The birds’ morning song woke him, but his eyes remained closed. Any minute now the Pull would drag him to his feet he would be off again, wandering the earth for eternity – forever alone. He waited. His fur was damp with morning dew, but it evaporated quickly with the rising sun. Still he waited. Still the Pull did not come. Flies buzzed around ears. Hope leaked away with every passing second. Yet he waited.
The Pull is gone, a little voice inside his head breathed a sigh of sorrow. And it’s never coming back.
Blinking in the light of the day, he hauled himself to his four sore paws and set off once more. This time, however, he was leaving his hope behind.
Through the trees ahead he could see clear blue sky. He started towards it; the trees ended abruptly at a jagged cliff edge. Below lay a meadow, and in the meadow stood a cottage.
The thing looked ancient; paint peeled away from the old wooden walls like skin, some of the grimy windows were cracked. He thought the front looked sweet - the little veranda had a porch swing and pot plants hanging from the roof, white banisters and a welcome mat at the front door. However, the back of the cottage had been renovated to fit a large room that ran the width of the house. The room looked industrialist and cold, its concrete base grew mold on the sides, though the windows were new and gleaming. Through them he could make out a snooker table and flat screen TV, and a person gazing right back at him, snooker cue in hand.
He scuttled back, crouching low, then attempted to be perfectly still. Surely the man couldn’t see him from this distance. He backed away, crawling through the undergrowth until he was sure there was no way he could be seen. He couldn’t help but wonder if that was Alexis’ home, and what she was doing now.
Clouds rolled in over head, spewing sleet upon them as the wolves tightened their circle on Alexis, Jasmine, Raven and Shayne.
“You,” Raven snarled, pushing her brother further behind her.
Please keep moving back, Shayne thought, with next to no sarcasm. I’d rather you push me off the edge of the cliff then be eaten alive by disease ridden inbreeds.
Shush, I snapped. “What do you want this time?”
“I want you.”
The grey wolf lunged at Alexis’ soft white throat and the two tumbled to the ground. Their fur became soaked with the sleet gathering in slushy puddles on the rocks beneath. Pain ripped through her skin as it was pierced by his fangs, and still the sky cried relentlessly.
“Alexis!” the others cried, but before they could help the rest of the wolves were upon them. They were naught but blurry shapes moving in the heavying sleet to Alexis’ eyes as she was thrown about the rocks. She snarled as the grey wolf moved to attack again before she’d gotten to her paws. “Dishonourable bastard!” She threw all her weight at him, unable to see the edge of the cliff in the downpour. The two never hit the ground. They soared through the air, plunging to their deaths off the rugged cliff.
“Alexis!”
If the jolt of the falling sensation hadn’t been enough to wake her, Vivi was there shaking her by the shoulders. Alexis tried to move but a weight pinned her at the waist. Opening her heavy eyes, she saw that Vivi was sitting on top of her, grinning about something.
“What?” Alexis groaned. The true memory of that night on the cliff returned to her with a sense of relief. The packs had fought, and Jasmine’s had almost lost, however Kammal and Daine arrived with Vivi in time to defend them and scare the other pack away. But scaring them wasn’t enough, was it? They were persistent in taking over the territory and recruiting or killing all of Jasmine and Kammal’s pack.
“Lexxiee, are you even listening to me?”
“No,” Alexis said, pushing Vivi off her. Vivi rolled onto the other side of the double bed and propped her head up with her hand, her elbow resting on the fluffy purple pillow.
“Well you should be.” Vivi huffed. “Stop moping, it’s really annoying. Come have some breakfast.”
Yawning, Alexis rolled out of bed and pulled on some tracksuit pants over her pink pyjama boxers. She followed Vivi, who was already dressed in black skinnies and a fluoro singlet with her mousy hair teased and make-up applied, into the narrow corridor. The front door stood wide open, and through it the forest called to Alexis invitingly. She wanted to run.
“Morning, girls,” Daine nodded to them as they entered the combined kitchen and lounge area. Despite the icy breeze blowing through the open door, Daine was shirtless, his chest rising and falling evenly, a pulse visible beneath his russet skin. Alexis could see why Raven liked to draw him a lot. His body was more perfect than the finest sculpture.
