Lost Treasure: Into the City

I feel a small tug on my right arm. I look down into his big blue eyes that were swelling with tears.

“Where’s Mom and Dad?” he whispered.

My heart is breaking with every word. I try to speak but there was a lump in my throat.

“Waiting for us at the safe house.” I lie, barely getting the words out.

I look straight ahead into the darkness; thankful they couldn’t see my lip quiver to contain a sob. I had to be strong, I must put on a mask, for them.

The air in the tunnel was damp and smell moldy. There are pixie lanterns far enough apart making the lighting a soft glow for us to see our feet. Green moss is growing on the walls and you could hear our feet padding softly on the concrete flooring and an occasional drip from a water droplet. We came to a fork in our path, we take the left going the way we were shown many times before in our drills. After we round our last turn, the opening to the tunnel came in to view.

As we approach the opening, I push the twins behind me, hunching low and on guard. There's a big bush covering it to hide it. It is completely silent outside. The screaming has stopped. I pull back a few branches and look around, panning left to right. I could see the edge of the forest less than 50 ft away. I don’t see anybody around, so the coast must be clear.

I turn back and kneel down in front of my siblings, shifting my gaze from one to the other as I whisper, “Now we’re going to make a mad dash for the tree line and then to the path our parents taught us, to get to the safe house. Don’t stop running, don’t look back until you are inside the house. Understand?” Both nodded.

I stand and take a hand from them. My heart is thundering in my chest as we make our way out toward the edge of the forest. Before I realize what has happened, I’m scooped up into large arms of a hug nasty rogue. Another one grabs the twins.

I struggle against his body, my back to his chest. I couldn’t hear a thing but the sound of my blood whizzing through my ears. It's like the world was moving in slow motion, and the volume muted. I know I'm screaming from how raw my throat feels, and I can see my siblings crying and trembling against the body of the other rogue.

I stare at him across from me. Memorizing his features; black long straggly hair pulled back to a ponytail, square face, dark long beard, crooked nose. The dark ring around his irises are thick and rotating. His wolf is in control. He has no shirt or shoes. I could tell the guy holding me was the same, although I couldn’t see his face. I can feel his lips move on the shell of my ear, only then did my body recover from the shock.

“She’s the one he wants. What do we do with these runts?!” The rogue across me says his voice more like a growl.

The one holding me laughs maliciously, “Get rid of um, just like the rest of these pampered pooches!”

All at once, the adrenaline in my body spikes and I feel stronger than I ever have before. As if my wolf inside has awakened prematurely, a surge of energy comes over my body. My ability has become active due to our immediate danger.

I stagger my feet and bend my knees. I tilt my head so I could see where his face is at. Then I speak in a low voice, “Ya'll gonna be sorry you ever laid eyes on us.” Then look straight ahead at the other one. I feel the one behind lean down, probably to say something rude in my ear. My crooked smile almost gives me away as I swing my head back as hard as I can, connecting with his nose.

Mechanically, he let me go and held his face. I crouch into a fighting stance and go for the other one holding my treasures. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to him in time as he snaps both their neck like twigs. I freeze. The sound of their vertebrate being separated echo in my ears. I watch as their limp bodies fall to the ground like sacks of potatoes.

He smiles an evil toothy grin of victory. Then dusts his hands together as he looks down at them with disgust. A voice inside my head yells, “Run!” It startles me out of my trace. Turning on the balls of my feet I take flight into the woods.

It is so dark, but during the time that my ability is activated, it’s like I already have my wolf. My night vision works perfectly, and my body is in tune with the earth. I feel the electricity balling in my chest as I push myself to run faster. Branches hit my face and arms as I zip between trees, jump over logs, and baseball slide under low hanging branches.

My thoughts are everywhere, pain of my loss and what I just witnessed pulse through my brain. I use it to will my legs to go faster. This is what I trained for; I must survive.

I can hear the gallop of eight paws crashing behind me. The other guy regains his composure to give chase. I see the gorge that will lead me to the safe house. The ball of energy in my chest detonates like a bomb, energy from it floods my body. My heart accelerates so fast its humming instead of beating. Like a flash of lightning, I’m gone. Leaving the two rouges tripping and rolling onto their faces.

It was all a blur, I burst into the door of the safe house seconds from where I left those stupid mongrels. I slam the door locking every type Father put on the door jam. As my body slows back down, my energy takes a dive, like a crash coming down from an energy drink. My legs feels like jelly and I don’t think I can make it to the couch. I fall to my knees, I crawl over to the couch and crumple, finally overcome by my shock and adrenaline. I pass out.