13 years ago from present day:
Ashley's POV
It had been a typical normal day for me and my family, my mother was joining me and my little brother Samuel on a walk, she had been incredibly over protective of us since my older sister had gone missing the year prior.
For a human like me, that could either be she was killed by those mindless wolf beasts that hunt us, or in an even worse case scenario.
She was taken as a mate.
I shivered at the thought of that being the possibility, I couldn't blame my mother for being so worried, she had lost one child to the monsters, she wouldn't lose anymore. She had always said she would protect us with her last breaths, I always thought it was a sweet sentiment. I had no idea that one day that would be my reality.
"Come on Sammy! You keep walking so slow and I'll have to pick the berries all by myself! And only share them with mama!" I yelled to my little brother, he was 13 and quite the quiet child, me? I was just barely 18, I wasn't interested much in dating, never really found others that attractive, I was too busy taking care of my brother whilst my parents worked at their jobs, they didn't tell me much about it, just they helped the human rebellion from afar.
"Ash! That's not fair, you're bigger than me!" Sammy yelled after me with a whine but I could just hear the beaming smile he had as we ran.
The sunlight was beaming down on the forest's roof, its light peeking through, like soft ribbons that danced on our faces and skin, bouncing off of the nature that surrounded us, I could almost swear the leaves had a green glow.
I soon reached a clear opening that had a creek running through it, the water provided a perfect environment for wild blackberries and black currents to be growing, it was spring now, and I had been waiting all winter to make my mother's famous jam. She often sold it to other humans in our little village as a treat for us all, since we lived in hiding we couldn't get much from stores.
Not like we would be allowed anyway, humans weren't allowed to shop in wolf populated areas, especially ones without any IDs and records, which none of us did in my community.
"Ah too slow little bro, looks like I beat you again" I say holding my head quite proud of myself as I cross my arms, Samuel pouts at me, pushing me aside so he could get to the berries.
"Just you wait ash, when I get big and strong I'll be the one winning the races from now on" he said with such determination in his voice as he confidently started picking. I smirk a little leaning on his thin shoulders placing my chin on his head that was covered in soft sandy blonde hair, "awwww come on Sammy but you're so short" I say teasingly.
"Oh get off you big bully!" He said pushing me away with his, barely above noodle thin arms, unable to move me far.
"I've still got time to grow so just wait! I'm only 13!"
"Yes, yes you are, but to me you'll always be my little baby brother Sammy" I said, taking a berry from his hand and putting it in my mouth chewing with a wide smile, my dimples becoming visible.
Samuel pouted at me, opening his mouth to protests but I shoved a berry in his mouth to shut him up before wandering over to the stream, staring into its clear waters, sometimes you could find little treasures.
"Honestly you two...my legs can't keep up with all this running, oh I wish I had your youthful energy again" our mother laughed as she walked over holding a basket in hand that we would use to carry our harvest of sweet sweet natural treats. "Oh come on mama, you're still young and healthy, you just don't want to run with us" Sammy said as he sped walk over, a shirt full of berries.
The Two quickly fell into conversation as I stared into the water, letting the cool liquid crystal wash over my fingers as I moved around, finally finding my target, a shiny quartz piece. They weren't valuable but I liked how they looked, I had a keen eye for spotting these things.
But when I rose to my feet again I could have sworn I saw something, and to my horror.
I had.
In the distance, 20 or 30 metres away, multiple pairs of eyes were staring at me and my family, still for now but the second they knew I had seen them they started approaching, and fast.
My body filled with so much terror I was frozen for a second, just staring at them, I couldn't move, my heart pounding in my ears deafening everything, it wasn't till I was dragged from my frozen stance did I hear the yelling from behind.
"ASHLEY!" my mother screamed in my ear and before I knew it all three of us were running as fast as our legs could carry us.
"They found us! How did they find us!?" I screamed, my mother holding both mine and Sam's hands, I knew she could run faster than she let on, she was basically dragging us along.
The sound of snarling behind us was slowly getting closer and I dared to look behind me, I really wish I hadn't.
The sight of bloodthirsty beasts were racing towards us, absolutely. massive, their teeth bared ready to rip into our flesh and tear us apart, their eyes focused on us like prey in their path.
