3 Chapter Three: The Wolf, The Alpha and The Bullet.

The next few minutes felt like mere seconds, probably because so much happened that it all blurred within my groggy mind. The intimidating and steadfast Alpha growled so low and hostile that it sent shivers down even my spine. I have been in countless hunts before, I had faced off against at least a dozen without the aid of a superior within my first year, yet for some reason I couldn't help but feel small, - weak - and absolutely defenseless. I hated it, I hated it with every fiber in my being. I had not been this afraid since-

I shook my head and gasped for air, sweat rolling off of my face in waves and sticking to my skin in layers. The metal piping and the dirt seemed to be closing in, leaving me breathless and scared, I grit my teeth and a copper taste filled my mouth. There was no way in HELL I would just sit back and bleed out while these two wolves fought, my life being determined by the victor. With renewed steel determination, I dragged myself out from underneath the car like a woman posssesed and stood on shaking legs, one no doubtly fractured and probably broken as I opened my pistol barrel. Unlike the other one, it was only a single barrel yet I couldn't help but be even more determined to make this shot count. As I reloaded the two wolves duked it out, the Alpha being the supposed current victor by stealing the moment of terror and continuing his vicious assault on the now recovered Werewolf. Despite the height difference, they seemed to be somewhat evenly matched, the Alpha having more speed than strength while the opposite was true for the other. They had both gotten good hits in, the wolf able to grab the Alpha and bite him with the brute force of a hundred rabid crocodiles, it was able to crunch through flesh like it had done to my leg. The Alpha, on the other hand, was able to use his speed to dodge and place multiple quick timed moderate blows to its opponent, its muscular body being extremely deceptive to its true power.

I snapped the barrel shut and placed the butt end on my shoulder, aiming the firearm so that it was pointing in the general direction of my target. My mind seemed like it was made of pure helium, the world contorting and spiralling in ways that I couldn't control, and again I heard the noise.

Tha-thump.

Tha-thump.

The sound of my own racing heartbeat as it bashed itself against my ribcage almost like it were a prisoner convicted of first-degree murder and wishing death upon the person who put him in there. I shook my head and refocused, I was exhausted, most likely critically injured and practically starving. I was probably going to die.

'Oh but of course Pieta,' A little voice in the back of my fogged mind told me, 'You ARE going to die. You knew the second you signed up for this you were going to, isn't that why you--'

I quickly shoved those thoughts back where they belonged and lined up my shot once more. I just simply could not keep up with the fast pace of these wolves, one second they were a meter away then they were out of sight but certainly not out of mind. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited a second before opening them back up, the black fuzziness in the corners of my eyes were slowly overtaking the rest of my vision but I did my best to soldier through.

I have been doing nothing but trying my best, and yet, was it enough, was it ever enough?

Unwillingly, a single memory came to mind.

"What is this?" A meek young girl with long red hair and half-lidded equally as red puffy eyes stood in front of the table, feeling the weight of both the question and the stare crushing her like a ten-story building.

"I-I made it for y-you." She stuttered and stumbled over her words as she usually did in the presence of this terrifying titan, unable to conjure proper sentences in her hazy mind.

"I can see that, but what the HELL is it?" She gulped and shuffled her shoes, a nervous habit she picked up that wasn't as 'offensive' as other little behavioral 'problems' that she did.

"I-It-ts d-dinner." She managed to get out, her body shaking and quivering horribly as she watched the one she made food for push it around with a fork, it was spaghetti with pasta sauce, the only thing they had in the building that she was meant to call home.

Her nerves eased once the food she made was lifted on a fork and tasted, but then sunk back into the depths of despair when the small bite of homemade Italian cuisine was suddenly spat across the room and onto the wall closest.

"Its terrible, make it again."

"B-B-But I t-tried my b-best-"

"I DON'T CARE!" She jumped out of the way as the chair was thrown back and the plate of food was smashed against the wall in the direction where she once stood, the shards of glass digging into the wall like sharpened daggers. The little girl froze from her position on the floor and just watched in horror as footsteps came toward her, the familiar cracking of wood against flesh sounding in her ears.

"In this world," the monologue started,

"there's no reward for just simply 'trying',"

The footsteps drew closer and that oh so familiar cracking got louder, "or just 'doing your best',"

The footsteps stopped right in front of her and as she watched the wooden cane raise in the air, the malicious glint shining in the eyes of that which held it and a large face splitting smile with beast like teeth errupted on the normally expressionless faces.

"There's only pain."

The sudden rays of the sun rising over the horizon snapped me out of my memory haze and cleared my vision of black long enough for me to readjust my aim and squeeze the trigger.