22 Chapter 21

Carter's POV

"We've got visual again, but trackers are down," Nathan nervously informed me over the radio.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"She's not alone," Nathan quickly stated into the radio before my watch chimed. I stopped and looked at what I was watching. Carla was fighting Valerie's wolf, but Carla wasn't a wolf.

"Is her radio on?" I asked

"Yes."

I switched to channel one. It was for emergencies only and it would break through radios that were even turned off.

"Everyone, I'm sending you coordinates to your watches. We gained a visual on Valerie, engage immediately. Do not engage to lioness, I repeat do not engage the lioness."

Of all the animals she could've picked she chose a lioness to fight a wolf. I hope she knows what she's doing.

Hannah stopped the car beside me.

"Get in," she demanded.

I jumped into the passenger seat and Hannah put the petal to the metal. We were racing at about 60 miles an hour down the beach. It wasn't long before Ryder, Liam, Axel, Kathy, Madelyn, and Paige pulled up beside us in their identical vehicle. Ryder was driving and Axel was hanging off the back. Everyone else was standing up, armed with guns and bulletproof jackets. We looked like a kick butt fighting group. I only hoped that Carla could hold Valerie off until we got there.

"She's a lioness," Hannah said as she glanced at me for a second and then back at the road.

"Yup," I quickly answered.

"She's changed."

"What do you mean?"

"Carla told me about how God's warriors are lions," Hannah blankly responded with a shrug, "Protect the sheep I guess."

"Stop the car."

Hannah stopped the car. Ryder copied what she did and pulled over beside us.

"What did you just say?"

"She told me not to be as greedy and cruel as a wolf," She stated as she nervously looked over at me. I must've said pull over a lot more demanding than I thought. She looked like a deer in headlights.

"It was Proverbs 30:14 I think. I don't know, it was one of the things she taught me while you guys were gone. She was teaching how to fight with my new powers," she nervously mumbled.

"What did she tell you about lions protecting sheep?"

"She that to protect the sheep you have to catch the wolf, and to catch the wolf you have to outsmart it, outhunt it, or overpower it."

"And a wolf with no pack is defenseless," I murmured.

"What?" Hannah asked.

Carla knew exactly what she was doing. This whole time, this was the plan. Valerie was so caught up in destroying Carla that she had no idea what her plan was. Carla knew exactly what she was doing after I died. Carla had planned everything out perfectly. She disappeared because we couldn't find Valerie. She knew Valerie would listen to the radios. She knew that Valerie would go after Carla once she knew where she ran to.

"Carla's smarter than I thought," I mumbled.

"What?" Hannah asked again.

"Drive," I demanded, "We need to get to Carla, I need to talk to her."

"She's fighting Valerie, you can't talk to her yet," Hannah argued as she started the car.

"She won't be fighting Valerie for much longer."

I was dumbfounded.

Carla didn't disappear because she wanted to run off, she was protecting us. She knew that Valerie was going to come after her. If she ran off then Valerie wouldn't attack camp because all she wanted to do was destroy Carla. She was saving us and we didn't even know.

We drove up on the gruesome fight. The large lioness stood atop of the black wolf. Both were mangled and missing chunks of fur. The scene was heart wrenching when you realize that they're both going to die from the wounds once they go back to human form.

Blood. Was. Everywhere.

A small black wolf mix had its jaws latched onto the hind leg of Valerie. It was viciously thrashing. Its jaws were absolutely destroying her back leg but Valerie could care less, she wanted to end this as much as Carla did. This wasn't just two leaders fighting, this was two aggressive Alpha females fighting for dominance. They were going to destroy eachother.

"What do we do?" Liam asked.

I looked over at them to see everyone staring at me. Was I the runner up for leader if Carla died? She wanted a council but everyone knew she was leader. I looked at Carla relentlessly fighting Valerie. Attack after attack. Bite after bite. Smack after smack. She was demolishing Valerie. Should I intervene this time? I looked back over at Liam and shook my head.

"They're going to kill eachother!" Kathy protested.

I looked at Carla and watched her swat at Valerie. Valerie ducked under and got Carla on her back. I looked at Liam and then back at Carla who had slipped out from under Valerie and had her pinned to the ground and was thrusting her front paws repeatedly on Valerie's ribcage.

Kathy and Paige gasped and Madelyn looked away. Loud cracks sounded from the fight and it ended with Valerie whimpering.

A loud crack erupted and Carla hopped off of Valerie. Valerie shifted down to human form, a huge mistake on her part. Blood seeped from every opening on her body. We slowly started to get out of the cars. The sound of the doors shutting made Carla look at us. She looked wearily at us, as if she was going to collapse. Hannah was in front, she walked up to her sister's side and pressed her rifle to Valerie's temple. Sage, Axel, and Sarah all did the same. Paige, Nathan, Kathy, Liam, Madelyn, and I walked to the front of Carla. She looked so tired.

Carla shifted down to human form and almost collapsed. I helped her stand to her feet and she was quickly healing.

"What did your happiness cost?" Valerie asked between coughing up blood.

Carla looked at Valerie and stomped over to her. She pulled Valerie to her feet and got in her face.

"Trying to be inspirational?" Carla hissed as she pressed a pistol into Valerie's stomach, "It costed me absolutely nothing."

Carla had come back stronger. She wasn't scared of Valerie. She wasn't scared of dying. She was absolutely fearless.

She looked at me with her ocean blue eyes and I never realized just how deep they were. Like a flip of a switch I had changed my thoughts about them. They were beautiful, yes, but a dangerous kind of beauty. The kind of ocean eyes that you could drown in.

She was different, yes, but still the same Carla I knew. She used to be as tender as a sheep, but this fight had caused her to lose something.

Maybe her sanity. But I leaned more towards that she didn't lose something but rather gained something. She still looked of a sheep, small and sweet, something you definitely wouldn't be afraid of. But something lurked behind her smile now. It was as if her strength no longer came from herself but something higher. Behind the beauty of her smile was the dangerousness of a beast. Her lion. Sure when she was a wolf it scared me but a wolf without a pack is defenseless. A lion however, can fight alone and stand a chance. Our enemies never stood a chance against us. Our allies feared being on the other end of our sword.

So yeah, she was still herself. She smiled and laughed at our jokes for the next few months of peace. And yeah, she was back to her old self. But something in me had changed the longer I was around her when she was like this. She was stronger yes, but something else had changed. She no longer relied on anyone else to carry her. Her demeanor had changed. She was kinder, sweeter, she was all the good things in her times ten.

That day was a game changer for all of us.

Hannah shot and killed Valerie, ending the threat of her killing us all to rest.

I came to realize that no matter how close you are to your friends, sometimes not knowing the plan is better than knowing it.

Sage, Axel, and Sarah realized that ordinary people can be just as powerful as super humans.

Nathan and Hannah realized that they made a good team.

And Carla came to realize that she didnt have to rely on everyone else to save her. Sometimes you have to be your own hero, and sometimes you have to Fight your own Fires to figure out who you're really meant to be.