Noelle shivered as she slept next to her dwindling fire, but it was more from her dream than the surrounding natural elements. As she fell into her dream, she was back in the same spot of the woods where she’d woken, however many days before...

She saw the wolves converge on her and she could see the hunger in their eyes. Noelle reached for the knife in her shoes, even though her dream-self already knew that she wouldn’t find it. She had no weapon and no way to defend herself, so she went with a completely alternative plan.

Noelle sat down in front of the biggest wolf and faced him as he approached her. She could tell by his eyes that he was surprised by her course of action and he slowed his steps, which in turn, caused all the other wolves to stop walking toward her, altogether.

“My name’s Noelle,” she said evenly. “I was left here in the woods by some evil men who wish me harm. They assumed that by leaving me here without a way to defend myself, that you’d kill me. That was a big assumption, because I know better. I know that you could very-well choose to leave me alone and keep me alive. They believe you have no humanity, but I’ve seen your kind in ways which you cannot imagine, and I know that isn’t true.” Noelle watched as the wolf’s eyes shifted back and forth, it was as though he was weighing her words up very carefully.

She had no way of knowing if these werewolves were anything like the others —or whether they killed and fed on humans; or just on wild animals. She wondered whether they could even hear or understand her. All she had was hope, and that hope would either kill her or save her, and her fate rested in the hands of the wolf before her.

Her heartbeat started to pick up as the wolf walked nearer to her, and she tried not to move or say anything else. He approached her and sniffed around where she sat, and she followed his movements with her eyes, watching to try and determine his thoughts. But the truth was, she really had no idea what he was thinking at all.

Just then, the wolf let out a loud howl into the air and Noelle closed her eyes tightly in anticipation of the pain which would inevitably follow. But she felt nothing. When she opened her eyes, to her astonishment, she was alone. The wolves had left her untouched and had vanished into the trees without a trace. She was amazed and felt like she’d won, but the feeling didn’t last long at all.

She stood up from her spot and looked around, realizing for the first time how alone she really was, and without any idea of where she stood or having the means to survive. Noelle tried to fight back the sudden overwhelming urge to cry. She began walking in the direction where the wolf emerged from, and keeping her chin held high, she tried not to think about the hunger pains in her stomach, or the dryness of her lips. She just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, determined to find a way out.

Noelle woke up suddenly to the sound of branches snapping. She pulled herself up to her feet and noticed with dismay that her fire had gone out, completely. The night air was chilly and it was dark, so she wasn’t able to see as clearly as before, or to tell if anything was there, or not.

There was a sturdy looking tree to her right, and she approached it slowly as she scanned the woods for any sign of someone or something that might be waiting for her. She grabbed a hold of the branches and struggled to pull herself up, but finally, she was able to get some footing and drag her body up the tree. She maneuvered her way up the tree further and tried to look down into the woods below to see if she could notice anything, but the branches were too thick. She edged herself out a bit further and felt the branch bend slightly as she crawled forward. She stopped for a moment until it steadied under her weight, but she still needed to move forward another few inches to get a clear view of the ground beneath her.

Noelle slowly pushed herself forward and looked down, able to see beneath the leaves. And then she saw it there, staring up at her. Two, bright, yellow eyes were studying her, but it was too dark to see what exactly they belonged to. One thing was for sure —whatever it was, it wasn’t human. Noelle moved backward quickly as her heart pounded in her chest, but her movements caused the branch to bend too far, and with a sickening crunching sound, she found herself sailing to the ground. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the impact.

As soon as she landed on the ground, an ear-piercing scream lit up the night sky. Noelle heard the sound as if it had come from somewhere else in the woods, and it was only after a few seconds that she realized she was the one who’d made that sound. She struggled to her elbows and looked down at her body, noticing that her left leg was twisted abnormally. Noelle cocked her head to the side for a moment as her entire body ignited with an overwhelming heat.

Then, right before she passed out from the pain, she said out loud, “I think my leg’s broken.”

* * *

Noelle woke up, and she felt something cool on her forehead. She reached up and felt a moist towel there. She smiled to herself and thought she probably died and wound up in some kind of a heaven where they give newcomers moist towels. But as she pressed it to her head, she felt the wind rushing over her hand, and she dared to open her eyes. As she did, the first thing she noticed was that her leg was tied to a piece of wood beneath it.

“This can’t be heaven,” she whispered. “Are people still broken in heaven?”

She looked around at the rest of her surroundings and noticed cans of paint sliding back and forth next to a large pile of freshly cut wood. The dust from the wood got caught up in the wind and flew into Noelle’s eyes, causing her to tear up and blink maniacally. She struggled up to her elbows and rested herself on something hard and metal behind her.

She realized that she was in the bed of a truck that was driving through the woods. The sound was unmistakable. Noelle tried to turn to get a look at who was driving, but there was such a pain in her neck that she wasn’t able to look behind her. She thought back to how she’d climbed up the tree and saw the two eyes looking up at her —were they the eyes of a human? Noelle considered this, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they had belonged to some kind of animal that had been watching her.

The truck slowed, and the wind died down, leaving Noelle’s face feeling dirty and stinging. She reached up and touched her fingers lightly to her face and found multiple cuts and scratches scattered on her cheeks, nose and chin. She groaned as she considered her leg and her wounds, and prayed she hadn’t been found by some psycho, serial killer who stalked his prey in the woods.

Feeling the truck stop completely, Noelle tried to pull herself up to her feet, but the pain shot through her leg and she had to fight back the scream that was stinging in her throat.

