Cerberus and I spent the whole afternoon, and most of the evening, eating treats and watching old movies on television. It was just a nice and relaxing time. It felt good that Cerberus didn't demand anything, or whined that the movies were terrible. I had to admit that some of them were pretty bad, but he never complained and neither did I. I had just finished up eating my granola bar and wiping the crumbs off my t-shirt when the phone rang. I checked out the caller ID and it said that it was the emergency room at the hospital.

“Hello?”

“Is this Ms. Scott?” A man's voice asked.

“Yes.”

“Your name was in the contact information for an Alice Grant. I'm sorry, there's been an accident.”

“How is she?”

“We can't discuss the conditions of patients over the phone. Hospital policy.”

“Is she... dead?” I whispered.

“No... that much I can tell you, but we'd have to see you in person to give out any more details. There's some paperwork to sign as well.”

“I'll be right there.”

I looked at Cerberus and he looked at me. We both had sad looks on our faces. Out of all the people in this world that bad stuff could happen to, why would it have to happen to Alice? She was like the epitome of nice. If you looked up the word 'nice' in the dictionary, her picture would be there.

Well... okay, not really. Her picture should be there, though. I nodded to Cerberus and we both got off the couch. I went into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of boot cut jeans and a shirt to throw on. I got dressed in record time and was almost out the front door when Cerberus shot past me to the outside.

“Hey, come on. You can't go with me. It's a hospital. No pets.”

He gave me his sad puppy dog eyes.

“No, I said. Now get back in the house.”

He just sat there by the car and didn't move.

“Look, I'm just going to leave you here if you don't go inside.”

He turned his head away to stare at the car.

“Fine. Be that way.”

I grabbed my purse and then shut and locked my door. I walked to the driver's side of my car as Cerberus just sat there and stared at me. I shook my head and got in, started it up, and pulled out of the driveway. I got about halfway down the street before I looked back, and I saw that he was still sitting there, staring at the car as I drove away.

I huffed at myself and started to stop the car. He must have seen the brake lights because he was off like a shot down the street and before I had the car completely stopped he was waiting at the passenger side door. I reached across the seat and opened the door as I shook my head at him.

“In the back.” I said.

I folded the passenger seat forward to let him into the backseat and he barked and hopped up without any trouble at all. I shook my head again and shut the door, then I smiled at myself because I just had an argument with my dog, and the dog won. With Cerberus in the car all nice and cozy laying down on the backseat, we headed off to the hospital. I had a feeling that this was the start of a very long night.

We turned off of my street and made our way to the main road. We cut across a few side streets that I really shouldn't be taking this late at night; but, I was in a hurry. I had to get to the hospital because my friend was in trouble. That was all the justification I needed and I could only hope that the cops will see it the same way if I get stopped for one of the many moving violations that I was currently engaging in... the main one being speeding in a residential area.

A short time later we made it out of the suburb that I lived in and arrived at the main thoroughfare where I could really step on my gas pedal. I start to push my little car to its limits, revving the engine more than it had ever been revved before. If I wasn't in such a rush I think I might have enjoyed cutting loose like this. I heard it said that a car isn't really broken in until you red-line the needle at least once. I can't remember if it was the speedometer that they meant, so I didn't test it.

I was driving for about 20 minutes when something darted out from the side of the road and into my car's path. I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel so that I wouldn't hit the thing, whatever it was. I then heard a loud thump and then another softer one. I'd hit it! In more of a panic now than I was a moment before, I twisted the wheel back the other way, not thinking what it would do, and the car slid off the edge of the pavement and the right front tire dug into the dirt.

There was a sudden stop and then the car flipped once, end over end, then it started to roll. I kind of blacked out for a minute, because when I came to, the car was resting on the driver's side door. Thankfully, I had remembered to fasten my safety belt and it had saved my life. It was then that I realized that Cerberus had been just laying on the backseat and wasn't buckled in.

I almost screamed at that realization and tried to turn frantically in my seat. I couldn't manage it because I was buckled in, so I reached down and struggled with the seat belt release for a minute or two until I finally got it to open. I landed on the driver's side door and moved around to get on my knees to look in the backseat... and he wasn't there!

“N-n-no!” I almost cried when I saw that the rear window had been broken out and he must have been thrown from the car during our tumble. I got up from where I was and crawled into the backseat and then out of the car through the broken window. I didn't smell any gas, so I wasn't worried about a fire or an explosion or anything. I was only worried about Cerberus.

I stumbled back towards the road where I thought we had left it, and looked side to side to see where Cerberus might have gotten thrown. I got about halfway back to the pavement when I saw his still form resting in a squashed bit of long grass. Tears sprang to my eyes because he looked like he was just sleeping. Oh, I hope he's just sleeping! I didn't know if I could handle it if I lost him from such a stupid mistake!

I rushed to his side and saw that he was bleeding... but still breathing! I shifted him a bit and saw that he had landed on what was left of the broken rear window. I cried as I lifted him slowly from the broken glass and put him onto his good side in some clean grass nearby. The blood was everywhere! I cried some more with great racking sobs, and I was nearly incoherent... then I remembered I had a cell phone. I reached down and gently pat Cerberus on his head.

