Hunting You, Hunting Me (Watty Awards 2012)

chapter 29

A/N: Needed to keep this chapter short as a bridge to the next one, which has also been posted.

All rights reserved, © 2012

Not edited.

Chapter 29

Alpha Bill and Jane ran through the forest as fast as their legs could take them. Their eyes and ears were dissecting every sound and movement that occurred around them, but their minds were deep in thought.

Jane was preoccupied with thoughts regarding her family: Had Estela known she wasn’t an only child? Why hadn’t her parents searched for her?  How had she ended up a prisoner in London? Had they loved her? These thoughts were on a repeat cycle, playing over and over again in her head sometimes broken by a few stray thoughts from her wolf regarding the total number of trackers in the forest, the number of people in the backup crew, and the impending battle that was to come.

The Alpha on the other hand, thought mostly about the forthcoming attack, scheming, strategizing and plotting.  And although they didn’t know this, the only common thought between the two was the lingering truth that the fight would truly never be over. When they kill these trackers, London would only send more.

The two wolves continued to sprint through the forest swerving around trees and jumping over logs, eager to create distance between the trackers and themselves. For they knew that distance meant time, time they could use to rest, recover and plan. And although the Alpha knew the way out of the forest and back to the pack, he knew that the battle must take place here. Because, he had the duty to keep his pack safe and bringing killers to their doorstep would endanger the lives of the many women and children in his pack.

Soon, the time came for the sun to set, casting an orange glow over the forest and sending the diurnal animals to their resting places. The short span between day and night brought out the crepuscular animals that disappeared as nightfall descended on the forest. And then the forest was filled with the sounds of its nocturnal inhabitants. The only constant activity during this time was from the groups of wolves scattered around the forest.

The natural inhabitants of the forest were the only ones who knew that it was an unusual occurrence to have such a large number of wolves amongst them.  Most stayed hidden in their nests and burrows, carefully watching and waiting for what was to come. For they all knew that something was amiss.

As Jane and Alpha Bill’s pace slowed down, the forest around the shack was about to come to life. Both the Andersons and the trackers were only a couple of miles away from the shack, eager to check in with Abby.  It was then that the odor of stale blood and dead flesh hit their senses causing them to proceed with caution.

The group decided to merge together and surround the shack. Not knowing what awaited them inside, they took their time to surveil the property before entering. The stench of blood and flesh was not enough to cover the stink of dried vomit, which was discovered to be emanating from a nearby bush. The group agreed that whomever had survived had thrown up there before fleeing the scene. And since they hadn’t heard from Abby in a few hours they were sure that it wasn’t hers.

As they opened the door to the shack their eyes were met with the remnants of a struggle: broken furniture, an overturned cot, and a bundle of bloody towels and sheets.  Upon closer inspection they found a body wrapped up in the bed sheet that used to belong on the cot. Trained soldiers that they were, there were no butterflies in their stomachs, or nervousness in their demeanors.  The body was calmly unwrapped as if it were just another day at the office and the only sound that escaped at the unveiling of the corpse was one from the throat of Kate Anderson.

“Poor kid,” Is what she said before throwing the covers back over Abby’s lifeless body.  There was no ‘minute of silence’ to pay their respects to one of their own. There would not be a soldier’s burial either, nor a star on a memorial, neither a medal of valor presented to Abby’s family, had she had one. This was as good as it was going to get.

The group exited the shack and scanned the perimeter for any signs of Estela.  From the state of Abby’s body, they had quickly deduced that Estela had shifted into her wolf.  Their next task was to find her. No amount of sniffing would provide an adequate scent for them to follow. But even so, their trained eyes found indentations in the ground, bent foliage and snapped twigs that gave them a path to track. The group followed the trail, their hunger to complete this mission driving their legs to move fast.

Elsewhere in the forest a good distance away, the Alpha and Jane had transformed into their humans as they walked to where Estela was waiting for them.

 “I wish I knew who they were!” Jane exclaimed, frustration evident in her voice. “The entire Were government couldn’t be this corrupt, could it? All I was told was that I was imprisoned because I was a traitor. But I know that I wasn’t…am not a traitor. How could a child be a traitor?”  She looked at Bill hoping he could answer her questions. But Bill was looking at his feet attempting to avoid her gaze.

Jane observed the Alpha and decided that if he knew about her he must know more.

“Who? Who wants me dead so badly that they have gone to this extent?” She asked stopping him with her hands.

The Alpha looked up at her with sadness in his eyes. “I don’t know who. All I know is that you were taken away when you were a baby. And I know that it was because somebody didn’t want your father to take his place as werewolf King. They said they would allow you to live a normal life if Scott stayed away from the Kingdom.”

That was all that Jane had needed to hear. She nodded at Bill in a gesture of thanks before she broke into a run, hungry to cover the rest of the distance that separated her from her sister.