“Don’t try to stand by yourself,” said a deep voice. “I’m coming to help you; just wait a second.” Noelle tried to turn to look at the source of the voice and was quickly reminded of the painful ache in her neck, so she stared forward and waited for the person to reveal themselves.

A man emerged from the side of the truck and pulled down the door of the bed of it, quite roughly, and without even looking at Noelle. She studied him carefully —his light brown, almost-caramel skin, and his strong arms. He finally looked up at her, and she let out a small gasp as the dim morning light offered up enough light to take in his striking green eyes which sat beneath his thick, black lashes. He wore a grim look, but Noelle was starting to feel a bit dizzy, although she didn’t think it was because of the fall this time.

“Who are you?” she managed to ask as the man climbed into the truck bed.

“The name’s Lucas,” he said reaching for her hand. “You’re gonna have to help me out here, because I need you to stand up to lift you out.” Noelle reached for his hand, and in one swift motion, he pulled her up and gracefully lifted her into his arms. “That was a pretty nasty tumble you took out there.”

“That was you?” she asked, studying the sharp outline of his jawline which accentuated the fullness of his lips. Noelle thought about how nice it would be to kiss those lips, but quickly shook the thought from her head.

“Yes, I go out there every morning to try and gather more supplies,” he said by way of explanation. Noelle pulled her eyebrows together as that statement only inspired more questions, but she felt too weak and too tired to get into any of that.

“I’m Noelle,” she said softly. “I guess I should be thanking you for saving my life out there.” The man nodded briefly but added nothing else. She noticed that he hardly looked at her as they walked, and then she turned to see where they were going.

She inhaled a deep breath as they emerged from the trees and revealed a huge cabin sitting in the middle of the woods. It was at least two stories tall and was made entirely of wood, with huge glass windows lining the bottom floor. Lucas continued walking forward, purposefully ignoring her reaction.

“You live here?” she asked. Again, he nodded without adding any other information. He approached the house and slid open one of the glass windows which Noelle then realized were actually a series of doors, lined up next to each other. “This is amazing.”

She looked around as he walked her into a room and placed her on a simple blue sofa which sat perfectly in the middle of the room. Noelle admired the polished concrete floors beneath her and marveled at the height of the ceilings above her. The inside of the house looked like it belonged in an architectural magazine.

“This is my home,” Lucas said simply. “It’s still a work in progress, but I guess when you build your own home it’s always going to be a work in progress to you.”

“You built this place?” Noelle asked, clearly astonished by his admission. She looked at him and noticed a small, nearly imperceptible smile cross his lips, and she smiled in response to his expression.

“I did,” he said. “We should get you something for those cuts on your face.”

He left the room as Noelle struggled to sit up straighter and she tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her leg. Lucas reemerged holding a small container with what looked like a blue cream inside.

He kneeled on the floor and faced Noelle, wearing a serious expression. Neither of them spoke as he spread the cream on her face. Noelle felt an icy-cold sensation whenever he wiped the cream over an open wound, and she tried not to wince against his fingers.

“What were you doing out there, anyway?” Lucas asked as he replaced the cap on the container.

“Oh, umm,” Noelle bit down on her lip and searched her mind for an answer to his question, but she couldn’t come up with anything but the truth. “I’ve been lost for a while,” she finally admitted.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, “How long have you been out there? Have you been by yourself the whole time?”

Noelle nodded and then asked, “What’s the date?”

“It’s December thirty-first.” Lucas watched her as her mouth dropped open, and tears filled her eyes.

“That can’t be,” Noelle said, her voice barely a whisper. Lucas waited for her to continue, and finally, she looked up at him and said, “I’ve been in there for five months.”

Lucas’ expression turned grave, and he stood up from the floor, slowly. He nodded as though confirming something to himself, and then left the room, leaving Noelle on the couch by herself.

She couldn’t get control over her tears as they streamed down her face. Nearly half a year had passed, and she had not even known it. She’d been lost, and no one had tried to find her —her own family didn’t know she existed, and who else would even notice she’d been missing? Declan sprang to her mind, but she quickly cast the thought of him away because she couldn’t bear to think about him; not right now.

Lucas returned a few minutes later, he was carrying a small steaming bowl. He pulled a chair over to the couch and sat down, blowing on the hot liquid.

“This is soup,” he said softly. “It’s gonna take some time to get you healed up, but you need to start by eating and rehydrating yourself.”

Noelle smiled at him thankfully as she took the bowl from his hands. She pressed the spoon to her lips and nearly broke down into tears again at the taste of real food.

“How did you find me?” Noelle asked, between a spoonful of soup.

“Like I said, I go out there every morning for supplies, and I saw you on the ground, passed out. From the look of your leg, I could tell something bad had happened. I did my best to create a splint for you out of what I had.” Noelle nodded as she continued eating. She knew that there was more to his story, but she was so grateful to him that she didn’t want to press it further. “I bet you’ll wanna take a shower and sleep, too. Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll take you to the bathroom.”

“Hey, Lucas,” Noelle called out as he stood up from his chair. He looked at her and she smiled. “Thanks for everything. I don’t know what might’ve happened had you not shown up when you did.”

He nodded and said, “Yeah, in these woods, you never know what you might run into.”

He walked away and left Noelle alone to consider his words. She ate the remainder of the soup and happily slurped it from the bowl, since he was gone. She looked around the room and noticed that everything was bare —no pictures were decorating the walls and no personal memorabilia, either. It was as if the house was utterly devoid of all human life —except it wasn’t, because Lucas lived there.

“Yeah, in these woods, you never know what you might run into.”