The Selected

Pale Face

My body ached all over, I had zero physical energy left, and my emotional and mental levels have been drained as well. It was only the end of day two.

After my body felt like my blood had been replaced with lava on Selection night, I cooled down immediately after the cut on my hand had healed, though I felt somewhat empty inside, and I'd realized it was because I truly lost contact with my pack. I had actually joined the Ravage Pack, and had chosen to do so, at that.

"Let's go you fucking pansies, get moving!" Alpha Rhodes screamed from behind, and we all pushed faster through the mud-soaked course.

Training here was like the US navy seals on steroids, and I'm pretty sure I am on the verge of dying. I had no arm strength left, and standing before me was a large wall that I had to scale and climb over.

"Well Simmons? Are you just going to stare at it the whole time or are you gonna start the damn climb?" Alpha Rhodes yelled, and that glint of a challenge was in his eyes yet again, though I still could barely manage to stand upright anymore.

I nodded, and turned my head, only to see pale face -- Michael -- staring at me, a sadistic smirk resting on his face. I wanted nothing more than the rip his ugly, pale head off of his body and feed it to some sharks.

With a low growl and strength and energy I didn't know I had left, I tore up the wall in seconds and threw myself over, landing gracefully on my feet.

Alpha Rhodes followed, and I could see him glance between Michael and I.

Looking away, I dropped to my stomach and crawled under the barbwire, mud encompassing every surface of my body. Not that I wasn't already covered head to toe anyway, though. Sliding forward, I hissed as the wire cut my shoulder. Not only did it cut me open, but it wouldn't heal all the way and not as quick, because some genius decided to create silver barbwire! Fun, right?

After a few more scrapes on my back and shoulder, I made it out of the barb wire and jump to my feet, only to be greeted by a punch to the jaw, knocking me straight back onto the ground. Looking up through the brown haze of mud in my eyes, I found pale face grinning down maniacally at me.

He reached back to throw another one and I instinctively dodged it and hopped back up to my feet. I was in no way the best warrior out there, but Alan and Jordan would constantly train me so that I could hold my own, but Michael didn't seem to play fair.

He threw a kick that caught me in the ribs and I let out a shout, and suddenly another fist was flying at my face and connected with my nose, resulting in a crack and a warm substance dripping. He stood back for a moment, seeming to admire his work as a sadist does, and that was enough to get me going-- seeing him give me the same look as all those years ago when he killed my parents.

With a scream, I hurled myself at him with all the force I could muster and tackled him to the ground, and threw punch after punch at his face. After several good shots, he got his hands up and managed to throw me off of him, but I looked at what I'd done to him with pride.

His nose was bleeding and broken, just like mine, and I had cut him above the eye, and it was already swelling.

"Enough," A deep voice growled, and a large hand gripped my upper arm tightly. "What is going on here?"

"I thought she could use some accelerated training," Michael grinned, his teeth covered with blood.

The Alpha's jaw clenched before he spoke again, "Get back to work, everyone!"

Everyone did as they were told, and I tried to follow, but he yanked me away and towards the pack house. Several people eyed me curiously as they watched their Alpha drag one of the new girls, covered in mud and blood, all the way to his office. He shut the door and locked it, then sat down behind his desk.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and seemed to take several calming breaths before he looked up at me, "Are you alright?"

I nodded.

"Now, I need you to tell me what, exactly, is your problem with Michael?"

Swallowing, I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I squeezed my eyes shut as the images of that night replayed in my head. Red. Green. Brown. White. Bodies covering the ground.

"Adelaide?" He asked again.

"To put it bluntly," I stated, voice shaky as I fought off the nightmarish memories, "He killed my parents in front of me when I was five."

Alpha Rhodes pursed his lips before nodding in acceptance, "Good."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. Did he just say "good" to the fact that his pack warrior killed my parents in front of me when I was a little girl? Did he truly just say that?

"Here in the Ravage Pack, positions are awarded by either challenging or killing whoever held the position before or by holding a vote if the person was killed by an outsider," He started. "Michael made himself Pack Warrior by killing my good friend Davis. Johnson is my Beta, and Davis was his brother. I want Michael out, and so far everyone that has joined this pack has been terrified of him, and for good reason. But not you. And with your history with him, it means you have good reason to kill him."

I looked at him in confusion, and he rolled his eyes, "I can't kill him myself, Adelaide, what kind of an Alpha would that make me, killing my own pack warrior?"

He had a point, though I still couldn't see where this whole thing was headed.

"Adelaide," He leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him, "I don't agree with pretty much anything that Michael does or has done. But because of how this pack works, I cannot remove him myself, and I can't just kill him either, no matter how badly I want to. I need someone else to come in and kill him and take his place."

"And you think that that person is me?" I questioned, a little shocked. I mean, little, hardly any muscle, me? He thinks that I can take down that maniac?

Alpha Rhodes nodded, "Yes, I do. You've got the rage, you've got the motive, and I saw you get quite a few good punches in there. Hardly anyone has ever gotten that many blows in on him before, and you aren't even properly trained yet."

I looked down as I began to piece things together and plan it all out.

"Adelaide," Alpha Rhodes interrupted my thoughts and I met his eyes. "Do you want to kill Michael?"

I answered without hesitation, "Yes."

He smiled, "Then let's begin."