Wolfheart's Quest #1: The Alpha

Chapter 5

    Elsa and Aphrodite go to church the next day at 7:30 in the morning. Living an hour from town has never been easy on their schedules.
    Neither Elsa or Aphrodite are on anything that morning, so they get to spend a while out the back, playing handball. When it's finally time to go into the auditorium, they spot something that they shouldn't have spotted.
    Just coming into the building, are the two teenagers from youth on Friday. On the boy's hand is a bandage. Suddenly, Elsa tastes blood, and doubles over, trying to keep her breakfast in. She has a feeling she knows who tried to capture her the other night.         Aphrodite looks at her in disbelief. "Oh, come on, Elsa. You're not squeamish at a bandage, are you?" Elsa shakes her head. "No, it just triggered a memory. A not very nice one." They continue to watch the two teens. Elsa desperately, tries not to look at his hand.
    As they watch, Pastor Dianne walks towards them to greet them. The teens, seeing her, quickly walk away. Pastor Dianne shrugs, and walk toward a new couple who just entered.
   The teens walking away, trigger a memory in Elsa's mind: two teens running away in a forest. Suddenly, Elsa knows where she's seen the two teens. She poorly attempts to snap her fingers. "That's it! I know where they're from now!" Aphrodite jumps at her voice. "What? Where?" Elsa spins around to face Aphrodite. "You remember that time, when two runaway cadets tried to sneak up on me?" Aphrodite sighs. "How can I forget? You could barely stop talking about it." "I think they are the two teens."
    (Flashback)Elsa is in the army cadets, and she was on her first cadet annual camp. She was in a section, and they were playing 24 hour capture the flag. Her section was looking for a flag, and they got geographically embarrassed, which is the cadet's fancy name for lost. They were walking for a long while, and found the road. Yes, the road. It was far from their camp. Not only did they find the road, but they also found the 22 battalion. She was in the 25 battalion. Way off course. Some of the cadets in the 22 battalion somehow knew her sarge. They conversed, and the section was soon on their way back to camp.
    Hours later, Elsa's section is guarding their platoon's flag and Elsa is positioned at the rear, in a really bushy part of the forest. It was getting dark.
    Elsa was just finishing her dinner, when she heard someone crawling through the Bush. After a few minutes, two cadets came into view. Elsa stood up, not quite knowing what to do, to try and signal someone. But there were bushes between her and the centre. No one could see her. Well, almost no one.
   The two cadets crawling through the brush, saw her, stood up, and walked away. Elsa watched them go, then shrugged, and sat down.
    A few minutes later, she heard someone behind her. She turned around, and two cadets quickly ducked behind a tree. She turned back around, knowing that something's up. When she heard a noise behind her, she turned around, and saw the two cadets duck behind a log. Now, there are three logs between her and the cadets. Each one is about two metres apart, the first one is eight metres away from Elsa, and the third is four.
    The two cadets were quite noisy, but at that moment, a cadet called Pete, arrived with his section.
    Pete is really friendly, and loves his friends a lot. He can just be a bit noisy about it.
    "Corporal Heane!" He screamed happily. He provides enough noise to cover the two cadets.
    Alone, Elsa watched as the cadets duck behind the second one, and then the third one. Being the only thing left, between Elsa and the cadets, she knew that that was close enough.      She stood up, and yelled "Contact!" for everyone to hear.
   The cadets immediately ran away.
    "Hey! That's not fair! Come back." Elsa shouted. They didn't listen.
    Not thinking much of it, Elsa continued keeping watch.
    Later, two cadet officers interviewed her. Turns out, the two cadets were runaway cadets from the 22 battalion.
   Notice the connection? Elsa met the 22 battalion earlier, and now, a few hours later, two cadets from the 22 battalion, stalk her. They were clearly not after the flag.
    When the officers left, the sarge called everyone to the centre. He specifically told Elsa to bring her webbing.
    Wondering what it's about, Elsa grabbed her webbing, and went to the centre. What was waiting for her, was not pleasant.
    "No, offense Palinomai, but we're gonna move you to a different position." Elsa frowned. "Uh, why?" "Because, did you see the guy that stalked you?" Asks the Sarge. "He was as big as me. He could hurt you. So, for your safety, we're gonna have you swap places with this guy." He points to a cadet next to him. Elsa looked at him. What is he saying? "But I'm fine where I am." A corporal continued the sarge's words. "It's just that Palinomai is weak, and defenseless, and we don't want her to get hurt." Elsa gaped at him. "What?!" She shouts. "I have five brothers! I know how to defend myself. How can you say-" The sarge cuts her off, ignoring her. "The other two cadets are safe where they are, but Palinomai is in a really bushy part." He stands next a cadet. "This guy is almost as big as me, so he can handle himself." Elsa huffed. "I can handle myself." Everyone ignored her. One of the corporals told the cadet replacing Elsa, to get his webbing and show Elsa where his spot is.
    He obeyed, and went to his place, exactly opposite of Elsa's place, with a grumbling Elsa reluctantly stomping behind him.
    To make things worse, one of the corporals, Corporals Heane, came over and sat next to her saying, "I'm just going to sit near you for now." Elsa glanced at him. "Um, ok. Why?" "What?" Elsa repeated what she said. "Um, ok. Why?" The Corporal looked at her nervously. "Um, because." "That's not a real answer. Why?" He sighed. "Just because." Elsa refused to give up. "Why because?" "To make sure you're safe." "What?" Did she hear him correctly? "Why?" She asked for the fourth time. "Safe from what?" The Corporal threw his hands up. "Are we just going to keep on asking silly questions, or keep warch?" Silly questions? They seemed like pretty good questions to her.
    He's hiding something. I can feel it. She thought. Why else would he act so suspicious. I deserve to know what's going on!
   Was there more happening that night that Elsa didn't know about? No one said anything about it ever again.
   (End of flashback) Back in the present, Elsa is trying to figure it out. Is it just a coincidence that they ended up here? Although, it would explain their glares at me. But why do they hate me?
    "Elsa. Earth calling Elsa. Come in, Elsa." Elsa looks up. "Huh?" Aphrodite's looking down on her. "You just spaced out again, Elsa." Elsa glances at the two teens, and then back at Aphrodite. "Sorry, I was thinking about something." Aphrodite snickers. "Aren't you always, Elsa. You rarely stay on Earth for more than an hour." Then she turns serious again. "But, really, Elsa. If those teenagers are the ones that stalked you, they're probably here to finish the job." She looks upset. The girls have known each other for years. "I figured that much." At that moment, Lily arrives. "Hey, guys. What's up?" They fill Lily in on what they know. She gasps. "What are we going to do? If this is true, then Elsa's in danger. Can't we call the police?" Elsa shakes her head. "We can't call the police. We have no evidence of their trying to capture me. Why would they listen to us?" Lily sighs sadly. "You're right. We can't tell the police. But then what?" Elsa looks at the two teens, and shrugs. "I don't know, but I'm not afraid of danger."     Something is up, and Elsa is determined to find out what that is.