf with the bat.  Bam! Bam!  It seemed like he should have been doing a lot of damage.  But his hits were not nearly as powerful as his first swing.  The first one took most of his energy.  Now the bat was not hurting the Wolf; it only angered him.

            "Arnie!" I called.

            He did not hear me.  He was too busy trying to hit the Wolf.

"Die!" Arnie yelled while swinging wildly.  "Die you beast!"

Arnie was staying in one spot, swinging.  It would not be hard for the Wolf to grab him and kill him.

            "Arnie, get out of there!" I screamed.

            I had to do something.  But how was I going to get past the Wolf's tail?

            The tail swooped left, then right, then left again.  It was going too fast to try to run past.  The furry tail came down again and I reached out to grab it.  The tail went up again and I was lifted up with it.

I was moving so fast!  The Wolf must have had some really strong muscles.  He was swinging that furry tail of his like he was trying to kill someone with it.  Wait!  He was trying to kill me with it!  Because now he was swinging it faster than ever.  He was trying to fling me off.  I held onto the tail the best that I could.  But I was growing dizzy.  And soon sick.  The incredibly fast movement was too much.  Perhaps it was because I was so small compared to the Wolf, it made the movement seem much faster.  Up, down, left, right.  The room was a large intertwined blur that swayed back and forth.  I needed to get down from there.

I looked down as I was being swung.  I could make out two very large feet

shifting to the left.  The Wolf was moving towards the wall.  I turned my head to see that I was just inches from colliding into the wall.  Each swing was more powerful and closer to collision.  I decided to jump off, but I waited too long.  Before I could let go of the Wolf's tail, I felt the awful pain of crashing into the stone wall.  Pain spread throughout my body at a horrifying speed and consumed me.  I opened my mouth to scream, but the pain took even my ability to do that.  Once again, I was on the ground.

But now I was lying next to my ax.  I had a weapon again. 

Arnie was still swatting at the Wolf with his baseball bat.  "Don't you touch him!" he yelled.  "You are dead, Wolf!  Dead!"

Arnie's anger was affecting his concentration.  He was swinging his bat in random directions.  He was hardly hitting the Wolf.

I needed to help him again; this time I had the ax.  I struggled to my feet.  I grabbed the ax held it tightly.  I ran toward the Wolf.

            I was not quick enough.  The Wolf snatched Arnie's bat out of his hand.  He examined the bat and then looked back at my brother.  In a blink, the Wolf's hand whipped down and smashed the bat into Arnie's face.  Arnie's body slammed into the floor and slid sideways about nine feet.  A trail of blood was left behind.  The top of the bat was covered in Arnie's blood.

            The Wolf lifted the bat again, but that's when I struck him.  My ax came down on his arm and sliced deeply into it.  The Wolf hollered and dropped the bat.  He looked at his bleeding arm.  I pulled the ax behind me again and made another swing.  I put so much force into that swing that even the Wolf himself would question his strength.  This second swing was far better than the first.  The sharp blade chopped through his arm completely.  I felt the blade enter his tough skin and leave a split second later.  His forearm was no longer attached to the rest of his body.  It landed on the floor, bounced a little, then fell motionless except for the blood that flowed out and created a red puddle underneath it.

            The Wolf's scream that followed will haunt me forever.  I dropped my ax from the sound and cringed.  But I quickly got over it when I saw my brother again.  I rushed to Arnie and got him to his feet.  The right side of his face was covered in blood, but he was still okay.  He was alive and could run.  That was all that mattered. 

"Let's get out of here!" I said.

We ran towards the door.  The Wolf continued his screaming and hollering.  Most likely the Wolf had never experienced a pain of this intensity before.  Now maybe he realizes what his prey feels like.  Or he is just a much angrier Wolf.

A few steps away from the door, I felt something grab my leg which caused me to fall down.  I looked down to see the Wolf's severed arm latched to my leg.  The grip was rather strong for an arm with no body.  Arnie kicked the arm for me and it let go.

Again, we ran.  I grabbed the motionless Sam and my flashlight on the way out.  I swung open the door, rushed in and headed for the tunnel.  The Wolf's screams echoed through it.  But half the way down, the screams stopped.  Now the sound was his feet slamming to the floor.  He was coming after us.

"Come on!!" I yelled at my brother behind me.  He was not moving as fast as he needed to.  "Faster!  Rest comes later.  He's gaining on us!"  Arnie struggled to quicken his movement, speeding up just a little bit.

I glanced passed Arnie and saw the Wolf entering the tunnel.  The Wolf's speed was remarkable.  But how was he moving through it so fast?  The tunnel was far too small for him, yet he was zooming through like it was not a problem.

Arnie and I were nearing the end of the tunnel.  Then we heard the Wolf yell out.  He was stuck!  He had completely stopped moving.  Perhaps the tunnel was just too small for him after all.  But why would he have a tunnel in his own house that was too small for him to go through?

Although the Wolf was stuck, he still had his one arm free.  He reached out quickly and grabbed hold of Arnie by the leg.  Arnie was being pulled back towards the  Wolf.  I grabbed my brother's arms and pulled in my direction.  Arnie screamed from the pain.  The Wolf's strength was great, almost too great to compete against.  But somehow, I managed to pull Arnie free from the beast and we fell backwards and out the end of the tunnel.

We both stood up quickly.  The Wolf tried to squeeze his way through the tight space, but it did not work.  He was only making himself more stuck.

