Introduction
One message breaks through the silence of night. “Attention. Attention. “Hello, My name is Nikolas Adams. I reprensent the United Government. are looking for anyone who can work with people and learn fast. If you meet these qualifications, you are urged to make your way to Salt Lake City, of Utah in southwest America.”
“If you show up, we will provide you with rewards to benefit you and those close to you. If you are one of the few that can help us, we will provide rewards past your imaginations.”
“I repeat. Make your way to Salt Lake City of Utah in southwest America in the next three months if you are a talented individual for rewards that can only be earned with us.”
The message ends.
Chapter One
I lower the rifle’s sight from my eye. The elk I was aiming at moved yet again. I’d been trailing this buck for a week now and hadn’t gotten a single clear shot. I put the safety on and swing the gun back over my shoulder. It seems I won’t be getting this guy today. Disappointed, I clear the snow off the top of a nearby rock, sit down, and think to myself. The cold spring morning is the usual around here. Snow on the ground every day, every month, every year.
I reach into my bag and pull out some rabbit jerky I made last month. With the snack in my mouth I stand up and put my homemade backpack on my shoulder next to my rifle. The footprints I made on the way here give me a straight path back home. My snowshoes make a soft crunch sound whenever I put them down to the snow.
Here, you either make what you need or buy it from someone else who did make it. I prefer to be the provider. I hunt for my sister and myself and trade what we don’t need for supplies or medicine. In our small town, we only get the supplies from the outside world that we cannot produce.
As I approach our cabin, I see my sister Lily sitting at the window. She jumps up and waits at the door for me as I pound the snow off my boots and take off my snowshoes. I step inside and am greeted by her wrapping her arms around my torso. “You still didn’t kill it?” She asks as I set down my bag and hang my rifle on the wall.
“Not today.” I take off my books and leave them beside my snowshoes at the door. I don’t let her go outside often. It’s too cold for kids her age. Our mother disappeared just after Lily was born when I was eleven. Our father got sick when I was sixteen and didn’t recover. We’ve been on our own for three years.
“I named him.” She said as she plopped down onto our one couch. Her short brown hair was tied back in a ponytail with the ribbon I had gotten her when she was eight.
“Oh yeah?” I’m busy preparing my stuff for a trip to the town. We need more sugar and I also need to find a way to get Lily something for her upcoming birthday.
“Yeah. His name is Lucky.” I pause to look at her strangely. “Because he’s lucky to have survived this long with you hunting him.”
I swing my larger backpack filled with extra meat over my shoulder and pinch her cheek. “You’re cute.” I kiss her on the forehead and slip my boots back into the snowshoes. “I’ll be back by nightfall. Sta-”
“I know I know. Stay inside.” She flops onto her back on the couch. “Why can’t I come?” She asks.
“It’s dangerous. If you go outside too early you’ll get sick and I can’t afford to buy you medicine.” I give her a playful salute. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Okay!” She salutes back. I walk out the door and shut it behind me. The walk to town is about a half mile from here, but in the snow every step feels like five.
About a half hour later I walk through the fence that surrounds the town. The occasional person is walking around, but most are out gathering, hunting or inside.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrX7wGSkuF
The market is in the center of the town. About a hundred people live in Arcadia. After the original governments fell, the people who survived here decided to try and keep a sense of normalcy with the city name. Most of the original buildings don’t stand, either. They were made to keep the heat out, but we now need the opposite.
The town hall is the only building still standing from before the planet decided to freak out. It’s also where we do meetings, whenever those happen.
But the town hall is not my destination. I walk past it to the market. People sit there in the little booths with their stuff for trade. Most booths have notes on them telling you what house to go to to trade for that item. I usually trade with Emilia Pocktosh. She is the one that helped us out when our father died. She is one of the ones who trades from her homes. She knows someone in the higher ups of the government, and they give her random extra supplies.
I knock on the door. I hear her say “Come in” and open the door. I remove my snowshoes and pound my boots before stepping in. She sits at her small table with her sewing supplies. “Christina!” She says as she stands up and walks to give me a hug. “So good to see you, it’s been a while.”
I smile. “It has.” I set my bag down on the table and admire what she was working on. “What’s this?” I ask.
She walks over. “I just finished it, actually.” She holds up a small coat. Its thick and I can see the fur poking out. “It’s for Lily.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh, Emilia.” I reach out and touch the coat. The outside is made of the hide of an elk and the fur on the inside is wolf fur. I can see the buttons are hand carved out of pine wood and the top one has a little L on it. “I can’t afford this.”
“You don’t have to. It’s our present for her. Now you can teach her to hunt and take her outside.” She lays the jacket in my arms.
Small tears bead in my eyes. I reach out and hug her. “Thank you.” As I back away again I reach into my bag. “I got you four rabbits, two ducks, and a hawk.” I hand her the whole bag.
“I can’t take your bag.” She walks into her kitchen and puts the dead animals on the counter. “How about you bring Lily over here for her birthday and I make dinner?” She suggests as she hands me my bag back.
“That’d be great.” I give her another one-handed hug. “We’ll see you in a week, then.”
“Okay. Need anything else?” She smiles at me. Her blonde hair flecked with white lays on her shoulder. She’s beautiful; I wonder how she remained single her whole life.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBpHbi8dZd
“Oh yeah!” I hit my head with my palm. “Sugar, got any extra?” She walks into the kitchen and hands me a pound bag of sugar.
“Always.”
I put the sugar in my bag and stuff Lily’s jacket in on top. There’s still the pelt of a fox folded at the bottom of the bag. “See you next week.” I say as I swing it over my shoulder again.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBg8uNE8eVG
“Bye sweetheart.”
I shut the door as I walk outside again. I can feel the temperature changing as the evening approaches. I have one more stop to make. I step onto the porch of another house down the road. Before I can knock a tall burly man opens the door. “Well hello there young lady.” I recognize the man from local gossip, Joe Votguin. “What can I do for you today?” asks Joe.
“I need a bow for my younger sister.”
Joe invites me inside and I remove my snowshoes yet again. “Ah, a young huntress.” He beckons me into the back. “How old is she?”
“Eight. She’s turning nine next week.”
He thinks for a moment. “Yes, Yes.” He turns and shows me a wall covered in about twenty bows of different shapes and sizes. He gestures to a section of smaller ones. “These five are good for her age. Please, take a look.”
And I do. I scan the bows, picking them up, pulling them back, aiming. I finally settle on one. A nice pine bow with a strong, yet flexible, string. “I’ll take it.”
“What do you have to trade?” He has the eyes of a rat and a reputation to match, always looking to undercut people and get the most for himself. I set down my bag and pull out the folded fox fur.
“Fresh male. Beautiful coloring and very warm.” I hold out the fur. He takes it and examines it before handing it back.
“I’m afraid that won’t be enough.” He holds the bow I want in his hand and strokes it protectively. “These babies take me days to make.”
I look at him. By now I’m already five thousand percent done with this crap, but I really want the bow for Lily, so I keep my cool “Look, how about I bring you something else next time I’m in town. Her birthday is this week and I want to take her hunting on her birthday.”
He squints his eyes and gives me a wry look. “Fine. I want another fox of this quality.”
“Deal.” I shake his utterly disgusting hand and take the bow. He throws the fox fur over his shoulder and gives me a half wave.
“Good hunting!” He says as I walk out the door. For most, hearing that is a compliment. But I know this guy just wants his fox. You’ll get your fur. I think. It takes me the rest of the daylight to return home. After I take off my snowshoes and boots I hide Lily’s jacket under my mattress and the bow behind the bed.
I see her asleep on the couch. Her short brown hair covers her face but I can hear her light snoring. I pick her up gently in my arms and lay her in her bed. As I pull up her blankets, I see she has a tiny string around her neck. I gently touch it and a tiny little charm falls into view. It’s an elk, like the one I’ve been hunting. Where’d she get this? I think. I realize that she didn’t get it, she carved it.
I kiss her on her forehead and crawl into my bed. I pull my comforter up and sigh. The warmth is nice at the end of the day. I stare at the bare ceiling until I fall into a dreamless sleep.
Chapter Two
I sit up in my bed and see Lily sitting at the end. “You know what day it is?” She asks me excitedly.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vR15nkSQ1
“No.” I respond sarcastically as I rub my eyes.
“What?” Lily squeaks. “It’s my birthday!’
I put my hand on her head and mess up her hair. She giggles excitedly and jumps off the bed. “I know, let’s go into the kitchen and I’ll show you your present.” She takes off running into the kitchen. A yawn escapes my mouth and I follow her. I see her sitting on one of the stools at the counter.
“What’d you get me? What’d you get me?” She can’t contain her excitement.
“Stay here.” I tell her. I go back to my bed and pull out the jacket and bow from my bed. As I walk back into the kitchen I see her eyes light up. I hand her the jacket first and she instantly puts it on.
“Where did you get this?” She asks, dumbfounded.
“Emilia made it for you.” I sit down at the stool next to her. “I got you this.” I hand her the bow. Her eyes go wide.
“A bow?” She holds it in her hand and flicks the string. “Am I going to come hunting with you?”
“Eventually, first I have to teach you to use it.” She jumps off the stool and gives me a huge two-handed hug.
“Thank you, Chrisy!” She squeals.
I release her from the death-hug. “But there’s more, today we’re going to go see Emelia.”
“You’re taking me outside!” She shouts as she jumps up and down.
I put my finger over her mouth. “Yep. Go get dressed in your warmest clothes.” She takes off running back into the bedroom. I walk to the bathroom and change into my clothes. She comes running out just as I hand her her jeans, long sleeved shirt and her new coat.
“Let’s go!” She shouts.
“Okay.” I slide on my jacket and boots. As I’m about to put on my snowshoes, I realize, I didn’t buy her snowshoes! She’ll get exhausted and wet before we’re even off the property. I think for a moment as I slide on the snowshoes and decide on something else. “You’re gonna get the treatment of a queen.” I tell her.
She walks over to me in her own boots. “What do you mean?”
“Come outside.” I lead her out and grab the sled I usually use to collect firewood. “You ride on this and I’ll pull you.”
Her eyes light up yet again. “We’re going sledding!” She giggles as she jumps into the sled. I start pulling it and walk towardtown.
It takes me about twice as long pulling her, but she giggles the entire way and makes my day. I pull up in front of Emelia’s house and knock lightly. Emilia opens the door and sees Lily. “Girls!” She steps out and picks up Lily. “Look how big you are!” She says as she looks at her.
She invites me inside and I leave the sled just outside. I slip off my snowshoes but leave my boots on. “Good to see you again.” I tell her.
She shows us that she made some pancakes for breakfast. “You first.” I tell Lily as we sit down at the table. She serves herself a pancake with her wooden fork.
I look up at Emilia as Lily takes a bite. “These are great! Thanks!” She grabs another pancake and starts eating them gratefully.
Emilia has something that’s rare in these areas. Her radio sits on the counter. She gets batteries for it every month. It’s always set to a static-free government alert station. We’re about halfway through the meal when it suddenly beeps. The foreign noise makes us all jump.
“Attention. Attention.” It says for a moment. “This is a message from the United Government.”
Lily is mesmerized by the strange object and it’s noises. The voice on the radio flicks off and a quick jingle plays. Then a younger man’s voice plays. “Hello.” He says. “My name is Nikolas Adams. I am the founder of Precision Horizons. We are looking for anyone who can work with people and learn fast. If you meet these qualifications, you are urged to make your way to Salt Lake City, of Utah in southwest America.”
“If you show up, we will provide you with rewards to benefit you and those close to you. If you are one of the few that can help us, we will provide rewards past your imaginations.”
“I repeat. Make your way to Salt Lake City of Utah in southwest America in the next three months if you are a talented individual for rewards that can only be earned with us.”
The entire message repeats two more times before shutting off. The familiar silence takes control of the room again.
“That was weird!” Lily exclaims. Emilia looks at me with a gaze that I cannot interpret.
“What?” I ask her
She leans forward a little bit. “You should do it.”
I laugh before taking another bite. Her gaze changes to tell me that she isn't joking. “I’m serious, you’re talented and learn fast. They said you get rewards if you just go.”
I won’t tell her, but I’ve decided I’m most definitely not doing it. “I’ll think about it.”
After we finish eating, we start saying our goodbyes to Emilia. As I go to hug her she puts both of her hands on my shoulders. “Think about what they said.” She tells me. “This might be a huge opportunity for you and I can take care of Lily while you’re gone. Going there could set both of you up nicely in this world.” She gives me a quick hug before letting Lily and I go.
As I’m pulling the sled back to our cabin, Lily gasps. I look at her with a confused glance and see her pointing into the trees. I look where she’s pointing and see the buck I’d been trailing standing right there, staring at us. “Is that Lucky?” Lily asks in a whisper. I nod and slowly swing my rifle over my shoulder. I line up the sight with the elk’s chest. I take a long, slow breath before slowly pulling the trigger.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5qj9cE93R
The shot misses the elk’s heart and hits its shoulder. The elk bellows and turns its head to us. I freeze and grab the back of Lily’s jacket. Each moment feels like an eternity as the elk’s eyes stare at us.
It charges.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHnbehw6Qh
I shove Lily onto the ground and throw my body on top of her. She screams as the elk misses us by about six inches and keeps running into the forest.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUw9icuDGyt
I look around for the elk before standing up. I pick lily up by her arms. “Are you okay?” I ask, my voice shaking.She barely manages a nod. I set her down on the sled and take us the rest of the way home. When we get to the cabin, I leave the sled out front and carry her inside.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpggWVbbbUG
She goes our room and changes into dry clothes. I sit in the living room and wait for her to come out before going in.
