The Wolf

Ch. 21: The Battle

~Blake~

Nico's finally back and Alex seems pissed, the muscles in his jaw jumped and his eyes were embers as he stalked off to the Head House. I'd hate to ever be on his bad side.

Nico's finally back, so I mine as well visit him. I wonder what Alex meant when he said that I wouldn't like what I saw. Is Nico in bad shape? My steps quicken as I set off in the direction of the infirmary.

It's quiet inside of the medical building. All I can hear is the beeping of technology and the drone of a TV. I stop at the front desk, the nurse is watching TV absentmindedly. She looks up with a bored expression when she sees me.

"Hello, how may I help you?" She inquires, looking more cheerful. I guess it must be a boring job to sit around and do nothing. It's not like they are a full-time hospital after all.

"I've come to see Nico," I say.

"Ah, yes. Right this way." She stands up from her chair and leads me down a hall.

There are multiple doors that are closed, but the majority are opened. It seems like this place doesn't get much use. I guess that's a good thing.

"Here we are," She informs, standing in front of a door. "Please be quiet while you're here. Also, this patient has yet to wake up yet. You've got plenty of time to visit him."

With that, she returns to her workstation. I watch her go before stepping into the room. A heart monitor beeps evenly. The sound of faint breathing can be heard. And the room smells like blood and medicine. My eyes land on Nico and my heart drops to the floor.

I don't think there is an inch of him not covered in medicine and gauze. His face is the only thing I can see. Taking a shaky step, I walk towards him.

This is the first time I realized that I don't want to see any of my friends like this again. If I had stayed behind and waited for Nico while he was getting ready, then maybe he wouldn't have gone missing like this.

The alpha's words resurface in my mind. Rise through the ranks.  At least enough to replace those damned council members.

After that, I stayed beside Nico, informing him all about the ongoings at camp. I'm not sure whether or not he could hear it, but it was worth a try. As I left, I'm sure he would wake up soon, or so I thought.

~*~*~*~

Over the next week, the camp had changed drastically. Combat training took place over all other lessons. Pack members, such as children and the elderly left to stay with human relatives. Alex was acting like a true leader, helping come up with battle strategies and combat training.

It's like we were going to war. Which, I guess we were. Normal life seemed to cease at the camp. The teens went to school as usual, and the adults went to work when their absence could be afforded, but the fun activities were no where to be seen. The alpha called multiple camp meetings in the amphitheater.

Even though we were well prepared for the attack, it still came as a shock. It happened the week before the full moon...

~*~*~*~

The warning horn blares in the distance. It's night time, so people were fast asleep. I guess they wanted to take us by unawares. The edges of the camp were embroiled in battle. Fur clashed against fur. Teeth sunk into calves, claws scraped off coat and flesh alike.

My wolf form is pretty large, so it is easy to take down enemies. But as soon as one went down, another one replaced them. Someone's house is on fire, and a group of people are attempting to put it out. They have a ring of wolves for protection.