Bared

I

Draw.  Aim. Keep arm straight. Breathe. Focus. The background noise of talking and clanking faded as I blocked it out. I kept my eye on my aiming point. I released the green arrow. It clinked against the other arrows. I knew that it was a perfect fifty. I put my dark blue-armed and white center with black grip bow on the rack. David, my coach, said nothing. He just nodded at me, and blew three sharp whistles. His camo clothes, camo cap, camo pants, and silver whistle made him look like a big hunter ready to go shoot a deer at any second. The silver-haired man next to him who was talking to Katelyn Gamer was Duke.

I ignored the taunting behind me. Max Sello, the blonde-haired boy who is usually top in his division, glared at me with  hate and envy in his green eyes. I kept calm, my face blank. No need to smirk, or smile with pleasure. Not that I ever did. I walked back to the line with my arrows.

David was gone. He was in the bow room on the other side of the cafeteria, which was acting as our archery range after school. Katelyn walked up to me. Her two friends, Lizzie and Gordon Franchez, were in formation behind her, forming a triangle. Katelyn’s perfect auburn hair reached her waist. It gleamed with hair spray and gel. Perfectly makeuped features framed evil dark blue eyes. Lizzie and Gordon were twin sisters. Lizzie was blonde and stupid, taking after her mother. Gordon was dark-haired and cunning, with the sharpest tongue of the three. Machine tanned skin wore decorative gold and silver jewelry on all six arms. I hated these three. I called them the Tripod of Skank.

Katelyn said, her perfect voice cold,”I guess that you got another fifty. So sad. Too bad that you can’t do that at a simple tournament.” Lizzie laughed. Gordon sneered,”Sucks that you never had a chance with Max. I bet that he would love to go out with you. If he, you know, wanted to go out with a freak of nature.” The Tripod glanced at the archer. He was muscular and tall, with powerful arms and a wide chest. He was eighteen and widely popular.

Before I could retort, I felt a presence behind me. I turned to find my brother, Austin. Lizzie gasped as she looked at him. His brown hair, brown eyes, and muscular body looked perfectly fit for his tanned skin. I felt eyes on my back. Everyone in my grade thought that he was my boyfriend, just because he was always around me. It wasn’t my fault that we shared most classes.

I glared at him. He barely looked at me. I felt him think Just don’t go wolf again. I hate trying to contain you, Alexis. I guess that I should explain what he means.

   I’ll tell you straight: I’m a wolf. Or I have wolf DNA. One of them. You choose. Anyways, whenever I get angry, frustrated, or annoyed, my wolf comes out. My face turns into that of a wolf. My eyes glow gold, my teeth sharpen into fangs, my hair turns into white wolf fur. My nails elongate into claws. My senses go into overdrive. At least that’s what happens nowadays when I’m not trying. When I was younger, it was just the eyes. Then the teeth, then the nails, then the senses, then the hair. That’s why I don’t have any friends.

I call going into wolf mode “baring”. What my brother meant was that when I bare, it’s hard to get me back to normal. That’s why he usually hangs around me, to make sure I don’t bare, and get myself killed. Or worse, for some loudmouth like Katelyn telling everybody. At least once she could talk again after I rip the girl’s throat out.

Austin glared at me as well. It was a warning glare. I rolled my eyes. I went to get my bow. I continued shooting until my arm was lead. Katelyn sneered at me every time I came back to the waiting line. My irritation grew. Finally, I took my bow, put it in its case, and left. Austin was right on my heels. As soon as we stepped into the parking lot outside the school, and I had put my bow case in my truck, Austin said,”You need to learn control. I could literally sense that you were about to go crazy.”

I whirled on him. I snapped,”I need to learn control? You’re the one who needs it! You can’t just barge into my archery practice, and expect me to be calm. I’m never calm! Which is my way of control. And you can’t sense anything! You’re not like me. You can’t sense emotions. You’re. Not. Wolf!”

Austin snapped. He yelled,”And I never want to be! I would never want to be a freak who kills and likes it! I don’t want to run wild, killing innocent creatures without mercy! I don’t want to be called a killer, an animal, a lousy mutt! I never wanted you. You’re not my sister.”

Austin paused, then realized what he had just said. He said, his voice full of remorse,”I’m sorry. I never meant-.” My anger was high before, but now it was too much to contain. I screamed with rage, and flung myself at him.

My powers ran wild. I couldn’t tell if I was wolf or human. I saw only flashes of what happened next. Red. A scream. Pain in my ear. Five bloody marks. A throat. A sharp pain in my ribs. The bitter smell of blood. Cracking bone. A yell. A kick. A voice. A loud bang. Plastic. Rope. My jaws clamped so tight my teeth touched my gums. Hardness on my legs. My body. Yells. Screams. Leather. Blackness. The hum of an engine. A voice, calling me back.

I raised my head. I looked around. I was lying on the passenger seat of a beat-up black Ford F-150. The leather beneath me was soft. I looked at the driver. It was a boy, that much I could make out. The boy noticed me looking. He said,”Your sight will return in a few minutes. Wolves aren’t used to pepper spray.” I shook my head to clear it. My eyes stung. I could make out a white muzzle. I looked down, and saw large white paws connected to white legs. I shifted my ears. I could hear every little sound.

The driver laughed. He said,”You’ve been in full wolf form before, haven’t you?” I shook my head again to clear my eyes a little bit more, but I nodded to answer his question. I didn’t know why I was answering this boy’s questions. He laughed again. “I was the first to see you. You had changed into your wolf, and leaped at your brother. You clawed his chest up pretty good. He had a pistol in his hand. He shot you. It just barely nicked your ear. That only seemed to make you angrier. I ran to get help. When me, the principal, and a few teachers were out in the parking lot again, you had already shredded his arm, broke his other one, and was biting at his throat. Mr. Peasley kicked you in the ribs. You jumped on him, biting his wrist. I had brought zip ties and rope. I tackled you, and tied you up. Now we’re here.”

This boy had a strange way of talking, like he would get into trouble if he said too much. He didn’t seem afraid at all, even though I could easily break my bonds and kill him right there. But the strange thing was, I didn’t want to. I was still plenty angry enough to kill without noticing, but this boy was… different, I guess you could say. I sensed he was different from others, but my senses were still mixed up.

He drove for awhile in silence. He rolled his window down as soon as we left the city limits of the tiny town of Sarcoxie. I sniffed the breeze outside. It smelled like cow manure and fields of grass and grain. The boy obviously didn’t care if I jumped out the window or not. He was staring straight ahead, occasionally tapping the side of his truck with his fingers.  

The pepper spray had almost completely cleared from my eyes when the boy stopped the truck in the middle of the road. Trees flanked either side of the road, practically hiding us from view with low-hanging branches over the unbusy road.

The boy got out of the truck, and walked over to my side. He had a black pocket knife in his right hand, which he used to cut the rope and zip ties binding my legs. He hesitated at my mouth. I could smell the fear emitting from him. It smelled like rotten eggs. Then, the egg-smell faded, replaced by a smell I never encountered before: a smell like burnt sweet smelling wood. I perceived the word resolve before he cut the binds holding my jaws shut.

I leaped from the truck, and whirled around to face him. He smiled. He gestured towards the forest. He said,”I know your house is in there. Go home to your father and mother. Go home to your pack.” Without another word, he got into his truck, and drove off. The dust from his tires stung my eyes, which had not recovered fully from the pepper spray. I cursed. I didn’t get a very good look at the boy’s face before he drove off.

With nothing else to do, I ran off into the woods. The boy was right; my home did lie in these woods.