He is the Bad Wolf

GIDEON-NOW

Gideon had nightmares every f*****g night since Sia died. He didn't know if it was her spirit chasing him, trying to punish him for the gruesome crime he had committed but, in any case, he deserved that and more. Much more. Guilt had eaten him for centuries and to this day, Gideon wanted to continue to suffer. At what cost? Was it worth killing her? Was it worth betraying her? He did not know. I had no f*****g idea if he really did the right thing to hurt her like he did. The truth was Gideon loved her so much. Sia was the love of his life, his mate. He had chosen her from the moment he saved her on that cliff.

He let out a sigh as he entered the abandoned school. The site was completely trashed, the walls had been desecrated with graffiti and bad spelling. The irony because this was a school. A bloody enclosure of knowledge. Gideon stepped on pieces of glass with his boots as he walked down the hallways, holding a flashlight to his face with one hand while holding a radio with the other.

“How’s it looking boss? Over.” Charlie’s voice came through the radio making Gideon feel a little jumpy. The bastard.

“Nothing yet, over.”

“You’re not looking well enough, over.”

Now he was annoyed. It wasn’t his job to be here. “You and your team should have been sent to this shithole not me!” He hissed through the radio.

“You forgot to say over. Over”

“f**k you, Charlie.”

Gideon wanted to strangle the bastard. Instead of supporting him, Charlie decided to leave everything to chance and flip a coin to decide who would come to check the school. Charlie was the worst of his betas. Simply the worst. Gideon was supposed to send a reconnaissance group before joining the mission, but Charlie did what he wanted and now Gideon was doing all the work. Even though Gideon was their Alpha, the whole damn pack took advantage of him whenever they could. He should flog them all tonight and beat them stupid.

A few days ago, the news had reached them that a small group of children were hiding somewhere in the school. Gideon had always been soft-hearted and when he heard about the case he wanted to get involved. Gideon's pack was not the only one in the shattered city, there were other wolves both in packs and solitary who enjoyed hurting the humans that were left on earth. They were hunted and slaughtered for sport. Gideon's pack, by contrast, searched for survivors and rescued them. They rehabilitated them if necessary but lately they were slow in their missions and did not arrive on time.

“I’m in the cafeteria now. Over.”

“Ask for the col salad, over.”

Gideon smiled and went through the double squeaky doors. It seemed empty. It smelled awful. “There’s nothing here. Over.”

“Try the locker rooms.”

“You forgot to say over. Over” Gideon mocked him and put the radio away, attached it to his belt.

Gideon started jogging to the locker room, first the men's and then the women's when he found it was empty. As soon as Gideon entered, he heard murmurs. Soft murmurs that fell silent as Gideon's footsteps echoed. Bingo!

“Hello?” Gideon called as he flashed the light in every corner as he moved forward. He could smell them. Sense their body heat. They weren’t too far. “I’m here to help. I won’t hurt you. Are you hungry? I have food with me.”

It was difficult to get food, especially since everything was looted. He thought that children, being children, would be extremely hungry. Slowly he reached down and took out of his bag a protein bar with chocolate and peanut butter. As soon as he opened the wrapping, the scent almost knocked him out, but it was attractive enough to make a small blonde head peek out of the office window. Gideon's heart nearly shattered as he saw a girl of at least eight years old walk up to the door frame. Her clothes were dirty, her face was covered in old bloodstains and grime. She was almost all bones, close to starving.

“Hey.” He quickly put on a smile and waved her closer, “Come here.” He held up the bar and she stared at him warily, so not to scare her he placed the bar on the floor and shuffled back a little to give her some space. “Take your time.”

The girl waited a few moments and hurried to go to the bar, not two seconds passed, and she had put the whole thing in her mouth. She didn't even chew, she practically swallowed it.

“Easy, easy. I’ve got more. Would you like some more?”

She nodded.

As he took another protein bar out, she came closer, not too afraid not to take it from his hand. “Is there someone else here with you?” She nodded. “Are they in the office?” Another nod. “Can you show me?” She grabbed his hand and tugged him forward into the office. Gideon had to cover his mouth and nose because the stench was too much for him. “Oh God!”

A baby of at least two years old lay asleep in a newspaper nest. At first Gideon thought he was dead, but he was only asleep, probably weak and exhausted. He needed to get them out of here.

“Are there more people in here?” The girl shook her head and tugged at his bag. He handed her another protein bar as he grabbed his radio and barked out orders. “I need an extraction team for yesterday. I have two survivors. Children. One female of approximately eight years old and a male of around two. Over.”

“Copy that. Sending the red team, over.” Charlie confirmed, all businesslike.

“I will get you out of here. I promise.”

The hair on the nape of Gideon stopped as soon as he felt something behind him. Something big and bad. Slowly he turned to face a pair of gray wolves. These were extremely huge, the largest he had seen so far. One had a scar on his left eye and the other had part of his fur missing from his throat. Both animals growled and bared their teeth, saliva overflowing from their jaws.

“Get into the office! Now!” He barely had time to scream when the two of them launched themselves against him, knocking him on his back. Gideon covered his face with his arms and kicked one of the wolves in the side, forcing it back. This gave Gideon a chance to hit the one with the scar on the nose, the animal let out a yelp of pain. Gideon rolled to his feet taking a defensive stance as he drew his knife from one of his boots. Scar positioned itself on his left and Bald on the right. They both planned a simultaneous attack but unfortunately for Gideon this was not the case. Bald lunged at the closed office door and knocked it down in the blink of an eye. It didn't take long for Gideon to hear the baby cry and the girl scream in terror. Gideon cursed under his breath and threw the knife directly between Scar's eyes, killing the beast instantly. Gideon rushed into the office and found Bald closing its jaws on the girl's leg, who was crying in pain.

“No!”

He was quick to force open the wolf's snout with both hands, the beast's fangs embedded in his palms the further he opened. Once the wolf released the girl's leg, she crawled away crying to where the baby was. Gideon wasted no time and snapped the creature's neck. It didn't take long for the red team to arrive on the scene.

Gideon wondered what would have happened if he hadn't been there.