It made me feel sick to my stomach, like it was being wrung out like an old dish cloth.
Screams of terror, confusion and agony carved through my once safe and peaceful village, people were being Torn apart by wolves as they attacked, spilling innocent humans blood into the ground, staining our home with now tainted memories.
"Marry! You take the kids to the evacuation point! I'll hold them off as long as I can, get yourselves to safety ok?" My father boomed, rifle in hand as he stormed out, I'd only ever seen him use it for hunting.
My father was such a kind and gentle man, I had no idea he had such violence in him as he let round after round blast from his weapon. Loaded with silver bullets, finally getting the wolves attention letting other humans escape before they were noticed.
I felt tears in my eyes, the thought of never seeing him again haunted me "no! Dad please! Come with us!" I screamed, little Sammy clutching to my arm silent with fear.
Our mother watched as her husband, a life long partner of many decades, walked out into what was essentially his death sentence, firing on wolves and fighting against their rule, almost always resulting in death. She managed to pull her crying self together, getting me and Samuel into our small car and speeding off, just narrowly missing the claws of some of those monsters.
Desperate to crack us open and eat out flesh like a lobster or crab, completely defenceless.
The sudden turns and Hugh speeds through me and my brother around in the car as I held him close as possible, arms covering his head to stop him getting hurt, his screams if fear mixed with my own, I had known one day we might face these monsters but I had never truly prepared for this kind of fear and adrenaline.
"W-where are we going!?" I asked with a shaky voice, fear gripping at my throat making it hard to breathe, "somewhere safe, it's ok mamas got you, everything is going to be just fine" my mother said, an almost pleading tone as she tried to console us, seeing my mother so afraid only sent shivers down my spine, my stomach turning, my ears ringing with blood that rushed through my body.
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27 minutes late.
Despite the silence setting in after driving for so long, the only sound being the car driving along a dirt trail, Samuel slumped into my side looking exhausted, he'd barely stopped crying.
I couldn't relax even now, I had a sinking feeling we were being watched, but it had been almost 30 minutes of driving with nothing bothering us, constantly glancing out the windows seemed to be my new pass time.
"Ma...where are we going?... shouldn't we go back for dad?" Samuel asked, just barely above a hoarse whisper, his throat must be so sore from crying and screaming, I knew mine was.
"No baby... we've got to get you to safety first ok? I'll go back to find him then we'll meet back up again, just stay by your sister ok?" She said with a soft smile in the mirror that faced back at us, she was trying to be brave for us, but I could see the sadness in her eyes.
I don't think either of us could bare to tell him the truth that dad wasn't coming back, the lump in my throat threatened to choke me as I held in my silent tears.
"You'll both be ok, I'm taking you to old man McClangs hut, you know how he loves his planes? Well you'll be going on a little trip with him and the other kids?"
I turned my face to look at her shocked, a plane!? I was horribly afraid of heights, I'd never been in one of those death boxes before, the idea of being thousands of feet in the air in a metal tube made me stiffen, a cold sweat covering my body.
"A plane? We are going on a plane? Aren't you coming with us?" Samuel asked, getting more nervous, gripping my arm for comfort.
"I'll be on the next trip over, you kids need to get to safety first" our mother said, her knuckles white as they gripped the steering wheel, she hadn't relaxed this whole trip.
It didn't take much longer before we saw old man McClangs tiny hut down near the beach, he had a makeshift runway that allowed small passenger planes to take off, he had three of them. One had clearly left already, its space vacant, the second was just taking off now, some families had gotten here before us, finally the last one was being boarded, kids ages ranging from Infants to kids like me, barely 18.
For the first time in this whole situation my mother seemed to relax a little, a barely audible sigh of relief escaped her lips, I could swear she was silently thanking whatever good luck we had to get here in time.
The relief didn't last when out from the bushes came a large brown wolf, he didn't seem to notice us at first, that was until my mother seemed to speed up, to try and get around it. its head whipped around and stared at us in what I could only assume was shock, it was hard to tell, my mother sped up her driving in hopes of getting around it.
It got into a more predatory stance before lunging at the car, screams erupted from all three of us, I was once again clinging to Samuel to keep him safe, pressing my face into his hair.
