The Wolf Days

Pack VS Hunters

"Emaliah! Phoenix! It's time to go!" I heard Elysah yell from across the house, snapping me awake. I heard a few voices alongside hers. I got up and got changed. When I walked out, I came out to the whole living room packed with people. "Everyone, this is our newest member, Emaliah and her wolf Phoenix." Elysah introduced me. I looked around and saw there were tons of shadow-shaped wolves all over the living room as well. Everyone told me 'Welcome to the pack', then like that, they switched back to a young boy. He looked around 8 years old. His deep blue eyes were red from tears and his bright red hair seemed faded from sadness. "We are terribly sorry for what happened to your mother, Sammy. We will forever have her in all of our memories. She was a great wolf, person, mother, and friend. May she rest in peace." Elysah said soothingly. She hugged Sammy before motioning me to follow her outside. All I walked through the crowd, the feeling of sorrow seeped over me. I may not have known her, but I felt how much all of them cared about her. Once outside, I figured it'd be safe to ask.

"What happened to his mother?" I asked carefully. She shook her head in dismay.

"Hunters. They've been camping out in these woods more and more lately. They must have caught on to her and took her life." Elysah said with sadness in her voice. Her voice was shaky but I was not sure if it was due to anger or sorrow, maybe both.

"But why?! Why would they hunt us like wild animals? We aren't hurting anyone." I said, anger creeping over me. I didn't understand why someone would want to hurt another being without a good reason.

"Because to them, we are wild animals. We are monsters. They think killing us shifters is doing God's work. They think we are evil beings and need to be put down. That's why we need to be extra careful not to draw attention to ourselves. We don't need them to find and kill us all." Her eyes were swelling up so I hugged her while we were still walking.

"We'll get through this! We won't let them win! We can't. We will survive all this." She stopped to give me a full hug before continuing down the path to the city.

"Sorry, it's just that we've lost so many already. It's getting harder and harder to believe we will make it through. Let's just drop this for now and get you to the shelter for some clothes, okay?" Her voice was cracking. I nodded and we walked into the city in silence. I could tell she was deep in thought because she wasn't checking our surroundings. I was also deep in my thoughts but I also was making sure all my senses were on high alert just in case.

Once we got to the shelter, her whole mood changed. "Oh wow! They painted. The building looks so much better now." She sounded almost excited as she spoke. We walked inside together with me following close behind her. I'd never seen a shelter before, so I was taking in all the sights and smells. I could have gone without all the smells though. There were tons of people who smelled of body odor and some old pee. The smell was so strong I had to hold my breath. I felt like I was going to puke. We reached the end of the hall to an office where there was a pile of clothes. It seemed to be the only clean smelling thing in there. We went through it all, checking tags for sizes. "Here." Elysah handed me a few different pairs of pants and a few shirts to try on. Most of them were too big but I was able to find a few shirts that fit better and a few pairs of pants that could be worn with a belt we also found in the pile. "These will have to do for now. Underwear will have to wait till we can go shopping. Your shoes seem to be in good shape, so let's not bother with getting them changed out." I had some running shoes from the orphanage on. They were hardly worn, since we were inside most of the time anyway. We packed everything into a bag and started heading out.

When we got outside and headed back home, a man was waiting. He pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and walked over to us with a smug look on his face. "Heeey girls."

"Noooo...." Elysah groaned as she pulled me closer to her. She seemed like she knew the guy and didn't want to deal with him.

"Oh, come on Ely, you can't turn your back on me now." He started to follow us down the road. Elysah held onto me tighter.

"Hey, how about leaving us alone? Obviously, she doesn't want to talk to you. So why don't you just walk away?" I replied. Elysah shot me a look as if to tell me to shut up.

"Oooo, who's your feisty friend here? Your girlfriend? She looks too young but I guess that's okay. " He kept at it for another block before grabbing Elysah's arm and pulling her away from me and into him. He went down as if to kiss her but before he could, Elysah kneed him in the nuts.

"Don't you touch me again, Kyle! I don't want you! How about you find yourself another girl to harass and leave me alone?" Elysah snapped. He let her go, gathering himself back up from the nut kneeing.

"Fine! If I can't have you, I'll take your girlfriend then!" He snapped back. He grabbed me and pulled me to him. Something burned deep inside me and before I knew it, my jaw was clamped down on his hand. The taste of blood hit me and made me release. He yelped, pushing me to the floor. "You monster!" He yelled before taking off running. I spit out his blood but the taste stained my tongue.

"You okay?" I asked Elysah. I could tell something was bothering her. She nodded. "Who was that?"

"My abuser...." She replied quietly. I knew exactly what she really meant. I was angry. I wanted to go back to him and do far worse, but decided against it. I led us back to the house while she stayed quiet the whole way home. I could tell she was deep in thought again. I gave her some comfort hand squeezes every now and then just to let her know she was not alone. Each time I was met with a slight smile. When we got back, she went straight to her room. Everyone had cleared out before we got home, so it was just the two of us again. I unpacked everything in my room and laid down. I wasn't tired but it felt nice just to lay down.

That night, Elysah came in to get me. It was run time. She seemed more lively again, even excited about going out for the run. Honestly, I was too. We walked to the middle of the forest to meet up with the group. It wasn't a huge group, only around ten of us in total. "I know it'll feel weird at first shifting in front of others, just know they are more focused on shifting themselves than they are on you. If you feel more comfortable, you can go behind a tree." I nodded. She turned her back to everyone and before I knew it, I saw Lylac in Elysah's place. She was a beautiful gray wolf with black streaks down her back. I turned to find everyone had shifted already and now it was my turn. I turned around and started stripping. I tried to forget everyone was there and just shift but after 10 minutes, I gave up. "Just go on without me." I said sadly. I felt bad for holding them up. Last time I shifted in my sleep, so I don't know how to do it.