I change into my warm clothes and sit next to her on the couch. She looks up at me with a gaze that I can’t interpret. “Are you going to go to Utah?” She asks.
I don’t know how to answer. Our encounter earlier in the day makes me worry. What if I’m not here to take care of her forever? “I don’t know.” I answer softly.
She snuggles closer to me. “What do they do there?”
”I don’t know.” I answer again. “I can only imagine it’s another company that’s going to try and save the planet.” Hundreds of companies had already been started with that purpose, and all had failed. But, none of them had been government funded.
“I want you to do it.” She tells me.
“Why?”
“If you can help put the world back how it was, I want you to do it. I want to see summer.” There’s a sad wistfulness to her last sentence.
She lays her head on my lap. After a while of thinking we both fall asleep on the couch.
Another week later, I arrive at Emilia’s house with Lily and some of her stuff. “Are you sure you want me to go?” I ask Lily before I knock on Emilia’s door.
“I’ll be fine with Emilia.” She tells me. I nod and knock on the door.
Emilia answers instantly. “Girls.” She invites us in and Lily places her stuff on the floor. “Christina, there’s something in the kitchen for you.”
“What?” I ask.
I follow her into the kitchen and see a bridle and reins laying neatly wrapped on the table. “What’re these for? I don’t have a horse.”
Emilia smiles. “I’m giving you my horse. I don’t have a use for her anymore.”
I follow Emilia out back and see a beautiful black mare tied to the fence. I’ve never ridden a horse, but I know how it’s done. I walk forward and pat the horse’s nose. “I can’t take her, I’ll walk.” I tell Emilia.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSwPGCrOJ2
“Like I said, I don’t use her. She’ll be lucky to ride with you.” Her green eyes sparkle. “She’s trained around guns, so the noise won’t spook her.”
I smile and untie the reigns. “What’s her name?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡso6BYZ22mT
“Amy.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbW2PQmkca
I swing onto Amy’s back and pat the saddle, no doubt made by Emilia.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArB10Oi17s
“Thank you.” I smile. I give Lily a salute and she laughs. I turn Amy and, with a wave to Emilia, being my journey.
Chapter Three
The journey to Utah is long and the time alone forces my mind to wander., “Which climate is Utah in?” I ask myself. I know North America is half hot, half cold, but I don’t know where the line is. What about the line itself, shouldn’t there be a middle area that’s the average of the areas? I can’t wait to get there. Why don’t more people colonize the middle line?519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDpYusDfMQ
A week into travelling and I still haven’t come across anything special. Lots of snow, hills and other unremarkable landforms.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGP8Pfpqmg
Two weeks in, I see my first sign. A literal sign. The faded yellow diamond-shaped sign has the word ‘SLOW’ in big black letters. I kick my heels into Amy’s sides to ride faster, rebel without a cause.
The third week, I manage to kill a small deer. After cooking it up, I don’t move my camp for a few days until I rest up and eat plenty. After the deer meat is cut into smaller pieces and smoked, I put it in my bag and saddle Amy.
The fourth week is again, uneventful.
As it starts to get warmer, I assume I’m halfway there. Over the course of a few miles the temperature goes from freezing to tolerable. Then from tolerable to comfortable. Soon I’m removing my jacket. I’ve never felt weather this warm. The warm span covers a strip of America about a hundred miles wide. I wonder why people haven’t found these bands and lived here. When I first saw the grass, I dismounted my horse and touched it. I never thought grass would feel like this, sharp and yet soft.
I estimate we’ll only spend one night in the warm zone, but I could be wrong. As I’m setting up the tent for the night, I hear Amy whinny. I turn to look at her because she’s usually a very quiet horse. “What’s wrong?” She huffs at me. She keeps stepping from foot to foot like she’s getting ready to run. I walk over to her and place my hand on her snout. She’s tied to a tree, so she’s not going anywhere. I listen carefully for whatever is bothering her.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrM7G31kDt
Nothing.
“We’re fine, girl.” I tell her. She’s upset but goes back to eating the grass. I return to setting up the tent. As I hammer in the last stake with a rock, she whinnies again. This time, more panicked. “Amy,” I say as I turn around. “Calm down.”
The black mare stomps her hooves a couple times. I turn and grab my firestarter and some food for myself. I light a small fire and start cooking some of the meat from the rabbit I had killed earlier in the day. I sit down and enjoy the fire. Just after the sun sets, I hear something crack behind me.
I stand up in a panic. Whirling around, I reach for my gun. I don’t see anything where I’d heard the noise. I glance at my horse as I load my rifle. Better safe than sorry.
I hear a snarl to my left. I look and see two orange eyes staring at me from the bushes. “Get out of here!” I shout. “Git!”
The creature takes a step out. It’s wolflike, but it is not a wolf. This thing has the general shape of a wolf, but is about three times more muscular and triple the size. It’s eyes are a deep amber, it’s fur pitch black and it sends a shiver down my spine. I lower my gun and aim at it’s head. “Git!” I shout one last time.
It launches at me. I pull the trigger and the bullet lands in the thing’s chest.
It takes a step back, but does not waver. “What the-” I hear Amy panicking behind me. The creature runs at me again. I pull my knife out of my sheath and ready myself for impact. It slams into me and my knife and sends me flying onto the ground. I see it standing over me with the knife impaled in it’s chest. “What are you?” I shout, mostly to myself.
It snarls at me, blood and spit dripping onto my face. Then suddenly it steps off and walks back into the forest. I push myself into a sitting position. Other than my butt hurting from the fall, I’m not hurt. “What was that? Why did it leave?” I decide that I’ve had enough ‘fun’ for today. I stoke my fire and crawl into my tent. I think i’ll sleep with one eye open tonight. I take out a notebook that Lily had given me. She wanted me to take notes on my journey. She wanted descriptions of plants and animals and temperatures and what the trees looked like without snow.
I write about the warm zone and the wolf-creature.
I don’t get a quiet sleep. I’m haunted by dreams of that horrible creature. I wake up just before dawn and pack up quickly, deciding I don’t want another encounter with the wolf-thing. I load my tent into the satchel that Amy wears, then climb onto her back and ride out of the campspot.
I don’t see anything but forest for a while, then we come across a plain. I stop to let Amy get a drink from the stream and stand with my notebook. I see a herd of deer grazing on the grass. Funny, really, that we humans destroyed the world but now the animals are doing just fine.
As I’m getting back on Amy, I see something stalking the deer below in the meadow. I am far enough away to remain safe. I look closer and see it’s another one of the wolf-things I saw last night. I swing my rifle to my front and hold it.
The creature’s hunting method is flawless. As I watch, it takes down the male of the herd with no problem, sending the females running.
Then I see something else that blows my mind. Four pups run out and start eating the carcass with the adult. One pup has a slight limp and gets pushed over by a bigger pup. I sit and watch them with amazement for a while before they run back into the forest, the runt following behind. I tap Amy’s side with my foot and she starts walking.
At the end of the day I make camp again. We traveled only about forty miles today and didn’t quite make it out of the warm zone. I write down some notes about the wolf-things. During the walk I felt like we were being watched, but couldn’t place my uneasiness on anything.
As I get to thinking, I can’t help but wonder how many more of those creatures are out there. The tent doesn’t feel safe as I stare up from my sleeping bag. I feel uncomfortable, but I don’t know why.
As I get up, I waste no time packing up my camp. I’ve gotten into a routine of moving every day. I load the tent onto Amy and climb atop her. I say my goodbye to the warm forest as I start moving again. I assume I won’t have much longer in the comfortable area, but I would rather deal with the heat than those creatures.
The forest is silent, just the way I like it. If it’s silent, there’s nothing around me. Unless I’m hunting, then I want the animals to make noise so I can find them. Once, I killed a wolf as it was eating a rotting elk carcass. Emilia had made Lily a pillow with its hide.
Lily.
I wonder how she’s doing. We’ve never been apart for this long, and I know I have at least another two weeks to get to my destination, then another month or two to return home. That’s if I arrive and go straight home.
I hear a howl to my right. It sounds about a mile off, but that’s way too close for comfort. I give Amy a kick and start trotting out of there.
Another howl. This one closer. Amy starts galloping without me needing to tell her. I suddenly see the eyes that I wished I’d never see again. The huge black wolf is trailing me. Running just behind Amy’s heels. I see the four pups following behind the wolf. I snap Amy’s reins and yell. “Faster!”
The wolf slams into Amy’s back legs with no fear, sending Amy down and me flying. As I hit the ground I whip around and try to get my gun. The wolf comes closer and hits the gun with its paw, knocking it out of my reach. It looks back at me, its orange eyes blazing. I kick it in the face with my foot and scramble to my feet. I run as fast as I can, but the wolf is faster. I feel its paws slam into my back and I fall. I hit the ground hard and the world goes spiraling into darkness.
Chapter Four
My head’s pounding. I open my eyes and find myself exactly where I remember I was. My camp? I see my stuff where I had dropped it to run from the wolf. Amy is nowhere to be seen. I hope she’s safe. I’d hate myself if Emilia’s horse had been killed. I sit up and rub my eyes.
Then I notice the presence.
As my eyes adjust to the sun, I see a black figure about twenty feet from me. “H-hello?” I say.
The thing looks at me. It looks like the wolf that attacked me except it has bright blue eyes, not orange. I scramble to my feet, getting lightheaded in the process. I brace myself for its attack, but nothing comes. It’s demeanor is different from the previous wolf. I can’t help but wonder if he’s friendly.
I look around and see my gun. I gather my materials while the wolf stays still. I can’t let this stop me. I have to get to Utah, with or without a horse. I realize that my travel time just got doubled, maybe tripled or quadrupled. Ugh.
I shove as much as I can into my backpack. As I’m about to start walking, the wolf stands up. I whip around to stare at it again. “What do you want?”
It yawns. “Hilarious.” I shift the backpack on my shoulders and start hiking out. The sound of the forest barely makes it over the sound of my footsteps. On top of forest sounds I hear the wolf following me. He is tentative and sticks to the shade, but I catch a glimpse of him trailing behind me and it calms my fears of an imminent attack.
My back already starts hurting from carrying so much. I glance back again and the wolf is gone. Good riddance.
After about an hour of walking I decide to take a break. I open my canteen I’d filled at the last creek and take a drink. I hear breathing behind me and turn to see the blue-eyed wolf. “Surprise surprise, it’s you again.”
He responds by exhaling on my face. I use my shirt to wipe off my face. “Dumb dog.” I murmur.
He uses his tail and, while I’m putting my canteen back in my backpack, hits the back of my knees. I almost fall over but catch myself on my bag. The wolf sits down and gives his black paw a dainty lick.
“Oh, you’re just full of tricks.” I comment. I won’t admit it, but it does feel nice to have something to talk to. I almost laugh at that thought. I’m going crazy. Talking to an animal. I start walking again, this time with the wolf at my heels. He clearly wanted to partner up. “I guess I’ll have to name you.” I say. He flicks his ears. “How about Shade.”
He makes no moves other than his steady walking pace. “Shade it is, then.” After about another hour or two, I feel the temperature start getting extremely hot. “We’re getting close.” I tell the wolf.
At the end of the day, we still haven’t found our destination. I have no way of knowing where I am, I only know what direction to go. I pitch the tent and crawl inside. Shade tries to come into the tent with me but I don’t let him. “It’s a one person tent. You don’t fit.” He gives an annoyed grunt and lays down outside the tent.
Shaking my head, I lay my head down on the bottom of the tent.
The next few days fall into an unending pattern. Wake up, pack up, walk all day, stop and pitch the tent, go to sleep.
Shade sticks with me. He goes off on his own to find food, then returns and walks with me. I don’t understand his motives. But hey, company is company.
Speaking of company. I’ve seen the occasional trail marker or sign pointing me in the direction of Precision Horizons. I’m mentally done with this journey. The heat is breaking me down. I’ve never felt weaker in my life.
Whenever I stop and consider turning back, Shade pushes me with his head or shoulder. He’s a good wolf, if that’s a thing.
After what seems like an eternity, I see the first signs of civilization. Not a broken-down city. An alive city.
But the closer we get to my destination, the more uncomfortable Shade seems. “What’s wrong?” I ask. I know I won’t get a response, but it’s kinda nice to feel like I will.
The next morning, I wake up and he’s gone. I walk all day but see no signs of him. For the better, I guess.
Up ahead, I see what I think is my destination. A tall wall surrounds a large city. “How do I get in there?” I ask myself. As I get closer I see a small door with ‘Exit Only’ written on it. Oh well. I walk forward and knock on it.
Nothing. But why did I expect someone to answer a door that said ‘Exit’ on it. I keep walking along the wall and eventually find what I did expect, two large glass doors with steel handles sit on the wall. They look strangely out of place against the gray brick. I grab the handle and pull on it.
Once I’m inside, cool air blasts me and it feels amazing. “Hello?” I say.
A skinny lady with short blonde hair sits at a desk. “Hello there!” She says. “Are you here for Adams?”
“For what?”
“For the outreach. The outreach for talented minds. Nikolas Adams is waiting for anyone who comes for it.”
“Uh, yeah. I came for that.”
She stands up. “Great! Follow me.” I give an uneasy glance at the door before following her.
“What do I do with my stuff?” I ask.
“Just leave it there.” She points at a chair in the waiting room. “Someone will take care of it. We’ll get you all new stuff and anything you need here.” I get out my notebook and hold it, but keep my backpack on my back. She waves her hand. “Come. Come.” She turns and walks through another set of doors. I follow her into the long, brightly lit hallway.
“So this Adams person, where is he?”
“In his office, just down the hall. He wants to speak with you.”
“Me?”
“Anyone who comes.” This lady is too clean-cut and cheerful for me. I don’t like it. She stops at a door and holds it open for me. “Go in, he’s waiting.”
