Tarot Pack

As you wander hopelessly lost through the pitch black of this unfamiliar forest an icy wind wraps around you, sucking the breath from your lungs. Sounds of snow crunching under something's weight come from around you, causing your ears to perk up and a shiver to be sent down your spine. You whip your head around, unsuccessfully attempting to locate the source of the sound. With your eyes essentially useless in the contrast of the dark and the blinding white of the snow, you squint, swiveling your ears and hoping for the best. A bear? Coyotes perhaps?

A growl sounds off to your left, and footsteps to your right. Silently, you hold out hope that it's just coyotes.. Or preferably nothing at all, merely your lonely, paranoid mind playing tricks on you. Finally, both figures emerge from the shadows, ears pinned back and lips curled in raw aggression: circling you. Panicking, you mirror their behavior, lowering yourself to the ground and trying to follow both of them with your gaze, but always losing sight of one. 

One of the wolves clicks its teeth at you as a warning, and the other lets out a brief howl. You lash your tail anxiously, eyes bolting back and forth between the pair, but suddenly, they both turn and race back into the trees, disappearing into the shadows as if they had never existed. 

Still in shock, you stand in place, sight still blurry with snow and anxiety. After a few moments, a larger figure appears in the shadows. Its pelt almost seems to blend in with the shadows around it, its thick pelt seems to be littered with scars, the only thing remotely visible are its eyes. Glowing, vibrant yellow. 

"Follow me," It was obvious that this was an order, despite her misleadingly friendly smile.

You nod absently, still stunned and she turns away, swiftly weaving her way through the trees. As you struggle to keep up, she does not take notice, never bothering to slow down or wait for you to catch your breath.

---

After what felt like hours of uncomfortable, unbroken silence between you and the larger female, you finally burst through the trees into a clearing. The clearing contains a camp, several large caves hollowed into the side of the mountain, and dozens of wolves scattered across the rocky clearing. As you follow the female further into the camp, several wolves nod at her respectfully, others howl, and some avert their eyes completely. She seems unbothered, and does not acknowledge any of them. Instead, she leads you up a small, steep hill, and onto a rock, overlooking the camp. Only once you are at the top of this hill do you feel anxiety gnawing at your stomach; it could be that you are just realizing how far up the mountain you are, or it could be the strange pack that inhabits these mountains.

For a moment, the female merely gazes out into the crowd, seemingly not all there. She twitches, then promptly lifts her head and lets out an icy, bone chilling howl that echoes through the camp. Immediately, every wolf in the camp files into rows beneath the rock. Two wolves break off from their respective rows and gracefully glide up the hill, standing beside you on either side, yet staring straight ahead. Once the bustling below them ceased, and each and every wolf's eyes were on the female, she began,

"Friends. As you know, I am ever aware of our situation here. I am constantly notified of your suffering. How you have been cast from your homes, how you only long to be true to your nature." As she spoke, her body remained perfectly still, aside from the occasional twitch, "We have been without true food for far too long, my friends, and I know that we grow hungrier each day." She casts a glance back over the pair of wolves that stand beside you, and they shift closer to you. You grow more uncomfortable with each word.

Yipping and short howls come from the crowd before you, and it seems to fuel the passion of the Leader. She stomps her paw against the rock and speaks again, this time more fiery, 

"My friends! Tonight, we have been blessed by Diana! A pair of our hunters came across our most desired game," 

You start to lose track of what she's saying as your mind begins to race, you panic, looking at the two wolves on either side of you and beginning to realize what is about to happen.

"I know how you long to taste the meat of your brothers! And tonight, my friends, our brother has arrived!" She practically howled, and whipped back, nodding to the pair of wolves beside you. Instantly, the feeling of icy rock against your skin as your face and body are pressed against the ground. You writhe around, but it's of no use, the pair has their full weight pressed against you, and you struggle to maintain consciousness against the force of your skull cracking against the rock. Suddenly the female turns to you, seemingly finished with her speech, and you can hear the howling and excitement coming from the crowd below through the ringing in your ears. 

Your vision blurs, but you can feel the paw of the Leader smearing blood along your side, carving symbols on your face, and then dragging her claw down your side. As she claws, you weakly whine in pain, continuing to writhe around. She seems to be... speaking a different language? But that could just be the pressure on your brain.. 

As you fade in and out of consciousness, one of the hunters removes their weight, but you are still unable to stand. They rear back for a moment, before heaving themself onto one of your back limbs; you feel the bone snap and pierce through your skin. You scream in pain. Three more times this happens. Leaving each of your legs broken and useless. 

The Leader howls, and you hear the chorus of the others joining in. She takes a chunk from your leg and swallows it, before taking a step back and nodding to the hunters, who do the same. You're too weak to even make a sound, too weak to move. 

The last thing you feel is one of the hunters dragging your borderline lifeless body over to the edge of the rock and flinging you off. You hit the ground, somehow barely alive, and feel every bite. The immediate swarm of wolves eating away at your flesh, the horrible pain of your broken legs. You cough up a bit of blood, and finally fade into darkness.

~fin~