Kerns was amazed as he neared the area in which he knew the den to be. There, in the
distance, he saw three wolves standing erect and intent atop a rise. They stared in his
direction. Kerns stopped his vehicle and drew a Remington .22/250 out of a scabbard
from the rear of his four-wheeler and shakily levered a bullet from the magazine into the
chamber. Confused as to why the wolves did not flee as they usually did, Kerns dropped to
his belly and slithered along the ground to a better vantage point. His heart pounding, his
foul breath huffing, he slinked to a small knoll and peeked over to see the wolves had not
moved. “What the hell are they doing?” he said to himself. “Why ain’t they runnin’ away?”
He steadied his rifle on a mound of sphagnum moss to look through the scope at the three
wolves. For a moment he thought they may not have seen him, but as he squinted into the
rifle’s scope, he realized the stupidity of his thoughts. All three wolves stood side-by-side,
still, tall and bold, their gazes fixed firmly on him. Sweat pimpled on Kerns’ forehead and
oozed through thick, black brows into his rodent-like eyes as he tried to focus on the face
of the largest wolf. Pausing to rake his sleeve across the bridge of his nose, he drew a deep
breath and peered again through the telescopic sight. His pulse throbbed in his temples and
the rifle jittered slightly as he fought to steady the weapon. Slowly, the image cleared in the
scope and the man cringed. Kerns could see the rebellious fire of unblinking eyes burning
into him like the defiant magma of an erupting volcano, and he was afraid. Kerns’ fear was
not of attack by the three wolves glaring at him; it was of their conviction; it was fear of
the wolf’s resolve to survive. Despite the insurmountable odds of loyalty versus death, of
fang versus gun, of wolf versus man, Martin Kerns was afraid of the relentless determination
of the wolf’s being. Kerns saw in the eyes of a wolf, courage beyond anything he could
muster; he saw emotion beyond any he could feel; and he saw an intelligent comprehension
beyond that which he could understand. In an instant, the very nature of one of the Earth’s
most unique animals became apparent to a dense human being. And he squeezed the trigger.