I quickly counted the trees. There were eight in total, all varying in size. Were these wolves planning on biting down all the trees?

  I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was insane. When did wolves bite at trees to fell them? I’m a freaking squirrel for crying out loud. My body was the equivalent of a small chicken nugget. There was no way a dozen wolves would get any satisfaction out of eating me. I quickly began trying to devise a plan. I had a mind of a human and these were simple dogs. Dogs that knew how to fell a tree… But dogs all the same.

  I could easily, by time, by jumping between trees, if they could even make one fall, that was. Was I over reacting, surely they would give up. Looking down, I saw the wolves were viciously biting into the tree.

  “Oh, come on. At least take your time. You don’t want to get splinters.” The wolves paid no mind to me. Which made sense they were dogs and dogs were dumb.

  Taking a deep breath, I began looking around. If I was only in the forest, then there was no way they could get me. I could just move from tree to tree. Maybe I could make a run for it. It wasn’t too far. Only about a hundred feet, although with a dozen wolves chasing me, that hundred feet would seem like a hundred miles. But it seemed to be my only option. Less who ever owns the house came out and ran the wolves off, though that was unlikely. And I wouldn’t put my hope in dumb luck.

  What were the odds they caught up to me here? What was their plan if I would had been in the forest? “Focus.” Okay, the forest seemed my safest bet. If one of the trees fell toward the forest, then I could ride it as it fell and be that much closer. Though I wouldn’t know which way it would fall till it was falling. Also, I had no idea if I would get hurt in the impact I had extremely high agility in this form, but I wasn’t sure if that would save me.

  I briefly thought about how I would have even less of a chance to survive if I was still human. Though I wouldn’t be in this situation if I was human.

  The tree I was on began shifting and I quickly hopped to another. I needed to focus. Was my mind being influenced by this squirrel body? The tree landed away from the forest. This could just be coincidence, but I wasn’t sure. Theses wolves seemed intelligent, not to mention they had spoken. At least, I thought they did. It was only a single word, but it was still a word.

  I hated this new world. Glancing down, there were more wolves. “Where in the twisted tree nuts are you guys coming from?”

  Twisted tree nuts? That sounded worse than the curse word I was going to use. Shaking my head, I tried to control my rapid breaths. I would have to make a run for the forest. It was my only hope. There had to be two dozen of the wolves now, all chomping on the trees. It was an absurd sight. My hope that a farmer with a shotgun would emerge from the house vanished. Even with a shotgun, I doubted anyone would try and tangle with this many wolves.

  I had no idea what I had done to piss these wolves off so much. Maybe they were just this territorial. Or maybe they just hated squirrels. I hadn’t seen any squirrels after all. Had they killed all of them? Another tree fell, also falling away from the forest. There was no way this was a coincidence. They have likely done this same thing before.

  To my horror, the largest tree fell, and I wasn’t even near that one. Not only did they just fell the largest tree, but those branches were my only accesses to the other trees. The wolves were way too smart. Dogs were meant to be simple-minded creatures! This only left two trees, both of which had wolves biting at the trunks.

  My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to think of the best way to make my escape. If only I had a way to fight back. Though that would still be useless, there were just too many wolves. The largest wolf that was most likely the alpha had stepped back and was staring at me with hatred. I remembered this one. It was the first being I seen when I entered this world. I would never forget that scar running across its face. I just wished I could add to those scars.

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  “Can’t we talk about this? There were several deer back in that direction.” I held my paw up in the direction I had come from. “There was even a rabbit eating shrooms. It should be easy pickings.” To my surprise, the mention of the rabbit caused the Alpha to snarl and tilt his head in that direction.

  The tree I was on began to fall and I jumped to the last remaining tree. I knew it would also fall at any time. Pumping my self up, I slowly began moving down towards the trunk. I needed to be as close as possible to the forest. I was quicker than them, so would just have to use that to my advantage. Though I had no illusions of outrunning them. I also didn’t think I could make it past all the wolves. But I wasn’t about to just sit here while they ate me.

  As the tree started to fall in what seemed like slow motion, the larger wolf made a barking noise and all the other wolves moved back. Good, this only gave me a greater chance to get away. The enormous wolf seemed to smile at me.

  The tree was just about to hit the ground when I darted towards the wolf with everything I had. My plan was to run underneath him and towards the forest. It wasn’t much of a plan, but there weren’t really any options.

  The strange yellow bar appeared again as time slowed. Hopping to the ground in front of the alpha, I darted under him. To my surprise, he didn’t make a move. I quickly turned back and saw that even the tree was falling in slow motion. The yellow bar definitely had something to do with it, though I didn’t have time to think about this. I was just fixing to sprint towards the forest when, for whatever reason, I looked up while still under the alpha.

  That was the moment I had a grand idea for a distraction. If time was truly frozen for the duration of this bar, then I would give this mutt something to remember me by. I just had to work quick.

  I used my ridiculously sharp teeth and claws on the most vulnerable part of this alpha wolf. I spent a good portion of my yellow bar on this. And let’s just say that particular alpha wouldn’t be making any wolf pups for the foreseeable future.

  Distraction completed, I darted towards the forest with all the speed I could muster. The little yellow bar had less than a quarter remaining, and I really hoped I used the time wisely. My mad dash had me gasping for air. It was difficult to breathe while trying to spit out the taste of copper and dog fur, but I managed.

  The yellow bar bottomed out and vanished when I was only halfway to the safety of the forest. I heard the tree hit the ground. Then came the howls. These weren’t howls of anger, or from losing one’s prey, but howls of sheer agony. I didn’t need to be a wolf to understand that. I was a human male once, and was kicked in the gonads once. And what I had done was on an entirely different level. Part of me thought maybe I went a over bored but they were planning on eating me for no reason. High pitch whimpering echoed all throughout the forest. I was sure every creature in the forest and surrounding area was woken up by the howls of agony. I wanted to look back so badly. But I was afraid one of the other wolves would be behind me. And after what I had done, I doubted they would just simply kill me and eat me. Just thinking about what I did made me shiver. Survival would make you do the unthinkable. Pushing the thought away, I ran.

  Finally, I reached a tree in the forest and immediately scurried up the tree. Only then did I turn and look back. There looked to even be more wolves now. Three dozen or more all circled around the alpha. Gasping for air while spitting fur and the taste of copper from my mouth, I turned back to the forest. I was relieved to see that the forest looked to continue on indefinitely. The whimpering never ceased, even as I took off into the woods.

  “You did this to yourself.” I knew the alpha couldn’t hear me, especially over the whimpering.

  The sound was of sheer agony, and part of me felt bad. But it was a very small part. Those dogs should have just left me alone. Once I caught my breath, I picked up the pace, putting as much distance as I could between myself and the wolves.

  I got the sense I was getting close to this Mother Tree. I moved with as much speed as my bedraggled body would take me. Exhaustion wanted to take me, but fear kept me going. I needed to rest, and I really wanted to find a stream to rinse my mouth out.

  “I hate this world!”