Ogreness, Black Lake-book5

Chapter 2
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A guy would think with my ogre stride I’d catch up with a puny human pretty fast. I hit the main loop and optimistically turned right, since we always run counterclockwise.

A mile later I was worryin’ I mighta shoulda struck out in the opposite direction. I passed the trail to the southern loop. Still no Dave. I shoulda caught up with him by now, right? I started worryin’ maybe Dave decided on a short run and headed south, for the wraparound trail back into our subdivision via the main entrance.

No light to speak of still, I assumed the shadow blottin’ the trail ahead had to be Dave. He must have stopped to tie his shoe.

The shadow split two ways, then three ways. A bit short, even for a human—oh stink.

I staggered out of my hard run to face three wolves. Erp. They must have been gnawin’ down on something they killed, considerin’ the way they wafted back and forth in the middle of the trail. The odor of the kill finally hit me.

Must have just taken down whatever they were hidin’ behind them, or Dave would have been footin’ it in reverse and we would have met.

“So what are ya guys doing on the plains this time of year, huh boys? Shouldn’t ya be up in the hills with all the snow melted?”

The alpha of the small pack snarled. His two buds followed after him. The aroma of their breaths hit me. Deer breath. Lovely.

“I don’t want yar breakfast, promise, but I have to pass ya gents,” I said in my friendliest voice.

The three growled. I growled back at them. Even to an ogre, our growls are intimidating. These three slunk backward, but they weren’t ready to give up their snack yet.

I answered their louder snarls with my own. And stink, if the guy actin’ all alpha didn’t dash into a sprint toward me. A bluff. I held still. Never met a wolf that wasn’t scared stiff of my kind.

He launched, straight for my face.

That ain’t supposed to happen.

Somehow I dipped low enough he went mostly over me, claws draggin’ across my shoulder and arm. The other two dudes approached at a sprint, and two seconds later I was surrounded. Oh stink.

Time to get off the trail, or accept I’d have to rip a few wolves in half. I really didn’t want to do that. The highways kill enough of the little guys. Humans like to shoot ’em. Yeah. Wolves take a couple sheep and goats down every year, but the species can’t even keep the varmint population down, much less the deer, which impact the future of our pine forests. We really oughta be givin’ ’em free Viagra.

I plowed off the trail, branches draggin’ across my forearms which I braced in front of me. Needles slashed my face. The pine scent drowned my sinuses. I veered right, but at this point, did I really think I’d be able to catch up with Dave?

What choice did I have? I picked up my pace. My arms would be shredded by the time I got back on the trail. At least I didn’t hear, or smell, my four-pawed buddies on my heels. I stuck to the brush longer than I probably needed to but I didn’t need another dust up with three bull wolves.

Back on the trail I tried to push back into a sprint. Maybe it was the blood I knew trailed down my leg from hurdlin’ my gate, or the sprained ankle, or the gazillion scratches burnin’ my arms. I should have worn a tee instead of a tank. Maybe my attitude’s slowin’ me down too. I have those stinkin’ eggs to wash off the house.

A mile later I reached the cutoff for my ravine and still hadn’t caught up with Dave. I staggered to a halt, slung my arms about in a mini-tantrum, and said darn a couple times. And a couple of my favorite troll expressions. Sorry, Mama.

“Enough of this nonsense,” I hissed.

A yelp thread from the gloom. “Who’s there?”

Uh. “Just me,” I called back. “Uh. Ike.”

“Ya’re with an ogre, woman. Chill,” a deeper voice returned from the wash below.

Two forms folded out of the dark. Another pair of running enthusiasts, by their attire. I was rather shocked. A human woman and an ogre hen. There aren’t that many humans willin’ to be seen with an ogre these days, as though we’re the enemy.

Dave doesn’t count. He isn’t socially aware. All he cares about is computer code. Lives it, dreams it.

I recognized my human neighbor Silva in the gloom. “What are you doing lurking around?” I think that’s what she said, but my tongue was wound around an ankle or something. No words made it through any synapses. The sky might have clouded over. In other words, I was gobstruck by the ogre hen standin’ in front of me, next to Silva.

Wow. What a looker.

“What happened to you, Ike?” Silva blurted. Actually, I was surprised she bothered to ask. She and her husband have never appeared very happy I built next door. My place doesn’t exactly fit in, spread across four regular lots. The HOA sued me. Ha. I had better attorneys.

The ogre hen with Silva reached out, began pullin’ parts of forest out of my dreads. “Ya’re bleeding,” she said matter-of-factly, in a Northern accent.

“Uh.”

They both gazed at me. Silva bolted her head forward a bit, I think to provoke me to explain.

“Oh,” I gushed. “There are wolves east of the southern spur that made me skirt around ’em off-trail. I’d avoid that section of the loop.”

“Good to know,” the ogre hen mumbled. “Ya afraid of wolves?” The grin was uncalled for.

“They were suppin’ on a deer,” I said.

“And ya didn’t want to disturb ’em?” The smirk was clear in the ogre hen’s voice.

“We better go,” Silva told her companion, nudgin’ her in the arm.

Before they got away I asked her if Ralph was home, though what I wanted to ask her was who was the babe she was with. “I locked myself out and need to borrow a phone.”

Both females laughed. “Ralph’s doing his machines with earbuds in. Ring the bell but he probably won’t hear you.” I barely caught the last of her statement as the two blended into the dark. A last ogre hen chuckle reached me a moment later. It clicked late that maybe one of them was carryin’ a phone.

Females. Meaner than cougars. Not a lot of sympathy. Or empathy. I scratched at my forearm without thinkin’, which wasn’t a good idea. Burned like the dickens. Speakin’ of felines, I’m clawed up like I’d gone to war with a gaggle of the creatures.

I managed across the ravine without wrenchin’ my good ankle. Got a good poke in the butt climbin’ my gate, but I don’t think that drew blood. I might need to visit a blood bank as it is.

Sissy barked her head off as I came over. Stinkin’ girl couldn’t smell it was me? She had her teeth on my ankle before I think she realized I wasn’t a favorite foe. Though some of the raccoons she despises that visit the bird feeder could eat her for brunch.

~ Nuel ~

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Eh. Neighbor,” Silva answered. “I told you about him.”

“From the mausoleum?” I cracked up when she first called it that.

“The one.”

“Ya’re right. He is cute. But seemed to be a bit of a space cadet.”

“There you go girl. Best thing to do, get right back on the horse.”

That irritated me more than a little. The girl part. She knows our kind don’t like to be called that. We’re bulls and hens. Not boys and girls. And there was no way I wanted to look at another bull for at least a year. It wasn’t a bad break up. But a break up is a break up.

~