It was a long trip up too the U.P and we thought we could do it in one day and get back before night time. We started out at five in the morning, going at a really good pace averaging about eighty miles an hour on the trails. The only bad spot we got into was that we ran into cops who were investigating and murder that had happened on the trail. I heard that the man was riding by himself late at night after he had been at the bar and got attacked by a pack of wolves. Charles and I felt horrible but we both knew we couldn’t do anything to help him, so we kept on going.
We arrived at the hotel in Marquette around eleven at night. When the sleds were shut down all I heard was the sound of a huge, big pack of wolves. To be honest I was terrified, we checked into the hotel and than went straight to our rooms to unpack everything. I looked out the window and it was pitch black, just as I was about to close the blinds these two yellow dots appeared right in front of me. I jumped back freaking out and I finally just looked straight back into this things eyes. Than the next thing I knew more eyes kept on appearing around this one, there had to be at least 40 wolves outside of my window, after I saw that and thought about the man who got attacked by a pack of wolves; I knew that this had to be the pack and we wouldn’t be getting far with them stalking our every move. I closed the blinds and tried to get some sleep, even though I couldn’t because of all of the howling that was going on outside.
Finally it was four in the morning and I decided to go down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. As I was walking down I did not pass one person in the hallway, down in the kitchen there was no one; not even anyone cooking food I was suddenly standing in this huge empty room. As I walked down to the front office there wasn’t anyone at the front desk and now I was starting to get worried Charles was running to the front, when he got here he was all out of breath and told me I needed to see something. As we went to a room down the hall there was a hand print of blood on the walls, the floors, and dressers all over the room. We found a man on the ground with half of his face gone with very deep claw marks in his body. I looked around and on the corner of the door was a patch of fur stuck in the door hinge. I saw that and realized if we didn’t leave now we would be the next victims.
We booked it to our room and grabbed only the snowmobile gear that we wore. We got outside and there were bodies everywhere on the ground, the snow was red. The snowmobiles were still there in great shape. Charles jumped on his and started it up, and I was right behind him. He took off and I was trying to start mine but it wasn’t working, I started screaming for him to turn around but he couldn’t hear me. I kept pulling the cord and it wasn’t working, all I heard was howling now and I was freaking out. I kept pulling the cord and I looked up and there was a wolf with white fur and blood dripping from his mouth. I started pulling as hard as I could and finally it turned on. I hopped on and floored it spraying snow all over the animal. I don’t know where Charles went but I went to the first trail I found. I kept turning around and next thing there were 3 of them chasing me from behind and too my right there was one and than two on my left. I started having thoughts when I was driving like what if they killed me, who would be at my funeral, what would it feel like getting torn apart by multiple wolves. When I finally stopped thinking of being killed by these animals I looked in front of me and didn’t see Charles at all, where could he have gone? He was right in front of me not even a minute ago. I looked down in the trail in front of me and it was just fresh snow, there hasn’t been a snowmobile on this path besides me. I suddenly stopped and thought of when I missed the turn; I must have missed it when I was day dreaming. As I quickly turned the sled around the wolves appeared in the distance and I wouldn’t be able to get passed them unless I went in the deep powder on the sides of the main trail. I started getting thoughts what if I got stuck. Than I would be dead for sure, the wolves were getting to close and I had to do it. I turned right and floored it in the deep snow. There were so many risks involved, getting stuck, hitting a tree stump, not being able to turn the right way, and driving into a hole which looks like an object getting covered up by the snow. I was so close I could see the trail not even five-hundred feet away. I got closer and next thing I know I was coming to the end of a cliff! I slammed on the brakes and I couldn’t stop sliding in the snow. So I hopped on the right side of the sled and I pulled to tilt it to the right and slammed on the gas, it was the sharpest turn I have ever made, half of the track was off the edge but I didn’t care how close I was to going off all I cared about was I didn’t fall off. I stopped and looked and the wolves weren’t behind me! I got away from them! I heard a loud roar as I was trying to figure out there to go and it didn’t sound like an animal. I turned to my left and there was nothing as I turned to the right I saw a quick flash of yellow and than he flew past the tree line, the only weird thing was he wasn’t slowing down as he got closer and I looked in the woods and realized why he wasn’t stopping. There were at least four packs of wolves running in all directions straight towards us. When Charles also saw all of them he slowed down next to me. we looked at each other and than turned around and saw the other edge of the cliff. On the other side of the river the cliff was a lot lower than the one we were currently on, the only thing was it looked to be about fifty feet wide and we didn’t know if we could get enough speed to make the jump.
I told Charles I would lead the pack away so he could get more room to gain speed, I went to the right and they all followed me he went back into the woods and as I was rounding my turn to jump the cliff he just started on the straight away. I saw him leave the ground and soar through the air from behind him. I stepped on the gas and the edge was getting closer and closer, I felt my heart beating faster every second. I was up to one hundred and thirty miles an hour and I flew off the cliff. I was flying literally I looked across on the other edge and Charles wasn’t there, I looked down by the river and there was his sled in pieces. I barley made it onto the other side. When I landed I immediately got of and looked over the edge and started screaming his name. There was no answer I sat there and started to cry, my friend from grade school was dead. I laid there not even being able to believe that he was gone.