Hunters, Hunted (Wolfblood Fanfiction)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rhydian

It’s been an hour since I left the train station and the stitch is starting to become intolerable. Cursing it under my uneven breath I let myself rest up against a tree to examine the forest around me. It’s a year since I left this place and at night when I’m too panicked to think straight I don’t really have a clue how close I am to camp. Either I’m quite a way off or I’ve managed to beat Dr Whitewood to it because the trees seem undisturbed here. I pray it’s the latter.

            Slowly, I force myself to clear my mind and focus everything on my breathing. I crouch down, fingers splayed, and raise my eyes to the star-filled sky, embracing Eolas. My vision swoops and soars between the trees as they lead my view towards the pack’s winter home. In calming myself, I have reached a point where I am convinced that I’ve got here in time. That everything will be fine, and I’m about to see Maddy again. Which makes the state of the camp an even bigger shock.

            The rawhide shelters lie strewn across the forest floor, torn into unusable shreds. A whole deer carcass – something that not a single member of the pack would waste – leaks blood into the leaves. And there isn’t a Wolfblood in sight. No guards, no cubs, no Jana. No Maddy. I’m too late.

            The shock snaps me out of Eolas just as someone crashes through the bushes in front of me.

 *****

Maddy

There is something terrifying about opening your eyes and still seeing complete blackness. I jerk bolt upright and smack my head on an overhanging root; I’m in a kind of cave made by some overhanging trees. How did I get here?

            Little by little everything comes back to me, and adrenaline manages to cut through the unnatural fog in my brain. Dr Whitewood. My Mum. Probably the rest of the pack. Panic clutches my heart at the realisation: I am alone. And then I see the eyes watching me, bright as the stars, though dark as the sky they hang in.

            Bryn sits a little above me on the bank, hunched in on himself miserably. He says nothing but watches me just the same, showing no signs of relief at my waking. For a minute we stay exactly where we are, staring at each other. Finally he says,

            “You got darted.” It takes a moment for me to process this information and figure out that he means the guns were dart guns, and that the reason for my thick head is that I was shot. That explains the collapsing. I wait for him to elaborate since I have nothing to add. He stops staring to fidget, clearly distressed.

            “They got Mum first,” he tells the twigs. Ceri’s scream comes back to me, piercing. I can’t imagine the terror of that being your mother. “Then everyone was panicking, running about, caught in this…moonbeam.” He must mean the torch light. Slight pride creeps into his expression as he continues, “The humans had surrounded camp, but I got out. I ran and I ran and they were too slow to catch me.” There’s a pause in which he glances at me, then back at his sticks. “I tripped right over you, over there. And I dragged you where they wouldn’t find us because…you’d be useful to me.” Bryn makes a clear effort to sound grown-up as he says it, but anyone can see that the kid just didn’t want to be on his own. Can’t say I blame him.

            “You haven’t seen anyone else?” I ask. His only response is to shake his head. It doesn’t surprise me; thinking back they had most of the pack under their control by the time I was shot anyway. We really are on our own. “We need to leave,” I instruct him, scrambling up. Having Bryn here is helpful because I have to play the adult. I can’t sink into despair with him to look after: he’s still a cub and he can’t transform, and while he can forage he sure as hell doesn’t know enough to be of any use to the rest of the pack right now. Dr Whitewood has them caught to do with as she chooses, she could go public any time from now. We have no money. But we do have somewhere to go: Stoneybridge. Back to Shan and Tom and Rhydian – there’s relief in knowing I can go home – and if Jana got out, that’s where she’ll head, too.

            Bryn picks himself up to follow me.

            “Where are we going?” he asks, sceptical.

            “Back to Stoneybridge. My friends will help.”

            “I’m hungry.”

            “We’ll hunt on the way.” He trots to catch up with me, dark eyebrows knotted.

            “You can’t hunt,” he says, with that brutally insightful honesty that helps me to trust Bryn. It’s not, however, the real reason that he doesn’t want to leave, that’s for sure.

            “No,” I say, “but you can.” He just looks up at me with a dubious expression. “Look,” I continue, using my most reassuring voice, “staying here will only be dangerous for us - ” he opens his mouth to object “ – and I seriously doubt we’d find anybody else now. You want to help the pack, right?” I get a nod, if a sulky one. “Then the best person to do that is Shannon. And Shannon’s in Stoneybridge. So don’t you think it’s best we go there?”

            Bryn shrugs, but I can tell I’ve won him over.

            “Come on then,” he mumbles and heads off in front of me. It’s a good thing one of us knows the way.

*****

Rhydian

Jana’s arms are around my neck almost before I’ve registered who she is.

            “Rhydian!” She sounds more relieved than surprised at finding me here. “Why are you…?”

            “I was trying to warn you all,” I reply, heart tumbling to the ground as the full realisation of my failure hits. I pull back, seeing how wide and unnerved her yellow irises have grown, and ask, “What happened?”

            “It was that scientist, Dr Whitewood. She brought all these men with guns - ” My mouth drops open.

            “Guns?!” Maddy… Jana shakes her head.

            “Like, dart guns. To put you to sleep. Everyone was settling down for the night, and there was just no warning. She – she got almost everyone.” Almost as bad as it could be then. I decide not to ask how their protector, the pack leader, is standing in front of me.

            Jana throws herself into my arms again, my mind in too many other places to take in what she’s saying.

            “I’m so glad to see you, Rhydian. But how did you know to…” The most important thought finally forces itself to the surface.

            “What about Maddy?” I ask her, maybe too forcefully, making her step back this time.

            “I-I don’t know. They got her parents and then she was shot but I don’t know if they caught her and…what are you doing?” She says this last because I’ve stepped round her and am settling myself on the leaves.

            “Finding Maddy.” I spread my fingers to use Eolas, but Jana grabs them in hers and pulls me up.

            “No, Rhydian, we can’t stay here. They could still be in the woods! We’ve got to get away from here, anywhere. Back to Stoneybridge, maybe. If she’s free, that’s where she’ll go. We can’t waste time.” It’s true.

            “Fine. You’re right,” I say, though I carefully disentangle our fingers before heading off into the forest.

*****

Sooooo tension right there and... I managed to update two days in a row! Record for me... Please vote, review, comment etc. I love love LOVE feedback, anything you have to say is welcome :) what do people think is gonna happen? I'm just curious to see how predictable it is...