I walk into the room and the atmosphere drastically changes. His room is full of warm browns, not harsh whites. This ‘Nikolas Adams’ person sits at a chair, typing away on a laptop. “Hello.” He says. “Take a seat.” He finishes whatever he was doing before sliding the laptop aside. I do as I’m told and sit down. “What’s your name?”
He is tall, blue eyed, and has way-too-perfect blonde hair. “Christina Warford.” I realize I hadn’t said my last name in a long time, almost since my father died.
“Where are you from?” He folds his hands on the desk.
“Arcadia, Florida.”
He nods. “Good. Someone from the arctic parts.”
“What’s the deal here?” I ask.
He laughs. I get more uncomfortable by the minute. No, the second. “You clearly heard the announcement. You know what this is. We’ll take you back and you can meet the others. What do you have there?” He gestures at my notebook.
I hand it to him. “My sister wanted me to take notes so she can share my journey.” He flips through it, stopping at where I know the wolf notes are.
“I see you encountered the wolves. These are some detailed notes. I hope you wouldn’t mind if we copy these pages.”
“Be my guest. I just want the other notes. Speaking of, what were those?”
“The wolves are one of the byproducts of an experiment of a group before me.” He slides the book back to me. “Huge and highly intelligent, but you knew that.”
“Yeah. Are they always black?”
He seems intrigued. “The one you found was black?”
“The one that attacked me was black.” I tell him.
He smiles and sits back in his chair. “They’re not friendly.” He says. “They’re the reason we have had to move out of the warm bands. They organize whenever technology or civilization comes near them. They organize and destroy what we have.”
“How do they do that?”
“Their jaws can break through metal. Their bodies can turn over cars. They can break down doors and kill us with barely a glance.”
I shiver. “Why didn’t the one that attacked me kill me?”
He shrugs. “Who knows? We can’t understand them without studying them. And we can’t control them. That’s why we’d like to copy your notes.”
“Fine by me.”
He puts his hands together. “Great. Now let me show you to your quarters.” He leads me to another long hallway with about ten doors on each side. He leads me to the last door on the left. “This’ll be yours. Cafeteria is behind that door on the end, open all day. You’ll get notifications on this.” He hands me a watch with a small screen. “Wear it 24/7. It’s waterproof so you can get in the pool and shower. There’s a map in your room of the facility so you can find the activity areas. Our meeting is at seven am sharp tomorrow in the room across from my office.” I take the watch and he puts a hand on my shoulder. “Welcome to the team, Christina.”
He walks back down the hallway towards his office. I open the metal door to my room and see a horrifically plain room. Grays and whites are the only colors in the room besides me. I toss my notebook and backpack onto the bed and sit down. What do I do now?
I decide to go the cafeteria. I leave my notebook on the bed and walk out of my room. Once I open the door to the cafeteria I see nine heads turn toward me. These nine sit at two tables, six at one and three at the other. I give a half wave and they turn back to their meals. What was that? I grab a tray and serve myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a cup of water and a roll. I sit down at the table with three people.
They give me sideways glances before one of them speaks. She has elbow-length blonde hair and very fair skin. Her bluish-hazel eyes stare into mine. “What’s your name, newbie?”
“Uh, Christina. You?” I respond awkwardly.
“Emma.” She says. “This is Tucker and Ky.” She gestures to the two boys sitting at the table. Tucker has brown hair that is cut very nicely and bright blue eyes and Ky is a tall boy with blonde hair that comes down into his face and greenish-brown eyes. “They’re my friends. I’ve been here the longest next to Micah.” She gestures to a tall, tan boy who is very muscular sitting at a table behind us. His hair is cut very short and has a symbol cut into the hair. I don’t know what the symbol is, but Emma grabs my attention before I have long enough to think about it.
“We’ve been waiting weeks for you. You’re the last one they’re letting in. Everyone else is getting a small reward and sent home.” I glance at the two guys.
“Why’d you come?”
Tucker stabs his lunch with his fork. “Rewards. My family doesn’t need me, so why not?”
Ky avoids my gaze. “Got nothing else to do.”
I look down at my food.
He looks at me. “What about you?”
I think of Lily. “My parents died when I was young, so I came to secure some stuff for my sister. Maybe set her up in life.”
“That’s a nice thought.” Emma murmurs after a pause.
We eat in silence for a while before all of our watches light up simultaneously. I look down and read the message. “With our newest member, Christina Warford, the sign ups are closed. Get to know everyone before tomorrow. You’ll all be working together.”
I glance at the other group. “Don’t bother.” Tucker tells me. “They’re ‘The Alphas’, or so they call themselves. Micah’s the big one, the leader. They won’t talk to you, and if you try to go over they’ll give you a very stern warning not to do it again.”
I retire to eating in silence while staring at the table. The other three start talking again. Eventually the Alphas file out of the cafeteria towards our rooms. Trevor and Emma leave without a word to leave Ky and me in the empty cafeteria. “Well, uh, see you tomorrow.” Ky tells me as he leaves. Eventually, I leave my metal tray on the table and walk back to my room.
I lay down on the bed in my room. I know there’s still a few good hours left in the day, and at home those would never be wasted. But I’m tired and don’t really want to explore. I fall asleep on the plain bed.
Chapter Five
The next morning I wake up bright and early against my will. I’ve never been one that could fall back asleep, so I push myself up and glance at the other end of my room. On the small counter I’m given I see a fresh folded pair of clothes. Deciding it’s better than wearing my dirty traveling clothes, I put them on. I look in the mirror that is by the counter. They gave me a white shirt with black jeans. Not the greatest looking clothes, but they’ll get the job done.
I wander to the cafeteria, not knowing where else to go. I see Emma sitting alone at a table and take my tray there. Half of the Alphas are sitting at a different table. “Trevor and Ky awake yet?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “Adams told you about the meeting, yes?”
I nod and lift up my wrist with the watch on it. “These alert us?” It’s strikingly plain, but looks nice on me. The little screen is black and there’s a small button on the side.
She glances at hers. “Yeah.”
I get the feeling she doesn’t want to talk to me, but ignore it. “You never said why you came here.” I mention.
She swallows what she was eating. “You heard what they said. You feel it in the air. I came to help save the planet, maybe go down in history as a hero.”
I never thought about that. Of course I thought about saving the planet, but not being a hero. Since my attempt at small talk failed, I let her eat in peace. The clock on the far wall reads 6:48.
I glance at Emma before going to put my tray on the dirty pile. The door to the cafeteria opens and Trevor walks in with Ky. “Good morning.” I say.
Trevor waves and rubs his eyes before serving himself some food. Ky nods at me and follows Trevor.
Just as they’re finishing our watches light up in unison. The alert says two minutes to the meeting. They empty their trays and we all walk to the meeting room. Half of the Alphas are already there, the other half file in behind us. Nikolas Adams stands at the front of the room in a dress shirt and black slacks. “Take a seat.” He tells us. The ten of us sit down, Alphas on the left side of the room and the rest of us on the right.
The room is dimly lit and Nikolas presses a button to light up a slideshow. “So, you all know why you came. It’s time to get to work.” Everyone here, except for Nikolas, is dressed in the same clothes as me.
“Where do we even start?” The largest kid in the Alphas asks. I remember his name, Micah.
Nikolas smiles. “Glad you asked.” He gestures to the screen. “You should all be familiar with this symbol,” He says. I look at it, but I don’t understand it. I see the shape of a gear with the pattern of the earth on it. “This is your work now, I expect nothing but the best from you. Now, what you’ll do today is talk about your ideas. We need ways to clean up the atmosphere and revert the global climate shift.”
I see the others give each other uneasy glances. He puts his hands together. “Alright. Get to work.” He walks out of the room and to his office.
We brainstorm until we just start sitting in silence, all our ideas used up. Altogether it takes about three hours. We have five spiral notebooks filled with notes, drawings and the occasional squiggly line or scribble.
Nikolas returns and collects the notebooks. “I’ll have a team talk about your ideas and decide which are the most practical. Tomorrow we’ll have another meeting, same time. We’ll continue this until we have a solution.” He carries the five notebooks out. The Alphas stand up and walk out as soon as the door shuts behind him. Trevor groans and lays back on his seat.
“Why do we have to be doing all this? If he has another team, what’s the point of us?” He asks.
I shrug. “He’s the boss.” Emma is holding one of the pencils and chewing on eraser lightly, clearly deep in thought.
Ky glances around the table randomly. “Do you want to go to the activities area?” He asks the group.
Trevor nods and stands up. “I’m down.”
“Actually you’re up.” Emma murmurs.
I laugh and nod to Ky. “You’ll have to show me where it is.” I glance at Emma. “Are you coming?”
She puts the pencil in her pocket and stands up. “Sure.”
Trevor guides us to the activities area. It’s through one of the doors exiting the cafeteria. When we get there I see it’s an indoor area designed to look like it’s outdoors. There is a basketball court, a small track, a pool and an area with lots of trees. “Wow.” I say.
Emma grabs a basketball off the rack. “Let’s play a round. Christina and I against you two.” She says as she passes the ball to Trevor.
“I’ve never played before!” I say with a laugh.
“Oh yeah, you’re an arctic girl.” Emma says. She catches the ball as Trevor passes it to her. “Lesson one, never challenge me to a game of basketball." She passes the ball to me and I barely catch it as it flies at my chest.
“Good throw.” I say.
“You’ll learn as we play.” She takes the ball from me and runs to the court. Trevor and Ky take up two spots on the opposite end of the court from her. I run to stand by her. “Go!” Emma shouts. She starts dribbling down the court and easily runs past Ky and Trevor before jumping and barely making it in the net.
“Psh.” Trevor says. “You didn’t tell us we were starting!”
“You should’ve been ready.” She holds the ball above her head.
We play for a while until we get a notification on our watches. The alert says that we need to group back at the meeting room. Emma groans. “We were supposed to get until tomorrow.” She tosses the ball to Trevor and he puts it back on the rack. She leads the way back to the meeting room where we sit down, for the second time today, and stare at Nikolas.
He stands with another man. I don’t recognize him, but that’s not surprising. His gaze skims over each of us. He’s short with clean white hair and piercing blue eyes. “My name is Lowell Travis, leader of the United Government. I thought it would be nice to come meet you before you begin working.”
Micah snorts. “We began working this morning. You’re late.”
Lowell’s gaze hardens. “It’s hard work taking care of the entire world, Mr. Thatcher.” Micah’s face goes red and he sits back in his seat with his arms crossed. “You haven’t begun the real work yet, but you will soon. I hope you all enjoy your stay with Nikolas and Precision Horizons.” He sees Emma raising her hand and nods his head to her.
“Uhm, yeah. How long will we have to stay here?” She asks, her voice dripping with attitude. She’s going to get in trouble if she keeps talking that way.
“Well. Until the work is done.” Nikolas interjects.
“And how long will that take?” Emma presses.
“We’ve given our ideas, and none of us have the skill to actually make it happen.” Trevor points out. Lowell looks at Nikolas, as if asking, no, telling him to answer.
“We’ll release you when we feel the work is done.” He says. Lowell’s eyes shift, as if that was the wrong answer.
And the wrong answer it is. Emma stands up. “Release us?” She says. “When you feel like it? What is this, boot camp? Can’t we leave when we want to?”
Nikolas’ eyes harden. “No. You made a promise to stay with us, a promise not easily broken. Now you will. Please, sit down.”
Micah speaks for the second time I’ve ever seen. “No, actually, I want to know the reason. Why can’t we leave?”
“Yeah.” One of Micah’s lackeys say.
“Fine.” Nikolas responds. “You can’t leave, because we won’t let you. You’re needed to save the world, whether you like it or not. We’ll get what we need, whether you get your rewards or not.” He turns and walks out the the room with Lowell.
The rest of us sit in shock. The Alphas don’t leave instantly. Emma sits back down, slamming her hand on the table in the process, making us all jump.
“What?” The girl in Micah’s group says.
“What just happened?” Ky asks meekly.
“We were just told we can’t leave.” I say. Lily flashes into my mind. What about Lily? How will she know where and how I am? I suddenly feel awful.
The groups make their way back to their rooms in silence. No one goes to dinner. I lay in my room wondering how Lily’s doing with Emilia. Before I know it, I fall asleep.
And I dream.
The hallway that connects our rooms feels longer now. Instead of the super bright lights that typically illuminate the hallways, there are shadows on every surface. The farther down the hallway I get, the darker it gets. Eventually I look forward and see two bright lights pointing at me. Small and bright blue. I squint my eyes and keep walking.
As I get closer, they form into eyes. What the hell? I stop and stand facing the shadows. A figure steps out, but never stops blending with the shadows. Shade?
The giant wolf walks forward. I reach my hand for him, palm out. He steps forward and instead of putting his head against my hand, he raises a paw and presses it against my skin. I look from the gesture to his eyes. I see a strange, presence, that I hadn’t before.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask without thinking.
He turns and walks back to the shadows. I follow. As we walk together, the shadows stay always in front of us. I can’t see where we’re going, but I know that Shade knows. I gently put my hand on his shoulder, which is the same height as my chest, so as not to lose him. I feel the raw muscle and power under his fur.
He walks me through the hallways and I realize this is the exact same building I’m trapped in while awake. He stops suddenly and stares at a vent. Using his huge claws, I watch him tear the cover off with ease. He crawls into the vent, barely fitting. The vent is huge to fit his gigantic body. He looks back to make sure I follow.
I do.
After a few more minutes of crawling through the tunnel in the dark, holding onto his tail to not get lost, I hear him break another vent.
Sunlight pours into the vent and we crawl out.
