Trials Under The Moon

The Fall of North Side - 1

   
The first thing that I remember is the screaming. Then, the heavy footsteps of warriors and the cries for mercy. Uncle Marcus bursts through the front door of the house and calls for his wife, "Lillian!" he yells. "Where are you? Where are the girls?!"

        Avery and I were tucked under the covers and blankets of our pillow fort in her bedroom. We stayed quiet, because we were suppose to be sleeping by now. It was about 11:30pm.

        "What's wrong Marcus?" Lillian asks, "What's going on?". They both run to Avery's room, and Marcus lets out a sigh of relief upon seeing the two of us unharmed. His relief quickly disappeared.
        "There's not much time," He tells us. "We have to get them to the basement, now!"

        Avery quickly grabs two pairs of shoes and then reaches for my hand. We look into each other's eyes and give each other a solid nod of the head. We're ready. The two of us spare no time before heading downstairs. Avery's parents will meet us there when they've completed their tasks.

        As we run through the house, the screaming and yelling outside gets worse. Now there are gunshots. Our pack is being attacked. But we keep running. Once we reach the basement door, Avery punches in the key code to let us in. We've done this drill dozens of times. This is the second drill I had to master before my parents would allow me to sleep over at Avery's house. The first drill routine was at the pack house. My house. My parents are  Alpha Joseph and Luna Elain Gomez, of the Northside Pack. I pray to the moon goddess that they're okay.

        "Elliana!," Avery snaps me out of my thoughts ", we have to stay focused okay?" I nod my head yes, "I know, let's get started." On the wall in front of us is four hooks, each with a go-bag supplied for 1 weeks survival, for one person. To our left is an empty table with two chairs. We each grab a small backpack off the wall and loop our arms into the straps. The other two packs are for her parents. They are my goddess parents, and the Beta's of the pack.

        We look up at the door when we hear the code being beeped in, and tense up ready to put up a fight if we have to. The door swings open and an out of breath Lillian slides in before shutting the door. Avery and I stand down, and wait for her instructions.

        "Good job girls," she begins. "We have to be quick, this time it's not a drill." We knew that. But it didn't seem real until Aunt Lilly said it out loud to us. My eyes widen at the realization, my family. "My parents! My brother! We have to get to the pack house!" I scream. I run for the door but Lillian grabs my arm. "You know we can't do that!" She snaps. "Marcus has already headed to the pack house to aid your family, and now I have to get you two to safety. If they find you, they'll kill you Ellie!"

        I know She's right. We have to go. It's what I agreed to do. To run. Avery and I are too small to fight, and too young to shift. We've both only just turned 13. Three more years before we get our wolves.
        I have to run, because as a member of the Alpha's family I'd have to be killed in order for the new packs alpha to take over. It's a cruel and vicious new rule that invading packs abide by.

        Lillian grabs her go-bag and leads us to a trap door under the table. There's an underground escape with various tunnels. Like a maze, Many of the tunnels lead to dead ends, in case an enemy follows us. Only we know the right turns to take in order to exit at the forest. Lillian helps each of us down into the escape, when suddenly there's movement above us. Glass is breaking and furniture is being thrown around upstairs. "Quickly girls!" Lillian whisper yells. Avery and I start running while Lillian shuts and locks the door.

        At the first fork of 6 tunnels we immediately run into the 3rd. After that, it's 3 lefts and 4 rights before we reach the end. Lillian catches up with us at the exit. The plan is to sit here, quietly, and listen. We're safe as long as the tunnels aren't discovered. If we run out into the forest too soon, we risk being caught.