The Road to Town Pt 2

Sprinting as fast as I could around the corner I was brought to an abrupt stop as my heart leapt into my throat when I saw who and what caused the scream. Isabell, my close friend and long time crush, was frozen in place with her back pressed against a tree and Ren, my best friend of over a decade was laying on the side of the road bloody and unmoving. In front of them was a creature rarely seen in this area, a fully grown bull elk and he was angry.

'Shit, they're normally not this aggressive. What are they even doing out here? And why are they on foot and not in a car? And what shitty luck do they have to have to run into one of these things when I can't hardly find them when I intentionally look for weeks at a time?' An aggressive snort from the elk brought me out of my train of thought. 'Never mind that now, I need to get in there to save Isabell and to see if Ren is still alive and help him if I can. I don't have time to shift into a wolf so I'll have to hope I get lucky with a good shot from my bow.'

I was about 75 meters away so I gently set my backpack on the ground as quietly as I could and nocked an arrow making my way forward as quickly and quietly as I could. The elk failed to notice me coming as it had already focused in on Isabell and was getting ready to charge in at her. I drew my arrow back about 65 meters away from the elk seeing knowing I didn't have much time before it charged Isabell and I knew she wouldn't stand a chance. The arrow flew true and struck the elk towards the back of its chest just as it had begun its charge. Thankfully, it was enough to stop its charge at Isabell and get its attention away from her, unfortunately it wasn't a fatal blow and now I had an angry, injured elk with its sights set on me.

I nocked another arrow as fast as I could as the elk began charging at me, quickly closing the distance between us. By the time I had fired the arrow the elk had already closed the distance to just 50 meter and it was still getting faster. I hurriedly nocked another arrow as the first one flew through the air and right as it struck the elk in the front of its right leg there was only 45 meters left between us. The elk slowed down slightly, but not enough to matter but it was enough to give me an idea. I drew my bow back and aimed at the left leg of the elk.

40 meters left.

"Isabell!" I yelled trying to break her out of her still frozen state.

35 meters left.

"Isabell!" I yelled even louder when she still didn't respond.

30 meters left.

"ISABELL!" She finally broke out of her near comatose state and looked at me.

25 meters left.

"Check on Ren and see if he's alive. If he is and he can move get him up and get the two of you out of here."

20 meters left.

"We're not leaving you behind Connor! I'm not!"

"You're not strong enough to help and he's to hurt. Get yourselves out of the way so I don't have to worry about you!"

15 meters left

"Fine!" She yelled back clearly unhappy.

I turned my full attention back to the elk waiting for the perfect moment to time my shot.

10 meters left.

Now!

As soon as the elk crossed ten meters I let the arrow fly at it's left leg hoping the closeness and the momentum of the elk would help drive it deep enough to injure it more severely. As soon as the arrow cleared my bow I dove out of the way, not having time to wait and watch my arrow hit its target unless I wanted to be gored by the elk.

I heard a *Thwack* sound as I rolled across the ground, narrowly missing being gored or trampled by the elk. I rolled to my feet just in time to see the elk turn and face me. There was about 10 meters between us now, which wasn't a whole lot of room.

'At least it won't be able to build up a lot of speed for a decent charge this time, and I don't have my back to a tree frozen like Isabell did.'

I noticed the arrow I shot at its left leg buried halfway up thee shaft where the leg meets the chest of the elk.

'This thing has incredible endurance to keep going through three arrows like that, especially the last one. Also, why hasn't it run away yet? I know it's big but it's still a prey animal and they normally run when they hear or smell something coming, much less when they're injured.'

We stood there staring each other down. I didn't dare try and nock an arrow as I wouldn't have time to shoot if the elk started charging from my movement. I didn't know what kept the elk in place as is stood there staring me down breathing heavily.

'If I had a better close range weapon besides just this hunting knife I might be able to make a better move, but the hunting knife is to short and we're to close to really be able to use the bow. Maybe if I had someone to draw the elks attention I could use the bow at this range but that's not an option right now either. It'd be great if it didn't take so long to shapeshift, that would probably solve the issue at this point as well.'

I thought through all my options for a couple more seconds but I didn't see a good way out of this situation. I decided I had to make a move before I let the elk take the initiative away from me and took a deep breath to steel my nerves. I reached slowly to grab an arrow from my quiver, doing my best not to spook the elk into a charge before I was ready. As my hand gripped an arrow and started to slowly pull it out the elk gave a warning snort and stomped its feet. I continued moving slowly until my arrow cleared the quiver and I got it nocked. I took another deep breath to steady myself and just as I went to raise my bow the elk began to charge. Bringing the bow into position and drawing the arrow back as fast as I possibly could I aimed at he throat of the elk hoping to end this fight here and now. As soon as the bow was in position I released the arrow and immediately dove out of the way, this time I wasn't as lucky however. I felt the powerful legs of the elk kick me in the right side and I felt a couple of my ribs give way from the force behind the blow.

I grimaced getting up to my feet, knowing I didn't have time to nurse my wounds if my plan didn't go perfectly. When I saw the elk it was shaking its head side to side as if was trying to dislodge something and slightly staggering. Its staggering got worse until it collapsed onto the ground. I immediately pulled my hunting knife and jumped onto its chest stabbing it in the neck and removing the knife again to make it bleed out faster. I watched as it's breathing got shallower the more of the crimson fluid flowed from its wounds, and when its breathing finally stopped I reached out to absorb its blood essence.