I'll Be the Hero

    “You may be the first to fall.” The words echoed over and over again in my head, bounding around, and making me dizzy as they spun out of control. I snuck a glance around and counted the hunched figures around me once more. Two Hundred and fifty-three; twenty more than there were yesterday evening. Chains rattled as the figure in front of me shifted slightly, the flash of silver causing a guard to snap the whip against the floor, making my blood to turn cold. My back ached at the memory of the thin leather biting into the tender flesh, the warmth of my own blood washing over me. I could see the others cower back away from the sound, bowing their heads lower, curling in on themselves… it made my stomach turn to see such powerful creatures reduced to this. I stared, unblinking, at the silver burning its way into my wrists, the shackles keeping me pinned to this one-foot by one-foot square. My hair hung in curtains on either side of my face, damp with blood. The soft thump of boots on the cement made my muscles tense as it grew closer and closer. I was the one that they watched the closest, the one that they beat the worst… I was the one that almost escaped. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the black boots pause just beside me, the owner dangling the whip almost carelessly, daring me to try something. I sat frozen, my eyes glued to the thin leather strap while its master stood, unmoving beside me.     “Finally lost your fight?” The voice was female and seemed almost amused. I growled softly at her and she laughed, a soft sound that did not match this place. “Perhaps another trip to the pit will finally teach you your place.” Anger bubbled up inside of me as I bit my tongue, every part of me screaming to rip her apart. My fingers found the silver chains and gripped them tightly, letting the burn of the metal distract me from wanting to tear this hellhole to shreds. She let out that musical laugh again and finally moved along, dragging her whip behind her like some kind of sick wedding train. I glanced to my left to find a pair of almost black eyes staring at me with disgust. I could read the words swirling in their depths, weak, useless, traitor. I shot an icy glare back in return and bared my teeth at the stranger. They tilted their head, and I got a look at their face. I remembered her. Like seafoam kissing the coast, tendrils of black waved and curled to rest atop strong shoulders, each strand caked with mud and blood that I knew was not hers. A galaxy of red and light brown spotted the girl’s cheeks, washing up across her nose and just below her eyes… Eden. The girl was well known amongst other wolves, as beautiful as her name but as deadly as the serpent that dwelled within paradise. Her parents were two of the strongest alphas that the world had ever seen, ruling their pack with an iron first and expecting the same from their daughter.     She must have seen the recognition in my eyes because she smirked at me before deciding that I was not worth her time any longer. She turned her attention back to the chains around her wrists and tugged gently at them, wincing as the silver bit into the milky skin. Angry red marks were forming from her constant pulling and blood had begun to weep from the scabs she had given herself. She looked back at me and I made sure that my expression said exactly what I thought of her… i***t. For someone so strong and powerful, she was a bloody i***t to continue to injure herself knowing that she would need strength for whatever they planned to do with us next. I looked away from her and stared down at the dirty ground, waiting for what was to come.        The thumping of boots and growling of wolves brought me back to reality and I lifted my head for the first time to really look around. Dozens of guards were moving up and down the rows of people, fighting the struggling wolves to put something around their necks. A guard came to stand beside me, a leather band with some kind of electrical box fixed to the side dangling from their hands. I growled in the back of my throat and jerked away, staring directly into their face, memorizing the unimpressive features. Shaking hands moved to put the band on me and I could sense the fear rolling off of him. I jerked back further and growled louder, allowing the wolf to begin to take over. I could feel my teeth shifting and sharpening, the sound of bones crunching and cracking ringing in my ears as I desperately tugged at the silver, trying to pull myself free as the guard stumbled back, horror in his eyes. As I lunged forward slightly, I could sense Eden stirring. I heard her growl and heard even more snapping as she began to try to shift as well.     “Chief! Chief we have two trying to shift,” the terrified guard yelled, backing up even more until he bumped into the large male wolf behind him, jumping when he heard the man growl. “Chief! We need help in here!” More guards descended into the room, each of them carrying more chains in their hands. I snarled as I felt my back open once again, the bit of the silver slicing through the skin. The had abandoned the leather and were now using chains for whips. I pulled harder at the chains around my wrists and tried to lunge at the new guard, but they stood firm and delivered another blow. I heard Eden snarl and heard her yank at the chains around her wrists harder than even I had, the cement cracking under her immense strength as the chain threatened to come loose from the ground.     “I need help with this one!” I could hear more guards rushing towards Eden, each carrying another chain in their hands. The hollow thunk of  the metal smashing into the girl beside me made me flinch inwardly as I was dealt another blow. I looked around, staring into the faces of men and women, their bodies weak and shaking, but their eyes alive with the first flames of life that I had seen since we brought to this place. They thought we could free them. They thought that the three of us would be able to fight an army off and free them. I could feel my heart quake at the looks of desperation written across their mud caked faces. I knew that we didn’t stand a chance to fight our way out. We were weak and we were chained to the ground. Hope was a dangerous thing. It made people think things that were impossible would happen. I felt the fight leave my body as another chain smashed into my back, opening even more wounds as I collapsed to the cement, my knees aching as they slammed down, my head falling forward as the chain came again. Pain rippled across my back and I could feel the fresh blood washing across the wounds and dripping to the ground around me. The man finally fell as the chain opened a large would across his side. I could see his large frame shaking as he drew in ragged breath after ragged breath. I managed to lift my head enough to look over at Eden and found the small she-wolf covered in blood, so much that it drowned her milky complexion and matted her already wild hair. I could see her muscles screaming at her to give up, threatening to collapse under the pain and abuse and yet she forced herself to keep fighting. I could smell the slight twinge of fear rolling off of her, as she began to shake ever so slightly. She knew that she couldn’t keep going much longer, and yet she continued to push herself far past the limits. The whip landed another blow and she finally fell to her knees, her head dropping with a spray of blood. She wouldn’t lift her eyes from the ground, but I could read the shame in her posture. She had given up. She had admitted defeat. Her body had betrayed her.     “ Take them to the pit. They need to learn some respect.” I felt rough hands grab me, twisting their fingers in my hair as they ripped my head back to look down at me, a smirk on the face of a female guard. I narrowed my eyes at her and growled, letting them know that they might have won this battle, but they had yet to win the war. She laughed out loud and pulled my head back further, motioning with her other hand for a man with the leather band to come forward. I tugged and twisted but my body was too weak from blood loss and so I just sat there while they collared me like some kind of house pet. I watched as they undid the chains from the ground and yanked me to my feet. I glared at them as they began to drag me down the rows of wolves. I refused to look at any of them. I couldn’t bare to see the disappointment written across their faces, making their eyes grow dull. I could hear the rattle of chain behind me as they dragged the other two towards the fighting pits with me.     “Throw the red head in first. She started this little rebellion.” She sighed inwardly and readied myself for a fight. The large metal doors opened and blinding white light washed over me, bringing with it the burning scent of bleach that was used to scrub the blood from the floors and walls. The silver was taken from my wrists as I was shoved into the room, the doors slamming shut behind me. I looked around, my eyes focusing on the glass that lined the top half of the walls, seats sitting empty on the other side. When we were first brought here, those seats had been filled to the brim with spectators excited to watch wolves fight. It was a bloody sport, one that had been immensely popular in the underground crowds but had made its way to the mainstream public a few years ago. We were viewed as less than human, so it was fine to pit wolf against wolf. Some went as far as kidnapping pups to train to fight from a young age, guaranteeing them winners. I huffed as I spun in a circle, waiting for one of the walls to slide open and reveal the monster that lurked inside.