Full Moon

Prologue
When I was ten, they taught us about the moon curse. The curse with no cure. Everyone had it. There was no running from it. There was only two ways to trigger the moon curse. You either are born under the full moon or you break your femur. That was the trigger. You had to break the biggest, strongest, and heaviest bone in your body. Seems easy not to break huh? You'd be surprised. I questioned why they wouldn't tell us about the curse earlier in our childhood but the curse starts to form at the age of ten. Once cursed every ten years as a human equals one year of the curse. Of course knowing the knowledge of the moon curse, and a war threatening to eliminate all of our resources, the president took things into his own hands. At the age of 18 anybody, male or female, could volunteer to enter a "specialized" army and fight for our home. Of course lots of men and woman joined because desperate times call for desperate needs. They would go through normal boot camp training before going through the torture to turn them. Of course the government kept the torture secret so no one would know exactly how they got the soldiers to turn. Most people just figured they broke their femur during boot training. But that wasn't the case. The "surgeons" would put each soldier through tramatic pain and some would make obstacles meant to break the femur. Some soldiers were stronger then others and would have to go through test after test to get the trigger while others were easier. The worst was Esmay. He was to be the alpha because of his strength, agility, and leadership skills. It took 6 months and 3 weeks to get him to finally break his femur after missing a climbing rope and falling 20 feet down to the ground. The surgeons would watch each one and program their heads to listen to the comands of their general who had power of each and everyone of them. Even their alpha, Esmay. When they were programing Esmay's brain though, something went wrong. Esmay was strong enough to fight off the mental voice telling him what to do and what not to do. It didn't take very long for him to gain complete control of his body and then complete control of his pack. They were in the middle of a battle trying to keep hold of an oil ground when suddenly Esmay just stopped. The pack, sencing something was wrong, stopped too. He killed the last soldier that hadn't retreated yet and then started walking off the battle field. The General watched in confusion. That wasn't what he was telling Esmay to do. The pack not knowing how to act, followed their Alpha and the president lost control of one of the largest packs he had created. All 218 members. After that day, Esmay got used to having control and became hungry for more. It had been 2 years since the day he got control and every chance he got, he'd hunt down a village and help trigger some of the younger children  so that as pups he could train them to think like him. His  pack grew in numbers and soon they started to separate into more packs. Some made it overseas to other countries and became their own alphas. As years went on, people went into hiding. They would make small villages in the middle of the no where so they could hide and keep their children safe.
When I was 12, Esmay  found my village. We were well hidden in a heavy forest somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. I was playing kick ball with a couple of freinds. The seen was something you'd see out of a horror movie. Through the trees came these half human half wolf creatures. They stood tall on their two legs and arms as buff as mountain lions. Their heads looked like a wolf but their chest very similar to a humans. And a tail stuck out from behind. They were hairy beast. I remembered the stories of Esmay. How he had excepted the powers of the curse and how never changing back into his human state had made him morph into a hidious creature. He had no humanity left in him. And his pack was exactly the same. They were rabid beast who only knew violence and greed. My friend Robert was the first to run. Three of the pack members charged for him and easily Tackled him to the ground. I caught a glimpse of his face, and knew they had broken his femur. I took off to the trees at a full sprint.
"They can't catch me. They can't catch me." I kept repeating to myself, hoping something was watching over me. I could literally feel my heart pumping out of my chest and my lungs raging for air. When I looked back to see if I had lost them, Esmay was right there alone. Of course the Alpha had to be the one to come after me. I pushed myself to run faster. I looked back once more before tripping over a branch and rolling down a steep hill. At the end was a 13 foot drop off. When I landed, I rolled over to the side where I'd be hide by the cover of a bush. I knew immediately that I had broken my femur. I held my breath against the pain and waited. The sun had gone down and I had to have been there for at least 7 hours. Esmay never showed. There was nothing I could do. I was stuck in my hiding space till somebody either found me, or the full moon rose. I knew tomorrow was the full moon so I waited, not having anything else to do. The next day went by slowly and I couldn't help but cry from pain everytime I tried to move. My body hurt from laying on the ground and my throat was as dry as the desert. I was able to use my pocket knife to rip the pant leg off of my broken leg. I mostly just stared up into the bush and listened for anybody who could be coming. Slowly the sun started to fade. I started to feel an itch creep over my entire body. It was a  strange feeling. And I will gladly admit, it was worse than the pain in my leg. It made me involuntarily figet. I wished my dad was there to scoop me up in his big strong arms and carry me home where I could be safe. Instead I just laid there, watching the full moon rise over the trees, and let the fear of what was going to happen next numb me. I couldn't feel the throbbing pain in my leg anymore. And the itch was long gone, replaced with a very unappreciated burning sensation. My throat became even more try, which will thought wasn't possible and my body started to shiver. I could literally feel the bones in my leg move to where they had once belonged. When I looked down there was no blood which surprised me. It was almost like I couldn't talk. As if my tongue was cut out of my mouth and my vocal cords ripped out by wolves. Before I could take my next breath of air, there was a horrendous crack and my whole body started to shudder. It felt as if I was on fire but there were no flames. I screamed in pain. I couldn't move and my breaths came shorter and shorter. All around blackness started to close in, and before I knew it, I had lost all awareness and blacked out.
"Is she going to be ok? What do we do?"
"She's going to be ok."
"But the curse?!"
"Mr. Grace, Tacar is going to be fine. We have people in the village under the curse. We'll just have to help her out that's all. Show her the new ways her life will bring her."
"But Esmay. She's been marked doctor. She'll lead him right to us. He won't stop till he gets her!"
"And we will deal with that when the time comes, but right now you need to only worry about being your daughters father and let the town council worry about Esmay."
