A few weeks ago, on a beautiful autumn evening, my wife and I were out walking along the woods at the edge of town. The air was crisp and carried along on a nice gentle breeze. The setting sun was casting beautiful golden orange rays on the trees whose leaves were shining cheerfully in the natural spotlight. It lasted only a few minutes until the sun retreated behind the horizon, leaving the scene cast in a dulling grey but for those moments it was simply gorgeous.

It didn’t grow terribly dark as even then we could see the full moon rising above the opposite horizon, visible but not yet at its brightest. We continued walking along, enjoying what had turned into a night hike, something we haven’t had an opportunity to do in quite awhile. Enjoying each others company, staying close to share warmth against the chilling air, we listened as the leaves crunched beneath our feet. Lost in the moment we barely heard the distant howls and yips rising in the night.

Coyotes, often heard around here, had started their nightly songs and they started getting louder. We listened to them as we walked with no reason to worry since they don’t approach humans. Oh how wrong we were.

The pack emerged from the woods onto the path in front of us. I counted four of them, at least visible to us that the time. These weren’t your normal small coyotes, they were much larger. Apparently cross bred with dogs or wolves they were easily half again larger than a normal coyote should be. I waved my arms and shouted a bit but they didn’t turn to run. They spread out a little, seeking to encircle us where they could attack from behind.

My wife and I turned back to back so that between the two of us we wouldn’t lose sight of any. We continued to yell and wave our arms, trying to scare them off. I even chucked a rock at one but he just snapped at it as he stepped aside. They were very intent on their prey, us.

Then the lead coyote pounced, his paws landing firmly on my chest. It knocked me off balance and struggled as I did to stay standing, I fell, my wife tumbling with me. We knew it was over for us, they had us now. Then a blur passed above our falling selves. Growls rang out, then yips as whatever it was had attacked the leader. Regaining our footing we surveyed the battle. There amidst the pack of coyotes was a man sized wolf standing on two legs!

The werewolf was more than a match for the coyotes. They tried to attack from all sides but the werewolf was too quick. The coyotes started to retreat and the werewolf chased them. We didn’t stay to watch any longer, having a desire to live, so we took off running as fast as we could manage back to our car. We haven’t gone back either. The best reason we could gather for the werewolf saving our lives is a territorial dominance, had we stayed to thank him we’d likely not be here to tell the tale.

So that was the time a werewolf saved my life. Thankful he was there for the moment but certain we could have been his victims all the same.

[The End]

This was my entry for Day 19 of the 31 Days of Halloween writing challenge (explain how a werewolf saved your life) hosted over at Flutter by Literature. Be sure to check out all the awesome entries!

Find my earlier entries here:

1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9—10—11—12—13—14—15—16—17—18

The werewolf movie that scared me the most as a kid?

© 2018 – James Sponseller – mindescapes.net

Special thanks to Dieter_G for the werewolf image