Werewolf Forest

Werewolf Forest::Chapter 32

Recap:

Danny and Connor were staring each other down, their eyes locked. Danny smirked at Connor, arrogant and sure. Connor steamed with anger and pain, his muscles clenching and his hands trembling.

“Oh little brother...What would our dear mother say about our little predicament here? Rest her poor soul,” Danny shook his head and looked up to the sky.

“Don’t you bring her into this. Don’t you speak of her!” Connor almost lunged at Danny, but Andrew held him back.

“I still remember her face when she realized who I was. When she realized just who was ending her life,” He traced his thumb across his lips. “Her blood did taste oh so sweet…”

“You bastard!” Connor broke free of Andrews grasp and shifted. In a flash, he was on top of Danny, teeth and claws slashing.

In a roar of trampling paws and growls, our pack flooded out of the trees. The two packs met in a clash of teeth and blood. The wolves moved in a blur, like a picture of moving cars. I stretched my wings and shot into the air to avoid a charging wolf. I looked out over the battlefield. Wolves and humans fought alike, ripping each other limb from limb. I couldn’t discern my pack from theirs, it was all one mass of fur and blood. I took a breath in the thinner air, shut my wings, and dove back into the fray.

CHAPTER 32

All was chaos. There seemed to not be a single place without a pair of wolves slashing at each other’s throats, not one moment with the blood-curdling cries of a dying wolf, not one blade of grass not stained red. I pushed and stumbled my way through the clusters of murderous rage. I ran as fast as I could, throwing my shield at anyone who tried to get near me. I had to find Bailey. The adrenaline seared through me, and I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. I tripped as something fell at my feet. I felt a hand grab onto my leg as I tried to get up. I looked back to see a boy, no older than twenty. He had claw marks from his forehead to his stomach. Chunks of flesh were missing from his am and shoulder.

“Help…me…” he stuttered, blood spraying from his lips. “Help…me…”

The battle was nothing like what I heard in stories or history books, nor at all what I expected. We have always revered the victorious, glorified their bloody actions. ‘We were right,’ we said, ‘we were the good guys.’ But in truth, I couldn’t see the difference. Our pack slashed and bit just as ruthlessly as Danny’s. I saw no glory, no honor.

I shook off his weak grip and ran. I didn’t look back.

* * *

I found Bailey fighting off two wolves in a far corner of the field. Without slowing my sprint, I lifted one unsuspecting wolf from the ground and flung him into the other. “Bailey!”

She turned and saw me. “Maggie, this is out of hand! We’re getting massacred! There are too many!”

“I know,” I said. “We have to find James. Stay close to me.” She nodded and followed me as we ran through the bustling, bloody masses. In our smaller human forms, we could maneuver easier than the wolves. I sniffed the air, searching.

I could smell his wretched musk from across the field. James.

We moved quicker through the field, our fate closer at hand. When we found him, he was surrounded by three wolves. As they began to close in, he smiled at them. One wolf yelped, and began to twitch and move around sporadically. Then he turned to his comrade. He jumped on top of him, his comrade yelling in confusion. James watched, laughing, as the fellow pack mates ripped each other apart.

The third wolf jumped on top of James, bringing him to the ground. The two wolves stopped fighting and fell to the ground, heaving in pain. James kicked the wolf so powerfully that he collided with a tree and snapped it in half. The force of the impact shocked the wolf into turning back into its human form.