It came again, low and guttural and unmistakably feral.
Growling.
Every muscle in my body locked, and my breath caught in my throat. The fire that had felt so comforting seconds ago suddenly seemed pathetic, a pinprick of light swallowed by an ocean of black.
I strained to see past the flames, but there was nothing except darkness pressing in from all sides. The growling continued, circling somewhere just beyond the firelight.
A pair of red eyes emerged from the black.
My stomach dropped. “Shit!” A dingo.
"Get away!" I grabbed a burning stick from the fire and thrust it out in front of me.
The pair of red eyes became four. Then six. Then ten.
Oh, God, there was a whole pack of them.
"Get lost! Go!" I waved the flaming stick, and my hands trembled so badly the flames danced wildly in the air.
The wild dogs moved in the shadows, barely visible, circling beyond the fire, at my sides, behind me. Shit! Maybe they smell the blood on the other side of the tree where Mitch had gutted the rabbit.
The growls deepened, and the snarls grew vicious. A sharp yelp cut through the night, one must have snapped at another.
What do I do? Yell? Stay still? I couldn't run, not with my shredded heels, and not weak and dehydrated and barely able to stand. Plus, Mitch had told me to stay here, or he'd never find me.
I had to stay and fight.
I scanned the darkness, pulse hammering in my ears as I tried to track their movements. But the dingoes were just shadows within shadows. I heard them, though. Eerie howls, low snarls, and soft footsteps circling closer.
One emerged from the darkness. A beast straight out of a nightmare. Its eyes reflected the firelight in twin points of yellow-green, and its lips were pulled back, baring sharp, stained teeth.
"Get back!" My voice came out high and shaky.
The scrawny bastard didn't retreat. It just watched me, waiting. Calculating.
Another appeared to my left. Then a third to my right.
Shit. I’m surrounded.
"Stay back!" I waved the flaming stick in a wide arc, creating a barrier of fire between us.
They backed up slightly, but not nearly enough.
More eyes appeared in the darkness. Four. Five. Six pairs gleaming in the firelight. They kept coming, emerging from the shadows like ghosts. Seven. Eight. Ten. Twenty pairs of eyes, all fixed on me, circling, snarling, and drooling.
"Shit! Get back!" I lunged forward with the flaming stick.
But there were too many of them.
The largest one in the pack stepped forward, testing me.
I swung the torch at the alpha. "Get away!"
He dodged back, but not far enough.
They weren't leaving, and they weren't afraid of me.
Behind me, the main fire was dying. I needed more wood on those flames right now, but I couldn't turn my back on these bastards. Not for a second.