The Werewolf Army Brat

Chapter Three: Slow

Dread coursed through Nikki's veins as her and Hannah neared the Training Area. Nikki knew the only way this was going to end was badly, and though Nikki had perfectly capable instincts, her gut didn't give any word of advance. Nikki felt more alone than she'd had since her parents died.

That thought brought an almost whole lockdown of her body; her panic was cut short by Hannah's complaints of going too slowly. Nikki was definitely not ready for that yet.

" Hey," Nikki called out in front of her, " Hannah, um, uh, thanks for, you know, sticking up for me, uh, yeah." Nikki grimaced at her own pathetic thank-you.

" You're pretty awkward, aren't you?" Hannah just laughed at her struggles; Hannah had been excited starting this morning. Unless Hannah was always excited, but Nikki didn't get that vibe from Hannah; then again, Nikki didn't really know Hannah.

Knowing this train of thought would just lead to Nikki wallowing in how new and inexperienced she was, which would annoy Hannah and Nikki both; she just tried to focus on something else.

Her gaze caught on the separate groups that were all huddled together. The redhead and blonde Nikki recognized from earlier were with three other slender females; all of them were prettier than she. Another group held the shorter one from earlier, and five or six other girls. They were all differently shaped; none of them were stunning like the other group, but they were each pretty. The third and largest group had anywhere from ten to twenty girls in it. Like the second group, the werewolves were all diverse in color, height and general shape. Almost diverse in height, they were all taller than the shorter one; the one who was taller than Nikki.

" Welcome to basic social structure!" Hannah told her bitterly, " Here, your popularity depends on how strong you are."

" Strong?" Nikki had never been to a military school, let alone a werewolf military school, but that seemed wrong.

" Yeah, the tougher you are, the higher you are on the pack structure. You know, like real werewolf packs. This entire freaking school is like a giant pack," Hannah's voice was a growl by the end of her mini rant. Nikki was silent about her observation about Hannah not being in a group.

" Uh, really? That's nice," Nikki scooted a little back from the crowd. She knew a little about pack dictatorships from the small amount of time she'd spend with her grandmother. The better fighter one was, the more influence one had in the pack. If one wanted to be Alpha, one would challenge the Alpha to a fight; the winner would be Alpha, the loser would be either dead, banished, or Beta. It all depended. Nikki had the horrible experience of watching a challenge, and it wasn't something she'd like to see again.

" Yeah, well it kind of depends what pack you're in too. Bigger packs give you bigger prestige. That's small though," Hannah's voice had fallen into its rhythmic monotone pattern again as they walked into the building at the far end of the field to change into gym clothes.

That was just great, Nikki wasn't sure if her pack was considered "big" since it was the only actual pack she'd ever seen. Her pack had about twenty-something wolves and, well,

Nikki wasn't sure if she was actually part of  "her pack".

Nikki debated how fast she should change; she could go slowly and delay the inevitable. That would just make it worse and draw unnecessary attention to her, so she decided against it. Besides, it's better to just rip the Band-Aid off.

Walking out, she noticed guys were lined up in the field. There were about fifty of them, the same distance apart, and there hands were all behind their backs.

"  Obviously training guys takes precedence over females, you know, since we wouldn't ever get to fight," Hannah seemed a little smug about this when she jogged up behind Nikki.

Fight? What fight? Were they just talking about challenges? Only about five or six of the wolves in Nikki's pack had been female. Did females not challenge?

" Uh, duh," A girl muttered, interrupting Nikki's wondering. Clearly, this was common knowledge. Common knowledge Nikki didn't have, of course.

" Now ladies, welcome! Your testing should be done rather quickly," The voice was loud and scratchy. It held no sympathy, just order. The man who was doing the screaming looked exactly like his voice would suggest. He was tall, bulky and had muscles bulging out just about everywhere; his hair was graying on the sides of his head, Nikki estimated he was about forty or so.

This was it; she had an audience too. The height of her nausea was finally reached and she felt sick.

" Alright, girls, you all know the drill, push-ups is first, then sit-ups, and then we have the obstacle course. We'll only do these exercises since it's the first test of the year. Then the boys will go."

That wasn't as bad as Nikki thought it'd be. It was actually pretty standard. She did something like this at her old school; besides, there were always girls that either didn't try, or couldn't even do it. Nikki could do like fifteen push-ups when she tried, but she was seriously reluctant to compare that to a werewolf.

It was so unfair that she didn't have awesome powers. She was a werewolf after all. She froze up a bit as she thought that; did she really just consider herself a wolf? She shuddered a bit.

" Ready? Begin!"

The voice thundered over Nikki and she automatically dropped to the ground like the others already had; she was still late, naturally. What a fantastic start.

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Ah swear, i was gonna post more but i nooo time. thanks for the comments and votes. <3 such great motivation.