• A.K.A Wolf Act XVIII- Strength




    It was torture, sheer torture. No matter how closely we followed that ear-shattering noise to Zero, we could never get to him. At one point, I was one splinter in my paw away from giving up and wishing him the best of luck but then, I thought back to the time when I was captured by Surt-Lim. Zero ran non-stop for eight days straight and didn’t dive up once. I was only on my third day and we weren’t even running.

    “Why haven’t we found their hide away yet?” I asked impatiently as Sparks set fire to some fallen branches. Hotaka took a stick form the fire, blew out the flaming tip and drew circles in the dirt before him. “My guess is that the Scraper herd is moving from place to place, looking for new victims and/or subjects. My mind is also migrating towards the fact that the ones that they are looking for are us.” My whole body tensed and my jaw locked. Kumori burst into laughter, “You seriously think that those things are looking for you all?! Bahaha! You guys wouldn’t be able to handle the initiation process! Let alone normal training for them.”

    I rose from my sitting position and stood quite close to her, trying to intimidate her. “What I want to know is why you know so much about them. She’s some kind of pet for the leader. Nothing but a pathetic little puppy that does what ever the guy holding the dog treat says.”

    “Take that back, b*tch…” she seethed through clenched teeth.

    “Make me. You think that you are all high and mighty because you can play teacher for a few days. Telling us what to follow and what not to do in regards to killing them. You want us all out of the picture for some reason and I’m going to figure out what.”

    “You’re an ignorant fool! You don’t know what I have gone through to lean all of that!”

    That was it. That was the splinter in my paw. I launched my wolf body at her and when I compressed her into the dirt, she was a canine as well. Sparks got up from his spot around the fire and ran beside Hotaka and Ichio just stood back. No one could interfere. No one dared. “I think it is you who knows nothing!” I growled. My diaphragm was getting sore from how many times I growled and barked arguments back and forth with Kumori.

    She kicked me off eventually and tried to bite into my head. Unfortunately for her, I jutted forward at the last minute and her fangs gashed through my back. I couldn’t stop my muzzle from opening and a yelp erupt from my lungs. I stood back around and faced her, I didn’t want this to turn into a fight but I was glad that I could finally take out some pent up energy out on the woman who caused all of my turmoil. Her and I both charged and our bodies clashed with a thud, echoing through out the forest. I managed to scratch her shoulder and sink my teeth into the scruff of her neck. As I held her there, like an over-sized pup, I slowly sank my fangs deeper and deeper onto her fur until I heard a small ‘prip,’ and then her blood polluted my mouth and tongue. I hated her. I hated Kumori so much. Because of her, we were no closer to finding Zero t than when we started.

    I continued to bite down until I heard her scream in agony. I barked as I threw her against a tree stump. I heard her back snap against the bark. I was about to walk over and maybe finish her off but Hotaka interrupted me. Jumping in front of me. His mahogany fur seemed to light up like an ember. His eyes were angered, worried almost. “That’s far enough, Yukiru.” He ordered, as he stood tall, trying to look more dominant than I.

    I took a masterful step towards him and he tried his best to keep his confidence up but I could tell in his face that he was intimidated by my anger. I heard troubled breathing coming from behind him. It was Kumori. She had somehow risen from her injured state and was going to charge once more. And when she did, Hotaka moved out of the way and I almost wished he hadn’t. She pounced on me and we rolled and as we tumbled and bit and snarled, I could feel this heat approaching and approaching fast. It was the fire and we were headed straight for it.

    I latched onto one of Kumori’s legs and through my teeth I begged, “Kumori! Stop! The…the fire!” But, it was too late. She had, purposefully, rolled me onto the flames. My fur was singed almost completely off before I began yelping and howling in agony. She would not release me. Only pressing me down further and further into the inferno. I didn’t dare become human, my clothes would be ruined and my skin would be completely and irreversibly damaged. At least wolf skin was slightly tougher than that of a human.

    That didn’t make it any less painful.

    I was sure Hotaka would intervene but he didn’t. Sparks did. He, himself was a flame and he charged at Kumori, knocking her off of me and burning her face and neck in the process. I frantically rolled over and continued to scream in pain and suffering. At this point, I was human and I somehow found the power to speak. “Someone! Help!” I heard a loud ‘whoosh’ from behind me. Then, about 16 gallons of water was dumped on me, via Kumori. I stared up at her in shock as I lay there like a disobedient pup. I could just feel my eyes stinging with tears and a lump the size of my fist clogging my esophagus.

    “Like I said,” she began. “You know nothing of my past. You have no right to say you are worse off.” Even though I could feel the skin on my back shriveling like autumn leaves, I stood up and glared at her.

    I could only say a few words at a time without letting a sob or two out. I was crying mainly because of the pain I was trying so hard to repress but also, because Zero could be in much more pain. “I…hate…you…!” I said with gathered strength. I painfully stepped back from her, from everyone and everything.

    “You know…nothing…of the word…suffering. I’m…going to…find Zero…by myself…!” I drew in a deep breath but it was cut short when my back expanded and I could feel my skin tearing further and further apart. I let out a loud sob before, “Because Zero is the thing that matters most to me.”

    I turned and I ran. I ran my fastest and my hardest. I fell a few times and every time, leaves and dirt were launched into my open, third-degree burns on my back and shoulders. When that piercing siren wailed again throughout the forest, I became a wolf and howled in response because I had a plan. If I showed signs of me accepting the noise as a calling, maybe the Scrapers would come after me. I arched my head up until I felt blood seep from my spine. I howled and howled and howled until finally, I collapsed.