"Aaaaaarrrrggghhh!!" hollered the Wolf.  We could feel his breath hit us, rushing from out of the tunnel.  The smell was really bad.  We backed away and neared the window.

"We should go through this," said Arnie.  "The front entrance is too far away and we would probably get lost trying to get back there."

"Yeah, you're right," I said.  "First we have to break open this window."

"With what?" asked Arnie.

I lifted my flashlight and gave it a mighty throw.  It exploded through the glass, breaking apart most of it.  A few pieces fell on us but it was not too painful.  "There's our exit," I said.

"Finally," said Arnie.  "We can get out of here.  I think I saw the Medicine Pig's house not too far from here.  Did you see it?"

"Yeah," I said.  "I did.  That's his house alright."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Arnie said.  "Let's go!  Come on!"

I looked behind me to see the Wolf backing out of the tunnel.  He was no longer coming for us.  He had given up.  The Wolf had turned back, crawling in the opposite direction, defeated.  But this cannot be.  The Wolf does not give up that easily.  Perhaps he's going a different way to get to us.  Either way, we had to get moving.  We were still way too close to the Wolf to just be standing there.

"Let's go, Charlie," Arnie repeated.  "The window is not that high.  We can climb out."

I did not move.  Although I knew that we were now able to get out of this place alive, perhaps even get what we needed from the Medicine Pig, there was still a problem that could not be ignored.  I began to think about what the Wolf said.  "…my reign over these woods is forever, and you are obligated to die," the beast said.  "You are pigs.  You are here for nothing except satisfying my very large appetite."

This was going to continue.  The death of our fellow pigs would go on.  Even if we were to convince the Medicine Pig to come to Swine Village, what was stopping the Wolf from coming into our village and terrorizing?  The Wolf was still alive, therefore he is still an immense danger to us all.  As long as the Wolf went on breathing, he could go on killing; he could continue to kill our family and our friends.  He had to be stopped…now.

"Charlie, we have to get out of here," said Arnie.  "Let's go."

"I can't yet," I said.  "Here, take Sam."  I gave the crippled squirrel to Arnie.  "Go on to the Medicine Pig's house.  I will meet you there."

"What are you talking about?" asked Arnie.  "You're coming with me."

"No I'm not, Arnie."

"Huh?  You're not staying here with the Wolf are you?  Of course you are coming!"

"No, I must stay and fight."

"Fight?!" exclaimed Arnie.  "Fight the Wolf?!!  He nearly killed us all and you're trying to go back?  What is the matter with you?  We got away, Charlie.  We are still alive.  And if we hurry, we can get the medicine and get home before he ever gets to us again."

"We can not let this continue anymore, Arnie," I told him.  "The Wolf must die.  Two pigs escaping will not end a thing.  It just means that we were lucky.  We were just two pigs who somehow managed to get away from the Wolf without getting killed.  Aren't you tired of running?  Don't you want to be able to get all your medical needs without worrying about being eaten alive?  Do you want pigs to go on forever terrified of this evil monster who killed our brother?!"

"No…of course not," said Arnie.  "I guess you have a point."

"So I must do this, Arnie" I said.  "I must fight.  This hell ends tonight.  The Wolf must die."

"That sounds good and all, but you're forgetting something."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You don't have a weapon," Arnie said.

"What?  Of course I…"

I looked at my hands and saw nothing in them.  Where was my ax?  Did I leave it behind?  Yes, I did.  I dropped it when I heard the Wolf horrible scream.

"So now what?" asked Arnie.  "Are you still going to fight the Wolf?  You don't have a weapon and you are a pig…a little weaponless pig.  I completely understand what you are trying to do, but you must pay attention to the facts, Charlie.  You haven't got a chance."

I thought about his words.  Although what he said had much truth to it, my hate was still very strong.  My friend Frank and my brother Timmy were still dead; the Wolf took their lives away.  I could not let this go.  This could go on possibly forever if the beast was not stopped.  Despite my horrible odds, I had to go back.

"I'm going to fight," I said firmly.  "Perhaps I can get my ax back.  Maybe he never picked it up and it's still lying there.  I might have a chance."

Arnie nodded.  "Okay.  Do what you have to do.  I'll be right outside and waiting."

"Just go on to the Medicine Pig," I told him.  "I can meet you there."

"No.  You may need my help.  If it sounds like you are in trouble, I will come back in and help you."

"Alright," I agreed.  "If I'm not back in about 10 minutes, just go without me."

"Okay."

Arnie lifted himself onto the windowsill.  He held Sam close, making sure he did not drop him.  "Hey Charlie!" he yelled.

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."  And with that, Arnie hopped out the window and onto the ground outside.  "Good thing I have your flashlight," he said.

I turned toward the tunnel.  Was I really about to try to hunt down the Wolf?  I am not a predator, I'm the prey; yet I am out to kill the beast.  I conjured up as much courage that I had.  I reached deep inside myself, trying to pull out any additional strength and bravery I had in there.  I stepped toward the tunnel entrance and hesitated. 

Come on, Charlie, I thought.  You can do this.  You are the bravest, you are the strongest, you are the predator.  The Wolf is the little pig now.  He is wounded.  He is not invincible.  He can die too.  You are here to kill him.

I was convinced now.  I was ready to do what I had to do.  I took one last deep breath and dashed down that tunnel like I had magic shoes on.  It almost felt like I was flying.  I did not even feel my feet hitting the floor.  I guess my anger was too strong to care about something like that.