I was on the road for about 15 hours yesterday so I got most of Ch 2 done. Here's most of what I got.
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I returned to the house that my mother, brother, and I all shared, still shocked at what I had learned. The High Alpha wasn’t a Werewolf, but a Wizard of the Higher. I knew no one would believe me if I told them, and if there were other people who knew they would think the same thing. Didn’t the Highers trust us enough to guard them on our own without them making one of their own our leader? And why did he reveal it to me? As much as I wanted to look deeper into this, I had other things to worry about.
I glanced around my room, where all my clothes were strewn across the wooden floor, making it look like a rumpled black void. I only had one window located right above my bed. Light seeped in through the blinds, revealing, on my futon, with is blankets in disarray, rested a brown paper parcel that I knew would be there when I got home. Tearing into I found the folded black leather armor of the Betas with two white stripes on the right shoulder that would show the other members of the Pack that I was a Second Beta. As I progress through the ranks, I will earn two more stripes until I reach the rank of Alpha, and like my mother, get the leather armor with the blood red paw centered on the chest.
I put on the armor; buckling the greaves over my black pants, followed by the boots, I slipped into the black cuirass, and pulled on the gauntlets last. The armor twisted and bent with my body. It felt as if I wasn’t wearing any clothing at all. There was a leather belt around my waist where I could attach my swords, and a holster for my gun strapped to my calf. There weren’t very many pockets, but the few that there were were easily within reach.
I picked up the torn parcel and was about to take it to the trash can on the other side of my room, when I noticed a thick slip of folded white paper inside. I pulled it out, opening it to reveal a detail map of Linux Empire and some of the neighboring lands. I could see the stone walls of the High Castle, whose interior remained blank. Surrounding the castle was the Pack Barracks. Each hunting packs housing unit was marked, as well as the houses where families lived together. On the outside of the barracks extened for a half a mile before is reached the Plains of Geyt was the Lower Ghetto, where members of the Lower lived. Unlike the Pack Barracks it did not mark out each housing unit, but showed problems areas where most of crime occurred, most of it being on the very outside.
I looked back at the Barracks and on it I noticed a red dot marking out one of the units, which, I guess, belonged to the hunting pack I was joining. There was an arrow that led to the side of the page that read:
“Second Beta Lethero,
You are to come to Unit #307 at 700 o’clock tomorrow dressed in full uniform. Bring your weapons, and make sure your swords are sharp and you gun barrel is cleaned. I, Alpha Pera, and Alpha Roger will be inspecting them. After that we are going to our assigned area and begin our guard duty. Since you are a new recruit you will be required to stay at the housing unit for a month, and after that it will only be two weeks at a time. You are allowed two hours once a week to clean your clothes, the rest of the time you are expected to be training, sleeping, or patrolling. I expect you to be there by the time stated above. I do not tolerate tardiness.
Signed,
Alpha Pera”
I set the paper down and tossed the empty parcel into the already overflowing trash bin. I flopped onto my bed; feeling the tensions from being made Second Beta as well as learning a terrible secret I could tell no one melted away. I didn’t notice as I slowly slipped away into sleep.
I woke to a knock on my bedroom door. I stood, rubbing the sleep out of my eye, and opened the door. Next thing I knew I was being hugged by my mother. It felt like I was being crushed in her power grip.
“Mom,” I moaned, trying to push her away. “Let me go.”
“Sorry,” she said. She stopped hugging me and held me at arm length. My mother was tall, almost a full head taller than me. Her hair, like mine was completely white, fall midway down her back, and her skin was slightly tan from hours working under the sun. She wore her Alpha armor, which looked exactly like the new armor I had gotten today except with the blood red paw in the center. Strapped to her back was a claymore that was about as tall as I was, and in a holster resting on her hip was a magnum. She was a feared and respected woman who would give her life for the Pack, Linox Empire, and her family.
