"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I screamed into the emptiness. "Whatever you are—just come in front of me! Stop acting like a sound-making maniac!"
My breaths came fast and heavy. Huff... puff... huff...
Seriously, I was fighting... something. Creature? Spirit? Phantom? Whatever it was, I still hadn't seen it. It kept sneaking up behind me, striking, then vanishing. I was drenched in blood, my own blood.
SLASH!
Another cut. This time across my stomach.
"Arghhh!" I stumbled back, pain radiating through my body.
This invisible bastard wasn't just attacking from behind anymore—it was hitting me from all sides. No pattern, no rhythm. Just chaos and pain.
I looked down. Blood everywhere. My fur was soaked.
"I need to do something..."
But what could I do? I was a wolf, for fuck's sake! How was I supposed to fight something I couldn't even see?
I could hear it though. Every time it attacked, there was always a sound. A subtle noise—like a crack, a creak, a breath—right before the strike.
Wait.
Hear. Listen. That was the key.
"So what if I just stop hearing?" I thought.
I'm a genius!
Without wasting another second, I lifted both my front paws and slammed them over my ears. No sound. Complete silence.
Now you can't trick me with your noise, asshole!
But then...
SLASH!
Blood sprayed out of my ass.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?"
I was howling. Not from pain. From betrayal. Emotional betrayal.
"I THOUGHT I HAD IT!"
I dropped to the floor, panting, shaking, bleeding out from at least seven different places.
Nothing was working. Every idea I came up with just made me look like the dumbest wolf to ever live.
Maybe I was done. Maybe this was it.
What was the point of living anyway?
I mean, I'm just a wolf. I'll hunt, eat, maybe screw a lady wolf someday if I'm lucky… then die.
So why not now? Just lay here and let this invisible psycho finish the job.
The thoughts curled in my mind like smoke, suffocating me.
Weak. I feel weak. I want to quit.
Then—
A howl.
But not from outside.
It came from me.
From deep within.
A spirit-like howl erupted from my chest and echoed through the cave. It didn't just echo—it shattered the fog in my mind. It cleared everything.
What the hell was I doing covering my ears like an idiot?
I'm a wolf.
A hunter.
An apex predator of the wild.
I wasn't meant to hide from sound. I was made to track it. To hunt it.
So this time… I closed my eyes.
No distractions. No fear. Just sound.
Let the ears do the hunting.
SLASH.
Blood poured from my shoulder.
Still, I kept my eyes closed.
SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.
Each hit burned. But now I was listening—really listening.
And that's when I heard it.
Each time it struck me, it made a noise. But the noise wasn't from where the attack came—it was a decoy.
A misdirection.
Like a magician throwing a coin left, while stabbing you from the right.
This time I heard a crack to my left.
But I knew now—he wasn't on my left. He was coming from the front.
I opened my eyes, ready—finally ready to catch this bastard—
And instantly regretted it.
What I saw made me puke.
I'm not even kidding. I literally puked all over the cave floor.
It was disgusting.