The Last Mate on Earth

Part 1 - Chapter 2

* * * Hope’s POV * * *

* * Present Day * *

Keep my body in a horizontal position. Downsweep, catch, insweep, upsweep, synchronising, repeating. Turn into the arm that is pulling in the water. Repeat. Turn into the arm that is pulling in the water. The body rolls to the side of the arm that is pulling the water. My continuous internal dialogue, repeating the swimming teachers' instructions for a perfect freestyle swim, feeling the exertion of my muscles and enjoying the feeling of the water against my skin. As I push myself further and faster.

I love it here. It is my favourite part of this facility. Outside, in the castle’s swimming pool overlooking the ocean. Basking in the glorious sunshine, feeling its heat against my skin. The castle stood on very high ground, overlooking the deserted town. Some days it felt as though I could touch the clouds. It is a good job that heights do not scare me.

I am unable to remember a time that I did not live amongst the clouds, within the facility. This place that they had built for me, the place where I attend school, grow, learn, eat, sleep and play. Everything I could ever need is here within the facility. The castle is protected by a glass dome, to keep us safe from the outside air. The glass lets us see outside and watch the world heal, it lets the sunlight shine through and it lets me gaze upon the stars in the night sky.

High in my castle, I sleep like an actual princess, in the highest room of the tallest tower. Up here I cannot be seen, thanks to the high ridge on which the castle sits, making my tower even taller. Occasionally I think that I see small shapes and shadows down on the deserted town. There are apparently people living within the destroyed world. However, these shapes and shadows could be a figment of my imagination.

Despite the world being in ruins, I longed to see it. I longed to experience it. And this is why I love being in the pool overlooking the sea. I can pretend that I am swimming in the real world. The seating area beside the pool provides views over the castle walls. It is my favourite place to relax, I can walk here after a long day, walk down the long walkway and peer over the edge. It really is the perfect quiet place, in which I can process my day, and process my future.

My future.

Our future.

The future.

The future of the wolves is on my shoulders, and sometimes it can be too much to bear. That is why they gave me my name, Hope. Because the world has so much hope that I can save them.

“There you are. Come on get out, before you shrivel up like a prune”, calls Hayden, walking across the castle walls walkway towards me.

I am hardly ever alone, I am either with one of the parents or they send a student, and there are always the cameras, forever watching me. The parents are she-wolves that signed up to be my care givers. They gave up their lives to raise me. The pupils are the last born wolf children. They are all male. They have become fewer as the years have passed. When they get to a certain age, they are taken away from the group.

Keeping my eyes on the wonderful view before me, I climbed out of the pool. Still longing to explore out there. I raised a friendly hand and waved to Hayden. It is not his fault that he gets sent to interrupt my alone time. He is simply doing as he is told by the parents.

Hayden was my favourite classmate, he was my best friend, my companion and my anchor in this crazy world. We’d had our English literature class together this morning, discussing Jane Austin’s ability to demean women on their dependence on marriage. Hayden had some interesting thoughts about this and concluded it was the men of the world that were dependent on marriage and women. After all, I was living proof. I found his views refreshing, he was different to the others. He seemed to view the world without rose-tinted glasses. “Come on, or we will be late for our history class”, he told me.

The history class was limited to wolf history, how we came to be, how we rose above all others and then how we fell and faced extinction. Over and over again, the same stories are repeated. I longed to learn something new, perhaps about humans, witches and vampires.

“Give me a minute and I will get dry and dressed”, I told Hayden, rushing to the changing rooms. Being late for class was frowned upon and usually resulted in either an earlier bed time or privileges being removed. I was once banned from swimming because I tried to go outside to see if the trees were healing. I did not want to lose my swimming rights again.

I quickly dried myself and I put on my black leggings and floral tunic top. All my clothes are old-fashioned and dated. Apparently, when the disaster struck, clothing production companies stopped making clothes. The facility had managed to buy a surplus of current stocks to make sure we would never run out.

