Chapter 3

THE THING IN THE DARK

Kael's POV

Kael’s POV

The wind was brutal. And I was colder than I'd ever been in my entire life.

I dragged myself along, step by painful step, over the screaming pain that roared through every muscle in my body. My hands were scraped and raw, my ribs swollen with each inhale.

They'd abandoned me to die.

No trial or second thought. They just shoved me down like I was nothing.

And now I was here, inside the Wastes.

It was more than a name. The place itself actually seemed wasted. The trees were stripped, as if they'd reached for the sky and been denied. The earth was dry, and the sky was bogged in an interminable twilight.

Part of me wanted to stop. To simply collapse and end it all right here.

But something else. Something inside of me wouldn't. I'm not sure if it was my wolf, or pride, or sheer spite. But whatever it was, it wouldn't allow my legs to stop moving.

Until I heard a sound, a low dragging noise, like something heavy and wet was sliding across the ground with an unnatural rhythm.

I edged slowly, my heart thudding in my chest. For a moment, there was nothing. Then something materialized out of the dark.

I didn't even know how to describe it.

It looked like a wolf, but….. wrong. Just wrong. Bigger than any I’d ever seen. Its legs were long and too thin, bent in ways they weren’t supposed to bend. Its eyes were sunken pits of flickering green. The fur on its back was patchy, rotten, exposing blackened skin that pulsed as it moved. And its mouth… its mouth was filled with rows of jagged teeth, too many to belong to any creature of this world.

Without warning, it charged at me.

I hadn't time to move, hardly, as it came for me straight ahead. I threw myself sideways, rolling as hard as I could on the ice. Pain flashed up my spine but I forced myself to keep moving. The creature growled as it passed, twisting its neck at an unnatural angle to turn and confront me once more.

I reached for the small dagger still strapped to my hip. I hadn't realized it was still there until now.

The creature struck again. I dodged low and pushed the blade up through its side.

It screamed, a noise that tore through the air like shattering glass. I tried to back away, to get some distance between us, but it was too fast.

It beat me, wind knocked from me, and I crashed to the ground. I wedged the knife between us before it could locate my face with its teeth. We struggled and its teeth were glaring right in front of my face. Its breath was a terror I couldn't even describe.

With a wail of desperation, I wracked the knife.

The creature howled and recoiled. Then I sprang to my feet, panting, staggering. I couldn't keep this up. My body wasn't designed for it.

It came again, but I was ready this time.

As it attacked, I went low, letting it use its own energy against me. I jammed the blade straight up into its jaw. The impact rattled my bones. It convulsed and Jerkedx slumping onto the ground.  And then it remained still.

I crouched there paralyzed for a moment, seeing if it was pretending to be dead. The blood congealed fast, and it was thick and black and smelled. I didn't know what kind of thing this was, but it wasn't normal.

And if this was what lived in the Wastes. then I sure wasn't ready for whatever was next.

I pulled myself back, legs trembling under me. My breathing was unsteady, harsh. I wasn't triumphant. I was scared. If there were more of the things out here, then I wasn't going to last very long.

And then I heard the voice.

“How's a waste of a perfectly good knife.”

I spun around, heart racing again.

One man came out of the forest, lanky and unruffled, as though he'd just crossed a greenfield. He was clad in thick, dark furs. His jaw was sharp, his eyes glacial. There were strange tattoos inked across his throat, winding around his jaw and disappearing under his collar.

He approached, no fear in his step. I clenched my fist tighter around the dagger still gripped in my fist. “Back off.”

But he just kept walking.

“Drop the knife,” he said slowly.

I fumed at how unruffled he remained. As if he were in control here. “Or what?” I snapped. “You'll finish what that thing started trying to do?”

He dodged, never removing his eyes from me. “If I'd wanted you dead, you wouldn't have heard me coming.”

I didn't believe him. Not at all. But then I was too tired and broken to even think about running or fighting. He stood up slowly, still watching me.

“You're Kael Everdeen,” he said.

I just stared at him and didn't respond. He chuckled low. “So you're the one the so called Alpha Damon is most in fear of.”

“What do you know about Damon?” I gritted my teeth.

He didn’t answer but kust glanced at the dead creature bleeding out behind me. “Impressive. Not many make it through an encounter with a gravehowler.”

“A what?”

“That thing,” he nodded. “They hunt anything with blood. Especially blood that burns hotter than most.”

I just stared at him like a ram being led to slaughter, confused about the jargon this man was spitting.

“Come with me,” he finally said. “Before another one smells what you’ve spilled.”

I hesitated.

“Either you bleed to death out here,” he snarled, turning away from me, “or you can follow me now and learn what you really are.”

I didn't want to move at first, but then, there was something in the way he said those last words, “what you really are”, that continued to echo around my head.

I didn't know this dude or trust him. But at least for the moment… he was the only way that didn't result in me freezing to death in the snow.

And seeing as I have no other option and would almost choose to just die, I followed the man.