The World Of Wolves

Chapter Five: The Brothers

Lyra opened her eyes and was blinded by the hanging lamp over her. She felt worse than before, nausea hitting her instantly. She was disoriented by her surroundings believing she was back at the village before everything came rushing back to her.

She sat up and realized she was laying on the cot instead of on the ground. There was a bottle of what looked like water to her left and she reached for it downing the contents immediately. Whether it was poisonous or not, Lyra's lips were cracked and dry and to her was worth dying to poison as long as she got water in her.

"I see you didn't die." Her head shot to the entrance of the tent to see Liam staring at her blankly.

When Lyra didn't reply, Liam walked to the desk and sat in the chair sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose. He seemed deep in thought as minutes passed by in silence between the two. Liam finally broke, "So, are you sick?"

Lyra was slightly taken back, unsure of what to say. Ultimately, deciding to nod her head seeing as there wasn’t much she was risking.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure, the doctor thinks-" Lyra immediately bit her, silencing herself and cursing at herself internally for saying anything that insinuated there were others.

Liam c****d his eyebrow at her. She could see irritation growing on his face as he waited for her to continue.

Lyra looked everywhere but at Liam, trying to think of any kind of lie to protect the rest of the village. "Do you have a brother?" was the first thing that blurted out of her mouth.

Liam straightened his back, staring daggers through Lyra and she continued to avoid his eye contact. "Why do you ask?"

Lyra curled into herself, trying to hide behind the knees that she brought to her chest. "I-I just had a d-dream. I just saw you, or at least I thought it was you and he had brown hair and he was drinking at a bar with a lot of people." Lyra nervously began oversharing what she had seen.

Liam continued to stare at her blankly as she spoke. Eventually, her words trailed off and the tent was filled with silence for a while. Lyra's heart pounded as she waited for some kind of reaction.

Suddenly, Ethan appeared in the tent, bowing to Liam. "Take her and out her with the others."

Before Ethan could grab Lyra, Liam chimed in again, "Carefully."

A slight nod came from Ethan as he held his hand out to Lyra and although she was reluctant to take it, she did and he lead her outside of the tent.

Immediately Lyra was hit with an overwhelming scent of blood. She covered her nose and mouth, nearly doubling over, but Ethan grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her close to his chest. "At least act like you've been around a wolf before. Stay close and keep your head down."

She followed his words exactly, nearly connecting herself with Ethan's chest, her eyes never leaving the ground as he led her through the camp. From what she could see, a few tents were set up around them and only a handful of wolves were walking around. She could feel their eyes on her, a few sniffing in her direction, but Ethan picked up his pace.

They traveled deeper into the small camp until they came upon a large fire pit and a few wolves sitting around it. Even while looking at the ground she felt a wolf approach them. The aura coming off the man that approached them was overwhelming and Lyra could feel a lump form in her throat. He stood in front of Lyra and Ethan and silence filled the area. She took a moment and glanced up at Ethan to see his eyes glossed over before he grabbed her by the neck and shoved her head to the ground.

"Keep your eyes on the ground pest." Ethan's voice spoke with venom.

Lyra just whimpered and bit her lip trying to fight off tears as her heart raced. She felt hot liquid drip down her throat, Ethan had his class out digging into her skin. She desperately wanted to fight back but focused on breathing until he removed his hand.

"Move Chase. I need to put her with the others. If you have a problem with it, go speak with Liam. I don't have time to deal with you." Ethan grabbed Lyra's arm, pulling her up and pushing past the wolf. She noted Ethan's grin on her was barely there.

They approached a large vehicle. Lyra hadn't seen a vehicle since she was young and it wasn't nearly as big as the one before her. From what she could see, it was a large rectangle made of what looked like steel and the wheels on it were up to her waist.

Ethan reached forward and began unlocking a padlock on the back of the car to what she assumed was the door. She noticed there was a heavy layer of what she hoped was rust leading up to where the door and the bottom of the truck met. Her breath hitched when the loud ringing of the door sliding up rang through her and she was met with many pairs of eyes.

She swallowed and looked back at all the eyes staring at her, but noticed they quickly broke their gaze and looked down. It looked like at least 30 or 40 humans were all crammed in the back of the truck. Some of them looked like they were barely hanging on, covered in blood and open wounds.

Lyra felt Ethan push her toward the truck gently, pulling her from her trance. She went to glance at him, but quickly diverted her eyes back down and started making her way into the truck. Once inside she had to push her way into the girl beside her so Ethan could pull the door back down letting darkness surround her.

She pulled her knees to her chest tightly, the space around her quickly filled up and she waited for her eyes to adjust. Everyone around her erupted in whispers that she had trouble listening to until she heard someone whisper in her ear.

"I'm sorry for your loss." the girl next to her said. Lyra couldn't make out the girl's features too well, but she appeared to be young. "Are you the only survivor?"

"Oh… Um, Y-yes." Lyra stuttered. "Are you?"

