The same wolves that were with Alpha Caleb last night when he found Lila and I come running toward Caleb and me now. One of them must be his Beta, Lucas. They get to me and shift, staring at the dead Zobs, “Caleb, can you hear me!?” one of his men says leaning down next to him.“There was a hole in the fence when we got here. They were waiting…”“Fuck! These wounds are bad! Caleb, can you shift back?” Caleb whines and I realize he is stuck in wolf form, “Why can’t he shift back?” I ask.“He’s hurt too badly; his wolf is trying to save his life. Who helped him kill them? Zobs are strong. I haven’t met a wolf yet who could take down even two by themselves.”I speak shyly, “I was going to run but I heard him cry out, so I came back. He had killed one, but I killed the other 7.” The three men look at me like I just spoke a foreign language, “You killed 7 of them?” I nod and he scoffs, “There’s no way.”I take a step back as he picks Caleb up off the ground, “Come on, let’s get him to the
Colt POVMy handler finds a hotel two towns away. He had told me he wanted to make sure he hadn’t left a trail pointing toward us. The thing is, they ride in a caravan of black SUVs- that alone shouts suspicious. Like, who do these guys think they are? They have high-security clearance but not brains.I pretend to be a good boy and leave my window down so I can “smell” and look for Maddie but even if I did smell her, I wouldn’t say anything.“1005,” When we get there, I will prepare your kennel and you will sleep. I nod and we pull into a shitty town with dim lights. My handler looks at his phone GPS and turns left to the hotel. When we pull in front of the building my handler scoffs and grabs his hand radio, “Make sure you bring in sheets and the issued blankets. The big boss will be mad if we bring home bed bugs again. This place gives me Norman Bare vibes.”The radio squeaks and there’s a reply, “Yes, I bet the grim reaper visits this place regularly.” They both laugh and I watch
Maddie POVI gasp as I see it- 2001.HOLY SHIT, these are lab wolves. These came from the place I escaped from but what are they doing out here in the wilderness? Why are they torturing packs?! What made them into Zobs?I check each of the 8 and they all have numbers. My heart beats fast and I feel dizzy. Did they unleash them into the population on purpose or is it our fault? Did they escape when we did?The day the test happened- we didn’t know what they were. I thought they were just an experiment gone wrong but now I see it’s more than that.I hear voices and duck out of the room quietly, following until I find them. Lucas is back and he’s talking to Dr. Wayne, “Has he doing?” he asks. Dr. Wayne wipes his brow and sighs, “Not good, Beta. His vitals are already dropping.”Lucas’s voice is shaky “The antidote?” he asks hopeful. “Can we try to make it again.? There are 8 this time. There has to be a way to run more tests.”Dr. Wayne sighs, placing his hand on his shoulder, “Lucas, n
Colt POVI’m awoken by Z kicking my cage, “1005, wake up!” he screams at me. I quickly try to forget my nightmare and I look around in a haze, “Shift. We need to get moving!” he commands. I look at the window and it’s still dark- what the hell is going on?A appears in the doorway as Z opens my cage door, “Z, the lead is only 2 days from here, but we need to move quickly.” He states. Z smiles evilly and I crawl out of my cage and shift as he throws clothes at me, “Hurry up! I won’t say it again!” he says, holding up the cattle prod. I hurry up and get dressed, “1001 made it that far?” I ask.Z and A look at each other and laugh, “No, 1005 we have coordinates on 1003.”I stand there in shock and Z smiles, “Yes, Ryan is what you called him, right? He was picked up on security footage near a forest a state away. Now that 1001 eludes us, we can at least bring home 1003.”My heart beats faster but I say nothing. I can’t stop them from hunting any of them. Maddie is the key to his puzzle b
My eyes slowly open and my vision happens all over again.When I wake up, Caleb is holding one hand and Lila is holding the other. My eyes try to focus on them, and I can hear Lila sniffle, “Oh, Maddie. I thought you were going to die!” she says, throwing her body on mine and hugging the air out of my lungs.I wrap my arms around her and shake my head, “No, I am fine. See.” I smile at her. Lila smiles back and Caleb squeezes my hand, drawing my attention to him, “Thank you.” He whispers. I smile and Dr. Wayne walks into the room.“Maddie, you almost died but your blood did cure the Alpha. I would like to try to use your blood to make an antidote.”I nod and he smiles, “Good but you need to get better and stronger first.”Nurse Brenda walks into the room with a sandwich and water, “Eat Hun, you need your strength.” I smile and take it, looking nervously around. This time there is no vision and I sigh in relief, but Ryan is in danger, and I have to find him.I slowly sit up and Caleb l
Colt POVThe SUV hasn’t stopped for hours but it finally does. A opens the back gate and he smiles at us both, “Anyone need a potty break?” He asks in baby talk. I stop my eyes from rolling and 2010 nods, “I do, sir.” A nods and 2010 comes closer to him and he unlocks his collar.“1005?” he asks. I nod and do the same and he unlocks mine too, “Hurry up. We are close to where we saw him on the cameras.” I nod and walk into trees behind 2010. I relieve myself and walk back to the SUV. A stands there waiting and hands us each a bag of beef jerky, “Get back in and eat up. We are going to need your tracking skills.”I look at 2010 and he climbs into the vehicle. A looks at me and motions, I nod and climb back in, and he locks us both back in tightly, “And 1005,” he grins, “You better not disappoint us. They left you to die. Remember that.”I nod and he closes the back gate. The SUV begins to move, and I eat my jerky, “They really escaped…” 2010 sighs. I nod, “They really did.”“But they le
Maddie POVI sigh as I look at Caleb and Lucas. How can I keep lying to them? Ryan said to tell Caleb and so I will. I haven’t seen Ryan in years, but he is my brother- he knows best.“I am running but not from what you think.”They both eye me and I continue, “Ryan and I grew up together, well for some of our lives.”“Ryan was found in the wilderness, and you said you were raised by humans after age 9. Ryan was part of your pack before?” Caleb asks, confused.I shake my head, “There was never a pack. We escaped..” I say but my voice breaks and Caleb looks at Lucas, “You escaped who?” he asks.“The big man..”“Is that like an Alpha?” Lucas asks.I shake my head, “No. Ryan, Julia, Colt, Andy, and I were made in a lab. Same as the Zobs.” Lucas and Caleb both stare at each other and Lucas begins to laugh but Caleb doesn’t.“So, you escaped the lab with all of them?” Caleb asks.I shake my head, “No, Colt was left behind.” I say sobbing, “We all thought he was dead but when Lila and I wat
Colt POV2010 and I bring the deer back to camp and I show him how to gut it. He watches closely and I smile- this reminds me of when Andy helped the rest of us learn how to clean a kill. I miss him so much.“So, now cut links like this.” I say showing him, “Did you find the sticks I asked for?” I say, turning around to 2010. He hands them to me, and I smile, looking at the sharpening he did, “This is good. Now we just puncture the meat on the stick and place it over the fire, like this.” I say, showing him how. 2010 grabs what I cut and places it on sticks. Soon we have a ton of meat cooking and the aroma of the deer fills the air as 2010 licks his lips.“This smells amazing,” he says. I smile, “Way better than those MREs huh, and you haven’t even tasted it, yet.” I say, checking over the meat.I grab a stick off the fire and hand it to him, “Try it,” I encourage him.2010 takes a bite of the meat and his entire face lights up, “This. Is. So. GOOD.” He groans, devouring every piece o