Forever in Grayscale

Forever in Grayscale: Chapter Two

Chapter Two – Carmen’s POV

I hated this. By ‘this’, I mean being the one that everyone always underestimates. The one they make do the unimportant things. The one that when a fight happens, they send to roam about the forest looking for any trouble, when they know very well there is none. Our senses are strong. I figured they all just wanted me out of the way.

So, half the time when the pack all comes together to discuss things, I don’t tend to show up. I just transform into a wolf, and prowl about the woods, until morning starts twinkling through the trees and all the rest of the pack has very important missions that don’t involve me. Someone has to be the outcast. Why did it have to be me?

You could imagine my confusion when a long howl sounded through the crisp night air, calling out for me, and me specifically, to get my butt over to where the rest of my pack was. Long story short, confusion turned into excitement, excitement turned into adrenaline, and I ran at neck-break speed, only stopping when I realized that a few strides forward would bring me onto enemy land. What? Why was my pack there? I ventured slowly forward, hearing snarls and growls and another howl.

I entered into a clearing.

I’m really getting sick of using the word ‘chaos’ to describe these little pack gatherings we have.

One lone wolf is surrounded. Why? He’s the enemy, I suppose. Honestly, I don’t know what the hell happened between our packs, but it had better be good, because this wolf looked like he was going to have to die if he didn’t skedaddle soon.

One of my pack members, a slim gray wolf with a fierce snarl, stalks over to me. Xavier. He’s decent when he’s human. It doesn’t extend to his wolf form, though I might wish. He shoves me to the side, making me growl, but I look over in that direction and see another one of our pack members lying there. Grayson. Sure thing, my job wasn’t to help fight off the enemy, but to drag one unconscious wolf out of here. Xavier left me quickly.

Crap. Moving things wasn’t easy as a wolf. I paced around Grayson, sort of amused that this was probably going to cause her more harm than it was to just leave her there. And I wasn’t about to transform to human right there.

So, at first, I just pushed at her with my snout. She moved about an inch. I cringed. The only way… I tried to clamp down on her tail with my teeth in a way that would cause the least amount of pain possible, but… it’s hard.

And who said a little pain was bad? She jumped right up. No more dragging for me. Then I realized that I was pretty much screwed by the show of her bared teeth. The hair on her back bristled. It didn’t matter that I was in her pack. I accidentally hurt her, she had a higher rank than me, and I needed to run. I pissed her off.

I winced and darted back into the trees, once again being overtaken by the rush of adrenaline. It’s also sort of different when you’re a wolf. You have crazy instincts.

She was also fast, and made a huge leap. I yelped as her claws dug into my hind side. She pounced on me, and I rolled over, kicking and clawing madly. Her great jaws closed on my front leg and I yelped again. I sunk my teeth into her shoulder. She had stopped, distracted by the pain, so I shoved her off of me and tried to get at her neck. She dodged and darted through the trees, making it once again a game of chase. I lunged after her, missing. As I ran, my strong claws tore up the earth and but my strides became slower and smaller as I began to get worn out.

I spotted something blue and I stopped, letting Grayson run on, howling. My clothes. I transformed quickly and pulled on my jeans and my blue tee shirt. Normally it feels good to be a human again, but my wrist was broken and I probably had some scratches on my butt. Damn Grayson. I clutched my wrist as I walked through the forest, bare-footed, each pebble digging into me.

It wasn’t long until I found Grayson, human and clothed. Her curly brown hair was a mess and she was rubbing her shoulder. She looked up and saw me. I grinned.

“Sorry. I was supposed to get you out of there,” I explained.

She sighed. “Well it worked. Did you see what happened to…” she trailed off. I shook my head.

“No, sorry. What happened before then?” I asked curiously. She flicked her hand, dismissing my question. I looked pityingly at my wrist. I wished I could flick it.

“This whole enemy pack boundary lines thing is absolutely ridiculously,” she muttered angrily.

“You think so?” I asked nonchalantly. “I don’t even know why they’re our enemies. Nobody feels the need to tell me.” I said the last thing pointedly, hoping she’d tell me.

“Ask our leader or something.”

Exactly. Everyone in my pack is apparently superior to me, so they don’t want to bother with telling me why I am doing what I’m doing, because I’m just their tag along.

“What’s wrong?” Grayson asked.

Apparently, I was showing how pissed I was on the outside too. I unclenched my fists and loosened my jaw, shaking my head slowly. She kept looking at me, I know she didn’t believe me.I sucked at holding in my emotions. She straightened her hair clumsily and smoothed down her shirt, trying to look normal when we went back into the town.

“Well,” she said. “I’m going home. See you later, um... Caaameron?”

After inwardly screaming, I forced a smile. “Carmen.”

Learn my name, bitch!

She nodded sullenly, still brooding over what had just happened. “Okay, well, bye.”

It sucks, because it seems to be that Grayson is the one that appreciates me most in my pack, and she doesn’t even know my name. I suddenly feel a sharp stab of pity for all the characters in books who does all the little things, but they are very important and no one respects them.

Because that’s definitely me.