"Wolves, how can there be wolves here?" Xander asked the man who shouted. He did not receive any information about this matter. They only said that it was dangerous but not with wolves and the other sections were also explored but there was no report about wolves about them.
"Wolves are native in this area but they never ventured near the site due to the construction and the number of people here," he explained. "This is the first time that I have heard their howl this near to the site."
"That should have been put on the report," his fists clenched and his body tensed. It was negligence but there was nothing they could do now. "Well then, let's leave this place immediately. We can talk about this after we return to the base," Xander gestured for them to start walking. They went the way they came from but they only took a few steps forward when they heard growls coming from around them.
The people on the group stopped on their tracks and Xander gestured for them to keep silent. He could feel the tension and fear rising in the atmosphere which will only heighten the senses of the wolves. Xander signaled for them to remain calm and breathe evenly so as not to alert the wolves.
"What should we do?" one of them whispered. Her voice was trembling and her eyes could not stop looking around. With the whisper came another round of growls and one by one wolf appeared from behind the trees and bushes.
Their eyes were red and saliva was dripping from their mouths. The group were trapped with the wolves surrounding them and all they could do was drew near to each other. Xander could hear the ladies started to cry but still doing their best to hold it back. "What-what kind of wolves are these?" one man asked in fright after seeing the wolves that were growling at them.
One by one the wolves approached them followed by the start of screaming from the two women who came with them. One of them started to shout hysterically, the others tried to calm her down but nothing worked. The sudden turn of events made the wolves excited and without hesitation one of them lunged towards them.
"Watch out!" Xander stepped in front of them and raised his arms to block the attack. The wolf bit hard but he was not fazed, instead he swung his arm and threw the wolf on the side. By doing so, he was also able to hit one of the wolves.
"Sir!" one of them got to Xander and pulled him back. "You're bleeding," he exclaimed after seeing the ghastly wound on his right arm.
"I'm fine," Xander pressed on the wound to at least slowdown the bleeding. The by his side fished out a handkerchief and helped to tie it around the wound but it was immediately soaked. Xander did not comment on it and instead look at the people with him. "All of you look for anything you can use to defend yourselves. We need to fight our way against these wolves. We don't have time to be afraid if we want to live." The command brought them back to the present after the shock of the first attack. They scrambled to look for anything they can use as a weapon. The three men stood protectively in front of the two women while holding the rod for land survey as a weapon. While Xander and the other man with them raised their hiking staffs.
The wolves started to hungrily circle around them. Their growls became louder and louder so as the heartbeat of the people being surrounded by them. In a split second, the wolves lunge all at once towards them without hesitation. Xander and his colleagues swung and stabbed the weapons in their hand towards the wolves. With the adrenaline pulsing in their system and the instinct to survive, they carved a path amidst the onslaught of the bloodthirsty wolves.
Once a path was opened, they started to run for their lives but the wolves were persistent, they will not let go of their prey unless they are already shredded into pieces. "Keep running! Don't stop! Don't look back!" Xander instructed while they were running, they needed to reach the cleared area of the site where people were waiting for them.
Every step they took were desperate, they did not stop from running even though they had started to gasp for air due to exhaustion and their limbs were already going numb. A few meters more and they will be safe but before they could feel relieved, a large wolf jumped out of nowhere and lunge towards one of them, before he could react, he was already pushed out of the way.
He was stunned as he sat on the ground where he had fallen after Xander pushed him out of harm's way. His eyes were wide open in shock and he could smell the metallic scent of the blood that got on his face. The scream of terror came as they looked at what had happened behind them, this scream had also alerted the people waiting for them so without a moment's hesitation the people outside rushed to where the sound came from only to see the group in a stricken state. Xander and the wolf disappeared.
Carl arrived and saw the state of Xander's team but he did not see the man himself. "Where's Xander?" he grabbed the nearest person to him but the person averted his gaze and refused to speak because he was at a loss on how to tell the man that Xander was missing and that there was a possibility that he might be already dead.
The look on the man's eyes immediately made Carl take a step back. "Have you sent a search party?" he asked in a weak voice as his shoulders slumped down.
"We want to but we can't right now, those wolves might still be roaming around the place and we do not have the right equipment to do a search. We can't risk more lives at this moment, I'm sorry." The man gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in frustration. He looked towards the dense forest and closed his eyes.
With his hands crossed on his chest and a clouded face, Carl stayed on the side as their medical team came to check on the team that went with Xander. After an hour, one of the doctors that came called him. "I want you to keep calm, whatever they say, you need to keep calm." He nodded with a stiff face as he followed the doctor to one of the temporary tents they set up for the patients.
They entered and saw one of the members of the team sitting dazedly on one of the seats inside. The doctor gestured for Carl to take the seat in front of the man. Without hesitation, Carl took the seat and looked at the disheveled man before him. After a while, the man started to narrate what had happened and every word he said made Carl angry.
He left the tent and made an urgent call after that he supervised the transfer of the injured to the hospital. The others decided to stay and act as guards just in case those wolves decided to leave the forest. Two hours had passed when they heard the sound of a helicopter flying atop them. Several people alighted from the helicopter through ropes, a total of ten men came down and met with Carl.
"Find him, don't stop until you find him," was the only words he relayed to the leader of the special team he called to scour the forest in order to find Xander. No more words were exchanged after that and the leader nodded before he gestured for his men to move.
Carl watched as the men entered the forest, the surge of emotion caught him as he closed his eyes to stop himself from trembling. He was not sure on how to tell Xerra what had happened. If it was possible, he would like to delay it a little bit more until they find him but he knew that this kind of matter cannot be hidden forever. He stiffly turned around and nodded to the other people still there before he left.
Every minute that passed by while he stayed inside the car made his heart heavier. The inside of the car became stuffy and he found himself trembling even more. Carl inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, he did this several times until he mustered up the courage to step out from the car. He took his time to walk towards their cabin and stopped in front of the closed the door. Another deep breath, he slowly opened the door to find that Xerra was standing not far from the door.
"He's not alright, am I right?" the tremble in her voice broke the man's heart. He reached for Xerra and hugged her tight. Tears gushed out from the child's eyes as she silently cried in Carl's embrace. Somehow, she had a feeling that something had happened to her brother when the news of the incident reached the base and seeing that he was not with Carl she could not stop the tears from falling.
"He'll be fine, we will find him. I will do everything in my power to find him." He softly patted Xerra's back to soothe her. They stayed embracing each other for a long time until the child finally fell asleep due to exhaustion from crying too much.
Carl carried and carefully placed her under the quilts. This was not supposed to happen, it was just a simple inspection why did it turn out like this? The answer to this, Carl did not know. All they can do right now was to wait for the news after the search. He hoped that they can still find Xander, he hoped that he was still alive out there.