It's for the Moon Godnes to know

Chapter 11

Angel POV 

It was bright outside, it was quiet and I could not smell anything but ash and burnt wood. I decided to make a go for it, I wanted to crawl out and look around. I was looking at Marvel, she was asleep, so I let her lie in the hole in the wall and crawled out into the light. I only saw burnt forest around me, I tried to remember how far my mother had dragged me into the forest before we got to the storeroom. I looked up and found the sun, I could figure it was mid-afternoon, so I had several hours before it started to get dark. I began to move over branches and trunks that lay on the ground around me, between the storeroom and where the pack house had been. I suddenly stood between proud trunks, with wooden planks under my feet. I had overlooked that I had left the forest and had gone straight into what had once been the pack house. Sure, the planks under my feet were covered in everything, but I had no doubt! I was standing in one of the smaller outbuildings where some manual work was being done. When I looked up, I could see that some of the largest beams that had kept the floors and ceiling up were still sitting there. However, they were completely black and looked like they could crack under their own weight. I walked around the pack house, and over to what had been my home until the attack. I walked through the door, then stopped in shock. There was nothing left but the door. Suddenly I could hear a laugh, I covered my mouth with one hand, it was myself who laughed! Here my whole home was gone and then I had walked through the door! That is, the fireplace with the chimney was still standing, I stood a little and looked at it all, the whole nothing! There were only sweaty bits left, even the wall into the bedroom was gone. The worst thing, though, was that Marvel's cradle was gone! I had loved it so much, I had sold quite a few rabbit skins to buy it! But everything was gone now! I turned back to the storeroom and found that Marvel had woken up. I picked her up and toke her out in the light and sat down with her up by the doors. She took at my chest as soon as I laid her to it, I was filled with a calm. While she was eating, I looked beyond what was once a settlement. I could see pretty much the whole area. There were no longer houses shielding the view. I could see that some cabins and sheds were not as included as the pack house or my own cabin. None of it was habitable, but maybe I could find things I needed. I could not remember when I last washed Marvel. Probably just before my mother came and pulled off with me, but how long was it since? She also needed a clean diaper and clean clothes! I had done what I could to keep her warm and dry with strips of my own dress, but there was not much left of it either! When Marvel had eaten and slept again, I got up and walked through the buildings, to the first cabin that looked less ruined.

I found a closet that had survived the fire. There were two dresses, both to large for me, as well as two sturdy men's shirts and a pair of trousers. There were no children's clothes, but the two shirts and one dress should probably be able to warm Marvel. I looked around and found an old cloth bag in the bottom of the closet. I put all the clothes in the bag and looked around for more. The rest of the house was cluttered and the roof had fallen down, so I dared not mess in it, not with Marvel on my arm.

The next cabins I did not find much in, behind one, however, there was a wooden box with animal skins in, I carefully closed the box. I would come back to it.

Then I reached my parents' shed! I stood for a long time, just looking at it. I went around it and found that one half was gone. Only some of the great room, as well as my old room still stood. In the great room I found two old tin cups and a tin plate. I found my father's old hunting knife and my mother's old comb. It was not much, but it was there legacy!

In my old room I saw that my bed stood untouched, like the day I got married and had made it for the last time. I pulled my old blanket off and wrapped it around myself and Marvel. I left my childhood home and went back to the storeroom.

The first thing I did was wrap Marvel in the blanket and lay her in the hole. Then I crawled out again, looking for twigs and branches that were not completely charred. I had the branches over the doors removed so I could open them. Down in the storeroom, I built a small fire just below the hole. I lit a fire with my father's knife and a stone. Took a couple of the potatoes and put them right next to the fire. That night I ate baked potatoes and warmed myself by the fire. When Marvel woke up, I breastfed her and we slept together in the blanket near the fire.

The next morning I took the clothes bag down to a small stream, first washing Marvel quickly, the water was so cold, then I wrapped her in one of the warm men's shirts, breastfed her and laid her on the blanket. Then I took off the remnants of my dress, washed myself in the stream, straightened my hair with my mother’s comb. I put on the warmest of the two dresses and packed the rest down in the bag again. I left the bag standing while I made a sling of the rug and walked to the last buildings with Marvel secured close to me.

I remembered where one of the weavers had her hut, I used a stick to rummage around in the remains of the hut. I found two needles, a pair of scissors and a roll of leather cord. Quickly I ran over to the hut where I had found a box of skins the day before. I emptied the box and sat down on it. With Marvel lying on a fox skin on the ground next to me, I sewed a small cloak of rabbit skin, warm footwear for Marvel and myself. Even though it was late summer now, autumn and winter came soon, I had to stay warm!

The night before, before I fell asleep, two things occurred to me.

One: I was alone! My parents, Ryan and even my Alpha were gone! I was overwhelmed with grief. Everything I had known, loved and lived for was no more!

Two: I had to go! If Marvel and my unborn pup were to survive, we could not stay here! Here was not safe. It was a known wolf territory now! Every one caught here would be considered a wolf, and therefore be as good as dead!

The grief avoided the urge to survive and protect my pups. I stopped my tears and started thinking about a way to survive. Get clothes, get food and get away! That was my plan and I followed it.

That night I sat in the storeroom looking at the things I had procured. The clothes, I would need, to dress us. Needles and scissors to make things for us, everything from clothes to shoes. My father's knife and my mother's comb, I wanted that too. The cups and the plate were also something I could not just get.

I had sewn the bag into a rucksack and it was already getting full. I looked at all the food in the pantry. Either way, I could not bring everything! There was no room and I could not carry that much when I had to carry Marvel too!

I ended up emptying an onion net and putting ten large potatoes in it. I put an empty jam jar down in it so I could always carry water with us.

The backpack on my back, our blanket as a sling for Marvel over one shoulder, the net with potatoes and the glass over the other. I had to put on the furcoat, even though it was a little too hot for it yet.

I snuggled under the rug with Marvel, the last night, the only place I had ever been.