"Okay pack, let's give her some space." I heard Storm say as he led the pack a few yards away. I was shocked I could understand him while in his wolf form.

"Alright, Phoenix. Let's get this going I guess." I said to her out loud. Almost instantly, my body began to change. I tried so hard not to fight it, but the pain running through my body made me want it to stop. Hearing my bones and joints cracking and popping didn't help much either. The pack came back once it was over and I was Phoenix again. Storm nodded at me proudly before leading us on our run. The wind danced in our pelt as we ran. My tail was going a mile a minute, acting almost like a purpeller, making me fly through the woods with ease. Everyone else was bigger and faster than me, but I still managed to keep up enough not to be left behind. After a while of running, we came to a pond like lake. Everyone gathered around it and drank. I could see the bottom because of how clear the water was. It was the best tasting water I ever had too. Everyone laid down. I laid down on a cool flat rock near the pond with Lylac close by. Storm managed to find a fallen tree that gave him better sight of everyone. I took in my surroundings. The breeze smelled sweet and felt cool. The trees looked like they were touching the sky. The leaves on them looked as green as the grass that surrounded us. Everything seemed so perfect until it wasn't. A foreign sound echoed through the woods. My ears perked up and I caught the smell of gun powder. I scanned the area, trying to find the source. When I did, I jumped up. "HUNTERS!" I howled. No one seemed to bother listening to me at first. Then I saw something shining from beyond the trees thanks to the moonlight hitting the gun. "STORM! HUNTERS!" I howled panicked. This time, Storm perked up. He looked right at the man with the gun.

"Everyone time to run! Lylac, take Phoenix home! Everyone else, go as we practiced! Hurry!" Storm barked orders. Everyone scattered and I ran after Lylac. She ran faster than me so I couldn't keep up. Before long, she was out of eyesight. I could hear the men with the guns running and shouting. I heard the gun shots going off and hoped everyone was alright. I was panting so hard I had to stop to catch my breath. My lungs weren't as developed as theirs, so running at full speed was not easy to maintain for as long as they could. I knew I needed to run but my body wouldn't allow it. I could hear howling echoing through the trees, letting Storm know they made it to safety. I let out a SOS howl that only had gun shots as a response nearby. I could hear their footsteps getting nearer and nearer by the second and the smell of the gun powder overtook my sense of smell. Panic set in and made me get up to run again. I didn't know where I was going since I couldn't smell anyone's scent, only the gun powder. I took off as fast as my body would let me. I rounded a large tree when I got tackled. I yelped and tried to wiggle my way out of the person's grasp.

"Shh. Shh. Calm down please." He whispered calmly. I stopped squirming and looked at who it was. He looked familiar. "Okay, let's go." I followed him to a hollowed out tree that led to a tunnel. "Do you need clothes?" When I said yes, he shook his head. "I meant to nod. I don't understand Wolf." I nodded and he led me to a pile of clothes. I gave him a look. "Oh right, sorry." He looked away, keeping his back to me so I could shift back. I got lucky and found some clothes that fit almost perfectly.

"You're Sammy, right? I'm sorry about your mother." I said as I finished getting dressed. He shrugged.

"It happens. Now it's just me and my sister Sarah left. They got my dad a few years back. I knew you were a shifter and figured you could use some saving." I sat down exhausted. "Why were you out alone anyway? Where is the pack?"

"I was supposed to follow Elysah back home but I couldn't keep up. With all the gun powder in the air, I couldn't follow her scent either." I gave him a recap of what happened. He hugged me.

"You're safe here. You'll return to the pack in no time. We'll just hide out here until it's safe to leave." He started walking deeper into the tunnel, so I followed him. After a few minutes, we came up to some stone stairs that led up into the kitchen of a house. Inside, it was similar to how Elysah's house looked with everything a mess. There were moldy dishes scattered everywhere, dishes in the sink, and trash all over the floor. It looked as it was supposed to, abandoned. He led me out of the kitchen and into the living room. There were couches lined up around a TV that seemed like it wouldn't work even if there was electricity. I sat down on one of the couches and he joined me on the one next to me. "My sister should be back soon. Make yourself at home." I wanted so badly to lay down and sleep but I knew that wouldn't be smart so I stayed sitting up. Phoenix was lying on my lap and I played with her ear to calm us both. I closed my eyes and spaced out, keeping my senses on high alert.

I don't know how much time had passed by when we heard movement in the kitchen.

"Sammy! Are you here?" A frantic female voice called out as she headed towards us in the living room. Sammy shot up from the couch.

"Sarah?! You're alright?!" He rushed to his sister and hugged her tightly before she could make it to the living room.

"We have to leave. I need you to pack your bags. There are hunters everywhere!" She was in such a rush to get stuff packed she didn't notice me at first. When she passed by a third time, that's when she saw me sitting on the couch. "Emaliah? Aren't you supposed to be with Elysah?" She asked, confused. She was one of those wolves I ran with. Her watermelon red hair was in a messy bun and her deep blue eyes, same as her brothers, looked at me in shock. I remembered she was the crimson red wolf. I filled her in on what happened and how I got there. She shook her head in disbelief. "You are her responsibility. How could she be so reckless?" She let out a sigh. "Well, luckily Sammy was there to the rescue. I guess you'll have to come with us then. We need to head out ASAP, so make sure you have everything. We may not come back here."