Sydney

Definitely Not Mafia

The next time they came for me, I had barely woken up. Not having the strength to move or fight back, I lay there in abject terror as the same auburn-haired man from before grabbed my arm, and yanked me to my feet.

Swaying, I watched blankly as the room seemed to spin around me. I heard a loud huff, before the man proceeded to half drag, half carry me from the cell. Trying to move my feet, I couldn't seem to get them to work right. Before I knew it, we were outside, and he shoved me into a short line of dirty people against a wall. How long had I been here? How long had they?

Using the wall to maintain my balance I took a quick survey of my surroundings. We seemed to be in a walled enclosure with mean-looking guards stationed all around, both on the walls and within. Past the guards I could see large trees and maybe another building? The glare of the sun made it hard to tell. Within, there were maybe three buildings that I could see, one of which we were up against. Along the building there looked to be no more than twenty of us lined up, mostly men from what I could tell.

My attention was quickly brought forward as Mr. Crab Grass emerged from a building across the way. Wishing I could just melt into the building behind me, I focused on looking as small as possible. Which really wasn't that hard considering the men on either side of me were giants!

He walked closer until he stood about fifteen feet away and then just glowered at us. A thundering growl shook the area and the strong scent of urine filled the air. Too frightened to do anything but stare at the man's feet, I didn't dare look around to see who was obviously more terrified than I.

"My name is Head Beta Garrison." He thundered. "We have few rules here. Disobey and you die." A new ripple of fear went through the group. "The purpose of this camp is for you that have been born Rogue, to be given an opportunity to prove worthy to join the ranks of Pack." A heavy pause filled the air. "This opportunity isn't given lightly, nor do you have to accept. Those who do not wish to join the Pack please step forward now."

I tried to step forward, no way was I going to be a part of this cult but couldn't seem to make my body move. Everything around seemed to tilt and spin. Just standing took a colossal effort. Focusing on my lower limbs, I tried to make one leg move forward, but all I managed to do was land with a solid thump on the hard ground. My back fell back against the wall again. A stray tear slipped down my face. To have freedom offered and be just out of reach was agony.

Ten men from the lineup stepped forward. Some with confidence and others stumbling with uncertainty. The Head Beta observed them before raising his left hand above his shoulder with a slight flick. From the same building he had originally come from, emerged a shirtless man built like one of those crazy weightlifters you see on tv.

"You will fight one-on-one. If at the end you are still alive, you may leave."

I watched in horror as one after another, all ten men fought him only to not make it. What made it even worse was that they were all like me - I was in and out of consciousness during the whole thing so perhaps my addled brain was just hallucinating things, but all of the men who fought turned into wolves and nobody here seemed surprised.

In the end nobody was left alive.

Once the bodies were cleared away, the Beta guy started talking again. I didn't catch most of what he was saying but I gathered that the big shirtless guy was in charge of our "training" and death was pretty much the answer to everything.

Sitting, I blankly watched as those of us who remained were shuffled towards the nearest building. I was once again, suddenly yanked to my feet and I half stumbled, and was half dragged towards the door. I didn't dare look up at the giant of the man next to me, but instead kept my focus on the back of the person ahead of me.