Four

Charlotte had been running all night, after escaping the pack house she just kept moving, as silently as possible through the woods towards the border of their territory, she drew upon as much of her wolf as she could without shifting. She needed all the energy she could save for once she was off pack lands.  “Come on lottie, it can’t be much farther now” she coached herself. It was shortly after dawn when she came to the border, moving through it felt like a small electrical buzz clinging to her skin as she passed, snapping like spider’s webs around her. The border was put up long ago by a witch. It had two purposes, when humans came near it would play on their fears and make them feel afraid so they would not trespass and discover them accidentally and the other purpose was to alert the alpha of any unauthorized coming or going on his lands. My Uncle now knew someone had crossed the border in this spot, and they would soon be closing in on me. Yet now that I was finally outside the pack territory there was only one thought that kept repeating in my head. I sank to my knees and could only whisper “I'm out. I’m actually out.” lifting my head i stared at the cloudy morning sky in silence yet inside i was howling in victory! It's over! 

The snap of a twig nearby had my head whipping around, and I found myself locking eyes with one very surprised squirrel. I breathed a small breath of relief but the way my heart was pounding against my chest was reminding me that “out” did not mean out of danger. Still deep in the woods, I quickly changed out of my clothes, folded them and packed everything in the one bag of belongings I was able to bring. It was then I finally called my wolf fully forward and shifted. I was at my best in wolf form, I was powerful in ways I could never be in my human form, and I needed that power now. Problem was, the same could be said for the people undoubtedly tracking me. Picking up my bag and carrying it with my teeth I now sped towards the nearest town. I only knew there was a town ahead because of a dot on a map I had once seen in my Uncle’s study. Moving at top speed even if I happened to be seen by a human, I was moving too fast for them to know what I was or to do anything about it, so I sped on, leaping over and dodging around any obstacle in my path. I allowed my wolf to take more control, feeling her joy at the feeling of freedom. I took a back seat and allowed her senses to guide us.

It was late afternoon by the time I reached the outer edges of the town, my wolf senses picking up on the sound of cars and the scent of the people long before there was any danger of being seen. Still I found a spot I felt safe enough to shift back to my human form, better safe than sorry after all. I quickly dressed in a pair of loose fitting jeans along with an old hooded sweatshirt I'd stolen from the laundry back at the pack house. I didn’t want anything about me to stand out.

I wasted no time once I was changed. After jogging the rest of the way into town, and asking directions a couple of times I found myself staring at the entrance of the bus station. This is the only part of my plan I had not planned, I did not know where I was going to go. In the end I decided to leave it to fate.  I took a deep breath and went inside. With all the confidence I could muster I approached the ticket counter “When does the next bus leave?” I asked, “Ten minutes, they are loading now if you want a ticket.” the attendant responded  and without hesitation I replied “i’ll take it. all the way to it’s last stop.” the attendant looked at me questioningly, but in the end sold me my ticket. 

I climbed onto the bus and sunk into one of the unoccupied seats at the back. I spent the last few minutes taking in the scents of the other passengers, relieved that they were all human. As the engine on the bus roared to life and the metal beast began its journey my body began relaxing more with every passing mile. Before I knew it I had drifted off in a dreamless sleep.