With open eyes

Remember the prayer

Looking back at when James and Joseph were little, remember how the women in their pack died:

The men had already left to help the neighboring pack with a problem. A bigger pack was threatening them over a dispute over a female. The alpha agreed on bringing all his warriors over to make sure the matter would be dealt with without a war breaking out. Back at pack land, the luna was walking over a small clearing between the houses. She was walking to the packhouse, and out from the house came two boys running. She smiled as they ran towards her, and both ran into her arms as she bent down to meet them.

“Mommie, James took my favorite car toy!”

The luna scowled at James, “James, did you take Josephs's car?”

James scoffed, “yes, but I gave it back right away.”

The luna smiled at that and ruffled both their hair. “Well then, it seems all is as it should. Right, Joseph?”

Joseph pouted at that and did not answer.

Suddenly luna stood up and sniffed the air, her eyes squinted a bit before they went wide. Her eyes then glazed over and suddenly the clearing was flooded with people running out of their houses or out of the woods to join them. They were all children, women, and the elderly. Luna’s eyes glazed over some more and the larger group of people started to run in either two directions. The elderly and children were rushed to the packhouse, and the women that were fit to fight ran towards different posts around the houses. Inside the packhouse, the elderly rushed the pups down the steps to the basement. They rushed through a narrow concrete hallway, it was long and led them through a few corners. In the end, they saw a large metal door, as large and thick as a vault door. Everyone was rushed into the room and as everyone was inside one of the elder men closed the door. From the inside, he bolted it. The room was small but could hold about a hundred people, it had some shelves stocked with some food. It was all canned food or dry food, in a corner sat a bucket. By another corner was a pile of water bottles stacked on top of each other, there was enough water and food to hold them for a week. One single light was illuminating the room from the ceiling, along the walls were some simple mattresses piled up. This room was for surviving, and that only. The walls were painted white, but the cold concrete could not be warmed by any paint or color.

Outside the women were hiding behind their posts. They were looking intently around, their eyes glazed over now and then. Most women were sniffing the air trying to find where the threat was coming from. Slowly emerging from the woods walked out a large group of men, they were dirty with long hair. Their foul smell could reach them from far away, the group of men was much larger than they anticipated. The women started to shift nervously.

Suddenly one of the men from the group spoke, “I can smell you, females! No need to hide, we only want to play! If you play nice we might just be nice back.” The man chuckled.

The other men started to grin, they were looking around trying to scope where the women were hiding.

Luna took a few steps from her hiding to show herself.

“Well well, isn’t it the luna you are pretty?” The man smacked his lips like he was looking at a savory meal.

The luna spoke up, “leave now and we won’t harm anyone.”

The group of men laughed at that.

“HA! Do you think a group of females can fight us and win? We will have our way with you either way, but as I said, if you play nice we will be nice.”

The women shuddered at the thought, they were disgusted at the prospect.

The luna clenched her teeth, “I will die before I let any of you touch my women.”

The man answered with a click of his tongue, “well then luna, seems like we will do this the hard way. I am going to enjoy you, luna.” Then he barged forward to grab the Luna. She went straight into a fighting position to fend him off. All the women emerged and started to fight the men, but the fight was lost even before it started, the women were outnumbered and the men were much stronger.

In the bunker sat every pup and elder on the floor, no one said a word. They might have been there for a whole night, or even a whole night and a day. It was hard to say as no one had a watch. The pups and elder wolves had slept on the mattresses for the night, at least for what they thought was the night. They were waiting for someone to come and get them, but it seemed like no one was coming. Finally, one boy stood up and walked over to the door.

One of the elders held out a hand to stop the pup, “no James, we have to wait until someone comes and get’s us.”

James turned around and said in a flat tone, “no one is coming. I will go and check if it is safe. If I come back, it is safe. If I do not, is not safe. Lock the door after me.”

Then James went over to the door and opened it, he left the bunker and walked the hallways as they closed the door after him. He walked slowly as he didn’t want to make any noise, as he got closer to the steps he could smell a foul rancid smell. He gagged as it hit his nose. He put one sleeve over his nose as he walked up the steps. When he got outside the packhouse a horrid sight met him, laying around the clearing where all the women. They were naked and bloodied, and all of them were dead. Among the group, he saw his mother, m*tilt*d, r*ped, and killed. James' cheeks were wet and his eyes were shedding large drops of tears. He sniffled, took a large inhale, and wiped his cheeks. Then he went over to the field and started to gather all the women in a pile further away from the houses. It took him hours as he was not as strong, being only ten years old. When he had all the women gathered he went to a shed and got some gasoline, he prayed a little prayer for the women, a prayer he was taught by his father. It was a story about the moon goddess and how she blessed every female werewolf. The prayer was the one they spoke at a pyre for a female that had passed. He then dunked the gasoline onto the pile and set it on fire, it burned through the whole night. In the morning when it was only embers left, he went to the bunker and let the others out.

Two days later the men came back, they were shocked at the sight. Only pups and elders were left, and a huge pile of remains was put aside for burial. Most of the men fell to their knees at the realization of what had happened, they broke out in sobs.

The alpha went over to his two children and embraced them, “who did this?” He simply asked while gazing toward the burial site.

James looked at him and shed a single tear, “I remembered to say the prayer father.”