A huge wolf is in front of me, grey and white fur. I sigh, the wolf is easily 5'7" and looks nervous… no, I think the correct word is desperate.
A giant wolf ghost, that's a new one. I know that's not a normal wolf ghost, besides humans, there are not many animals that stay in this plane after death.
Animals such as wolves or deers normally pass as soon as they die. Taking humans out of the picture, animals know they no longer belong with the living and instinctively pass.
Pets sometimes decide to stay longer, not because they can't pass but because they want to stay a little longer with their humans, but this wolf doesn't look like someone's pet, he doesn't even feel like a regular wolf.
I hang my head in defeat and start walking towards the wolf, he notices me and once he notices I'm making eye contact with him he starts talking.
I'm used to seeing animals talking, I don't know if it's a weird perk of seeing ghosts but no matter what they are or where they are from, once they're dead, I can understand them all. That's why the talking wolf doesn't surprise me.
I still remember the time I spoke with my old neighbor's Labrador; she was old and they put her down due to illness, she visited me before she passed and told me where to find her ball, it was cute.
"Can you see me!?" the wolf interrupts my thoughts and shouts anxiously "Please! We made eye contact! Can you see me!?".
I turn around, making sure there's no one nearby, I don't want to deal with annoying rumors.
"ANSWER ME HUMAN!" he shouts louder "I don't have time! My alpha is in danger!".
I look at him confused. Time? He's already dead, he has all the time in the world. I pinch the bridge of my nose and prepare myself for a really tiring conversation.
"Please, stop shouting" I say calmly "You're making it a lot harder to awake my desire to help you".
He flinches and looks at me surprised, why is he surprised? He was literally the one that talked to me first.
"Please, help my alpha! They're a little further down this way" he says with desperate hope and points me in the direction with his paw.
I look at him unimpressed and he flinches at my lack of response. How does he expect me to help him if I don't know what the hell is going on?
"Can you explain the situation?" I ask and he nods.
He tells me his alpha is a huge wolf just like him and he's fighting against other wolves called… rogues? That they're dangerous and need to be killed. He wants me to help his alpha, apparently, something bad happened during the night and he was far too weak to deal with the rogues.
He told me he died while protecting his leader.
"Are you stupid?" I ask him and he flinches again.
"W-what?" the wolf says surprised.
I sigh "I don't like to repeat myself" I inform "I'm a weakling, I can't even lift a box without having a backache afterward, how do you expect me to protect your alpha when I can't even protect myself?".
"B-but… you can see me! If you're not strong how can you do that!?" he says, his wolfish face slowly turning more and more desperate by the second.
"I can only deal with ghosts… It's not like I can destroy mountains" I inform with a straight face and he whimpers.
"oh no… he's going to die… what do I do? What can I do!?" he says. I think he's trying to find a solution but what can a ghost do? He can't touch anything.
"Why is your alpha weak?" I ask curiously.
"He… woke up screaming in the middle of the night… saying he had horrible nightmares and that a shadow was trying to kill him… he's been tired the whole day as if someone sucked all of his energy" wolf whimpers and I open my eyes wide.
I turn to look at Blacky and he's smiling mischievously, or at least that's how it feels, and I facepalm myself. I regret with all my heart to have asked him that. I really hope I'm wrong at what I'm thinking.
I sigh and talk to the wolf again "Take me to the place their fighting" I say calmly.
He freezes and looks at me as if I was crazy. "I can't take you if you can't defend yourself! I will not send you there to die!" he shouts and I just get more annoyed.
"If you decide not to take me then I think you can only wait for his ghost to join you" I say tiredly.
Well, I'm not insisting if he doesn't want my help, since he's rejecting my assistance, it will not feel heavy on my conscience, I can just go quietly. I decide to give the wolf a couple of seconds to decide but he doesn't say anything.
I nod and turn my back on the wolf, I start walking towards my house, next time I will go to the town.
"Wait!" he shouts and I groan, there goes my chance of a peaceful day "Follow me, fast!" he starts walking towards the wilderness.
I look at Blacky and he's snickering, with that I'm almost sure of this alpha guy identity.
There's just one thing that doesn't make sense, this huge wolf says that the ones fighting are wolves. Actual physical wolves but that don't make sense, if his alpha is the person I think it is then that can't be true, humans can't turn into wolves.
We keep walking and I start hearing growls and snapping jaws. I squint my eyes and I finally see it, a big black wolf fighting against four smaller wolves. I say smaller but they were still big for a wolf.
The black wolf reminded me of the wolf I saw with Nick, I really hope I'm just imagining things. The other four wolves are different shades of brown and gray.
The moment I get close enough to the fighting wolves I freeze. I can't take my eyes away from the four wolves.
Behind them is a large thick black blob full of horrible pain fill faces. They're shouting, crying, begging for justice. The faces are of women, men, elders, and children. I know all of them had horrible unjust deaths, I know because I can feel it.
I can feel each bite, each torn limb, each tear and each drop of blood all of it felt as if it was my own. I can feel their thirst for revenge, their hate, everything. Bile burns my throat, threatening to escape my lips but I suppress it.
A loud yelp returns me to reality, and I see the black wolf fall unconscious. He's body slowly changes from the big wolf to a naked Nick.
…
Well, shit. Apparently, a wolf can change into a human.