Virals Pack: Reborn

Chapter 7: Meet the Pack (Part 2)

A/n: Hey guys, I'm so sorry this one took forever to get up! I've been really busy with classes and clubs I'm involved in, so I haven't been able to write much. I will try to get stuff done still once every week or so, but don't get too upset if I am not able to post. 

I wandered down the narrow game trail, listening closely to the sounds of wildlife around me. I paused as I reached a clearing, not too unlike the one I was in before when I encountered those strange creatures. This clearing was in the middle of a grassy hollow, with trees ringing it as well as shrubbery. It was pretty well hidden, I probably wouldn't have found it if it weren't for the almost indiscernible path that led me here.

As I meandered through the clearing, I noticed something interesting by the far end of the hollow. Under closer inspection, I saw the entrance to a den of some sort concealed in the thick vegetation. Immensely curious, I knelt down and peered inside, trying to see if there was anything of interest in there. It was a rather large entrance, so it must be for a larger animal, and if it was a larger animal, maybe this wasn't so much of a good idea....

My train of thought was violently derailed by a low growl splitting the air. I instinctively froze, paralyzed with fear. Adrenaline pounded through me as I quickly recognized what animal that growl belonged to. I slowly turned, keeping my head down submissively as I came practically face-to-muzzle with a wolf. 

It was a regal silver female, with a noble bearing that marked her as an alpha and eyes full of untamed wild. Her growls had grown slightly sharper, even more threatening as I faced her, so I quickly lowered my head to the dirt, averting my eyes and mewling submissively almost like a pup or adolescent would.

The female's growl eased off after a few tense moments, but she remained on the alert, teeth bared and keeping me pinned to the ground under her fierce stare. There was a rustle in the bush and two more canine forms came bounding out, teeth bared and growls already mingling with their alpha's. Upon closer inspection, one of them was actually a german shepherd, and the other appeared to be a wolf-dog mix, presumably the offspring of the alpha and the shepherd. "Just great" I thought to myself while maintaining a submissive pose. 

I decided that the next thing to do to try and get out of this predicament was to try and let them know I was friendly. So I beseechingly looked up at the alpha and slowly stretched out a hand towards her general direction. I may be risking a hand here, but hopefully it won't come to that. The whole idea of potentially sacrificing some flesh is meant to defer to the alpha's power, like when dogs roll so they show their vulnerable belly in submission. 

Thankfully for me, the alpha seemed accept my offer of submission and licked my proffered hand. Finally letting myself breathe, I moved into a more comfortable position than the one I had been frozen in for the past couple tense minutes. Tilting my head appealingly, I yapped a simple greeting to her. She seemed only slightly surprised at my fluency in wolf, and eventually yowled back. I smiled to myself, it had been too long since I was able to talk with wolves. I used to back home a lot, until...

My thoughts broke off as the wolfdog came bounding up to me, sniffing in interest at my sweatshirt. I wondered if there was still lingering wolf scent on it from back home, even after all it went through. 

The shepherd dog was the friendliest of the trio, letting me pet his ears. I was happily scratching the space between his soft ears when I heard even more rustling and crashing in the bushes on the opposite end of the clearing, the end I came from. I heard someone shout "COOP!" right before another wolfdog pup came racing through the bushes, charging straight for me. He skidded to a stop in front of me and I yapped a greeting to him. He licked me on the cheek in response and plunked down happily beside me, rolling over as an invitation to scratch his belly.

I gladly complied and was petting his scraggly belly fur when four more shapes emerged from the bushes. For an instant, I was almost certain that it was whatever I encountered last night on Morris Island. But after a moment, I saw it was only four out of breath teenagers. 

Alpha wolf turned towards them and wagged her tail in greeting, with shepherd dog beside her. The older wolfdog sat down and calmly looked their way while wolfpup, Coop, rolled back onto his belly and practically grinned at them. They quickly crossed the clearing and stood in front of Coop and me, and I found myself nervously petting between Coop's ears while eyeing them up.

There were three guys and a girl, who must have been Victoria from what my aunt told me earlier. She appeared to be alpha of the group, despite being the smallest and the only girl in the group. I guessed Benjamin was the boy standing almost protectively next to her, he looked a lot like Mr. Blue from this morning's ferry ride: strong and silent type. Then there was a skinny, nervous looking boy with thick glasses that just oozed brainiac. Lastly, there was a curious bloke wearing tacky khaki's and a blatantly Hawaiian-stylized shirt.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" The girl, Victoria, demanded. Her pose was dominant, with crossed arms and a hip popped out to the side. 

"Hey now, Tori, no need to be confrontational" The Hawaiian-shirt boy said, with a mischievous grin. "Its not like we're technically supposed to be out here either."

The strong, silent guy -Benjamin- whacked him on the back of the head and said "Can it Hi, she's not allowed here either" He looked at me pointedly.

Realizing that was my cue, I managed to speak without a stutter thankfully "I'm Katrina, I just moved here yesterday and my aunt said I could wander around the island as long as I didn't bother anyone. You must be Victoria, and Benjamin, and Hiram, and Shelton" I looked at each of them in turn as I matched face to name. 

"H-how did you know about us?" Glasses kid-Shelton- asked nervously. 

"My aunt told me about you guys and your shenanigans on the island"

"And how much do you know of our...shenanigans?" Victoria warily asked

"Not much, Darcy only mentioned that you used to get into a lot of trouble around here"

"Ahhh, Darling Darcy" Hiram joked "She's relatively new to the facility, but she already knows well enough about us. Did she mention my infinite amount of charm and good looks?"

Victoria rolled her eyes at him and continued interrogating me, "So you just moved in yesterday? Where from?"

"Yep, I came here from northern Minnesota" I replied

She made a face "Ooh, I bet it was quite the climate change from there to here"

"Yeah, we were making igloos before back home and then..." I trailed off as it hit me once again what had happened to the igloo my family had made and why I was now in this new place with new people.

"H-hey, are you okay?" Shelton asked with concern in his voice, and I realized I had let some stray tears escape and run down my cheeks in full view of the others. Mortified, I quickly pasted on a fake grin and laughed.

"I'm fine, its just been an overwhelming couple of days. I wasn't expecting much human interaction , or canine interaction for that matter" I explained while nodding towards the pack at my last statement.

Hiram chuckled and said, more to himself than anything, "She was just overwhelmed by my appearance, starstruck you might say" 

Ben whacked him on the head again, but I found myself chuckling and countered with "Well I was pretty dazzled by that positively neon shirt, I honestly wish I had brought some sunglasses now" 

Hi grinned and took a step closer, holding out a hand that I gladly accepted. He glanced at my shirt and laughed again. "Hey! I love jacksepticeye...SPEED IS KEY!!!" He shouted the last bit enthusiastically. 

"SCREW YOU BILLY!!!" I found myself grinning at Shelton as he looked just as surprised about his outburst as the rest of us. 

To save him from utter embarrassment, I burst out "When in doubt...SEGWAY STEVE!!!"

 He beamed at me and Hi burst out laughing. Ben sighed and looked at Tori "Oh great, they've found another witty nerd, now we won't ever hear the end of it"

Tori nodded. "Yep, we are definitely in trouble..."