What Happened to Normal?

Chapter 1

Running, running, running. I’m running almost as fast as I can. There’s a sound behind me, not unlike the sound of my own feet thumping on the damp grass and dirt, coming closer from behind me. B.J appears next to me, his long golden fur flying in the wind with the speed he’s running at, slightly faster than me. I speed up, not wanting him to win. I had always been faster than him. A low, competitive growl was released from deep in his throat. I returned with a growl of my own, but mine was mocking and playful. I never took hunting seriously. We were closing in on it, me getting slightly further ahead of B.J with every long, quick stride. I was so close I could hear its breath. I pounced, letting out a victorious growl as I did so. We made contact, the deer falling to the ground hard and struggling as I pinned it down. B.J was there in seconds, before he could do the honours; I lunged forwards and tore at its throat, ending its life quickly. B.J glares at me though his deep, golden-brown eyes I was so familiar with. I stepped off of the dead deer and tilted my head towards it, indicating for him to make the first move. He takes up my offer and takes a large bite out of the belly of the deer, he drops his large mouthful on the ground in front of me, offering me, what he knows is, my favourite part of deer belly. I take a step towards him and nudge him on the neck, thanking him. I bite into the piece of flesh and savour the juicy sweetness of the raw deer meat, tender and delicious. He rips off another part of the deceased deer’s belly and eats it for himself. When I look up at him after finishing my piece of deer he nods and we Change.

We’re covered in blood, me more than him. “Come on,” he says, “We’d better take this back to the pack.”

I nod in reply and we grab the deer, me taking the front legs and him the back, and haul it onto our shoulders. I guide us back though the forest, tripping occasionally on a stray stick or root. “Thanks again for that piece of deer.” I tell him over my shoulder.

“No problem, I know you love that part.” I sense him smiling slightly as he says it and I give a hint of a smile in return.

We walk for about half an hour, running in wolf form is much faster than walking; it only took us about ten minutes to get there when we were wolves. I see distant lights, orange flickering flames and hear joyful yelps of the cubs as they see us coming with their dinner.

“Brook! Brook!” One of the older cubs, Jared, yells as he bounds towards us. “That’s huge! Where did you get it? How?”

“Well, we hunted, smelt it, chased it, caught it and killed it. Just like you normally do when you hunt.” I said, smiling at him as we thunk the deer down on the ground close to the fire.

“Heeey,” said one of the little girls accusingly, “you’ve already had some!” She said.

“Well,” said B.J, “we were the ones that caught it, hunting’s tiring work and makes you a little hungry, I think we deserved one with a catch this big.” He said, matter-of-factly.

Lately there hadn’t been many deer’s around, it was hunting season for the humans and there was another wolf pack traveling nearby who was getting a lot of the deer. We’d even had to capture some to breed them and take care of them in a home-made pen made of broken off branches and rope we’d found the month before, left behind by a hunter.

“Well, can we eat it?” Said the little girl.

“Sure,” I said to all of the seven cubs, “dig in.”

“We still can’t Change properly.” Said Jared with a bit of annoyance in his voice, “If we try we always Half-Change. I get stuck with overgrown teeth and a whole load of fur.”

I thought for a bit while the cubs looked at me and B.J expectantly, then B.J spoke, “Okay then, why don’t one of you go get Josh? He knows how to cook deer really well.”

One of the youngest ran off towards the centre of the camp where Josh would be. He was our pack leader and had a soft spot for the cubs, doing pretty much anything they asked. He taught them most of the things they knew as well. From when you’re born until you turn ten you’re considered a cub. You’re considered to be almost an adult when you’re sixteen and are allowed into most meetings and conferences. When you hit nineteen you’re a fully-fledged wolf-adult and are allowed into all of the meetings and are able to travel wherever you like in the world and if you like, which isn’t very common, even leave the pack. Most of us stay with the pack because it’s home. You have plenty of family and friends and don’t really need much else. The ones who do leave go in search of other packs, adventure or just to try and live in humanity as a human.

I was fifteen, B.J sixteen. B.J didn’t attend many meetings, he wasn’t really into politics and spent most of his time with me or helping his mum with her two cubs, including Jared and the youngest one, Emily, who had just run off for Josh. They were coming towards us, Emily running to keep up with Josh’s fast stride. “Okay, who wants some deer?” He bellowed as he came closer. All of the cubs ran towards him yelping and yelling joyfully. The cubs adored Josh, he was their favourite person in the world except for their parents and siblings. I was an only child and didn’t have any of my parents, my father had died before I was born and my mother during giving birth to me. Josh had practically raised me, he taught me everything I know. Josh had skinned the deer, leaving a bit of extra flesh on it for the older wolves, and had started to portion out the deer, somehow knowing the exact amount each cub would eat. He put the deer meat under some coal and looked over towards me and B.J. “Ben, Brooklyn, would you two go and give this to the other teens? I think they’re at the fire near the edge of the forest on the other side of camp.”

“Sure, Josh.” Me and B.J said in union and picked up the leftover meat. We began to walk towards the other side of camp when B.J started conversation. “You’re still faster than me, how about giving a guy a chance once in a while?”

“Well Benjamin James, Maybe if you were faster you wouldn’t have to race me.” I mocked him.

He sighed, “You know, you’ve always been the faster out of us. Next hunt the prey’s mine.” He told me.

“Whatever, I got the last three. I’ll give you the next one or two.”

He leaned over and kissed me, my human side didn’t like the taste of blood and raw meat. His familiar smell enclosed me in a world with only him and me and I leaned into him, the meat was jammed between us, reminding us of what we were meant to be doing. He broke away and said, “Well then, let’s get this to the others.”

“You need to wash yourself, you taste gross.”

“And you don’t taste like blood and flesh?” He backfired at me.

“I’m going to wash up after dinner, why don’t you tell me how I taste after that?” I winked at him and he blushed slightly. B.J and me had been going out for a little over a year and had known each other our whole lives.

“Ooooh,” came the mocking voice of Jason. He didn’t like me that much and took every chance to piss me off. “well if it isn’t the two love birds? Where’s my food Brook? Hurry up we’ve been waiting for ages.”

This time Glen, one of the boys that didn’t really like me, B.J or Jason, spoke up, “Lay off Jason, it’s only been thirty minutes. Why don’t you go out and catch something and still have this mush left over after the cubs?”

Jason glared at him while I plonked the food on the ground and Changed.

I sunk my teeth into the deer belly then got suddenly pulled away. Jason growled at me and ripped the piece of meat I had out of my mouth. There was another low growl, more familiar this time, and B.J pounced on Jason. They both struggled for a few minutes while the other teens Changed and growled at them. B.J, being the strongest of all of us teens then pinned down Jason and lunged at him, snapping a few centre metres away from his throat. Jason let out a whimper and dropped my piece of deer. B.J got off Jason and picked up the meat with his mouth, coming over to give it to me. He held the meat to me, offering for me to take it from his mouth but I just went over to his right shoulder blade and licked the scratch that Jason had given him before snapping at Jason, who was still on the ground. He stood and backed away, tilting his head down. B.J made another attempt to give me the meat but I just nudged him on the neck and ripped off another piece of the deer, letting him have my piece.