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Meira
As expected, Jae isn’t with me in the tree when I wake up in the morning. I’m not surprised she took off, but I really hope she’s smart and makes it back to her sisters. Unease settles in my gut. I’m worried that she’s walking into more danger, but I can’t spend all my time searching for her when I have to get away myself.
I rub the cold out of my arms and glance down below to the quiet forest. My stomach rumbles, and all I can think about are those sweet plums.
I scramble down the tree and return to the fruit, where I gorge until I sate the hunger pains.
The day is new and bright, so the plan is to make as much headway through the Carpathian Mountains as I can. First, I make a quick stop to wash by the river, then relieve myself. But the whole time, my longing for the Alphas burns through me like a storm.
This feeling for them can’t last forever, right? If I put enough distance between me and them, maybe the bond between us will fade.
I remain within the woods and avoid the open land by the river, but I follow its path. I don’t remember how long I’ve walked, but all the plums I carried with me are now eaten, and the sun sits brightly overhead. My fingers are as sticky as honey, so I slide out of the woods and rush to the water for a quick wash.
Something in the knee-length grass catches my attention from farther ahead. It’s lying down, unmoving.
My legs stop working, and I don’t breathe for a few moments as I squint for a better look.
A wolf? Except that’s not how these fiends hunt. They have too much ego and testosterone to ever crouch and hide. They charge like a fucking bull and take what they want.
Long grasses sway in the breeze. The water gurgles and branches behind me rustle in the breeze. But everything else is dead silent.
Might be a killed animal. But when my thoughts fly to Jae, I lunge forward.
I stare down at the figure. She’s twisted, lying on her back. My gaze focuses only on her face, because staring at the shredded body, the bones picked clean, repulses me.
Frantically, I search the features, my heart pounding so hard. Dead eyes stare up into the sky.
This isn’t Jae.
It’s not her.
A sob chokes past my throat because for a moment, I thought I’d stumbled upon her remains. Whoever this is has been dead for a couple of days, judging by the stench and foam slipping out from the corners of her mouth.
I retreat, but the gagging reflex kicks in strong, and I hurl my breakfast. No matter how many deaths I’ve seen, I can never get used to it, and the sorrow for whoever that was crashes into me like powerful waves.
With fast steps, I leave that place and return to the safety of the shadowy woodland. I bolt and don’t stop until my chest aches from exhaustion. Then I press my back to a tree to catch my breath and can’t think of anything else but that poor girl. What if she had been one of Jae’s sisters?
I know in my heart there’s nothing I can do about it. Still, the grief sits heavily over my chest.
When something sounds in the distance, I tilt my head up.
Thump.
My heart thuds inside my ribcage. There’s no sign of the river, and I don’t know which way I’ve been running. Where am I?
I’m in the woods, I tell myself,so there are lots of noises.Except these are woods of claws and teeth, and anything out of the ordinary is a potential danger.
A muffled scream comes.
It’s clear that someone is in trouble. My thoughts strangle on Jae, on the dead body I found, on remembering how I survived this long on my own in the forest.
By keeping to myself and minding my own business.
I draw in a breath of frigid air, and a tingling buzzes at the base of my spine. And that’s when I head toward the distress call to investigate. Maybe I no longer want to be that person, the one who turns away when others need help.
The forest here is denser, and the land is populated with more birch trees than pines. The scent of the forest isn’t strong, but it’s also closer to where I live…. well, at least in the right direction. Though while there’s that benefit, it comes with the knowledge that rogue wolves chose this terrain. I never understood why and figured it had something to do with the low branches, making it an easy getaway should they be chased by the undead.
My body rattles the more ground I cover, convinced this is where the sounds came from. Somewhere in this vicinity… Taking short, sharp breaths, I slow down and dart from one tree to the next.
