Lavender

A Theory

She aimed the pistol at me. I walked towards her, slowly. "Hi. My name is Link, and I am in love with that boy on the cross. I love my boyfriends so very much, and I'm really hoping this will work."

She sneered. "Get away. Walk out of here or you're a goner. Do you think I'm afraid to pull this trigger? Because I'm not."

"Honestly, no, I think you're going to pull it. And I'm kind of counting on it. You see, a very powerful woman wants me alive. And I'm hoping -please Charlotte- that she would stop me from dying. So, go ahead, pull it."

Adam grabbed my wrist. I didn't look back as I yanked it out of his grasp. I took a deep breath. And I ran at Marissa.

I didn't notice her pull the trigger, it was so fast. But I didn't die. She missed. I made it to the bottom of the stairs before she shot again. A clicking sound came out. The gun was jammed.

I heard a voice. It had a thick accent I couldn't place, but I did recognize it. "Do that again, and I'll let you die, little one. I don't like when my bargaining chips roll dice."

I tackled Marissa. Sam ran and snatched the gun from her hands. My head was spinning, and I had a hard time breathing. Someone picked me up. The next thing I knew, I was in a forest.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked around. There was a man tending to a fire in a fire pit to my left. "Hello?" I asked.

He was disheveled and dirty. He wore a ripped T-shirt and even more ripped jeans. He was bruised. He moved his blonde hair out of his eyes. "Hi! She'll be here soon. And she told me to tell you that you're only staying a week. She said... oh what did she say... oh she said "if you weren't stupid, it would only be a day."

I nodded. "Where are we?"

"You really think we look at maps?"

I looked around. This was definitely Charlotte's pack. The men were scattered around and laughing. Some were having sex, which made me feel very awkward. Others were bathing in a pool of water nearby, even more were eating meat cooked over a different fire to my right. The blonde man smiled. "We're not so bad once you get to know us."

"How many of you are there?"

"Only about 40 here. The rest are undiscovered, refused the call, or off doing who knows what. We're free agents, as long as we lay low."

"Are you Pack Animals?"

He laughed. "Not even close! You really think you're the only beast out there?"

I narrowed my eyes. "We're not beasts."

He put his hands up. "Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean it in an offensive way. I-"

Suddenly, he starts sniffing the air. A grin spread across his face. "She's back!"

He quickly got up, grabbed my hand, and began running. With a flick of his hand the fires around us went out. Everyone began running towards the sunset, me being dragged along. It was dark, and I was quickly out of breath. When my foot hit a tree root, I fell forward. The blonde man stopped, picked me up in his arms, and ran with everyone again.

When he finally stopped, we were all in a giant circle. I could see the outline of Charlotte in the middle. A bonfire roared to life behind her, lighting up the crowd and backlighting the tall woman.

"My brethren! I have a few announcements. First, Link, step up here."

The blonde man smiled and slightly pushed me forward. I walked slowly towards her, feeling everyone's eyes dig into me. When I reached her, she grabbed me and showed me off to the crowd. "This is a visitor. Listen, brethren, a visitor. He is not a fun new toy. He is not one of us, and he certainly is not food. No one is to harm him. And it is everyone's responsibility to help him keep up. He is our guest."

Everyone whooped and clapped. She shoved me back into the crowd. "Next," she began, "is our target. His name is Quill Megan, and he is rising into power as self appointed leader of the Witch Hunt. We will dispose of him and his group. Leave no trace, men."