She took her hands away and gasped, spotting the two white stripes on my shoulder, and then I was back in her arms getting a hug that would scare most full grown men. She let go and stepped back, examining me in my new armor. “So, they made you a Second Beta. I am so proud, and I knew your father had been proud.” I didn’t know who my father was, he left or died before I could remember, my mother would never tell me which. All I knew he had been a powerful Werewolf respected by all, and mother only brought him up to say how he would’ve been proud of me in some way or another.
“Yeah,” I replied. ‘High Alpha saw fit to give me the position.” I did my best to keep my feelings out of my voice about learning the High Alpha’s secret. I don’t know if I had succeeded or not, but I guess I did when my mother did not inquire. “I have been assigned to Alpha Pera and Alpha Roger.” My mother winced as I said those names.
“Are you sure those are the one’s he said, honey?” she asked. I retrieved the note I got today and held it up to her. Her eyes scanned over the words as she read them, her lips moving to form the words. “Dammit, I was hoping you’d get something besides that bitch.” I tried to hold in my surprise at my mother’s sudden use of foul language, she being someone who disciplines the Betas under her for uttering words like that. “I would suggest you arrive their very early, and shine a polish every weapon you own. From what I’ve seen Pera and Roger are strict disciplinarians and work their Betas tired every night. As for losing their Second Beta to sickness, there are rumors that he actually killed himself.”
I felt scared as she described every bad trait that these two Alphas I had been put under had. They have been known to beat their Betas for simple infractions and working them into exhaustion, and then making them work even longer.
My mother saw the fear on my face and quickly said, “I don’t mean to scare you son, just to warn you. I will do my best to convince the High Alpha to reconsider your assigned hunting pack. Just remember to be strong, follow their orders, and never let them see you falter.”
She pulled me into another hug, this one not so rough. “Come on; let’s go get something to eat.”
The rest of the day passed quickly. Mother made a big dinner to celebrate my eighteenth birthday and promotion. Gregor came home just as we were to sit down to eat. I got my first sip of beer, and found out that I despised the taste. They both laughed as I spit it back into the cup. There was much laughter and joy between all of us that day. At the end of it all I found myself tired.
I took off my armor as I returned to my room. I lay down, and just as I was about to disappear back into my dreams there was a knock at my door. “Com e in.” I mumbled tiredly. I didn’t put in the effort to look up and see who it was, but by the way he moved into my room, I could tell it was my brother.
“Hey Lethero,” he said. “Or should I say Second Beta Lethero.”
“What do you want?” I asked, grunting as I sat up.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a picture, and handed it to me. A Werewolf with hair as sat at the table we had downstairs, a wide grin on his face. He wore the armor of an Alpha, and dual short swords rested on his hips, as well as a handgun in its holster on his calf. On his shoulder was a young Pup of about one or two years of age. You could tell it was a father and his son, but why was Gregor showing me this.
“That’s dad,” Gregor said simply, sitting on the bed next to me. “His name was Geedo and that’s you he’s holding.”
Then I started to notice the similarities between the man in the picture and me. We shared the same blue eyes, pointed nose, muscular build, pale skin, and the same messed up hair I get in the morning, but never bother to comb. It surprised me to see we had the same preference in weapons.
“He was killed one day when they went to do a patrol of the Lower Ghettos.” I watched in the dark as Gregor leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Some group of malcontents who called themselves The Freedom Fighters. They ambushed dad’s group with contraband guns killing him and several of the Betas in the group.” I noticed how his voice grew softer as he talked until it became close to a whisper. “Mother would’ve fallen into a depression if it weren’t for you. You look and act like him so much, it was like he never left.”
He sighed and stood up. “Anyways, I want you to keep it. Let it remind you how much you mean to this family. I don’t want anything to happen to you little brother.”
I heard the door open and shut, leaving me alone in the darkness. I continued to stare at picture, seeing how much this man reminded me of myself. I fell asleep with the man who was my father’s image stuck in my mind.
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