CHAPTER FOUR

I'm in a dark, foggy forest. A full moon shines down on me. I'm surrounded by dead werewolves, all laying on the ground. I try to scream but nothing comes out. I try to run, but I have no legs. I can't move.

Then, I hear a voice. It's the voice of the werewolf I saw in the woods. I try to move toward it, but I can't move.

"What are you?" he asks. "What are you doing here? You're not welcome."

I try to speak, but I have no voice. Then I realize I have a body again, and I'm standing in front of him. I try talking to him, but nothing comes out. What is going on?

"I'll kill you," he says. "Now."

He pulls out a gun and points it at me. My heart starts pounding. Is this how it ends? Am I going to die?

My blood starts pumping faster, faster. My heart feels like it's going to explode. I want this to end. I want to die. I can’t live without the rest of my pack.

I close my eyes and reach out my hand, hoping he'll kill me, hoping he'll end this nightmare. The barrel of the gun presses against my forehead. I can't stand it anymore.

“Please let it end,” I beg. “Please let me die.”

He pulls the trigger.

Then I hear a click.

I wake in a cage.

I am in the woods. The sky is still dark.

I try to move, but I can't. I am tied to the bars, my hands above my head. I am surrounded by metal. Cold. It smells like animals.

There is another cage not far away with two people in it, a man and a woman. They are asleep in each other's arms, breathing deeply in the night.

I hear growling in the distance. I can't tell where it is coming from.

I don't know how long I've been out.

I call out, "Hello?"

Nobody answers.

"Hello?" I call again, louder.

Nobody.

Tears well in my eyes. My throat hurt when I try to scream.

"Help!" I shout. "Help me!"

Nothing.

I call out again and again, until my throat is sore and tears stream down my face.

Then, I stop.

I catch my breath, sniffle a few times, and the tears stop coming.

My eyes start to close.

I think of my friends and my stomach twists into a knot.

Dead. All dead.

I think of them all, roaming the forest for days, hunting, playing, and sleeping in the sun. We were like one big family.

I feel like I am going to throw up.

I start to cry. I can't do anything but cry.

My family is gone.

I try to shake the bars, but they're too strong. I can't break out.

The gas is making me tired now. I rest my head on the bars, trying to ignore that awful smell.

I hear a noise from the cage next to mine. I look up.

“Sasha?”

The girl with the dark hair smiles at me. She's looking over the top of the cage.

“Sasha? Are you ok?”

I don't know what to say. My head feels as if it's full of cotton wool. I'm not sure if I'm awake or asleep. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion.

“What happened to me?” I ask.

“I don't know,” she says. “I've been here for a while. They won't tell me anything. What day is it?”

“I don't know.”

“Have you seen my mom?”

I feel terrible for her.

“I don’t know who your mom is.”

She cries.

“There’s a wolf,” she says. “He comes every day, twice a day. First thing in the morning and then just before bedtime. He brings us food and water, but he won't tell us anything. Not even who he is or who he works for. He says it's better that we don't know.

"How did you get here?" I ask. "Are you a werewolf, too?"

"Yes," she says. "My whole pack was killed."

I look at my hands.

I flashback to seeing my whole pack torn apart, while there was nothing I could do to stop it. I remember their wide, terrified eyes. I remember their desperate cries. I remember their bodies lying in the mud, their blood mixing with the brown dirt, their blood flowing away in the mud.

I remember their eyes.

It's too much. I can't take it anymore.

I start to cry.

I'm crying in front of a stranger. A girl in a cage.

"I'm so sorry," she says.

When I notice her sniffing, I realize she's crying too.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Kara."

"How long have you been here?"

She shrugs.

"I don't know,” she says. “I've lost track of time. Yesterday felt like a week ago."

It is quiet for a moment.

Then Kara asks, "When are they going to kill us?"

"I don't know,” I reply. “I don’t know anything anymore.”

It is quiet for a moment.

"Who do you think they are?" Kara asks me.

"I don't know,” I say.

"Do you think they're hunters?" she asks, as if somehow I would know more about this than she does.

"I don't know. I hope not."

"Do you think they're going to kill us?"

I shrug, growing numb to everything.

"Will you defend me, if they try to kill me?" Kara asks.

I want to tell her that I won't let them hurt her, but I'm not sure if I can. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop them even if I try. I'm not sure if I'll even try.

I look at Kara. Her eyes are shining. She looks more like a wolf than I do. She looks like a scared wolf.

"Yes," I say. "Of course."

I don't know why I'm doing this. I don't know why I'm reassuring her. I don't know why I'm reassuring myself about something I can't do anything about.

Why am I not dead?

Why didn’t they kill me, too?

And then, to my horror, the one person in the world who I don't want to see appears:

The Alpha who captured me.