Born Wild

Bitten

Tala and Koda were invited to go hiking soon after the meeting. Tala packed a bag with rope, bandaids, a knife, hair bands, and other things like that. They headed to the coast to hike a trail they've never been on. They talked and continued to hike, brushing past trees that reached out on the trail.

The pack was basically a big family. It started out with the leader all by herself and she slowly brought werewolves in. The pack welcomed every werewolf no matter their circumstance as long as they had good intentions. Members in the pack have jobs that allow them to travel out of town for weeks at a time if necessary. Apparently, the leader knows other werewolves that aren't in the pack and some provide shelter to them out of town.

"Wildflowers!" Daisy cheered to herself. The pack came to watch as Daisy pulled a few white flowers from the ground and placed them in a container from her bag.

Shadow explained that the pack would take a few herbs from the wild if spotted, but that they never took too much from one plant. They usually kept their supply of herbs by buying them from a market or by harvesting from the leader's garden. 

The only herb they had to look for in the wild was wolfsbane. No one sold the flowers at a market because they were poisonous to humans and if they planted wolfsbane in the garden they would risk the hunter finding their location. They continued to hike until they reached an open spot on the cliff that looked out at the water.

"You said previously that werewolves in your pack protect others." Koda mentioned. "What does that mean?"

"We aren't the only werewolves in this area." Shadow said. "There are some out there who don't value the same things we do...We must protect the town from them."

"Shadow...They need to know the full details, they are in the pack now. Do you want me to tell them?" Daisy said as she pulled her aside.

"No, I will tell them." Shadow replied. She looked back at the forest for a moment with hesitance. "The other werewolves bite or scratch innocent people....Like Hugo and I...We don't know why they are turning people. We assume they are building a pack."

Tala walked closer to Shadow. "The other night you didn't tell me why you turned. I just assumed you were born into it."

Shadow nodded her head. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you at that time. I knew I had to eventually I just didn't want to think about them. It was unwise of me to withhold that information from you and Koda." She sighed. 

Shadow told them her story.

She was at a barn party with her friends one month before she transformed. Her friends wanted to go outside soon but wanted to dance to a couple more songs. Shadow decided to go out at that moment, brushing past a few people outside near the barn.

She sat by herself on a stump by a fire pit and brushed her hair back that was sticking to her lip gloss. When it was quiet and she sat still, she finally noticed how much her head was spinning. She felt heavy and sleepy, but happy as she sat there looking out at the trees. She stood up and walked a few feet back, breathing in the oxygen-rich air. 

She heard a rustle in the trees and slowly stepped backward. She tripped on a fallen log behind her and fell on her back. She looked to the side and saw a black wolf inching closer to her. She sat up as quickly and her head was spinning so fast. 

The wolf leaped at her leg and bit into it before running off into the night. She yelped and her friends heard her just as they walked out of the barn. She went home to clean and bandage her wound and a week later the bite was completely gone. 

The symptoms would show soon after.

Hugo looked at his feet and put his hands in his pockets. "My story was a little different than Shadow's."

Hugo transformed for the first time two years prior. He was in high school and loved to occasionally hike on his own through the forest. He was a man and was not afraid to be on his own, even on a trail at dusk. He was hiking after school one day with his sister that was two years younger than him. She stepped off the trail for a moment.

"Blue, please come back on the trail." Hugo begged.

"Relaaax Hugo I'm just going to take a picture of the coast. Now please walk back here so you aren't in it."

Hugo walked back to Blue and watched her adjust her camera angle. He crossed his arms and sighed.

"If I'm going to take a picture I have to have the right angle chill out." Blue said.

Blue and Hugo were just normal kids. They went to school, hung out with friends, went to get milkshakes at 1 am, and fought with each other over silly things. They wouldn't be normal for long.

They heard a movement behind them. Hugo quickly turned around and looked at the forest. Blue kept taking pictures. Hugo started stepping back without moving his eyes and pulled Blue's arm.

"Hugo stop I'm taking a picture."

"Turn around Blue"

"What?"

"Turn around!"

She turned and saw what Hugo did. Two wolves came closer. One was black, the other was brown. The wolves snarled. Blue picked up a branch and waved it around. Hugo stepped in front of her. The wolves leaped through the air. Blue hit one of them which didn't seem to do much. The wolves were strong and large.

"Get ready to run." Blue said and dropped her camera and phone.

"They'll outrun us." Hugo said.

"If we jump off the cliff into the water we'll escape."

"You're crazy but it's all we got." he dropped his phone to pick up later.

"Ready, set....go!"

They turned around and started to run as fast as they could to the cliff several feet away. The wolves bit their ankles before they reached the cliff. They managed to escape and fell several feet down into the chilly water.

They had been told that their area of Washington had free of wolves for many years and they weren't prepared for an encounter. They didn't realize at that time that these weren't ordinary wolves. They were werewolves.

"I was supposed to protect my little sister..." Hugo muttered. "I put her in danger."

Daisy walked to Hugo and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault Hugo."

Hugo nodded his head.

"We now watch over the town and hold our territory to prevent more people from being turned. Thankfully Shadow and Hugo have good intentions and have accepted their fate, but we can't say it will be the same for everyone else. We have done well at keeping the others out of town but it has been harder since the hunter has come back to the area." Daisy said.

"How do you keep the territory? What does that mean?" Koda asked.

"Two or three of us go out as werewolves at least once a week, usually every few days, and we circle our town. If we see one of them we can usually run them off. We ended up getting them to leave. We don't know who most of them are, we have only seen their wolf form. There are at least four of them, but there are probably more." Daisy said.

"Once we learn to transform at will I can at least help." Koda said.

"Me as well." Tala added.

"We can work on that in a few days." Shadow replied.