Darkest Before the Dawn

Trespassing

The first few days were a nightmare. Winter is cold enough when you’re sitting in front of the fire inside your warm home, let alone when you are out in the woods with no survival skills, struggling to find suitable shelter, nothing but the trees over my head to shelter me from the rain that seemed to soak through my layers of skin even though it shouldn’t be possible. Food was always scarce, as I had not shifted yet I couldn't use my wolf's natural instincts to hunt down food, instead I was left with nothing to eat but the produce off of the land which was very little. The second morning of my banishment, I came upon a small bush of berries and was too hungry to considerate not eating them. I don’t remember much of what happened in the following days, but what I could remember consisted of memories of being violently ill and lying on the ground crippled with pain.

I concluded yesterday that the only way I can survive being a rogue long enough to shift, would be to trespass onto pack lands in search of anything safe to eat. I will not survive eating anymore poisonous berries. The rashes from them along drove me insane and a girl has to eat. At least I was smart enough to know never to return to my old pack in search of food. Despite the fact that they have known me all my life, if they saw me, they'd kill me on sight.

I didn’t know exactly where the nearest pack was located, but I knew the moment that the reek of an Alpha filled my nose that I was metres from a pack boundary. I was quietly treading the borders of what I believed to be the land of the Faded Shadow Pack, it was the only pack within wandering distance. From my previous knowledge, this pack has harsh procedures when it comes to rogues, but their main weakness is their border patrol. Too much land and not enough wolves eligible to be put on patrol. This was a weakness I was eager and ready to exploit.

Peering through the trees into the wide open space, I saw no wolves and took it as reassurance for me to continue. I poke my head out from the bush looking in both directions before running across the borders and towards the town. If I were quick enough, I'd have several minutes before any patrol wolves come by and catch my scent, allowing me a slim time frame to find some food. 

Smoke from a distant chimney guided me to a house on the outskirts of the pack, a small house probably intended for newly mated couples to get away from the chaos of the pack house and move somewhere quieter to raise a family.

I creep around the back of the house, quietly scaled the small wooden fence, and snuck up to the house. Leaning against the side of the house, I walk over to the window and peek my head over the edge of the windowsill. Inside the house were two children at least three years younger than me, sitting at the kitchen table. I watched with sad eyes as their mother walked in with two bowls of warm porridge. I could smell the honey covered oats from where I was crouched. The sight alone made me drool and want to sing hallelujah. I have tried my hardest to forget about everyone, but I couldn't help but wonder of my mother and whether or not she was even alive. Last time I saw her she was lying badly injured on an infirmary stretcher.

In that split moment when I dazed off thinking about my mother, the real mother in the house turned and spotted me through the window. She gasped loudly causing me to snap out of my thoughts and stare at her in horror. I've been spotted. I give the woman an awkward smile before bolting down the side of her house, running through her lovely front garden. Reaching my hand up I grab an apple from the tree above before sprinting full speed in the direction of the borders.

I could hear a howl somewhere in the distance, signalling my presence to the rest of the pack. I keep the borderline in my sights, pushing my legs the as fast as they could go. Though, realistically how could the legs of a fourteen year old girl out run fully grown wolves. 

The closer I got to the border the louder and more frequent the howls got, suddenly I could hear growls coming from not far behind me. I knew any chance I had to escape was slim, but hell I wasn't going down without a fight. The sound of the wolf’s paws echoed through my ears, their harsh ragged breath tickling down my neck. 

It wasn't until I was just a few hundred metres from the border did a big wolf tackle me hard to the dirt. We skidded against the hard ground and I moaned out in pain as my skin scrapes against stone and grass, leaving burns in my skin. In a brief moment of courage, I shoved the palm of my hand into the wolf’s face trying to pry him away from me, but he growled dangerously and I cowered, closing my eyes pinning myself to the ground.

If I close my eyes for long enough maybe I'll wake up and this all will be a terrible, terrible nightmare. I wouldn't have been kicked out of my pack, forced to be a rogue, left frozen and starved and now most likely going to be killed for stealing food from a pack to avoid starvation. 

The wolf who tackled me, is now sitting directly on top of me keeping my body pinned to the ground. A simple but effective strategy to ensure I can't get away, but honestly how could I. Within minutes a majority of the pack warriors will have surrounded me and there wouldn’t be any chance of escaping. I hear the sounds of people approaching, they were far away at first so their talking was quiet until they got a lot closer.

"Have you spoken to the rogue yet?" A thick masculine man asked, his tone strict, serious, and potentially dangerous. I'm too scared to dare to look him in the eye, if just the sound of his voice reeks of Alpha dominance, I can't imagine what he’d look like. Alpha's have not been kind to me in the past. 

"No sir, we were awaiting your arrival. Our third currently has her pinned." A weaker voice replied, I could sense he was the Beta and obviously the third in command is the lovely soul crushing my little body. 

"Okay John, get the men to stand between her and the border, everyone else surround the area and I'll cuff her once the third removes himself.” The Alpha sent out orders to his men and I could hear them walk away to presume their positions. Treating me like a threat who was going to bolt the second I got a chance. It was all silent for a while until slowly the pressure from above was relieved and the wolf had got off of me, allowing me to sit up...