I feel the sudden, unbridled heat that comes with the outside. “Is that how we escape?” I ask him.
He gives a small, slow nod.
“Thank you.” I say. He pushes a paw into the ground and leaves a huge paw print. Using one claw, he draws a small triangle in the center of the paw. I bend down to examine the strange symbol. “What is this?” I say as I look up.
He’s gone.
He’s gone and the dream fades.
Chapter Six
At breakfast a few days later, both groups sit together. Emma went to Micah’s group and convinced them that we needed to band together. Micah and his gang quickly agreed with little convincing needed. I carry my backpack on my back, wanting to keep everything of mine that I still have with me.
We eat in silence. “Any ideas?” Emma asks.
I want to share what happened in my dream, but I feel like they’d think I’m crazy. Maybe I am. Taking advice from a wolf in a dream.
Ky shrugs. “What can we do?” He asks rhetorically. “They’ve got us trapped with all exits covered.”
“Maybe they forgot one.” Micah suggests. “There’s gotta be a way.”
I fidget in my seat. Emma looks over and furrows her eyebrows. “What’s wrong Christina? I haven’t seen you this jumpy since you arrived.”
“There might be one way.” I respond sheepishly.
Trevor stares at me, as does the rest of the table. “What is it?” He presses.
“I had a dream where I was shown a way out. It wasn’t a dream dream. It felt real, almost like it was a message.”
“Who showed you?” Emma asks.
“A wolf I met on my journey here. He was really friendly and accompanied me for almost a week. He seemed super intelligent, not like regular animals.”
Trevor groans. “A wolf? In a dream? You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“I mean, it’s worth a shot.” Ky murmurs. When they look at him like he’s insane, he shrugs. “What other choice do we have?”
“Why are you guys so intent on leaving? We haven’t gotten our rewards yet and the work isn’t done.” One of Micah’s guys says.
“They’ve got us trapped here. That’s not right.” Micah growls.
“My sister means more to me than the reward.” I say confidently.
Emma looks around the table uncomfortably. “Some of us need those rewards.” She said.
“What are you even here for? If you really need the reward, what is it?” The girl sitting next to Micah asks aggressively.
“None of your business.” Emma growls back, uncomfortableness suddenly gone.
“Tori. It’s not worth it.” Micah says. I feel guilty for starting a fight. An awkward silence over falls the table.
Ky breaks the silence. “What do we do Christina?”
I give him a smile. “Shade led me to-”
“Wait. You named it?” Tori interrupts. Micah gives her a sharp elbow to the arm. His eyes scream ‘shut up!’
I sigh and restart. “Shade showed me a vent we can bust through to get out. The vent leads to the far side of the building. Then we can part ways and go home.”
Silence.
“I’m going with you.” Micah says. I look over at him in disbelief. He crosses his arms across his chest with a confident smile. “You’ll need some help to bust those vents.”
“I’m coming.” Ky agrees.
A pause. “I go where Micah goes.” Tori murmurs.
Two of the guys in Micah’s group agree to come. That left one of Micah’s girls, one of Micah’s guys and Emma
“Emma?” I ask.
“No. I’m staying here.” She says sternly. After a moment of silence I nod.
“Fine. We leave tonight.”
~~~~~
At 8:55 we meet in the hallway. The lights in our corridor go out at nine, so we have to hurry. “Down this way.” I say quietly.
Micah, Ky, Tori, Trevor and two of Micah’s other guys follow behind me. My heart pounds as we walk past two guards headed to the guard barracks. One of them nods their head to me and I give a smile, trying to hide the worry seeping into my mind.
What if I’m wrong? What will happen if we get caught? My thoughts practically drip with doubt. Ky walks behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder, as if sensing my worry. “We’ll be fine.” He assures me.
“Yeah, okay.” The lights go out and I pull out my flashlight that I kept with me from my journey. We pick up the pace, jogging through the hall. I come to a sliding stop when I see the vent exactly where Shade showed me. “Micah.” I whisper.
Micah pushes to the front of the group and wraps his fingers around the edge of the cover. His arms strain as he tries to pull it off. After the vent holds it’s grip, he lets go and thinks for barely a moment. “Back up.” He orders quietly.
We do as we’re told, wondering what he is planning. He kicks the center of the vent and I flinch from the loud noise. After he repeats it twice, the cover bends. Two of the sides lift up a tiny bit and he rips the vent off easily this time. “Great.” I whisper. “You go first, there's another cover on the other end. I’ll guide you from behind.” Micah nods and crawls into the vent. I go second, barely fitting with my backpack, and the others follow. Trevor puts the end cover back on as best he can.
I do as I promised and guide Micah. Left. Right. Left. Straight. Right. I recall the directions from my dream. Halfway through, we hear alarms echoing through the tunnels. “Faster.” I say, just loud enough for the others to hear over the alarms.
“I see it.” Micah says. He rolls over and kicks the vent. I hear a crash. “Got it!” He disappears from sight. I crawl to the edge and slide out. It’s a larger fall than I remember. Micah catches me by my hips and smiles before setting me down. He catches the others and we turn to leave.
Surrounded.
“Hands above your heads!” A guard shouts.
Trevor, Micah’s guys and I do as we’re told. Ky, Tori and Micah stare defiantly at the armed men.
“I said hands up!” The guard repeats.
“No.” Micah growls as he folds his hands over his chest. The men raise their guns.
“Last warning!”
“You’d kill your boss’ boss’ pets? I’d recommend against that buddy.” Ky says with a smirk.
I look at them like they’re insane. Which they are. But sometimes insane is just what we need. I lower my arms and stand between them.
Suddenly I hear something. It sounds like something running. The rythmic thumping gets louder. I suddenly realize what it is. “You guys are screwed now.” I say as I look at the guard that yelled at us.
A giant black shape bursts into the clearing. I recognize the bright blue eyes. Shade barrels into the men, throwing them left and right. Three more wolves burst out of the trees and run at us. One is gray with bright green eyes, one is brown with matching brown eyes, and the third is marbled with white and dark gray with stormy gray eyes. They run up to us and crouch down.
“They want us to climb on!” I shout. Ky and Tori run for the gray one. Micah’s guys climb on the brown and Micah runs with Trevor for the marbled. “Shade!” I shout.
The large black wolf runs toward me. I grab his scruff and swing onto him as he runs past, like I used to with Amy. I hear a gunshot and look back to see one of the guards aiming at us.
“Trevor!” Ky shouts.
Trevor’s eyes grow wide. He grasps his stomach and falls off the wolf. “Get him!” I shout to Ky.
Ky tries to jump off the wolf but it takes off before he can move. He grasps onto its fur for dear life. “Trevor!” I scream as I look back. He lays limp on the ground with the guards. “Turn around!” I order Shade. He ignores me. “We have to go back!”
The wolves keep running. I glance at Micah, who returns the glance with a sorry look. As the adrenaline coursing through my system fades, I lay my head on Shade’s neck. The sound of his heart beating and his paws thumping the ground lulls me to sleep.
As I dream I see a pitch black wolf sitting with its back to me. “Shade.” I say as I reach my hand out to his shoulder.
The wolf whips around and snaps at my hand. Instead of the familiar blue eyes, I see the familiar orange ones. It snarls at me and I turn to run. The giant wolf chases, easily gaining ground. I see the triangle paw marking on a tree and run towards it. As I get past the tree the wolf stops chasing. It snarls and turns to walk off into the shadows. I can’t even catch my breath before I’m woken up.
“Christina!” Ky shouts into my face. I sit up in a panic, sweat dripping off my arms from fear and the heat. I see my backpack resting against a tree. “Are you okay?” The others stand around, staring at me in concern.
“Yeah I’m fine.” I say quickly. “Where are the wolves?”
Micah crosses his arms. “We fell asleep. Everyone woke up here.”
“You were dreaming.” Ky tells me.
“Yeah, I know.” I say as I rub my neck. My brain is firing too fast for me to understand. “I think the dream was important.”
Tori throws her hands in the air and turns around. “Yeah, because following a dream’s advice worked so well last time. One of us is dead!”
Micah’s guy, Zach, looks at me with an apologetic look. “She’s right.”
I lean forward and draw the symbol from my dream. “Has anyone seen this anywhere?” I ask as I point at it.
“No.” Micah says.
“Yeah.” Micah’s other guy, Rick, murmurs. “Over here.” He leads me to a tree that has the symbol in the dirt right below it. The triangle points north.
“We need to follow it.” I say.
“What? That’s the wrong way to my home.” Tori says.
“Mine too, but we need to go for it.”
“Why? What is it?”
“Shade, the black wolf, has shown it to me twice now. Every time, It’s been at safety.”
“In dreams?” Rick challenges.
I stay silent.
“We can’t go through with this.” Tori says to Micah.
Micah steps forward and looks me in the eyes. “Are you sure about this?” He whispers.
“Absolutely.” I whisper back.
Micah turns to the group. “I’m following her.” The group stands in silence and Tori stares at Micah.
“Are you serious?” Tori says in disbelief, aimed at Micah.
“Yes. I want to find out what this is. What they,” he points at the direction of the Precision Horizons headquarters, “wanted with us.”
“I’m going too.” Ky says.
The others chime in before Tori is left alone. “Fine.” She walks forward and puts her finger in my face. “But if you’re wrong and lead us on a wild goose chase, you’ll be sorry.” She turns and stands at the back of the group.
I grab the Precision Horizons watch that still rests on my wrist and rip it off. “Let’s get going then.” I tell them.
Chapter Seven
After two days of traveling, everyone’s patience is wearing thin. I’ve seen the same strange symbol occasionally across our journey. One night, we’re sitting in a forest around our small campfire. We’ve made our way out of the hot band and into a warm band. Most of us are asleep, but Ky and I sit watch.
“Christina?” He says after a long silence.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know where we’re going?”
I sigh. With no sign of the wolves since our escape, there's no guarantee of anything. I’ve even begun doubting Shade. What if they just dragged us out here for a meal? “I don’t know.” I pause. “I have a feeling. It feels like the wolves want our help, but now we have to find them.”
“But how do we find them? How do you know those symbols are the wolves and not something else?”
“Shade drew that symbol after he showed me the way out. It must mean something.”
“This is crazy.” He says as he shakes his head.
“Yeah, but so is scientists luring kids in to use them.”
“You’re right.”
I take my eyes off the fire and look into the darkness. As my eyes adjust, I see the outline of a black wolf. “Ky, do you see that?” I say as I involuntarily stand up. He squints before jumping back.
The wolf steps forward and opens its eyes. The reflection from the fire dims the colors, but I see the blue beneath it.
“Shade?” The wolf flicks his ear. “What is it?” I say.
Shade walks forward and bows, giving me the perfect angle to climb into his back. Without realizing it, I climb on. Ky stares at me in shock. “What’re you doing? We’re supposed to be watching over the others.”
“Shade’s smart. If he’s taking us somewhere, he has a reason.” I reach out my hand, offering it to Ky. “Grab on.”
Ky glances at the others before taking my hand and swinging atop the wolf. I place my hand on Shade’s thick scruff and grab a fist full of fur. The familiar feeling of his strong shoulders comforts me. “What now?” I whisper into his fur.
Shade turns and walks away from the others. I feel Ky turn to get another glance at the rest of our group before they’re lost to the darkness.
The forest seems endless. After a while, Ky falls asleep against my backpack. I can’t help but feel myself drifting off. Every time I get close to falling asleep, I shake my head. I have to see where we’re going.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHSUAyGHsr
We start approaching some mountains. They’re huge. Being from Florida, I’ve never seen mountains this tall. I recall what my father told me they’re called. The Uintas. I’d heard a story that some say these mountains are haunted. It’s the wolves. That’s why they’re “haunted”.
Shade begins climbing. I grab the collar of Ky’s shirt, just to make sure he doesn’t fall.
The sun starts rising and I see the warm orange rays shining through the valleys of the mountains. As we get deeper into the mountains, it gets more cramped and everything seems so much larger. Suddenly, Shade veers off to the right into a tiny canyon.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7VPNTTTEL
The canyon goes deeper until it fades into a cave. The cave goes down, getting colder as we walk deeper into the mountain. Suddenly the crampedness of the cave is alleviated as we enter a cavern.
We are not alone.
Wolves of all shapes and colors surround us. All of them stare at Shade. “What the…” I murmur. Ky stirs behind me, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqiqGvkkVc
“Wow…” He gasps as he sees the wolves. Shade crouches down to let Ky and I off. Ky jumps off first and offers me his hand. I take it and jump down. “Where are we?”
“I don't know.” I admit. “It’s somewhere in the Uintas.”
“How long did it take for us to get here?” He glances at a steely gray wolf.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBPsx879vs
“Around two hours.” I paused. “But he was running pretty fast until we got to the mountains.”
He anxiously runs a hand through his hair. “What about the others? We left them behind.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3eK7J9OiaL
“No you didn’t.” I hear a deep voice in my mind.
I whip around and search for the origin of the voice. There’s no one else around except for Ky, and that wasn’t Ky’s voice.
Shade pokes me with his nose. I turn to look at him and hear the voice again. “Christina.” It says.
“What the-” I take a step back, startled. Ky looks confused.
“What?” He asks.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslZKhIOhVD
“It’s me, Shade.” The voice says again. I look over at the large blue-eyed wolf, frozen in shock. “Go on. Say something.” He says.
“Shade?” I ask. He nods. “How is this possible?”
“How is what possible?” Ky asks again.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJjaOsJFsD
“Shade’s…” I’m not sure how to respond. “He’s talking to me. In my mind.”
“Are you serious?” He gasps. “Can you talk to him?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nj2AHveyT
I shrug. “Not sure.” I look back at Shade. “Can you understand me?”
The black wolf nods.
