The Last Of Us

Chapter 2 : From Here

        I called out to the child. The small body emerges alongside another, a little boy. Brown Hair. Blue eyes. Jacob. I kneel down on one knee and open my arms as they stumble into them. 

        " I'm so glad you guys are okay. Good Job. You stayed hidden...good..just like we practiced, " I squeezed them with tears in my eyes. Immediately, I take a look at them. Dani and Jacob are both covered in blood. Drenched in it like it was raining blood. I check for injuries but there are none. They covered their scent. Smart. I couldn't pick up their scent because they smothered themselves in the blood of corpses to block it. No doubt it was Jacob's idea. I pushed back their hair and placed my lips on each of their foreheads. 

        "Where is mommy?", I said in a state of panic. They were only 5. They would have never known what to do if it didn't come from our mother. Tears escaped her eyes as Dani's eyes met mine and she covered her face with shaking hands. As much as I tried to hold it in, the pain came out like an uproar from my throat in the form of a silent scream. The beads of water started falling down one after another, without a sign of stopping. I hit the ground and tried to scream, but my voice was melted by the emptiness of the forest. The muffled sobs wracked against my chest. The world turned into a blur, and so did all the sounds. The taste. The smell. Everything was gone. The last painful emotion slammed against me before I lost the feeling of feeling. Everything darkened into nothingness.......

        Snap!  In the midst of the quiet, I hear a branch snap. I'm not the only one who hears it. Someone's here. I grab Dani and Jacob, placing them both on each of my hips. My eyes glow yellow as I quietly but swiftly try to navigate to safety. The footsteps quicken. We're being followed. Six feet away from us, a general sherman tree stands tall. I place the two inside a little hole in the body of the tree. I put a finger to my lips indicating for them to stay quiet and not to move. Swiftly, I lure the footsteps away from the kids. It's running toward me. I know by its silhouette and by the way no sounds are made at all. It's faster than me, when did the student become the master? I indulge in a rare grin. I'm up on my toes, ready to strike. 

        A man appears in front of me. He sees me now. His pose, a carbon copy of my own. The chase is over. Now we stand face to face. Feet apart. The man stands tall. Broad shoulders. Muscular. We stand there examining each other. In my examination, I notice the mark embedded on his arm. Bane.

         " Ah, the empress' little wolf finally shows...I was told that you were not to walk away alive. I think I'll have fun with..", the man snarled as his eyes glowed yellow. I growled.

        " You caught me just at the right time...", my eyes glowed yellow as I sprinted towards him. As I jump towards him and in midair, my fist makes contact with his jaw and he flies into a tree. I land on my feet and get a firm ground. He shakes it off and comes more aggressive. We clash again only this time, it's more fierce. He evades my right hook and grabs hold of my neck with his left hand. I'm gasping for air. Using my boots, I kick his chest, attempting to loosen his grasp on me .  But he doesn’t budge. Instead he retaliates with slamming his fist into my ribs. He drops me and I wince. The pain ripples across my chest, and I spit blood. Come on Scar. Get Up. Get Up. I muster the strength I have left to pick myself up. His face curled like the grinch smiling. 

        “ Is that all you got little wolf? Your mother put up more of a fight then you “, he chuckled in a yell. Anger had risen in me. The wolf blood that flowed in me yearned for blood. Almost like a demonic possession, the veins in my eyes turned black. As I advanced, my movements were no longer hopeless and nonsensical. It was precise. Planned and executed with impact. With one heel to the down, I swung my foot and aimed for his head, followed by a swift kick under his feet. The beast that growled inside of me hungered for his demise. I prance on top of him, my knees in the snow, his body under me. I curl his body into a C-shape, wrapping my arm around throat. As he struggles to counteract, he cries and screams. More. It wasn’t enough. My hand shifted into a claw and soon after I ripped my hand into his chest grabbing his beating heart.

        “ See you in hell, bastard ”, I smirked as I slowly pulled his heart from his body. In a matter of seconds, his body laid like a ghoulish mannequin, the whole in his chest exposed and his heart in my hand like a gore-ish rudder halloween decoration . It looked as if a special effects team had worked over time for some Friday the thirteenth movie set, but that smell... That smell could only come from recently slaughtered animals. In this case the animals were human and their corpses were still warm, the blood thickening but not yet dried on their waxy skin. When my mind has ceased it's bloodthirsty buzz, I am able to start thinking my way out of this mess while I make my way back to the children. If I don’t find someplace safe, the Bane wolves will catch us, if I stay we are as good as dead, so I have only two options; stay or leave. Staying means burial in leaf litter but I haven't got time to dig a depression to conceal my bulk, leaving is faster. Possibly safer.

         I whistle at Dani and Jacob as I approach the tree. The rough bark scuffs at my skin as I pulled them out of the whole I had hid them inside. All they have are blood red clothes, and clumsy feet. My heart thuds more loudly that I wish it would, but I remind myself that this drum is only beating in my own ears. 

        “ Okay..remember when you rode on uncle CheeChee’s back..”, they nodded in a slow manner, “..you guys are going to do the same with me”.

        I stood rigid behind a slim tree hiding my naked body, the children stared at the tree in wait  as my eyes began to change from their normal dark down to an insane yellow glow. I screamed in agony as my knees reversed direction and my bones shifted inside of me. My face contorted as the long wolf's muzzle extended out in front of me, and I fell forward onto my hands. My screams turned into a long howl as my grey-ish white fur sprouted from around my body and my muscles increased in size. Lucky for me, I took them off before shifting.