I let out a heavy sigh as I left the changing area, ready to go to my history class. My long, damp and wavy hair, wetting the t-shirt I wore. I longed to feel the breeze in my hair. That was the downside of living in the facility. The dome prevented fresh air and the breeze. It was to protect us. The air could be polluted and we would go back to the past with no wolves being born.

When I was younger, I used to hate it when the parents would try to look after my hair, washing it, drying it and styling it. Now, it is a chore and I wish they would go back to doing it for me.

“So the weekend is a big one, are you ready?” Hayden asked me, breaking the comfortable silence that we were walking in.

“Yes there will be a big couple of days for sure”, I answered him.

“It will be the biggest day of your life and for the surviving world”, he tells me, his voice filled with excitement, but there is a sadness within his eyes.

“I would say the biggest day of all of our lives was the day I was born. It was life-changing” I countered.

“It was hardly a ground-breaking news report”, he teased, a smirk appearing on his face and lightening my mood.

“So, what do you know about them? Can you tell me?” I asked him.

“They are the first three prospects. All their test results show that you could be a good match”, he told me.

“Lab results should not determine who you are with Hayden. What if they are a horrid person?” I said. I really did not like the idea of being paired to mate with someone based on a set of lab reports.

“That is why every weekend there will be three new prospects. There are 12 in total. You can choose one of them. There may be one that you really like”, he tries to put the joy back into the conversation. But it is too late, my life can not be happiness and rainbows. I am destined to reproduce and save our race.

The parents have been moving me towards this my whole life. I have always known it would come to this. A group of prospects, all male. Who had proven that they were strong, fast and intelligent and, more importantly, for the facility, they had a wolf and their lab results showed that there was a good chance we would be able to reproduce together.

I have never been told how they proved their worth, but I like to picture them fighting, lifting heavy things and running a race and to prove their worth.

“How do you feel about it all though, really?” He asked me. He was the only person I really felt comfortable talking to and being me with. I felt that he saw me as a person and not just the person to save the wolf race by reproducing.

“I don’t know, a little nervous I guess, but it must be done”, I replied to him. I had always known this day would come, they had been preparing me for this my entire life. Hand-picked men, all with a wolf, all with appropriate lab results and all who have proved themselves worthy enough to be in with a chance of selection. And now it was time for me to have my day. I suppose this was how the facility fooled themselves into thinking that this was a choice I was making. By choosing from the selected prospects, it gave them the opinion that I had not been forced into this.

Hayden gives me a sympathetic glance that says he understands. Out of everyone here, he probably does to a certain degree. But how could any of them truly fathom the weight I carry on my shoulders. I feel alone and scared most of the time. Other times I feel guilt because I wish my life was different. I wish that I could have had a normal childhood without any of this pressure. Everyone I meet looks at me as though I am the answer to their prayers, as if I have the answers. But what if I don’t? Will they then cast me aside? Like they did to the insignificant wolves of the past. After all, that is how they got into this mess in the first place.

“It is not fair, Hayden. He knows everything about me and I know nothing about him. They broadcast parts of my life around the world, like I am just an animal in a cage.” I say, frustration creeping into my voice.

“He only knows what they allow him to know. There is so much more to you, Hope. You are special, and not just because you are the last she-wolf. But because you are an amazing person”, he tells me firmly, truly believing his own words.

That was another frustrating thing about living here with all the cameras. They were constantly recording me, they would create little stories of my life and send them to other facilities in order to keep people’s hope alive - pun intended. At least I find myself funny.

“What he has seen is probably better than what I have been shown. Why would a video of him showing me his workout routine and how to play the piano impress me? That does not show who he is as a person. What if they are all this self-centred?” I asked him.

“What if you go through all of this but the moon goddess has indeed granted mercy on our race and gifted you a mate?” He asked me.

“Hayden, you know that mates no longer exist”, I told him. Ever so slightly, his face appears pained, before his perfect smile reappears on his face.

“How about we change the topic? You know the parents do not like us talking about this unsupervised. Are you ready for another entertaining wolf history class?” He asks, shutting down the conversation of me meeting my prospects.