“Woah.” Ky takes a step back. “That’s crazy.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7BpRYguvy
“Shade, what is this?” I ask him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVw2GJO4xF
Shade smiles. “I, along with all the other wolves in this pack, can hear your thoughts and project our voices into them.” Shade pauses, looking like he’s thinking about his next words carefully.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwsF9fcSTE
“You are the Alpha. You were chosen by the Alpha before you to be the one to make peace between us and the humans.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDRbTHk20x
“Isn’t the Alpha supposed to be a wolf?” I ask him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMV7U46KwKG
“Aren’t wolves supposed to be half my size?” He retorts.
I glance at Ky. “Can you hear any of this?” He shakes his head. “Shade, what about Micah and the others?”
“I sent three of my wolves to get them.” He responds. “They’ll be here by noon.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHAt4hEsJ6
Ky taps my shoulder. “Can you, like, talk with thoughts?” He asks. Can I?
“Yes, of course.” Shade says in my mind.
“Yeah.” I relay to Ky. His green eyes show he’s amazed. He looks at a brown and white wolf that walks up to him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3L4PtG9wKG
“I wish I could do that.” He says as he reaches out a hand to touch the she-wolf’s muzzle.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzM4ThdCxb
“He’s kind of an ass.” I murmur. Shade makes a noise that sounds vaguely like a chuckle.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7jzktRHDw
“Tell your friend that that she-wolf would like to be his, as I am yours.” Shade tells me.
His? I ask nonverbally.
“We wolves enjoy having a dominant human. I have been following you. Taking your orders without you even knowing. She wishes to have Ky be her master.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfDxhjlaJq
I thought I was the Alpha? Doesn’t that mean I’m their master?519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMJK3qALwL
“Yes and no. You issue general orders and look out for the good of the pack. Wolves’ masters give specific orders and watch out for their well-being.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6GdLLjsEr
Does she have a name? The she-wolf?
“No. We live without names until we find our master. Then, our master names us.”
I look over at Ky. “That she-wolf wants you to be her master and give her a name.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFJ0qxA58f
“Master? What does that mean?” I relay the information from Shade to Ky. Ky nods his head, seemingly deep in thought. The she-wolf nudges his shoulder with her nose and he looks back at her. “I’ll call her Delta.”
“Thank you for bringing my master to me.” She says in my mind. Somehow, she has a completely different voice from Shade. Much softer and sweeter. “He is good.”
I nod my head to the brown she-wolf, who sits down by Ky but still is taller than him. “What now?” I ask Ky.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUwa8mohDV
“Let me show you where you guys can sleep. I’ve been having some wolves prepare places for you, since your accommodations are much different from ours.” I translate to Ky and we follow Shade. Delta follows close behind Ky.
Shade leads us into an offshoot of the main cavern where a small, warm cave greets us. Six unboxed cots sit in a pile in the center of the cave. Ky walks forward and picks one up. “How the hell did wolves get these?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurUl3pyzcd
“Found them in the store of a nearby town.” Shade answers. “We’re much more resourceful, and civilized, than you think.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3r5dfr01b
Humble. I say back in my head before passing what Shade said to Ky.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZCMAylTao
Ky suggests we should set up the cots and I agree. Shade walks out of the cave, which leaves Delta, Ky and I. As we finish setting up the last cot, we hear voices in the main cavern.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxwndPvndg
The two of us walk out of the den to see the rest of our group. The four of them stand awkwardly until they see us. They all come running, Tori leading the group. At first I think she’s coming to say hi, but before I know it she’s punching me in the gut.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TC5mPGp8K
“Good to see you too.” I wheeze as I clutch my stomach. Micah grabs her shoulder and pulls her away from me.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdggLrAciL4
“What the hell Tori?” He says to her.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvx3PecOYu
“They left us while they should’ve been watching.” She growls.
“Shade came and wanted us to follow. We didn’t have much of a choice.” Ky says quietly.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTPpbqeZW3
“Excuses.” Tori murmurs.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGXybVtqFh
“Christina.” Ky whispers to me. “Tell them about the wolves.” I nod to him and glance at Shade, who is part of the circle of wolves around us.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLmVWofZBa
Slowly, I explain what we discovered.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUAaf1DcYU
“See? She’s crazy.” Tori snaps at Micah.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmnovGs7ip
Micah stares at the ground, thinking about what I said. It’s strange, seeing a guy that muscular thinking so hard. “I think she’s telling the truth.” He says after a long, uncomfortable pause.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8zUJTAtJY
“How do you believe that? She’s saying wolves are talking to her in her mind.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fy5raWdkU
I can’t take her insults any longer. “Hey Tori, I’m right here y’know. How about we do something to prove I’m not crazy, instead of hurling blind insults.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCh6G12X24
She squints at me. “And how can we prove that?”
“Ask any of the wolves anything. They can understand exactly what you’re saying.”
“Is she crazy?” Tori asks a gray male.
The gray wolf shakes his head and simultaneously says, “No,” in my mind.
“He says no.” I tell her. “You not only have my word, but the wolf’s too.” She seems flabbergasted that the wolf understood her. “Anyone else want to try?”
Rick walks forward to a brown and gray female. “Go put your left paw on Micah’s shoulder.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPPBFqJufO
She does as she is told and walks to Micah. She gingerly touches her paw to his large shoulder.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BMRVILLGa
“Holy hell.” Rick murmurs.
“Can they read our minds?” Zach asks skeptically.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVhlWVvWHr
“No.” Shade tells me. “We can only read and speak to you.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUZEUyVsZn
“Shade says no. They call me the Alpha and say I’m supposed to ‘bring peace to them and the humans.’” I say, using air quotes for the last part.
“It is true.” He reaffirms.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbtcCUHHBW
“Make me his.” The brown and gray female whispers again. “I want Rick as my human.”
I explain the whole wolves-want-masters thing to them. Rick calls his she-wolf Ayla.
“Ky, can you show them the cave? I want to speak with Shade alone.”
Ky nods and leads the group away.
Chapter Eight
Nikolas paced in his office. In a few minutes, he was meeting with Lowell Travis and the other high board members about why and how seven of the ten children escaped.
Cindy, his attendant, came into his office and told him the board members were ready. As she exited, he took a deep breath and straightened his tie.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhCceleHLw
Nikolas walked to the board room and wasted no time making his way to the front. He met Lowell’s gaze and forced himself not to flinch. “Sir, I can explain-”
“Cut the crap, Nikolas.” Lowell growled. “I told you not to embarass me. Now you’ve wasted my time and money. That makes me angry.”
“Yes, sir, I understand. There’s a perfectly good-”
“I would like to know how seven kids escaped from your facility.” The man’s blue eyes bore into his.
“Yes sir. If you would’ve let me finish you would’ve known by now.” He paused, bracing himself for Lowell’s angry words. “Now, it seems the subjects had outside help. From whom, we are not certain. I’m investigating what happened with their escape.”
“The real question comes with how they escaped our guard on the outside of the building. Somehow, the cameras in the area of the fight were knocked out an hour prior to the escape, which is why we believe they had help. There is no footage of the escape, only reports from the surviving guards.” Nikolas paused for the board members to take in what he said.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazegHlXkwm
“The reports say that the guards saw three large wolves run in and initiate the fight. The wolves were strong, fast and match the descriptions of the Direwolves.” He explained. “One of them was pitch black.” He pressed a button in his pocket that ignited the screen on the wall. “This wolf,” an image of a black wolf standing in front of a girl with brown hair showed on the screen, “has been named Shade by one of the escapees. We made copies of her notes, and she seemed to have had a friendly relationship with this wolf during her travels.”
The screen flicked to a new image. The image showed another large black wolf. “This is Erebos of project REV. We have found a way to genetically modify the Direwolves, and now we are creating Direwolves that follow our every command. Erebos is the Alpha of the REV pack. Only the alphas have entirely black fur, so we can only assume that the wolf called Shade is the alpha of the Uinta pack. The REV pack is what we’ll use to hunt down the remaining of the wild Direwolves and find the children.”
The table seemed speechless. Lowell nodded slowly. Nikolas heard nothing but his heart beating in his chest. “I like it.” One of the board members said.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WCJriwFcJ
“Are you sure these wolves are one hundred percent under your control?” He asked skeptically. “We don’t want to repeat the mistake that caused these wolves.”
“The genetically modified ones are, yes. The Uinta pack is the only organized pack remaining and we cannot control them. We think they may have mutated and become more organized, which means the REV pack is our only chance against them.” Nikolas paused. “May I speak to you privately?” He asked Lowell.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByhG5Bh6Wi
Lowell nodded and dismissed the rest of the board. “I know I chose you to be my second-in-command, but you are disappointing me.”
“Sir. My wolf led forced these ten children here and warded off the ones we didn’t want. I have full confidence that he will get them back.” He could feel sweat beading on his neck.
“This is your last chance, so it better work.” Lowell said coldly. “Your job and your life may depend on it.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFaoxFHTBJ
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“What is it?” Shade asks me as we walk out of the cave. He had offered to let me ride on his back but I declined, I want to walk.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4L66a56CSG
“During my travels, before you found me, I came across a wolf that looked exactly like you. The only difference was that it has orange eyes.” I stare at the ground as we walk, not wanting to make eye contact with him.
“That was Erebos. The alpha of the humans’ pack. The man running the facility you escaped from created more wolves like us, except made himself able to control them. They are vicious and have no mind of their own.” He pauses, and I swear I hear a mental sigh. “Erebos hunts us down with his four packmates. We can defeat him if we have our whole pack, but any one of us alone would easily be destroyed.”
I glance up at him. In his bright blue eyes I see pain, loss. “Shade.” I say. “That’s why you have us now, right?”
“Yes.”
I don’t take my eyes off his. “So what is it you want us to do specifically?” I realize that he’d told me what is supposedly my destiny, but hadn’t said what that implied.
“I do not know. I am your beta, I do what you say. The beta before me left me the instructions of finding the Alpha, but nothing more.” He looks away from me.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaeFPxuW8L
“What’s wrong?” I ask. It sounds as if the pain from his eyes seeps into his voice. “What happened to the previous beta and Alpha?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeUT1BpnmU
He stops walking. He curls his tail around his paws as he sits down. I sit down beside him and place my hand on his soft, black fur.
An uncomfortable pause hangs in the air. “Their names were Lesseth and Nyx. Nyx was my sister. Born three years before me. Just after I was born, our mother Suriya died.”
“I’m sorry-” I start to apologize, but he cuts me off by continuing.
“Lesseth raised me after my mother died. Nyx taught me how to be the Beta, knowing I would be her successor. When I was two, Nyx and Lesseth set out to find the new Alpha so you could be trained before taking the job. Before they left, Nyx told me that I would need to find you if they could not. They never returned.” A sad echo tainted his words.
“Do you know why?” I know I shouldn’t ask that, but I can’t stop myself.
“No.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOn6O7fbK5
The stillness of the ended conversation hangs between us for a while. I lose track of time as I sit there beside him. His large body radiates warmth as the sun starts to set and the warm temperature fades to cool. “Let’s head back.” He says suddenly, standing up and turning around. I follow him.
The valley echoes every sound for miles. After a few moments I realize why he wanted to leave so suddenly. “What’s that noise?” I murmur to him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgE43iX3k7h
“Helicopter. It’s what the government uses as transportation. Run!” He begins running and I grab his scruff to get on his back. Then I see it. The black figure come flying over the horizon. Shade sees it too and run even faster.
Over the sound of the helicopter slicing the air I hear a small pfft. Something embeds itself into Shade’s shoulder. “Shade? Are you okay?” I ask.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8PAwx6nai
“Fine.” He says back, but I hear the pain in his voice.
I glance back at the helicopter. It begins turning around and flies the way it came.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniRHp8OKSS
Shade stops and I jump off his back. I move to look at his furry face. “Shade? Shade are you alright?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRCBhKPrZS
The wolf reaches up and licks his shoulder. “Fine.” I don’t believe him when I see the blood dripping out.
“We gotta get back to the others.” I tell him. “I’m walking, let’s go.” I leave no room for argument in my tone. He seems too hurt to argue anyway. We begin the trek back.
As we get back, I see Ky and Delta standing at the cave entrance. “What took so long?” Ky asked, worry creeping into his voice.
I wasn’t sure what to tell him. ”We were attacked.” I say, laying the facts completely bare. “I think Shade was shot.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKwMwmVE3L
Delta runs forward, licking Shade’s ears. “Come on.” I hear her lyrical voice tell Shade. Ky glances at the two wolves as they walk into the cavern, headed for our cave.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN102rollBq
“Is he okay? What do they do here when someone gets hurt?” Ky asks. He rakes a hand through his hair worriedly.
“I’m sure he’s fine, it was just his shoulder.” I can’t help but glance at the cave. Ky taps my shoulder and I look back at him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuz1k34EkK
“Let’s go inside.” He suggests.
“Good idea.” I murmur as I glance at the way we came. He takes the lead into the cave and I follow in silence.
Chapter Nine
Tori stares at the wound on Shade’s shoulder. He growls as she pokes and prods the injury. “There’s no exit hole, so it’s still in there.” She comments.
“What is?” Ky asks.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWteEszd5Xy
Tori looks over her shoulder at Ky like he’s a moron. “The bullet, dumbass.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPiWQiPXTp
I walk forward and place my hand on Shade’s head before I look at the wound. His black fur is wet and sticky with blood and I see the small hole in his skin. The only issue is, it doesn’t look like a bullet shot. “Tori, I don’t think this is from a bullet.” I say as I turn to look at her.
She turns back to me. “Then what is it from?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTkUnR468I
I see Delta walking over. She sniffs the wound on Shade’s shoulder. “It smells foreign.” She says into my mind.
