Her Determination

Chapter 2

2 months later    I feel like I am about to die.  My body aches all over.  Ever since the night of my 16th birthday I have been beaten and broken down.  That night I woke up multiple times as they were transporting me some where.  One of the rouges injected wolfsbane into my arm every few hours when I would begin to wake up.  I am not sure how many days had actually passed by the time I arrived at a small house.  In the back of the house were many cells where other she-wolfs were being kept.  I was forced into a cell by myself and silver shackle were placed around my wrists.  Each shackle was attached to a chain that led to the wall.  Keeping my arms spread apart. At first I tried to fight back but every time I fought back one of the rouges would stab me with a silver blade and then leave me without medical attention or food for days.  Eventually, I began to lose hope.  I can feel it now.  I am going to really going to die this time. 

Fight back I hear Shayla say.  I haven't heard her in so long.  I was beginning to think she was gone. 

I don’t know how I can.

You can do it. Emmerlie you need to believe in yourself.  You are stronger than you think.  Please do not give up on us yet.  There is still hope. We can still shift.

    Hearing Shayla saying those words after everything that has happened gives me hope. Maybe she is right. Maybe we can get out of this situation.  We just need a plan.

Shayla we are going to get out of here. You are right. I am sorry I have failed us. 

    I know what has to be done.  I remember the guards that come in to give us food have keys on them.  They have the keys to the cells as well as these shackles.  The next time a guard brings me food I am going to do everything to get out of here.      After what felt like hours a man comes in holding a bowl of what looks like porridge. He begins to unlock my cell door and walk in.  The man bends down in front of me and tries to feed me.  I know though that sometimes they put wolfsbane in the food.  I begin to press my lips together that way he can't get the food into my mouth. Once he fails to get the food in my mouth the second time he slaps me.  Feeling the burn of the slap only makes my determination to get out of this hell hole even stronger.  I am not going to wait any longer.  I know this is my chance to leave I just need to focus and find a way out.  I look up and notice that the guard was dumb enough to leave the cell door open this time.  This is my chance.  They have never left the door open before.  I grab the chains in my hands and pull. They don't budge. I have to pull harder.  I decide to pull one more time with all my might.  I breathe in and pull as hard as I can with all the strength left in my arms. Finally, the chains break free of the walls. I immediately grab the man in front of me, who is now staring at me shocked, and I snap his neck.  Not knowing how much longer I have. I take the keys of the dead body and quickly unlock my shackles.  Once out of the cell I look around the room.  I know that I can not leave without getting the other she-wolfs out.  I run to the closest cell to me and quickly unlock it.     Once I enter I see a girl who is about my age in shackles.  She has long chestnut brown hair and blue eyes. She looks as bad as I feel. I lightly tap her on the shoulder. As soon as the girl wakes up she jumps away from me.  I can see the fear in her eyes.  I quietly reassure her that I am not going to hurt her.  I see recognition cross her eyes.  She must be noticing that I am from the cell across from hers. I tell her that I am going to get us out of here.  I explain to her that I need her to go to the other cells and free the others.  While I am going to go and find a way for us to get out of here. I hold out the keys to her.  She just nods and grabs the keys from me.  I begin to turn away from her when I feel a hand around my forearm.                “Don’t go. I am scared” the blue eyed girl whispers.             “It will be okay. I promise I will be back. We are all leaving here today” I tell her in as strong of a voice I can muster.             The girl must have realized I meant it because she releases my arm then walks away from me to one of the other cells.  I quickly turn and run to the door.  I begin to remember the layout of the house.  If I remember correctly there have not been that many guards over the course of my time here.  I know we are going to have to fight our way out of here if any of us plan on leaving alive.  I don't know how many rouges I can take down with all the wolfsbane in my system but I am going to have to try.  None of us can stay here any longer.  

    I begin to walk down the hallway leading to the front of the house.  I can smell four rouges.  As I get closer I know that there is one in the house.  The others I can hear outside talking.  I can't take them in my human form.  I am not strong enough.  I need to shift.  I begin to shift.  I can feel it taking longer.  The rouge in the living room must have heard me because I see him in the hallway now.  He is yelling and heading toward me.  I completed shifting right before he lands on top of me in his wolf form.  I try pushing him off of me.  Every time I get close enough to be free of him he pins me down again.   I can feel myself losing hope. 

You have done enough.  Emmerlie let me have control. 

    Once Shayla said that I immediately release control over to her.  She instantly takes out the rouge on me.  Once she gets to the living room.  She turns to see three more come at us. She manages to take out the first one coming at us. Before I realize it the fight is over and the last two rouges lay on the floor.  Shayla gives me back control. I quickly change back and run toward the back of the house again.  I open the door leading to cells.  There I see everyone has been released and are out of the cells.  I walk over to the girl I met earlier. 

    "Good work. Do you know if everyone is able to shift?" I quickly ask her. 

    "I talked with them all.  They think they can but are not sure for how long." the girl responds to me in a louder voice than she used before.  

    "Okay than we need to all go around the house and quickly look for anything we can use as supplies. Then we are going to shift and get as far away from this hell hole as we can." 

     "Okay let's get to work"

    The others must have heard what I said because as soon as I began to walk back toward the front of the house the others began to do exactly what I said.  We managed to find some food, clothes, and other random things we may be able to use later on.  Throwing it all into a bag we found in one of the rooms.  I found a lighter laying on the coffee table in the living room. 

    "Alright, everyone get outside the house now! We are about to leave!" I yelled. 