"No. My mother surrendered and a few other members. I lost my father and sister though. They refused to give up." The girl’s voice was emotionless as she went on to explain how the wolves came before the sun even came up and half of their people were already slaughtered before they even knew something was amidst. She explained in detail watching from behind a panel in the wall as her father and sister charged a wolf together only to be decapitated in a single swipe of the wolf.

Lyra's stomach turned as the girl talked about her experience with the wolves. She began to wonder if the wolves were going back to her camp. She didn't have the best relationship with anyone, but she didn't want anyone to die. Especially not in the graphic way the girl next to her had to witness. Her stomach began to sink as she thought of Tristan laying against that large tree, slowly bleeding out. She felt her eyes sting, but she didn't try to fight the tears as they fell down her cheeks. For once she actually wished for some kind of vision just showing Tristan as okay, anything to give her comfort and reassurance but of course, nothing came when she wanted it.

"Who were you living with?" The girl beside her broke Lyra from her thoughts.

Lyra cleared her throat, sitting herself up higher. "It was just me. W-what's going to happen to us?" Lyra asked before the girl could pry any deeper.

The girl pursed her lips and shrugged. "I guess my best assumption is we will be brought back to one of the Lycan cities and then be sold off as servants to many of the wolves. Some of us may be eaten I'm sure, but it looks like our lives will be mostly filled with serving those vile beasts." The girl paused and looked over Lyra before continuing. "You're not too pretty so if you make it as a servant, you'll probably be left alone for the most part. Wolves really only like to play with pretty humans."

"You're not all that much either Aya." a man across from them said bitterly.

"I was pretty enough for you to f**k last night." Aya laughed. "Besides, I don't want those monsters anywhere near me. You know if you get pregnant by one of those things and the baby is a monster too, it'll claw its way out of your stomach. It's the worst way to die."

Lyra's eyes widened and she pulled her knees closer to herself. "That can't be true…" she whispered softly.

"Aya, shut your f**king mouth. You're going to make her p*ss her pants and it already smells like s**t in here." the man snapped at Aya just causing her to giggle.

“Oh, come on. She’s not scared,” Aya nudged Lyra causing her to jump slightly. “Plus it smells better in here than back at our camp. I’d much rather smell sweat and fear than blood and decomposing bodies.”

“F**k you!” The man sneered. “A lot of our people died trying to protect our home and you’re acting like you don’t give a s**t-”

“Because I don't give a s**t, Alex. We have both watched countless people get slaughtered. We knew it was just a matter of time before the beasts caught up with us. I grieved enough, might as well try to enjoy the time I have left, and what better way to enjoy life than to laugh.” Aya chuckled, but it was soaked in venom.

Lyra’s stomach flipped and the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. She pondered how much death Aya saw before she hit this breaking point. The events of losing her family and group might have caused Aya’s descent into madness, but Lyra felt it was much more than that. She was grateful her little village worked so hard to shield most of them from the horrors of the world, her little wooded area wasn’t much and definitely lacked many simulations, but it was better than whatever Aya and Alex had seen. The roles could have very much been reversed.

“You’re a crazy b**ch-” Before Alex could finish the lock on the outside of the truck rattled causing the entire truck to immediately silence itself.

The night air came rushing in when the door lifted. Lyra took a deep breath without realizing the small truck was suffocating. Her eyes adjusted to see Liam, Ethan, and a man that looked exactly like Liam, but with dark hair staring at the humans in the truck. Lyra’s breath hitched as she saw the man from her vision staring at her and shortly after she was hit with a strong scent of alcohol. Her eyes immediately darted down once she realized Ethan was staring daggers into her.

“Quite the haul you have brother.” The new man said. He began walking toward the truck and grabbed Lyra by the chin pulling her face up to look at him. Her heart raced and she fought herself from pulling out of the man’s grip. ”You look like you’ve been through a lot. How many of your little group are still with us here?”

Suddenly Liam snatched the man’s hand away from her face and she crawled back, pushing herself into Aya more, a sick giggle came from Aya only loud enough for Lyra could hear. “She was the only survivor.”

Lyra jumped at Liam’s words but kept her head low. A million things ran through her head, she wondered how he could have found their camp and destroyed it so fast. There’s no way he could have destroyed the village alone, so he would have sent a group of wolves while he was talking to her. Why didn’t he kill her too? He didn’t even give her a choice to fight?

“Well, she’s either very cowardly or very intelligent. I bet she would be fun entertainment for the night, why don't I take her for the evening…” The man smirked at her, making her skin crawl.

“Cain, the girl is basically covered in fleas and doesn’t even look of age. Have some decorum.” Liam said as he reached for the door of the truck. “We should head home anyways. I rather not have my men hunting for food if we can avoid it.”

“You’re no fun. I just got here!” Cain argued just before the door closed.

Lyra could hear the brothers continue to argue and it wasn’t until their voices disappeared did Lyra finally let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Well, it looks like you’re going to have some fun in the capital.” Aya giggled and immediately Lyra felt uneasiness fill her.