I look back at Tori. “Delta says it doesn’t smell like a bullet. Plus, it didn’t sound like a bullet when it was shot.” Tori looks unsure with what I said.
“Whatever it is, can you get it out?” Shade growls into my mind.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuFAIJljal
“Shade wants it out.” I tell her.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebCRAxRuwp
She looks at the wolf. “Fine.” Tori walks forward and puts her hand on Shade’s shoulder. “This is gonna hurt.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHQVRDH9Y2
I see the wolf brace himself as she rips the foreign object out. He snarls, but holds still.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZI2vqiON1
“Would ya look at that.” Tori comments as she stares at the ‘bullet’. I walk closer and see the thing she’s holding. A perfect metal sphere about the size of a blueberry with a pattern of tiny holes covering it.
“Now what the hell is that?” I say. I glance at Shade. He’s breathing heavily, his paws curled to dig his claws into the ground. I walk over to his side, putting a hand on his scruff. “Are you okay?” I ask him in my mind.
“No.” He growls. I hear the pure pain in his voice, pain and exhaustion.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtuU2eS1Fo
“Try to sleep. We’ll figure something out.” He nods and closes his eyes. Within a minute or two, his breathing slows down.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Cf9vTVTOq
I stand up and walk back to the others. “Did you figure out what it is?” I ask Tori. Micah, Rick and Zach joined us in the part of the cavern we considered our room.
“Zach thinks it’s a dart of some sort. I get the feeling that it was filled with something before, but whatever it was is now inside Shade.” Micah tells me.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwrkwoxTWc
“Was it poison?” I ask quickly. I feel dizzy for a moment at the thought of Shade being poisoned.
“I don't think so.” Tori says. “It’s not hurting my skin.”
“That would be acid.” Micah corrects. “Poison would make you sick then die.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHwqS87dok
I sit down with my legs crossed. “Can we not talk about him dying.” I suggest. “It might’ve just been a cheap bullet.”
Tori and Ky exchange looks.
“No, stop.” I say, standing back up. “You’re treating me like a little kid whose puppy is dying.”
Tori sighs. “I mean-”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9oDxOzaTW
“No.” I say, cutting her off.
The five of them stare at me. I turn around and walk to the opposite end of the cave, grabbing my cot and putting it by Shade.
His eyes open and he stares at me. “How do you feel?” I ask nonverbally.
“Not good.” He tells me. I reach out my hand and put it on his forehead. I forgot how huge he actually was until i was laying down beside him. My hand covers about half of his forehead and his head size is at least twice mine.
“Tomorrow I’ll go out with Delta and try to find something to help.” I tell him.
“Thank you.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sPpPBtZDU
I leave my hand on his head and close my eyes to sleep.
~~~~~
I wake up early, before the sun is even up. Shade’s large body next to me radiates heat, more than usual. I put the back of my hand on his head, a lot like I would to check Lily’s temperature. A wave of sadness hits me. Lily. Is she worried about me? Is she even alright? I snap myself out of it. Of course she’s fine. Emelia is taking care of her. Shade isn’t. Take care of Shade.
He’s way too warm.
I take my hand off, pick up my backpack and walk to Delta, who sleeps beside Ky’s cot. I pat her shoulder and she opens her eyes. “What is it?” She asks. I don’t see her mouth move, but her bright brown eyes convey all the emotion.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OLjMsBhnq
“I want you to come with me. Let’s go try and find something to help Shade.” I whisper.
“Like what?” She asks, standing up.
“I don’t know. Something.” She nods and crouches down so I can climb on her back. The large she-wolf starts walking out of the cave. Before we exit, she pricks her ears and waits to listen for anything. “We’re good.” I tell her. I glance back at the cave in worry. They’ll be fine.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pkLN01NlW
She starts running. “So where exactly are we going?” She asks.
“The nearest abandoned town.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8IUmvX7yi
It takes about an half hour before I see it. The edge of a city. We walk straight in. “Wow.” I say softly. “It’s completely abandoned.”
“Most cities are, especially in these warm areas.” She lets me off her back. “I can’t read any of these, only the beta can. Find the building you need.”
I nod. We walk side-by-side until I see the building we need. In large letters across the top it reads ‘Pharmacy’.
“There.” I point. The two of us walk into the building. From what I can see, it’s completely raided.
“I smell something.” Delta alerts me.
“What is it?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhdYOHLX6wv
She walks to the back and jumps over the counter. It’s too dark for me to see, but she jumps back over holding something in her mouth. “Will this help?”
I take the box from her jaws. “Damn, this is perfect.” I tell her. “It’s a long piece of cloth that we can use to wrap around his shoulder, usually called a compression bandage.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVupCrUTtN
A proud look crosses her face. “I still want to try and find something to ease his pain.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9muXsoShj
I start scanning the drugs left on the shelves, reading the brief descriptions of what they do. After a while, Delta’s voice breaks into my mind. “Should we keep looking?” She asks.
I push myself up from where I was squatting. “Yeah. Let’s try another building, then we’ll go back.”
We go back outside and look around again. “Maybe we just go into a house and see what they have?” I suggest.
“Better than what I could tell you.” She says with a snort.
We turn to the closest house. I take in how pretty it is. Baby blue siding, a big white door with a nicely decorated porch. It’s amazing everything’s still here, after being abandoned for so long.
I jiggle the handle on the front door. “Locked.” I tell her.
She snorts. “Nothing’s locked with me.” I step out of the way and she runs at the door, slamming into it with her shoulder. The locking mechanism snaps and the door swings wide open.
“Effective.” I laugh. She gives me a sarcastic bow.
I open doors until I find the bathroom, then I open cabinets until I find the medicine cabinet. “Nothing. Let’s go.” She sighs and I jump on her back.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1LKQrP7NR
When we get back, I see Micah and Zach waiting at the cave entrance. “Where’d you go?” Zach shouts as I jump off Delta.
“To find medicine for Shade. Why?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFFfGU3N2P
“Perfect you mention Shade.” Zach spits. “He woke up and-”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8P3AG9Qoy
“Shut up Zach.” Micah growls. His blue eyes turn to me. “Let’s go inside.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Pk0P4DUfe
I follow them in and my eyes immediately dart to our ‘room’. “I’m going to go see Shade.” I tell them.
Zach looks like he wants to protest, but a glance from Micah silences him. I walk into the smaller cave and see three wolves holding Shade down. He’s snarling wildly and snaps at each of them. “What the hell?” I shout.
“Alpha, he lashed out and attacked whoever he could reach. We can’t kill him without your order.” One of the wolves say, although I can’t pin which one.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGLMLgVHkm
“Of course you can’t kill him.” I shout, throwing down my backpack. “Knock him out.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeNIFAjGiE
One wolf nods, I assume the one who spoke to me. He hits his head against Shade’s and the black wolf stops struggling.
Micah walks in. “What’d you get?” He asks me, clearly trying to get my mid off Shade.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kCikXMrmv
“A bandage for Shade.” I murmur as I push past him to get to Shade. He watches as I carefully wrap the huge wolf’s shoulder. I look at the gray male that I had spoken to before. “I don’t know how the pack works entirely yet, so I’m putting you in charge. Have two or three wolves watching Shade at all times.”
He dips his head. “Yes, Alpha.” The gray male turns and starts barking orders.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEbZgFroLD
I pick up my backpack and turn back to Micah, who still stands there. “Now, what do you want?”
His face darkens. “I’m not one of your wolves. Your not my alpha, so it’s not really fair for you to talk to me that way.”
“What? You’re not my mom either.” I snap. We stand in silence for a moment, our gazes challenging each other to speak.
“I was going to tell you something is wrong with Tori, but you clearly don’t care.” He says coldly with a wave of his hand. “She’s in the other cave.”
I push past him. When I get to the other cave, I see Tori laying on a cot with Ky sitting by her. Rick and Zach stand by the far wall.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0mvxXQRD1
“What happened?” I ask Ky.
“This morning Tori woke up vomiting and sweating.” Ky says as he stands up.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42BlB01usp
“I’m fine.” Tori growls as she pushes herself into a sitting position. “Stop babying me and let me do something.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMnIxKpG1D
“Hell no.” Micah says as he walks over. “Lay back down, we’ll figure something out.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekSA8aB5RR
“It’s just a cold or something.” Tori grumbles as she lays back down.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHxwctHwBg
“I don’t think so.” Rick speculates from the far wall. “Shade’s freaking out, I’ll bet it has something to do with whatever happened to him.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ruOSRJhgv
Micah, Ky and I step back from her cot.
“You better stop.” Tori says. She pushes herself up on one elbow. “Watch, I’ll be better tomorrow.”
Zach rolls his eyes. “Sure, and pigs fly.”
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be all too surprised.” Ky says with a chuckle. “What, with evil governments trapping kids and talking wolves.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizL4Xph7iw
“Rude.” Delta comments from the other room. I suppress a laugh. I set my backpack down and grab a strip of hide I have from my original journey to Precision Horizons. With one quick motion, I tie back my hair in a ponytail with the hide strip.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJd2Ybw2M2S
I look at Micah. He’s staring blankly at the cave wall.
I sigh and pick up my backpack. “I’m going to go check on Shade.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRVZqsJOkH
Turning my back to the rest of them, I go back to the previous room.
Chapter Ten
“How is he?” I ask the wolves watching Shade. Sitting around him are Delta big silvery white male.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBa4yVEkfSe
“Nothing has changed.” Delta tells me. “He’s still out, but I hope he’ll wake soon.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkZQ1uMhYO
I sit down on the ground and cross my legs. “I’ve got a question. When you wolves communicate with each other, do you talk into each other’s minds?”
Delta glances at Shade before looking at me. “Yes. We hear each other’s conversations much like you hear your friends talking.” She pauses, thinking. “We can’t hear everything our packmates think, just what they direct at us.”
“What about me?” I ask her.
“Same with you. We only hear what you want us to hear.” Her brown eyes move back to Shade.
“So how do you tell each other apart?” I ask. “Since you don’t have names?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4TCvM56ul
“Our mothers give us nicknames until we find out masters. The nicknames follow our fur color then gender. My mother called me Brown Female, since that’s my main color. He’d be called Silver Male.” She flicks her tail towards the wolf sitting beside us. 519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iSrzdReD2
A long silence separates us.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAP7hnVZKu
“Do you know what’s wrong with Shade?” I ask her.
“No. I would’ve told you if I knew.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmtyXVCVCI
“Alright.” With a sigh, I move closer to Shade. I put my hand on his head and lean close. “You have to be okay, okay?” I whisper. “We have to figure this whole thing out.”
Delta stands up. “You taking the next watch?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkK5qf0xTak
“Sure. Get two more wolves, also.” I lay down on my cot.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GsDEuBwws
Delta nods and walks out of the den, the silver male following. After a few minutes, two dark gray wolves walk in.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsKlPuqYEJ
With my eyes closed, I try to rest.
A fitful sleep greets me. As I dream, I look up and see my cabin. Lily! I run to the cabin, grabbing the handle of the front door and ripping it open.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbiSNDYUr4w
The cabin is completely dark, none of the sunlight from the outside pours in through the windows. “Lily?” I whisper.
The room responds with complete silence. I decide to head deeper into my home. I slowly open the door to my room. I see Lily laying on her bed. “Lily.” I choke. “Lily I’m here.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHhA7NiLp5
I reach forward and shake her shoulder. She rolls over and looks at me.
Instead of the bright green eyes I remember, I see glowing orange eyes. “What the hell?” I stumble back, nearly knocking over my oil lamp.
She gets out of bed. As she moves her body morphs into a huge black wolf. “Erebos.” I growl.
The wolf walks forward, spit dripping from his mouth. “Clever, clever girl.” A mangled, deep voice growls into my mind.
“Get away!” I shout. How is he talking to me? That’s not possible. Only Shade’s pack can do that.
The wolf walks forward. “Tell your precious pack that nothing can save them. Not even the prophesied Alpha.”
I grab the only item I can reach, Lily’s small bow. The wolf sees me lunge for it and attacks.
I wake up, sweat dripping off my forehead. I immediately turn to look at Shade. Still asleep. “Any change while I slept?” I ask the dark gray she-wolf sitting with us.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlAnjSSIp3w
“He woke up and seemed to be sane. He tried to wake you but we wouldn’t let him. He fell back asleep.” She informs me.
I know I should let him sleep.
“Wake him.” I tell her against my better judgement. Screw good judgement. I want answers.
The she wolf nods to the dark gray male and he prods Shade’s good shoulder.
Shade stirs and I feel my heart race. Please be okay. Slowly, he blinks his eyes open and makes eye contact with me. It feels as if the world freezes. “Shade?” I say softly.
An uncomfortably long silence follows before he speaks. “My head hurts.” He says weakly.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBlv9uLUi2
“Do you know what happened?” I ask him. He shakes his head slowly. “You lashed out, attacked. I know it wasn’t actually you.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyoX2hzxTB
He breaks his gaze from mine. “What does the pack think?” He asks quickly.
“They don’t like it.” I admit.
He sighs in my mind. “I have to speak to them.” He starts trying to stand up. “They need to know it wasn’t me. I’d never hurt them.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIIpy7O85s
The two wolves with us exchange glances. I can almost feel their uncomfortableness. I move closer to Shade. “You can’t.” I tell him wordlessly. “Wait until you’re better. I’m the Alpha, they’ll listen to me. I’ll tell them you’re not well and weren’t in control of your actions.”
He looks pained. The thought of not being able to speak with his own pack. “Okay.” He resigns, laying back down.
I glance at the main cavern. “I’m going to go speak with them. Talk to these two or rest.” I order Shade.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOh0B2iV2wj
He nods, curling his fluffy tail over his face. Sleep it is, then. I walk out into the main cavern.
