Innocent Little Runt (SAMPLE)

Chapter 1

   Goal for the next chapter: 3 votes

   My mom and I have been running for 9 years now. We are no longer in a large group. Most of the people around my age found mates along the way and left with them, but I haven't. Others have found packs with their family who escaped a different way. It is now only my mother and I.

   My mother usually goes off and hunts because I'm to small. At the age of 15, I stand a short 5' while my mother is 5'7" She told me that to a pack I would be called "the runt of the littler" and in wolf form I am no better. My wolf is a bit bigger than a pup. When I had shifted for the first time, the other children who were with us made fun of me. I think that's why no packs have accepted us, because who would want a runt in their pack?

   Over the years my hair has grown to the bottom of my back and my moms is about the same. She's been the same since that day all those years ago,in a weakend state. When most wolves loose their mate after being fully mated they die too unless they have a mateless child. I know that she wants to go and be with my dad but I don't know if I even have a mate. Mine could have died for all I know and even if I do find my mate, they won't want me. From stories I used to be told most people want a strong mate, not a weak, little runt like myself.

   I have learned to fear every little noise. Every twig snapping or every distant howl, I try to hide. I blame it on two things. One: the kids of my pack would hurt me. Use me as if i was a punching bag. All because I was a runt.

   Two: we've had multiple encounters with the rouges, and there's something about our pack that makes them want every last one of us dead. There was never anything special about our pack. We were the same as most, our population around 150 and we didn't have some huge army. So what makes them want us gone so badly? What did we ever do to them?

   I walk along the stream my mother and I recently stopped at. At night we usually sleep in wolf form, to stay even warmer and when we get lucky we find a cave to camp out in. Sadly though, most times we end up out in the open. Even sadder, this has been going on for all the years we have been running.

   I hear a twig snap and I hop up, ready to run, when I see my mother coming with a rabbit in her hand. I place a hand over my rapidly beating heart and feel another hand on my shoulder. "It's ok Celeste, I promise. Now go start a fire and we can cook this rabbit," she ends her sentence with a smile on her face which I return before turning to go start a fire.

   Within minuets I got a fire going and my mother and I are roasting rabbit. I eat slowly, trying to savor this food, knowing that winter will come soon and rabbits will be harder to find. I've learned to do this through the years, that when it comes closer to winter some animals are harder to find so savor the last ones you might get for the year.

   After we finish we get up and decide to walk some more, not run because after awhile running starts to make me exhausted. My mom can run longer then I can but I run faster. Other women, who used to be with us until they broke off, told us I get tired easily because of my small form. There are allot of disadvantages to being a runt, like you can't run for long, you're not very strong in fighting, and your wolf can't take on much. Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad. There's also advantages such as you can hide easier, you can run faster, and if you want to be childish you can say its how your wolf responds to your form. Because if I feel like chasing a butterfly then I will! See, not all bad!

   As we walk, I think. I think about what it would be like if our pack wasn't attacked by rouges. I think of what it would be like if Dad was still alive. I think about what it would be like if I wasn't a runt. Finally, I decide to voice a question I've had since it became just my mother and I. "Mom?' I speak aloud, "If I wasn't a runt do you think we might have found a pack already?"