1 Into the Fray

Wind whipped through the many tree trunks that littered the sloping forest floor on a cool spring night. The calmness of the forest was interrupted by multiple thumps and crunches caused by the many frantic women running through the forest barefoot. Tree limbs grasped and tore at their clothing as if trying to leave a trail for the beasts that lurked and prowled a fair distance behind the women. Among these women was Anna, a woman of 25 summers who had lived with the women who we currently attempting to flee the beasts. Little did Anna know, she would be the only one left by the time the sunrise peaked through the forest.

Anna panted as her frantic breathing continued to cause her throat to shrivel into a desert. Plan, plan, she needed a plan! Her throat was a desperate waring that she could not continue this endless game of cat and mouse in the forest. She began to observe her surroundings for any sliver of potential salvation. For many minutes she continued to look in between the endless rows of trees. Her search was interrupted by the screams of a woman she knew back at the shelter. Mary, a sweet woman who sewed the clothes that were currently on Anna's back.

Tears pricked Anna's eyes as she heard Mary's screams dull due to the increasing distance between them and the fact that a Mary had been claimed.

The claim, it struck fear into many she-wolves that feared the pain and loss of freedom that was associated with it. Alpha's of the surrounding packs had dictated many years ago that she-wolves without a mate would be raised separately from the rest of the packs. All in order to create annual hunts for the wolves without mates. These hunts mainly benefitted the male wolves as they were not forced to participate in a mad dash for their lives. There has yet to be a she-wolf who has escaped the clutches of the claiming hunt.

Each claiming hunt started with the lowest ranked male wolves and worked its way up to the alpha level, that is if there was a mate less alpha. This allowed for the strongest male wolves to be matched with the she-wolves who evade the male wolves the longest. This was especially important because the males hunted in wolf form while the females remained unable to shift until after the claim due to a mutation that had formed many generations ago in the she-wolf. In some ways this also rigged the hunt against the she-wolves.

Anna knew that their fates had been sealed when they were drugged at their village and woken up in the center of an unknown forest. She-wolves were not permitted to venture outside of their village perimeter. As such they were unable to venture into the surrounding forests in order to explore their mysterious depths.

Anna had wished she could have explored this endless labyrinth so that her fates did not seem so bleak. Her eyes continued to frantically search for some sort of hideaway as her strength was diminishing as every minute passed and the beasts grew closer. Trees seemed to blur together as her tears began to pool in her eyes. The hope she held that she would not become one of the victims that the girls back at the village whispered about every time a group of women went missing was hanging by a measly thread.

There!! Something shimmered against the full moon that seemed to be leering down on the hunt. Anna didn't spend a second guessing what the shimmer may not be, instead she focused on the fact that this shimmer could be water, her salvation. Glancing around to make sure no beasts were trailing her she quickly made her way closer and closer to the shimmer. As her ear picked up on a tinkling noise she knew at that instance that it was indeed a small river!

Quickening her pace to reach the river and get as far away as possible was proving to be a challenge. Even so, she was able to push out her last few ounces of adrenaline to reach the river. The ground beneath her feet began to soften and she neared the sandy bank of the river. Her pace began to slow as she contemplated her decision of entering the cold, dark, and murky depths of the river in front of her.

Deciding that she still had much more to live for instead of being claimed, she quickly and quietly dove into the river. Anna made sure upon entry that she fully submerged herself in the river in order to dull her scent from the beasts. Emerging the top of her body above the surface she began to inspect the direction and obstacles that the river was push her towards. With a sign she was relieved that the river trek in front of her looked moderately calm.

In order to gain some of her strength back she allowed her body to float near the surface of the river as the current pulled her farther downstream and away from the chaos that was happening in the forest across from her. Anna turned her head to the right in attempt to see if she could spot any of the women from her village attempting to flee from the beasts. Silence and tranquility seemed to befall the forest that stretched out across from her, as though it wasn't aware of the brutal chaos that was happening near its vicinity. As the screams of her village women began to fade away, so did her adrenaline. With one last glance into the forest Anna decided to rest her eyes and allow for the river to carry her somewhere away from all of the brutality of the hunt.