“Don't worry, baby. Momma is gonna get you some help right now.”

I stood up and turned away from that heartbreaking sight and went back towards the car. My cell phone was in my purse, and that should still be in the car under the front seat where I had stashed it. I was about 20 feet from the car when I heard something. It sounded like grass ruffling, even though there wasn't any wind.

“Hello?” I called out and there was no answer. I heard another rustle sound. “Is anybody there?”

There was still no answer, so I took another step towards the car and heard a distinct growl. I spun on my heels to the right and was startled by what I saw. A wolf... and not just any wolf, either. It was huge! I mean, Cerberus was a good size for a dog, because he was a bit bigger than a real wolf; but, this thing was the size of a lion or a small bear. I didn't know that they could get so big!

I was in shock I think, and so awestruck that I didn't hear the others as they approached. I didn't notice I was being surrounded until it was too late. Their first attack got me in the back and I tumbled forward as I felt claws dig into my skin. My instincts for fighting kicked in and I rolled with the force of the impact and got out of its path. The wolves were so fast that I had a hard time following their movements.

I instinctively crouched low to the ground to present a smaller target, and they still had no trouble hitting me. They would dart in and grab at me with their mouths or swipe at me with their claws. Wounds blossomed all over my body and I was bleeding quite a lot. They tore through my jeans like it was paper to get at the flesh beneath... which also tore like paper under those teeth and claws.

I had no choice and I took it all, since most of my injuries were just flesh wounds and they hadn't hit anything vital. Yet. I didn't scream or try to run, either. That would have been just plain stupid. The last thing you want to do with a predator on your tail is try to run. Screaming? All that does is draw more attention to you which is also something you don't want to do.

I took their attacks and waited for my moment. I knew I wasn't going to make it out of this alive... because there were six of them. I wasn't going to get away, no matter what I did. My only regret was that I wasn't going to get Cerberus the help that he needed before my time was up.

For some reason I had the distinct thought that they were playing with me. I wasn't sure why I thought that, then I saw out of the corner of my eye that one was crouched and looked about ready to pounce on me. It must have been going for a take-down attack instead of the hit and run ones like they had been using up until now. I smiled and turned at the last second to take its charge.

The wolf seemed surprised and that gave me the split second I needed to knock its open muzzle aside with my forearm and used its own forward momentum to move myself behind its head just enough so I could wrap my arms around its neck. I held on like my life depended on it, and it did in some respects. It tried to hook me with its claws to push me off; but, I was inside its attack range now and it couldn't reach me completely.

It still scratched up my arms and tore at my skin, even though it didn't have the leverage to do much of anything else. I tightened my grip on its neck and felt around for the big vein. I found what I was looking for and mashed my hand down on it and held it there. It couldn't have known what I was doing because it didn't fight any harder to get rid of me. Its movements slowed more and more until eventually it stopped fighting completely.

I nearly collapsed under its weight when it finally gave up and passed out. I took hold of the back of its head with my left hand, to act as the fulcrum, and grabbed hold of its jaw with my right hand. The other wolves watched as I pulled sharply and heard the crack of its neck, which sounded surprisingly like a gunshot in the suddenly still darkness, especially with no other sounds around to drown it out.

We all stood there in silence while we all absorbed the situation. After a moment, one of the other wolves let out a low howl and then the others joined in. They raised their heads and progressed in a louder and louder crescendo until they all reached the same pitch and then stopped. They lowered their heads and looked at me.

I guess that meant they were done playing around. I had hoped to take one or two more out before they finally finished me off; but, it looks like they had their own idea about how this situation was going to play out. I was outnumbered five to one, out-muscled, and out-manoeuvred. I was surrounded by my death. I thought I had started to come to grips with that when they all attacked me at the same time, unlike what I thought would happen with one taking me down and the others eating.

I didn't scream at all as they bit and clawed at me for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't see past all of the fur and teeth and my blood gushed out of my body through punctures and slashes from both teeth and claws that moved faster than I could keep track of. At one point I stopped feeling it at all and only felt my body moving slightly from the impacts.

The blood flowed over the grass in an ever increasing tide of crimson. It wasn't like they show you on the television or in the movies at all. There was approximately 2 gallons of blood in the human body, so if you want any idea of how much that really is, you should buy 2 gallons of milk and try dumping it on the floor. Believe me, it makes a huge mess.

I was pulled out of my reverie when one of the wolves let out a loud squeal. It stopped attacking me and turned away. In the cleared spot its absence left, I saw Cerberus! He had dragged himself over to the fight to help me. How I loved that dog! The other wolves saw what had happened and turned to the new threat. I used the last of my strength as I reached up and plunged my thumb into the closest wolf's eye and felt the flesh break apart. It howled and jumped away from me and spun on the spot, clearly in pain. My moment of triumph was short lived however.

Cerberus put up a good fight, hurt as much as he was. The wolves didn't know what hit them! He dodged and chomped and tormented them until they had had enough and did the same thing they had done with me and attacked him all at once. Cerberus went down like a prize fighter, though. I didn't have the energy left to sob and cry for him, though. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, so I just let the tears flow silently and as I saw the wolves turn back towards me, I closed my eyes.