Captured

I ran through the forest, adrenaline coursing through my veins. The ground a blur underneath my paws, the thrill of this causing me to run faster. The smell of the ground, trees, and damp earth filling my lungs. Alongside me are eight other wolves, paws all silent and headed in the same direction, toward the smell of fresh meat and blood, the deer come into view. We surround the edges of the clearing, sealing all escape routes, we attack. Clawing at the soft fleshy hides, dodging the huge racks of antlers and frenzy of panicked hoofs that try to stomp on their attackers, the sound of thudding bodies and growling as one another fight over the newly fallen prize. In minutes the whole herd of deer is dead on the ground being devoured by the pack of wolves responsible for their demise.

After the pack is done feasting, we lay down on the soft grass of the clearing. Falling asleep after the prevail of yet another successful hunt.

When I awake, the first thing that comes to mind is that I'm hungry yet again, even after the filling dinner I had last night. So to fix that problem I get up to go hunting for a rabbit or two. I trot out of the clearing, surveying the ground for tracks of any sort and sniffing the air for a rabbit's scent as well as listening for the thump of their feet. I finally lock onto a rabbit's scent and chase after it. It gives a good chase but it wasn't fast enough and I caught it within the first few minutes. It wasn't even enough to give a feeling of a thrill for the hunt, so I stalk off unsatisfied to hunt for more rabbits. Once my belly is full I head back to the clearing to see if the others are ready to head back.

While I head back to my family, I think of where I left my clothing. I remember walking for a while near the stream not far from the vehicle and then straying to the right of it towards a cliff bottom. Then I found a cave along the wall. Now, where was the cliff now? Guess I'll have to look around. They will not be happy with having to wait for me.

At the opening of the clearing, I see that they have already left to change. I turn around and head in the direction I think I left my clothing. After wandering around for awhile I finally find the cave and head in.

Standing in the middle of the cave, I hunker down and will the change to take control. As soon as I do that, the raging inferno spreads from my arms throughout my spine, my back arching past the point of humanly possible. I convulsed, my bones breaking and knitting back together, muscles a writhing snake of pure agony, rearranging themselves into a new form. The thick hair receding, my paws lengthen into long, thick, gnarled fingers. My face shortening, ears lowering. The pain is unimaginably excruciating. I suck in short ragged breaths to fill my burning lungs, before another convulsion hits, my legs and arms getting pulled out from underneath me, straightening into legs and arms. Finally the last bones snap into place and my muscles stop spasming. I tip over, collapsing onto the cool stone beneath me. Heaving heavy breaths I slowly get up and dress. Still weak from the change, I head for the mouth of the cave.

From the opening of the cave, I'm greeted by the warm sunshine on my face. From there I head for the small stream, I lower myself to my knees and cup my hands in the water, bringing it to my parched lips. It travels over my tongue and into my throat, soothing it on the way down. After getting a fill of water, I head for the truck.

Waiting for me at the truck is Roy, leaning against the bed of the truck with his head resting on his chest and his arms crossed.

"Hi, Roy. Where are the others? I asked.

Roy looks up and uncrosses his arms and heads toward me.

"Kimber, what took you so long, I've been waiting for ten minutes," he says grabbing my shoulders and bringing me into an embrace. I turned my head to look him in the eyes. He's only a few inches taller than me, but that's only because I'm abnormally tall, so I don't need to look up very much to meet his eyes.

"Oh you poor thing, you had to wait ten minutes," I said teasingly, giving him my best smile.

He returned the smile.

"I had troubles finding the cave I left my clothes in," I explained.

"The others went to get breakfast," Roy said.

"We better eat at the Starlight Cafe. There won't be any food left when we get there."

"Ya, your probably right."

We headed for the truck, Roy teasing me about my slow change and me shoving him at every comment about the subject. When he ran out of things to say about it we started to talk about the night before, only stopping when we reached the Cafe.

Roy parked in front of the Cafe and we got out and headed for the door in good spirits. We ordered a huge stack of pancakes with sausage and bacon along with scrambled eggs. Even with my morning snack, was still starving.

"So how's it been going with you and your life," He asks not looking away from his pancakes.

"Not bad, you?"

