The Last Of Us

  I opened my eyes. The room was dark, so dark. I made sure my eyes were open, fearing I had gone blind. I couldn't see my hand, even though it was literally an inch from my face. I gathered my courage to call out a hello, hoping against hope that a familiar voice from the pack would answer or jump out and scare me as the normal prank. Nobody did.Where is everyone?  Why didn't they respond? Panic. Panic shot through me. I knew no one was there, yet fear was taking over. Fear of the horrific things that hid in the dark, waiting. The truth. The unknown. Waiting..         Reality slipped back into my mind. Suddenly, I noticed the position I was in. A tight space. Hard to breathe. If I was claustrophobic, I would have had a heart attack. I used my hands to feel my surrounds as I am blinded by the darkness. Spider Web...Dirt...The familiar feeling of the forest. Next, I place the palms of my hands above me. My heart races out of my chest as I note that I might possibly be under the bayou house. The faint smell of my mother lingers alongside an overpowering scent of burnt flesh and blood. Somethings wrong. Instinct kicked in and my body temperature begins to boil as my hands shift into a paw with claws. I yelled in agony as my bones rearranged themselves inside my body as I have not yet mastered the ability to shift instantly without feeling pain. My neck starts to sweat as I continue to moan in displeasure as if someone was twisting my bones. In a matter of seconds, the pain and ceased. My temperature cools. My senses are heightened. Smell. Hearing. Enhanced. An abnormally sized wolf with yellow eyes and grey-ish white fur is what I like to think of myself as.          I glance at the ground for the tracks of little wolves or the scent of a familiar face. In my search, I push an empty bottle with my nose. I take a closer sniff. It smells like...temazepam?  I was drugged? For how long?   I run out the house and into a bloodbath. The corpses of my people covered the grounds. Some were in there wolf state. Some still stayed human. Blood stained the snow like a cherry on top ice cream. Breathless bodies. Men. Women. Children. This was war.          In the blink of an eye, I shift back. My hands are now back. My fur has disappeared . My claws back to fingers. My naked body is meet with a hug from the cold wind of winter. I grabbed spare clothes that we usually hung up for those who needed it. A black leather jacket. A white T-shirt and some jeans. Along wit my boots. Hesitantly, I run into puddles of blood deeper into the forest, searching for survivors. Bodies floating the the freezing water, their faces gone blue and purple. No life left in them.         " Mom....Mom! ", I shout out into the forest. It looks like the bodies continue for miles. No answer. Please be okay. Please. The voices of my baby siblings repeat in my head.          " DANI! JACOB! ", I shout frantically, but no response or voices of little children. I ran through the list of places they could be in my mind, checking off the ones I had already searched. As I gazed around the sugar-coated forest. It now had the look of a war zone. Then it occurred to me that I usually found them if I listened close enough. We used to play hide and seek in the woods. I would act like i didn't know where they were, but if I listened closely enough I could hear a heartbeat. A short breath. It was a sort of meticulousness that was quite characteristic of mine. I closed my eyes and took a breathe. I listened. I listened for Dani. I listened for Jacob. I listened for my mother. Nothing. Dammit. Come on Scarlett. You can do this focus.          I tried again. Listen. Dani loved the forest. She knew where to hide always. She was a smart baby wolf. Listen. Jacob was a wild boy. Alike Dani, he loved the forest. But mostly, he loved a hunt. Listen. Together, they have been able to outsmart everyone in the bayou. Except for me. It's my job to look out for them. And that's exactly what I plan on doing.          Thump Thump. I hear a heartbeat. It's slow. It's calm. It's hidden. Dani. Where there's Dani, there's Jacob. I glance in the direction of the heartbeat and I began humming a lullaby to let them know it's safe. The hum is the song of our people. A tale of bravery, strength. The hum is the story of the first empress of the Lyan Pack. She was alone wolf with nothing. But found herself with people she called family. They fought together. Ate together. They respected her but feared her strength as well. She loved them. And when it come down to it, she sacrificed herself for them. Her name was Vanquitilla Lyan. My great-great-great-great-great grandmother.          As I approach closer to the heart slowly beating like a drum, it begins to disperse its disguise. A child peeks from the snowy grounds in a large log. Brown hair with blonde highlights. Green eyes. It's her...         " Dani? "