WWF

Eight

It took Gwen and Veera a while to find the sniper's body but they eventually managed to find and bury him. While he had betrayed them, he was still one of them.

"Can we talk for a minute?" Ethan asks once they've returned to the road.

"Sure. What do you wanna talk about?" Gwen responds with a sigh.

"I want to know who sent you after us." Ethan says.

"Fine. But don't you want to discuss this in private?" Gwen asks, gesturing at Alice who's standing next to Ethan.

"She's my insurance. Forgive me for not trusting you right now." Ethan replies.

"That's fair. Ok then, I'll tell you who she is. Just don't expect me to give you her location or daily routine because, had I known them, I would never divulge them to the enemy." Gwen explains.

"Understandable." Ethan agrees.

"Her name is Commander Cier Ysenwolf. She leads the Nightcrawlers." Gwen says.

Upon hearing the name, every muscle in Ethan's body tightens as he's visibly shocked.

"You seem like you know the name." Veera comments.

"I do. It belongs to a ghost from long ago. Tell me, is she a pure white wolf with light blue eyes?" Ethan asks, sounding anxious.

"That's right. Why would you know that?" Gwen asks.

Ethan doesn't reply, instead he falls back against a tree and slides down to the ground.

"We'll come back later." Alice says, pulling on Gwen's arm.

Looking both worried and confused, Gwen allows herself to be pulled along by Alice. Veera looks like she wants to ask something, but she decides against it and follows the other two.

Half an hour goes by before Ethan stands up. With a deep sigh he walks to the camp, where they have a fire going.

"Thanks for finally joining us cupcake. We almost thought you'd turned into a vegetable." Ace comments.

"Guys, we need to talk. Well, actually, that's not true. The truth is I have a story to tell." Ethan says, sitting down on a log next to Alice.

"Oh, are we getting your backstory? How dark is it?" Jules asks, looking intrigued.

"Seriously Jules?" Keegan scolds his friend.

Jules gives a whispered apology as he's clearly a little embarrassed.

"This is gonna be good." Grease comments as she leans back against a tree.

"Well, let me start." Ethan says after taking a deep breath.

*****

Thirteen years prior we find a young boy sitting on a porch with his mother and father. In his mother's arms we see a baby wearing blue.

"What's the matter son? You look angry." His father says, sitting down next to him.

"Nothing. I'm just worried that Ethan is stealing all your attention." The boy replies, pouting.

"Don't worry. We won't forget to give you some love as well." The father replies laughing, as he puts his arm around his son.

"Arthur Wilks?" A strange man in a black suit asks, as he approaches the family.

"I'm him. What can I do for you?" Arthur asks, standing up to greet the man.

"You owe us a debt and we've come to collect." The man explains.

"I see. I don't have the money right now so if you'll just give me some time." Arthur pleads.

It shocked the boy to see his father like this.

"I'm afraid we cannot give you any more time. It's either the money, or an agent." The man says.

"Please don't take my sons. I'll go with you, just leave my family out of this." Arthur begs, his voice trembling now.

"I'm afraid you are past the age to be accepted as a new agent. So, we will require someone younger." The strange man explains.

The boy realises that the man's tone of voice hadn't changed even once. He still sounded calm, as if he was talking to a child.

"Well I can't let you have them." Arthur says, suddenly sounding angry.

"In that case." The man says as he pulls out a knife and slits Arthur's throat, all in an instant.

"Arthur!" The boy's mother screams. This startled the boy as she had been quite during the entire confrontation.

"Kill her too." The man says.

Suddenly a tiger Fur jumps in behind the woman from where he had been standing around the side of the house. He slits her throat with his claws.

"Mom? Dad?" The boy asks, as if only just noticing the blood pouring from their throats.

"Mom? Dad?" The boy asks again, but his parents cold dead eyes don't reply.

"Bring the baby. I'll take the elder one." The man says just before jabbing something into the boy's neck.

When the boy woke up he found himself in a small room with several other children around his age. The boy notices that about half the children in the room with him are Furs. He also notices a strange smell in the air.

Suddenly a voice booms around them.

"Listen closely. Of the ten children in this room, only one may leave alive. You will be provided with everything you'll need to survive." The voice says just as the walls around them flip to reveal weapon racks filled with everything from daggers to maces.

"You may not attack on another till I give you permission. For now, grab a weapon." The voice says.

Not wanting to make their captors angry, the children each walk over to a wall and grab a weapon. The boy grabs a long, slightly curved single edge blade. He's seen them on TV once.

"Good. Now kill each other as quickly as possible." The man says.

At first the kids just stare at one another, but then one of the boys runs over to the nearest kids and stabs him with a spear.

The boy's sees one of the girls wave a knife around warning them to leave her alone as tears stream from her face. A moment later her skull is crushed by a large wolf boy wielding a mace.

It's then that the boy sees someone charge at him. As if on instinct he moves to the side, dodging the spear, and slashes at the boy, slitting his throat.

After this he loses himself in the frenzy as he tries his best to survive by killing everyone he sees. Until only him and the mace wielding wolf boy are left.

Without says something the boy charges at him and slams him against the weapon rack causing the weapons to fall to the ground.

The boy notices that the wolf has a smile on his face from pure joy. It's when the wolf puts his paws around the boys throat the he realises, this has driven them both to insanity. They don't want to kill with weapons anymore but with their bare hands.

The boy knows that he won't be able to break the wolf's grip so he starts feeling for a weapon.

To his relief he's able to grab one! Without thinking he swipes it at the wolf. He sees the wolf's mace smash into his face, crushing his skull and killing him instantly.

When the wolf boy's dead hands let go of his throat he start gasping for air.

"Well done." The man over the speaker says, his voice filling the room.

Looking at the gore around him the boy can't help but wonder why they had to go through this.

Then he starts to wonder where his little brother might be and if he's still alive.