"As well as you can be when you're hiding from trackers all the time," he says with a mouthful of syrup-soaked pancakes.

"Ya, they are getting really hard to run from with all the new tech they are getting," I say returning to satisfying my hunger.

"Harder but at least it isn't impossible. If it were, we would be in one of those compounds right now." he shudders.

"How many compounds are there now?" I ask.

"Two I think. There aren't that many of us left to have that many compounds since they found out how to cure lupine syndrome." He shrugs. Lupine syndrome is given to a reg when he or she is scratched or bitten by a werewolf, they also could have had a werewolf's saliva enter the bloodstream.

"That's good, at least Regs that have been infected don't have to worry about having to hide all the time. All they have to do is go to a local doctor if they have been," I say before going back to eating. It's amazing that we even talked this much will eating, usually when werewolves are eating it requires all of our undivided attention.

When we finished eating we headed for the truck and drove back to Timberwood cottage in silence. Roy parked the vehicle in the hidden garage and we headed out to find a spot to change. The cottage was only accessible to werewolves so this was necessary. I finished my change faster than Roy and was pacing around the perimeter of his spot, careful not to disturb him. When he finished a rust coloured, 180 pound wolf walked out. When we change we keep our hair colour and our weight. So most werewolves were bigger than your average wolf. When Roy was out of the bush's ring of safety I pounced, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground. He wriggled under my trying to free himself from underneath me. I brought my mussel closer to his, telling him I won and he wasn't getting free anytime soon. That's when I made my mistake. He snapped at my face, causing me to leap back, narrowly missing having it ripped off. He started to laugh at me, well as best as he could in wolf form, then he turned and ran in the direction of the cottage. I picked up my bundle of clothes and chased after him. I caught up soon enough and I tried to pass him to take the lead but only got a face full of fur. So we ran like this through so many thick bushes and vines that it would be impossible to get through in human form. After ten minutes we came to the fifteen foot wall that surrounded Timber wood . We found another changing spot each and changed back. When I was done and dressed I headed out to the wall. Roy headed out about the same time as me so we didn't have to wait for eachother. The forest had gigantic trees of a dozen different species so the wall would be obscured from view if planes passed by and made a convenient way to get over. Only werewolves would be able to climb the trees to get over the wall. Roy went first grabbing the branch above and swinging up. He kept this going till he got to the rim if the concrete wall, then jumped eight feet to the top and jumped down on the other side. I followed his example and did the same. On the other side was my home Timberwood cottage. Timberwood cottage was a nice and roomy, I got my own room along with Roscoe. When inside the house we found the others in the den. Roscoe was sitting in his usual seat off to one side if the fireplace, while the rest take up the couches on either side of him along with the other chairs that take up the rest of the free space in the room.

Roscoe is the pack leader, he had taken me in after I had my first change, giving me a home, food, and safety. Along with helping me in any way to adjust to my new life as part of the pack. I just happen to be one of the very few "lucky" girls that had the werewolf gene passed down to them. Actually, it is extremely rare for a woman to survive their first change, so you can imagine, there are very few of us. My father, Reed Wolfman, had made a deal with Roscoe that if he stayed off pack territory and took care of any other mutts that caused trouble and in return Roscoe would take care of me. Most mutts are lousy fathers and wouldn't care if you lived or died, just as long as your useful they'll keep you around. They would wait until the baby was born and if it was a boy than they would take him and raise him, leaving the mother after that, not looking back. But my father was different he took care of me after my mother died when I was five. Then when I was having my first change he helped me through it. Through the nightmares, the pain, and the spasms. Then instead of raising me in the hard life as a mutt, he made the deal with Roscoe. I still see him every once and awhile when a mutt is causing trouble and Roscoe summons him to take care of it or sometimes I go see him at his house just outside of Chicago.

When Roscoe sees us enter the room he asks us to take a seat. I head to the fireplace and sit in my usual spot on the floor just off to the side of his chair. The crackling of the fire filling me with a safe, cozy, warm feeling.

"So what we miss?" I ask once I'm comfortable.

