We Rise From the Smoke

Chapter 4: The Fire-Wolf

I ran faster than an olympic runner until I made it back to the town, where beta's were circled around something, and I saw smoke. I moved up, walking hesitantly toward the group until Nick moved into my vision. "Dude," he said, "something came up."

"Yeah, no dip, Sherlock. San Francisco was invaded by supernaturals." I retorted, but Nick shook his head, glancing back to the group of people.

"It was something else. Someone else."

I moved past him, and headed for the beta's, and shoved my way through the crowd until I froze from the deafening roar of a True Alpha. Everyone backed up frantically, but I stood still, frozen by fear or curiosity. But what I saw when the people moved was weird. It was a 14-year old teenage boy, and he was on fire. Only problem was, he wasn't hurt at all, and his eyes were orange and red, his claws like embers from a remaining flame. He sat there on his knees, and he only wore baggy jeans. What looked like cracks in his skin fire rose from.

His hair was medium-long brown, and he was skinny as hell. I walked towards him, not knowing what I was doing, and crouched next to him. "Hey, kid," I said, "mind telling me what the heck you are?"

He looked up, his fangs like an Alpha's. "I-I'm Ryan. . ." He mumbled. "And I came here f-f-from the supernaturals."

"Okay, good." I stood up. "Now tell me what you are."

He growled, and the flames grew bigger and brighter. "I'm half-hellhound, half-werewolf."

"Never heard of that one before, Ryan. What exactly do people call you? A Hell-Wolf?" 

"Close enough, sunshine." Ryan snapped. "I'm a Fire-Wolf."

Nick moved up, and I looked back to see Div and Newt behind him, both of them looking tired as if they had just woken up. "Liam, c'mere." Nick gestured a few feet behind Ryan.

I got up and walked over, and Nick lowered his voice. "What'd you find out? His name, age, kind of werewolf?"

"His name is Ryan, he's 14, and the one thing that surprises me," I looked at Ryan, then back at Nick, "He's half-hellhound, half-werewolf, what he calls a Fire-Wolf."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"I wish I was, but this is legit. Ryan here ran from San Francisco after the supernaturals attacked, and he came here either looking for a pack or some safety from the dangers. Who knows what'll happen to the people down there." I exclaimed. Nick shook his head a few times, then stopped, looked at Ryan, and walked over to him.

"Hey, Ryan." Nick said in a soothing voice which was creepy. "I'm Nick, the alpha of this pack. What did you come here for? A pack or safety?"

"For one," He said, "I heard what you all said. I came here looking for both." His body stopped burning, and he turned back to a human. He had a freaking six-pack for some scrawny kid. The cracks of fire in his skin went away, healing incredibly quicker than any werewolf. Although black marks still layered his body. "I'm a True Alpha. My pack was taken out by the supernatural creatures just thirty minutes ago."

Everyone gasped, then looked at Nick, who was a True Alpha, and then back at Ryan, who was still on his knees, panting. Nick frowned, and looked at me. "What do we do?"

"What do we do?" I repeated, sounding annoyed. "Dude, you're the Alpha of these people! You make the rules and you enforce them! Do your 'thing' or whatever!"

He frowned even more, and I groaned. "Fine."

We both walked over to Ryan, and grabbed him by his upper arms, dragging him to the infirmary where Div and Newt were headed. "What are you doing?" Ryan asked, sounding angry.

"Don't worry, sunshine," I mimicked from him, "we're taking you to the infirmary. You'll be fine there, trust me."

****

We threw him down, without sympathy for some reason. He slammed into the dirt, and got up quicker than expected, but all four of us slammed him back down. I felt like a bully to this kid. We were 16 and he was 14. Two years apart, feeling like I was bullying a freshman in high school. I felt sorry for him, until he roared and we slammed him on top of a table. "Calm down, Ryan." Div said, her voice stern and soothing at the same time. "Calm."

Ryan suddenly stopped struggling, and his shoulders relaxed. "Div," Newt asked, "how'd you do that?"

"Skill, which you people don't have."

I laughed sarcastically, and then focused back on Ryan, who was breathing heavily, his eyes flying around the room. "There is no other exit, dude." Nick said suddenly. Ryan stopped and looked at him.

"What are you talking about? I wasn't-"

"Yeah," he interrupted, "your eyes were scanning the room, looking for any legitimate exit to go through. You can't leave, not towards the city. Or anywhere else. This is the only safe haven for right now until we can get any communications working."

"The cell service is screwed over, Nick." I said, piping in. "Creatures must've taken out the cell towers."

"Then let's get them back online!" 

"Are you insane?!" Ryan shout back at us. "There are at least a million creatures down there and counting that will not hesitate to rip your head off! Let alone allow you to waltz in there and get some kind of frequency up and running without a fight!"

"Well, now that you say that," Newt said, picking up his rifle, looking into the sights, "we could put up a frequency in the middle of the city, allowing every other survivor to be able to use their phones to see if any other place has fallen to this hell."

We all nodded, but Ryan looked at us as if we were crazy. "You people are insane. . .But I like this idea." Those final words surprised me. He looked scared and ready to die just a minute ago, but now he looked courageous and ready to take on whatever came at us.

"Wow, that was easy." I said, fist-bumping Nick. "We get our beta's ready and head out."

"That's gonna be a problem, Liam." He grabbed my shoulder just as I almost walked out the door. "We're not taking the beta's. We're taking us four, Allison, Void, and Ryan here. We're all the most battle-hardened, since last year. We can't take any chances."

"Then who is gonna be in charge?!"

"I will," someone spoke up. A girl, about 17, walked in, "you guys save the world. I'll keep these people occupied."

"Alright, Christa." Nick replied, walking out the door. "We're counting on you to not kill my beta's."

"Oh, I won't. Hopefully nothing else will either."