Rejection Accepted

Chapter 16

The first month of my training flew by quickly. It didn’t take me long to get the hang of the new skills that I would use throughout my career. Though, as I thought over Dean’s words, I wasn’t sure how long that career would last. During the second month of training, I managed to set a few records. Of course, they weren’t the ones that Ghost had set back in his day. No one except the Council knew who he was because he always worked alone.

Lilly was starting to come back a little, but I still missed the carefree wolf she used to be. With her help, I became the one to beat. The last week of training, the recruits were taken to the middle of the forest and turned loose, all in different locations. We were then given a dart gun that held twenty rounds. The last ones standing would then be inducted as assassins.

Quickly making my way through the woods, I let my scent linger in the air. After my trap was set I hid my scent and climbed into an evergreen and waited. It wasn’t long before I heard a soft whisper of someone moving through the brush. There’s another about half a mile on your left. They’ll be here in ten minutes.

 

Thanks Lilly. I thank her as I take the first wolf out. Hiding the man’s body in a small heavy bush, I sprint back to my perch and wait for the second wolf to appear. It wasn’t long before I saw the second woman of our group slowly moving around the trees. Waiting until she steps near where I had hidden my first target before I shot a dart into her shoulder. I watch as her body slowly falls into the brush.

I had two of the nineteen wolves already out and I was just warming up. The dart had enough anesthetic to knock a werewolf out for a full week. Over the next four days, I managed to collect all but two of the other recruits. It took me three hours to track down the biggest guy in the group. I would have to credit his mistake of staying in the same place twice. I guess he never learned how to properly hide his scent because I could smell him a half a mile away.

Crouching in the shadows, I watched him for several minutes before shooting him. I was slowly carrying his body back to where I had stashed the others when I came across the tracks of the last person. Laying his body on the pile, I turn around and double back to the tracks. Climbing into a huge oak tree, I wait patiently for my prey to show themselves. Glancing at my watch, I knew that if I didn’t find and dart the only person beside me standing in about five hours, then it would be the two of us joining the Council’s assassins.

What do you think Lilly. Should we just sit back and let them in? I ask her, but she didn’t answer me. A small flash of black weaves behind a tree to my right. Slipping further back behind the leaves, I slow my heartbeat and breathing down. Double checking the air, I couldn’t catch any were scent. I see another flash of black and I slowly turn my head right. The man stays protected by the tree but I catch a glimpse of his shoulder.

The hours start to slowly tick by, and I was getting a little stiff from sitting on a limb. As I sat in that tree I realized that in just three days, I would be turning 29. I let myself travel back through time to the parties that Dean and Dell would throw for me. I had tried talking them out of giving me one, seeing as how I hadn’t really celebrated my birthday since I was fifteen, but they wouldn’t be persuaded to do otherwise. So, I did the only thing I could do, I let them plan and organize the parties.

Before I know it, the remaining time it up and I hear cars approaching. Staying on my perch, I watch as four black SUVs pull into the small clearing to my left. The cars come to a quick stop and the councilmen slowly step out. Dean’s cousin, Councilman Colt, pulled a bullhorn from inside the car. “Alright recruits. Time’s up, please come forward.” The guy in the black shirt shot out from behind the tree and into the clearing before the councilmen. Minutes fly by and no one else steps out.