“We get to read the journal of councilman Harold again. I hate to sound like a loser, but it is my favourite part of the history class. Like a connection to the past,” I told him. It really was, councilman Harold wrote in such detail, that it was like I was there, observing the past with my own eyes.

“You are not a loser. Perhaps a nerd or a geek, but definitely not a loser”, he joked as we walked the halls of the castle towards the history classroom.

“Good morning, parent Anna.” I greeted the teacher, who is also a parent, as I entered the classroom.

“I had thought you would have been early Hope, you are normally so eager to read the journals. I did not expect to have to send Hayden to collect you”, she tells me, firmly but not unkindly. Her meaning, though, was that she did not like me being out without a watcher.

“Sorry parent. I got carried away with my morning swim. Exercise is good for me. But I am really looking forward to reading the journals”, I say, hoping to remove the disapproving look on her face.

I picked up councilman Harold’s journal and made my way to my desk to begin reading. The way the class worked on reading days was that we would be given an hour of reading time and then the teacher would question us about the history and what result different actions taken may have resulted in.

I opened the book as Hayden sat beside me and began reading:

‘ I hated these bloody meetings, surrounded by self-obsessed Alpha’s. But it was a part of the job. I was just thankful that the meeting location was close. I had shifted to allow Albert the freedom and joy of running through the countryside, feeling the air in his fur. He loved to run. And now here we were, sitting in the meeting room. The sound of bickering men, with their voices raised, filled the room, the sound echoed around the chamber, reverberating off the walls. This was this High Council meeting chamber. The room held thick slate bricks floor to ceiling, sconces spread across the walls to hold the candles as they cast their flickering light around the room. The High Council meetings, as always, were held at Bolsover Castle. The castle was perched on a ridge, high above the vale of Scarsdale, in Derbyshire. It had been built by one of William the conqueror’s knights. Being a knight meant that he had made this place defendable, having the advantage of higher ground against enemies. Very few people knew that William the conqueror had in fact been one of the original wolf hunters. How ironic that werewolves will now be meeting in a building that was once used as the werewolf hunter's headquarters.’

I laughed to myself, picturing a wolf hunter turning in his grave at the thought of wolves using that property for their meetings. How very ironic, as Harold said.

‘The journey here had been troublesome and tiresome for most of the people present. The typical English weather meant that they had the usual April showers. Which were not really showers, but torrential rain, mixed with sunshine, wind and sleet, all within the same day. By the time that they had arrived, their wolves were fed up, hungry and miserable. This did not help bolster the atmosphere at the meeting. It had been some time since the castle had held so many people. A room of Alpha’s was always going to be a difficult affair, such powerful characters, always used to being right and having the final say. Testosterone levels were high, the men were acting like petulant children and, quite frankly, they were being pedantic. Because of this, these meetings were hardly ever held. But the volume of attacks and deaths that we had experienced recently, meant that this meeting was necessary. The meeting was of high importance.’

I wish our castle had a medieval vibe with old-fashioned brick and sconces, rather than pristine white walls and the bright yellow glow of the lightbulbs. Life was more interesting back then.

‘’Order. Order. I will have order. Each of us will have a say and view our thoughts and opinions, we must hear each other out. What is the point of a High Council meeting with all the Alpha’s present, if we cannot come together? Our people need us. And they need us now’, I spoke loudly, above the babble of bickering voices.

That was the problem when Alpha’s met. Each one of them was so used to being the one leading, used to being the one to have the final say, that when anyone else spoke up about something they disagreed with, well, it caused mayhem. Resulting in a testosterone-fuelled pissing contest.’

I bloody love this man, his writing is truthful, descriptive and yet comedic too. I do not think the teacher has read every single line, or if she has, it was so long ago that she has forgotten. She would never let me read those swear-words.

I continued reading what I could for the allotted hour of reading time, ready to be quizzed on the way of our ancestors. Tomorrow I will continue reading the journal, my favourite part. And then it would be time to meet the first three of my prospects.