Running Wild

Hello, my name is Vanessa. I'm a 20-year-old werewolf. Wait, let me start again. Hi, my name is Vanessa, no last name. No, I mean it. I don't have a last name. You see, I'm pack less or, as most people say, I'm a Rogue. For those of you who don't know, a Rogue is a werewolf who was either kicked out of their pack or left the pack on their own accord. I've been a Rogue for the last 10 years. Yeah, let that one sink in... I've been a rogue since the age of 10. Now you must be wondering what kind of people would kick a 10-year-old out to live in the wild on their own, completely defenseless, where they could be killed. Now, I know you're probably thinking they must be heartless, but you can't be further from the truth. You see I killed someone, actually lots of someone's when I was 10. And no, it wasn't self-defense, at least not when I killed them. I killed them because I could. Because I was stronger than them. Now you may think I'm insane, and you may be right, but I also know they were bad people. How could I possibly know that? Because they abused me and many other children. You're probably wondering how they were able to get away with such behavior and the answer to that would be that we were all orphans. No parents to care, no adults to believe us. But lucky for me, at the age of 10 I got my wolf. And that is very rare. You typically get your wolf around 15-16, but I got mine early. Her name is Ira. She's a large black wolf with bright orange eyes. And if you look her name up in Latin, it means anger and wrath. Which makes sense because she's vicious. She does not take no for an answer, and you will regret ever messing with her. She does not hold back. She also has quite a temper compared to me. I feel like I’m pretty easy going, you know? Roll with the punches, that is until you really mess up, then I can be just as bad as my wolf if not worse. Honestly, living as a rogue hasn't actually been all that bad. I basically have all the freedom and none of the consequences. I mean there's always a chance you could get killed or hunted, but as long as you keep to yourself and avoid pack lands, your set! And human territory is like no man's land, so pack wolves can't attack you because of witnesses and such. Living in the forest has been my favorite part. I can shift whenever and wherever I want. I can hunt whatever I want when I want, and I don't have to talk to anyone because there is no one to talk to! Unless you find other decent rogues. Now you probably think rogues are unkempt and wearing rags, or nothing at all, just staying in their wolf form, but that’s just plain wrong! Some do, sure, but not me. I work in the human territory so I can get clothing and the essentials like shampoo and body wash. Even my little cave I found and took over is decorated nicely. I have cute little battery-operated lamps and the softest pillows I could find. I even have some blankets in there along with a small foam mattress. Life can be comfortable when you’re a rogue. You just need to put in a little bit of effort. Which I don’t mind. It gives me something to do to pass the time, you know? I don’t always want to go running or hunting and reading is great, but sometimes I just need to get out. It’s a beautiful day, the sun shining brightly, a nice breeze in the air. The sound of small animals living out their best life in the wild. As for me, I'm content. I stretch out and raise my face to the clear sky. Today I have no work to go to, no plans to follow through with. Just free time. Which is nice, but it also means I have nothing to do. And as much as I enjoy laying by the pond, I hate doing nothing. ‘What should we do, Ira? I don’t like sitting still.’ ‘Always the busy body, we could run. Haven’t done that in a while.’ ‘True, but that also means there’s a chance of running into strangers.’ ‘But there are benefits of strangers!’ ‘Such as?’ ‘Potential fights!’ ‘Fair we haven’t spared with anyone in a while.’ ‘See! Perfect reason for a run!’ ‘Ok you convinced me, let's run!’ Ira howls in my head as we shift into our large black wolf. ‘It’s all you wolfie!’ Instead of responding, Ira howls out loud and takes off in a sprint further into the forest. We run through big chunks of trees and jump over fallen logs. We chase rabbits and scare the small wildlife as we run aimlessly. After an hour or so, we catch the scent of something different. ‘Could it be more rogues?’ ‘No, it doesn’t smell like rogues.’ ‘Hunters than?’ ‘I feel like that is a safe assumption.’ ‘Should we ambush them? Or have them fall for a trap?’ ‘Both are fun options, but I feel trapping may be more fun.’ ‘I agree’ We shift back, and I start running towards the smell. I keep my eyes wide open to allow the wind to sting my eyes. I blink a couple of times and feel the tears start to drip down my face. Perfect. I start screaming like I’m going to die. “Help please! They’re going to kill me, please help me!” It’s always easier to play victim, especially since I’m currently a naked woman running and crying. “Please, I need help!” I make myself sound desperate. In the distance, I see three men grouped up looking around for the crying girl. “I’m here! Please help me! They’re going to hurt me if they catch me!” Right then they look in my direction. “Holy sh*t! She’s naked!” “Dude, she needs help, didn't you hear her?” “Yeah, but look at her!” “God, you're helpless.” “Don’t worry Miss, we’ll help you!” “OH, thank you! They want to hurt me, they have already stripped me. Please, I don’t want to know what they are planning to do to me.” ”Where are they?” “They were behind me. Please, I'm so scared!” I sob and push myself into one of their arms. I look up at him “You’ll help me, won't you?” The look on his face is priceless. He’s shocked and flustered since my chest is pressing right up against him. A blush slowly creeps on his cheeks as he finally takes in my appearance. If I wasn’t trying to kill them I would’ve laughed. The look on his face is priceless. “Y-Yeah, I’ll protect you while these two go looking for the guys after you.” “OH thank you!” The two men look at each other and start heading the way I came. I look at the man in front of me and smile. “I sure do appreciate you guys helping me. I was so scared!” “You're alright now.” I bury my face into his chest and wrap my arms around him. I hear him gasp, and he shakily puts his arms around me and pats my back. He’s trying to comfort me. What a fool. I let my nails elongate and position them on his back right where his heart would be. It's always so easy to kill men while you're naked. It also gives quite the thrill. I quickly stab him and watch as his eyes open in shock and a gasp leaves his lips. “Sorry not sorry.” I say. I release my nails from his back and push him away. He falls to the ground with a thud and I turn back towards the other two men. I quickly shift and start my hunt. Their scent is easy to follow as I stay low to the ground. “Are we sure that girl was telling the truth? We should have seen someone or something by now.” “You got a point but she was running. She could have been running for quite a while.” “Couldn’t we just go back and say that we lost' em?” “Would you really be ok with letting men like that go free?” “No, but I don’t think we will be finding anyone any time soon.” “Then let's split up, cover more ground that way.” “But this is a wolf-infested forest.” “We have silver bullets and wolfsbane, you'll be fine on your own.” “Fine, let's split up and meet in a half hour, yeah?” “Sure. See you in a half.” I wait for them to head their separate ways before I follow the one who seemed a little more on the uneasy side. He should be easy pickings. “This is stupid, she probably lied about the whole thing, probably just some insane chick who wanted attention or was on drugs. It wouldn’t surprise me none. Not in this day and age.” I chuckle to myself and slowly sneak up behind him. I watch for a moment as he just mutters to himself, completely unaware of the danger he’s in. I purposefully step on a branch and watch him jump. “Who’s there?” I remain hidden and watch the panic grow. “Come out and show yourself! Only cowards hide!” ‘How dare this fool call us a coward!’ ‘Hush now Ira he’s just talking big. He doesn’t mean anything personal by it.’ ‘Don’t you hush me girl! Let me at this fool I’ll kill him before he knows what happened!’ ‘Fine, it seems you need to vent your anger anyways.’ ‘Damn right I do!’ I let Ira take control, and immediately she pounces on the poor guy. As he struggles to grab his gun, she releases a low growl and gnashes her teeth at him. He freezes, and I swear if wolves could grin she would be. The fear this one man produces is enough to make Ira ecstatic, and she uses that energy to rip the man's throat wide open. She slips off him and marvels at the blood spewing from the massive hole in his neck. Even I find it mesmerizing, but I quickly shake myself from the sight as I remind myself that there’s still one more hunter to deal with and that’s all it takes for us to snap out of it. We walk towards the meeting spot when I hear the howl of another wolf. That one howl is followed by many more. Clearly a pack on a hunting spree. ‘Ira, we should head back to the cave.’ ‘Normally I would agree, but this is our kill, not theirs.’ ‘Ira it’s not safe, they could kill us instead.’ Ira doesn’t answer me, instead she pushes me to the back of our mind and takes full control. She runs towards the hunter. As we get close, we see a large group of wolves surrounding him. ‘Ira, please don’t do anything stupid.’