Survival

1

I lay, with my hands behind my head and my ankles crossed over one another.  Another day lying in the Carolina sun, soaking up the heat. There was a large head resting on my stomach, scratchy fur moved on my skin as I sat up.

Where are they? They've been gone for twenty minutes.

Coop sat up, staring right at me. His blue eyes met my gold ones. I'd learnt how to flare without the wolf coming out first, which was a huge relief. I didn't think I could handle being a wolf every time I wanted to flare. We didn't do it often, but the boys couldn't contain the excitement of letting theirs out, even two months after they first do it.

I should probably explain what I'm talking about. We're not werewolves- definitely not. They're not real. We are freaks of nature nonetheless though. One of a kind.

We were infected with a virus that was cooked up in a lab. And the side effects were too...special to consult a doctor. We learnt to flare. Inside us, is a snippet of canine DNA, and at will we can tap into the DNA. By doing so, we unleash the power of the wolf. But recently, our flares went that little bit further, where the wolf came out the whole way. Now we each had our own wolf, and that was hard to keep from the parents.

But unfortunate events unfolded, making it impossible to hide the truth from our dearest parents, so we told them. It was hard; finding the words to describe how we were freaks and had wolf DNA inside us.

But somehow, they understood. Now we were free.

And we loved it.

Coop stared at me now, tail thumping happily in the sand. He sensed the different in us, he knew we had changed to a whole new level, and he loved it more than we did. But things like this didn't come without a price. We needed to know what had happened, why it had gone further, and what it meant for us.

Who knows where this might lead? What if the wolf suddenly took over completely, taking control of our bodies and remained a wolf forever? That's enough to dampen anyone's mood.

"Don't worry boy. We'll make sure nothing happens" I stroked his head, rubbing my knuckles in the centre of his head. He'd grown a little since the incident we had with the Claybourne's. I still had nightmares about it. The fire, the men on the beach, Iglehart thumping to the ground with a bullet in his arm, supposedly dead, the bears. I can still see their faces.

Coop's bark jolted me out of my memories. He stood to his legs, eyes locked onto something further down the beach. Three large wolves were stampeding their way towards us. The middle one was grey, slightly plumper than the other two. The one on his left was a chocolate brown, skinner than the grey one.  The one on the very right hand side, was the largest of the three, jet black. His gold eyes meet mine, and I could see the way all their paces pick up as the spot Coop and I. I could hear their joyful comments in my head, out of breath and practically shouting.

As they stopped next to me, Coop nuzzled their front legs in turn before setting on my lap again. The three wolves shrunk back, fur slithering away, tail disappearing into the base of their spines, and their bent back legs straightening until three panting boys stood in front of me, some more out of breath than others.

"I almost had you there Blue. The last turn before hitting the beach" Hi was saying as he dropped down next to me. His grey wolf portrayed his slightly large middle, and his cocky set of shoulders. He stood as though he always knew something others didn't, which was most likely true. He was sporting a dark pair of kaki's and a dark blue striped shirt. He was getting better fashion sense. He used to always wear clashing colours, now only sometimes.

"Hardly. You weren't even close" Ben settled himself behind me, legs either side of mine and his chest acting as a support for my back. He seemed to like sitting behind me like that, I didn't understand why. He rested his elbows on his knees, and his hands meet across my stomach as I leaned back on him. Hi went to protest, but Shelton clamped a hand on his shoulder.

"Truth hurts Hiram. You were eating Blue's dust" Shelton sat with his legs crossed, facing Ben and I. I could sense each individual on the beach around me, feeling them in my head. I could always sense the Virals in my head, and I could sense whenever they snuffed out their flares.

"What took you guys so long? You don't normally take that long" I asked, stroking Coop's side. He was currently stretched over my legs in a position that couldn't possible be comfortable for the mutt. But he didn't do anything to move out of it, so I didn't even try to get him to move.

"We ran into Kit. He was wondering what we were doing" Hi answered, sitting back and staring at the sky. "He seems to be less suspicious of us since he found out"

"He is. He stopped asking where I've been. I think I actually miss the days where he always wanted to know where I had been, and what I was up to" I said, frowning to myself. Ben rested his chin on my head, finally happy and comfortable to do so. Two months since the kiss we shared outside the court room, and we were obviously dating.

"I don't. My mum doesn't blow as much of a fit now when I come in late" Hi stated, sitting up to his elbows. Ruth had always been hard on him, but know she was a little less controlling and gave Hi a longer rein.

"Mine haven't really changed" Shelton shrugged, picking at his trainers.

"Dad hasn't either" Ben added. "What about Whitney? I'm sure she has a few things to say"

"Don't remind me. That bimbo doesn't give me enough room as it is" that caused the boys to laugh a little. Whitney Dubois was my father's girlfriend, and she had been living with us since the Hurricane Katherine, during which we had been tracking the Gamemaster. I shivered at the memory of that psycho. He was another story altogether, and one I don't want to remember.

"Her dress up doll is a mutant freak who can turn into a wolf. What did you expect?" Hi drops back onto his back hard. I took the opportunity.

Coop, attack.

Coop leapt to his feet, and landed hard on Hi's stomach. Hi screamed as the eight hundred pound wolfdog tackles into his side. Hi shot to his feet, his flare providing speed to escape the wolfdog. Ben, Shelton and I crack up as Hi clutches his chest.

"Not cool mutt. I thought we were friends" Hi stares at Coop, who sticks his rump playfully in the air.

My life could not be more perfect. I had never felt more at home.