    Everyone quickly exited the house.  I went around the house and started lighting things on fire.  There was no way I was going to leave this place still standing after everything that has happened.  I hope that the fire will help to mask our scent as well.  I walked back outside to see people staring at me with a weird looks on their faces.  I told them all to strip. Threw the clothes in the bag in case we needed any of it later.  Not that any of us I am sure want to wear these clothes ever again but you never know.  I then shifted and waited until the others did the same.  Once everyone was in wolf form we ran into the woods.  

    Hours later we came across a small river.  I stopped and  looked back at everyone.  They have been really strong this entire time.  Not once has any of them stopped or slowed down.  I checked on them every so often to make sure we were not leaving anyone behind. I know they must be all exhausted and need to rest.  We can not rest long but this would be a good place to start.  I shift back to my human form.  The first to shift after me was the girl who helped me earlier.  

    "Lets rest wash in the river and tend to some of our wounds here and figure out our next steps.  We can not rest long I am afraid but we to do this now before we are not able to." I tell everyone when they are all shifted. 

    As I look at the others faces for some confirmation I agree.  I notice that everyone is nodding their heads.  It looks like including myself there are four of us in total.  The girl who helped me before steps forward slightly before she speaks.  

    "Thank you for helping us. I never thought that we would be able to get out of there." she says. 

    "Honestly,  I did not either.  My wolf told me not to give up though.  She was the one to give me hope. I appreciate your help getting the others out.  I was surprised you all could run so far without stopping.  You all have done well.  My name is Emmerlie Rivers by the way. What are your names?" I respond back to her. 

    "My name is Layla Walker" the girl responded to me.

    She turns to the others and we both wait for them to speak as well.  

    "I am Isabella Anderson and this here is Charlotte Anderson." the girl with dark brown hair responds and motions to the girl next to her who looks almost just like her.  

    "Nice to meet you all. We need to decide what to do next. I am not sure how long I have been in there but I am guessing I was there about two months.  I don't know how close we are to my old pack either. " I tell them. 

    "I am a rouge. My family and I were on our way to a pack to see if they would take us in before we were attacked.  My parents were killed. You were there before I got here." Layla said as she looked at the ground.

    "We both do not have a pack either.  The rouges killed almost everyone in our pack when were taken.  Some other girls were taken as well. " Charlotte said to us. 

    "I am so sorry...I was taken when I was on my way home from a run at night. I am not sure if they attacked my pack or took anyone else that night." I told them. 

Looking at their faces they looked devastated.  I feel so bad for them.  They have had so many things taken from them.  I can not just leave them here after everything we have been though. I feel a connection to these girls.  They feel like family. 

They are family. 

That would mean we would need to be a pack

Ask them if they want to form a pack 

What if they think I am crazy

What do you have to lose? 

As always Shayla is right. What do I have to lose in asking them. 

    "I was wondering if you all would like to form...a pack with me? I mean I know you all probably have other plans so don't feel obligated to or anything.  I will respect each of your decisions but after everything.  I just feel connected to each of you and I don't want to separate.  I want us to decide what to do from here on out as family. As a pack." I said as I looked at each of their faces. I am nervous. Right before I am about to let my nerves get the best of me and take back what I said. I hear them. 

    "YES!" they all three yell at the same time. I can't help but smile at them. 

They immediately come to stand in a row in front of me. I look around and I can see how sure they are. I walk over to the river and find rock sharp enough to cut our hands with then walk back to them.  Before I cut my hand to innate the process one of the girls speaks. 

    "Wait! We need a pack name!" Layla almost yells. We all laugh. 

I look at them all before I speak. 

    "I was thinking how about the Survivors Pack.  We are creating our pack because survived captivity and it can become a pack where we welcome people who have survived traumatic events and those as well who have been cast aside from their packs." 

    " I think that is an excellent name." Isabella says to me. 

    "Me too!" says Layla.

    "I agree!" says Charlotte. 

    "Great! Thank the Survivors Pack it is." I say

I walk up to Layla to start the process.  She was the first one I helped so it is only fair she goes first. I cut my hand hand her the rock and then say. 

    "I, Emmerlie Rivers, accept you Layla Walker into the Survivors Pack. Do you promise to forever respect, honor, and follow the pack? As well as listen to me your alpha?"

She cuts her hand and than says back to me. 

    "I, Layla Walker, promise to forever respect, honor and follow the Survivors Pack and to listen to you Emmerlie Rivers as my alpha." she says and then shakes my hand. 

I go up to Isabella next and cut my hand again and then say 

     "I, Emmerlie Rivers, accept you Isabella Anderson into the Survivors Pack. Do you promise to forever respect, honor, and follow the pack? As well as listen to me your alpha?"  

      "I, Isabella Anderson, promise to forever respect, honor and follow the Survivors Pack and to listen to you Emmerlie Rivers as my alpha." she says and then shakes my hand. 

I then go up to Charlotte and cut my hand one final time and say

     "I, Emmerlie Rivers, accept you Charlotte Anderson into the Survivors Pack. Do you promise to forever respect, honor, and follow the pack? As well as listen to me your alpha?"    

    "I, Charlotte Anderson, promise to forever respect, honor and follow the Survivors Pack and to listen to you Emmerlie Rivers as my alpha." she says and then shakes my hand.  

We all then smile at each other. I can feel the energy running into me from the bonds I have just formed with each of them. 

    "We are now a pack" I announce to them all.