The car swerved around trying to throw off the feral animal that started clawing into the metal of our dingy car. I feared how long it would take before it tore the whole roof off the car's top. I could see indents of its claws as he continued to assist the roof.
"MOTHER WHAT DO WE DO!?" I finally screamed, glad my voice decided to work after being too afraid to make a noise.
"J-just hold on babies hold on!" Our mother screamed as she frantically swung the steering wheel around, she could barely control it as her breathing became frantic, multiple times I thought we were going to hit a tree or go over into a ditch.
"Ashley sweetie I need you to look under your seat, there's a small pistol ok?" She said and I felt my heart stop for a second looking at her
"M-ma I can't...I can't shoot you know I get nervous I have bad aim what if I miss or it attacks me or-" I started rambling off in my panic, a loud bang caused us to scream as the best started beating on our back window, for once I was glad my parents made upgrades to this stupid car.
"All you have to do is shoot it once ok baby? You've got this" my mother said, still desperately trying to keep control of the car, I could see tears in her beautiful baby blue eyes.
I felt frozen at first till Samuel squeezed my arm crying.
I snapped out of it and looked at the wolf through the back window, I raised the gun pointing at the monster, it snarled, bearing its pearly white teeth at me, it must have thought I was bluffing, it should have been more careful and wary of me.
I shot my weapon at it, a bullet laced with silver striking it in its face through its left eye, it howled in pain dropping but not before it slashed our back tires.
The car spun out of control as he barreled down the hill, I clung to Samuel again screaming afraid for my life and his.
I opened my eyes again once the ringing in my ears stopped and we were no longer moving, I managed to pry myself to sit up, we'd crashed into some trees near old man McClangs hut, I could see a few adults running over but I couldn't seem to focus.
The ringing in my ears had only gotten worse and very muffled, my sight was blurry and felt slow, everything felt muffled, I could feel myself being pulled out but I was too disoriented to even fully understand what was going on.
Where was I again?
.......
The car!
I finally snapped out of my daze to see I was walking with a young woman, she looked familiar.
"Miss smith?" I mumbled a little.
"Hey there darling, it's ok we've got you ok, just hold on" the woman said, her voice velvet soft, a soft English accent, she smiled at me as she helped me sit down.
"Ma....where's my mother...and Sammy? Did...did I kill it?" I asked frantically, rubbing my face, I found my lip and nose bleeding profusely from the impact. My lip was split open so bad there was a visible gash, dripping from my chin with blood.
"You hit it darling, well done, it's dead, trust me you'll be ok, we just need to get Sammy out, my brother is talking with your mother, she said she had something important to say".
Miss Smith said to me in an overly sweet and gentle tone, like she was trying not to scare off a frightened animal.
Inglsbced to the car, the front end was completely crushed around the tree trunk that was now slumped from the force of the impact. I couldn't see it perfectly but Miss Smith's brother was standing at the driver's side window, my mother seemed to be pinned against the steering wheel.
The stench of blood filling the air.
She seemed to pass him something before quickly running over to me, that something appeared to be a necklace of some kind.
"Come on you two, we've got to get you on the plane now" the man said as he placed the necklace around my neck, it seemed to have a locket attached but I was still pretty out of it.
I was soon on my feet boarding the plane before I could even realise it, Samuel once again clung to my side as we got into our seats, old man McClang was yelling something but I began to pass out from something.
Stress, my injuries or exhaustion I couldn't tell, it could have been all of them.
The last thing I could remember was my vision going black, Samuel was holding onto my arm and I felt the distinct feeling of moving quickly and an almost pressure feeling as the plane took off.
I didn't know if my parents were alive anymore, my father was likely torn to shreds by those monsters.
My mother, from what I could tell, was trapped in the car, she'd likely die from her injuries, her injuries were extensive, and we certainly didn't have the medical supplies, resources and professionals to save her life.
It was just me and my brother now, I didn't know of any extended family, likely dead or far away.
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hello to everyone who finished reading this first part!
I finished this on about 2828 words, I like to write so my chapters may be a little long or vary from 2000-3000.
If you prefer shorter chapters then let me know!
I'd love to know what your opinions are so far! 💖
I've already started working on chapter two so hopefully I'll have it out soon!