"We were discussing a situation that had come up in the past week" Roscoe answers. "There have been quite a few werewolf captures lately by the trackers and they have been leaving a lot of injured ones behind to die in if they resist capture, because of this, there are only thirty of us who haven't been caught now. "

"What's the plan then," I ask.

"The plan is to lay low and attract as little attention as possible, meaning that we are going to have to go in groups to have our changes and in a remote area, if possible."

"What! We aren't going to help the werewolves that have been captured." I exclaim.

"There aren't enough of us to do anything much of any use. We would only succeed in getting us all captured, simultaneously giving them what they want." Rosco explains to me as if I were a child. I hate it when he does that.

All the while everyone else is listening to this carefully processing it.

"He's right you know," Carson says. He's Roy's father and Roscoe's beta. They've been friends since they were pups shredding slippers.

"Fine," I said exasperated, throwing my arms in the air for effect. "We lay low for how long then. After that what do we do."

"We lay low till this blows over, then we can get a plan together along with backup," Roscoe says calmly. "Till then we won't do anything."

After the meeting was finished I went up to my room to have a shower. My room was on the second floor and at the end of the hallway. I had a black, white and gray theme going on in my room. A white and black patterned blanket on my King sized bed with black pillows. A white fuzzy carpet covering part of the polished wood floor by my bed and a blackwood dresser. I had pictures of wolves on my walls and a black bean bag chair in the corner with a thin white curtain hanging around it to give it some flair. Along with shelves and shelves of books. Afterwards, when my shower was done and I was dressed I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in," I say while I finished drying my hair and brushing it. Roscoe walks in and sits on the edge of my bed.

"Some of us will be going for a run after dinner. I'd advise you to come but that's your choice."

"I'll come, I really need to get out anyway," I answer finishing braiding my hair down my back.

"Ok, see you in a bit, dinner's almost ready. We're having steak, your favorite."

"Yes! Thank you." I say hugging him excitedly. After I was done, he headed out to return to preparing supper.

"Roscoe, can I ask you a question?" I said when he was closing the door.

"Well, that depends on what the question is," he said coming back into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Well, I was wondering if maybe my Dad could come and stay with us at Timberwood cottage. Just till this whole Tracker business blows over." I said quietly. "I would give me some peace of mind to know that he's safe and where I can make sure he stays that way."

"Sure I'll send an email before we leave."

"Thanks, Roscoe," I say giving him another hug.

Roscoe leaves after that shutting the door behind him. I head for one of my bookshelves and grab one of the books I haven't read yet. It was an action, adventure, romance novel. I have a lot of those type of books. I read till Roy came into my room and told me dinner was ready.

As soon as he told me I leaped up from my bed dropping my suddenly forgotten book on it, plowing through Roy, causing him to fly into the wall and ran downstairs into the kitchen.

"Finally, it's done," I say when I enter the room.

"You would have thought the devil was after you the way you were crashing down those stairs," Carson says laughing.

"Ya, right," I say joining him.

I sat down at the table with my food and dug in hungrily. A few minutes later, Roy turned the corner, entering the Kitchen.

"Carson, would it have killed you to have at least warned me that she would throw me into the wall on her way out," he said

Roscoe and Carson look at each other and burst into laughter. Roys' face goes beet red.

"Hey, it's not your fault I'm stronger when I'm hungry," I say gesturing with my fork, then stuffing my mouth with more food. "At least I can do that to you and not have to worry about breaking anything like I do with these fragile people," I say pointing to Roscoe and Carson with my fork, grinning.

"Hey! That's insulting to your elders." Carson says with mock offense.

"Since when do you call yourself an elder?"

"Since now, so you better treat me with respect."

"Ok, grandpa," I say

"HEY!" he says smacking my head, causing me to spit out my food. I then grab his steak and he makes a wild grab for it, but it's too late, it's already in my mouth. After I do that I put my food out of his reach.

"Thabs whabth goo ket fro takbing mine," I say in between chews.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Carson grumbles.

Afterwards, when Roscoe finishes sending the email to Reed, we headed for the wall.

"The others will meet us at the place we're going for the run" Roscoe explains. Then started climbing up the tree on this side of the wall that would allow us to get over.