The wolves watch me with worried eyes. I hear the occasional snippet of conversation, mostly from younger wolves.
“The beta is no longer loyal to the pack.”
“What will we do now that we have no beta?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYELH5V6NL
“This untrained Alpha cannot serve us.”
The words hurt, but I try to ignore them. I walk to the center of the main cave and stand there until the wolves quiet down. I see my friends staring at me from the cave Tori’s in. I glance at Micah, who stares at me with his same gaze from earlier.
“Christina. You need to speak. They’re getting anxious.” Shade murmurs into my mind from his cave. I glance at him. His blue eyes bore into my brown ones and he gives me a slight nod.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfxuViQs4Q
“Okay. I have no doubt you have all heard what happened with Shade. The attacks and his illness.” I see some of them nod or exchange glances with each other. “And I’ve heard that some of you doubt Shade. You heard how we were attacked by Precision Horizons and he was shot with something. Now Tori, the only one who touched it, is sick too. What does that tell you?”
Silence.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimGtKEPsc0
“Remember, we’re wolves. We want action. You need to be the strong leader they need.” Shade reminds me.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLg1K4ovyTL
I think about how to word my next sentences. “Precision Horizons has killed your packmates. They killed my friend.” I add, remembering Trevor. “I say that they don’t get to do this anymore. If saving the world was really their intention, they wouldn’t trap innocent kids there or kill wild wolves.”
A few barks of agreement ring out from the wolves. “We need to get revenge for these injustices. I’m going to begin doing what I was called here for. We are going to start planning our attack.”
A silence follows my words.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQC69I6wXK
One wolf lets out a loud, proud howl, and before I realize what happened they’re all howling. I look over at Shade. He gives me a smile.
Suddenly the howls are cut off by a snarl and a yelp. I push past two wolves to get to the center of the noise. I see one wolf, a light brown male, with another wolf in a death grip. “Let go!” I shout.
The gray male stares at me and I see the same crazed look I saw in Shade. “Hold him down!” I shout at the wolves closest to me.
Three of them jump into action, pinning the attacker down. I run to the wolf who had been attacked, the dark gray male who had watched over me and Shade. “Are you alright?” I shout at the wolf in my mind as I crouch down and feel for a heartbeat.
No response. It was like shouting at a stone wall.
“He’s dead.” I announce. The dark gray she-wolf who I assumed was either his sister or mother came running over and nuzzled his neck fur.
The she-wolf looked up, staring at me. “That traitor needs to be executed!” She snarled in my mind. It was clearly projected to all the wolves, because murmurs of agreement rolled through my mind from the others.
“No.” I shout, interrupting the crowd. “I think this is the same thing wrong with Shade. We have to deal with it the same wa-”
“Shut up!” The she-wolf barks. “That wolf just killed my brother! He needs to be killed!” She shouts.
I glance at Shade. “What do I do?” I ask in a panic.
“Whatever feels right.” He murmurs solemnly.
I look at the wolves. “No one will hurt Shade. He is the beta, and deserves our respect in this time of trouble.” I pause. “But this wolf killed a packmate, which cannot be tolerated controlled or uncontrolled. Dark Gray Female may kill him.” I say, remembering what Delta told me about their ways.
A vengeful smile crosses the she-wolf’s face. She turns around and stares at the light brown male. Quickly and with deadly precision, she lunges forward and bites down on his neck. The male goes limp.
A low, quiet howl goes through the cave. Shade’s howl. I turn and see him sitting at his den entrance with his head thrown back. The rest of the pack joins in until the cave is filled with a low howl for the dead.
“Now you go bury these two.” I tell Dark Gray Female. “Take a few others with you.” She nods and starts dragging her brother out of the cave. With a sigh, I walk over to Shade and slump down beside him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡon82uPQ5W3
“That was the right decision.” He murmurs to me.
“I know. Why doesn’t it feel right.” I lay my head on his neck.
“It never does. It never will.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPd6pmz4VEb
I sit in silence with him, wondering to myself what I’ll do to keep what I promised to the pack. I sit up quickly, making Shade jump.
“I know what I need to do.”
Chapter Eleven
Nikolas ran his hands through his hair. Twelve hours of scanning these notes and I can’t figure out a single thing.
He was scanning the notes of Christina Warford. They had told her they were copying only the wolf notes, but he had copied every page. Even the blank ones, just to be safe.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBViT9Pbh0A
“Why did you befriend her?” He wondered out loud, staring at a drawing of the black wolf that led the Uinta Pack.
What he did not know was that Lowell had grown tired of waiting for results and released the failsafe that had been created to control the wolves. ‘His finest work yet,’ he’d called it. A virus that attacked their brains.
Lowell planned to wipe out the wolves without the REV pack, then kill the REVs. Nothing could be allowed to get in his way.
But Nikolas still worked away, trying to find a way to make the REV wolves better. It was his job. But recently, his job was tiring.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPEcSZxl52
Suddenly his phone lit up. He grabbed the device and looked at the notification.
A text from Lowell. Two short words.
“She’s here.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLs2cICoZPv
~~~~~
Shade stares at me. “You want to what?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkkKnbaliw
“It’s what I was brought here to do, can’t you see?” I tell him.
“No it’s not.” He barks in my mind. “You were brought here to lead us. Not sacrifice yourself to those monsters.”
I stare him in the eyes. “I’m going. Maybe I can give them what they want then they’ll leave you guys alone.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNlalnZEt1
“What they want is to destroy us.” He barks.
I shake my head. “I don’t believe you. I think I can save the pack by doing this. Because what if you get worse again and kill someone? Then the pack will kill you.”
“They won’t because the one who kills the Beta is the new Beta, but none of them are able to be Beta because they’re not in the bloodline. It’s just not how we work.”
I sigh. “Fine. I won’t go.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAE7Ngns1g
He nuzzles my shoulder. “Thank you.”
Later in the day, I walk back into the den and touch Shade’s shoulder. His chest rises and falls slowly in rhythm with his breaths. “Shade?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZbzkeRyaN
He stays asleep.
I walk out of the den, scanning the cave quickly before I see the wolf I’m looking for. “Dark Gray Female?” I call out with my mind.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQ6dJpd9hn
Her ears perk up. “What do you want… Alpha.” She adds the last part simply out of being required to respect me.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwruHZnAAN
“I want you to come with me.” I say. “I need a ride.”
~~~~~
She runs fast, faster than Shade. Her body is less muscular, but every bit of muscle there is toned and strong. “Am I allowed to name you?” I ask her.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOGqDc3bS3
“Usually only Masters do. But you’re the Alpha so I guess you’re all of our masters. Go ahead.” She responds between breaths.
“Okay.” I pause, trying to think of the best name for her. “I’m going to call you Artemis.” I tell her, recalling my father’s stories about Greek mythology. “And we’ll call your brother Apollo.” I can’t tell if I imagined it, but I almost feel a warmth coming from her through our mental link.
After I guess about four hours, I see the first of civilization. The tip of the Precision Horizons building.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLf3uDiCPf
Artemis slows down to a walk. “I can get off here. You can go home.” I tell her.
“I can.” She says back. “But where’s the fun in that? I’m going to stay in the area and get help only if you need it. The Alpha cannot be allowed to die.”
I give an uncomfortable chuckle. “I’m hopefully not gonna die.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7O9Lgf4rm
With that, I turn and start walking towards the building that changed my life.
I walk towards the door I first walked in when I arrived at Precision Horizons, the building seems larger and darker than when I got there the first time.
The cold metal handle on the large glass doors feels like it sucks the warmth out of my hand. As I enter, the lady at the front desk looks up before quickly punching something into her computer. “What can I do for you?” She says with a smile, folding her hands neatly on the desk.
“I need to speak with Lowell Travis and Nikolas Adams.” I tell her, recalling their names from the back of my memory.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhVzEQEvqx
She lets out a small laugh. “Not everyone who walks through those doors can speak to Mr. Travis. You’ll have to call and schedule-”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12dmM8uzjf
I hold up my hand to stop her. “Let me talk to them. Trust me, they want to know what I have to say.”
She ambivalently picks up the phone and makes a few calls. After a while, she sets the phone down. “Follow me.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37ihFQfmbd
She leads me through the halls again. The halls I hoped I’d never see again. I notice every little detail. The chip on the corner of the doorway, the scratch on the white paint, the little rip in the dark gray carpet. Everything.
She stops at a large brown door, knocking on it loudly. After a moment, she opens the door.
“Sir. There’s someone here to see you.” She says.
I feel myself picking at my fingernails. What are they going to do to me? “Bring them in.” Lowell’s deep voice responds.
She opens the door, half-shoves me in, then closes it. Lowell’s eyes widen and a malicious smile spreads across his face. “Christina. I thought you would return to us.”
An involuntary shiver goes down my spine as I sit down in the chair across from him. “Yeah, well I didn’t exactly have a choice.” I spit back.
“Why’s that?” He asks in a grandfatherly tone.
“I have a feeling you know why.”
He picks up his phone off the desk and sends something before looking at me. “What exactly was your plan returning here, Christina?”
I cross my arms and lean back in my chair. “I know what you’re doing to my friends. I came back to see if you’d stop if I help.”
Lowell chuckled. “You’re really not as intelligent as we thought if you thought you could just walk in here and demand we stop doing what needs to be done. Those wolves have destroyed us. We need to kill them to move into the warm bands to survive.” He leans forward in his chair.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83d8xdZQvw
“But why? Why can’t we live with them? My friends and I have been living with them since we left this facility. They have no intention of harming us because we don’t want to hurt them.”
Lowell laughs again. “You’re as stupid as you are brave.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12qgVOB6WX
The door bursts open and Nikolas comes running in. I lock eyes with him. “Nikolas.” I say with a growl.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFfnMgKldS
“Christina.” He says back charmingly. He breaks our eye lock to look at Lowell. “You weren’t kidding, sir.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZ5pdSoukZ
“Would I ever? Take her to level six.” Lowell grabs a stack of papers on his desk and straightens them. “Enjoy your stay with us, Ms. Warford.”
Nikolas grabs my arm and leads me out. We get into an elevator and he presses the 6 button.
He doesn’t let go of his firm grip. For a scrawny guy, he sure is strong. He pushes me out of the elevator when it opens. As I regain my composure he opens a room and gestures me in. I don’t move.
“Fine. Be that way.” He grabs my arm again and shoves me in.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoOSe0T929
The room has nothing. A completely gray room with a gray cot. “Luxurious.” I comment. Nikolas laughs.
“I hope you enjoy it. You’ll be there for a while.” He slams the door shut. The door doesn’t even have a window. Solid steel.
I sit down on the cot and curl my legs to my chest.
What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter Twelve
Shade snarled at the dark gray female. “You did what?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69n34ehkjj
Artemis shrugged. “I took the Alpha to the humans. That’s what she asked me to do.”
The black Beta paced his den. She promised me she wouldn’t. Why did she go? He froze. Because she knows I would’ve stopped her.
Shade looked up at Artemis. “Gather the pack. Get the humans. We’re going to Precision Horizons.”
~~~~~
I push myself up off my cot. How long have I been here?
I’d lost track of time after the first time I slept. The lights never went off, never dimmed. Now I just kept track by my meals. I’m pretty sure they only feed me twice a day, sending the food through a slit in the bottom of the door, but that could be the boredom talking.
I take the hide strip out of my ponytailed hair, letting it fall down to my shoulders. This is how I entertained myself. Practicing fancy knots with a strip of elk hide. Fun.
The door opens and I see none other than Nikolas Adams standing there. “Hello again.” I snort.
“One would think five days in solitude would teach you some respect. But one would be wrong.
“Pin the blue ribbon upon his chest.” I say, referencing things I read from my father’s books at the cabin.
“Get her out.” Nikolas says to the men beside him. “She’s got some people to see.” The men do as they’re told and quite forcefully grab me from where I sit and usher me out. “I think you’ll be glad to see them.” He chuckles.
We take the elevator again, going to a higher floor. I read the digital counter as we go up. 6… G… 1… 2… We stop at three. Why is level six below ground floor?
Nikolas and his men take me into a room. As we enter, I hear a gasp.
“Christina?”
Trevor, Emma and Micah’s guy and girl sit along the left wall dressed nicely in Precision Horizons clothes. The right wall is a thick, clouded glass. All of them staring at me wide-eyed. “Christina I thought you left?” Emma says.
“I did.” I snort. “But I’m back. Surprise. You’re supposed to be dead, Trevor. Care to explain that?”
Trevor doesn’t look me in the eyes, but Micah’s guy does. “I’m Kaphel. This is Ruby. You never asked our names.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH66dz59hik
“I know. Sorry-”
“Shut up.” Nikolas says. “That’s not what you’re here for.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkxHXZsWTI
“Then what am I here for?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Pw5sCZCqr
Nikolas’ men push me into a chair where they lock my wrists and ankles to it. “Fun.” I murmur.
While Nikolas moves to the opposite end of the table, I get a moment to scan my friends. I see the corner of a bandage poking out under Trevor’s shirt. He did get shot. He got shot and we left him.
Emma isn’t wearing the same jeans and t-shirt she was in when I first arrived. Instead she wears a simple white blouse with black pants. “Now. There’s something I need to know, Christina.” Nikolas says quietly.
“What would that be?” I ask with as much sass as I can muster.
“You’re going to tell me the exact location of the Uintah pack and how to kill them.” Nikolas tells me. “It’ll save us time and resources if you just tell us.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9VGjW8yhU
“No.” I tell him. “I’m not telling you. They rely on me to protect them.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxK9AIs9N7P
“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.” He sighs.
