LONE WOLF

~ Iain Kelly

After ten days and no sign of life, with his supplies consumed, Marshall decided to descend from the mountain top.

It was the middle of summer but all the trees were bare.

At the bottom of the path the brook had dried up, leaving only a muddy brown puddle where the clear fresh stream once flowed.

Marshall sank to his knees and scooped water to his mouth. He retched at the foul stench and taste.

Despair shrouded him, was he the only one left? The only one to survive?

A branch snapped, he turned sharply.

The wolf stared at him.

k-rawson
Copyright K Rawson

Written as part of the Friday Fictioneers challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (more details HERE). The idea is to write a short story of 100 words based on the photo prompt (above).

To read stories of 100 words based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.

I hadn’t intended a sequel to last week’s story, but the prompt photo fitted neatly into a continuation. You can read the first part here: THE ENEMY WITHIN, or enjoy it as a stand alone story in its own right.

Published by Iain Kelly

39 year old writer, avid film viewer and book reader, employed in the media industry as a television editor.

109 thoughts on “LONE WOLF”

  1. A lovely post-apocalyptic story, Iain. Just a couple of comments. It might be more powerful if it was a dog that looked at him. And I think it should be rectched, not wretched

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Now to find out whether he can repeat the bonding that started so long ago. Or maybe the encounter is simply the next hot meal for one of them. Nicely done.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  12. Normally, a wolf would have to be sick or starving to attack a human unless it felt cornered. I wasn’t sure if this was a story of a destroyed civilization or that somehow his party of campers, hunters, or whoever, had experienced a terrible calamity.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. If you look at the previous week it is indeed a destroyed civilisation of some kind. Wolves do get a hard press, although to be fair, I never said the wolf attacked him… Thanks James.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I’ve only heard of a single occasion where wolves made an unprovoked attack on a person and killed him, and it was hotly contested by wolf advocates. Normally, a wolf will get as far away from a human as possible. Of course, if it were starving, that would be another matter entirely.

        Liked by 1 person

  16. Hi Iain,
    Good to see we both survived the A-Z Challenge and made a contribution to our usual FF. Do you find it strange after going through something monumental like that, and returning to everyday life and the routine just keeps going, taking you along with it?
    I’ve decided to add a song/piece of music to each letter. My daughter dances and one of the older girls did an electrifying contemporary dance to She, which totally amazed me and it was filled with such expressive and acrobatic movement but I’ve attached the song to the very static Venus de Milo and it really does seem rather comical. You have to have a bit of fun with these things.
    Getting onto your story, I really enjoyed it and I particularly loved that snap of the branch and the appearance of the wolf. I like the wolf versus the domestic dog, although one of those agro farm dogs would also work or a rabid dog. Being Australian, I’d exchange your wolf for a dingo.
    Best wishes,
    Rowena

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks Rowena, I liked the myth and mystique that comes with a wolf over a dog, such a magnificent animal. As for the A – Z challenge, what I find surprising is how much spare time I know have to get on with other things without having to write and read so many posts every day 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Yes, I’ve been freed up a lot too, althought there’a backlog of stuff to get onto and I put my name down to perform on my violin in a few weeks. I’ll be doing Minuet by Beethoven as a duet with my teacher does a great job of compensating for my mistakes.

        Liked by 1 person

  31. Great continuation from last week, as well as an excellent stand-alone story. I wonder whether Marshall will try to follow the wolf to see whether he has found a source of prey?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  39. Like Sandra, I was wondering if this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or the next meal for one of them… great continuation of last week’s story. And the devastation and despair comes through loud and clear.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  40. This I not the sign of life he wanted😅 kind of reminded me of Liam Neeson’s Grey. It was about post apocalyptic world, but wolves did play an important part in it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.