Alpha Maximus

The cold, crisp morning air of the Front Range made the plumes of steam rising from the nostrils of the huge gray wolf stand out in the sunlight. The first rays of sunlight sparkled in the treetops as he looked out over the rolling hills in front of him. Dotting this frosted tan landscape were his prey, cows. They were huddled together for warmth in the early morning but were starting to spread out for the day's feeding. He was going to eat well today. The humans had not been out here for several days and he knew he could make a quick kill and feast before they would return.

He had watched their routine for several days, as they rode their horses along the boundary of their land. Last night they had packed up the horses in a trailer and had driven off, leaving the cattle to roam the hills. He had to be very careful about how many cows he and his pack of cousins took. If they hit one ranch too many times, the humans would hunt them down and kill them. This had happened before, when he had gotten too complacent in his territory and lording his power over these smaller cousins of his. Normally, the smaller ones would never try to take a full size cow, just a few sheep where they could find them. He was tired of rabbits and field mice, the normal fare his cousins ate. Today they would feast on beef.

He was already drooling, thinking about how good it would feel to sink his muzzle into the soft belly of a fat cow and slurp up the blood that would gush out. He shuddered in an almost orgasmic wave and then turned to look at his pack. They were waiting for his signal to begin the chase. None of them even thought about twitching a muscle before he issued a command, they had all learned this from how their former alpha male had gone down in a flurry of blood and gristle. This new alpha male was beyond anything the small ones had ever experienced. Their racial memory told them that this giant and his brothers had once ruled the mountains and valleys, but not anymore. The one thing that really made the pack uneasy was that the new alpha male hadn't taken any of the females after killing the old alpha. This was what always happened when a new alpha came into power, but not with this giant. He would just nip and growl at the females that tried to push themselves at him, vying for position in the pack.

The alpha took one last sniff of the morning breeze and then signaled the rest to begin the hunt. They slowly spread out as the alpha began to trot down the hillside. His pace was much slower than the others, giving them time to flank the herd of cattle. They slipped under the barbed wire fence unseen by the cows and began to surround the herd. The alpha stayed low in the tall grass at the fence line, knowing that his color and bulk would give his position away too soon. He wouldn't take chase until the others had spooked the herd and the slowest could be separated out. The pack of coyotes had finally reached their positions when the beta male made his move. Before the beta male took three steps its head suddenly exploded in a spray of red and gray, the body whipping around with the force of the explosion. Then the sound rolled over the valley. Gunfire! Then three more coyotes went down in a similar fashion and the unmistakable sounds of rifle shots thundered through again.

The adrenaline surge hit the alpha like a freight train, but his mind fought the urge to bolt. If the bullets hadn't found him yet, then the well-hidden humans couldn't see him. The muscles bunched under his fur in preparation for flight, but he knew that if he ran now, he'd never make the tree line before his own head would explode with a high power rifle bullet. The rest of the pack had already started back for the tree line and he could see the puffs of dirt bursting next to some of them as the humans began to fire wildly at the retreating coyotes. Most of the pack didn't make it to the tree line, but a couple did.

After several minutes had passed, the humans began to reveal their hiding places. He watched as several lumps of grass rose up and sprouted legs. 'Those devious bastards!' thought the alpha. Very carefully he lowered himself even deeper into the brush along the fence line; making sure he didn't bend a single blade of grass to give his position away. The sound of laughter brought his attention back to one of the walking grass heaps that had come within fifty yards of his hiding place.

"We showed those fuckers something, didn't we boys!"

"Yeah, that'll be the last time they try to take one of our cows."

"Did you see that first shot? I love this new rifle!"

The last voice came from his left. He slowly moved his head to get a better look at the one who had shot his second in command. The tall human had pulled his grass cover back and was holding his rifle up for the others to see. The alpha memorized every detail of that face; burning it into his anger filled mind. He watched them come together and then walk around to gloat over their kills. When they had their backs turned, squatting over the body of his former second, he knew his one chance for escape had presented itself.

Like one of the rifle shots, he was out of the grass and running full out for the tree line. He heard the shouts of surprise and the curses of the humans behind him as they realized their error. The sharp crack of a supersonic bullet whipped by his head as he was approaching the top of the hill. Just as he thought he had escaped their line of sight, the blinding hot pain erupted in his side as the second bullet found its mark. His left lung filled with blood immediately and he could barely breathe, but the adrenaline and the momentum of his full out run kept him going forward over the top of the hill. The blood in his lungs shot out his nostrils as he kept running; fighting to stay up on his feet, he continued for the trees. One more shot rang out as he passed the first pine tree and the bark exploded in his face, blinding his right eye. The pain was almost unbearable; he didn't have the breath to waste on a yelp, he just kept running.

BHe ran for another minute before he was forced to slow his pace. The adrenaline had begun to fade, and the pain in his side increased. Coughing up a large gout of blood from his lung, he stopped. Looking back, he made sure the humans weren't going to try and come after him. Listening carefully for any sounds of running footsteps or worse, engines starting up, he tried to look back, but the blood in his right eye still hadn't cleared. Satisfied that he had no pursuers, he shifted his direction and headed for the creek that was about a mile away.

By the time he reached the creek, his whole body ached with fatigue. His left lung still wouldn't stop oozing blood and he had to constantly cough it up. He carefully lowered himself into the frigid water, welcoming the cold shock that suddenly flashed through his body. It helped to clear his mind, snapping him out of his more primal state of pain. Letting the cold water flush out his wounds, he realized that his right eye still didn't clear up. He slowly turned his head to look at the wound in his side. He could see the shattered remnants of three ribs poking out of the gaping wound. The flesh and muscle shredded by the impact of a hollow point rifle bullet. Oh, this is bad, he thought to himself. No wonder he couldn't get his lungs clear of blood.