    Then, the smell of rotting flesh filled the air. Scrapers. And a lot of them. I was pretending to be unconscious but I was quite aware that I was surrounded. One growled something in a combination of wolf and human language. I only managed to comprehend things like, “New One,” and “the leader will be pleased,” and then the thing that made me jump, “another sacrifice.” The two Scrapers that were holding onto my front and back legs plopped me down on my stomach but that still sent a shock wave to my back. I let out a whimper and that I what started it all.

    One Scraper threw luke warm, smelly water on me to “wake” me up. I went along with the act and acted as though I was surprised, gasping and flinching at every movement around me. The same Scraper hauled me to my feet by yanking on one arm; a second Scraper soon occupied my other. There was a massive circle of torches, fully ablaze with flames at the tip. I could see nothing but massive wolves that stood on their hind legs like humans and used their arms as such. In between every torch, there stood a Scraper with their hands roughly folded behind their backs and just blankly staring forward.

    There was an elderly-looking Scraper that was standing nobly in the center of the torch and Scraper-aligned circle. He approached me and extended his grey wolf’s paw towards my face. I grew agitated and trust my face away from his disgusting clutches. But, he clamped onto my cheeks and roughly jerked my face around, observing me. He then turned to know of his assistances, I presumed, and told him something like, “Bring him out.” They’re language was still so hard to comprehend.


    As soon as his assistant blew a horn made out of a moose’s antler there was a howl from a distance and loud, human grunting and the sound of punches landing. In a matter of second, I saw two Scrapers holding onto the arms of the person I had been restlessly searching for over the course of the last 4 days.

    “Zero…” I whispered in painful awe. His clothes were ripped to shreds and his once pure white hair was now a dark red tint; blood stained. He was viciously struggling against their grasp and swearing like his life depended upon it. They threw him into the middle of the circle, only feet from me.

    “Zero!!” I hollered while I struggled against the hold of my captors. My hair became stringy and messy from the fight and a few sloppy strands flung in front of my face. His head shot up and I could just se the anguish in his eyes, the guilt, and the anger. He shook his head, stood, and backed away form me. “Not you…” he whispered in response. “Please tell me they didn’t get to you, Yukiru.” His eyes were just so pain ridden. I shook my head with a smile and sympathetic face, “No, ZiZi…I came to you. I’m fine. Everything’s going to be ok. I’ll take you ba—“ I was interrupted with a blow to the diaphragm by one of the Scrapers that held me back.

    I coughed and gasped for air as I fell to my knees.

    “Don’t you dare touch her!!!” Zero yelled before he ran towards me, only to be stopped by three more of those despicable monsters. “Leave her alone!! Let her go!! She’s got nothing to do with this…!”

    All of these things and more Zero shouted in my defense. With most of my remaining power, I blinked into a wolf so that their hold would break from me. Without a moment to loose, I ran to Zero’s side. And there he must have seen my burns. I saw him reach for my back but I whimpered, “Please…don’t” and stepped back.

    “She rebels. Kill her and take the New One!” the leader shouted in a gruesome howl.

    “I said…” Zero growled ferociously at him as his body shook with rage. Or, so I thought. His body began to grow and fur jutted out from every pore, his face distorted into a long snout and ears, his human skin ripped apart in a bloody peal.

    “…Leave…her…ALONE!” After he had finished his threat, he was one of them. A scraper. The only way I could tell the difference was that he was white among dark brown and black. My stomach dropped with my heart not too far behind. The stench was unbearable; I got sick right there. Zero let out a terrifying roar that made all near him step back in fear, including me.

    He turned to me and saliva flew from the corners of his snout. His eyes were bright, piercing yellow that penetrated the night like a knife. He took a sturdy step towards me on his back legs. I could never see Zero, my ZiZi as something like this. The human inside sobbed and wailed for wolves cannot cry, even though I could feel tears brewing inside of my sub conscious.

    I was scared, mortified, horrified, terrified, still as a statue with fear.

    Zero launched his jaws at me and ended up clamping down on my back. His acidic, salty drool seeped into my burns and his sand paper teeth rubbed against it. I screamed and yelped out in pain, scratching at his muzzle. Zero was so massive, that his muzzle was almost as long as my wolf body.

    He dropped my and I scrambled to get up.

    “ZERO!” I screamed as a human with ears flooding down my face. “IT’S ME! IT’S YUKIRU!! Open your eyes…” I choked out and just stood there, staring at the one I loved most with murder in his eyes.

    I didn’t even try to move away when one of his massive paws crashed into me, knocking me to the ground some 10 feet away. I gasped for air as I held my likely shattered rib cage. Blood was beginning to pour from my stomach, on account of the slash marks I received form his paw swipe. He growled at me and screamed a wolf’s roar right into my face, a small 2 feet away. I remained unmoving. He raised his arm to his me again but I ran to him and clung to his furry stomach in a desperate hold for my life.

    “WAKE UP!!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!” I repeated his name over and over until my voice was hoarse. He reached down and plucked me away from his body and held me off of the ground and glared at me and I could just feel the hunger for blood in his stare.

    I did nothing but extend my face to his moist, black nose and kissed it. “Snap out of it ZiZi…I know you can do it…” I whispered in between sobs.

    Then, I saw a firm stream of water hit Zero in the place where he was infected from the start. He dropped me to the ground and at first I landed perfectly on my feet and then I fell to the ground, on my stomach. The feeling of passing out tugged at my eyelids. The last thing I remember was seeing four familiar figures fighting off larger, furrier ones. Then, Zero’s small was close by. The final thing I saw was the top of a head of white hair. I knew Zero was either dead or horribly passed out as a human and that the others in my pack were killing all Scrapers.

    I smiled and then I succumbed to the extreme tiredness.

    End of Act XVII