His White Warrior (Book #1)

Chapter 4: Caught

I woke up gently at around actual dawn, the sun turning the eastern sky a vibrant orange and pink. I watch it with interest as my insides warm from its beauty. I slowly crawl out of the hollow and stretch my limbs out, kicking a leg vertical against the tree and leaning forward. I do a simple back bend to bridge in the snow and unwrap my mask. I shake it out and put it back on again. I crouch low to the earth and listen around me, looking for a sign of wildlife. I make a few bird calls and listen for responses, to see where my breakfast is hiding. 

When I hear several birds begin their morning chatter I do a few more exercises, cartwheeling forwards and backwards, before scaling a tree and scanning for the feathery creatures. I can't hunt in werewolf form, another drawback to being one of the last White Warriors, so I have to hunt like a caveman. I spot a blue jay, but I make no attempt to catch it. Instead I drop to the ground and hold a stance. The bird was listening to a warning call from another bird, and soon flies away. I scan around me, checking for movement, when I see a black figure gently walking towards me.

Oh come on.

I growl at him and he shifts back into his human form.

"I'm not going to hurt you, mate. Calm down." He says, his tone trying to soothe me. I ignore his words and start to back up, knowing he probably didn't come alone. Mr. Alpha stops walking and holds his hands out, fingers flicking for a moment and I barely hear the loading of a gun. I go into what Father calls my 'matrix zone', and run away. 

In this mode I specifically place where the bullets come from and can dodge them with ease, something that took a lot of paintball practice without armour to achieve. Mr. Alpha shifts again and follows me, not growling, not snapping, just running with me. I jump over a fallen log and he comes right to my side, not trying to push me in a  certain direction, just racing. I look to my left and see a few other wolves running alongside me as well, like we were just having a friendly race back to the main house. The other wolves glance at me, their tranquilizer guns still in their mouths and I come to a complete stop. They skid in the snow and I start running back the way I came, their guns out and darts hitting the trees next to me.

Oh yeah, so not going to hurt me.

I place as much distance as I can between us, running at my top speed, and I head in the direction of the thicker trees. I have to fast walk through these, because this is an actual forest, not one that was thinned out. 

The wolves behind me slow down immensely and a few shift to get through faster. I walk as fast as I can through them, bending and twisting with extreme agility and coordination to actually go faster than the men chasing me. Mr. Alpha somehow got a gun from one of the others and kept trying to shoot me every few minutes. I finally burst out of the thick trees and ran out into the small clearing that there was, but as I turned around to see how many were following me only one man came out. Mr. Alpha holds up his gun and points it at my legs.

"You can come the easy way, or the hard way." He warns. Guessing that there probably aren't that many darts left I crouch into another fighting stance. Mr. Alpha growls and presses the trigger, but nothing happens.

"All out." I say in my deeper voice and back up slowly. I hear a few other guns shoot and notice that the others fanned out to the sides. Four darts hit me, so I pull them out quickly and run, jumping and ducking to avoid others. The drugs filter into my bloodstream, but not enough to make me react any different. I take off like a bullet through the other forest to my right. The men come out from their spots in the trees and follow me, shooting every once in a while. They miss and shift back into wolves again.

I lose all knowledge of where in the forest I am as soon as another cliff appears, with a river below. The cliff is much smaller, but the river may or may not be the same one. I jump down, the river sturdy beneath me, and run again. I hear the werewolves claws digging into the ice and getting good traction as they jump down also. The ice holds as I run, another dart hitting my shoulder. I pull it out immediately and keep going, avoiding the slippery ice, going for the more textured. I get to the other side of the river and keep running, the werewolves still in hot pursuit. I speed up, getting out of their reach, and I can already see their signs of fatigue. I keep running until I see a hill that slides steeply down.

If I'm going down, I'm going down free. 

I stop suddenly right before I slide down the hill, the wolves skidding to halts behind me. Mr. Alpha growls and I hear him step closer.

"Giving up yet?" He growls. I spin around to face them, a new plan in my mind. I know that I may survive, but there isn't assurance for the others. The other wolves shift along with their Alpha and they slowly walk towards me, hands out in a calming gesture. I scan the ground in front of them, and find what I'm looking for. A small area of the snow beneath them isn't true ground, and their combined weight would make it collapse, resulting in an enormous avalanche down the hill. Mr. Alpha is just about to touch me, his hands reaching out to caress my face, when another guy pulls out his gun and shoots me four times, one more than what I'm used to. 

I pull them out quickly, smacking Mr. Alpha's hands away from me, and dive down the hill. He calls out for me again, but soon all I see is white chasing me as I leap to my feet and try to outrun the falling hillside. 

The drugs rush to my mind, making the trees get doubles and spin around me. I shake my head to clear it and keep running, tripping and stumbling only a few feet more before blackness covers me. The coldness seeps into my toes and fingers as the deathly drug-induced sleep tries to claim my body. I stretch out, forcing myself to stay awake as long as possible. I scratch at the snow that formed around me, powdery drifts falling off and dusting my face. I wipe my heavy eyelids, glad the mask is still on or my nose would be getting cold. I punch the snow above me, my instincts telling me that I'm not that deep, and more snow falls. With the drugs still trying to control me, I weakly punch the snow again, but a white light peeks through, a hand pulling the snow away and reaching for me. I slap it and it retreats.

"I found her!" The man yells, causing shouts above and more hands start digging me out. Soon a muscled arm grabs my waist and takes me out of the snow. I stood upright, two hands holding my hip bones, but my body still sags a bit with the tranquilizers still in me.

"She is a fighter, perfection. Shane." Mr. Alpha says and nods to someone behind me. I feel a stabbing sensation in my arm and I know that they added more drugs to me. Before I go unconscious I try to kick Mr. Alpha's head, but he grabs my leg and holds it in the air, smiling with victory. I use the ground for my leverage and kick him with the other leg, taking him off guard. He quickly reacts, pulling me to him so my back was flush against him. I struggled, But I remembered that it only makes the drugs travel faster and decide that I would escape later, when my strength was up. I feel the blackness tugging at the corners of my vision, making things harder and harder to see until I knew my eyes couldn't be opened.

"Shhhh, Precious. There is no need to fight anymore, give in." He urges, whispering into my ear. I make the noise of a threatened animal before the noises around me completely stop and I go limp.