We headed for a logging road that was overgrown with weeds. When we got to a fairly clear clearing, there are two other trucks waiting with the rest of the pack. Roy and I tumbled out of the back. Carson and Roscoe right behind us.

"You weren't kidding when you said a remote area," I say looking around at the overgrown undergrowth. "This is going to be fun!" I say excitedly looking for an area I could change, the other's head off to find their own area. There was a fairly gentle wind going through the forest, it was nice to feel it every once and awhile.

I finally found a small clear area behind a bush and was getting prepared to change when the wind suddenly shifted and I caught a whiff of diesel and humans heading in the direction of the pickups. From the sound of it, there were three vehicles. But all the pack members were here, something wasn't right. I quickly bound through the forest in the direction of the trucks, I could hear the others doing the same. When it came into view there was a sudden flash that sent me flying through the air into a tree, landing on my stomach the air rushed out of my lungs. Dazed I got off the ground and looked around. The truck was on fire and the Humans were getting out of their vehicles, they looked like the kind police use to transport criminals, except they had a black bloody dagger on the side. Trackers. No, they must have followed us when we left the house. I frantically look around for the others, most were still in human form but a few had already changed. Roscoe was nowhere to be seen, while Roy was laying on the ground unmoving. Carson was heading toward Roy. I looked at the Trackers again, they were fanning out and a few were headed this way and with guns. I ran towards Carson and Roy.

"Leave him we have to run, he'll just slow us down," I say panicked.

Then as if to prove my point, they start to shoot at us, startled we separate and run into the forest. I'm running at full speed so I can't see where I'm going very well and branches are grabbing at my hair and clothes, scratching my skin and poking at my eyes. The trackers are still right behind me and their shots just missing me by inches. So to make it harder for them to hit me, I dodge behind trees whenever I could and ran in an unpredictable route throughout the trees, it slowed me down a little, but not by much. Jumping over rocks and logs like hurdles and doughing trees and holes with agility only a werewolf could manage. Doing this I am able to keep the space between the trackers and me wide enough so they won't be able to catch me.

Then just as I finish that thought my foot gets caught in a tangle of twigs and branches, causing me to go sprawling onto the ground. I scramble to get up quickly, but I wasn't fast enough. One of the shots hits me in the shoulder, knocking me off balance into a tree. I yelp in pain throwing my hand instinctively to my shoulder to clutch my wound, finding something sticking out of it, I grab it and yank it free of my flesh. I bring it in front of my face to see what it is. A tranquilizer dart comes into a view, seconds after another hits my arm and my leg, causing my leg to fold from my weight, I hit the ground with a thud. My vision dancing with black spots. My head is muddled, so when I try to get up I imagine I look like a wounded animal struggling to get away from its killer. The sedative is spreading fast, so I don't make it far before my muscles become liquid and I reluctantly give up because my limbs are rendered useless. The last thing I see is people surrounding me with their guns raised, pointed at me.

I wake up in the back of a van. Around me are a couple of bodies, from the smell of them I could tell most were Pack wolves. Off to my right are Roy and Carson, both are propped up against the wall, still unconscious. I look around to see that all of the mutts that were there I don't recognize. I can tell the ones from the Pack weren't happy to have been captured so easily and unfairly by the trackers. We didn't have a chance when they came after us.

"Anyone know where we are going?" I ask my voice still thick from the sedative.

"Where they take monsters like us, where else," says one of the mutts in an annoyed voice.

"A compound," I say, barely a whisper.

No, No, No, No. I can't go into a compound. If a werewolf goes in their they don't come out, it's especially bad for Pack members too. As I'm thinking this I start to freak out. I've got to get out of this truck. I try to get up but fail miserably because something is bound to my wrists. I try to wrench them free of my bonds, but it is too strong even for my enhanced werewolf strength. So I try to wriggle my hands out of them bit by bit, but they hold fast. I grumble in frustration. Just as I'm about to try something else the truck stops.

You could sense the panic rising in the truck like you could sense a thunderstorm coming. I hear the van doors slamming shut outside, their footsteps walking towards the back. The sound of the lock coming off the doors fills the back of the van. The heavy doors open, blinding light floods the back of the van. Once my eyes adjust I can see two trackers hauling the others outside.