Suddenly the entire wall of my right turns see-through. On the other side, I see a little girl sitting with her legs curled up to her chest on a cot. Her short brown hair frames her face, her bright green eyes dull. She slowly rocks back and forth. “Lily!” I scream.
“Spare your breath. She can’t hear or see you. It’s one-way glass, charged electrically to only go semi see-through when we want it to.” Nikolas says. “Leave us.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6YCi1GJfq
Emma, Trevor, Kaphel, Ruby and the guards stand up and walk single file out the door. My breath is fast and uneven as I stare at my sister. “Why do you have her?” I shout.
“It wasn’t the best of outcomes, and bringing her here wasn’t my choice.” He starts. “But we needed to make sure you had proper incentive to give us the information we need.”
“You won’t touch her.” I growl.
Nikolas sighs. “Will we?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5En3ylZtt
As if that was the cue, I see Lily start screaming. She covers her ears and falls to her side on her cot.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDbprBUtaP
“What are you doing to her? Stop it! Stop!” I shriek.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JkxxnAruS
“You can make it stop.” Nikolas says calmly.
“Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you! Just stop hurting her!” My own voice sounds foreign to me. I’ve never been someone to beg.
Nikolas’ smile breaks as I see Lily uncover her ears and start crying. He leans forward, his eyes troubled. “Ready to share?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjHn8w6xc8
I hold in a sob, my eyes filling with tears as I stare a Lily. “Y-yes.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIb66GNnM6
“No! Don’t tell them anything!” A familiar voice shouts in my mind. I jump a slight bit.
“What is it?” Nikolas murmurs. He looks around, scanning the corners of the rooms. “Was it Shade?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5a2heNDlB
My eyes give it away. “It was…” He glances at Lily. I see an entire war flash through his eyes.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHaGNtP5N9
“What is he saying?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjcyZbuthT
“Tell him I’m telling you how to escape.” Shade tells me.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16lWLLwVTn
“That’s what you’re doing, though. Right?” I ask mentally.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zosgwQ7Ki
“No. We’re breaking you out.”
“He’s telling me how to escape.” I murmur. I expect Nikolas to laugh and lock everything down, but he doesn’t. What he says next surprises me even more.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yhHOnEUnT
“Take me with you.”
519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdhDY78E2E
Chapter Thirteen
I stare at Nikolas. His blue eyes don’t break. He’s dead serious. “You’re kidding.” I say despite what I see.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AmvXW20R1
“I am not. Things have changed here. I don’t want to do this anymore. I can help you. Together we can kill Lowell’s wolves and escape.” He stares at me with complete honesty.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7clOnDRIN
“You’re lying.” I growl.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1Y3zViW9B
“I’m not. There’s no cameras here. Lowell’s not watching. Please, Christina.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6cYPFXtwm
I shake my head. “What about Emma and the others? Lily?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9XdrCdgEd
“The others are loyal to Lowell. They believe what’s going on here is right, but we will free your sister.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡST7KEAMO0g
“Shade?” I call out mentally.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtx8t05eg5
“Trust him.” Shade tells me. “If he’s lying, we’ll deal with it. But if he’s telling the truth, he’s an invaluable ally.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Puzrp5kZy
I sigh and look up at Nikolas. “Get these off of me.” I say, gesturing to the restraints with my head.
Nikolas does as I ask, pulling out a keycard and touching it to the restraints, and they quickly pop off.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6KvMWhNWF
I rub my wrists as he undoes my ankles. “Now let’s get Lily.” I tell Nikolas. “What after that?” I ask Shade. “Where are you?”
“They covered the place you originally escaped, but I’m thinking with Nikolas you could walk out the front door.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0K35gLp2V
I decide not to reveal that I talked telepathically with the wolves. Just in case he is lying. “Let’s get Lily, then try getting out the front door.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNTMiirPxM
“About that.” He murmurs. “I can’t exactly get her out. Only Lowell has access to that door.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmEFggHwiy
Without hesitation, I stand up threateningly. “Then get Lowell to open the door. We’re not leaving without Lily.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntyjKgzndm
He rubs his neck. “I might be able to convince him, but I’ll need to return you to your cell to do that.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUv6aUDsijt
“Of course.” I growl under my breath. “Fine.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyXHO8rvkM
He grabs my arm and we make our way to my cell. He pushes me into the cell. ‘I’ll be back.’ He mouths.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0H4sZsmPGC
Then he shuts the door and I’m back to being alone.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OoP81GjFD
~~~~~519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzi9HQAjEyl
Nikolas walked into Lowell Travis’ office. “Sir.” He said as he walked in.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PdgVLSNqx
Lowell looked up from his computer. “You better have a good reason to interrupt me now, Nikolas.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQQfofpaLc
“I do, sir.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaWSHCSTpH
“Sit.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqN13OUghIS
Nikolas did as he was told and sat down in one of the two chairs in front of Lowell’s desk. “What’d you get from the girl?” Lowell asked.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ875izS32Gs
“Nothing.” Nikolas said, feigning disappointment. “Not even revealing the sister worked.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMllKMSUyb
“Well then. What now, Nikolas?” Lowell growled.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfL7PcNs7G
“I believe we need to let them speak. To each other, I mean.” Nikolas said.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1g3tvUiWu9
“Is that wise? We might lose all the ammo we have against her.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ni1s6VYGY
“But it might also remind her how much she cares for her sister and needs her to be safe.” Nikolas responded, putting in a chuckle.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUw35brfWZS
Lowell squinted his eyes. “If your wrong, this’ll be your last chance.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6kGy3CTU5
Nikolas swallowed. “Yes sir.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbYNwlVtUl
Lowell grabbed a keycard out of his desk. “Go.” He handed the keycard to Nikolas and went back to his work.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKmvz1C8ar
Nikolas stood up and walked to his office. He reached into his desk and grabbed something out. He turned it over in his hands. This can buy me what I need. He turned to go straight for Christina’s cell. I can finally do something good for the world.
~~~~~
I sit up in on my cot when I hear the door opening. Nikolas walks in, holding a keycard. “I got it.” He says.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCHDvsIFDC
I’m so happy I’ll get to see Lily I feel tears in my eyes. He takes me out of the cell and we go back to the third floor.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0v9b60a9V2
I walk behind him with his hand around my arm, as not to draw attention. When we get to the door Nikolas swipes the keycard and I hear a pssh as the door slides open. I push past him to get into the room.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHwQaKCY4I
Inside, I see Lily laying on her cot face down. I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFvcsh21kS
“No! No don’t touch me!” She shrieks, sitting up. When she sees my face, though, her eyes light up and her expression reverts to the Lily I know.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84cMHiD2Iz
“I’m here.” I choke out.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DLK7lOBnk
Lily wordlessly wraps her arms around my stomach. “I knew you’d save me, Christina.” She cries.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKElYJ1P88d
I get down on one knee and hold her tight. “I’m never letting you go again.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoK1wgX1ay
“I hate to break up the reunion, but we really need to go.” Nikolas says quietly. I stand up while holding Lily’s hand and nod.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCX4e0b3vT
“Let’s go.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHTCqH1gxV
Nikolas guides us out the door. We walk through the hallways as nonchalantly as possible. Suddenly, just before we get to the main lobby where the glass doors of escape lie, an ear splitting alarm goes off. “I think they figured us out!” Nikolas shouts. “Run!”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoXJiuq2P9
I hold Lily’s hand tighter and start running. She does her best to keep up but I drag her down the hall. We burst into the lobby and start running for the doors.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqF82aohlJ
“Stop!” Someone shouts. I look over my shoulder and see Emma and Trevor standing in front of four armed guards. “You don’t want to do this, Christina.” She says.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxC3Sce7qK8
We skid to a halt. The armed guards have their guns aimed right at us, but that doesn’t stop me from responding. “Oh, but I do.” I say back snarkily. “Shade? This would be the perfect time for some help!”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXs88SzOJV
“Incoming.” He responds quickly.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08SFoKFaJ5
Two large wolves smash through the glass doors, sending shards flying everywhere. The guards open fire, but the wolves stand in front of us, taking the shots. I recognize the two as Artemis and Silver Male. Shade runs in after. “Get on!” He shouts.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjNkf3wuqe
I relay the message to Nikolas and Lily. We each grab one of Lily’s arms and hoist her onto the wolf. Nikolas and I swing on after. The sound of gunshots ringing out threatens to make my ears bleed.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JWevXvmWA
Shade runs back out the shattered doors, having to duck so we don’t get knocked off by the ceiling. Artemis and Silver Male follow.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzcGiVsVlw
When we get outside, I see six more wolves waiting. Delta and Ayla are two of them, with Ky and Rick on their backs.
“What the hell, Christina?” Ky shouts. “Everyone thought you were dead!”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVXEDyEIaR
“Can’t get rid of me that easily.” I shout back. “Let’s go!”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7OacaRiCz
Shade takes the lead with Artemis and Silver male behind him, Delta and Ayla behind them and the other four taking up the rear.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbc5eZjWtLx
“They’re following us!” Lily cries.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtMvge52n4
I whip around and see four Precision Horizons trucks following. They’re not gaining ground on us, but they’re not falling behind either. 519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEkvtMNnND
Shit.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGDJV9bD9z
519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklXQtux5xS
Chapter Fourteen
“Christina!” Lily shouts. “What do we do?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1t0KOTSM3D
“I don’t know!” I tell her. “Shade?” I shout mentally.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSPKq0Z1kk
“Quiet!” He barks into my mind. I watch as the four wolves in the pack of the group slow down enough for the trucks to catch up to them. Each wolf to a truck, they shove their shoulders into the trucks. Two of the trucks veer off to the side. One slams into a tree, the other rolls a couple times before landing upside-down in a heap of smoke.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuKWw6rELN
I don’t get to watch for long before they’re gone out of my range of sight. I fix my eyes back forward.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbg5x758yF
I hear a bark and turn back around. One of the back wolves skids to a stop and squares up to the truck. Barely a millisecond passes before the truck slams into the wolf. The front of the truck bends, almost like the wolf was a tree. The people in the truck are very dead, but so is the wolf.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3b6EN2FiT
“No!” I shout. The other eight wolves keep running. The last truck slowly rolls to a stop before turning around.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczKQDp09O8
“They’re turning back.” Ky shouts from Delta’s back. I pat Shade’s shoulder.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBWHoFVjZl
“Let’s go home.”
~~~~~519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzomEhuGnB
As we walk into the cave, the rest of the pack gathers around. Two wolves help Artemis limp to where she can rest. I slide off Shade’s back and help Lily down. She stares wide-eyed at all the wolves. “What is this?” She asks.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmKB6QC5Ml
“These wolves call me their Alpha. I’m sorry I didn’t come home sooner, but I need to find out what I’m supposed to do here.” I get down onto a knee to be eye level with her, putting my hands on her shoulders. “I don’t want you here, you’re in danger.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRZzVKQfTa
She shakes her head. “No way you’re making me leave. I’m staying with you. You promised you’d never let me go again.” Her brown hair is messy from her time at Precision Horizons.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTwWH8v9wX
I pull her into my arms. “Okay.”
“Christina!” Micah shouts. “Tori’s getting worse.” He says as he runs out. I let go of Lily and follow him to the cave where Tori lays on a cot. I touch the back of my hand to forehead, and it feels like she’s on fire.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrfVoHxhBI
“What do we do?” I ask.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47KwgMnfPz
“I might know.” A voice says from behind me.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9i6NJAPJd8
I turn around and see Nikolas standing at the mouth of the cave. Micah gasps and steps back. “What is he doing here?” He snarls.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC70WBg4UQv
Nikolas puts his hands up. “I’m here to help.” He pulls something out of his back pocket. I see a small vial with a bright orange liquid.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSMTAtU3eS
“What is that?” I ask him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31RPILwOAY
“I believe it’s a cure.” He says. “I discovered Lowell’s plan with the virus and tried to secure some of the cure. He created it so if the virus spread to him, he’d be safe. Who else is infected?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWE984RXPp
“Just Tori and Shade.” I tell him.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWaFiz7N3d
He looks over to where Shade talks with some other wolves. “Him? Really? I would’ve thought it would destroy him.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2pq3cAy9D
“It did, but he fought it off.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRwA1tG8uF
“Interesting.” He murmurs. Nikolas looks up and hands me the vial. “Give it to your friend.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeo9ncku311
Micah puts his hand on my shoulder. “How do we know he’s telling the truth?”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70UrFwGbHY
I lock eyes with him. “Nikolas saved my sister. He’ll save Tori.” I turn and put the vial to Tori’s lips. I slowly upend the contents into her mouth.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRECgrOhhZL
She swallows. “Now we just have to wait.” I tell them.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTXvk4bRAo
“Incorrect.” Nikolas says. “It should be instant.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18FKmf1bnr
We look at Tori. I watch as the color miraculously starts flowing back into her face. “Impossible.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hr8uznGCw
“Not impossible. The virus was mechanical, a nanovirus. The cure was just a kill switch.” Nikolas smiles. “Truly wonderful is the gift of technology.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpm5bRKVSB
An awkward silence flows between us. “Come on. Let’s leave them.” I tell Nikolas. He follows me out of the den. Shade walks over to us.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLdmdvwq6s
“The war has just begun.” He says to me in my mind.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSO8IOIpUH
I look at the pack. Rick and Ky work on getting the bullets from Artemis’ side, Lily pets a small wolf pup and the rest of the pack sit having mental conversations. I sigh and a warm determination fills my core. “I know. But I’m ready to face all of it with you.” I say back mentally. I see a smile cross the black wolf’s face.519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHsCOpNBnV
“Then let’s get started.”519Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpMGHpcr9Cq
