"Alright," Benny starts, "you two need to learn how to wake up on time. Can't having you look bad if I'm going to be ranking you guys up."
I moan and roll out of bed. "It's an hour earlier than yesterday. I thought we get up at six?" I ask him.
"You did. Now you get up at five. You need to be up and doing extra around this place and working on your skills to rank up. I can't just send you to the top. One, it'd be suspicious. Two, I'd get in trouble. And three, they'd probably kill us all on the spot," he whispers to me. "You get out of bed too, princess," Benny says to Hunt.
Hunt mutters some curse words then climbs down off the bunk.
***
I stand next to Benny on one side of a training field. It's empty at 5:10 in the morning. Except for us, of course.
"Flint, didn't you say you were smart?" Benny blurts out.
"Yes, I am, I'm quite smart. Just not when I'm asleep. Those beds are uncomfortable."
"Are you sure it's the bed? You sure it doesn't have to do with something else as to why you're not sleeping?" Benny asks.
"Positive, and for future reference, my name's not Flint."
"I figured."
"My name's Ryder."
"Like, Ryder F. Colson?" he asks.
"Wait, how..."
"Uh, everyone in their right mind knows about your pare—"
"Stop," I interrupt him.
"What?" he asks.
"I don't want to know about them."
"I know they died, but—"
"Benny, stop." I cut him off. "I never knew them. I was two when they died. I don't remember them at all. I was thrown into the foster system, where basically every family hated me. All I know about my parents is that they are dead. And I've finally found a family who actually cares about me and now I'm on this damn suicide mission that I have no idea if I'll return from and ever see them again. So, no! I don't want to talk about my parents. So just drop it." I growl.
"O-kay." Benny looks at me, slightly horrified. "Garret," Benny shouts, "we're ready."
***
"Hey, you alright?" Hunt asks me.
"I'm fine." I angrily shove my clean clothes in the wooden chest by my bed.
"You know we'll make it out, right? Because good always wins. That's like a given or something," Hunt says.
"Benny's pack didn't win. My parents didn't win."
"That's not really what I meant. I meant in the end. The final battle. Good will win."
"You sound like some cheesy ass TV show."
Hunt laughs. "You know I'm right. So, stop being so negative. If you keep thinking like that, we won't win. You got to try and be positive that things will be okay."
"Yeah, and how?"
"Have faith. We've had a long day, with training and more training and all the extra shit Benny is making us do. We deserve some good long sleep. Let's just hit the hay now and we'll be well-rested for tomorrow morning and hopefully have a new schedule pasted to that board."
"Yeah, that'd be great if I could actually sleep," I say.
"Just try. Even just lying down with your eyes closed helps you rest. So, it couldn't hurt. The more rest we get, the more energized we'll be. The better we'll perform, which in turn helps us rank up faster. The faster we rank up, the sooner we can finish this and get the hell out. So just try to sleep, okay?"
"Okay, I'll try." I flop into bed, feeling exhausted, knowing that I probably won't get much sleep.
***
"Hate waking you up, but sleeping time's over. Get up," Benny says.
My eyes open unwillingly. "Five a.m. already?" I ask.
Benny sighs. "Yeah, but I do have some good news. Got you and princess up a rank."
"Just one?" Hunt complains.
"Yes, just one. That's how it works. You can only rank up once a day at the very most," Benny says.
"How many ranks are there?" I ask.
"Uh, twenty if I'm not mistaken," he answers.
I swing out of bed. "Twenty?"
"Shhh! You dipshit. Be quiet. You want to wake everyone up?" Benny complains.
I'm suddenly adware of the others around us sleeping. "Oops, sorry. Benny, we don't have twenty days to get this done. We got like eight."
"That's a problem," he says.
"No shit," Hunt says to Benny.
"What rank do we need to be to get in the same room with the alpha?" I ask Benny.
"Uh, I want to say thirteen, but I'm not positive."
"What rank are we now?" I ask.
"You started at one, and you've ranked up twice so, three," Benny answers.
"That's still not enough time," Hunt states the obvious.
"Well, great. We need a new plan," I say.
"Let's go somewhere more private to talk about this," Benny suggests.
Benny, Hunt, and I find ourselves a nice, quiet people-less place to talk.
"So, I think I got an idea on how we can make this work into your deadline. At rank five, you have access to the HQ building in the center of the fortress, but only for deliveries. Which means you go in, drop off a delivery, and turn right back around and head out," Benny says.
"How is this going to help us?" I ask.
"I'm rank eleven, which means I have that access. I also have access to archives, which includes floor plans of the HQ building. And last but not least, I have access to the alpha's schedule because I know someone who likes to drink, a lot. Anyway, the point is I can get you two in by smuggling you guys in and get you a rough idea where and when to find the alpha, but once you're in, I can't help you. You'll be on your own," Benny explains.
"Well, it's the only plan we got," Hunt says.
"We'll give it a shot. You got to promise us something, Benny—you got to haul ass out of here once we take him down. There's gonna be hell," I say.
"I can take care of myself," Benny says.
"I don't think you get it. We're not here just to kill the alpha. We're here to tip the dominoes of a larger plan. We kill the alpha; the pack loses its order and strength. Making it easy to defeat with a large and strong pack."
"You two have a pack backing this up?" Benny asks.
"Yeah, we do. That's why you need to haul ass out of here. To keep yourself from getting killed by our backup. And if you do get caught and don't die, tell them you helped us. They might not kill you and wait to hear from us," I say.
"Might?" Benny asks.
"You know some people kill first and ask questions later in war," Hunt says.
"Alright. What are we waiting for? Let's get this shit on the road," Benny exclaims.
YOU ARE READING
Foster Wolf
Werewolf(Complete) Ryder is a teenaged boy in foster care. his parents died when he was two and was put into the foster system. He has bounced from one home to another. Either he was sent back or ran away, but this time when his social worker, Mary, found h...
