Hear Their Thoughts, Be Their Terror [COMPLETED][UNEDITED]

Chapter 16

I was vaguely aware that Jake had me on his back while he loped on, in wolf form. I saw a distant beige form some way behind, and the thought that Jake had told Dylan to stay back came to me, and then I fell asleep again.

* * *

I woke again while being set down. I opened my eyes a tiny bit and saw a blurry Dylan leaning against a tree and Jake right in front of me, looking at me with concern. He sighed and, thinking I was still asleep, opened my backpack and scribbled out a state- which, I had no idea. My mind-reading was way too slurred.

He turned to Dylan, an accusing look on his face. "You know this your fault, right?"

Dylan shrugged away from the tree and, arms still crossed, faced Jake. "Yes, I am perfectly aware that she is out cold because of me." His eyes were narrow and his voice dripped with sarcasm. I took this moment to start picking through the many details of Dylan's life. I found out many things. His brother really did pick up snippets of people's thoughts. And he really was going to be Beta, if all went well with him and his friend, George. The girl Sophie acted like she didn't know him at all. He was slightly bullied at school. His parents fought a lot. His pack was getting smaller because wolves were leaving to join new packs. They had meetings in human, having no translator. He had been waiting for a chance to escape, and we had given it to him.

"Whatever," Jake sneered, turning back to me. I shut my eyes quickly and let my head loll to the side. "She's been asleep for four days, though. If she doesn't wake up soon, I'm blaming it on you." Four days? So we had probably finished Montana and were in North or South Dakota?

I decided to sleep then.

* * *

A few hours later, I wanted to wake up. Boredom got the best of me, so I groaned and lifted my hand to my forehead, pressing it as if it hurt. Jake rushed over and placed his hand on mine, pulling it away from my head. "Nixie," he whispered. "Come on, wake up."

I whimpered and let him lift me to my feet, where I half-hung, half-stood. "Stupid thoughts," I muttered.

Jake laughed, and then tried to act series and nodded. A grin spread though. "Hey, uh, happy birthday . . ."

I gasped and pulled away, eyes wide. "Crap, I'd forgotten!" I exclaimed. Then I calmed down and smiled. "But thanks."

He nodded and shrugged. "Well, I didn't forget." He turned around for a minute, and faced me, holding a vanilla cupcake with pink frosting. I grinned and took it, eating it with eagerness. Jake laughed and handed me some jerky, which I devoured, also.

"How long I been out?" I muttered through food, as if I didn't know.

"Four days," he sighed, holding out a canister of water.

I coughed, acting shocked. "Four?" He nodded. "Wow."

"So . . . Where's Dylan and what state are we in?"

"We're in South Dakota and Dylan's hunting."

I nodded as I chewed on the remaining jerky. "Any sign of the Great Wolf?" I asked, a bit desperate. His thoughts told me the answer, but he shook his head anyways. I shrugged and murmured, "Figures," under my breath.

Jake shifted from foot to foot for a while, looking oddly sheepish. He kept singing the YMCA song in his head, very loudly. It blocked out all other thoughts. I sighed. "What, Jake?"

He rubbed behind his neck. "I, er, don't want to intrude on Dylan's personal life, but . . . What did you find out?" He grinned nervously, afraid I'd be mad.

I laughed a little. "That. He really will be Beta. That his brother indeed does pick up small whispers of thoughts. I won't say anymore, for his sake. Let's just say you and I gave him a free ticket out of a hard life, and if we send him back, he might end up just a scrap of beige hair or fur."

"Thank you, Nixie," a voice said. I turned and saw Dylan walking silently through the trees, a couple of squirrels in his hands.

I nodded. "Let's keep going. Are we almost to Nebraska?" I asked, pulling out the map. South Dakota hadn't been scribbled out yet.

Jake nodded. "Almost to the border. You'd better scribble that out, actually." I did as told. "Then we go to Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas after Nebraska."

I nodded studying the map closely. The USA wasn't too big on the map of the world. My eyes scanned over Africa. There were several countries there, none of which seemed to be a suitable place for a legendary werewolf.

"We're gonna head this way, up towards Maine-" I pointed correctly-" and then make our way down to Florida-" again I moved my finger- "travel over here to Mexico-" I slid my finger- "and end up in South America. Sound okay?"

The boys exchanged glances, and then shrugged and nodded. "You're the boss," Dylan muttered, starting a fire to cook the squirrels. I rolled my eyes.

* * *

A few weeks later, we were tromping through Louisiana. Having finished the rest of the states- except Hawaii- we were going to finish this one, run along the edge of Texas, and go into Mexico. It hardly seemed noticeable that I was fifteen now. I didn't feel any older, really. But Jake found an old pickup which worked great, and, having already been fifteen for a while, started to teach me to drive. It was great fun, and I was actually pretty good at it. Dylan was also fifteen, and he helped remind me little things from the backseat. I mastered driving within a week- knowing how to use their mistakes for learning what to do. Their minds really helped.

We had had to abandon the truck at the border of Louisiana. We didn't want to go on busy roads, and the marsh and jungle were no place for a rusty Chevy. We were currently in wolf form, and we're still having immense trouble getting through the swamps.

I hate this! I screamed. The boys whimpered in agreement and we tromped on.

A few hours later, we were still plowing through murky water- oh god I almost made Jake carry me, I was so afraid of alligators- and mushy plants. I was practically covered in mosquito bites, and was forced to buy bug repellant for us all. It was possibly the worst experience ever, even as a powerful wolf. How this pack managed to live, I'd never know. We only met two or three wolves along the way, and they had said the Great Wolf certainly wasn't with their pack. Their accents, deep, southern accents, made me want to laugh. I didn't though.

I peered through the dense trees to look at a sign by the road. I clapped my hands and excitedly said, "We're almost to Texas!" The sighed in relief and we sloshed on, phasing to wolf so as not to draw attention.

We entered Texas an hour later, covered in mud and swampy stuff. I managed to find a recreation center, and we snuck into the locker rooms and took showers, having to sit for a while and dry our clothes.

After that Dylan bought some new clothes for us all. I was very thankful- mine were disgusting. Then we walked through the towns, entering the Zone when no one could see our eyes turn yellow and following werewolf scent trails. The Alpha of this pack was trusting of me from the start- he said he saw Alpha blood in me. So he allowed us to romp around in his territory- this state was the biggest so we were there for a total of six days, searching around. We met a lonely looking lone wolf, who had light-black fur and looked as though he might try to eat us. We had hurried on.

"This is pointless!" I screamed into the empty air, then after taking a draught of water. It was so hot and dry here. My throat was constantly screaming for water, and my skin might as well have belonged to a wrinkly old lady, it was so shriveled up. We replenished our canisters whenever we came along a place to, and I bought some new jerky to fill the bag, which was almost empty.

We finally made it to the border of Mexico, having no luck in Texas. "Well," I said in a satisfied tone, "let's continue on to Mexico!" And so we prepared to sneak into the country.