“’Sup,” Vivi replied.
“Loving the new hair style, Lex,” Daine grinned.
“Up yours,” Alexis laughed, combing her fingers through her bird’s nest of brown hair.
“Pancakes.” Shayne entered the kitchen. He had a habit of entering rooms shortly after Vivi. “I’m dying for them.”
“Make ‘em yourself; you’re the one who’s always going on about how you’re not a kid.” Daine flopped onto the couch.
“I’m a teenager,” Shayne stated. “Teenagers still get made breakfast. Now, mush!”
Grumbling under his breath, Daine hauled himself back to his feet.
“Is my brother being a rude little twerp?” Raven’s voice echoed down the corridor, then she appeared, a pile of paper in her arms. “‘Cause I wouldn’t mind bashing him.”
Alexis laughed. “What he do this time?”
“And what’s with the paper?” Vivi added.
“These,” Raven released the stack and the paper fluttered the ground, “were the drawings on my desk. He drew mustaches on all of them, even the ones without people, using my new eyeliner.”
Shayne gazed down at them, unable to contain his amused grin. “I did not.”
“Did so.”
“Did not.”
“Did so!”
“DID NOT!” Shayne yelled.
“I’m sure Vivi wouldn’t mind spanking him,” Daine smirked.
Shayne fell silent, a blush spreading furiously across his round cheeks.
“You sure know how to make things awkward, Daine,” Alexis muttered.
“Where are the adults?” Vivi asked, abruptly changing the subject.
“I’m right here,” Daine waved a spatula about.
“The real adults.”
“Jaz and Kam are patrolling.”
“Patrolling?”
“You know,” Daine said airily, giving the kids the feeling even he didn’t know, “wandering around the forest nearby, making sure no unwanted visitors pop in to say hello.”
“More like goodbye,” Shayne muttered. “They’re going to slaughter us.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Alexis said. “There’s not that many of them.”
“Yet,” Shayne had to add.
“What ever, dude. Here come Jasmine and Kammal.”
Wearing only cargo shorts, Kammal sauntered in through the open door. Jasmine’s red head could be seen bobbing up and down as she crouched on the lawn below the veranda, probably checking out her failed vegetable garden.
“How’d it go?” Daine asked, flicking a blob of butter into a frying pan.
“Usual crap; you don’t know what you’re missing out on, come judgment day you’ll all be dead. I’m starting to think he isn’t a real threat, just a bit loopy.”
“And what about those people he killed?” Alexis inquired. “The hikers in the forest.”
Shayne went a little green and began focusing intently on the butter sizzling in the pan.
“Ah,” was all Kammal had to say. But with one word Kammal could say many things.
“Yeah, ah,” Alexis sunk to the stool at the kitchen bench. “He’s killed other shape-shifters before too.”
Raven looked up from her sketch pad. “Did he eat them but?”
Alexis shrugged.
“How much do you know?” Daine’s eager eyes burned with excitement, thinking of Alexis as a tool, a weapon, that could be employed against Malik. “His past, his reasons-”
“Nothing,” Alexis sighed. “He’s crazy. Reading him – it hurts; gives me the worst headache you can imagine, and whatever I can manage to decipher from the jumble in his head is totally irrelevant. His followers though – their minds are just blank. It’s like he’s brainwashed them or something.”
Disappointed, Daine grumbled something unintelligible and poured the melted butter in the pan down the sink – it had burned and now the kitchen was full of the smell.
“Well…” Kammal grunted. “None of you go out in the forest alone, ok? That’s an order.”
“Yes, boss,” Daine grinned.
“Why is there paper all over the floor?” Jasmine inquired, bending over to pick one up.
“Their Raven’s,” Shayne said quickly.
“This is just bizarre.” Jasmine held up a page depicting a dreary street in London. Everything was drawn in different shades of grey, except for the bright red double-decker bus with a thick, black, curling mustache and a goatee.
Raven made a growling noise deep in her throat then pounced at her brother.
I like your characters as well, but they need more depth to them. Also, try a little more showing and less telling. I know it's really hard, but try to show us what is happening, instead of trying to tell us everything.