I could hear the doctor and my father talking. I wanted to tell them to shut up because they were hurting my head but I still had no control over my vocal cords. My eye lids felt heavy, like big cinder blocks were holding them down. And my entire body felt like and Elephant was laying on me.
"She's waking up."
I managed to open my eyes and look up to see my dad looking at me, his face full of worry. I tried to lift my head up to see where we were, but the doctor blocked me with his hands.
"Just lay down Tacar, your not gonna feel well for a little bit."
Not feel well? I felt perfectly fine if you took out my heavy body. It was as if I weighted 3 times my actual size and my muscles weren't used to moving that much weight.
It took weeks for the doctor to finally let me out of the hospital. My dad told me what had happened after I blacked out. Him and his good friend Earl went looking for me when I didn't come home with all the other kids. Only three out of the 9 of us had been triggered and marked by Esmay. They had told the town folk what had happened and they sent out a search crew to find us. Esmay had taken Robert, but Sandra and me were able to get away and hide. Dad told me there would be classes on how to live my new given life.Which didn't bother me. It kinda seemed cool being a wolf.
Over time I was able to gain control over my wolf inside and could shift without the full moon. I became the village night guard incase Esmay and his pack came back. It'd been about 7 years till Esmay finally tried to return and capture me. We fought brutally and Esmay left with a scar across his left eye. A reminder that he had left me far to long and I was stronger than him. I lived my life as normally as I could. I still would shift into my wolf form to feed that side of me. I wasn't afraid of what I'd become and neither was my village that I stayed to protect. New people came and went and I never did see Esmay. I was probably about 23 years old in non-cursed years when I met the man that would become my husband. He was a tall, muscular man with sun kissed skin. His eyes were green like the forest, and his hair as dark as bark. He had a deep soothing voice that sounded like music when he spoke and he had a tribal sleeve on his left arm that was detailed with wolves. His teeth were white like snow and straight as a needle. His name was Nuksul. He told stories to my people about how he had tried to fight Esmay as a mortal to protect his daughter. Esmay was stronger though and through him to the side with ease and took her anyway. But Esmay was smart. He knew that Nuksul would hunt him down and he didn't want a man of his skill in tracking know his every move so he snapped the girl's neck like it was a toothpick. Esmay grinned at Nuksul as he dropped the girl's limp body on the ground and proceeded toward his way. Nuksul showed no fear or greif. He thought Esmay was going to kill him too but there was no pride in that. Instead Esmay put his foot on Nuksul's leg and stepped. Nuksul tried to make no noise, but he couldn't help but let the fear seep into his face. Esmay smiled again at him.
"I take pitty on you. You think your brave not showing your emotions. I killed your daughter! You are weak. I could let you into my pack but you would just turn into a nucense, always trying to kill me. I would just kill you, but I don't get any pleasure that way. Nah. I think I'll just crack your femur. You'll only be able to live a half life under the moon. But you'll still have the curse. You won't be able to learn control so you'll  have to deal with the pain of every bone breaking in your body every full moon. And you'll still have the unsatisfied  craving for raw wild game. I'm sure there are other symptoms too but I don't really care. And to answer your question, no the curse will not be able to heal your femur. Not since you're be a half life now. And if you try to find me, I will not hesitate to let my pack tear you apart. You will not even get the pleasure to die at my paw. Enjoy your life, or what's left of it I should say."
Esmay walked away from Nuksul, laughing. With the rest of his pack they disappeared into the trees where Nuksul had never seen them again.
It wasn't long before Nuksul and I hit it off. Every full moon I would help him hunt and we made a den for the long nights he'd stay wolf. We married that spring. A year later I found out I was pregnant with a little girl. And five months after that, under the full moon, I was forced to give birth to her, or die.
I was in the hospital with Nuksul by my side when the doctor had given us the news.
"I'm sorry Tacar, there is nothing I can do. Either you have her now, or you both will die."
"Doctor, there's got to be something we can do. I can't loose both of my girls." Nuksul said, agony in his voice.
"That's the other thing I need to talk to you about...maybe privately."
"Whatever you have to say, you can say it front of both of us." Nuksul said.
The doctor nodded.
"Tacar...no matter what we do...uh, you arent gonna survive this. Your baby girl...she's the only reason your alive right now."
I was taken back.
"As soon as I cut the umbilical cord, your connection with your daughter, and your  life connection to her...you will no longer be with us."
"And if I don't have her, then I die and so will she."
"Yes."
Tears started to pour down my cheeks.
"Get her out of me-"
"Tacar!"
"I am not letting my-our baby die Nuksul!"
I could see the hurt in his eyes, but the understanding started to take over his face.
"Your daughter will be in good hands."
"I know. Nuksul, your gonna be an amazing father to our daughter."
I was given some pain meds before the doctor took a scapal and started to give birth to my baby girl by c-section. He had her in his arms when the nurse shot Nuksul in the head.
"We can't risk it Tacar. I'm sorry. We will take her to a facility where we will watch her grow and study her. Every child born under the full moon are taken there. Granted there aren't a lot. We watch their behaviors until they are of age for their first transformation. They are the future Tacar. Your daughter is gonna help us find a cure for the moon curse. Would you like to name her?"
I couldn't believe what was going on. Nuksul lay dead beside me on the floor blood pouring from the gunshot wound on his head and the doctor held my life literally in his hands telling me he was taking my daughter to some facility.
"Cynder..." I whispered as he cut the umbilical cord and blackness took over me.
This isn't my story though. This is my daughters. I will never know if she survives this harsh world. I will never know if she has her happy ending, her "normal" life, her safety. I will never know...Cynder.