The Crash
The air suddenly exploded with a loud
screech. A dark shape, fast and dangerous,
fell from the sky. I gasped. Not another flying
machine. Not now. The ground shook as the
thing – bigger and meaner than the ones we
had seen before – crashed into the old tree
right next to me. It missed me a little bit. The
crash made a shower of sparks and twisted
metal fly everywhere. It's one red eye, now
broken and sparking like dying fire, twitched
before going dark. It smelled like burnt
plastic.
Elara gasped quietly, pulling me hard into the
thick bushes. Fear, cold and sharp, went
through me. They were making things worse.
Their chasing us was never-ending. But even
though I was scared, a small bit of anger
started in me. We wouldn't become their
puppets.
Every time a flying machine fell,
it was a small act of fighting back.
But even though I was terrified, something
else started to burn inside me. It wasn't hope,
not yet. It was a strong, animal-like
determination. We wouldn't break. We
wouldn't become their flying, empty-eyed
soldiers. Not while I could still breathe.
"We need to move," Elara whispered, her voice
rough. Her eyes looked around quickly,
searching the thick leaves for any sign of
another attack. The crash had given us a few
seconds, but it had also made a loud noise
that would tell them where we were.
My own thoughts were a mess. Silas… I
remembered his brave, stupid jump at the
armored creature, and it hurt. And Gareth…
had he gotten away? Was he still out there,
fighting? Not knowing was a heavy feeling in
my chest. Trust felt like something was
broken. The old werewolf's words kept
coming back to me, his mean smile a fresh
pain.
The quiet after the crash was
scarier than the noise.
"Which way?" Elara asked, pulling me back to
the danger right now. The burnt smell of the
broken flying machine was like a sign, telling
them where to find us.
I sniffed the air, trying to see if anyone was
chasing us over the metal smell. The wind
changed, bringing a faint, new smell – like
dirt, like… human. Jax. The human who had
seen werewolves be mean, whose fear was
like a wall between us. He was the only one
who knew the hidden paths that might take us
away from this nightmare. But could we trust
him? Could I trust anyone?
"That way," I growled, pushing Elara with my
head towards a small path leading deeper into
the dark woods. It was risky to trust the
humans, but staying here meant we would
die.
We moved quickly and quietly, our wolf bodies
moving easily through the forest. Elara, even
though she was sad and tired, kept up. The
picture of the broken flying machine, a
smoking mess against the green, made us
run faster. It was a small win, a short break.
But the chase wasn't over.
Every step deeper into the forest
was a risk.
The forest got darker, the moon still hidden by
thick clouds. Every small sound of leaves
moving or a branch breaking made me jump
with fear. I remembered the flying
werewolves, their empty eyes, and strange
movements, a scary reminder of what would
happen if they caught us. They had turned our
own people into weapons. It was horrible
thought.
Suddenly, Elara tripped, making a sharp cry. I
turned around fast, my teeth showing, ready
to protect her. But it wasn't an enemy. Her foot
was caught in a simple trap, a thin wire
cutting into her leg.
"Damn them," she whispered angrily, her face twisted in pain.
My heart hurt. Their traps were getting better,
changing to catch us. They were smarter than
us. I started to panic. We were hurt, out in
the open.
The hunter had become the
one being hunted, caught in their cruel trap.
Working fast, I used my claws carefully to
cut the wire. Blood came out around Elara's
leg.
It wasn't deep, but it would make her slower.
We couldn't stay there.
As I helped Elara stand up, holding her, I heard
a new sound – the far-off, steady thump of
heavy steps. Not human. Too heavy, too slow.
The armored creature. It was still chasing us.
And it was getting closer.
Fear, cold and stopping me from moving,
grabbed me. We were trapped between their
flying hunters and their monsters on the
ground. Our strong determination felt weak
like it would disappear because things were
so bad.
"Jax," Elara whispered, her voice weak. "We
need to find Jax."
He was our only hope, our only chance to
find our way through this dangerous place.
But the thought of trusting a human,
someone who was so scared and hated us
so much, made me feel very uneasy. But
what else could we do?
The thumping got louder and closer. The
forest, our safe place, had become a cage.
And they were hunting us. The crash of the
flying machine had been a small win, but it
had also brought a bigger danger. Our
running had just become a desperate race
against a monster that wouldn't stop. And
the only way to stay alive was to trust the
very person who was most afraid of us. It
was a bitter thought.
Our future, our lives, now depended on
whether a scared human would help us. It
made me shiver with dread, a feeling much
colder than the night air.