Chapter 18— Death!

     Another howl alarmed him, this time it sounded close. He turned his head and eyes in every direction, he broke a sweat, his heart froze. His head and eyes ached; for he knew the howling was for him.

      He continued his trek— slowly yet boldly, he was back in the middle of the tall frozen trees and the air felt more chilly.

      Two golden bright eyes came lurking in the misty shadows, two became four and four became ten eyes! The winter wolves had decided to come face to face with the stranger in their territory and Joe was frightened as hell. The white canines were beautiful creatures, but the doctor knew he wasn't to be fooled by their charm.

      One by one they came out of the misty shadows– snarling, gnarling, glaring at him, walking majestically in a formation towards the doctor. Joe stood still only for seconds, then he began moving backwards away from the wolves, but how he managed to move his legs he just didn't know; for he was fear stricken.

      The wolves barked at him, their mouths dripping saliva, they were ready to have Joe for dinner. Joe decided to stand his ground, he shouted at them while throwing his arms in the air– trying to scare them away, but it didn't work, instead they barked even louder. One of them jumped at him and Joe lost his balance causing him to fall to the ground. Quickly, he crawled on his back away from the teeth gnashing predators, the poor guy was sacred beyond limits!

     Finally, he was able to stand up on his feet and began to run as fast as he could, the freezing air felt like a trap net around him, a net that kept pulling him back, it felt like he couldn't run any further, for the air was so thick and icy harsh. Poor fellow was almost breathless, he forced his legs and leaned forward then stiffened his fists and each time he glanced behind himself, he would see the monsters running closely behind him like determined runners aiming for a price. He was their price and Joe knew it.

      Running, still running and panting for breath, Joe didn't take note of the cracks on the iced floor, the cracks widened and this time Joe slipped, landed on his back and lost control of his body, immediately he started to reach out for something; anything at all that could possibly stop his continuous slide, but nothing was there to grab on to! He fell.

He kept sliding, screaming and struggling until a part of the floor broke free– it couldn't support Joe's weight anymore.

Deep into the frozen water he sank, he felt a force pulling him deeper into the water, the water felt like a million bites deep into his skin, he tried to yell, his mouth opened but there was no sound coming out, he could feel himself drowning, he tried to struggle again, stretching his arms towards the only exit out of the frozen water, He tried to fight; to fight for his life, fight for all that he knew, for his future, for all the reasons he had to be alive, fight to see Viola once more; but the human body had it's limits.

He felt his thoughts going elsewhere, into somewhere much more different than anything he'd felt before, it was a peace beyond compare, somehow he felt content, slowly he allowed the water to take him into that peaceful place, he closed his eyes and exhaled, bubbles filtered through his mouth, he gulped and gulped, his whole body jerked twice or thrice, he felt a deep end pain in his chest and stomach. His fingers and toes went numb as he continued to sink deeper and deeper.

His eyes began to feel hot, his heart beat slowed, his neck stiffened. Joe could see death itself; feel it and touch it. He wanted to run from it. He wasn't ready for the call but he could only imagine himself getting out of this situation— 'cause his body already gave in. His vision became a blurry gray-white, finally he stopped hearing his own heartbeat; the silence was deafening, his eyes closed— he obeyed the voice of death!